Fighting fit: (Top) Vesna Jacob on a power plate machine; and a versa class in progress at Ozone

Madhur Singh, 44, is a self-confessed fitness freak. Yoga, pilates, weight-training — the Delhi-based stock broker has tried them all. Her latest addiction is the intensive power plate machine workout. Popularised by celebrities such as Madonna, it is a fast-paced exercise on a machine that helps you keep in shape by vibrating parts of your body. What’s more, it can get you the same results in about half the time spent doing regular exercises in a gym.

“This workout suits me the best. It’s time efficient and not very high impact for my age,” says Singh, who does not mind shelling out Rs 7,500 a month for a 25-minute workout thrice a week.

In urban India, as fitness slowly becomes the new lifestyle mantra, health buffs such as Singh are constantly on the lookout for innovative ways to keep fit. Like fashion, fitness is changing every season. So, if pilates was the flavour of the fitness world a few months ago, it’s the chic power plate that’s creating waves for now. “Today people have less time and get bored easily. Following a typical workout regime for long can get monotonous. And that is why challenging and innovative workouts are getting popular,” says Delhi-based fitness expert Vesna Jacob.

Keeping in step with the fitness junkies are gyms and trainers who offer new workouts ever so frequently. From spinning to circuit training, most high-end gyms are one-stop shops to fan your fitness fantasies. At the Delhi-based Fitnesolution you can choose from no less than 20 such options. The centre offers kick boxing, bosu, ramp, strength training, bar bells, dancexercise, salsa, pilates, magic circle, Tai chi, aqua aerobics, Swiss ball, therapeutic balls and boot camp, among others.

Bet you haven’t heard about half of them in your lifetime. Ramp is an inclined treadmill on which you can exercise like you would do on a stepper, Bosu is a half ball, flat from the bottom, with which you do balance training, abdominal exercises and step moves. Swiss balls are heavy-duty inflatable vinyl balls that help build flexibility, balance and neuromuscular strengthening. Magic circle is a soft rubber ring that provides resistance for faster and targeted toning of improving muscles. Phew!

“We believe in versatility. If your mind is bored with the monotonous exercise regime, your body would have stopped benefiting from the workout. It is important to vary your fitness programme,” says Kiran Sawhney, who runs Fitnesolution.

For those in search of the body beautiful, the list of innovating fitness programmes is endless. Every other fitness centre is experimenting with a new workout that would keep the cash registers ringing. At the popular Mumbai-based Talwalkars gyms, the buzzword these days is a unique Korean exercise called Twist therapy. With soft Korean music in the background, participants learn to exercise by twisting their body parts. The therapy believes that you can activate metabolism and energy circulation in the body by twisting a part or the whole body. This relaxing fitness programme has therapeutic benefits as well. “It is effective in treating problems related to joints, muscles and inner organs and hugely beneficial to heart patients,” says trainer Semida Patni.

So just mindlessly pumping iron is passé. Most fitness enthusiasts have moved on to fun and innovative ways of working out. Young entrepreneur Sanjeev Khatri was into aerobics before he got hooked to bhangra aerobics some time ago. As the name suggests, bhangra aerobics is a form of an exercise fitted to the Punjabi folk style of music and dance.

Before he starts his busy day at his coffee shop Café Affaire in Faridabad, Haryana, Khatri can be spotted at his gym dressed in a kurta and track pants, swaying to popular Bhangra numbers. The rhythmic beats of the dhol lift his mood and at the same time help him keep in shape. “It is very happening and a lot of fun. The mood and ambience are colourful and there is a lot of bonding with the entire group,” he says. In the bargain he also learnt a step or two for those nights at the discotheque.

At the Calcutta-based Solace Gym, salsa workouts are catching on with great fervor. Like bhangra aerobics, salsa workouts combine fitness with fun and are thus gaining popularity. Though salsa workouts were started at Solace almost two years ago, they are now seeing increasing attendance. “There are people of all age groups in the salsa class. But young professionals are more in number,” says fitness trainer Preetom Mukherjee Roy of Solace Gym. The classes offered at a monthly fee of Rs 2,500 per person and Rs 4,000 per couple seem to have caught the fancy of the young fitness-conscious Calcuttan.

And if kick boxing, aqua aerobics and salsa are making you wonder about the range of fitness options, wait till you hear about versa classes. At the versa classes held in Ozone Gym in Gurgaon every day participants do different forms of exercises. So on one day if it is running, the next day it could be karate, then step aerobics or kick boxing or dance exercise another day. This concept believes that if you do only one kind of exercise your body gets used to it. As a result your muscles get fatigued and can be prone to injuries. “In versa, with different forms of exercises every day, you give your muscles a jolt. And it is a full body workout as all your muscles will get exercised in some form or another,” points out Sonia Shallini, fitness trainer at Ozone. There is no way you will get bored in this class.

For fitness enthusiasts these innovative workouts don’t just break the monotony but also help in keeping fit. Versa enthusiast Rajiv Gupta says the classes have led to an increased stamina and mental alertness — and helped him shed 20 kilos. Bhangra aerobics have helped Khatri remain in shape for the last one year. And Singh feels that the power plate workouts have toned her muscles like never before.

Most workout fanatics would disagree, but following the latest fitness mantra adds to their glam value too. So for the health freaks it’s not hip anymore to just visit a gym as your chic quotient is more known by the kind of fitness regime you follow. Life, clearly, is not just about keeping in shape — but how.