Lacey Twp. trainer wants her Plyoga workout to go global
Susanne Cervenka
Asbury Park Press
It's nearly impossible to avoid hearing about Zumba in gyms and community centers, where the Latin dance-based aerobics routines are common.
And even the casual TV viewer has happened across a reference to P90X, the high-intensity workout system known as much for its "muscle confusion" as its infomercials.
A Lacey Township personal trainer is hoping to garner some of the same fervor of those exercise routines for Plyoga, the fitness system she developed and that has been steadily growing across the country and internationally during the past year.
"We don't see ourselves any less valuable than any of those systems," Stephanie Lauren Ascough, who goes professionally by the name Stephanie Lauren.
"We're for everyone who wants to bring out their inner athlete."
Plyoga, which mixes plyometrics and yoga for a high-intensity workout, launched in August 2013 and is now taught by more than 40 trainers in four states and Canada. In the coming weeks, Lauren is traveling to Florida and Colorado to certify more trainers.
But her plans for the future are aggressive. She hopes to expand Plyoga to every state in the country within a year and a half, and to be in other countries within three years.
Fitness has been a part of almost every aspect of Lauren's life.
She began in gymnastics at childhood, and was a track star with Toms River East, where she still holds the school's long jump record. Lauren walked on to Towson University's gymnastics team, then later joined its track team, where she also holds the school's long jump record.
After graduating with a degree in elementary education, she turned back to fitness and became a certified personal trainer since 2008.
Plyoga was born more out of how Lauren approaches her own workouts.
Instead of pausing in between repetitions of strength training exercises, she would include other forms of flexibility training. So squats would be followed immediately by a plank before starting the next round of squats.
"I was always doing something as an active recovery," she said.
She also realized many athletes, while working hard on strength training and agility, have holes in their training routines. Namely, they are missing exercises to improve their flexibility.
"So many athletes and Crossfitters and very high-intensity people who work out, they just can't fathom slowing down for an hour to get that yoga in," she said. "I was guilty of it as well because if there was a yoga class and a kickboxing class, I would be in that kickboxing class because I wanted to know I burned 800 calories and was drenched in sweat."
To fill that gap, Lauren merged principles of yoga with plyometrics, a form of high-intensity exercises best known by its explosive jumps and hops, to form Plyoga.
The routine is based entirely on body weight and requires no other equipment.
Like her own workouts, Plyoga pairs the jumping exercises of plyometrics with the mind-body and flexibility aspects of yoga.
The hour-long workout is broken into four parts. Plyo Flow is a "ballistic" full-body warm-up.
The routine moves to Plyogaverse, where the elements of the two original exercise routines merge.
Fitness students, for example, will do a series jumping lunges immediately followed by holding the yoga crescent pose.
Lauren said she gives her students a little pep talk before Plyo Explosion, a short, but very intense series of plyometric exercises.
That's followed by Yogaville, a cool down based in yoga where people in the class can stretch, focus on their breathing and relax.
Lauren said she designed Plyoga so its classes could be taken by beginners to advanced athletes. She's also taken the routine back to Towson University, where she worked with the gymnastics, track and field and volleyball teams.
But there was much more work to bring Plyoga from a concept to a fully-involved fitness program that could be taught by other trainers and fitness instructors.
Lauren and her husband, Thomas Ascough, sought to become a provider with Plyoga through the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America, a worldwide organization that certifies personal trainers and group exercise instructors.
Being a provider allows potential Plyoga trainers to gain continuing education credits, which are needed for them to maintain their certification, by learning Plyoga.
That's an advantage that can help give fitness systems the edge to expand over a field of different exercises, said Michele Blake, a fitness practitioner director with AFAA.
"Everything is great out there. (Fitness instructors) love it all, we love this stuff," she said. "But we need to get our credits first because we need to keep our jobs."
Fitness routines don't need to be certified for instructors to teach it, Blake said.
"There is probably one being born every day," she said.
The growing trend in fitness programs is "fusion" workouts, which blend two or more types of workouts, Blake said.
It's not necessarily a new idea. Fitness instructors years ago would blend many different exercises into classes, which would go generally under the heading of "aerobics," she said.
In the past 20 years, fitness instructors began branding the exercises, and in the past 10 years, fusion classes have exploded. But often it is the same types of classes, like yoga and Pilates, both of which are more centered mind-body wellness, Blake said
Plyoga, however, is a bit more unique, she said, because it blends a mind-body class with a strength focused class.
"Plyometrics and yoga, you don't normally see those two together," Blake said.
It was part of the draw of Plyoga for Christine Conti of Brick, a personal trainer who became certified in Plyoga in February.
"It's not yoga. It's not just plyometrics. You are going to get a great workout that is both cardio and strength and flexibility all at the same time," she said.
Susanne Cervenka: 732-643-4229; scervenka@app.com.
OPTIMUM EXERCISE
The Centers for Disease Control recommends adults get at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, like brisk walking, as well as two days per week of strength training for all major muscle groups.
A person can get 75 minutes per week of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, like running, plus the two days of strength training. Or they can do a combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity aerobic activity.
The CDC also notes that older adults can gain greater health benefits by increasing the aerobic activity to 300 minutes per week at moderate intensity or 150 minutes per week at vigorous intensity.
The American Council on Exercise also recommends that every exercise program include flexibility exercises.