Summer is almost over, I go back to work for a day on Thursday, and then for real next Wednesday. This summer, for the first time ever, I was able to turn in my keys and not think about school the entire time. Seriously. I have been so busy with BodyFlow training, practicing, family, cleaning, sleeping in, watching the Olympics....just anything but worrying about school and it has been....heaven. Everyone I see this week keeps asking me when I go back to school and I just plug my ears. I am not thinking about it until after this weekend, this big weekend, when I get to work the 24 Hour Fitness' San Mateo Super Sport Premier Launch! I am teaching 4 classes.....Team teaching BodyPump at 7:45 am, then BodyFlow, and 2 CXWORX classes. I am beyond excited to begin this part of my journey...the one that has me actively teaching 3 formats.
Tomorrow, however, is going to be so bittersweet. It is my last Tuesday class in San Carlos. Every class is special in its own way to me; I've written about it before. This class, though, is my largest, with regularly now 50+ people each class. Twice I've filled the room to capacity at 60. The energy is amazing and I dread announcing tomorrow that it is my last class with them. I was unable to give them any notice because we needed corporate to approval the new schedule, so after launch, I am in San Mateo on Tuesdays. I will be teaching all three formats: a 30 minute BodyPump, 30 minute CX, and then an hour of BodyFlow. My ideal line up. 2 hours. Beginning earlier, at 4:30, so there is concern on my part about how many people will make it that early. The room is half the size of San Carlos, maybe 30 can fit. I cannot wait.....but I know I will be so sad to leave my Tuesday group. I will still be there on Thursdays, so it's not like I am leaving for good, but each class has its own energy, its own group of members. It will be different. I will miss them.
I wanted to change up my playlist for them as a farewell; now, at midnight, it came to me. I am going to leave them as I came to them - with my training release, 76. Reviewing it now, I barely have to go over the choreography. It is permanently ingrained in my head, I taught it so many times, filmed it so many times. It brings back so many memories for me; the journey as I began it, to become a BP instructor, is wrapped up in this release. To leave my beloved crew with this, just really feels RIGHT. And so it is.
My Sunday schedule is changing as well. I will be remaining in San Carlos, but in order to keep my class, it had to move 2 hours earlier, to 9:00 am. I also have to announce this. This is so I can have a second BodyFlow class, but in San Mateo, at 11:00am. I hope that my participants will be pleased that I am staying, even though the class will be early. I am also sad about this; my Sunday class was the one that was relaxed, not sandwiched between classes, a time when I was always able to work with people who had technique questions, or just to chat freely without rushing out of the room. The upside? I get to teach BodyFlow, twice a week, and that just makes it all better. Two different clubs, but I have an hour to get there and I couldn't be more excited.
Although I wish I were teaching one more CX, I am happy with my new classes, and the next leg of my journey. Launch should be a blast; teaching BP, BF and CX with Kimi, Jocelyn and Karin, again in the basketball court, up on stage. I hope to get more people to sign up and fill the room.
My line up is now: 2 full BodyPumps, 1 30 minute BP, CX, and 2 BodyFlows each week.
YIPEE!!!!!
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
I Am A BodyFlow Instructor!!!
Well, I passed initial training! I still need to submit a video of me teaching an entire class.....but you know what? Dreams DO come true, and I know that I will work hard and submit a video worthy of passing. I have no doubt. I am not being cocky, or conceited, but confident because this weekend was SO amazing, I had SO much growth, personally and physically, that I know in my heart, this program was meant to be in my life right now. So yes, I will pass this video assessment. I have 2 months, September 15 is the due date. EEK.
This past weekend, just as I had expected, was amazing. ALL Les Mills trainings, and I have been to a few, are quality trainings. The initial trainings are now 2 days, and we receive our dvd's and choreography notes 14 days in advance in order to learn our tracks and be prepared. Day 1, Rachel, our AMAZING trainer told us, would be the hardest, and if we could get through it, Day 2 was going to simply be FUN. She was right.
Day 1.......I had thought that I would present one track two times on Saturday, and then the second track two times on Sunday, like other trainings. Nope. It was one track, once on Saturday and twice on Sunday, and it was TRACK 7. The one I had been dreading, the one I didn't like as much, the hardest track in the release!!! WTH?? I had been counting on track 3, which was hard with my lack of shoulder and hip flexibility, but track 7? with the hovers, the fireflies, the crocodile pose? AAAARRRGGGGHHH!!! Karin had to talk me down and convince me that I WANTED the hardest track at training, because I was going to get specific, one on one feedback on the hardest track in the release, so that when it came time to taping, I would nail it. Everyone else would not have had the same attention to that track that I had. So I tried to be positive, but deep down, I knew that I struggled with the firefly, which is this: when you are in a hover, on your toes and straight arms, you bring your knee to the same side elbow, as you come down halfway in a crocodile. Super hard for me with my upper body strength, which is stronger but still.
Day 1 was a lot of technique work, after the Master Class with Rachel. Megan from the Les Mills West Coast office (I had met her at the Sunnyvale launch) came down to do the class with us. Rachel is a wonderful instructor and it was fun to go through the class with her live instead of the DVD. We had a group of 11 people instead of the 9 I saw on our original list. I knew Karin and Yvonne, and had met Patty once, and knew of Jocelyn. It was nice to meet other instructors, both from 24 Hour Fitness and other gyms. Once woman, Nikki, was like me in my BodyPump training, a participant from Bladium, and had never taught anything before but loves LM and chose this as her first foray into Group X. She is super sweet, knows several instructors that I do, and was super nervous, but WOW. She was AMAZING at her track, and it brought back so many memories of me just 19 months ago in training. Being a participant going into training is like no one else - we have a passion, a love of the programs and it shows, even with our lack of teaching experience. Nikki will be a phenomenal BodyFlow instructor!
We did our first presentations at the end of Day 1. I was super nervous, of course. I went up and began my track, I KNEW my choreography and timing, but for some reason, I got off track within the first 2 sets and it threw me off. I lost my focus, lost my place, got off on timing, but got back on track. I finished O.K. but as soon as I sat down and Rachel asked, as she asked each one of us, one thing we thought we did fabulous, and one thing we could work on, I BLANKED on the fabulous. I literally could not get any words out, and when I did, I said I HAD the chorey, and I just could not come up with what I did right. I came up with a laundry list of what I did wrong and Rachel stopped me and said "Stop - I am taking over this conversation!" and she told me that I did a great job, that my coaching was spot on, but she could tell I was totally in my head, I made one mistake and then in my head it was over. She told me this is NOT CXWORX, it's BodyFlow - it was ok for me to show one option on my toes and then go down to my knees to do the rest. That it was ok to show members then options because most people will not be able to do the high option and do it with perfect technique. She told me to do the first rep on my toes and then show the option on my knees, and it was OK. Well, the whole time she was talking, what was I doing? Crying. Yep. Me, the blubbering idiot. I felt so stupid, like such a failure, and she made me feel so relieved that it was ok to take the lower option, especially in this program. If we only coach the lower option and only show the higher one, people will feel like they need to do the higher option because we are doing it or feel bad that they can't do it. It is important to SHOW them, for a good amount of time, the level one option so they understand how to perform the move correctly.
Karin, in the parking lot before we drove home, told me she knew exactly what happened with me. This is so dumb. I ALWAYS teach with my hair back - usually in two braids, because it is such a curly mess that I have to put it back. Well, most of the day, I had my hair down, or would put it back in a pony tail. I had the hair tie on my mat, but didn't have time to put my hair back before I went to teach my track. Karin saw me sweep my hair away from my face near the beginning, heard me sigh, and that was it. That little blip of my hair getting in the way got me off the music by one beat and then it happened - lost my timing, lost my confidence, felt like I failed. It is such a minor thing, but it was different enough for me - pulling my hair back. As we sat in the car, it just all poured out of me and I couldn't hold the tears back - I was terrified of this track because I knew how hard it was for me, and I was dreading the fact that I had to teach it 3 times and this was the track I would be assessed formally on, when I was not confident in my ability to do so, because the moves were harder and I had my heart set on the other track. I had all these feelings of self doubt, being unfit, too fat, not good enough, blah blah blah. I mean, good GRIEF, when was this going to get better? Why haven't I gotten this message by now? Why am I constantly crying at trainings? Is this part of the process, am I still going through the journey of self discovery? Apparently I am. And that's ok. I was just overwhelmed with feelings of inadequacy around other people, although for the first time, I felt on an even level with the other people in the training. I was so mad myself for screwing up, since I HAD it. I had the difficult timing, and blew it.
I felt better after that, knowing why I blew it. I reviewed it one more time at home, but didn't want to focus too much on it since I was already overthinking it. I put on some soft music to go to sleep, but ended up not being able to turn my brain off. Karin and Yvonne were picking me up at 7:15am on Sunday and I ended up going to sleep at almost 1:00am and woke up several times during the night. Nevertheless, I woke on time and was ready to go when they arrived. I felt much better that the night before, so I was confident I would be able to nail it for the second presentation.
Day two began with perky Rachel saying how wonderful it was going to be because Day one was so much harder and we were just going to have fun! We started off with presos straight away. This time, we shadowed our alternate track so I was able to have fun with that. My own track - how did I do? NAILED it. I knew it and it felt good. I was able to get in my compulsory cues, follow up cues and a bit of fun. Rachel videotaped the morning presos, but we did the class as a whole and she didn't stop to give feedback after each one. She gathered us after and we did the individual feedback as a group, then she showed us all our videos. She told me that she had nothing to correct me on except my arms were coming back too far on the upper back extensions (like we do it in CX so I had to remember to modify the move), my coaching and cueing were on, my technique was great now that I showed the options, and the only thing was she wanted me to let go and have fun. I was so relieved!
The rest of the day consisted of connecting, fitness magic, the challenge, bonding...it was truly a great day. It's always hard to sit and we were all getting stiff and sore, but we moved around plenty, and by the final presentations, we were all exhausted but fired up and ready to be done. Again we did the class as a whole and didn't stop the music between tracks, we each went up to the front to present in order. It was obvious how much growth each instructor made in just two days. Always gives me goosebumps to see this.
Preso #3 - I think I was truly able to embrace the track, this difficult track that had me peeing in my pants for two weeks before this training. I nailed it again, corrected my upper body move and I really did have fun with it.
We started to clean up and waited for Rach to get our final feedback forms to us, packed our bags and started chatting. I was one of the last ones to get my feedback - Yvonne and Karin both got their passes! When I went up to Rach, she looked up at me and said "You know you passed, right?" and what did I do? Started crying. Geez. I had a feeling I would pass, after I redeemed myself in the morning, but the feeling of accomplishment, the knowledge that I have achieved the first step in becoming a BodyFlow instructor.....there are no words to describe it. She told me I was going to be a wonderful BF instructor, and I believe her. I had such doubts, because I am a BodyPump instructor, and have been told I am too high strung for Flow, but I have discovered that I can alter my persona, my coaching, to fit the program I am teaching. This program is going to be wonderful for me personally and physically and I can't wait to share my new passion with others.
This weekend was amazing. Today, I feel like I've been hit with a truck. A big one. My obliques are screaming at me with every twist and turn. I had a throbbing twitch in one hamstring that lasted over an hour. I am sore on the tops of my feet, the bottoms of my big toes, I have two new bruises on my knees, my upper back/shoulder blades are tighter than anything......this feels like it was harder than CX training.
But it was SO worth it.
This past weekend, just as I had expected, was amazing. ALL Les Mills trainings, and I have been to a few, are quality trainings. The initial trainings are now 2 days, and we receive our dvd's and choreography notes 14 days in advance in order to learn our tracks and be prepared. Day 1, Rachel, our AMAZING trainer told us, would be the hardest, and if we could get through it, Day 2 was going to simply be FUN. She was right.
Day 1.......I had thought that I would present one track two times on Saturday, and then the second track two times on Sunday, like other trainings. Nope. It was one track, once on Saturday and twice on Sunday, and it was TRACK 7. The one I had been dreading, the one I didn't like as much, the hardest track in the release!!! WTH?? I had been counting on track 3, which was hard with my lack of shoulder and hip flexibility, but track 7? with the hovers, the fireflies, the crocodile pose? AAAARRRGGGGHHH!!! Karin had to talk me down and convince me that I WANTED the hardest track at training, because I was going to get specific, one on one feedback on the hardest track in the release, so that when it came time to taping, I would nail it. Everyone else would not have had the same attention to that track that I had. So I tried to be positive, but deep down, I knew that I struggled with the firefly, which is this: when you are in a hover, on your toes and straight arms, you bring your knee to the same side elbow, as you come down halfway in a crocodile. Super hard for me with my upper body strength, which is stronger but still.
Day 1 was a lot of technique work, after the Master Class with Rachel. Megan from the Les Mills West Coast office (I had met her at the Sunnyvale launch) came down to do the class with us. Rachel is a wonderful instructor and it was fun to go through the class with her live instead of the DVD. We had a group of 11 people instead of the 9 I saw on our original list. I knew Karin and Yvonne, and had met Patty once, and knew of Jocelyn. It was nice to meet other instructors, both from 24 Hour Fitness and other gyms. Once woman, Nikki, was like me in my BodyPump training, a participant from Bladium, and had never taught anything before but loves LM and chose this as her first foray into Group X. She is super sweet, knows several instructors that I do, and was super nervous, but WOW. She was AMAZING at her track, and it brought back so many memories of me just 19 months ago in training. Being a participant going into training is like no one else - we have a passion, a love of the programs and it shows, even with our lack of teaching experience. Nikki will be a phenomenal BodyFlow instructor!
We did our first presentations at the end of Day 1. I was super nervous, of course. I went up and began my track, I KNEW my choreography and timing, but for some reason, I got off track within the first 2 sets and it threw me off. I lost my focus, lost my place, got off on timing, but got back on track. I finished O.K. but as soon as I sat down and Rachel asked, as she asked each one of us, one thing we thought we did fabulous, and one thing we could work on, I BLANKED on the fabulous. I literally could not get any words out, and when I did, I said I HAD the chorey, and I just could not come up with what I did right. I came up with a laundry list of what I did wrong and Rachel stopped me and said "Stop - I am taking over this conversation!" and she told me that I did a great job, that my coaching was spot on, but she could tell I was totally in my head, I made one mistake and then in my head it was over. She told me this is NOT CXWORX, it's BodyFlow - it was ok for me to show one option on my toes and then go down to my knees to do the rest. That it was ok to show members then options because most people will not be able to do the high option and do it with perfect technique. She told me to do the first rep on my toes and then show the option on my knees, and it was OK. Well, the whole time she was talking, what was I doing? Crying. Yep. Me, the blubbering idiot. I felt so stupid, like such a failure, and she made me feel so relieved that it was ok to take the lower option, especially in this program. If we only coach the lower option and only show the higher one, people will feel like they need to do the higher option because we are doing it or feel bad that they can't do it. It is important to SHOW them, for a good amount of time, the level one option so they understand how to perform the move correctly.
Karin, in the parking lot before we drove home, told me she knew exactly what happened with me. This is so dumb. I ALWAYS teach with my hair back - usually in two braids, because it is such a curly mess that I have to put it back. Well, most of the day, I had my hair down, or would put it back in a pony tail. I had the hair tie on my mat, but didn't have time to put my hair back before I went to teach my track. Karin saw me sweep my hair away from my face near the beginning, heard me sigh, and that was it. That little blip of my hair getting in the way got me off the music by one beat and then it happened - lost my timing, lost my confidence, felt like I failed. It is such a minor thing, but it was different enough for me - pulling my hair back. As we sat in the car, it just all poured out of me and I couldn't hold the tears back - I was terrified of this track because I knew how hard it was for me, and I was dreading the fact that I had to teach it 3 times and this was the track I would be assessed formally on, when I was not confident in my ability to do so, because the moves were harder and I had my heart set on the other track. I had all these feelings of self doubt, being unfit, too fat, not good enough, blah blah blah. I mean, good GRIEF, when was this going to get better? Why haven't I gotten this message by now? Why am I constantly crying at trainings? Is this part of the process, am I still going through the journey of self discovery? Apparently I am. And that's ok. I was just overwhelmed with feelings of inadequacy around other people, although for the first time, I felt on an even level with the other people in the training. I was so mad myself for screwing up, since I HAD it. I had the difficult timing, and blew it.
I felt better after that, knowing why I blew it. I reviewed it one more time at home, but didn't want to focus too much on it since I was already overthinking it. I put on some soft music to go to sleep, but ended up not being able to turn my brain off. Karin and Yvonne were picking me up at 7:15am on Sunday and I ended up going to sleep at almost 1:00am and woke up several times during the night. Nevertheless, I woke on time and was ready to go when they arrived. I felt much better that the night before, so I was confident I would be able to nail it for the second presentation.
Day two began with perky Rachel saying how wonderful it was going to be because Day one was so much harder and we were just going to have fun! We started off with presos straight away. This time, we shadowed our alternate track so I was able to have fun with that. My own track - how did I do? NAILED it. I knew it and it felt good. I was able to get in my compulsory cues, follow up cues and a bit of fun. Rachel videotaped the morning presos, but we did the class as a whole and she didn't stop to give feedback after each one. She gathered us after and we did the individual feedback as a group, then she showed us all our videos. She told me that she had nothing to correct me on except my arms were coming back too far on the upper back extensions (like we do it in CX so I had to remember to modify the move), my coaching and cueing were on, my technique was great now that I showed the options, and the only thing was she wanted me to let go and have fun. I was so relieved!
The rest of the day consisted of connecting, fitness magic, the challenge, bonding...it was truly a great day. It's always hard to sit and we were all getting stiff and sore, but we moved around plenty, and by the final presentations, we were all exhausted but fired up and ready to be done. Again we did the class as a whole and didn't stop the music between tracks, we each went up to the front to present in order. It was obvious how much growth each instructor made in just two days. Always gives me goosebumps to see this.
Preso #3 - I think I was truly able to embrace the track, this difficult track that had me peeing in my pants for two weeks before this training. I nailed it again, corrected my upper body move and I really did have fun with it.
We started to clean up and waited for Rach to get our final feedback forms to us, packed our bags and started chatting. I was one of the last ones to get my feedback - Yvonne and Karin both got their passes! When I went up to Rach, she looked up at me and said "You know you passed, right?" and what did I do? Started crying. Geez. I had a feeling I would pass, after I redeemed myself in the morning, but the feeling of accomplishment, the knowledge that I have achieved the first step in becoming a BodyFlow instructor.....there are no words to describe it. She told me I was going to be a wonderful BF instructor, and I believe her. I had such doubts, because I am a BodyPump instructor, and have been told I am too high strung for Flow, but I have discovered that I can alter my persona, my coaching, to fit the program I am teaching. This program is going to be wonderful for me personally and physically and I can't wait to share my new passion with others.
This weekend was amazing. Today, I feel like I've been hit with a truck. A big one. My obliques are screaming at me with every twist and turn. I had a throbbing twitch in one hamstring that lasted over an hour. I am sore on the tops of my feet, the bottoms of my big toes, I have two new bruises on my knees, my upper back/shoulder blades are tighter than anything......this feels like it was harder than CX training.
But it was SO worth it.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Program #3...About to Commence!!!
You'd think with it being summer vacation, I would be caught up on my blogging. Well, the last two weeks have been crazy with learning my 3rd program, BodyFlow. I am SO happy I chose this to be #3, as it has already helped loosen me up and made me stronger. That, plus BodyPump 82. What a RELEASE!!!
I never wrote about my experience with launching the Premier club in Sunnyvale next to Steve Renata! It was definitely an A-Mazing day and experience. I don't know why I was so nervous...other than the fact that he was one of the original founders of BodyPump....very down to earth and he spent time before the launch going over stage position with me and Orna so that we knew how to move between the tracks we had divided. The room, the basketball court, was filled with almost 100 people!! It was truly energetic and even though I spent the warmup (that Steve taught) going over my back track chorey in my head, once I just gave up and trusted that I knew what I was doing, I was able to smile and have a blast! I had a chance to talk to Steve before he taught his second RPM class and found him to be just as down to earth and funny as his wife, Susan. He also told me to email him and he would give me some feedback once he had time to decompress. I had someone ask me if I was actually going to do it.... Duh.....of course! I am all about improving my teaching, getting feedback, no matter how hard it is to hear. I may moan and groan but I DO listen and apply feedback as best I can.
The rest of the day was spent working the crowd and the red carpet, meeting members, talking up the classes. I got to wear a 24 Hour Fitness nametag! Made me feel so official! hahaha. I then taught CXWorx with Wendy, and did the technique portion beforehand. Wendy is awesome, we did our initial training together and we had a blast. The room had over 100 people!! Including a few regular pumpers from San Carlos, as well as two co-workers from Hoover. We increased capacity in the room because the Zumba people were told if they came to our class, they would get to keep their spot for Zumba! It worked, and we worked them HARD! Some came up to us later and told us they never felt so out of shape, but they had fun and wanted to keep trying the class. That's all that matters - that people are moving, trying new things to shake up their workout, and working hard.
All in all, Sunnyvale's launch was a HUGE success. The acoustics are not great in the basketball court but I made sure to tell people to come back and try the classes in the smaller Group X room. I'll sub there if the need arises but there are great instructors in the South Bay so they are in great hands.
BodyFlow - I am so amazingly excited for this weekend. More than I thought I would be. This program is not an easy one. This release, however, has fairly simple choreography, and while I have spent most of my time learning my two presentation tracks - 3, a standing strength track, and 7, a core back track, I have done the entire release many times and have a few other tracks almost memorized. There will be 9 people in our training, so that is exciting because it is a small group, which means lots of opportunities for feedback that might be more difficult with a larger group. I have never been to a Les Mills training, though, even larger ones, where I felt ignored or like I didn't get enough feedback or personal attention. The trainers are top notch, and our trainer for the weekend, Rachel, is amazing according to some close friends of mine. I am very excited to meet her in person and learn from her.
I definitely have to work on my fitness - I am still dealing with hip flexor and shoulder flexibility issues, but I have improved over the last two weeks of training, and my deep tissue massage yesterday really helped loosen me up, after neglecting my monthly massages for over two months. I will not do that again! The more I train and practice, the better. The good thing about BodyFlow is that unlike BodyPump, there is no limit to the amount of times per week that is recommended to do the class. There is a lot of strength involved, but since it is a Tai Chi, Yoga and Pilates program, there is plenty of stretching and muscle lengthening going on. The fact that I am focusing on my breathing more has helped to slow me down and this will be a good complement to what I already teach.
August 18 - the San Mateo and Millbrae Super Sport Premier Launches....my goal is to pass this training, learn the rest of the release, and be ready to launch BodyPump, CXWorx and BodyFlow on that day!! I'll have to do a video for this program, but hopefully I will have a class or two to teach and be able to do that like I did with BodyPump.
For now, tomorrow will be essentially a "rest" day, only going over chorey and my cueing to allow my body to be fresh and ready for an AMAZING weekend!!!
Program #3 .......HERE I COME!!!!!
I never wrote about my experience with launching the Premier club in Sunnyvale next to Steve Renata! It was definitely an A-Mazing day and experience. I don't know why I was so nervous...other than the fact that he was one of the original founders of BodyPump....very down to earth and he spent time before the launch going over stage position with me and Orna so that we knew how to move between the tracks we had divided. The room, the basketball court, was filled with almost 100 people!! It was truly energetic and even though I spent the warmup (that Steve taught) going over my back track chorey in my head, once I just gave up and trusted that I knew what I was doing, I was able to smile and have a blast! I had a chance to talk to Steve before he taught his second RPM class and found him to be just as down to earth and funny as his wife, Susan. He also told me to email him and he would give me some feedback once he had time to decompress. I had someone ask me if I was actually going to do it.... Duh.....of course! I am all about improving my teaching, getting feedback, no matter how hard it is to hear. I may moan and groan but I DO listen and apply feedback as best I can.
The rest of the day was spent working the crowd and the red carpet, meeting members, talking up the classes. I got to wear a 24 Hour Fitness nametag! Made me feel so official! hahaha. I then taught CXWorx with Wendy, and did the technique portion beforehand. Wendy is awesome, we did our initial training together and we had a blast. The room had over 100 people!! Including a few regular pumpers from San Carlos, as well as two co-workers from Hoover. We increased capacity in the room because the Zumba people were told if they came to our class, they would get to keep their spot for Zumba! It worked, and we worked them HARD! Some came up to us later and told us they never felt so out of shape, but they had fun and wanted to keep trying the class. That's all that matters - that people are moving, trying new things to shake up their workout, and working hard.
All in all, Sunnyvale's launch was a HUGE success. The acoustics are not great in the basketball court but I made sure to tell people to come back and try the classes in the smaller Group X room. I'll sub there if the need arises but there are great instructors in the South Bay so they are in great hands.
BodyFlow - I am so amazingly excited for this weekend. More than I thought I would be. This program is not an easy one. This release, however, has fairly simple choreography, and while I have spent most of my time learning my two presentation tracks - 3, a standing strength track, and 7, a core back track, I have done the entire release many times and have a few other tracks almost memorized. There will be 9 people in our training, so that is exciting because it is a small group, which means lots of opportunities for feedback that might be more difficult with a larger group. I have never been to a Les Mills training, though, even larger ones, where I felt ignored or like I didn't get enough feedback or personal attention. The trainers are top notch, and our trainer for the weekend, Rachel, is amazing according to some close friends of mine. I am very excited to meet her in person and learn from her.
I definitely have to work on my fitness - I am still dealing with hip flexor and shoulder flexibility issues, but I have improved over the last two weeks of training, and my deep tissue massage yesterday really helped loosen me up, after neglecting my monthly massages for over two months. I will not do that again! The more I train and practice, the better. The good thing about BodyFlow is that unlike BodyPump, there is no limit to the amount of times per week that is recommended to do the class. There is a lot of strength involved, but since it is a Tai Chi, Yoga and Pilates program, there is plenty of stretching and muscle lengthening going on. The fact that I am focusing on my breathing more has helped to slow me down and this will be a good complement to what I already teach.
August 18 - the San Mateo and Millbrae Super Sport Premier Launches....my goal is to pass this training, learn the rest of the release, and be ready to launch BodyPump, CXWorx and BodyFlow on that day!! I'll have to do a video for this program, but hopefully I will have a class or two to teach and be able to do that like I did with BodyPump.
For now, tomorrow will be essentially a "rest" day, only going over chorey and my cueing to allow my body to be fresh and ready for an AMAZING weekend!!!
Program #3 .......HERE I COME!!!!!
Friday, June 29, 2012
This is IT!!!!!
I'm as ready as I'll ever be. It's 11:00 pm and I'm done. Can't run through it again, this last time tonight I finally felt like I had it. Especially since I never got to practice today with the others as planned.....
I went early to sunnyvale super sport to help with some set up. Well, a bit of set up turned into the four of us, Karin, Yvonne, Orna and I, along with Angie, moving all the steps, risers bars and weights from the group x room all the way to the other side of the gym in to the basketball court. That was 54 sets of everything. Then, the truck delivering the other 50 sets was two hours late, so we set out setting everything up. We had the steps set up in rows in order to fit over 100, then heard that Ingrid wanted it set up stadium style, so the shifting began. When the rental truck arrived, driven by Ingrid and some 24HF corporate people, the pallets were unloaded and we started unpacking boxes upon boxes of more risers, steps, bars and weights. We had 104 set up but there were some pieces missing so we only have just under 100 and the latest sign up count is 107! Unreal.
It's amazing the amount of work that goes into something like this. At LM quarterly events, there are crews that handle this. We helped Angie work with the party rental people who were building the stage, the LM banners were left and we had to get someone to hang those. The balloon guys showed up as Angie was leaving to go to San Jose because she is launching that one as well and and was setting up all those benches with hardly any help. I shudder to think what would have happened if we hadn't been there today. We got the balloon arches installed, the DJ table set up (he's arriving at 7:00 am and I hope that's enough time to get everything ready for a 7:45 live event!)
I plan to show up at 7:00 am to help Angie get the DJ going and any last minute things done. There is literally a red carpet leading to the basketball court, with ropes. It looks awesome and should be a ton of fun. It's like a quarterly but not for instructors. I can't imagine what it will feel like being up there on stage with that court full of people, teaching an awesome release. There is always that first class uncertainty, when you release for the first time and have to work out any kinks. I wish the first time wasn't with Steve! Makes me all the more nervous. I'm going to plan on hanging out most of the day because after the first BP all the equipment has to be placed in the corner and sides of the gym, then after the Zumba party (370 people!!!!)that takes place after my CXWORX class, we only have 30 minutes to set up 60+ benches/weights for the 2:00 BP class! Going to be craaaaazy!
Off to bed to try to get some quality sleep before I'm up before the sun ;-)
The Big Day Just Got BIGGER.....
I need to get through the next two days. I completed summer school today, closed up my classroom and turned in my keys. I can now focus on fitness, family and friends. So excited!!
I was already feeling a bit freaked out about this weekend. I spend some time yesterday at the gym practicing with Deb and kept screwing up my chorey. I am overthinking this whole launch and I need to just slow down and breathe......easier said than done. Kerry today at work told me she went last night and signed up for both Pump and CX and that there are already 91 signed up for Pump!! 91???!!! My biggest class has been 50! It's going to be in the basketball court so there will be space, but oh boy. This is gonna be something!
I am planning to spend time tomorrow practicing with Orna and some other instructors who are teaching in the afternoon. Angie emailed us a confirmation of the schedule and I called her to get some more info and she told me what a major event the whole day is going to be. Here is how it lays out:
There will be a red carpet and ropes leading to the Group X room. BodyPump, BodyCombat and CXWORX are all being held in the basketball court. There are balloons, balloon arches, a stage and large banner behind the stage. There will be a DJ handling our music. WHOA!!!!!! My stomach started clenching when I heard this. Steven R and Orna and I will share 2 mics, but when Angie heard I have a wireless mic and receiver, she got excited and asked that I bring that and we will see if the DJ can hook it up to his system so all three of us can have mics. I teach from 7:45am-9:00, then I will help Angie with checking in members and guests because the Zumba party after my CX class has 200 members already signed up! Then I will go teach the 11:00 technique and team teach CX with Wendy at 11:15. I'll be done by 11:45 and be ready to refuel and get ready for my own re-launch in San Carlos on Sunday.
This is, without a doubt, going to be the biggest event I have ever been a part of. I simply am having a hard time imagining what it will be like to be on a stage teaching 100 members while standing next to a BodyPump icon. I am super excited, beyond nervous, really sore from practicing, and just praying all will go well and I don't make a fool out of myself. I am exhausted from school and from cramming my brain full of choreography for both releases. Tonight I did another run through after class of the 3 tracks I am teaching for both classes, reviewed the entire releases and should really now be going over my scripts and track intros but my brain is fried. I think I just need to give in and go to bed.
Tomorrow I can sleep in for the first time in a long time. Then up and off to Sunnyvale SS to help unload a truck full of additional bars, weights and benches and to get the room set up for Saturday. Practice for a couple of hours, then hopefully some relaxation in the evening and a good night's sleep to be at the gym by 7:15 am. It's going to be an A-Mazing weekend!!
I was already feeling a bit freaked out about this weekend. I spend some time yesterday at the gym practicing with Deb and kept screwing up my chorey. I am overthinking this whole launch and I need to just slow down and breathe......easier said than done. Kerry today at work told me she went last night and signed up for both Pump and CX and that there are already 91 signed up for Pump!! 91???!!! My biggest class has been 50! It's going to be in the basketball court so there will be space, but oh boy. This is gonna be something!
I am planning to spend time tomorrow practicing with Orna and some other instructors who are teaching in the afternoon. Angie emailed us a confirmation of the schedule and I called her to get some more info and she told me what a major event the whole day is going to be. Here is how it lays out:
There will be a red carpet and ropes leading to the Group X room. BodyPump, BodyCombat and CXWORX are all being held in the basketball court. There are balloons, balloon arches, a stage and large banner behind the stage. There will be a DJ handling our music. WHOA!!!!!! My stomach started clenching when I heard this. Steven R and Orna and I will share 2 mics, but when Angie heard I have a wireless mic and receiver, she got excited and asked that I bring that and we will see if the DJ can hook it up to his system so all three of us can have mics. I teach from 7:45am-9:00, then I will help Angie with checking in members and guests because the Zumba party after my CX class has 200 members already signed up! Then I will go teach the 11:00 technique and team teach CX with Wendy at 11:15. I'll be done by 11:45 and be ready to refuel and get ready for my own re-launch in San Carlos on Sunday.
This is, without a doubt, going to be the biggest event I have ever been a part of. I simply am having a hard time imagining what it will be like to be on a stage teaching 100 members while standing next to a BodyPump icon. I am super excited, beyond nervous, really sore from practicing, and just praying all will go well and I don't make a fool out of myself. I am exhausted from school and from cramming my brain full of choreography for both releases. Tonight I did another run through after class of the 3 tracks I am teaching for both classes, reviewed the entire releases and should really now be going over my scripts and track intros but my brain is fried. I think I just need to give in and go to bed.
Tomorrow I can sleep in for the first time in a long time. Then up and off to Sunnyvale SS to help unload a truck full of additional bars, weights and benches and to get the room set up for Saturday. Practice for a couple of hours, then hopefully some relaxation in the evening and a good night's sleep to be at the gym by 7:15 am. It's going to be an A-Mazing weekend!!
Monday, June 25, 2012
Forgive the Format...
For some reason now when I post a blog entry, even though in my draft I have paragraphs, it publishes all in one long paragraph. Sorry to those reading this as it is hard to read and I have yet to figure out why the settings have changed :-(
Exciting Times!
It's been quite the ride these last few weeks! School ended, I packed up most of my classroom and the jumped right into teaching a summer bridge program. I've been lucky enough to have been able to include Cassie as a student and she has done a great job learning the content and writing more in English, as she is usually immersed in Spanish most of the day. She has been writing crazy amounts in her writing journal and I am so proud of her. As fun as it has been, summer school will end in three days and it couldn't come soon enough. I am knee deep in learning new Les Mills releases for this weekend and the upcoming launch.
Yesterday was a great day because my friend Ingrid, from Seattle, was in town staying with a friend and she came to my class in San Carlos! I stayed with her when I did AIM2 training in March and she has been enormously supportive during my journey. She is a trainer herself but just wanted to enjoy being a participant and it was so fun to have her in the front row of my class. I have a huge amount of respect for her and she has become a dear friend in the year since I met her in Dallas.
After I auditioned a few weeks ago for CXWORX, I was asked to be a part of the new Premier launch of the Sunnyvale Super Sport location. This Premier launch means that 24 Hour Fitness is adding several LM formats and it's like a dream.... BodyCombat, CXWORX, BodyFlow and RPM to come to 24HF! Many Super Sport clubs are transitioning and adding these formats. I initially thought I'd do RPM as my next format because I would have a place to teach it and it would be great to add the cardio. After talking to Angie, my GM about it, the gyms closest to me, San Mateo and Millbrae, will not be getting RPM but BodyFlow, which is even more exciting because I do love that program but never thought about teaching it because I'm not very flexible. There are several classes being offered at the gyms but no instructors yet so I've signed up for initial training in July!Like any other format, I will train to increase my flexibility and as I have a passion for this program, I am confident I can learn to teach it. I just need to get through this weekend's launch so I can focus on flow.
The weekend launches in Sunnyvale and San Jose have been unsettled because several LM people are coming to teach some of the classes and the schedule keeps changing. I was originally slated to team teach the first BP class with two other Instructors. Susan and Steven Renata and Ingrid Owen are all coming to be a part of the launch. I had heard that Steven R would be teaching RPM and may be a part of BodyPump as well so I have just been waiting for the dust to settle to see what my role would be. Today I received a call from Angie and stepped out of a planning meeting to take it. She told me to take a deep breath and not freak out. Huh? How does she know that about me? She then told me I would be team teaching BodyPump with Steven. I sputtered......"you mean shadow with him?" She said no, I'd be actually dividing tracks with him and teaching together. I literally started shaking and had to sit on the corridor outside the classroom. They call him Mr. BodyPump. He is currently the CEO of Les Mills West Coast, moved here from New Zealand to run the West Coast office, married to Susan, who is an International Program Director for BodyPump. Whoa. Can you say intimidated?
I am honored to be able to share the stage with someone like Steven but I am still currently in freak out mode. I spent the day with Susan at Groundworks training a week ago and adore her. She is very down to earth and easy to talk to. I'd feel so much better if I were team teaching with her because at least I have met her. Kimi gets to team with her San Jose. I don't know Steven but I will in a few days! Angie told me it is a great opportunity to teach with him and I agree.....and can't believe that I get to do this. She told me she needed strong instructors for these launches and again, I am humbled that I get this opportunity. She decided to add another instructor so I wouldn't feel so much pressure. Now we are teaming with Orna, and between the three of us have already divided up the tracks. I am doing back, biceps and abs. At 11:00 I am teaching CXWORX technique and then I will team teach it with Wendy and am super excited about it - we trained and certified together.
Now I will spend the rest of the week finishing summer school, the final packing of my classroom, polishing up BodyPump and CXWORX and then I anxiously will await the arrival of BodyFlow next week and take my fitness to another level :)
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