Saturday, my workout partner and I did four group classes at Spiece Fitness starting at 7:10 and ending at 11:00 AM. I’ve never done that many in one day and I didn’t know if I could get through them all without passing away.
The first class was spin which uses the stationary bicycles in the spinzone. I told someone about spin class and he thought it was standing in place and spinning or twirling your body in circles. Gail is our instructor and she plays music for inspiration and keeping a good cadence. She did her famous robot impression for us during class which cracked me up and took my mind off the tough part of the ride.
For the 8:00 AM class Denise, who is a spin junkie, stayed for a second spin class with Kim. I went to group Blast in the Group Zone near the Spiece entrance with Kasi as our lead blaster. Lately, I setup in the front of class next to Becky who is also a group instructor. Blast is a cardio class which uses the plastic step and risers. We do knee lifts, leg curls, T-steps, hop-overs and other lower body moves to music and with Kasi’s directions. She played a release I’ve never blasted to yet so it was a good test for me. Blast has helped my martial arts cardio endurance remarkably in sparing situations.
For our third class we both did Zumba with Nikki the instructor in the spinzone. This is the one class where I’m the only male and I will be surprised if I never see another one in class. It’s fun and challenging at the same with great rhythmic music and dance moves. Most of the time I’m playing catch up with the class as we move from one set to another. Sometimes, I can’t get my body to do what Nickie is doing but it doesn’t bother me- I just keep moving and sweating.
By the fourth class, Group Fight, I was tired and dehydrated. Becky, our instructor, is always full of energy and does a great job explaining our moves before we do them. Denise and I took the class together and she had more energy than I had. There were some moves I couldn’t do by the end, but Denise was doing these amazingly high tuck jumps at the end. Becky reminded me how powerful our elbows can be during one of our sets. I don’t use them in sparring classmates at Basches Martial Arts, but in a street fight they can be used. Group fight also lets me practice my hook punches which I don’t do as often as I should at Basches.
I made it to the end of my fourth class – barely. I don’t know if I’ll ever do it again, but it was good to know I could do four classes in a row. Sunday I was surprised that I wasn’t too sore anywhere and I could still walk and even took the dog on a mile walk- not bad for a 56 year-old!
If you haven’t taken advantage of group classes at your gym – you should. They are free at Spiece and at the YMCA. They can add a little excitement and variety to a mundane solo workout. I also made friends and met my workout partner at group classes so what do you have to lose?
