For the first time in years, I took a class at my gym tonight. In fact, it’s only the second class I’ve ever taken at a gym (the first was spinning, and it was not pleasant).
It was a one-hour class called Total Body Workout. I got there a little early and sat with a few other women while the previous class finished up. I was surprised to see how many people joined us as the minutes ticked by. There were probably 40-45 people by the start of class – all women.
Since I’ve never taken this class and was unsure about the equipment needed, I stayed back a little and followed what everyone else did as we settled in. Unfortunately, that meant that by the time I got to the hand weights, it was slim pickins, and I ended up with 8 pound weights. That may not sound like a lot, but it gets heavy fast!
Before the resistance part of class though, was the cardio portion. It was about 30 minutes of very intense aerobics: Lots of jumping, kicking, running in place, squats, etc – without a break. I didn’t have a hard time endurance-wise, but the coordination was tough at times. The instructor switched it up a lot, and it was hard to know what she wanted me to do when at first. I think I caught on pretty well, though. I only felt like an idiot about 15% of the time!
The next section was resistance work – this is where the hand weights came in. There was a lot of bicep curls, hammer curls, tricep extensions, etc. Those 8-pound weights felt like 50 after just a few minutes. I hung in there though, and I felt really good about that considering my weights were heavier than just about everyone else’s. It looked like most people were using 3 or 5 pound weights.
Then there was about 10 minutes of ab work. Abs are always a challenge for me, but I did the best I could, and only missed a few crunches here and there. I’m glad it was only 10 minutes! The ab workout was followed by stretching, which rounded out the hour.
I really enjoyed the class: The workout itself was very intense – I think I sweat the entire 60 minutes – and covered the entire body, which is great. The people in the class were all friendly, and even though I was bigger side than the average size, I didn’t feel completely out of place (though I didn’t enjoy seeing my reflection as I jumped all around that first half hour!). The instructor was great too – kept the class flowing nicely and did a good job of explaining what she wanted us to do when. I even found remixed music agreeable.
I’m going to try to make this a regular Monday night thing! I’ve always found it difficult to get myself to a gym, but I’m good at making it to classes (kung fu, for instance), so this might be an excellent thing for me. I might even be inspired to check out the other classes my gym offers.
I feel really good tonight. Definitely back on that wagon!
