TWIN FALLS — Summer, said Gary Warr, director of the new Jerome rec center, is the slowest time of year for fitness centers.

Why exercise in a stuffy gym when you can be outside?

To woo you back, Magic Valley fitness centers are updating equipment — machines in the vein of the latest cardio, balance and strength-training trends.

At Gold’s Gym in Twin Falls, the focus is balance. Since last summer, the gym brought in two devices designed to build stabilizing muscles and maintain balance.

Stability disks — gel-filled, hockey puck-shaped disks about a foot wide — can be used standing, kneeling or sitting. Lift weights or stretch atop the disks to target seldom-used stabilizing muscles.

“When you stand on them,” said gym assistant general manager Amy Walker, “they force you to balance, so it really works those stability muscles.”

Another balance-based contraption, the Bosu ball, zeros in on those hard-to-work muscles, as well. But the ball is also great for abs.

Bosu balls look much like the giant rubber exercise spheres that began appearing in gyms several years ago. But unlike the old balls, the Bosu has a flat edge that prevents it from rolling. They’re so popular at Gold’s Gym, the center began offering instructional classes with the balls so clients could have equal access to the trendy technology.

Across town at Twin Falls Fitness Center, clients are clamoring over new cardio machines: a step mill, new treadmill and two elliptical trainers (like a bicycle with moving handlebars). The Twin Falls center obtained the machines when a Boise health club closed down earlier this year.

Most popular here is the step mill, a machine that owner Connie Rencher describes as “a continual escalator.” This machine exercises your heart and “it’s also a great glute workout,” she said.

In Jerome, exercisers are crazy for cardio machines, too. The Jerome rec center, which opened earlier this spring, stocks plenty of elliptical trainers and treadmills. But it’s the stationary bicycles that keep classes crowded.

“Our spinning classes are extremely popular,” said Warr, the center’s director.

Must be. The center attracts about 200 people each day — and that’s during the fitness center summer slump.



Times-News features writer Matt Christensen can be reached at 735-3243 or matt.christensen@lee.net.