That class felt great!

In my gym, there are some class snobs. They look down on some of the other cardio classes. I'll hear steppers saying, "Oh, I went to that bodyvive class. Yah... that was hard (heavy sarcasm)." I'll hear runners diss Zumba people. And spinners dis any nonbike aerobics, and so on.  I don't know what's up with the "I can do more than you can do" syndrome so many people have. I HATE that crap. And it's simple not true that you can't get really good workouts in almost any of them. It's what you put into it.

So, I used to do BodyStep and BodyPump religiously. I stopped doing BodyPump a month or so ago due to a knew injury. I've been doing other strength stuff to let that tendon heel.  I haven't done BodyStep in 7 months or so. Instead, I've been doing some intervals, doing Zumba, fast walking and  that 'easy' BodyVive class and an occasional spinning class. Three or so times I've done a step workout at home. I've also even dabbled in a wee bit of light running.

When I left step 7 months ago I was using two sets of risers with all propulsion. I was pretty fit then, but I stepped away from step, so who knew where I would be today.

So, today I decided to use a single riser (options are no step, flat step, step with one set of risers, and step with two set of risers.) I also wasn't sure I would be able to do all the propulsion as it's been so long.

Well, I was fine and never felt, in the entire hour that I was going to pass out. Next time I will add the second set of risers under the step. I did as well if not better than a big chunk of the class of stepping regulars, especially whenever there were intervals or strength moves. I actually think I'm stronger and better at step than I was 7 months ago when I left because I've been doing a mix of other stuff, including some of those "easy" classes.


A lot of steppers (and runners and spinners) are cardio junkies. The specialize in their one thing and are really good at it, but they ignore other things. It's obvious when we go to do push-ups in step and most of the women drop to their knees immediately. Or when we do some planks and they all give out immediately. On the other side, people who do only strength, can't keep up in cardio classes.

I'm not feeling smug as I have a LOT more to go to get better. I still consider myself a dabbler in many ways, but this whole idea of, "Stepping is harder than X" or Y is harder than Z is bogus. I've done no step in 7 months and was doing the much dissed "easier" cardio and I was able to increase my cardio endurance doing it. How? by moving bigger and harder.

I think it's perhaps that you can't really make step easy, so it's always a fairly hard workout and hard for a beginner. You have to go up and down the step. In Zumba or other low impact floor aerobics, you can start easy and build up. Or, if you have a tendency to not push yourself if you aren't forced to, you can 'cheat' and go easy. You can move less and not get much out of it.

Same with spinning. It can be a great workout, but how hard it is completely dependent on how hard you push yourself - same with treadmills and ellipticals and weight training. Hard for running to be 'easy' or step as you have to have a certain level of fitness, but is it the only exercises that can build up great cardio endurance? Heck no!

So, today felt great. I am as strong and as fit as when I left step 7 months ago. I'll add the second set of risers next time and if I still find all that interval stuff is easier going than I remember it 7 months ago, then I will know for sure that the 'easier' stuff I've been doing, wasn't so easy.

And, I think it is fair to say, I'm at tied at my fitness level I was at last spring around late April. I was just 20 pounds lighter then. Still working on dropping the weight (just not checking the scale for awhile and doing what I need to do to see the progress soon enough).

Seeing imperfections in others helps with self-acceptance

This morning I did my first heavy duty/hard workout routine since getting all that dental work done. I had been walking and doing light stuff to keep moving, but had put off any strength training and hard cardio as per doctor's instructions (24 hours for cardio, 72 for strength).

So... there I was. It felt great. It got me out of the funk I was sliding into and it is was good for my self-esteem.

The class I decided to take was Zumba Circuit. It's taught by the Zumba instructor I really like and a personal trainer. You dance for 2 minutes, then go to a station for 2 minutes. All in all you dance 7 times and do 6 different strength stations.  In the end, you do some core work (without crunches). This class is usually a fee based class, but was offered as a freebie today. I like the class and have taken it once before, but I don't like it enough to pay $20 every time I go.

Most of us in the class were there just for the freebie.  I saw a few faces I know from some other classes. I saw some people from the BodyVive class, from spinning class, from Zumba classes and from BodyStep and BodyPump classes. The first thing I was super happy to see was that the very fit stepper I regularly see, was struggling a wee bit with some of the choreography of Zumba and a bit wobbly with some of the strength stuff. So, she had specialized in step (and spinning), but wasn't perfect in everything. Made me feel better.

Then, the gals I recognized from Zumba - the same. They could dance, but they struggled with some of the strength stuff. Reverse for some others, they were good at the strength, but struggled with some of the dance/aerobics stuff. It goes right to the message - cross training is good for the body. And mixing it up keeps the body guessing. What I see is that people tend to stick to one or two things and get really good at it, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they are as well-rounded in fitness as they might appear.

I felt good that despite being a very stiff Latin Dancer (yes, I would be one of those you would laugh at on Dancing with the Stars), I can do everything. I can jump around and keep to the beat and do all the strength and balance stuff. I may not be the fastest or most graceful or the strongest, or the most balanced, but I can also see that no one else in the room is either. We're all imperfect.

Then, I felt a WHOLE lot better after spying our instructor's physical imperfections.

I really, really, really enjoy taking this fitness instructor's classes. She always makes it fun. She's always smiling. She throws her whole body into it and sweats up a storm right along with us. I would LOVE to be able to throw my body around as well as she does. She also teaches other classes - lots of classes. She mostly does dance stuff, but she teaches some strength training too. She is strooooong and fit. No one would ever, ever in a million years say she is weak or unfit or overweight. She is a spitball of energy.

Today, she was wearing her compression fitness capris (like me and most of the class), a Tback bra and a flowy fitness top over that. It was really cute and fit her personality and what type of work she was doing. It did, however, shift up and swirl around a bit so that part of her belly was exposed while dancing. She, this spit ball of fire and energy, has a slightly poochy stomach. And, I can see part of it is loose skin. When she was demonstrating some of the fitness moves, I could also see that she has the SAME kind of all over stretch marks on her belly from being pregnant that I have.

As fit as she is, she has imperfections. Similar imperfections to mine. I don't know why that made me feel better about my imperfections, but it did. It made me feel less of a freak or oddity of nature or something. While my imperfections are more than hers AND I still have excess weight, I am beginning to realize that even those who didn't ever have weight issues, still have marks from life. This instructor is teeny tiny petite. I'm sure that her loose skin is from pregnancy, and the stretch marks were for sure. But she's still beautiful and radiant despite imperfections.

Even though I know no one is perfect, there are enough perfect specimens displayed all around us all the time that it makes it easy to forget that they are the odd ones for being so perfect. For the rest of us, life happens and it's OK!!!