Functional fitness is latest fad

Ditch the gym machines for outdoor workouts. Photo / Herald on Sunday

Forget the thousand-dollar treadmills and exercycles: it's back to basics for those dedicated followers of fashion who have resolved to tone up this New Year. Strongman training and other "functional" fitness crazes are tipped to take over from flashy workout equipment in 2010.

Some gyms - gutted of their machines - will be sending members outside with trainers to climb trees, throw rocks and swim streams.

And with many gyms closed over the Christmas-New Year period as their members head off to the beach, there is every opportunity to get started with a bit of outdoor fitness now.

The official training regime for the US Navy Seals, MovNat (short for the French Movement Naturelle), and the latin dance fad Zumba are all spiking in popularity as summer heats up.

Darren Ellis, nutritionist and co-owner of Auckland's CrossFit New Zealand gym, believes basic is better.

A new UK study finds most people are doomed to fail in their New Year resolutions, by making them too complicated or failing to enlist the help of friends when pursuing a new goal. The study asked 700 people about their plans for achieving their resolutions, and found a whopping 78 per cent failed to keep to their goals.

Ellis' gym, based in Panmure, has no exercise machines. In the new year, he'll be getting his clients to lunge, sprint, climb and dance, rather than spending 30 minutes on a gym machine.

"We don't have any machines, which I predict will be the latest craze [as] everyone is getting back into functional fitness," he says.

"Using medicine balls, sandbags, old tyres and weighted sleds, the strongman-type training is good old-fashioned exercise. People are getting sick of shiny chrome machines with flashing lights."

MovNat, Ellis says, is basically going for a run outside, climbing trees, picking up rocks and throwing them, swimming streams and just being a caveman in general".

Those who wish to really push themselves can take a page out of the book of Anders Falstie-Jensen and his friend Sam Patten.

The Auckland-based duo are in their third week of following the official training programme for the US Navy Seals - a difficult regime, which works towards being able to run a whopping 50km per week and do hundreds of sit-ups, push-ups and pull-ups in one session.

The pair found the programme on the internet. Patten, 30, wanted to get fit before his wedding in March, while Falstie-Jensen, 32, was curious to see how he'd handle the "gruelling" programme.

"It's basically a mix of running and swimming with a pretty full-on circuit training to develop stamina and endurance," says Falstie-Jensen. "We're in our third week at the moment and it's hard. We push ourselves to the brink."

The training also contains a swimming component, but the pair have cut that part out because "we aren't planning to really join the American Navy".

Ellis has one last tip for sticking to New Year resolutions: "Write out goals, put them on the fridge or beside the bed and tell all your family and friends about them so the pressure is on."

Ditch the shiny gym machines for a natural workout

US Navy Seals

The official training plan for the US Navy Seals can be found online and pushes people through a gruelling nine-week beginner regime.

Every week the workout increases in difficulty, until the trainee is running 25km a week, swimming constantly for 35 minutes and doing 90 push-ups, 90 sit-ups and 30 pull-ups each session. The second phase pushes the trainee even further: running up to 50km a week and increasing the physical activity.

MovNat

Short for the French Movemente Naturelle, MovNat was developed 100 years ago by French naval officer Georges Herbert, and brought back to life by a fellow Frenchman, Erwan Le Corre, in 2008.

The "wild" style of exercise teaches people to explore their natural surroundings - rocks become kettlebells and a tree branch becomes a pull-up bar.

See crossfitnz.typepad.com for more information.

Zumba

The Zumba craze is described as a "fitness party" which began in Latin America. The music provides the beat, and the instructor provides the moves, which aim to get people fit through dance.


Zumba is available at a number of Auckland dance studios.

Resolved to get in shape

Denise L'Estrange-Corbet, WORLD designer

Despite having co-founded one of New Zealand's most acclaimed fashion labels, Denise L'Estrange-Corbet admits she is extremely "weak-willed".

In her entire life, she has only managed to keep only one New Year resolution: to stop eating meat, after she saw how haggis was made on a TV show.

However,she has managed to keep off the whopping 27kg she has dropped over the last year since she began swimming last summer.

"I didn't set myself a date to be healthy by - I just wanted to do it slowly."

Alistair Wilkinson, TV3 news anchor

Alistair Wilkinson plans to reverse the ageing process with the help of a nutritionist, a mountain bike and two eager dogs.

After blowing a rear tyre along a track in the Waitakeres this week, Wilkinson has enlisted the help of a nutritionist - who has told him to freeze grapes as a sweet treat.

"She swears they taste like sorbet. I reckon they taste like frozen grapes," he says.

"The only reliable weight-loss strategy I've discovered is the ownership of two eager dogs."

Carolyne Robinson, TV3 news anchor

As the proud new owner of a Sunbeam cake mixer, Robinson fears any downsizing plans will be futile.

Nonetheless, she's relying on the help of her children to keep her running around to burn off the passionfruit sponge.

She also plans to do more swimming - a new skill acquired last year.

"My son, who's 7, can currently swim much further and far better than I," she says. "I'd like to at least come a close second in a race with my little fish."

Paul Ego, The Rock breakfast host

Paul Ego has given himself the goal of losing 8kg to be 100kg by the end of this year, after making the mistake of trying on a wetsuit six weeks before Christmas.

After a bit of ribbing from his workmates, Ego is on the road to being "fat no more".

"To my surprise I did not look like a buff triathlete in that wetsuit, I looked like a 108kg pregnant penguin," he said.

"I've lost 6kg at this stage and have probably put 3kg back on again."