Extreme workouts provide fitness motivation, fun

Exercise experts say that the extreme fitness classes are fine, as long as participants aren't punishing themselves and are having fun. Some facilities even offer military-style training, with chanted cadences, sit-ups, push-ups, and a sergeant to yell at participants who slack off.

• Julie Bingham knows she's in for a tough workout when she walks into her morning "body pump" class at Fitness Works in Mesa.
• Large Valley fitness centers, such as Bally Total Fitness, have added or are beginning to add more extreme classes to their schedules.
• Many YMCAs offer boot-camp classes and drop-saddle cycling (stationary cycling with a lowered seat) as well as intense 30-minute circuit-training programs.
• Jazzercise and step aerobics still take up most spots on the group fitness schedules at gyms, but punishing fitness is on the upswing.
• Whether it's fast, thigh-pinching squats or slow, biceps-torturing curls, the class pushes participants' muscles to the max.
• As a drop-saddle instructor at the RIDE Cycling studio in Scottsdale, Anaya keeps everyone moving along with the music.
• However, Rider doesn't wholeheartedly disapprove of extreme exercise classes, as long as the person is safe and knows his or her limits.
• Yoga is supposed to be fun, relaxing, but it's not supposed to beat the crap out of you," said Rider, referring to some exhaustive and intimidating forms, such as Bikram yoga, which uses a heated and humidified room, and power yoga, a more aerobic form of traditional yoga that uses less recovery time between poses.
• "They think of it as a punishment.
• That concept drives some people to push the envelope when it comes to their fitness routines.
• But Andrea Griego, who owns the Bikram Yoga Institute in Scottsdale, says the 100- to 110-degree temperatures inside her classrooms help students achieve those tricky stretches.
• In addition to sit-ups, push-ups, jumping jacks and rope work, he includes mile-long runs, weight training and climbs up Piestewa Peak.