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A taste of the action
Mar. 5th, 2024 04:44 amYesterday before class at the exact moment I pulled my swimming resistance gloves out of my bag to lend them to Judy the water fitness instructor, Judy appeared right next to me out of nowhere. Absolutely incredible timing. I bought those gloves anticipating a day when I'd just need a little more oomph from my workout, and I learned a couple of weeks ago that they'll definitely provide it. I wore them for about ten minutes during an already-tough class and had to take them off.
Judy was curious about them because one of her hands gets a little sore and she wanted to see if they would help. I told her to keep them as long as she wanted so she could truly know whether she wants a pair. She mentioned that the shin splints that kept her away from class while I was away isolated due to Garrett's COVID were still an issue, and asked if I could be available to join at the front of class to properly demonstrate jumping exercises she can't currently do.
I said I'd be more than happy to, of course. It turns out it's very important. No matter how much an instructor explains something, a lot of the students will do what they see the instructor doing, rather than what they say to do. Every single class, she explains that a certain hand motion means to try to kick your own butt with your heels, and even yells, "Kick your own butt!" while doing the motion. I always spot someone doing the hand motion instead of the kicking. That's why she needs jumpers to help, otherwise a huge swath of people won't jump when they're supposed to.
Everyone cheered when she called me up. Quite a few people have told me they'd love to see me teach, even before I ever applied. And I'm always turning around and scanning through the whole class each time, checking in with my friends and goofing around.
Helping Judy teach was such a rush and so much fun. But it was also exhausting. The spot she teaches from is shallower than what I normally work out in, and it was a lot harder there. It doesn't seem like it would make a huge difference, but it really, really does. I got really wiped out and hot, really fast, with literally everyone watching.
Some of the dumbbell exercises also involve jumping, but once we moved past those, I ended up putting a little less effort than normal in because I wanted to demonstrate the proper form that everyone else should be doing, but lower in the water. One move mimics archery, and it's surprisingly difficult to maintain the correct motion over and over, even though I've been doing it weekly since the end of October.
Two friends I know originally from Livejournal were there; it was Joleen's second time in class and Melissa has come to a lot of different ones with me. I've been telling Melissa that Judy is my overall favorite instructor because it's the perfect mix of fun and exercise, and she's the most thoughtful when it comes to matching up exercises and music. Melissa agreed, and ended up joining for real yesterday. That came together nicely because her husband recently joined at another location, so she was able to convert that to a couple's membership and pay less than she would have on her own.
I normally do only morning classes now that Tuesday and Thursday are available to me at Mukilteo, but I'm going to the later one in Everett because Melissa happens to be able to go today and was excited for a second day in a row with Judy.
I've had the same conversation a few times with Mike, who originally suggested that I could be an instructor. I say the start time isn't great because people who need to go to work have a hard time with a class that's 7:45-8:45, and I'm just very lucky to have a flexible schedule. He replies that water fitness is mainly enjoyed by retirees. I say that'll always be the case if people with jobs can't come. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.
But the pool is usually packed enough that maybe someday the demand will be there for additional classes. I think it'd be neat if there was one that was a lot earlier. And I'm super curious if the people I used to talk to in the pool at 5:15 would do a class at that time. I guess all I can do for now is keep recruiting.
After class yesterday I emailed the person who handled my application to be an instructor. She previously said she could send my application around to other locations but I declined, stating that I'd prefer Everett as my home base. Judy convinced me I should try to get my foot in the door wherever I can, so I asked my application to be send to Mill Creek, Mukilteo, and Marysville.
Even if nothing ever comes of that, I'm still so happy being in class. It was really neat to get a little taste of what it's like up front, though.
Judy was curious about them because one of her hands gets a little sore and she wanted to see if they would help. I told her to keep them as long as she wanted so she could truly know whether she wants a pair. She mentioned that the shin splints that kept her away from class while I was away isolated due to Garrett's COVID were still an issue, and asked if I could be available to join at the front of class to properly demonstrate jumping exercises she can't currently do.
I said I'd be more than happy to, of course. It turns out it's very important. No matter how much an instructor explains something, a lot of the students will do what they see the instructor doing, rather than what they say to do. Every single class, she explains that a certain hand motion means to try to kick your own butt with your heels, and even yells, "Kick your own butt!" while doing the motion. I always spot someone doing the hand motion instead of the kicking. That's why she needs jumpers to help, otherwise a huge swath of people won't jump when they're supposed to.
Everyone cheered when she called me up. Quite a few people have told me they'd love to see me teach, even before I ever applied. And I'm always turning around and scanning through the whole class each time, checking in with my friends and goofing around.
Helping Judy teach was such a rush and so much fun. But it was also exhausting. The spot she teaches from is shallower than what I normally work out in, and it was a lot harder there. It doesn't seem like it would make a huge difference, but it really, really does. I got really wiped out and hot, really fast, with literally everyone watching.
Some of the dumbbell exercises also involve jumping, but once we moved past those, I ended up putting a little less effort than normal in because I wanted to demonstrate the proper form that everyone else should be doing, but lower in the water. One move mimics archery, and it's surprisingly difficult to maintain the correct motion over and over, even though I've been doing it weekly since the end of October.
Two friends I know originally from Livejournal were there; it was Joleen's second time in class and Melissa has come to a lot of different ones with me. I've been telling Melissa that Judy is my overall favorite instructor because it's the perfect mix of fun and exercise, and she's the most thoughtful when it comes to matching up exercises and music. Melissa agreed, and ended up joining for real yesterday. That came together nicely because her husband recently joined at another location, so she was able to convert that to a couple's membership and pay less than she would have on her own.
I normally do only morning classes now that Tuesday and Thursday are available to me at Mukilteo, but I'm going to the later one in Everett because Melissa happens to be able to go today and was excited for a second day in a row with Judy.
I've had the same conversation a few times with Mike, who originally suggested that I could be an instructor. I say the start time isn't great because people who need to go to work have a hard time with a class that's 7:45-8:45, and I'm just very lucky to have a flexible schedule. He replies that water fitness is mainly enjoyed by retirees. I say that'll always be the case if people with jobs can't come. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.
But the pool is usually packed enough that maybe someday the demand will be there for additional classes. I think it'd be neat if there was one that was a lot earlier. And I'm super curious if the people I used to talk to in the pool at 5:15 would do a class at that time. I guess all I can do for now is keep recruiting.
After class yesterday I emailed the person who handled my application to be an instructor. She previously said she could send my application around to other locations but I declined, stating that I'd prefer Everett as my home base. Judy convinced me I should try to get my foot in the door wherever I can, so I asked my application to be send to Mill Creek, Mukilteo, and Marysville.
Even if nothing ever comes of that, I'm still so happy being in class. It was really neat to get a little taste of what it's like up front, though.
