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Drumming up fitness
The newest innovation in fitness since step aerobics or spinning, TaikoFit is taking off.
by Angela MacKenzie
After more than a year's absence from the gym, I found myself pounding out the day's frustrations to Michelle Unrau's enthusiastic drum beat.
Joined by about 15 women, I flailed my bachi drumsticks in the air, some of us letting out high-pitched cries as we forcefully struck our large TaikoFit drums in unison.
Of all shapes, sizes and ages, we struck the drums fervently, drawing the attention of other gym users.
After more than 40 minutes, Unrau concluded the class with challenging abdominal exercises, followed by stretching to the tranquil sounds of shakuhachi flute music.
The sign-up sheet for the demonstration class at Fit for Women in Coquitlam filled up in a few days, and Unrau added a second class immediately after the first to meet the demand.
"Everybody loves it," Unrau says. "I have the 25-year-olds in the class - the SFU students - right up to the 65-year-olds."
Unrau, a personal fitness trainer with more than 11 years experience, describes TaikoFit as the newest innovation in fitness since step aerobics or spinning.
"It's going to be the next step," Unrau says.
Using elements of Japanese taiko drumming, Unrau leads the class through a series of aerobic floor exercises that get the heart pumping and work up a sweat.
"It's a really amazing upper body workout, and that's the other part of it that makes it very new and different," Unrau says. "Up until now, traditional aerobics - and by aerobics, I mean floor aerobics, step and these kinds of things - is primarily focused on legs and not so much upper body."
Not only does the TaikoFit workout tone that flabby bit of the back arm many women find disconcerting, but Unrau says it also helps to improve the upper back and encourages good posture while also working the leg muscles.
But Unrau says women of all abilities come and bang on the "big, honkin' drums"for various reasons.
"There are some participants who come to my class and just hit the drum and that's fine - they've got stuff to get out," Unrau says, laughing.
Unrau was inspired to adapt taiko into a fitness routine after a friend and member of the Victoria-based Uminari Taiko ensemble introduced her to the traditional Japanese drumming two years ago.
"I was like, 'Wow, this is really cool,' If I could turn this into a fitness workout for my class participants, this would just be so amazing - and it is," Unrau says.
Although she is currently working on getting TaikoFit into the general fitness community and training instructors to teach the program, Unrau says she is particularly excited by the response children have to the workout.
Children as young as nine participated in a TaikoFit program in October, which was offered at Seaview Elementary School in Port Moody.
With obesity among children a growing concern, Unrau says she's looking into adapting TaikoFit for kids and would ultimately like to see the program in local schools.
"The part that's got me really excited is that children really like to do it."
During a demonstration at Coquitlam Centre in the summer, Unrau says children needed little encouragement to participate.
"We actually had to stop because it was too loud," Unrau says. "I just had all of these kids flock to the drums and just pick up the bachi and wail away on them."
Unrau is careful to stress that TaikoFit is not traditional Japanese drumming.
"There are elements of taiko in TaikoFit, but I do not teach taiko in these classes," Unrau says.
Unrau, who is active in the taiko drumming community, refers those interested in traditional drumming to professional taiko groups like Uzume Taiko, which has decades of performing experience.
The drums used in Unrau's classes are also not the traditional Japanese drums - a factor related to cost and sound. With up to 20 participants per class, Unrau says using real taiko drums would be deafening.
"You'd be able to hear my classes clear to downtown Vancouver, not to mention blowing out the windows in the process," Unrau says, adding that the focus is on the physical movement, rather than the quality of the sound.
Unrau, a Port Moody resident who runs her own fitness consulting company, Body Beyond Fitness & Lifestyle Consulting, says she has had to focus primarily on developing TaikoFit since introducing the program in July.
"Once I started developing TaikoFit - and it was pretty clear how this was going to go - I've had to pretty much put my personal training on hold and work on TaikoFit full-time," Unrau says.
Anyone interested in attending a TaikoFit series or wanting more information can contact Body Beyond at 604-218-1955.
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