Better Than Yesterday...

I had WAY too much fun today. Way more than I thought. Yesterday, I had a stupid grin on my face for hours after teaching my 6 tracks. Today, it was well into dinner time that I kept grinning. My friend Christelle commented that it was more fun teaching than taking a BP class. I have to agree, other than taking a class with awesome, quality instructors, YES, this was so flipping fun.

I arrived at the gym today and met up with Janet, Jeanett and Lynne, teachers from school and completely new to BP. The front desk had no idea there was a class going on. They did not have it on their schedule and even though it was online, they didn't even know where the sign up sheet was. No matter, there was no class and I was having the class no matter what.

The other instructor, Kristin, showed up right before class time and we had a conversation about what team teaching would be like. I would have liked to have a similar conversation before yesterday's class so I was very appreciative that Kristin took the time. She was to have taught tracks 1-4 but asked if she could do 1-2 and if I could do the rest. Thankfully, yes, THANK YOU ALEX, for insisting that I learn ALL 10 tracks weeks ago, so it enabled me to say "of course!" with no trepidations whatsoever. I was ready to do it all if I needed to.

Kristin is also a teacher, and we worked well together during the class. There was energy in the room, 21 participants, 13 that were either regular BP'ers from the old gym or friends and family that came specifically to support me. It was so awesome and I was not nervous at all, surprisingly. I did the technique portion prior to class starting and then handed over the mic to Kristin for 1-2. Once I got the mic back for 3-10, it was AWESOME. Other than the mic going out in the dead zones, it was so much smoother than yesterday, I didn't get the shakes or quivers, people were energetic and responded well to corrective feedback, and it was just so much fun. I've also had several people say they were joining the gym. YAY! One friend that came yesterday told me today she was fine if she was sitting down, but as soon as she started to move, she was really sore. Especially her legs. But she is joining the gym and will be in my class Thursday. How amazing to think that she liked my class yesterday, my first one, enough to join and come back? Wow.  And another friend commented that she wanted to try my class, and one of my mom's clients asked where I teach and it turns out she is a member but has never taken any classes and will come to mine Thursday. Whoopee!

I took the feedback from yesterday and applied it today and I think I did much better. Those that came yesterday said it went well. The volume of the mic needs to be turned up a bit cause some had a hard time hearing me so I need to find a balance. I am very conscious of being too loud with the music or the mic so it's great for my friends to give me the feedback during class so I can adjust.

I tell ya, though, I feel like buying some little mirrors that attach to my head so I can see the class as I lay down for chest and abs!! It was very different presenting to my peers in training during the chest track than actually teaching a class full of participants and not being able to see what they were doing.  I was very conscious of coaching as well as I could so that they knew what to do. It was the same during abs.

It was so great to look out into a sea of faces, wink and smile at my friends, but also to see people I didn't know and wonder if they were having a good time. I had one girl come up to me after and thank me! Several people asked me if the Sunday class was being added so all I could do was to tell them if they wanted a Sunday class they needed to request it.

Afterward, Pam and I went to Starbucks and had coffee and a snack, caught up and chatted. She was so sweet, treating me and giving me a congratulations card! Jessica had picked up Cassie from my house, where Franklin was babysitting Renee so Jess could come to class, and I went to her house after coffee and hung out there for a while as the girls played. It was a great afternoon catching up with two friends who have both been very supportive throughout this journey of mine. Thanks girls!!

I know, that even though I had two great first classes, that they will not always be like that. I'm sure there will be off days, both for me and for participants. I know there will be gliches and bumps in the road. I can't worry about those right now. I can only do my best to make sure I am prepared, physically, emotionally and professionally, to do the best job that I can. I feel a sense of responsibility now, that is greater than before. Being a participant - I was only there for me. If I needed a break, or if I couldn't make it, or if I needed to skip some reps, then I did. It was a selfish hour, that hour as a BodyPump participant.

It has all changed. I am not there for me any longer. It's funny, because when I first began entertaining the thought of even becoming an instructor, Franklin said to me "If you're going to be there working out anyway, you might well teach a class and get paid for it." It made sense to me. Then both Alex and Kimi said to me that the class is NOT for me, but for my participants. I must train separately for my own physical fitness. I knew in my head what they said was true, but until yesterday, really until today, I didn't truly understand what that felt like. I feel a sense of responsibility that wasn't there until now. Finishing tracks that I couldn't finish before. When you have a room full of people looking to you for guidance and for motivation, you HAVE to do it. Going lower on my own weight, enough so that I can teach effectively, feels strange but it suddenly has become NOT about me any more.

I am more conscious of what I look like, how I present myself. Two people have now told me to smile more. I thought I was but I will pay more attention to that. I am a little torn, though. I did smile, but apparently I grimaced alot during certain tracks (for sure, the lunge track). I always, as a participant, enjoyed the look of pain and hard work on the faces of my unflappable instructors. Made me feel good to know that they were also working hard, not just me. I have had many instructors walk around the room, sipping water, coaching but not doing. That was something that I always respected about this program. The fact that the instructors were working just as hard, if not harder, than I was. So while I understand I need to smile more, I just wonder if it is okay to let them see that I too am struggling to finish a track, just like they are. Doesn't that make me more human, more approachable, to them? Doesn't it show that I understand what they are going through, that I understand it's hard work?

All in all, it was a great weekend. I got nothing done, in terms of housework or cleaning. My weekend was all about a new phase in my life, one that I am now so glad that I have begun. I know that I am going to be successful at this, because I am passionate about it, because I love it and because I feel such a rush standing at the front of the room. Because I am willing to put in the work, whether it's practicing at home, team teaching with other instructors, taking more classes, learning more choreography. Because it changed my life and I know that the more people that give it a chance, the more people will want to take the classes.

I don't want to go back to the "real" world tomorrow.....I WANNA PLAY IN THE LAND OF LES MILLS.......