Exercising Some Class.

Posted by Jacq in Me Time | 2 comments

Last night I attended the first exercise class I’ve been to for many, many years. I’m trying to move more and although I do plenty of walking, I felt the need for something a bit more structured.

Actually, I was trying to remember the last time I had gone to a class and came to the conclusion that it was almost 11 years ago; before I got pregnant with DD1. That’s a hell of a sabbatical from organised exercise.

Back when I was super-fit, newly married and childless I used to get up before sparrows fart to attend the 6am spin class at our local gym. As far as I remember, I even used to enjoy it!

But those days are long gone, I wouldn’t last 2 minutes in a spin class these days. Besides, I think the saddle would cut me in half. No, Spin is no longer an option for me.

I considered Zumba, and I intend to give it a go in the future. It sounds like fun and the music itself would probably set me up for the day. But I’m terribly unco-ordinated  and I’m not sure how my dodgy knee would deal with even the medium impact stuff.  I think it’s probably one for when I’ve done a bit more core strength work.

So lately I’ve been contemplating Pilates. It’s low impact and slow moving which suits me and my post child-bearing body down to the ground. A friend of mine is really enjoying it and as she’s of a similar physical bent to me, I thought I’d probably be okay. The trouble with Pilates is that you need a little more supervision to begin with than you do for most classes. You can’t just be left to get on with it; your teacher needs to keep an eye on what you are doing and make sure you are doing it right.

So classes are small, which means places are limited. I emailed every teacher within a 10 mile radius and couldn’t find a place in a beginners class during the day anywhere. However, there was a space in a class just around the corner from our house on a Monday night at 6:50 pm. This is really too early for me as DH doesn’t usually get home until 8, but when I discussed it with him he said he could probably manage to get home early for 6 weeks or so. After that, I will probably be able to go up into the intermediate class which starts at 8pm.

So last night, DH got home at 6:30 and off I went. I was very nervous. What if I couldn’t understand what they were asking me to do? What if I wasn’t flexible enough to get into the required positions? What if I farted in the middle of the class?

But in the end it was all good. The class was very mixed in terms of age and size; the instructor herself was a very normal size which immediately relaxed me. I managed to approximate most of the exercises although tbh I felt like I was merely lying on my back and waving my legs and arms around in the air a lot of the time. The teacher didn’t throw her arms up in horror and tell me she’d never before had such a hopeless case darken her doors, in fact she was generally quite encouraging.

And this morning, the only bit of me that’s sore is my tailbone! Weird.

As a bonus, I really enjoyed it.

So I’ll go back again next week and see what happens. I’ve paid for the rest of the year anyhow so might as well.

It’s no spin class, it’s not even Zumba, but it’s a start in the right direction.