Aerobic Step Class: Michelle Style

I have recently joined a new gym due to moving, so I am not completely settled in to all the classes I would like to take. I have taken a bit of a running break after the Joplin Memorial Run debacle, so classes are a great way for me to really push myself. The summer is apparently a wishy-washy time at this gym because trainers take turns covering classes while the normal trainers take vacations. I was so pumped to have an easy day while the normal spin instructor was gone, but had another bumpy ride when she returned. I have heard people around the gym, trainers included, talk about how crazy-intense Lori is in her classes. In true Michelle spirit, I met Lori today in Aerobic Step and Sculpt class.

I have been thinking that I would try Step class, but I wasn't sure because I don't have the best balance. I saw people in Step last weekend through the window, and it looked like SO MUCH FUN! I couldn't wait to go this week. I didn't make it on Wednesday thanks to PennDOT and their ridiculous DMV system, so I went in today ready to go. I made sure to get there early so I could try to scope out what supplies to get out and secure a spot in the back of the room. I kept waiting to see the instructor's equipment magically appear as it so often does before a class starts, but to no avail. When I saw other regulars I noticed from Spin go in the room, I started to feel pretty good about the whole thing.

I should not have felt good about the whole thing. The reason the instructor's things didn't magically appear was because the normal instructor was gone, and his substitute was the infamous Lori. She was like a combination of Jersey Shore and Billy Blanks. She immediately informed us to get the equipment she wanted us to have and told us that she does mostly advanced workouts, but she assured us that she would try to take it easy. After the class was over, she was so proud of herself for giving us a "piece of cake workout." Believe me, no cake. The combinations were hard, and she kept saying, "You gotta commit to learning  the sequence, people!" I tried my best, and despite falling over when she was teaching from the back of the room, aka putting me front and center with her, I think I did a pretty good job for pushing through my first ever Step class with an infamously intense trainer.

When she finally stretched us out, I was proud of myself for making it through. As we were putting our equipment away, she came toward me yelling, "You did it, Cookie! You made it through your first Step!" I had informed her that it was my first time when she asked my name before we started. I admitted that it was super hard, but lots of fun. Then she told us all that she was sorry for going a little over time because her classes are always an hour and fifteen minuets long to really get the cardio in. I looked at the clock a bit confused. I am bad with numbers after all, so I just assumed that I didn't know how to tell time. Then everyone in the room corrected her. The class, which is scheduled for one hour, lasted an hour and forty-five minuets today with Lori. Apparently, the universe is trying to pay me back for that whole, "Challenge yourself! Get out of your comfort zone to see results!" thing I posted yesterday.