(no subject)
Aug. 22nd, 2016 08:23 pmI thought I would try something different with my gym class vouchers so I went to a Zumba class. Or rather, I went to probably less than 10 minutes of a Zumba class. To start with, we started about 15-20 minutes late because the instructor had a problem with something at the start of the previous class. To end with, it was shit and I hated it. I should probably have looked up something about Zumba classes before I went - I didn't realise that there were no instructions, just vague pointing from the person leading it. So the instructor launched straight into something, and then I had no idea what was going on. Having now googled "first zumba class" (and "i hate zumba", for which most of the hits are people saying why you're WRONG to hate Zumba, and how they used to but now it's AMAZE) it seems this is normal. I don't know if it's also normal that I had to beg her to tell me what her stupid hand signals meant, and that she only explained after the first song. To be fair, I think I'd have hated it anyway, as I don't like dancing in the first place, the music was awful, I get grumpy very easily, and since half the time I was just trying to work out what was going on, it didn't even feel like any exercise was happening. And I was cross and resentful, and wanted to leave, and then I realised that I COULD. Quitting is the best, I commend it highly to all of you.
On Sunday I went to barre concept (another voucher, I love vouchers). This was also something I'd never done before with difficult things and terms (attrape, battements, tendus, which I know from Ballet Shoes but little else) but with an instructor who bothered to find out who was new, and told us where to stand to get the best view of what was going on, and smiled at me whenever I gave up and just lay down on the mat. Though I didn't do that as much as I'd expected! It's basically pretending to be a ballerina. Though one doing training, rather than one with a pretty tutu on stage. The blurb about it says it's a celebrity craze that Mick Jagger does. I suspect that by the time anything ends up at the voucher stage it's well past being "in", but since Mick and I have had a connection ever since people I was with saw him at
lsugaralmond's wedding, I thought I'd give it a whirl. I liked it a lot. The first part is warm up with kicks and arms and balancing, and then you move onto use the barre. You get to do pretty arms and match them with legs, but sometimes it goes a bit wrong because you have to change positions quickly and you find yourself giving your ankle a Nazi salute. I kept up reasonably well, though when we were resting our legs on the barre I used a screw halfway down the post instead. When we moved to the warm-down on the mats I did okayish at the start, but when we were told "you can go into your split if you want", I sat down and idly stretched one leg out at a time. i am quite pleased that I have more classes next to go to. Maybe I will have Mick Jagger's body in no time!
On Sunday I went to barre concept (another voucher, I love vouchers). This was also something I'd never done before with difficult things and terms (attrape, battements, tendus, which I know from Ballet Shoes but little else) but with an instructor who bothered to find out who was new, and told us where to stand to get the best view of what was going on, and smiled at me whenever I gave up and just lay down on the mat. Though I didn't do that as much as I'd expected! It's basically pretending to be a ballerina. Though one doing training, rather than one with a pretty tutu on stage. The blurb about it says it's a celebrity craze that Mick Jagger does. I suspect that by the time anything ends up at the voucher stage it's well past being "in", but since Mick and I have had a connection ever since people I was with saw him at
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