Of all of the fitness traits that outlined the ’80s, step aerobics dominated the house exercise scene. While health club bros have been busy pumping iron, this was the unique method to “get your steps in.” Though step aerobics fizzled out within the early 2000s, it paved the best way for at this time’s group fitness courses—and its affect continues to be felt in every little thing from HIIT to bounce cardio.
“Step aerobics gave us rhythm and music-based workouts that laid the foundation for contemporary group fitness and working to your true potential,” mentioned Phillip Solomon, a NASM-certified coach, Barry’s Bootcamp coach, and breakout star from NBC’s hit present Deal or No Deal Island. “Behind the leg warmers and synth-heavy soundtracks, it also laid down some serious groundwork for what we now call high-intensity interval training (HIIT).”
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Step Aerobics vs Modern HIIT
Anyone who’s ever taken—or taught—a contemporary exercise class is aware of it’s all about rhythm, pacing, and mixing cardio with strength. According to Solomon, at this time’s fitness giants like Barry’s, SoulCycle, Orangetheory, and F45 owe a lot of their success to the group fitness increase of the ’80s.
- Modern HIIT is More Fluid: “HIIT may be based on the reps completed in a certain amount of time, as opposed to just moving continuously until a given piece of music ends,” Solomon says.
- Step Aerobics Lacked Equipment: For probably the most half, step aerobics used a raised platform of any variety with out using different tools. Contemporary HIIT training makes use of dumbbells, kettlebells, resistance bands, and so on.
- Step Aerobics Was Higher Energy: Step aerobics known as for a “higher energy endurance that could be described as ‘level 7-8 consistently’ for an hour, whereas modern-day HIIT training has more peaks and valleys, getting you to a ‘level 9-10’ intensity for smaller intervals of time,” Solomon says.
- They Have Different Purposes: “HIIT intentionally spikes and lowers heart rate in short bursts, improving both aerobic and anaerobic capacity while training the heart to recover more efficiently,” Solomon says, including that each strategies enhance cardiovascular fitness, simply with totally different rhythms and intensities.
The Step Aerobics Blueprint Behind HIIT
Step aerobics could appear outdated to athletes at this time, but it surely laid the groundwork for HIIT as we all know it. With tempo-driven, full-body actions that pushed contributors bodily and mentally, these workouts delivered critical sweat and calorie burn—all in underneath an hour.
“Most importantly, however, it was one of the first types of training that brought joy and fun back to fitness,” Solomon says. “Getting to work out to your favorite song, or fall in love with the energy of an instructor, or even bring a friend to experience that electric energy—that is what truly changed the game.”
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