It's all about convenience right now....

Today, I went to a BodyPump class at noon at the gym that's most convenient for me to get to. They had just added this class when this current schedule for group exercise classes came into effect so I didn't really have the option before. Previously, the most convenient gym to me didn't have any BodyPump classes on Fridays so that was rather annoying. I would have to go to various other gyms if I wanted to work out on Fridays which while doable was rather annoying; particularly since I started having a dance class on Friday nights as well so it would be BodyPump at 5;15, dance from 7-9 and then I would have to be at work at 10. I still have those last to things but at least I had time beforehand to....eat.

Somehow, I am not disappointed....

Today, I went to BodyPump for the first time ever on a Tuesday night. It was quite the experience, but not because it was Tuesday. For some reason, the instructor for that particular class didn't actually show up, so the instructor for the class right before it had to find someone else. Luckily, there was someone there that was a BodyPump instructor that could actually teach it. While the new intructor got herself together, the other instructor (who normally teaches BodyStep) did a BodyStep warmup with us. When the BodyPump instructor was ready, we started at the beginning of the workout.
In a typical BodyPump class, you do the exercises in the following order: Warm up, Squats, Chest, Clean and Press, Triceps, Biceps, Lunges, Shoulders, Abs, and Cool down. Today, because it took a while for everything to sort itself out, we had to cut out some of the exercise. We ended up cutting out the Lunge and Tricep tracks. We also only did one minute of Abs. I cannot say I was disappointed about that turn of events because Lunges and Triceps are two of my least favourite tracks. So today's favourite thing was a BodyPump class with no Lunges or Tricep exercises.

Still exercising!

I have written in the past about doing different group exercise classes at the gym I go to. I tend to really enjoy them but some I enjoy more than others. There is something to be said for having an instructor that you enjoy. It makes the workout seem less like a workout. None of the instructors I have had have been bad per se, but some of them have definitely been better than others. There are certain days and times that I go to classes just for the fact that I enjoy the instructor for that class. For example, I go to Zumba on Mondays at 4:30 simply because I like the instructor. I also enjoy the instructor for BodyPump on Wednesdays at 6:30 and Mondays at 5pm and for BodyCombat on Thursday nights (sadly, I can't go to the Thursday night class until my French class is over). Those are definitely the classes I enjoy the most just because of the instructor. So today's favourite thing is Group Exercise class with an instructor I enjoy.

I can't think of a clever title so this will have to do.

So today I did the BodyPump class at the gym. I have done this class a few times and I enjoy how strong it makes me feel even though I usually have the least amount of weight possible on my bar. I have definitely noticed the difference in my body since starting the class and it is the class that I do that I can tell is working to shape different muscle groups. Many of the other classes seem to be focused more on cardio while this more about weight training. The hardest part is figuring out how much weight to use for each of the different muscle groups. The instructor gives guidelines about how much to use but you also have to base it on how much you actually can do. I bumped the weight for my squats today which seemed like the 'smart' thing to do right before Christmas but it wasn't a huge leap so I think I'll be okay. On a related note, I think I did something not so good to a glute so I have to figure out a good way of stretching it. I have tried a bunch of different stretches but none of the seem to really hit the spot. Any suggestions?