This old lady is Body Pumping

Who came up with the brilliant idea of lining every wall of exercise rooms with mirrors? Is there not such a thing as too much information?

Seriously, as much as I take issue with myself featured on four walls and in living color in the mirror-covered walls in the gym classrooms, I get a great charge out of watching the barbells arc up in Body Pump class with my measily-encumbered barbell as part of the choreography.

We have a great gym near our home here in the Great White North, and I joined soon after moving here. I have never belonged to a gym, but I noticed that when I met people upon my arrival, most – if not all – asked me if I was going to join this particular gym. I decided there was little chance that my neighbors make up the gym’s marketing department, so I decided it must be worth checking out.

Yoga classes served as my springboard. This practice benefits me from the inside out, and I attend at least a couple each week. That, combined with sessions of power walking on the treadmill, I felt justified the cost of membership. Then, I met Karen, a newly-retired teacher who makes the best of the gym environment.

Karen, a kindred spirit in knitting, and I rode together to a local knitting shop a few weeks ago when she mentioned the kickboxing class she had taken the previous evening. Kickboxing? This retired teacher did not fit into my stereotype for kickboxing, and I inquired. She assured me there was no need to feel awkward or embarrassed – “I get to the place in life where I don’t care what other people think,” she told me.

Her positive attitude inspired me, and Karen continued to tell me about weight training in Body Pump, Zumba classes, and ----- wait for it ----- spinning class! These classes were, in my mind, reserved for the young, totally toned “gym rats.” So, the next day, I met Karen bright and early in the cycle room where she showed me the ropes of the cycles and assured me that I needed to listen to my body and not try to keep up with the instructor’s pace on the first couple sessions.

With the lights low and music pumping, the instructor started out in a low gear, and then gave out RPM and gear numbers. I worked at keeping my legs moving and standing or sitting when told to do so. Even though it is really all I can do to keep up and going, I do like taking a peek in the big, nasty mirrors to see the whole class cycling in unison and to the beat of the music creating a dance. This class experience gave me the confidence to really move up in fitness world, and check out Body Pump. That is where I got my charge.

I arrived at the first Body Pump class later than I should and nervous at the awkward feeling of newbiness and not knowing how to set up the weights. Sure enough, Karen arrived earlier than me and laid the groundwork. She set up camp in the back of the room and had my weights all ready for my virgin voyage.

Music started; the fit and muscular of this class lifted their barbells overhead in unison and I felt completely part of the groove with my bar containing a five-pound weight on either side. At the instructor’s cues, bars pump up and down to the beat of the music and the mirrors actually alight with excitement.

Gone are my days where the gym is limited to a place where I watch CNN from the treadmill; I found a new energy where at the half-way point of a century, I felt too shy to look.

Thanks, Karen.