Metro New York, December 5, 2006
by Llanor Alleyene
PROFILE. Let's face it: Going to the gym can get boring fast. Aside from feeling like a lab rat (running on a treadmill, cycling to hits from the '80s, the repetition), there is the intimidation factor: all of those already chiseled bodies milling around, the grunting and those big, complicated machines. That could explain why many opt for the privacy of aerobic DVDs or the near solitude of yoga or just skip the whole idea of exercise altogether.
While there have been several unique alternatives to mass-market gym culture, few have avoided popularity death from faddishness. But, unlike tae bo or step classes, the patented Gyrotonic Expansion System has had a slow rise into public consciousness, due most to a strict certification process that only allows hand picked trainers to teach the technique of its creator.
CREATED IN the late '80s by former Eastern European professional dancer Juliu Horvath after he sustained a career-ending injury, the unique exercise technique has its roots in his yoga based Gyrokinesis and combines all the benefits of dance, yoga, gymnastics, tai chi and swimming to gently work the joints and muscles while strengthen the entire body.
"It is a system that is applicable to a lot of people no matter what kind of traumas they have in their bodies," says master trainer Vincent Macagnone of East Village Movements. "The system is rehabilitative and prohibitive. If you are trying to heal from an injury or want to prevent yourself from getting injured, it's a complete system for that. It's not a choreographic mess. The exercises are very simple, though not passive, and they get into how the body is supposed to work while being very soothing on the body."
LIKE PILATES, Gyrotonic employs breathing techniques and specially made equipment to strengthen and elongate core muscles, while working on flexibility and coordination. But Jennifer McCasland Daly, a Gyrotonic master trainer at the newly opened Kinespirit studio on E. 23rd Street, points to a key difference: "Pilates is like running, and Gyrotonic is like swimming. Pilates is two-dimensional and linear, and Gyrotonic is threedimensional. You get to work the body in all of its possibilities, in all of its range."
There are more than 130 exercises within Gyrotonic, which cuts back on
repetition. And with equipment and techniques that are versatile, the exercise system is adjustable to suit the needs of everyone from children to the elderly.
Download the article in PDF format
