Friday, March 19, 2010

On the Road to Fitness – Part 2

On Tuesday, Kathleen and I went back to the gym, this time for a Step I aerobics class. I had done some step years ago when I was working with a personal trainer, and it was pretty fun and fairly easy (emphasis on easy), so I was looking forward to the class at the gym. Thankfully, I was not sore from my Pilates workout the day before.

Kathleen and I arrived at the class about 3 minutes before it started and grabbed a “step.” The room was already packed with women, so we ended up in the very front. Jackie, our instructor, started off slowly with some very basic step moves, all of which were pretty easy. After a few minutes, Jackie added little “twists” (as in “a version differing from that which preceded”), and I was still able to keep up. I was thinking to myself that this wasn’t half bad and that it was infinitely more enjoyable than Pilates. I was just starting to break a sweat when Jackie announced that we were going to put all of the moves together and speed things up a little. Oh, fun, I was going to be just like Ginger Rogers dancing up and down the staircase in the movie “Swing Time,” except my staircase was a 3-inch step and I had sneakers on instead of 3” heels.

Basic left, diagonal, hop turn, basic right, over the top, turn step, mambo cha-cha-cha, mambo cha-cha-cha, Y-step. (So far, so good!) Basic left, diagonal, hop turn, basic right, over the top, turn step, mambo cha-cha-cha, mambo cha-cha-cha, Y-step. (Keep it up!) Basic left, diagonal, hop turn, over the top. (Oops! That’s okay.) Basic left, diagonal, hop turn, basic right, over the top, mambo cha-cha-cha. (Oh, poop! Concentrate.) Basic left, diagonal, basic right. (What the heck!) Basic left, diagonal, hop turn, basic right, turn step. (Oh, crap!)

Well, my run as Ginger Rogers lasted about 30 seconds! For the next 20 minutes, I spent more time trying to figure out what I was doing than actually doing it. I couldn’t believe that I was so incompetent at this, especially since I was a disco queen in the 70s! I kept looking at Kathleen, who was keeping up about 95% of the time, and cracking up. This was just too funny! I’m sure the other gals in the room were looking at me (after all, I was in the very front) and wondering what in the world I was doing in this class. I’m glad that I could provide some additional entertainment. At least I was having fun and getting quite a workout, even if it wasn’t the exact same workout that everyone else was getting.

For the last 20 minutes of class we did some exercises without the step and worked with small weights. I had no trouble doing these and was thankful that there was finally something I felt adept at. In the end, I had a ball working out, but I think next week I’ll join the Beginner Step for Dummies class.