All these different activities....

So I decided I'd write a blog about all the different physical stuff I'm doing. If any of you readers are on my Facebook you've seen the posts of "I'm doin this class and that race and this what not".
It started out as me trying to find creative ways to exercise. I don’t have a gym membership anymore, and what they charge now days I couldn’t afford to get another one. I've dropped my trainer since he's not a good trainer and I was only doing it for the deal. So - I need to be creative.
I'm sure all of you have heard of Groupon and Living Social. And there's another one called Schwaggle or something. Anywhoo...they're deals. This is how I've been able to actually afford all this stuff. I actually had to pause because I signed up for too much and got over loaded. But you know what? I've loved it. I'm not doing any theater right now, and I'm not really sure when I'll be doing any upcoming. I'm really enjoying this stuff right now. I'm joining up with a burlesque troupe, but there are only a couple of shows coming up and the rehearsals will be limited and it’s still actually exercising! So - that will most likely be the only theater I do for a while and weirdly enough I'm totally ok with that. Of course this may change, but right now this is where I'm at.
So.
Let’s start with Warrior Dash. I actually blogged earlier about this (I'm pretty sure), but I wanted to bring it up again because this was kind of the kicker that got me started wanting to do all this shit. I have always wanted to do a race where you climb stuff! I love obstacles! I actually can’t run, so I power walk all these races I do, but its ok because they're "fun" races usually. Not just a straight 5K. Or a triathlon as some of my much more fit/active friends are doing right now. I have to say - I'm fascinated reading about their adventures. I don’t think I could physically ever do what they are doing but they are kicking some major ass. The discipline is insane. I will happily read about their adventures, but have ones of my own. Mine being more random I suppose! :)
One of the things I signed up for was a Groupon that got us a bunch of different classes with Hidden Talent Fitness. This is basically a group of burlesque gals that teach a bunch of classes. My friend April and I jumped on board. So far:
Chair Burlesque: This was the 1st one we took. I was happily surprised that I did quite well! We showed up and both promptly bought a pair of shoes. If I'm going to do it, I might as well do it right. So now I'm walking into the studio to dance in heels. (Character heels so not too brutal). The gal taught us a chair routine to the theme song to True Blood (I'm gonna do bad things to you...) It was super fun, the only complaints I have are she kept having to run over to her iPod to pause and re-start. That took up alot of time. So we didn’t actually learn an entire routine. But it was fun none the less. Not much of a work out tho.
Zumba: I enjoyed the work out aspect of this class because you never stop moving. The instructor wasn’t very good though. All she would do is dance up front and we basically copied her. I would have liked her to maybe teach us the basic footwork or something. But I was certainly sweating at the end of that class. The dance itself is kind of weird. It sort of reminded me of bad 80's dancing at one point, another time I thought we were doing the Macarena...then I was seriously scared we might break into the chicken dance. It’s kind of odd, but again - good cardio work out.
Pole Dancing: I had to bring a different pair of shoes for this one. My more hooker heels. Yup, gotta have your stripper shoes to do the stripper dancing. We took 2 of these classes. The 1st one was actually just me and April. I didn’t care for it too much, cuz the gal showed us a couple of moves then we just kept doing those over and over. I'm sorry. I'm not actually here to learn out to pole dance. I'm here to get a fun work out. The only thing that worked out was one arm. I wasn’t impressed. Well the next time we took the class there were more gals, and the instructor actually taught us a routine. I liked this a lot better. I also had the best upper body strength in the class. We had this one move where you basically lift yourself up almost sideways and do a leg move whilst up on the pole. Most the girls could only really bounce up and not get the leg move in there, but yours truly did it slow, steady and well. The gal even had me do it again for everyone to watch, saying "You have great upper body strength!". I of course beamed and promptly kept doing that. Yes, I will show off if I can. Well..lemme just say...the next 3 days I couldn’t lift my arms over my head. Way to go Jami. I also was not a fan of the spinning around the pole. I for some reason get super dizzy. So every damn spin I'd do, I'd have to pause to wait for my head to stop spinning. The work out was pretty good tho. Really worked your upper body!
Chair Cabaret: I was assuming this would be just like the Chair Burlesque. Oh no. This was a different gal, and our class was dimly lit and our moves were fancy like! At one point we laid across the seats of the chair, then flipped up into basically a head stand. When she 1st did it I thought "Oh dear Jesus...I'm goin down" but alas I did pretty good! I'm horrible with routines. My coordination is not the greatest, but I can usually fake it pretty good. I was stunned I performed quite well. 3 girls in the class ate shit - chairs crashing down with them and all. They were ok, just a little embarrassed but I cannot believe I was not one of them. The next couple of days my upper body, abs and legs were super sore. I loved it. That class worked all my problem areas!!! April and I signed up for 2 more of those classes we liked it so much. I'll let you know how they are.
Hip Hop: We knew going in that we probably were not going to care for this class, and we were right. The music gave me a headache, the gal spent more time watching herself dance in the mirror and we always had to wait a few minutes into the song before we started. There were also 2 little teeny bopper chicks in the class acting like assholes that I seriously almost drop kicked. Hip Hop...not my thang.
Kickball: You all know I play kickball. Sadly I will not be playing after this season. Unfortunately it just isn’t fun anymore. The league has gotten too big and the people are so angry and competitive (Yes. Kickball). Plus our old team captain always tried so hard to make it fun and our current captains don’t. So I've been getting my Monday night excersise playing ball (Actually more this time since I'm one of the best players...yam that’s right) but this will be it.
Boxing Burn: Ok, I just signed up for this one. My 1st class was Monday, and the other tonite. It’s Mon/Wed for the next 4 weeks. I LOVE IT. It’s brutal and I'm sweating like a whore in church and I'm so f-ing sore and I'm boxing and I'm doing cardio. This is exactly what I love to do. A cardio work out that invovles hitting. Yes. I do have that in me. Hello Irish temper. I haven’t been a part of an ass kicking class like this in a while. I definitely plan on keeping up with this one if I can. It’s through the city, so we'll see but right now I love it. I'm even hoping to do the class then straight to kickball after on some nights. Yes I'm that insane. I also feel pretty confident in the class because even tho I'm an uncoordinated retard, I know how to box. I love this one.
So that’s all the ones I've taken so far these past few months I suppose (Did I miss any?) I have a bunch of stuff upcoming: Fair Fun 5K Run, Wet & Wild 5K, Urban Dare, and Beachapalooza. Those will probably get their own blogs like Warrior Dash. Then I still have some upcoming classes: Paddle boarding, Aerial Hoop and Tissue Dancing, Power Yoga and Indoor Rock Climbing.
So yes folks. I'm on the fitness train. And I'm on it the way I like it....lots of variety and fun. I've also been taking the Pink Panther out alot (My bike) since the weather has been so lovely. I painted my moms roof. And I've also joined up with my company's ICount program. It’s a 10 week program to hit 10,000 steps a day. It’s really neat and I love that my company does stuff like this. The 1st challenge has started, there's about 200 people signed up (How many are actually participating I'm not sure) but they have a list of the current top 20 performers and I'm 4th at the moment. That’s right. The little competitive Jami is coming out for this one. After a few faulty pedometers I'm ready to blow my coworkers out of the water!
So there's the fitness recap and there will be many more. I also have that therapy appointment tomorrow, so you may be hearing some humorous therapy stories. I have no idea what to expect.
So on to the next right!?