Back Kick, Rocking Horse, Step it Up!

We are 6 weeks into the New Year, and I know a lot of you have resolved to exercise this year. Have you joined a gym? Have you tried any of the classes? I LOVE aerobics classes. There's just something that works for me when someone is telling me what to.

Not all of you are like this though - maybe you have never taken an aerobics class, and they intimidate you? Well never fear, we've all been there. I think that's part of the success of these classes actually - you don't want to stop the things you are doing mid-class, because all those other men and women will stare at you as you take a break. It's like a mental pep rally to keep going with all that peer pressure. Tell me you have this mental pep rally all the time when you are on the treadmill solo. Nope. Thus why classes are awesome.

But seriously, I have been there. Some classes are way intimidating. I laughed today remembering this one class I took in college once that was particularly horrible. This FitSugar article actually prompted this random memory.

I was super-classes girl. Every day, I went to another aerobics class. I loved switching it up, though my favorites were spin and cardio kickboxing. One day, I decided I'd try out step aerobics. That class was always packed in a huge room, and I figured, why not! The other instructors in my classes always started from the basics as a warm-up, just in case there were new people there, so I thought this instructor would, too.

Nope. Here I am in the middle of the room, first EVER step class, and she is going through "Routine A" right away, with no review. After that? "Routine B." If you have been to a step class, you know that there are like 20+ different "moves," and so in each of these routines, she had strung together combinations of twirls and kicks and rocking horses and knee-ups and ...

Oh my goodness. I died. And not only was I dying from exhaustion, I was always dying just trying my hardest to keep up. I thought I was pretty on beat, as best as I could be while not knowing what the heck a "rocking horse" even was. And that's when it happened. Out of this big room of 30 girls (ugh girls are the worst sometimes) the instructor looks right at me and says outloud something like "You aren't in step with the rest of us. Try better to keep in step so you don't mess others up."

What?! Horrid. I wanted to cry. And I do not cry. I was super-classes girl! I tried them all! But right there in that instant, with everyone now staring at me, I wanted to cry. Booo.

Lesson learned. I mentioned the less-than-motivating instructor to management. I went back and tried another step class with a different girl, and told her beforehand, "I am new to step - will you be doing any kind of review to start the class?" And you know what? That instructor warmed us all up, and I actually really enjoyed myself. Step is still one of my favorites today, in fact.

That one instructor girl though? I am hoping, for others' sake, that she is no longer an instructor of step aerobics :P