The aerobics class

Curated by Mario Agamemnon

Aerobics is defined by Wikipedia as follows:

aerobic gymnastics by definition is called resistance (or endurance: ability of the body to carry out generalized muscular exercise, in aerobic conditions, for as long as possible), in which the energy fuel used to perform an effective workout is oxygen.

If Kenneth Cooper, the inventor of this discipline, walked into most of the gyms in our country today and saw a typical Aerobics class, he would probably wonder what they are doing. of throwing the eye into a fitness room, I ask myself the same question.
In 1987 when I started attending the ISEF today IUSM, aerobic activity made its first entry into the gyms. We are in the period of Jane Fonda.

At the time there were no rules: posture, control, technique, and execution of the movements were not the object of study, and it was a continuous leap from beginning to end without any criteria. Fortunately, over the years competent bodies such as ACE (American Council on Exercise) & AFAA (Aerobics and Fitness Association of America) gave rules on scientific criteria and began to establish the basics of "Aerobic" gymnastics. It was a real revolution, even going against those basic principles or clichés that until then were the basic foundations of so-called educational gymnastics.
Aerobics thus had its own well-defined position and described as "cardiovascular training and muscle conditioning." The structure of a lesson, the physiological benefits, the speed of execution of the exercises, the music and the contraindicated components were established.
Today, unfortunately, it is not clear what the real purpose of an Aerobics class is because the instructor takes little account of all these principles listed above.
Having said that, I state that I will analyze in another article the actual Aerobics class and its benefits, and what is the difference between aerobic and anaerobic work. In this context I will limit myself to clarifying some general aspects often forgotten in gyms today.
The fitness instructor and his profession have undergone in recent years a series of changes related both to the growth of the various activities related to it, and to the numerous scientific achievements that have occurred in the disciplines that study the human system in the learning situation, as psychology and pedagogy, for this reason it is necessary to be professionally prepared and always up-to-date.
Today, most of the instructors seem to go at random, thus losing sight of the true function of aerobic activity, that is the training factor. music that touches 150/160 BPM (beats per minute), forcing the motor gestures to be poorly executed, therefore not training, and contraindicated for this type of activity.
To all this I add that today no one takes into account that most people live an eventful life, running left and right, with stress, and little time to rest.
From studies carried out by some researchers it has been noted that if you continue to train at the same "stressful" pace with which you face work and daily life, the benefits that should derive from training will never come. So what are we talking about?
Aerobic activity has existed for more than 30 years, evolving into a large number of variations; thus, the concept of Fitness today must take into account the component of stress and everyday life and include rest, relaxation, and fun for mind and body.
Only in this way can this discipline give its benefits.
The task of introducing these elements into their programs therefore rests with professionals in the sector. The instructor is the student's fitness model, who places the utmost trust in you. Credibility is very important; for this you have to be fully prepared.
The problem today is the countless federations or pseudo-such that issue diplomas to anyone just for profit. Suffice it to say that the average time for the duration of a course is a weekend. How can you think of giving a theoretical preparation at the level of concepts of Anatomy, Biology, Physiology, Kinesiology, therefore also practice to a person in just 2 days? As a result, most instructors are unprepared and unaware of what they are doing. This leads to a misinformation on the concept of Aerobics class that everyone translates in the way they want and is coined with the most bizarre names (ABS, GAG, TBC, TBW,) but in the end its content is always the same and badly set up.
Today aerobics is interpreted with a wrong concept because there is no information either from the facility or from the instructor, who enters the class and starts without giving any explanation before, during, and after the lesson.
But is it the fault of the instructor or the gym? I think that some fitness centers today are poorly managed, but it is up to the professional ethics of the instructor the greater responsibility. In fact, I keep seeing instructors trying their hand at boxing lessons with music without have no knowledge of the motor gesture of a fist. I see students hitting the sacks with small weights in their hands, jumping and moving their limbs at incredible speeds, going from standing to prone in fractions of a second, and all this under the direction and the "control" of the teacher. I see step classes at supersonic music speeds, when the step, being a tool, must be treated as such and the approach must be controlled and safe, with the rhythm of the music that provides for the correct execution of the movement. I see toning classes built without no criteria, motor gestures that do not find any functional anatomical confirmation, speed of execution that touches the supersonic, not taking into account that the higher the execution speed the lower the muscular effort.
I believe that there is nothing more devastating, on a physical, motor, joint and tendon level, than these types of training that I have just described. Fitness means well-being.
The Aerobics class must have a beginning and an end, a logic, take into account the fundamental principles of training, pass from a warm-up phase to a conditioning phase, from aerobic phase to a cool-down phase and stretching.
And it must be an AEROBIC workout !!!