Be forewarned. This is going to be a long one. I'm just saying.
The warm up track to Body Pump 76 features a song called the Climb. Now I have never heard it before but found out it is originally by Miley Cyrus. I am so not a fan of hers but I have to say the FIRST time I heard the song, the lyrics rang so true for me and I actually cried - again, me the emotional one. I can't believe how the lyrics perfectly describe my journey to better health. I have to write them here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Climb
I can almost see it
That dream I'm dreaming
But there's a voice inside my head saying
"You'll never reach it"
Every step I'm taking
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking
But I gotta keep trying
Gotta keep my head held high
There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb
The struggles I'm facing
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down
But no, I'm not breaking
I may not know this
But these are the moments that
I'm gonna remember most, yeah
Just gotta keep going
And I, I gotta be strong
Just keep pushing on
There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it more
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb
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Helloooo....my new theme song!!!!
There's more but it just repeats. I tell you, I played that song on the way home yesterday and could hardly see to drive, what with me bawling and the rain. It was a miracle I didn't get in an accident!!
Okay, Day 3. Here goes:
Got up early and my fabulous sister in-law, on a Sunday morning at 6:00 am, was up making me coffee and breakfast. I did some review, had her watch the DVD of my track while I did the movements just to make sure I was on the same tempo (was too early for me to feel like coaching and cueing but it was a huge help to just go through the motions and slow my tempo down a bit - she actually told me I was going to fast up on the 3/1 and that was one of the areas to improve on my first critique!!) She made me a to go cup of coffee with a good luck message written on it and I was off. Got to the gym by 7:45am.
Everyone was dragging, sore and because of the CIM (marathon) in the area, one of the guys, Jonathan was more than 30 minutes late. Darcy thought it started at noon so she came almost an hour late. A bit more stressful for some to start out the day.
Our first presentation went well. I again was the only one teaching the back track so I moved in the middle of the room. I found that NO ONE else did this and with the volume of the music, it was too hard to hear them if you were on the other side of the room. Figured if I am gonna do this, I want everyone to hear me! Nailed the choreography with this one, added in more follow up cues and even some fitness magic and coaching.....all tips I got from my own fabulous instructors over the last couple of years. I did mess up a count or two midway but Margo was looking down and missed it, thank goodness.
Critique time showed that I was rising too fast on the 3/1 (just like Theresa told me in the morning!) and Margo told me to use heavier weights in order to perfect the form for the clean and press move. I was so sore that I went down just a bit but it was enough to affect the move.
We did more technique work, going through each song almost in its entirety but with Margo coaching and focusing on performing the moves perfectly. We did some team work, partner work, voice work, music critique, fitness magic, and then with just a short break, got ready to do final presentations and have a talk with the Regional manager for 24 hour Fitness.
My second presentation, I nailed the technique part but TOTALLY blew more than a few seconds of choreography right in the middle. I was so focused on the moves, the coaching that I completely BLANKED and thought I was gonna lose it. But I got back on track and finished strong.
Lisa from 24 came and told us about next steps. Since I am not an instructor, it will be different for me because I have to first audition with the Group X manager, to be hired and get to even teach anything. The launch for the new release is Jan 8 and I want to be a part of it. So I have to learn the other 8 tracks, somehow practice on my own or with someone but I can't practice on a class. Then I have 3 months, till March 5 to submit a perfect video of me teaching a full class. Cripes. The PRESSURE.
Then we finished 2 hours early (yay) and Margo talked one on one with each of us to give us our outcomes. Christelle (who also is not an instructor) walked by me and said she passed 5 out of 5 compulsories, which you need for a full pass. If you got 3-4 out of 5, you got a pass with held with means you have to show your manager you have mastered it, get it signed off and then Les Mills issues you a pass.
When I went to talk to Margo I was so nervous because I figured she would have nailed me for that screw up in the second presentation. She smiled and told me I got all 5 of the compulsories - Choreography, all three in Technique and Coaching. I was floored! She encouraged me to continue to increase my weights because it made a difference in technique and she told me I was a "strong cookie"!! I laughed at that one. She also encouraged me to do that insane instructor challenge with other instructors once a month to keep building strength and endurance.
I went back and shared with the small group of us that were waiting our turn. Then a strange thing happened: all 6 of them, 5 instructors, came back with puzzled looks on their faces, saying they got pass with helds - only 4 out of 5. I felt very uncomfortable being a non-instructor that passed in a group of experienced ones that did not. One even said to me "No offense but how did YOU pass when you 're not even an instructor and I didn't and I AM?" I stuttered and shrugged but said that I have been doing this program for a long time and had good role models. Sigh. Let's see if they keep in touch :-// So as far as I know, only two of us got the full pass out of 11 and neither of us are instructors, just Body Pump fanatics. The rest left and didn't share their results so who knows.
We took some pictures, then I hung back to chat with Margo and shared with her the reaction of the others to my passing the module. She said that it's not that they are held to higher standards because they are instructors, it's a check list and either you got it or you didn't. I did. I am still in a bit of shock.
I am feeling very fortunate to have had Margo as my Master Trainer for this module. She actually was in New Zealand a year ago for 2 weeks filming the previous release with the main Program Directors and Choreographers, was on that DVD as one of the presenters! Now I need to borrow it from someone to watch because I know her!! She's like a rock star in my eyes now!!
To many people who have never experienced a Les Mills format class, it is impossible to understand the draw, the magic, the intensity and the exhilarating feeling you get once it's over. Today at school my coworkers asked how the training went and I was stumped at how to respond. Janet really got it, because she reads my blog and understands my wacko brain. But the other teachers, one just look puzzled as I tried to explain to her WHY I would pay to put myself through that kind of pain, and the other, while interested and impressed, well, the whole experience is just hard to put into words. Just like I felt with the 1/2 marathon, and feeling like I was part of this new club that I had never been invited to before, now I feel a part of the tribe, a connection with my instructor friends in a new, really freaking cool way. I have such an enormous amount of respect and admiration for each and every one of them because it ALL MAKES PERFECT SENSE now. It also opens my eyes completely to how little we, as participants really know and understand about these people that stand in front of us on a weekly basis and inspire and instruct us. There is a butt load of work and time and dedication that goes into each class, the preparation is astounding just to learn a couple of tracks! How they teach more than one class format is beyond me.
I feel a part of something way bigger than me. Les Mills classes are in 80 countries world wide. 80 COUNTRIES. Over 70,000 instructors teach these classes. Over 3 million people a week take Body Pump classes worldwide. I feel a connection with my instructors and mentors that wasn't there before, at least it's now different because I understand a little of where they come from.
So what's to freak out about? Of course I will always find something to freak out about or I wouldn't be me. Now I can freak about when will I find time to practice, where, with who, how much, how long, will I get an audition, will I pass it, will I get hired, will I get to just team teach or will I get my own class, will my friends come to my class, will I will I will I..................
One day at a time. Breathe. Sigh.
I PASSED!!!!!!! YIPEE!!!!!!!!
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