Getting bored with your workout? Try piloxing, a class that combines pilates and boxing.
Buffy Basile, wellness director at the East Lycoming YMCA, 50 Fitness Drive, Pennsdale, became a certified piloxing teacher in December and began teaching in January.
"By the first class, our room was at capacity," Basile said.
People had not heard about it, she said, so many tried it because they had questions and were intrigued or they previously had researched it and wanted to experience it.
Piloxing mixes pilates and boxing moves into a core-centric interval workout, which was developed by Viveca Jensen, a Swedish dancer and celebrity trainer. It blends the power, speed and agility of boxing with the sculpting and flexibility of pilates.
The exercise incorporates the use of weighted gloves that tone the arms and maximize cardiovascular health.
The gloves traditionally weigh no more than 1/2 pound.
"We're not allowed to use more," Basile said. "It (the extra weight) impairs extension, and you could hurt yourself."
About 1,000 instructors nationwide teaching piloxing.
"They're everywhere," she said. "Just not here, which is crazy. They're in larger metropolitan areas. The stars are doing it."
One big difference for the exercise is that it is barefoot, with which some people are uncomfortable, Basile said.
Anyone 11 years or older can take the class, which Basile called low impact. By adding the boxing gloves, it can be made more challenging.
"It's kind of like a dance, and fun," she said. "You can stay close to the ground or really crank it up."
Developer Jensen regularly checks in to make sure instructors are teaching the class correctly by sending out master instructors to take other instructors' classes.
Workouts constantly change because Jensen adds new choreography and music.
Basile likes the policing because if an instructor adds or embellishes the moves, it ruins the technique.
Even though many people started the class out of curiosity, she said it still is popular, with about 25 to 30 women taking it at her facility.
"A lot of the people are coming in because they heard about it," she said.
Many of the women enjoy the class because of the empowering message it sends.
"It celebrates women of all ages, shapes and sizes," Basile said.
At the end of every class, the women have to yell out that they are sleek, sexy and powerful.
Another class that Basile recently started teaching is Drums Alive, which is for almost any level of fitness.
The class fosters healthy balance physically, mentally and socially through creative expression.
"It has the benefits of a physical fitness class," she said. "It's supposed to affect the brain because you're working to the rhythm in music. It really links the physical, mental and emotional part of it."
Students hit the side of a ball and hit the drumsticks in the air. They hit the ball next to them and work throughout the room together.
Basile has an instructor who teaches Drums Alive to children with special needs.
Piloxing meets at 4:30 p.m. Mondays and at 10 a.m. Tuesdays. Drums Alive meets at 9 a.m. Saturdays.
"We plan on moving the two piloxing classes that are back to back," Basile said. "The Monday class will eventually move to a Friday class so it's more spread out. We had to go with where there is availability."
