After having to take a week off due to some freak illness, we got back into the groove of things Wednesday evening with my first small group fitness class at Jade Fitness: “CorrectFit Level I.” I must admit, I came home from work exhausted, and the last thing I wanted to do was go to a class. I’ve always found group classes intimidating before, and I was worried I wouldn’t have what it takes to keep up with the pace, even though it was an entry level class.
It was a rainy night and the couch was calling my name. But then I remembered what Trainer Drew told me as we were first getting started. He had said, “Just show up. If you can make yourself show up, we can do this together.” So, we got in the car, and we showed up.
The class consisted of doing a series of core exercises with various accessories (kettle balls, resistance bands, etc.) for 30 seconds at a time. The focus is on doing them correctly (hence the name “CorrectFit”) so that your body learns and remembers the proper motions as you go into more challenging workouts later on. I really enjoyed the variety and definitely got my heart rate going and muscles working that have been slacking for a long time. I loved the warehouse feel of the Jade Gym and having the garage door open with fresh air coming in on a cool rainy night really helped set a nice vibe.
I liked that the class was a small group setting, because Trainer Drew (or I guess in this case “Instructor Drew”) is still able to give you a lot of individualized attention to make sure you are doing things right. At the same time he’s able to tailor the class to each individual’s ability by offering 2-3 modifications for doing the exercise. I needed to typically take the modification that makes it the easiest just because I’m so out of shape, but there were people in the class taking the core move and making it more challenging for themselves with a modification. I was impressed, but not at all intimidated by that. It gave me something to work toward as opposed to making me feel like the class was too hard. My major accomplishment was really just making it through the whole thing without having to sit any part out. Small victories.
The energy of the group and the workout was just great and fun. I love that Trainer Drew is sarcastic and can laugh along the way, though I wonder how quickly he’s going to get sick of me grabbing my fiancé, Matt’s, arm when he says, “grab a mat.” It’s important to me that this is FUN and not a chore. I walked out feeling really great and wide awake.
Tonight, Matt and I go back for Small Group Personal Training for the two of us. We’re planning on talking to Trainer Drew about a few more tips we can do to improve nutrition now that we have cut the pasta and rice from dinners on a regular basis.
Will report back on our progress soon!
