Working Up A Sweat Local fitness trends from Jane Fonda to Kettlebells BY Margot Ramsay
From the sweatband-clad step aerobics and Jazzercise workouts of yesteryear, to the booming popularity of Pilates, yoga and CrossFit, fitness trends are an important part of the exercise vernacular, especially in active mountain towns like Ketchum and Hailey. Throughout the years, fitness trends have steamrolled their way into immense popularity, only to seemingly fall off the mat, never to be heard from again. So we talked to a few local aficionados to learn more about the history of the fitness scene in Sun Valley. Margie Caldwell Cooper has seen her fair share of fitness trends; she’s been in the business since the days of leg warmers and Jane Fonda workouts. During the early ’80’s in the Valley, she taught group exercises in a garage in the Ketchum industrial park on double-padded carpet over concrete, which Margie says is a “sure-fire recipe for shin splints!” Margie started teaching classes at the Sun Valley Athletic Club soon after it 66 s sunvalleymag.com | 40th anniversary issue
was built in 1984 and has remained a prominent figure in the local fitness industry. From those days of high impact jumping and lunging, the fitness world has steadily evolved. As Margie explains, “We began to connect with the body and its need to move rhythmically and we needed a fun factor. So we dressed up and used current popular music during the step classes of the ’90’s.” Move on to now, and Margie explains that
fusion classes, which blend Eastern and Western styles, are more holistic and have become popular. “We make sure people not only stretch, but do cardio, strength, meditate and add healing modalities to their routines,” she says. Margie teaches Pilates and yoga and calls these fitness styles “balance training exercises” that work the deep core muscles. She says that those trends which foster the mind/ body connection, like Pilates and yoga, have staying power in that “they help people to focus and connect not only with themselves, but with the immediate environment, which means fewer stimuli from media, screens, cell phones and noise in general.” Margie says that she, along with the current industry, is more focused on a moderate approach, “one with less high-intensity training, but that includes all the aspects of fitness.” Along with the quieting trends like Pilates, another newer popular fitness movement is anything but quiet. CrossFit, which now has specialized gyms in Hailey and Ketchum, is focused on strength and high-intensity, full-body exercises. CrossFit
photographs left to right: jane mccann courtesy of zenergy
ABOVE (left to right) Pilates has taken the fitness scene to a whole new level. Here Zenergy members are on the robar Pilates machine; Spin classes became very popular in the early 2000s. INSET Margie Caldwell Cooper poses for her video “Idaho Local’s Workout” in 1989. OPPOSITE PAGE Yoga became the hot workout at the turn of the century with bodybalancing poses designed to reinforce strength and alignment like this one performed by local instructor Beth Stuart.
/ cody doucette courtesy of zenergy / inset: courtesy margie caldwell cooper
body & soul // fitness trends