Best Workout Imagery

I have now completed two classes at the YMCA. The first was BODYPUMP and the second was BODYATTACK. I enjoyed them both and will definitely start attending them regularly. I know that I will attend the attack class on Monday and Wednesday mornings, but I still need to decide which days I will go to the pump class. I still want to run a couple of days a week at the least, if for no other reason than it will be an off day from the gym and far more relaxing for my body than the classes.

The attack class appears to be a brand new thing (at least at my Y), so the classes are taught by two people. They each have to memorize the routines, which for this class is a tough thing to do. There are eleven sets in the class.

Eleven.

Eleven carazy sets.

We did not do the lower body, upper body, power or plyometric sets (the last of which the teachers implied is way hard) in our intro class. We did complete the mixed impact, the running, the interval, the agility, the aerobic sets. We also completed all of the warm-up and some of the cool-down.

It was way fun. I looked like an idiot during some of it, since I've never done the whole choreographed thing or cheerleader thing or aerobics thing before, but it was a real workout and I was breathing hard and sweating at the end of it. We had breaks and didn't do the hardest sets, and since the plyometric will be next to impossible and we have to add in a bunch of body-pump-type sets that work your muscles, we should all be completely worn out next time. So basically if I ever manage to do the whole class on the highest impact level, I will be surprised!

I did the sets we completed on Wednesday all on high-impact, but barely - at the end my ankles and the ligaments/tendons/muscles that help me do all the jumping and whatnot on my toes were ready to give out.

Perhaps I should invest in some ankle braces.

The body-pump class was very good as well, and really did weight-lifting type things, but using mostly your own body weight plus just a little on the bar. I had a very bubbly teacher who had some great explanations for our positions, which brings us to the best of the day.

The Best Workout Imagery that I've heard (Please remember that I've only been to two exercise classes. Ever.) was that when we are doing our squats, it should be just like when we sit (read: hover) in a port-a-potty to pee: if you don't do it right, you'll get pee all down your leg.

Oh, yeah, she went there.

It is a good thing that all of the participants are female...especially since she also spent a lot of time telling us where the bar should hit our bodies in relation to the location of our boobs and bra straps.