I took the plunge

I finally took the plunge and did an aquacise class (pun intended). I was looking forward to this class the most out of my "exercise class try-out list" because it genuinely seemed fun and hilarious to do.

There are multiple benefits of aquacise according to a national website dedicated to the promotion and training of the activity, including but not limited to hydrostatic pressure and the cooling effect benefits the exercise has over other activities not in water.

Ideally, the water level should be chest height and the movements should be pushing through the water and not above the waterline. This is okay in pools which are multi-depth or if you're really short, neither of which apply to my experience. You see, i'm 5'11 and every time I stood to my full height in the pool I felt like Godzilla.  Consequently, I spent the entire time with bent knees to keep my body at the same height as everyone else's. Awkward. 

This photo is from the Virgin Active Website and is my club's indoor pool that I swim/float about in.

We did the whole class to retro 90's music and did lots of jogging, jumping jacks, moving around and water weight work. It was really good fun and there were times I had to bite my lip to stifle the giggles at how ridiculous we all must have looked to the onlookers in the spa area. I didn't actually feel worked at all at the end of the class though and for me personally, the benefits were pretty minimal for time expended. I can see how it would be great if you were of poor health, new to exercise or had a physical disability as it was gentle and the water does aid movement. 

I obviously ended the session in the jacuzzi and sauna to allow for adequate recovery time!

Zumba

I'd wanted to try Zumba for a long time but never really took the plunge and went to a class. I'm glad I finally did because it was an experience to laugh about for a while!

The official Zumba website states: "Shake, shake, shrink! The most fun and effective workout ever!" Well, that pretty much sold it to me.

I thought maybe it would be a little bit like a dance class where the instructor would teach the steps and we'd all give it a jolly good try. Nope. The music went on and like robots these women all started a dance routine that only they knew. It was like joining a dance troupe which had been practising for months without me. I was concentrating so much on the copying the steps from the person in front of me that I was always one beat behind and my weight distribution wasn't right for a lot of the moves. There were times when they walked back whilst I was still jumping forward and so many close calls with squishing ponytails and bright pink Lycra. I don't think I've ever felt so much like the elephant in the room.

Did I enjoy it? Well, despite the review above, yes I did. The music was great and even though I caught the instructor shaking her head at me, it was fun to be the quirky in her perfect class.

Will I go again? Sure will. If all they do is repeat the same dances week after week I figure I'll pick it up eventually. I mean, I have to right?

Next up: Aquafit. This will be a tricky one because the classes are always fully booked. I'm interested to know who goes and then gets out of the pool and immediately books the next class. Bit keen? The plan is to slip into the pool unnoticed and join in anyway (note: this plan will fail if they're all old and I'm quite obviously the young one).

(N.B. Being sly with these things isn't my forte I admit. I once slipped into a university physics lecture wearing heels and a dress - you can only imagine how much I stuck out in that room.)

Body Conditioning

In an effort to tone my body and prep for the upcoming bare all season, I've decided to drag encourage my friend to go to as many exercise classes as we can. I don't want to make any wild (read: stupid) claims that we'll try every class our gym offers because there are some which are just not at our level. That is, we're beginners and they're superstars. First up, body killing conditioning.

Here's a happy lady doing some sit-ups...this isn't me (google images)

We settled for the side of the studio where we couldn't see ourselves in the mirrors and we weren't at the back or at the front (not hiding yet not too eager). Silly us, the class instructor actually moved around and we all turned a lot which meant at times we were right at the front! The aerobics starters were great and really fun to do. You need no motivation for this class, just a sense of impending embarrassment if you can't keep going like everybody else. Then the mats came out and the weights which was what really hurt. The squats have killed my poor thighs and the weights work might have been too hard to handle. That said, I feel better for doing it and it was a complete body workout in an hour which is pretty neat if you're a busy person. 

When I was about 8 years old my family went on holiday to Kos. There was line dancing one night and lets just say that my brothers and I weren't the best on the group at co-ordination. One of the moves in the body conditioning class was a grapevine and it was ridiculously hard at a fast pace. There were times I wasn't going in the right direction and moving my arms in time with my legs, well you can forget that! Miranda viewers, I looked a little like her:

                                                                                                   (google images)

Next up: Zumba