We survived!

As I mentioned 2 posts ago, a group of trainers/instructors went to the Les Mills quarterly this past weekend. A good time was had by all – for the most part. I enjoyed being part of the largest BodyPump class ever – 720 people! That’s a lot of weights.

Next, I managed to survive BodyStep and not hurt anyone in the process. I am not the most adept “stepper” in the world. In fact, I have had people move away from me in class because I was messing them up. When you consistently end up with the entire class facing you because you are facing the wrong way you know you aren’t yet in your element.

We only watched RPM (aka Spinning), BodyVive and BodyFlow. In retrospect I should have participated in BodyFlow which is all yoga/tai chi type stuff. I could have used the stretching and relaxation. What I took part in instead was BodyAttack. In all honesty, it’s not unlike cheerleading on crack. Jumping, running, flailing arms. If you think some of our instructors have too much energy, you have no idea. Think of the most energetic and frenetic person you know. Now imagine they’ve eaten 150 chocolate covered espresso beans. It’s like that. It’s a super workout but since I was saving myself for BodyJam I only did it for about 10 minutes. (Ok, fine, my calves started screaming in about 7.5 minutes. However, my official story is still that I was “saving myself for BodyJam.”)

Everything but RPM was held in the same humongous field house so if you were waiting for a class to be finished you just stood on the sidelines. BodyJam was right after BodyAttack. What you need to know about BodyJam (besides that it’s totally fun) is that it’s a workout where you do hip hop and other styles of dancing. In order for it to work the instructors need to bring a somewhat edgy/urban persona to the class (that’s so me. Please note sarcasm.) This includes being dressed for the part – funky, MTVish, Hip Hop styles. Now imagine a group of people in that mode essentially surrounding the crazy cheerleaders. One BodyJammer walked through our crowd and said to no one in particular, “That stuff is freakin’ crazy!” (only with more explitives.) You remember the scene in Grease where ChaCha DiGregorio is eyeing Sandy out on the dance floor with Danny? We BodyJammers looked like that. (See minute 4:30 in the movie below)

Anyway, once we got on the dance floor (formerly known as an indoor turf field) we danced our little hearts out. I’m sure there were lots of people on our sidelines thinking the same thing about us being crazy.

Finally, they brought out BodyCombat. Now, I have never been enamored with the genre of kick boxing but since RVC will be bringing it in in January I figured I should participate. I was actually enjoying myself until I just couldn’t tolerate the volume of the music anymore. It was so loud that people were losing the beat of the music. You couldn’t hear it. It was a huge mangled mess of instructors screaming into the microphone and something that once was music. The earlier classes were loud and bordering on uncomfortable but this was insane. I had to leave not just the room but the building. Luckily, it was a gorgeous day so I sat outside nursing my headache while the other 4 trainers there with me lost their hearing.

All in all I’m glad I went. And I think the ringing in my ears has finally stopped.

The moral of the story is that everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. My former being Pump and Jam, and my latter being Attack and Combat. However, nowhere does it say your weaknesses can’t turn into strengths. You never know until you try. And then try again. And at least once more. Remember that when we bring in BodyJam*. We didn’t get it the first time either.

* We’re launching BodyJam at RVC Saturday September 20th and classes will start the first week of October. I’ll be teaching the Thursday 8:30am class. Mark your calendars!

Amen!

“Successful weight loss isn’t about being perfect, it’s about being practical.”  – Shape Magazine

Motivation/Insanity

In case you’re feeling lazy this weekend and need some sort of motivation to get up and get moving, think of me and 4 of my co-workers and what we will be doing all day Saturday. We’ll be going to Fishkill, NY to a Les Mills Quarterly meeting where we will participate in up to 8 of the BodyPump, BodyJam, BodyCombat, etc… classes one after another. That’s at least 8 hours of what many of you already know is a heck of a workout in just 1 hour increments. Wish me luck and feel free to come to my BodyPump class on Monday at noon. I’ll be lifting styrofoam weights.

Confidence, Not Criticism

The caption says, “Feeling stupid yet? No? Then keep going.“

If your trainer or class instructor makes you feel like this, get a new one.

I did it!

I managed to finish my first triathlon in at least 2 years. It actually felt better than the last time. By better I mean I didn’t want to die 89% of the time. And I passed more people than passed me. If that’s not progress I don’t know what is.

I came in right in the middle of the pack – 132 out of 229 and 26 out of 41 in my division (Women 30-39). I’ll take that (considering I’ve come in second to last in previous races.)

In case you’re interested, here are my rank and times for the individual events:

• Swim (.25m) – 138, 10:30
• Bike (5.7m) – 131, 25:51
• Run (3.1m) – 122, 27:16
• Overall – 132, 1:03:36

I will say that the swim, pardon my french, sucked. In the pool I’m able to do at least three strokes before raising my head out to breathe. In the open water race situation I flail my arms in something vaguely (vaguely!) resembling a swim stroke and never set my face in the water. Luckily, this happens to pretty much everyone. It’s a reaction to the potential of being kicked in the face, and, in my case, the irrational fear that I will somehow look down and see a dead body. I don’t quite know where that fear comes from but it makes for a difficult swim.

I can thank Body Pump for making me feel awesome on the bike portion. My legs are so conditioned from all the squats we do that I put my bike on the highest gear and pretty much stayed there the whole time.

The run was mostly uphill. I have nothing positive to say about that except it’s over. I did walk briefly because it is one thing to push yourself, it is quite another to perform a public display of regurgitation, if you catch my drift.

All in all though I’m very glad I did it.

It’s all your fault.

Yup. Now that I know that people are actually reading this blog and thinking I’m accomplished at fitness stuff I feel like I need to keep up appearances. So, because of you, my dear clients, class attendees, friends, and family, I am signed up to do a triathlon in New London, NH on Sunday. Happy now?

I haven’t done one in about 2 years. I kept thinking about it but unfortunately, in this case, it isn’t the thought that counts. I’m (re)starting small – a .25 mile swim, 5.7 mile bike, and a 2.9 mile run. If you had told me 5 years ago that I would one day think those distances were short I would have laughed in your face. I also would have said you’re crazy to think I’d ever even do a triathlon in the first place.

The moral of my story? Never sell yourself short and thanks for the motivation!

Have I mentioned that Sunday is also my birthday? I’m going to earn that cake, that’s for sure.