Back to class for the kids often means back to class for grownups, too, and in many cases that means refocusing on fitness.
While there are hundreds of fitness options in the St. Albert area, the city itself provides a wide variety of options suited to all residents with their many diverse needs.
The Gazette spoke with several instructors about some of what's on offer this fall. Complete listings, including dates, times and prices if applicable, can be found at stalbert.ca/getting-active.
ViPR Renew and Regenerate
The name of the class is a bit of a mouthful, but this course focusing on joint mobility can benefit just about anyone.
Brittany Uchach said this program she developed, based on the fitness principles of Vitality, Performance and Recondition (ViPR), will show participants some of the ways they can enhance their performance in other athletic endeavours.
"It's really just based on movement – getting you to move better and move deeper so you can move better in your day-to-day life and as well as move better in the other types of exercises you'll be doing."
The course could be a method of rehab following an injury, or for "prehab" to reduce the risk of injury in the first place, for both beginner and advanced participants.
Joga
The benefits of yoga are well understood in the fitness community but, for many people, focusing on quietly holding stretches for long periods of time just doesn't cut the mustard.
Enter Joga, a higher-energy adaptation of yoga that instructor Dot Laing says is a great fit for those with an elite-athlete attitude: wanting to have a very results-oriented yoga program that puts an emphasis on strength development.
"When you look at Joga, there's a lot of movement patterns that mimic the kind of things an athlete may need to work on to improve performance," she said. "That's the difference from yoga."
Laing said her own personal experience as a dragon-boat coach as shown her that this program can really benefit athletes, but you don't need to be a high-level competitor to benefit from this kind of program, Laing added.
"Joga is a style of yoga that's really geared towards elite athletes, but there's a lot of benefit for the recreational athlete and even people who play sports but aren't at that elite level."
Straddle and Swing
A lot of people will content themselves with a quick workout focusing on one particular goal, but for others nothing but an intense whole-body workout is going to scratch that itch.
For them, there's Straddle and Swing. Instructor Amanda Layden said that after doing 45 minutes on a stationary bike working cardio, then another 45 minutes working the muscles with kettlebell, participants will really be feeling it.
"It's a fairly high-intensity class, combining two of the higher-intensity workouts you can put together," she said. "They're really seeing the whole array of everything they can work on, all in one class."
One doesn't necessarily need heaps of experience, though, as she can gear the program to beginners as well.
"I can start them off with easy progressions and teach them the basics," Layden said. "If they've never used kettlebells, we start right from scratch and teach the simplest movements."
Fitness Conditioning
No matter how fit you are on dry land, it's a whole new world when you dive into the water. Aquatic instructor Annalee Woollam sees that first hand in her Fitness Conditioning course.
"Lots of people think they're in great shape, and sometimes they are," she said. "Swimming is a very different sport, and requires a very different set of muscles and an amount of effort to put into it."
For people looking to get into competitive swimming or triathlon, then, there can be a bit of work to do.
Woollam explains her course is structured so that swimmers of different levels and abilities can take part at the same time, with some setting their sights on a 1,500-metre swim in an hour and others looking to go much further.
And even if your swimming experience is limited to floating in a tube with a drink in your hand, she can set you on the right track.
"For each person who comes as a new swimmer in the program, I do an evaluation and get their strokes up to speed so no one injures themselves while they're swimming."
Building Better Bones
Not everyone has typical fitness needs, and for some the idea of exercising can be daunting because of the very real possibility it could lead to serious injury.
But brittle bones don't need to stop you from keeping fit. Victoria Frey's Building Better Bones course is new to St. Albert this year, and is geared towards the senior and geriatric population.
The course is meant to show those living with osteoporosis and related conditions how they can continue to move and exercise safely, thereby improving their quality of life.
While it's new to St. Albert, Frey is a seasoned instructor when it comes to this subject matter.
"I've taught osteo-exercise groups in the past, but not here," she said. "When I got hired there was not as much focusing on the senior community, so I thought this was a good fit."
Kinesis
Instructor Krystle Johner teaches several Kinesis classes, focusing on the perplexing-looking kinesis wall at Servus Place.
She explained the wall allows for a broader range of movements, including multi-joint movements, unlike other cable-based weight machines that tend to isolate a single muscle.
"That can be a good thing depending on your goals, but they train single-joint movements," she said. "Multi-jointed movements are better for the body as a whole, depending on your goals."
Johner said working with the kinesis wall can help with recovery after an injury, or in cases where, for whatever reason, on particular type of movement is difficult for someone.
"It can be a little more accommodating for individuals who have a limited range of motion," she said.
