The Group Fitness Explosion

Group fitness is king and the statistics are there to prove it. Just look on every corner next to your club — the studios want your members and they are getting many of them.

The following is a small review of some of the programs and accessories out there. My goal is to raise awareness of new and exciting offerings, listed below in no particular order.

Barre Biz: Leslie Bender, the brains behind this program, is no dummy. She’s as smart as a whip and knows programming. Check out her barre programming and certification at barrebiz.com.

DISQ: This program involves a belt attachment and ankle attachments with resistance bands, that suspend and retract from The Disq with consistent tension (like a retractable ski pass). It’s like wearable training bands, but better. I love it for small group and one-on-one training. Learn more at thedisq.com.

The ActivMotion Bar: This looks like a body bar, but is loaded with weighted ball bearings to encourage and ignite core, balance and stability. This is a great tool for one-on-one or small group. But with programming leader Abbey Apple on board, perhaps she can break through and create an amazing large group fitness class for this product. To start, buy a few at activemotionbar.com and put them to use on your functional floor.

The Masala Bhangra: Sarina Jain is the brains behind this fun Bollywood class. It adds flavor and it’s just cool to have an option like this on your schedule. This program needs a belief system and leadership, both from the director and instructors. Learn more at marsalabhangra.com.

Moi Cycle: Measure, observe and improve. This is the no-brainer solution to fight against every cycle studio. Easy instructor implementation and access speak directly to the wearable technology movement, and it’s just a great, organized, result’s-oriented class. Full disclosure: I’m the co-founder. Learn more at moicycle.com.

More to come in my next column.

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Lori Lowell is the president of Group Fitness Solutions, LLC, and a Gold’s Gym franchisee. For questions on Group X, she can be reached at lori@groupfitnesssolutions.com.