When I returned home Sunday night, I forgot to check the answering machine. I hate being tied to equipment that determines how I spend my time. I still haven’t activated the message center of my cell phone, so it’s not surprising that I didn’t check for messages.
\nLuckily, Dear Husband did. My exercise guru had called to ask if I could sub for her this morning. She is NEVER ill! She has led class with a cast on her leg, and she’s an amazing trouper, but she could barely speak last night. She thinks she has some sort of allergic reaction, and needed me to fill in for her.
\nI got out the posterboard “cheat-sheets” that I use to call the movements and set them out to review early this morning, and then headed for bed so that I would be well rested. I haven’t looked those sheets over in two or three months and was concerned about doing a good job.
\nThis morning I made my cup of tea, and dressed for the day, and then I sat down to review the exercises. I remembered that I wanted to change the last cardio because there were too many repetitions of one type of movement. I plugged in some of the movements that we are doing in the current session, and then I reviewed the three cardio sets to be sure I knew what to expect.
\nMy class is just wonderful. They cope like troupers when I lead the class. Even when I bobble something, they just keep exercising until I get it worked out. I think I goofed in just one place and everything turned out fine. I told them to work at the level they needed. They could do more than I was doing. If they needed to do less, or needed to protect a sore shoulder or hip, I told them to work at their own pace.
\nAs we made the shift from cardio to resistance training, I paused and asked something special of the class. We have had a number of new members join us over the past two years, and there seems to be an “us against them” mentality. The newcomers don’t feel very welcome, and the original group feels that the exercise is changing because of the new people. That’s not the case, but it’s the perception. I’ve always thought if they made the effort to get to know each other, we could overcome some of that attitude, so I divided the class in half and gave the following instruction: “This side of class is to walk over to that side of class and introduce yourself to one person you don’t know, ask their name, and ask them to tell you one thing they like to do.” I was astonished at how well that turned out. I actually had to tell them to break it up! lol I plan to repeat the exercise in September when I’ll be leading class again.
\nOf course, everyone was clock-watching today because it was the day we were scheduled to go to breakfast after exercise. We celebrate birthdays once a month, and I’d say that perhaps two thirds of the class went to breakfast.
\nI love it when a day starts out well!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I returned home Sunday night, I forgot to check the answering machine. I hate being tied to equipment that determines how I spend my time. I still haven’t activated the message center of my cell phone, so it’s not … Continue reading