Aerobics can also work for men
Fitness:
By Anup Deb Nath

AMONG the options for men who want to work out — jogging, tennis, squash, rowing and weight training do figure but the one item that does not figure is aerobics for men. Possibly the reason for this is that one of the most common misconceptions is that dance or step aerobics are not a guy’s kind of exercise routine.

Most men tend to opt for exercise options that are considered manly or macho. For some strange reason, aerobics is considered to be exclusively a woman’s exercise routine. One of the reasons could be that many men are blessed with two left feet and coordination required by aerobics seems to be extremely difficult for them.

A regular step or aerobic dance class requires stamina, strength and endurance something many people who have not tried aerobics fail to understand. Movements that women can do seemingly effortlessly seem to be impossible for many men. But none of these reasons really makes aerobics more of women’s exercise option than men’s.

Men who find themselves getting bored with their regular exercise routines of jogging of the gym and weight training should give aerobics a try. The blend of music as well as the group coordination often results in aerobics classes being real fun. If you are the type who tends to skip over half the exercise programme while in the gym, try opting for aerobics instead. You might find yourself sticking it out so that you are not termed a quitter.

Aerobics as it was some years ago, was different to what you see within the framework of dance and step aerobics today. Dancercise, kick boxing slide aerobics, jazzercise. the variety today is a lot more from what it was a few years ago. All these classes try to lay more emphasis on endurance, coordination, flexibility as well as muscle toning — which really is the ultimate goal of any exercise class.

The benefits of joining a group aerobics class over most other forms of exercise, even for guys, are undeniable. apart from giving yourself — an overall workout, gaining coordination, flexibility and building your endurance and improving your muscle tone you will also gain a sense of rhythm.

Aerobics are always group classes and men who find themselves getting easily disinterested in their usual exercise or leaving it midway will find this one way of completing a whole exercise routine.

Those who find themselves getting bored very easily with most of the exercise routines will find that the immovation and creativity that some of the instructors have in their classes will keep you from getting bored. In these cases try to find a class with an instructor who changes his exercise pattern and does not repeat it and that will add in the fun in your workout.

Many men feel awkward when they enter a class and find that they are barely able to cope with the simple movements and the more complicated ones leaves them totally frozen in fear. The answer is to initially start the class and only focus on the foot movements, Try not to move your arms till you have mastered the footwork well enough. This way you will find that you are able to cope with the class reasonable well.

Another common problem is that many men feel awkward at learning from a woman instructor. The quality of teaching matters more than the person’s gender does and you should tell yourself that, but if it still makes you feel uncomfortable look for a class by a male instructor and there are many of those around as well and follow their class till you feel comfortable enough to switch to whichever one is better eventually. Try to remember at the height of your awkwardness that when you learnt how to swim or how to play tennis you took a little time to learn and become proficient at that sport as well. If you treat aerobics in the same way you will find that once your initial hesitation is gone it will be just as easy to pick up and the results will be as good as any other exercise routine you have done as well.

Aerobics can be fun when done in a group with a good instructor and inspiring music, the best bit of all is that most men who aren’t blessed with a natural sense of rhythm will actually find themselves benefiting from this and will find that the next time they are on a dance floor they will be much better than they were earlier and far more popular as well.