Fitness has finally begun to mirror Society 2.0, and like a culture bent on distilling all information to 140 characters or less, it’s more mobile, fast-paced, and celebrity obsessed than ever. We’re living in a decidedly post-bootcamp world, where intensity is king and rivalries between spin classes put March Madness beef to shame. It’s a lot to process for even the most die-hard gym rats, but below are five of the hottest trends to follow this season — and how they’re changing the way we work out forever.

The 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games. For all those who still label CrossFit a passing fitness fad, we’ve got bad news: It’s here to stay, and in a big way. This year’s CrossFit Open — an early qualifying stage for the Games — attracted nearly 140,000 participants worldwide. Top athletes from the Open will compete in their respective regions in late May, and the best of the best will then advance to the Games, held from July 22nd to the 28th at Los Angeles’ Home Depot Center. Tune in on ESPN2 to see two-time champs Rich Froning and Annie Thorisdottir defend their titles — and compete for the $250,000 grand prizes — in a grueling series of workouts designed to test skill, strength, endurance, and mental fortitude.

The Battle for Indoor Cycling Supremacy. Those in New York City might know of indoor cycling chains SoulCycle and Flywheel, but the whole world is about to get a little more familiar with spinning. SoulCycle was founded in 2006, and the Equinox-owned company is undergoing a massive expansion to add to its 15 locations on both coasts. But Flywheel — founded in 2009 by a former SoulCycle partner — is also growing fast and already boasts 23 locations in the U.S. and Dubai. The two companies and their dedicated followers are locked in a sweaty, pedal-pumping race to the top, and no matter the weather, this summer will see them battling over new converts who prefer to get their fix indoors.
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Brick Goes Bi-Coastal. Already one of the West Coast’s hottest gyms, Brick CrossFit is coming to NYC. The Chelsea location is slated to open mid to late summer and is the company’s first expansion outside of West Hollywood. With celebrity clients including Bob Harper and “The New Girl” actor Max Greenfield, Brick brings a bit of showbiz flare to functional fitness. Whether that attitude translates into a CrossFit-obsessed New York market is one of the Northeast fitness community’s biggest questions for the summer.

Obstacle Races Become the New Marathon. Chances are you’ve either run an obstacle race, know someone who’s run an obstacle race, or know someone who’s trying their hardest to recruit you for an obstacle race. The meteoric rise of companies like Tough Mudder, Spartan Race, and Warrior Dash has added some new twists to distance running, and more people are ditching the marathon in favor of races that include climbing walls, electrified barbed wire, and lots and lots of mud. Big-name fitness companies are making moves to gain entry into the budding sport, and Reebok and Spartan Race led the way by signing a title sponsorship in January.

America (Finally) Embraces Bike Sharing. This one’s a win for our health and the environment. A longtime mainstay of European plazas, bike share programs have been slower to catch on stateside. The first U.S. program opened in 2008 and allowed prospective peddlers to rent and drop off bikes at stations in cities like Atlanta and Denver. Now the bike sharing stations have finally come to NYC, and sunny weather could mean more people choosing bikes over a tourist-laden subway system. Happy riding!

By David Tao Fortune Magazine

Insulin is a hormone secreted by the pancreas in response to detected increases in blood sugar – insulin controls glucose homeostasis (i.e., keeps blood glucose levels constant) by stimulating the uptake of glucose into skeletal muscle and, to a lesser extent, into liver (e.g., in the case of fructose) and adipose tissue.

In laymen’s terms – it is essentially responsible for storing away the latent energy in the calories you consume. Insulin drives glucose into your cells – it feeds your muscles as it were.

Foods that are high on the glycemic index (e.g., dextrose, or other “simple” carbs) stimulate a strong spike in insulin – “spike” just means that insulin levels rise and fall rapidly (good for a quick burst of energy but not for sustained endurance). Foods lower on the glycemic index (e.g., so-called complex carbs) stimulate a much slower insulin response allowing for a sustained release of energy.

Generally speaking – bodybuilders desire an insulin spike only after a workout (they generally combine simple sugars with protein) because they want the insulin surge to “feed” their muscles as quickly as possible.

By Shawn Dolan, Ph.D., R.D., CSSD

As kids, we loved to get together to play with our friends. As teenagers, our world revolved around our friends; oftentimes, our friends dictated our choice of activities. As adults, we still enjoy being active with friends, but don’t always feel like we have the time or opportunities to do so. Group exercise provides us with an opportunity to feel young again and be physically active with others.

Group exercise is typically described as exercise performed by a group of individuals led by an instructor. A variety of group exercise formats exist, including (but not limited to) aerobics and dance choreographed to music, BOSU, core conditioning, Pilates, yoga, muscle conditioning, step, indoor cycling, kickboxing, sculpting, fall prevention and boot camp. Your choice of classes depends on the club or studio you attend, the expertise of the instructors, and the amount of time you have.

Group exercise offers a variety of benefits you might miss out on if you choose to work out on your own. Some of the benefits include exposure to a social and fun environment, a safe and effectively designed workout, a consistent exercise schedule, an accountability factor for participating in exercise, and a workout that requires no prior exercise knowledge or experience. Let’s take a look at how these benefits might apply to you.

A common reason given for quitting an exercise program is boredom. A variety of class formats will keep you motivated and interested, as well as give you different instructor styles, music selection, and interaction with other participants. For many, an hour-long workout goes by very quickly when there is music playing and you are trying new exercises. People stay interested because of the social atmosphere provided by group exercise. This offers camaraderie and accountability among participants, as well as between participants and instructor.

Most people know exercise is good for them and want to begin exercising. However, they do not know the first step to take. They are bombarded with urgent messages from the media to exercise, but receive little guidance on how to initiate that process. This can be a very overwhelming task, especially when our lives are hectic. Group exercise offers a workout for all levels, ranging from beginner to advanced. Participants do not need to know how to develop a safe and effective workout or which machines to use or for how long; it is already done for them. They simply have to show up with a positive attitude, participate, and most importantly, have fun.

An exercise class structured with a purpose can be beneficial for people with limited knowledge about safe and effective exercise programming. An appropriately designed class includes warm-up, cool-down and flexibility in addition to the conditioning section. When people exercise on their own, they often skip portions of a workout they know less about or are not their favorite to perform. Furthermore, the fitness professional is not only designing the components of the workout, but also the intensity, so the class is designed appropriately to improve cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness. The fitness professional can also serve as a resource for class participants and encourage them to engage in other healthy behaviors outside of class.

Many people quit an exercise program because of time constraints. Participating in group exercise may help overcome this obstacle. Some facilities offer 30- and 45-minute classes for individuals with limited time. In addition, the consistency in scheduling offered by group exercise programs allows participants to choose a time and schedule it in their planner as they do other daily activities.

Lastly, group exercise appeals to many people because of its diversity. Traditionally, group exercise was available inside a fitness facility in the format of dance choreographed to music. While this still exists, many non-traditional group exercise formats are emerging, some even outside. There are boot camps at your local park, yoga on the beach, ski conditioning at the soccer field, trekking on the bike trails, stroller-walking classes in your neighborhood, and Latin dance at the local recreation facility. Regardless of your passion or interest, what is most important is to move. Group exercise offers an outlet for people to do this while having fun!

Don’t know where to begin with training your adductors? Use this quick guide to make the training manageable. I’ve broken it down into seven daily exercises that can be done in five minutes or fewer. Do one a day, and you’re well on your way to adductor strength.

Day 1: Shallow knee bends. The emphasis on this exercise is alignment, so stand in front of a mirror and bend your knees a quarter of the way down to seated. As you do so, make sure your knee is straight in line with your big toe. If it tends to drop inward, you are a prime candidate for this strength work. This exercise can be done multiple times a day to help train the body as to what proper alignment feels like.

Day 2: Leg lifts. Lying on one side, bend the knee closest to the ground to 90 degrees and lift the other leg straight up toward the ceiling. Do 10 reps on each side. Then bend the knee closest to the ceiling and straighten the other leg, lifting it up toward the ceiling. Do 10 reps on each side, working up to 20 reps in the coming weeks. Adding ankle weights will make this more challenging.

Day 3: Step aerobics. Step aerobics incorporates many different side steps including grapevines, or just lateral steps up, sideways, or even over the top of the step. All of these require the adductor to work. Just a few minutes of these target activities, either at home or part of a class, can be a fun way to work on these muscle groups.

Day 4: Clam shells. This one requires a stretching band or bungee cord of some sort. Wrap the band around your knees and sit on a chair so that your knees are bent at 90 degrees. Separate your knees to pull against the resistance. Do 10 reps. This can also be done lying on one side. Bend knees to a comfortable 100 degrees or so, and lift one knee toward the ceiling to pull against the resistance band. Alternate sides.

Day 5: Stadiums. This is a simple variation of step aerobics. Find a lengthy set of stairs to climb, but don’t just walk straight up them. Place your foot on the wide end of each stair so that you have to reach for the opposite edge of the stair each time. For an added challenge, try skipping steps or jogging each step instead of walking.

Day 6: Standing leg swings. This exercise works on flexibility, but add ankle weights and it doubles as strength work. Stand next to a wall or fence post for support. Begin by facing the wall with your hand reached out for balance, and swing one leg side to side. Be sure to use muscles to do this, trying to keep the hips square to the wall (don’t just let gravity do the work). Do 10 full swings with each leg, then stand perpendicular to the wall and swing each leg forward and backward.

Day 7: Rest. Even God took a day off, right?

By Lesley Hocking

1. Cleans recruit more muscles than standard gym exercises

“Very few, if any, other strength exercises involve more articulations,” says veteran T NATION coach Christian Thibadeau. A power clean involves movement at the ankle, knee, hip, shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints. That means you’re using your calves, quads, hamstrings, glutes, spinal erectors, traps, deltoids, and forearms, as well as the core muscles that come into play to stabilize your spine throughout the movement. Cleans, Thibaudeau says, “are unparalleled in terms of implicated muscle mass.”

2. Cleans makes you a better lifter

Even the most serious lifters in today’s gyms rarely attempt exercises more complex than squats, deadlifts, and bench presses — all of which are great exercises for strength and size development. But adding power cleans to your programs can make you better at those lifts.

“When you build explosive strength, you train the muscles to more readily activate the higher-threshold motor units,” says author, coach, and neurophysiology nerd Chad Waterbury. “The best bench pressers in the world have tons of explosive strength. If you’ve ever watched a world-champion bench presser train, you’ll notice how fast the barbell accelerates compared to the lesser mortals.”

You’ll also develop better balance and coordination, improving your form on front squats and other classic muscle-building exercises.

3. Cleans get you yoked

Well-developed glutes, hamstrings, and spinal erectors are crucial for athletes as well as bodybuilders. But you can develop those posterior-chain muscles with deadlifts, squats, good mornings, glute-ham raises, and just about any other lower-body exercises you’ll find in the powerlifting playbook.

Power cleans bring one more set of muscles into the mix: upper traps.

“The traps have to fire explosively in conjunction with the legs to accelerate the bar upward with enough force to get you underneath the bar,” Hertilus says. “Look at some of the best middleweight Olympic weightlifters and you’ll see the density of their traps.”

4. Cleans help you get ripped

Even when performed for relatively low reps with long rest intervals, power cleans are metabolically taxing, due to their explosive nature and enormous muscle recruitment. You can intensify this effect by bumping up the reps and decreasing rest periods.

But, with apologies to our friends at CrossFit, it’s not a good idea to go apeshit with the volume. Power cleans are among the most technique-sensitive lifts you can tackle, and when volume comes at the expense of form, you’re putting yourself (and possibly those around you) at risk for an injury. Even if you don’t get hurt, you don’t want to reinforce faulty recruitment patterns by lifting with sloppy form while you’re fatigued.

5. Cleans work your core

You need a strong core for all the major multijoint lifts that employ heavy loads, like squats, deadlifts, and weighted chins. That’s especially true for power cleans and other explosive lifts. But once you’re ready to add cleans to your routine, you’ll find your core strength improves rapidly and dramatically. “Lifting explosively requires the recruitment of many additional muscles to stabilize your body,” Waterbury says. “This builds total-body stability and strength.”

6. Cleans just look cool

Anyone can do a biceps curl or leg extension. They’re the first things they teach newbies at commercial gyms. Power cleans are at the opposite end of the exercise hierarchy. You need a solid base of conditioning, coordination, and weight-room experience before you learn the exercise, and then you need focus and effort to master it. It’ll be a while before you’re ready to pull heavy weights from the floor to your shoulders.

But once you’re there, you’ll be among a small percentage of lifters who can do one of the best exercises in the world for strength, power, muscular development, and overall conditioning.

And you’d better believe the other lifters in your gym will notice.

by Bryan Krahn