Day 3: Step
Two days passed before I ventured into the gym again, in my defense, they happened to be the days between Friday and Monday. I'm still a little sore from days 1 and 2, a promising sign that yoga and bodypump were successes. The night before, I quizzically checked out the schedule for Monday. Boot Camp at 5:30? Forget it. This is summer. Step at 8:30? Maybe. Aqua at 9:00? Nope, I'll let the grandparents play with the kickboards. 24 S.E.T. at 9:30? To cryptic, that could be a Jack Bauer workout - too intense, a 24 minute Silent E. T. movie viewing with meditation - WEIRD, or some kind of 24 moves to See Emulate and Teach - I just need a workout, not a career change. Step at 8:30 it is!
When I read "Step", I think a little workout cocktail of 80's magenta sweatband aerobics, hip-hop dance and run-of-the-mill cardio. Wingmom was back for day 3, sort of. She decided "Step" sounded synonymous to "joint disaster" so she opted for the elliptical machine and weight machines. Armed with a pocketful of confidence (I don't know why I don't just leave it at home, it doesn't do me any good!) and 9 years of dance classes, I opened the classroom door ready for gym adventure 3.
I checked out my classmates, mostly mom-ish and grandma-ish with a few young women around my age. Great, I thought, these people are old, I'll be able to keep up just fine. Ha, stick those words on a sandwich and eat them. I approached one of these friendly mom-ish people and asked her what I needed for this class. She, being mom-ish, gave me sweet, succinct directions with a smile as I set up my aerobics bench and set down my weights (again, clueless as to which to pick). The instructor asked if it was anyone's first time. I raised my hand, but I think she missed it. We started off with some step up, step back moves: 80's magenta aerobics, check. I thought, this is great, I can do this. Yep, I could do that, while it lasted.
Suddenly, we entered new territory. The instructor started saying things like "mambo combo" and "tap tap ball change" and "sling-shot", which may have been code for, ok mom-ish people, let's confuse the heck out of this college grad and show her what step class is all about, but that's just a guess. I vacillated between frustration and laughing at not being able to keep track of the crazy dance gymnastics these women were doing up and down and all around their aerobics benches. I seriously thought I was going to miss-step and break an ankle. When we stopped for a water break, the very kind lady who had helped me gather my gear assured me that I was doing very well and they had all been doing this for a while and not to worry.
I stumbled my way through the last little bit, which we ended with some killer jackknife crunches (ick). As I racked up my weights and walked out the door, Wingmom met me. Yep, she'd been watching for about 20 minutes, and she'd watched the beginning. She said at one point she was laughing so hard she couldn't catch her breath. Thanks, Wingmom. I was laughing too, at how I'd just been royally schooled by a bunch of women twice my age. Although it wasn't as physically taxing as yoga or bodypump, step gave me a cranial workout that should count for the week. It also worked out my nevergiveup muscle, which, in case you didn't know, is snuggled between the tryagain muscle and the trynewthings muscle. Here's to making a fool out of yourself and learning to keep right on attempting tap tap ball change!
Day 3: two thumbs up
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