body pump]

My first BodyPump back

| cheriarmour

I’m kind of getting a kick out of like, telling you what I’m doing as I’m writing.  So now, I’m sitting in the lobby at work (because I needed a locale change), taking a little break from work-work, and decompressing with a little writing.  The lobby is a challenge because you literally see everyone you’ve every known in your life.

People keep stopping, and looking at me sort of suspiciously.

Them: …did you??

Me: Yeah, I did!

Them: …what did you…

Me: A little boy, want to see a picture?

I think everyone is like really hesitant to ask, in case I’m not who they think I am, and then they’ve got this awkward moment where they’re in two camps – I either look like all the other black women they know OR they’ve just implied that I look like I just had a baby.  Which I don’t mind at all, because I did, but I understand how that could be a little off-putting to someone not feeling their best on that day.

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So I finally, taught a BodyPump™ class.  It’s one that I haven’t really committed to teaching because it requires a lot of forethought, and teaching it is really hard.  They recommend for instructors to teach the tracks with the same weight that you’re instructing the students to do, so I was not super looking forward to squatting with like a billion pounds on my back when I’d just given birth.

A week or so ago, Abbey, who typically teaches the lunchtime class at this other place I fill in at, cut her hand like cooking or something.  And she cut it badly enough that she had to sub out all of her classes, one of which was like a 30 minutes pump format, followed bay BodyAttack™.  Which I don’t teach, but I offered up a cardio step.  30 minutes works, right?

So, I tried to get my tracks together on one playlist the night before, for organizations sake, but ended up falling asleep when the baby went down around 9:45, and then never waking up to do much of anything.  By the time I got bottles packed and Liam off on that morning, I was running around like a lost little chicken, and barely had my phone charged and myself dressed before I went to go teach the class at noon.  I ran in a few minutes before class was supposed to start (big no-no), and pretty much started the playlist and went off.

I screwed up the entire warm-up.  I’m talking about (if you know this format, you’ll know what I’m talking about) the entire part at the end of the warm-up where you’re supposed to lunge on one side, and then the other was lost, until I realized and fumbled my way back there.  But I smiled a lot.  Since I was running late, I hadn’t gotten the chance to pump and drain everything like I like to do before I work out, and I turned around and what I saw was absolutely obscene.  I was wearing a grey tank top that I’d worn through most of the pregnancy.  Grey is really fun because it shows all of your sweat, but I think I look pretty decent in the color so we have a dilemma.  But as for the obscene part, my boobs were hanging out of the top of my shirt and bouncing with like every single step I took.  It was nuts.  Because there wasn’t a whole lot I could do about it, I just pretended like I didn’t notice, and avoided eye contact with the guy in the front row.  Eep.

Other than my complete chest hanging out due to my lack of planning, and the flubbed warm-up, the rest of the class went really really well, and the cardio portion that I incorporated a step into went awesome as well.  I snapped this before I left…

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…and I suppose I’m really feeling okay with the way things are going as far as teaching. I’m definitely, definitely not back to, or capable of, teaching 5-6 days a week right now, or multiple classes a day, days and days in a row. I’m still healing up some of those ligaments that went loosey goosey during the pregnancy, and I’m still not up to 100% high-impact moves. Jumping, for instance, is something I’m not comfy with just yet, so I modify by keeping one foot on the ground, things like that.

So I guess I’m getting back to some things?  And feeling okay about it?  But that was my first Pump.  Looking forward to a few more in the new year.

 

Lately…

| cheriarmour

I think I’ve figured out what’s happened to ALL of my good running/working out socks.  After class this morning, like the phenomenal housekeeper I am, I threw my socks on the floor to dry, and when I came home, the dog was literally tossing the sock into the air and catching it.  Not sure where the other one was/is.

On Wednesday night, I arranged to have someone take my classes, and I headed to my parents’ so that my mom and I could go to Buy Buy Baby and register for some stuff.

So when I got there, I headed straight to the Y to catch a Zumba class.  I was kinda exhausted, as I found out once I got moving, but since the class was only 50 minutes, I sort of bargained with myself to stay til the end.  Once I got to my parents’ house, my dad was all excited about a recipe he found on Facebook for strawberry ice cream.  It was really really good.

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We balanced our our healthy dessert with a green smoothie, which I made in my parents’ Vitamix. I really need a blender – I make about a smoothie a day, but my Oster won’t get through kale and sometimes my morning smoothies are a little chunkier than I’d like.

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The next day, my mom, my sister, and I went to the baby store to register for stuff which was fun because my mom hadn’t been around baby things in like 20 years, and I think she liked seeing what the new developments are.

The trip was really short – I had to head right back up to teach my 5:45am Friday BodyPump class, and I needed to get back to work – I need to save my vacay for when the baby comes so I can get paid out some of it.  I managed to catch the Cavs/GSW games, which was pathetic – but it spurned a lot of these memes.

IMG_8552.PNGIMG_8553.PNGIMG_8551.PNGI’m so done with Twitter – no chill whatsoever.  I laughed out loud in my office for a good 10-15 about these.

So that’s me lately.

What have you been up to lately?

 

Getting the hang of it.

| cheriarmour

So, back in November, I went again for my BodyPump certification.  I went for it like the July before I got married, in ’14,  but I let it lapse…in the hustle and bustle of us getting married, I never did my video (I did, but that’s another story), and sort of let it lapse.

[I recorded the video, and we discovered that the camera shut off midway through, and I never refilmed.]

But I went back, did the course again in November, passed, turned in my vid, passed, and started picking up a few classes here and there.

And let me tell you, even though I’ve been teaching for over 6 years at this point, that shit was/is hard. 

When I started teaching, I started with all freestyle classes.  Zumba, then I moved into Toning, and Cycle.  All things I went to trainings for and received credit, but things that really gave you the freedom to play with BPM, music, adding cardio pieces, and generally, screwing up with minimal detection from your class.  Seriously.  I actually restarted a song last night because I blanked.

[Enter Les Mills]

About two weeks ago, I had a mortifying experience with an early morning class.  The class starts at 5:45am, and due to a music disaster, and a late start, I ran into class 3 or 4 minutes late.

First (huge)  mistake.

To my horror, one of the best Pump instructors I’ve ever taken from in my life happened to be in the class.  She had started the warmup, and for that I was grateful, but immediately, I started shaking.  I’d barely had time to shower, I was late and already making a terrible impression, and suddenly, I had the feeling that I was doing to forget everything I knew.

And I did.

I blundered through every. single. track. My music was off.  My counting was off.  I forgot huge chunks.  And I was mortified.

Never, in my entire life, have I struggled so much with a format, and now, never in my life have I wanted to prove myself to myself so badly.  So, I’ve started by attending more classes (something that falls by the wayside sometimes when you’re directing a group fitness program), team teaching more, and subbing more (which exposes you to a new group that you can talk to, and if you’re really good, they’ll ask for you back when your teacher can’t be there. If you suck, you’ll hear it).  But this is hard. And in it being hard, it is 100% infuriating, since I’m strong in other formats.

All that said….how was your Monday?  What did you work out?

“Time is Money”

| cheriarmour

Time for a little story.  I’m sort of trying to become a morning person for the sole fact that I’m like…an adult, and I keep reading all of these articles that say like the main successful people in the world wake with the sun and make sure they get breakfast and a workout in before they do anything else.

Honestly, the times I’ve been waking up early, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, I have missed the part about waking up early where you actually have to go to bed at a reasonable hour the night before.  In part because both Austin and I always get into projects around 10, sweeping the floor, writing posts, or throwing in a load of laundry, and in part because I flip on Bob’s Burgers and get caught up looking at emails and texting friends.  Totally my fault.  I know it’s doable to go to bed early, but I need to make concessions for it.

But anyways, I’ve been waking up on Thursdays early, around 5am, to teach a class.  I took the class on because I thought it would be an impetus for me to get up and try to get in bed early.  I’m working on it.  So this morning, I woke up at 5:20, managed to pull on clothes with my eyes closed, and was out of the house by 5:30pm, with enough time to turn on lights and get set up for class.

Of course, an instructor’s worst nightmare happened, and I went to flip on the stereo, and I could not get the dang thing to turn on!  I ended up having to grab someone from the front desk to help me (which I’m sure they loved at 5:45am), and I ran out to the car to grab some backup speakers I just happened to have.

Anyways, in the midst of all of this happening, someone, presumably, who wanted to participate in the class, came and started to set her station up.  I explained that we were running only a few minutes behind due to the stereo issues, but that I would get them their full workout and still manage to get them out on time.

She seemed pissed.

“Time is money,” she said.  And she continued on, being aggravated.  Which I get, I mean, I wasn’t super thrilled about waking up to faulty equipment.

A minute or two later, we started class with the other participants, and she’d left her station set up, and was working out outside of the room.

I can’t say I was super disappointed, more a little lost as to why this really slight delay would completely sideline someone’s workout.  I am glad however, that she very obviously didn’t allow the hiccup to allow her to leave the gym and say “better luck next time!”

I’ll chalk that “time is money” up to the fact that she was annoyed to be up at nearly 6am.

I know I was.

What I Would do with my Lottery Earnings.

| cheriarmour

Hullo!

I am really sore.  Like ridiculously sore.  12512311_10100697279453363_6901348544062139_n

I taught a Body Pump class first thing in the morning so I could do my “video” for Les Mills. We all call it “videos” despite the fact that that language alone makes you a strong candidate to be old, but apparently, none of us really seem to mind that a whole heck of a lot. Anyhoo, I did that class at 6am, and I’m really trying this whole morning thing out. The hard thing with that is that I’m still not getting to bed at a great time, so I’m also trying to get in bed at decent hours. I got in bed last night before midnight and am not yet falling asleep at my desk, so maybe this is a win?

So, I’m sure you’ve heard and heard and heard again how intense this Powerball thing is getting here.  The winnings are estimated at up over a billion dollars, and it makes it tempting to play.  I mean, even celebrities are getting in on it, which I sort of resent, but whatever.  I

I  haven’t played, and not sure if I will, but in my off time, I’ve sort of fantasized about what it might be like if I won, right?  And it really isn’t an interesting or particularly noble list, it’s practical.  Maybe that’s selfish.

I’d pay off my student loans.  Probably pay off my sister’s and pay off a few friends.  If you were to sit with us over drinks or coffee, eventually, student loans would come up.  “Hey guys, I better head out.  I’m watching the budget – these loans!”  It would be nice to hang out with friends my age and not have this thing just hanging over our heads.

I’d put $2-$3 million away for our retirement.  Sounds lofty now, but totally manageable if you win the powerball right?  Then we don’t have to worry about outliving our retirement like our parents kind of have to cause they live long af.

Housecleaner.  I am a terrible housekeeper.  I would LOVE some help.  Maybe that makes me a brat, but if I had the money this very individual second, I would totally do it.

Chef.  I would love a chef whose special talent was to make my favorite terrible foods healthy.  And all my favorite healthy foods in their proper portions so I only had to do it (cook) for enjoyment and not for sustenance or making sure I had lunch for the next day.  The biggies for me would be big elaborate salads, soups, and sushi.  I would LOVE to always have sushi on tap.

What would you do if you won the Powerball?

Stevie Wonder part trois!

| cheriarmour

This weekend, I celebrated my 28th birthday.

The weekend was absolutely bananas though, and it’s not entirely my fault.

So months ago, I got an email from Loretta Bates’ assistant to see if we’d be willing to schedule a training on the weekend of November 14th.  Of course, right?  We have a great relationship, and I’d love to have Loretta at our facility for the Zumba B1 Training.

So then, I’d scheduled my Body Pump training for the weekend FOLLOWING.  (I did it again because I really haven’t used the skills from my first training).

Also, I got word that Stevie Wonder was going to be in Charlotte on the 14th. No worries, I can make this all work.

Well, long long story short, the Body Pump training was inexplicably moved back to the weekend of the 14th.  So on Saturday morning, I woke up early, set our folks up for the Zumba training, ran OVER to State to take the Body Pump training, got OUT of the training, and drove down to Charlotte to see Stevie wonder with my dad.

I was exhausted, but the concert was so worth it.  It started off a little – and I don’t want to say annoying because that’s not the right word – but it was a little nerve-wracking.  Because of the horrible tragedies in Paris on Friday night, security was really nuts, and we ended up standing in a HUGE crowd for a while before the concert started.  I actually tweeted the venue, and begged them not to start the show, and they didn’t.  I think that’s more on Stevie though.  [Before you start to think I’m really narcissistic, the reason why the security was nerve-wracking was because we were standing in a really antsy, quasi-angry crowd, and I was SO afraid of either being trampled, or something else horrible happening.  But perhaps that’s just my anxious mind speaking.]

But the show did not at all disappoint.  I think my favorite part was when…well dang.  I don’t think I can pick a favorite.  But I loved the feeling that I was completely lost in the music.  I could have stayed there all night, and not noticed.  But instead, I had to wake up around 4am, and head back to Raleigh to finish my Pump Cert.

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I think it was the love of Jesus that got me through Sunday. I rocked my tracks, passed the cert, and got one of the best compliments I’ve ever gotten in life.

I was told that I had a magnetic personality. Ugh. That makes me freaking tear up. I don’t know why. But it’s nice to hear nice things about yourself.

After I got home (and this is the actual day of my birthday), I poured a glass of wine, noshed on some chips and salsa, and laid down on the couch. Austin came in, sweetie pie that he is, and dropped off some more wine, some kombucha, and a really sweet card for me. But the sweet thing was that he let me SLEEP off the weekend, and sort of tiptoed around the house.

Later, he and my brother took me out to froyo, and later, dinner at a Coquette, a french place here.

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I’m not huge on birthdays, but it was so good, and it felt good, throughout the weekend, to be acknowledged. I think it’s really easy to sort of get down on yourself. My house is messy, I can’t get everything I want to get done done in a day, my clothes are rumpled – but it’s so so nice to remember that you’re enough.

You might not have seen Stevie Wonder for the 3rd or 4th time, but what did you do this weekend?

Why do you work out if you’re a fitness instructor?

| cheriarmour

First things first though, I can honestly say I had a new experience yesterday.  So, I was contacted by another group fitness director sort of out of the blue a few weeks back.

“Do you teach total body strength?”

I answered yes, and especially since I started taking on a regular Toning since I got my Body Pump cert last year, I feel super comfortable with the format.

What that ended up meaning is that I was signed up for a shoot for the association where I would have to teach a pretend class.  The BEST part about it though, was that since we don’t have the rights to any of the music, I  had to teach the class in silence, and they have to go back and dub the music in later.  So for 20ish minute, I danced and bicep curled and squatted to NO MUSIC.  The weirdest experience of life.

12208383_10100666199338163_938420875333157995_nI also was told by the photographer (very politely) to put my boobs away. I forget these things get out of control sometimes, and since I don’t necessarily want my boobs plastered on the January mailer, I’m appreciative.  I can chalk that up to a new experience.

Why do you work out?  You’re a fitness instructor.  Doesn’t your class just count as your workout?

Switching gears a little bit, but I get this question a lot.  Sometimes when I mention to folks that I’m going to try to sneak a run in or hop on the elliptical for a few minutes before I teach my class (after is usually no good for me), they ask why I bother.

It’s true, when I’m up there leading a class, I’m sweating, and I’m moving, but I promise you, it’s not the same as the workout the participants in the class are getting.  My energy is 100% fixed on facilitating a good, safe, fun class, and when your energy isn’t focused inward, you don’t benefit as much.

Secondly, and this one is the big one, as an instructor, we shouldn’t be relying on our 5:15pm Zumba for our workout because the class (I’ve said it before) IS NOT FOR US.  The purpose of you teaching should never be to get ripped, and honestly, if you rely on your class to get your exercise in, you’re doing yourself a disservice.

Fun fact: I was at my heaviest while teaching the most BALLER class every at NC State.  You have to do more.

What workouts have you done this week?  Try anything new?

Fitness Gods.

| cheriarmour

The best thing happened to me yesterday morning.

Let me back it up.

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So I’ve been teaching Zumba® Fitness for almost 5 years – taking for longer than that.  And the entire time I was taking, and the entire time that I was training, I had a total fitness crush on my trainer/original teacher Koh Herlong, and then Tanya Beardsley, with whom I had the pleasure of taking a master class before she retired from the company to do her own thing.  I loved the way they taught, I found myself tearing up when they made a connection to their classes, and I’ve always strove (striven?!) to bring the same to my classes.  I love to teach, and I hope that comes through to my classes.

Yesterday, I was working in my office on the schedule when the kid from the fitness desk downstairs called.

“Yeah, there’s no one here to teach the 4:30 step class.”

Shit.

By the grace of God, I’d already planned to take a cycle class, and was already in workout gear.  I literally jogged downstairs, strapped the mic on, broke the news to the class that I would not be teaching Step, but a Cardio Dance class, and went for it.

“Whew, it’s over,” I thought 45 minutes later!

“The teacher that teacher this class always teaches the toning class after.  You’re teaching toning, right?”

Of COURSE!  I found a CD that was like 140 BPMs (a little fitness inside thing) with Miley Cyrus featured, and I WENT FOR IT.  I stepped out of my little Zumba box, dusted off my AFAA certification, and played my role of Fitness Director perfectly.  I had an awesome, awesome time, and after, a few of the chicks in class walked up after, and told me how awesome the toning class was, and how I’d kicked their butt! (Thank you Body Pump™ training!)

Which brings me to this.

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Body PumpI’m still working through some of my team teaching for Body Pump, and was super nervous to teach with this beautiful goddess, Monica, who introduced me to Body Pump.  She’s a flawless instructor, and radiates a really unique sort of beauty and professionalism in her classes.

This morning, she allowed me to team teach with her, and following the class, she gave me a hug, complimented my connection with the students, and said that I was ready to teach.

I have died and gone to heaven!

Do you have any fitness crushes?  Spill!

 

Wilmington, NC

| cheriarmour

I can’t tell you how incredibly just…happy I feel right now.

It kinda feels like all the pieces kinda are starting to fit together for the first time in a long time, and I feel happy, content, and incredibly grateful.

Let me backtrack, and this will explain, at least a little bit, what I’ve been up to for the past few days.

I told you guys a few days back that I’d gotten a new job, right?  Of course, the timing is pretty funny, what with our wedding being in a few weeks, but that’s life, right?  So on Thursday, I officially started my new job, and I totally hit the ground running helping out with a community wellness event.  I ended up spending the entire day teaching modified fitness classes to kids a variety of different ages, and of course, ended up sorer (is that a word?) than hell for the next few days.  When I came into work on Friday, I arrived to the sweetest sign, the sweetest basket full of goodies, and a day/schedule PACKED to the gills, but all with good stuff.  I know it might be early to call it, but I’m really thinking in my heart that this job is a really good fit.  I just want to do a great job and excel, and see where the health and wellness industry can take me.

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Body Pump Training Part One/My friends are the greatest

As if life weren’t crazy busy enough, I scheduled another wrinkle in time for this weekend, my Les Mills Body Pump training at UNCW.

First and foremost, my friends are incredible.  Realizing that the training was this weekend and that I had no place to stay, I group texted some friends, one of whom is a bridesmaid, asking frantically if we knew anyone in Wilmington.  Long story longer, bridesmaid did, and hooked me up a friend who opened his home up to me.  Added bonus?   There were no cats or poodles named Coco there to wake me up at regular intervals, and I had the best Friday night of sleep that I’ve almost ever had.

So I’m gonna totally recap the Body Pump training after all is said and done, but it’s a two-day training, and day one completely kicked my butt, but in the best way possible.  Today, we took the equivalent of like twoish 60 minute Body Pump classes, and we all presented a track that was assigned to us like two weeks ago.  I surprisingly don’t feel as bad as I thought I would – I think once your body shifts into that level of pain, it sort of resigns itself, and that’s what I’m feeling is happening here.  I’m also pretty sure I blacked out during my presentation because it was filmed, and I was like, who’s that tall chick clean and jerking?! Yeah, that was me so…

But my first day impressions are really cool.  The training is really really pushing me, the trainees are really already an active and well-prepped group, our trainer really knows what it is that she’s talking about , and I’m extremely impressed at the fact that rather than banging through exercises gratuitously, there is a ton of focus on form and technique, something I haven’t really experienced before in the many trainings I’ve attended.  And since I’m a total workout nerd, this has made me incredibly content as Saturday almost draws to a close.

This was pre-training, and pre-shoulder shredding workout!
This was pre-training, and pre-shoulder shredding workout!

So tonight, I’ll be reviewing more tracks, reading a book, missing my husband-to-be, and wondering what it is I’d do without these fantastic people in my life.

What are you up to for the rest of the weekend?