Team Orca (aka Water Aerobics Review)

Between Lakewood Rec Swim Team, high school and college diving... I've spent a good chunk of my life in the water. I think my sophmore year of high school we figured out that we easily spent 1/3 of our life swimming laps in the pool. Kind of depressing LOL.

One of the things that always cracked us up was the group of "old ladies" that would come to the pool for water aerobics. Seriously? There was no way they were getting a workout. 1.) They never looked like they lost weight and 2.) splashing around in a pool is not a real workout.

Fast forward to junior year of undergrad. Part of our core requirements was two credits of health and physical education. As pointless as it seemed, it was kind of fun. For my HPE requirements I took racketball, dance, camping, and swim conditioning.

Okay, being on the swim team and having our coach teach the class.. I admit I took it for the easy A. It was fun! We swam laps, we played water polo... fun in the pool for college credit. For one of the classes our coach's awesome wife came and ran a water aerobics workout. That was the last time I ever made fun of water aerobics.

Don't get me wrong... we had a blast splashing around in the pool with the fun noodles! However, directly after the class I had diving practice. I started jumping on the board and my legs gave out on me. The workout pretty much killed my calves and practice was a disaster.

Ever since I hurt my back last January, I've been trying to figure out what type of workout I can do that strengthens my core without causing too much pain to the back. I know that in order to relieve the back pain, I need to strengthen my core muscles. Of course focusing on my core is difficult because my back starts to hurt. Mean trick.

Ever since joining the gym I've been looking into attending one of their water aerobics class. Thanks to my friend Jon, I knew it would be interesting since he nicknamed the group 'Team Orca." Heading to a class... it didn't take long for me to understand the nickname.

Let's just say the class was interesting. Many of the participants seemed to be looking for a "quick" fix to their weight issues. The instructor was kind of annoying, but putting that personal opinion aside, she did give a good workout. The Saturday class was mostly a strengthening and resistance training class for those willing to put the effort into it. Unfortunately, the people in the class didn't necessarily take advantage of the workout. Most of the people seemed to think that by moving around slightly and half-assing the moves meant they were burning calories. Like anything else in life, what you put INTO the work is what you get out of it.

Curious to see how classes were with another instructor, I attended the Tuesday night class even though with my fall class schedule I would never be able to make it. This class was filled with many people looking for an easy workout again, not realizing that THIS instructor was more nuts than the other. The difference between Tuesday night and Saturday morning was that this instructor lead a fast past 45 minute cardio workout in the pool working different muscle groups but focusing mostly on legs and abs. She was totally into the workout herself, screaming out instructions as she stood with her back to us in her own world. She never turned around or she would have noticed that most of the class was unable to keep up after 10 minutes. I broke into a sweat, which even as a competitive swimmer always made me feel weird. There is something about sweating in a pool that just doesn't feel right!

Overall, the two classes were good for those willing to put the effort into the workout. It wasn't 100% easy on my back, but it also didn't completely aggravate the pain either. I would like to go back, but the hard part is going to be the annoyance factor of dealing with the instructors who lead the class. Unfortunately, on those mornings that I'm lying in bed trying to motivate myself to get up and head to a class... the annoying instructor is going to lose to the cushy comfort of my body pillow.

BodyJam Review

So I've had my gym membership for just about one month now, and in between trips to New York, trips to Ohio, and this nightmare of a summer grad class... I've actually been going pretty consistently considering my availability. According to the Gold's Gym locker room scale, I'm even down five pounds from when I started. As happy as that makes me, it also makes me wonder how much I might have lost had I actually been following a diet instead of eating fried cheese on a stick at Cedar Point last week!!! :-P Luckily I am back on track food wise (even though Dave likes to sneak yummy chocolate cookies into the house to torture me with!).

Anyway, I chose to get my membership with Gold's Gym for a number of reasons. One reason was the pool (swimming laps at the public pool in 100 degree heat with hundreds of kids screaming and splashing around is not my idea of a good time) another reason was for their classes. Since joining I've been trying to find a class I would be interested in. Cycling burns a lot of calories, but the classes seem so intimidating to me. I heard that body pump is great, but the time of the classes hasn't been working out for me! Eventually the yoga and Pilate classes will spark my interest, but what I really wanted was a good cardio workout that didn't involve me tripping on a box! Luckily, this month my gym introduced BodyJam into their class lineup.

Gold Gym's North Hills describes BodyJam as:

"This addictive fusion of the latest dance moves and hottest new sounds puts the emphasis as much on having fun as breaking a sweat. Funky instructors teach you to move with attitude through this 55-minute class. Go grab a friend and get front and center to get high on the feeling of dance!"

Okay, I'm not exactly the most coordinated person, but this sounded like fun! Plus it is a cardio workout that uses just the body so I don't have to worry about tripping over anything, buying anything, or dropping anything.

I showed up to the gym a half hour early so I decided to warm up and burn a few calories by running on the treadmill for a bit. Turns out that REALLY wasn't necessary!! I walked into the class and noticed that even though the participants were mostly women, a few men joined our group as well. The instructor of the class was a big lady (as in tall and buff) and looked like she could EASILY kick anyone's butt.

The microphone at the gym was down, so prior to starting the workout, the instructor went over some of the more difficult dance moves. As the class began, she would teach us simple moves and build up a choreographed routine to fast-pace hip-hop music in the form of salsa, mambo, and disco. Quickly into our warm up I was already feeling the sweat as I watched my body jiggle in the room's way too many mirrors. Luckily as we danced through the class, I became less and less focused on the mirrors and more focused on how much fun I was having. With so many different levels of fitness and coordination bouncing around the class, it was the perfect workout for anyone.

I left the class feeling exhausted but also feeling great thanks to the endorphin's high. My legs were sore and I could tell my muscles would be hurting in the morning. Looking back, running on the treadmill was a stupid idea considering 55 minutes of cardio was more than adequate in burning calories. I have to keep reminding myself not to push too much. Getting injured is not on the goal's list. :)

BodyJam was an awesome workout and I recommend it for anyone looking to burn calories in a fun, upbeat way.