Getting Blitzed!

My latest class in my YMCA experiment/adventure was the lunchtime Y-Blitz class at the Downtown Y. It was my first time taking a class at this location and I went with my friend Sun so she could show me around bit before the workout. I have to say, this branch is pretty darn nice. It's newer and definitely has a more modern feel to it- although the layout that winds it's way through the Grand Avenue Mall building had me feeling a little bit lost at first! I especially was interested in the 1/6 mile track that goes loops through the whole facility.

But back to Blitz-ing. This class was BANANAS. I'm not even exaggerating. You only have 35 minutes to work but you better believe there is serious sweating being done every single second of your time there. Our workout that day was called "The Gauntlet". (Eeek!) It started with a sprint around the track followed by some jumps over stacked steppers and shuffling through hurdles. Then the really fun part: Each round we were given 4 different movements to perform. For example, 20 burpees, 20 squat jumps, 20 mountain climbers and 20 jackknife sit ups. Yes, that you read that right. 80 reps. Then repeat the whole circuit again and again as many times as you can. Every time we finished the track sprint and jumps we were given 4 new things to do. (Push ups, jump lunges, etc.) At one point Sun and I were doing dead lifts with gigantic kettlebells and slamming battle ropes in unison!

You can probably guess that this class is not for a beginner. I feel like I'm in really good shape and this was still a real challenge for me! I'm also pretty sure though that you would start to see results very quickly working out like this. It seemed like a lot of people there were used to this type of workout and they were performing like rockstars- although I didn't feel like there was a competitive vibe to the class at all. Everyone was just there to work hard and get it done.

So to sum up, if you're a newbie I'd wait before diving into the Blitz. However, if you're looking for a new challenge to conquer and enjoy shorter duration, high-intensity training, then you may have met your match.

Next up: Body Pump

Obviously.

Body Combat: Boomboompow!

I think I found my favorite Y class! (At least so far.) Sunday morning I took Body Combat for the first time at the South Shore YMCA and I feel like this class totally gets me. It's a super high energy cardio class where you punch, kick, shuffle and jump your way through choreographed movements set to some heart pumping music. There are no gloves, boxing bags or other equipment, but your body is working HARD for the full hour.

I have to say a class like this may take a little bit of brain work and coordination at first but I feel like there was a lot of repetition with the movements so you have time to figure out what your body is supposed to be doing. The instructor I had took some time right at the beginning to go over proper form for all the basic kicks and punches we'd be doing. Also, each song seemed to have a "theme" of some sort where you focused on one type of movement in particular (squatting, kicking or punching, etc.) By the end you are throwing everything you've learned throughout the hour into one intense circuit. I felt like I was dancing at one point as I really got in a good rhythm with the music! At the end we finished up with a push up and core circuit on the floor.

I'd highly recommend this class to anyone who likes cardio-focused classes without the frills of tons of equipment or workout "gear." I also think it was a fun way to get some aggression out. The instructor, Sara, at this class was really motivating throughout and had us working hard. I will definitely be back for this one down the road.


Video from the New Orleans YMCA on YouTube.

Next up: Y-Blitz!

I Have Confidence in Me

Where to begin. This post has been percolating around in my brain for a week because I have a lot of feelings about this but sometimes it takes a while for me to extract all the feels from inside my head and make sense of them all. Here we go.

A lot of people know that I got my personal trainer certification last year. The one thing I didn't want to do upon obtaining my certification was to walk into a big name gym and get put an a virtual hamster wheel- training people who get a one *free* session with their membership and never seeing them again, leading huge classes where I'd never match all the faces with names, and putting all the focus on selling memberships instead of building relationships. I also wanted to have control of when and where and how much I worked as a trainer. Honestly, this is not something I decided to do in order to help put food on the table. We're good over here. I chose to do this because I have a genuine interest in the field and think that I have something to offer people.

So that's why I had my own business. My own sad, small, half-ass little business. And here's what I learned:

1. Marketing is hard. Business-ing is hard. And I am terrible at it.
2. It's even harder if you're marketing for a business you really only want to do part-time.

After a couple of weeks I wanted to block MYSELF on social media with all the shouting about bootcamps and incessant retweeting invites and reminders about classes I was teaching. I also had no idea how to reach out to people outside of my own personal network, which is why I mainly ended up teaching classes to friends, and friends of friends.

Not to say I didn't learn a lot of useful things. Once I started training actual people instead of memorizing facts and figures from a big book, things started to come very naturally to me. I even picked up some one-on-one training clients where I really felt like I learned a lot about modifying exercises to suit a person's specific needs, and getting to know them on a more personal level. I remember when I was first considering getting certified I asked a trainer (again a friend of a friend) what advice he had and he said, "Listen. People really just want to be heard." That advice really stuck with me because as I taught more people I realized that it was much more than just presenting some movements and shouting out numbers of repetitions at them. People hire a personal trainer or go to a bootcamp class because they're looking for some kind of motivation outside of themselves. They need someone to listen to them and help them find their path to success.

ANYWAY. Back to me and half-assing my way through my business.

I decided to take a hiatus from training over the holidays (except for the one client I was working with in-home.) It had gotten too cold and dark to host bootcamp classes at the park anymore and I hadn't secured an indoor space for the winter. In fact, I wasn't sure it was even worth it for me to try and rent space for the number of people I thought I could potentially get into a class over November and December. After the new year I was feeling kind of down about my prospects and was procrastinating about taking action when I saw that a small personal training studio in the neighborhood, Wild Workouts and Wellness, was hiring trainers. The owner, Amber, is a person with whom my social circle overlaps with a lot and I've always had my eye on her as someone I was impressed with in the Milwaukee/Bay View fitness community.

So I submitted my application. She called me. We met. And I got the job.

I feel like a weight has been lifted. Like I can finally get down to doing what I want to do. No messing around with sales and marketing and spreadsheets. I show up, I meet awesome people, and we get to work. I feel very lucky that I stumbled upon his opportunity and that I've been welcomed fully onto their little team. During this past year I had bouts of feeling like I wasn't a "real" trainer because I wasn't out there enough "in the field," so-to-speak. I was even pretty nervous walking into her gym and presenting myself as a real deal, legit trainer. But now that I've started coaching the workouts it's like everything is starting to fall into place. I really DO know what I'm talking about. People can ask me questions and for the most part I KNOW THE ANSWERS. And if I don't- well I then have the opportunity to learn something new. I've got tons of room to grow and I'm looking forward to growing it.


I've been doing this thing lately where I say to myself, "All you have to do is be yourself and everything will fall into place." It's a little Maria Von Trapp-ish but hey, it works me for. And it probably helps that being myself is also not being a jerkface. (At least I'm pretty sure I'm not a jerkface.)

Yoga: YMCA-Style

I've taken all kinds of yoga over the years. It's interesting to me because even though many of the postures will be the same, there's still a lot of variation in the styles of class you can take. I generally gravitate towards what a lot of people would call "power" yoga. I love Ashtanga because it's very structured and it makes me feel super strong afterward. I also went through a big Bikram phase and got pretty hooked on sweating it out in the 105 degree room.

The yoga class I took at the South Shore YMCA this week wasn't listed on the schedule as being a specific style so I wasn't sure what exactly to expect. We started class with a short meditation where we focused on tapping into our breath and letting go of any outside thoughts and distractions. I always like this because it can be kind of a jolt sometimes coming in from the car and snow and yuck and have to instantly calm your mind and be ready to move. The first half of class was mostly standing postures, in including sun salutations and various warrior poses. I felt like we held some the postures a lot longer than I was used to and I liked it. My quads were shaking at one point! When we moved onto seated postures it focused more on opening up the hips. We did some spine twisting and hamstring stretches as well. Of course, we finished class in Savasana (corpse pose) to let everything soak in.

Overall I felt like this class would be very accessible to beginners. I noticed the instructor suggested many modifications and everyone had a strap and block next to their mat if needed. The group exercise room at the South Shore Y is very large so the class didn't feel crowded at all. (Something I've struggled with at smaller studios before.) Although it was slower paced, I still felt challenged from having to hold some of the positions, and I noticed my abs were sore the next day so I obviously tapped into my core muscles.

Class #2 down! I took a rest week after running a marathon on Sunday but I'm planning on getting back at it next week!

Next up: Body Combat


Full Disclosure: I have been offered a free family membership to the YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee in 2014 in exchange for blogging, tweeting and general social-media-ing about my experiences there. Hey, why not? Sounds good to me. 

Icebreaker, Architecture and Gifts

“Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood.” -Daniel Burnham

I mean really, who isn’t inspired by late 19th century Chicago architects? (Just me?)

I’ve been getting new inspiration from a lot of different places lately. A few weeks ago I was running laps on the track at the Pettit Center in preparation for the Icebreaker Indoor Marathon. After warming up I found myself running with a friend who is also a running coach. He asked me what my goal was for the Icebreaker and I hemmed and hawed about it, mumbling something something about how I’d run a 3:50 in Chicago but running indoors is another complicated beast and I *thought* I could maybe sub-4 indoors. He looked at me and said, “See there’s your problem. Don’t say I *think* I can do it. Say you KNOW you can do it. It changes everything.” He went on to tell me that I was capable of running way faster than I thought I could and I how I could totally be more aggressive with my goals and blah blah talent blah blah ability blah. (I’m paraphrasing, obviously.)

It was a pep talk I needed. I also proceeded to knock out a 20 miler with 15 miles of it at an 8:30 average pace that day. So I went home and promptly changed my Icebreaker goal to be sub-3:50. I did all the math for what my average lap pace should be. I ran two more long runs at the Pettit drilling in that pace for the bulk of each run. MAKE NO LITTLE PLANS right? And then I ran a 3:46:29 on Sunday.

I don’t know why I hesitate with goals sometimes. Except that, wait, I totally know why I do. I feel like when I say them out loud to people they become really real in the Real World and then there’s a new sense of accountability. However sometimes it’s that sense of accountability that can be the push I need to get to the next level.

I have a goal for 2014. I wrote it down just before the new year and I tacked it to my wall but I haven’t told that many people about it. (Mainly because of what I just talked about above.) On Sunday though before the race when I was looking for a place to stash my bag I came across this photo:

I read this and something just clicked inside of me. Of course it is! How cool/lucky/amazing is it that I can go run 95 times around the track and feel strong and happy and empowered while doing so? During the race, every time I felt fatigued or started to slip off of pace I said to myself, “Running is a gift.” Because it is. And I’m actually pretty good at it! So I’m embracing the gift and going all out this year. 

I don’t *think* I can qualify for Boston. I KNOW I CAN.

Spin it Out: Y-Cycle

I've taken a Spin class exactly two other times in my life. It's not that I don't enjoy cycling, it's just that with running and strength training and dance classes (and LIFE in general) there simply aren't enough hours in the week. With my new Y membership though, I have a goal to try as many new classes as possible over the next six months. So back to cycling it is.

I set up my membership this past Saturday at the South Shore YMCA in Cudahy. After stashing my coat and purse in the locker room I was still a bit early for the 9:15am Y-Cycle class so I wandered around the cardio room checking things out and hopped on the treadmill for a quick mile to get warmed up before heading to class.

I think one of the things that make people nervous about Spin classes is not being familiar with the bikes. I feel the same way. When I walked into the room it was already pretty packed with people warming up so I took the first open bike I saw and just started pedaling. Right away the instructor asked if anyone was new to class and if they had any questions so my hand shot up in the air. She immediately came over and helped me readjust my seat to the correct height and instructed me on how to use the gears and monitor my RPMs (revolutions per minute). This made me feel a lot more comfortable right away.

Photo: South Shore YMCA on Facebook

This particular class 45 minutes and out of that time I'd say 30-35 was moderate to high intensity cycling. You fit in a lot in a short period of time. We did a number of different circuits, including a slow climb, short sprint intervals and high resistance intervals where we stood up on the bike. One of the harder circuits for me was a longer, steady circuit where we slowly increased the resistance while keeping our RPMs the same. I really liked how each circuit was paired up with a song so I could gauge pretty well how much time I had before getting a break. The last circuit we did was three sets of one-minute sprints. It was pretty intense but it was fun to go all out at the end! We finished up with an easy cooldown and some stretching next to our bikes.

Overall this was a challenging and enjoyable class. I'd like to go again but mixing it up is my goal right now so I'm excited to see what else the Y has to offer.




Next up: Yoga!