Fitness Classes? What am I thinking?

It's always a good idea to do what you want regularly in order to make it a habit, therefore I offer the second post in two days. 

Additionally, this is why group fitness classes worked so well for me, once I stopped ridiculing them (I mean, I grew up in the 80s, and group fitness did not have a good association) and started attending. Like all things, I couldnt do it without my friends and I have a big shout out and thank you to Aimee for that little push, and by little push, the 6AM Body Pump class at the Y almost four years ago. And thank goodness for Aimee and all the friends and help in getting to the gym.  It's never one thing that helps a good routine to start, but there is usually a spark, and Aimee was that spark for me. 

A few things that gave me access to fitness classes: child care at the gym and relative affordability of the gym and location (I walked home many evenings because of transportation issues). 

The first few months of working out, I would do Body Pump two times a week, Sprint (a HIIT Les Mills cycling class) and cycling another time or two. I found the more I did it the more I wanted to do it. Of course, that isnt entirely true, for a long while, I had to self-motivate and it usually involved eye candy ("maybe that cute person will show up" I was not in the dating market), any trick to make the class happen for me, I used it. 

My 6AM Body Pump instructor and I became buddies during this "fitness journey."  She is a solid 20 years younger than I am. Some people didnt find her adorable, but the way she was imperfect, inspired me. Body Pump is already a very intense class, so that she never took herself too seriously (how can you when you teach on Monday mornings, Wednesday and Friday mornings at 6AM?) gave me permission to be imperfect and acknowledge the struggle and celebrate the wins once the class finished.  

I will continue to talk about group exercise classes in some posts because any trick to get me to work out is what I will do, accountability is a critical aspect to starting a routine. 

The point of this post- there are two: accept invitations (and invite!) from your friends and group exercise classes are a good way to introduce yourself to fitness no matter your age or fitness level.