Group exercise and Essentrics® have both been around for awhile. Essentrics® was broadcasted on PBS(Public Broadcasting System) in the late 90’s. It has since become an established brand in the group exercise community.
I was first introduced to it in 2018 at a CanFitPro conference in Toronto. I was lucky to have come across it when I did.
Why did I choose it? I have a background in physical therapy, massage, shiatsu, Pilates and dance. I was an athlete in my younger years as well as having spent multiple hours in the gym. I have dabbled quite a bit over the years with various exercise programs and techniques. So what was it that made me want to know more about Essentrics® and become an instructor?
Accessibility
The program can be modified to suit many fitness levels. There are multiple modifications for each exercise or movement sequence. These modifications may increase or decrease the level of difficulty. Modifications are also provided to increase the safety of an exercise for a specific population.
The movements themselves may not appear that complex or difficult at first sight. Essentrics® gets you to play with the balance of concentric and eccentric muscle contractions. Every time you move a joint, there is at least one muscle that lengthens, and another that shortens. Essentrics® makes use of the coordinated effort of these contractions to strengthen, relax or lengthen certain muscles.
Upper body stretches and arms overhead
I think this is unique to Essentrics®. There are multiple opportunities to work with the arms overhead, which if you don’t do it often, is a challenge. Most of our days are spent with the arms close to the sides of our body.
Large repertoire of exercises and movement sequences
Once you have acquired level 4 instructor certification in Essentrics®, you are allowed to design your own workouts. Essentrics® has hundreds of hours of workout material. They continue to produce new workouts with various featured instructors, each with their own movement style and variations in sequences.
Use of scientific principles and anatomical references
Essentrics® uses some techniques for muscle release that I have learned in the past as a physiotherapist. They educate their instructors on anatomy and get mostly everything right. There is a focus on posture and ideal mechanics. Essentrics® has generally jibed with what I already assumed to be correct.
Music, phrasing and fun
This is probably my favorite element. The use of musical phrasing, different rhythms and styles of music are encouraged in Essentrics®. There is enough room in the technique to capitalize on how music may help one to make deeper mind-body connections. For me, making these connections makes movement way more inspiring, interesting and fun.
Group exercise and Essentrics®
Lastly, Essentrics® was designed as a group fitness class. Check out my post called Group exerciser to see why you should consider becoming (if not already) a group exerciser too. And here is a post on choosing a group exercise class for some tips on how to evaluate what you want and what you need from a group exercise class.
So are you ready? LET’s GO!