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But of course there's a but
Nov. 13th, 2023 04:48 amWater fitness is great. Absolutely fantastic. And I don't just say that because being in the water makes it safe and fun to do all kinds of stuff I wouldn't be able to do on land. It's also because it's a fun, welcoming environment. I tried a group strength class several years ago and the instructor made me put more weight on the bar than I thought I was ready for. She also should have given me a bottle of water and told me if I came back to bring one. It was Not Fun and I spent the next two weeks pretty much unable to move.
And that's just one example of how exercise becomes intimidating. A common perception of gyms is that they're full of annoying, rude people, and I'm sure that's true for quite a lot of them. The Y isn't really like that, though, and water fitness is basically a big happy cauldron of positivity.
(Strangely enough, there are some dudes at the Y whose paths I cross that are kind of annoying, and they've talked about another gym that they also go to. I can't imagine paying for two, especially when one of them is the Y, which isn't cheap.)
There's one thing that's hard for me about water fitness, though, and that's the time. I'll still go to other locations but Everett is home base, and classes are at 7:45 MWF and 11:15 TTh. 7:45 is when I like to be done and back home. For years now, I've gotten up, had a little something to eat, and left to exercise. Just now I got up and fixed a full breakfast instead, and will save the "little something" for a snack when I get back if I need it.
It's all very unnatural. But when you want group exercise you have to go when the group does, and I highly doubt if they took a vote that most of those people would want to go much earlier. I do think they should start somewhat earlier so they can market water fitness to people who have to work regular hours. Getting out of the pool at 8:45 and heading to work isn't realistic for a lot of people. Once again, I'm very grateful for how flexible my job is.
There's currently a promotion where they're getting us to check into the class on a tablet. Checking into 8 classes earns us a water bottle or mini deodorant and enters us into a drawing for $50 in merchandise of our choice. The instructor mentioned that morning classes are starting to get very crowded and checking in is a great way to reinforce that there's potentially demand for more classes.
I'm also learning that the Wednesday teacher is less popular among the crowd. I didn't really notice the size of the class the one time I've been, but apparently she had about 20 fewer students last week than the one who teaches the other days.
Anyway, it's just after 5am and I'm not leaving until 7:00. Time goes really slowly when you're wating for water fitness to start.
And that's just one example of how exercise becomes intimidating. A common perception of gyms is that they're full of annoying, rude people, and I'm sure that's true for quite a lot of them. The Y isn't really like that, though, and water fitness is basically a big happy cauldron of positivity.
(Strangely enough, there are some dudes at the Y whose paths I cross that are kind of annoying, and they've talked about another gym that they also go to. I can't imagine paying for two, especially when one of them is the Y, which isn't cheap.)
There's one thing that's hard for me about water fitness, though, and that's the time. I'll still go to other locations but Everett is home base, and classes are at 7:45 MWF and 11:15 TTh. 7:45 is when I like to be done and back home. For years now, I've gotten up, had a little something to eat, and left to exercise. Just now I got up and fixed a full breakfast instead, and will save the "little something" for a snack when I get back if I need it.
It's all very unnatural. But when you want group exercise you have to go when the group does, and I highly doubt if they took a vote that most of those people would want to go much earlier. I do think they should start somewhat earlier so they can market water fitness to people who have to work regular hours. Getting out of the pool at 8:45 and heading to work isn't realistic for a lot of people. Once again, I'm very grateful for how flexible my job is.
There's currently a promotion where they're getting us to check into the class on a tablet. Checking into 8 classes earns us a water bottle or mini deodorant and enters us into a drawing for $50 in merchandise of our choice. The instructor mentioned that morning classes are starting to get very crowded and checking in is a great way to reinforce that there's potentially demand for more classes.
I'm also learning that the Wednesday teacher is less popular among the crowd. I didn't really notice the size of the class the one time I've been, but apparently she had about 20 fewer students last week than the one who teaches the other days.
Anyway, it's just after 5am and I'm not leaving until 7:00. Time goes really slowly when you're wating for water fitness to start.
