Or you could sign up for a sound bath meditation, perfect your plié in a barre class, or book your child for an obstacle-course birthday party.

Get going

When it comes to today’s approach to fitness, “there has to be something fun about it,” says Amanda Barrick, owner and lead instructor at Ducks in a Row Yoga in Wilton.

The studio offers aerial and mat yoga, total body resistance training, and classes in split silks, which are circus-based movements performed on suspended lengths of colorful silk.

When done by skilled practitioners, the exercises look like aerial ballet.

Barrick says she gave her Wilton studio its name because of “how a duck can keep moving through rough, turbulent times, which is kind of what we hope to do in yoga.”

Aerial classes, she says, can be particularly helpful for those with mobility challenges. Using a hammock, for example, puts less weight on the legs so people can get a deeper, supported stretch.

The split silks classes, beginner through advanced levels, require “whole body engagement” to climb the silks and perform maneuvers like splits, inversions and flips. “If you want rock-hard abs, this is the place,” Barrick says.

The silks do require strength-building over time.

“You want to look like Cirque du Soleil ,but there are definitely ugly duckling moments,” she says.

Sarah Brockway of Milford is one of the roughly 75 students who take courses at Ducks in a Row and has been practicing split silks for about a year and a half.

She says she’s not planning to join a circus anytime soon, but “it’s very empowering when you finally get a skill you’ve been working on. There are moments when it feels a little scary and you have to really trust yourself and trust that the silks are going to hold you. You feel very free.”

For kids, Ducks in a Row also offers aerial yoga and intro to trapeze.

Barrick also offers local yoga retreats, week-long international yoga and wellness retreats, personal training, parties and “sound bath meditations” around the time of the new or full moon. In addition, she provides energy healing sessions using a variety of techniques.

Punch it out

Motivation and a change of pace are key when trying out a different type of exercise and strength training.

“It’s hard to get excited every day about riding a bicycle or running on a treadmill,” says Ryan Cacciola, general manager of Title Boxing in Nashua, a national boxing fitness franchise with more than 145 locations. “It’s easy to get excited about a new (boxing) combination you haven’t tried before.”

While traditional fitness classes remain popular at many clubs, new and unusual courses are challenging health-conscious consumers of all ages.

At the Workout Club in Londonderry, youngsters can participate in Ninja Warrior Fitness, including fast-paced obstacle workouts for those 2 to 12 years of age, and aerial acrobatics for kids 7 to 13. Ninja birthday parties for those 4 to 12 include obstacle challenges tailored to their age group and cakes and snacks in the party room. Ninja summer and winter camps are also offered.

“The program has taken off for us,” says Ann Marie Caprio, regional program director for the Workout Club, and more than 100 children now participate. Inspired by a youth fitness program at the Workout Club’s Salem location, Caprio launched the Londonderry Ninja program in 2018. The sessions started with the obstacle classes, and aerial components like hoops, trapezes and double silks were added about a year ago.

The coached classes allow youngsters to earn their own strengths, she says, but also to take on challenges so that obstacles become stepping stones. “They’re always encouraged, and they always feel they can overcome something,” Caprio says.

The Workout Club, which also has a location in Manchester, also offers a full range of adult classes, including group fitness, aquatics and personal training.

It’s popular, barré none

A new kid on the block in terms of fitness is Pure Barre in Salem, which owner Maddie Newell opened with her husband Brad at the end of August.

A mix of pilates, yoga and ballet, Pure Barré is a whole-body workout where “we keep one foot on the floor at all times,” explains Newell. “One thing you hear in class is ‘Take it down an inch, take it up an inch.’ The smaller the movement, the more it isolates that specific group of muscles you’re working.”

Part of a national chain with almost 650 studios, Pure Barré offers dance-inspired, musically driven classes for beginners through experienced practitioners and also has locations in Nashua, Portsmouth and Bedford.

Newell says part of Pure Barré’s attraction is the community it creates, where clients feel free to share important news in their lives like pregnancies or engagements. It also offers a “mental clarity” that complements the physical workout.

Despite its newbie status, the Salem club already has about 230 members, according to Newell.

It’s not just for guys

Title Boxing in Nashua is exploding all the stereotypes about boxing — that it is chiefly for adult males, for example.

Owner Lauren Macaulay, who also has Title Boxing franchises in North Andover, Burlington and Woburn, Mass., says roughly half of the 250 or so members of the Nashua club are female, and the club also has a robust youth boxing program.

Cacciola says that the adult classes focus on boxing fitness, while the youth program focuses on learning the basics of boxing. “It’s all of the fun with none of the danger,” he adds.

He and Macaulay say the benefits go far beyond the physical.

“Hitting that 100-pound bag and feeling that sense of accomplishment, you just feel better instantly,” says Macaulay, who adds that the classes provide a “sense of confidence, of inclusion, of community.”

Cacciola says he “fell in love with helping change people’s lives on a daily basis.” Boxing is a way to relieve some stress, improve health and discover how to persevere.

“The ability to keep at it and push through those thresholds you think are in front of you is one of the biggest things our members get out of it, and it can apply to other aspects of your life, as well.”