Goodyear Bad Class

Last night at 5:30 I joined the Goodyear gym participants for a rousing class of Body Power. The description of the class read: You've heard of Body Pump, well here is our version. A full body workout with weights, set to upbeat music. Well, it was a weight class and we did work every part of our body and there was music, but that's about the only similarities to BodyPump that I saw. For the most part we used free weights. The only time we used a bar was for bicep curls and lunges, and we easily could have used hand weights for that too. As a class we would do ten-sixteen reps of a body part and then take a little break. The instructor would talk about her life for a little bit and then we would do the reps again, until we had done them three times. We did not lift to the beats of the music, in fact we didn't coordinate with the music at all, she might as well have been playing the radio. All in all, it was nothing I couldn't do at home. Sure the fact that it is a class and at a set time might actually get me there more often, but I was not impressed. On top of that the teacher was really annoying. She said things like: Let's give our knees a hug-i-poo to thank them, while we were stretching. Please, I'm not in preschool and even if I was I would hate that kind of talk! I just kept thinking: boy would these people be surprised if they had to do the entire Voodoo Child squat track! As I was taking the class, I just figured I have to keep looking to find a class like BodyPump. But afterwards I started thinking: what if I never get to BodyPump again?

Still, I stuck around for Cardio Box. I didn't have high expectations after that first class we took. But everybody was willing to stay, so we did. I suspect that nobody was really worn out after lifting weights, so they felt guilty calling it a day and going home. This class was soooo much better. It was tough; I was sweating; I almost passed out. Everything starting looking up when the instructor, Katie, who used to be a Gold's teacher, explained that it was exactly like Combat, except without all the Tai Chi parts. Jennifer immediately said Good because she hates all the deep breathing / centering yourself crap. But I knew right away that meant there would be no time to catch your breathe. And I was dead right. It was 45 minutes of ass-kicking Combat class. I loved it! On a side note: I will never wear long pants to Kickboxing again. And although I missed the friendly banter between Ryan and Mary, Katie was just as tough and good as they are.

The gym isn't as nice a Gold's. It's large with many different rooms. It has no air-conditioning, just window boxes and lots of fans. The fitness room is long and narrow (similar to Jen's) but it doesn't have nearly enough mirrors. I couldn't see myself at all during weights, and I couldn't see the instructor when I was in a left-stance in kickboxing. The classes weren't full at all and either was the parking lot. I'm pretty sure I will be purchasing a punch-card even if I only use it to go to Cardio Box. I might try the spinning class too though, I have heard those are great calorie burners. Albeit, Erin and I are both sore today (I haven't asked Jennifer yet) so it's either the fact that we haven't pushed ourselves that hard in three weeks, or those classes worked something we weren't getting. On Sunday their new schedule comes out. I will make some decisions then. Keep your finger's crossed for Marika!