body pump]

Fitness Instructor No-No

| cheriarmour

So, I touched on this super briefly a few weeks ago, but I was super super taken aback by something that a fitness instructor said to us during an early morning Body Pump Class a few weeks ago.

Me, some teachers, and a few students at the fabulous Loretta Bates' class!
Me, some teachers, and a few students at the fabulous Loretta Bates’ class!

So that morning, the instructor, who was really only okay (her form looked a little shaky, which isn’t safe for us students), was teaching us, and as the class crescendoed to a big lifting song, she said something a little…off.

“Come on ladies, it’s getting warmer out, and it’s time to get into those bikinis!”

My neck nearly snapped off when I heard that.

But as a fitness instructor, saying something like this is a huge no-no, and had something like that been said at the Cary YMCA for example, a talking-to, and a note would probably be in the file.

Here’s why.

As fitness instructors, our job is really to be ambassadors of fitness.  We present the safe, correct, and fun way for a group of folks to get their exercise in.  Our concern is not with our participants’ diet, what they look like in their clothes, or how well or badly they dance, it is to safely deliver them a good class.

When something like the bikini is mentioned, the focus shifts from health and wellness, and shifts to the wrong thing, in this case, the bikini.  Yes, some of us are motivated to look good, but overall when you feel good you look good, and the feel part is what we, as fitness instructors, should be concerned with.

Okay, rant completely over.  I just had to get that out 🙂

Body Pump!

| cheriarmour

So, for a few months now, Matthew and I, coworkers, have been waking up at the buttcrack of dawn to go do this Les Mills class called Body Pump.

DSC_0293
Dramatty and me!

I liked it the first time, and with the first instructor I took it with.

And then I took it with Monica.

And I honestly hope Monica never reads this because I don’t want her to get skeeved out, but she is an incredible instructor.

For starters, she’s beautiful, and I’ve heard rumors that she has a few kids.  She wears her instructorhood well, and she’s muscular and still feminine, and it’s obvious that she maintains her activity level outside of the studio.  (There are some fitness instructors who NEVER work out – I definitely was one of them many many moons ago.)  So as I started to fall in love with Monica (and with the class), the fleeting thought crossed my mind a few times, that I should look into becoming a Body Pump instructor.

And then Gina at The Fitnessista posted about her experiences at her Body Pump instructor training.

And THEN, finally, the other day, I took a class where the instructor made a HUGE boo-boo.  She was really cute, and very energetic, but not the best instructor in the entire world (her cueing wasn’t great, and her form was pretty bad to be a teacher).  And in the middle of a weighted squat, which I am still very very sore from, she goes “Come on!  It’s bikini season!  You wanna fit into that bikini!”.  I will go into later why you never say that as a fitness instructor, but that very day, I started doing some research and poking around for information on how to become a Body Pump instructor.

So, here is the official announcement!  I’m demoing my skills as a teacher in general next week at the Rapid Fitness downtown, and then I officially start the process to become a Body Pump instructor!  Crossing my fingers and hoping that the training won’t come to Raleigh until AFTER we get married, but with my luck, I’ll be in training like a week before 🙂

Any of you guys taken Body Pump before?

Home happenings….

| cheriarmour

More mangos.  

Number one, I’m still extremely troubled by the fact that there’s not one consensus on the plural word for mango.  It can either be mangoes or mangos.  So, I’ve been switching it up, but it makes me really uncomfortable nonetheless.  But if you’ll remember from about a week and a half ago, I went crazy on the mango sale at Whole Foods.  Well, when I went back the other day, and they were on sale, this time two for a dollar, so ya girl went cray on them.

photo 1 (8)I went to town dehydrating mango, which can be really expensive if you buy it in the bags, and really really fully of sugar, so it’s nice to slice up your own, and know that you’re not getting any of the gross stuff that can come in the bag.

Let’s make a right turn.

Reality TV.  

Porsha
Gif Via: LittlePieceOfDribblePiss /SurvivorSucks

Did anyone catch the RHOA reunion? Yikes, yikes, yikes. Porsha absolutely lost her mind for a second.  Now I absolutely do not condone violence, and because of that, Porsha needs to leave the reunion, and whatever it is that Bravo Andy chooses to do with her is his decision, but my LORD Kenya was getting on my nerves with the scepter and that damned bullhorn.  She is so so obnoxious, and she really needs to go.  But Porsha, you know you were dead wrong for hitting her.

This app.

I know you’re probably sick and tired of hearing all about my iPhone woes, but while I was in the process of re-downloading and configuring where I like my apps to go on my little phone’s desktop, I stumbled on Sara from Loving on the Runs’  sort of mini-review of TimeHop.

photo 3Here’s what it looks like, and it’s terribly cute.

The app links up with your Twitter, your FB, and your Instagram, and pulls statuses and photos from YEARS ago, so it’s a total trip down memory lane.  Here’s what I got yesterday!
photo 2This one was following a day when I won like $1000 in a local singing competition.  It was really awesome.  I also spent most of it repairing that Taurus that I had, but whatevs, that’s the life of being an adult, right?

I skipped Body Pump this morning 😦

I’m really bummed, but my thumb kinda still hurts from when I jammed it on Sunday night.  I packed my running clothes, and as soon as my clients leave from the job today, I’m going to set out for a few minutes and get the blood pumping!

How’s your Tuesday shaping up!?

The day I woke up early!!

| cheriarmour

It has, for a long time, been my complete and utter goal to wake up early and work out.

Well guess what suckers!

I woke up early, met up with a co-worker, and went to Body Pump at 5:45 am.  It’s a miracle!  So Hungry Runner Girl has talked about pump a lot lately, and even talked about how she’s been excited to weight lift since she started taking the class.  Whaaaa?  So when a coworker asked me to join, and said class was at 5:45, I jumped at the chance only because I knew I would have to be up early today if I wanted to get everything done and still make it out to DC in the evening for the Rock ‘n’ Roll USA Half Marathon.  (By the way, if you’re still interested in running, you can register at the expo for the 5k, the half, and the full).

But back to class.

photo (25)I never feel really eager to lift weights, but the class made it stomach-able.  The nice thing about this class is that we worked pretty much all of the major muscle groups – the agonists and the antagonists, and we really didn’t leave anything out, which is really important.  I think, I lot of times we focus on one group – the abs (without working the back), for example.

The thing that was sorta weird was that since I teach often enough during the week, I don’t really take a whole lot of other classes.  It’s weird to be a teacher in a class.  You can’t help but to critique form, cues, and his or her demo, which she did great on.  Also, you can’t help but to be a little horrified at the little things instructors do.  We tell dumb little stories.  We laugh at ourselves.  We sing passionately along with the music, which is so awkward to watch (I never realized that).  And we make it look freakishly easy to demo what we’re doing.  This morning, ol’ girl, was pressing like a million pounds overhead while stupid 80s songs played jauntily in the back.  And I can totally appreciate that!

How did your workout go this morning?  Do you think I can keep it up and work out early one day a week?