Wednesday, March 17, 2010

A Truly Remarkable Experience


Well, Carl and I have joined a gym. It is akin to 24 Hour Fitness out west, but it is called The Rush.

Everything there is really nice. .. except one thing. . . Patti. We decided to try out a Zumba class together last week. In case you have never heard of Zumba, it is basically a really high-energy Latin dance aerobic class. I tried this class out when we were in Utah, and I thought it was really fun. They turned the lights almost off, and they played all kinds of exciting Latin music, and no one could really see how uncoordinated I was, even though the room was PACKED with people. It was a fun class and I got really sweaty and raved and raved about it to Carl until he finally agreed to come with me to this class at The Rush.

Here are the things that were different about this class at The Rush. . .

1) Carl was THE ONLY male (which seems to be common in exercise classes here)

2) There were only 6 of us total.

3) The music was really quiet, and I could hear myself breathing.

4) The instructor, Patti, came in, and I thought she was a student.

5)Patti was AT LEAST 65 years old, about 20 pounds overweight, and REEKED of cigarette smoke. She had a smoker's cough as well. She wrapped a scarf with little chimes all over it around her hips. I was amazed by the smallness of her range of motion. If she were not an aerobics instructor, I would mistake her for a greeter at Wal-Mart. Needless to say, our heart rates never went above 70 bpm.

6) Pattie would say things like, "Now, you can try to get lower and touch the floor on this one, but it makes it real hard to get back up, so I'm just gonna stay up here." Also, she kept drawing attention to the fact that Carl was the only male, and it started to sound like she was mocking him. At one point she said, "Come on boyfriend! Flip that skirt!" She would draw attention to each of us individually and say, to the group, what we were doing that was not to her liking.

7) When it was over, we were glad.


This experience made me very grateful for my own ability to improve. If I take this experience to heart, perhaps I will not end up a burnt-out, low-energy "aerobics" instructor at age 65.

To show the beauty of self-improvement and development, I have included a video of Jude taking some of his first steps of his own volition. I give you self-motivation!

8 comments:

  1. That is so funny about your Zumba class. A bunch of sisters from our ward want to do it all together. Good for Carl for not letting that lady intimidate him.
    Way to go Jude for deciding to take off all by himself.

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  2. I love those little hands. By every indication, it seems that Jude is very pleased to be walking.

    Good luck with your gym.

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  3. I agree with Miriam, I love the Jude hands!

    My Friday water aerobics class is lead by a Zumba instructor. She is really good. so we do a little Zumba in the water. I told her about the treatment you two got. She said Carl should become a Zumba teacher. she said male Zumba instructors are like gold!

    Patti sure knows how to shoot herself in the foot. Having you and Carl in the class would be such a plus.

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  4. Yea, the walking's great and all, but look how clean your house is!!! I haven't experienced that in my own home since . . . never mind.

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  5. Ha! I AM motivated. I'm glad he finally took the plunge. Thanks for the Zumba story. loved it. I really miss you guys...

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  6. Look at that little buster! If Carl doesn't have time to do the job, has Jude considered applying for a job as a Zumba instructor at The Rush? GET DOWN, BABY!

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  7. Jude doesn't even need a cheerleader to do his thing. He's getting ready for the GTMH this summer. Go Jude!

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  8. I didn't realiz you had moved to Tennessee. I am living in Southwest Virginia and I just drove through Tenenssee on my way out here a few months ago. How do you like living in the south? I am enjoying the scenery and the southern accents. I'm looking forward to reading about more of your adventures in Tennessee.

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