Mile High Fitness

Get a workout on the airplane? YES! It's finally possible...

(Los Angeles Times) - High above the nearest gym

It's an unlikely place to even think about exercising, crammed into an airplane seat barely big enough to hold a human, a magazine and a bottle of water. Yet one airline is promoting its seats as perfect places to get fit.

Song airlines, an Atlanta-based offshoot of Delta Air Lines, recently introduced In-Flight Fitness. The 15-minute workout is designed to work the core, the upper and lower body and to increase flexibility. For $8, passengers are given a resistance band, small ball and illustrated brochure, all neatly packaged in a carrying case.

The seven exercises, says the program's developer, are designed to be done within the confines of the seat without clocking the person next to you. It helps that the airline's 33-inch seat pitch -- the distance between rows of seats -- is a smidge larger than some other airlines, making it a bit easier to do the recommended glute extensions, triceps presses, dead lifts, chest presses, seated rows, etc. For the bicep curls, for example, one end of the band is placed around the foot while the arm, bent at the elbow, pulls the band toward the chin.

The idea for the program came about, according to a Song spokeswoman, when focus groups (made up mostly of women) mentioned exercise as an amenity they'd like to have on board, along with manicures. The airline nixed the second idea but liked the first, thinking it fit in with the company's philosophy of giving its passengers choices, such as individual video monitors offering programming and food service that includes roast beef fajita wrap sandwiches and apple martinis.

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