NIA

TOTAL BODY FTNESS: THE NIA TECHNIQUE

Neuromuscular Interactive Action (NIA) is a high-energy fitness program that is safe and adaptable to virtually any fitness level. It combines non-impact aerobics, dance and martial arts that integrate aerobic conditioning, balance and flexibility. NIA fully supports the Pleasure Principle: If it feels good - keep doing it. If it hurts - stop. NIA is done in bare feet and completely eliminates repetitive jogging and jumping up and down. It provides three levels of intensity in every movement, a variety in range of motion, and endless user-friendly choreographic movement choices. Relaxation is infused into every movement, establishing dynamic-ease, grounding, connectedness, and moving from center, regardless of speed or intensity.

The Atlanta Journal and Constitution 1/27/2004:

Learning the ABCs of abs
Metro classes abound as folks seeks ways to build up core muscles

By VIRGINIA ANDERSON
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It's rush hour, and the bottleneck already is forming.

David Lawrence, 35, of Decatur is idling. A few others -- Jim Engstrom, Diane Loupe, Ginibeth Thompson -- rush in behind him. They look around anxiously: When will the abs class begin?

Lawrence and more than a dozen others are students in one of hundreds of classes each week in the metro area that focus only on the abdominal and core muscles. There are crunches and curls nonstop to the blaring sound of disco for the boomers or hip-hop for the twentysomethings. There are weights and balls and balance boards and groans that sound like participants are being tortured. There are Pilates classes that demand the flexibility of string cheese.

Even the leader in this recent class later commiserates as she orders a new round of crunches:

"I hate these," said Maryellen Potts, "I really, really hate 'em."

Yet hundreds break from the rush hour on the roads to dash in for a quick 20 or 30 minutes of abs workout at a gym on their way home from work. Others report in for a Sunday morning workout. Thousands more get an abs workout at the end of an aerobics class.

Attendance at classes for the abdominals has increased by as much as 75 percent at some area gyms, and fitness directors keep adding classes to keep up with the demand. The East Lake Family YMCA increased its Pilates class offerings to five this year and upped its abs-only classes to three.

Sandy Springs Fitness has seen enrollment in its abs classes grow by about 30 percent, said co-owner Andrea Huntey, and the gym has added three neuromuscular integrated activity, or NIA, classes, where exercisers work on balance and abs. In Midtown, Fitness Factory has an abs class every day to meet growing demand.

"Our biggest classes are abs, yoga and Pilates," said owner Jerry Edwards. The abs classes usually are at 6 p.m., right before aerobics classes begin.

Pilates, with its emphasis on core training, has become one of the most popular ways to firm the abdominal muscles. Nationally, Pilates class enrollment grew from 2.4 million to 4.7 million from 2001 to 2002, according to a fitness industry trade group.

"We finish all of our classes with abs work," said Deon'ta Hampton, senior wellness director at the East Lake Family YMCA. "Everyone wants to work on abs."

No other muscle group gets the attention of the abdominals, a group of muscles that support the body's midsection and keep the rest of it on balance.

The abdominals are actually a set of three muscle groups -- the rectus abdominus, the internal and external obliques that cross in the abdominal section, and the transverse abdominals, which run horizontally and are the deepest of the muscles. The rectus abdominus is the set of long, vertical muscle tissue that people associate with the six-pack or washboard tummy, while the oblique and transverse muscles hold the body in place.

"The abdominals have always been the first area of concern [for exercisers], but the whole fitness industry is now abuzz about core training," said Lisa Kiely, wellness director at the Decatur-DeKalb YMCA.

The biggest quest for many is simply flat abs, but the focus of fitness experts and physiologists is strengthening the body's core to prevent injury and improve quality of life through middle and older age.

"The stronger the transverse muscles are, the stronger your back," said Dr. Julie Miller, senior exercise physiologist at the Duke Fitness and Health Center at Duke University in Durham, N.C. "By standing up a little taller, we take the pressure off the rest of our bodies."

The benefits are particularly helpful to an aging population, experts said, to prevent falls and injuries of other muscle groups.

That may all sound good, but the quest for a taut six-pack abdomen for a guy or a washboard-flat abdomen for a woman is behind much of the interest in abs work. The fitness experts stressed that abs work alone will not yield the flat look.

"Here's the thing," said Miller. "You can strengthen and tone all day long, but you've got to get rid of what's on top of those muscles."

Because the dreaded abdominal pouch is more about fat than muscle mass, people need to cut back on calories to burn the fat, Miller said.

And what about those toothpick-thin people who can't get rid of the pouch? Some of that may simply be hereditary, the experts said.

At the 5:35 p.m. class at the Decatur-DeKalb YMCA on Thursday, 16 people used incline boards, weights and balance balls to work on their abs. Instructor Potts encouraged them, sounding at times like a drill sergeant and like a mother hen at other times.

"Isn't this refreshing?" she asked as the group worked on what seemed to be its 17th variation on the theme of causing pain through exercise. "I don't think Egyptians ever did this. It's just not fair."

The fitness levels of the exercisers varied. After class, many explained that their reasons for being in the class varied, too.

"It's a good workout," said Danny Scott, 46, of Stone Mountain. "I get work here I don't in my step classes."

Engstrom, 47, of Decatur is a veteran of two years in the abs classes.

"This just sort of makes you focus, and the music helps," Engstrom said.

The exercisers said the benefit to working on abs in a class rather than crunching solo is not only the camaraderie but also the expertise. Instructors keep a watchful eye for mistakes in form, such as when someone lifts their body with their neck or shoulders. Doing abs work incorrectly may work other muscle groups, but not the abs.

"I get a much better workout here in half an hour than I would if I were at home doing these for an hour a day," said Lawrence, who's been taking abs classes at the Y for five months. "It's just good conditioning."