I won't pretend to have a complete handle on this thing, but I can tell you that two fitness powerhouses are joining forces in a way that I believe is new to the fitness world.
From what I understand, many of the formats that you love in the gym like PiYo and Hip Hop Hustle will soon be available at home in your living room just as TurboKick and Les Mills PUMP are now.
Conversely, many of the formats that you love at home like Insanity and Brazil Butt Lift will soon be available in a gym near you just as P90X technically is now, although I am not familiar with any locations that have it yet.
Before you start slipping into a someone-put-peanut-butter-in-my-chocolate and someone-put-chocolate-in-my-peanut-butter vortex, I implore you to keep your knickers on (and perhaps to remember that a chocolate and peanut butter combo is quite delicious): from where I'm sitting, this move is brilliant.
If you add the new a la carte movement in group exercise (like Group FX), that provides pay per event fitness "concerts" with fitness rockstars, I think I'm noticing a trend here. It looks like fitness is actually being led by the consumer for a change.
As a fitness fan, I have to say I dig it. I dig it a lot.
Consider your frustration with classes that you love being cut at random. It happened recently at a chain that I worked for. All of a sudden, Hip Hop Hustle and PiYo were gone from the schedule in a poof! Wham, bam, thank you but it's gone, ma'am. If you couldn't get it at your gym, you were pretty much screwed. You could go to another chain, but that might mean losing your favorite instructor or losing another program that the chain chose not to carry for whatever (very corporate) reason.
No matter what, there always seems to be a sacrifice when it comes to fitness and I'll admit, as an instructor, Beachbody coach and participant, I have wondered why.
Why can't I get the formats I love with instructors I love at times I love? Okay, maybe not all at once, but can I get a little Zumba at home on a Thursday at midnight? It's weird, but yes. Yes I can. There is a Wii game, an Xbox Kinnect game & a series of awesome Exhilarate videos to soothe my craving. I can find it at my local gym and even in the club (Zumba-ritas, anyone?) in some cities.
I suppose that's what I want for my other formats as well: Access. Let's keep it real, it is hard enough to include exercise in our daily lives without adding hoops and hurdles to complicate the process. When I find what I love, I want to be able to get my sweat on without a headache.
It's funny, when Beachbody launched Les Mills PUMP at home, a friend who taught PUMP in the gyms thought it was competition. Huh? I don't see TurboJam & TurboFire undermining TurboKick in gyms. Not in the least. If anything, my love for gym Turbo made me realize that I NEEDED access at home. Nothing is worse than a Turbo fiend without a funky groove and a punch/kick combo. Trust me, very twitchy & kinda sad.
So what does this mean for folks who aren't associated with either Beachbody or Powder Blue? Do you even have a runner in this race? I think so. In my opinion, community and choice are two of the most important factors in a successful fitness program. If you've been an island on the free weight floor, it might be cool to collaborate over the BodyBeast program. If you have been busting your hump at home with Insanity, you might take that craziness to a whole other level in a gym setting -- I know the Nike Training camp folks seem to love it and that is both an app and a class in the gym.
If nothing else, consider a world that allows you to choose your own date, time, location and format. Kinda cool, huh? With this kind of unprecedented creativity, your excuses would all but disappear. And, of course, that's a good thing!
In fitness and freedom,
*Rise of Creative is a reference to Richard Florida's book, Rise of the Creative Class (a good read!)
