In November and December, I completed my Group Fitness certification through AFAA and my CPR/AED/First Aid certification through Red Cross. These enable me to teach classes, in general, but don't really provide much education specific to any particular exercise practice.
A few weeks ago, I went through my initial Les Mills BODYPUMP training. This was a 2-day intense training, designed to challenge you and also to prepare you with all of the knowledge, technique and tools to start teaching BODYPUMP.
A week or two after I registered, I received the music CD, DVD, choreography book, and my track assignments, which were squats and shoulders. I had a couple of weeks before training to memorize my tracks and get familiar with the rest of the release.
There were 19 people in the training, and it was 9 hours the first day, and 8 hours the 2nd day. We were told to bring all of the food and drinks we may want/need, because there may be limited time for breaks. And thank goodness for the warning! The longest break we had the first day was 15 min!
Day 1, we went through the whole release (all of the tracks that make up the 1-hour class) right after introducing ourselves. This was a good thing, as it got the energy up, the blood pumping, the sweat rolling, and the jitters out.
After that, we had a big block of lecture time, followed by a short break to eat, use the bathroom, and get in the mindset to teach your first assigned track.
We went through the whole release again, as each person took their turn teaching their first track. Then on to more lecture time, focusing on how to teach better, and then we were done for the day.
I was so nervous going into day 1 that it was really just a relief to have it over with. I was tired, and hungry, and it felt really good to crawl into bed that night. :-)
The next day, we were back at it bright and early.
Day 2 was packed full of hard work, and we started right away.
We started off with a little lecture, and then went through the whole release, taking turns teaching our 2nd assigned track. We had a little snack break, and some more lecture, and then it was time for the BODYPUMP CHALLENGE!
We all knew this was coming, and that it should be feared, dreaded, and also conquered. It was as challenging as we had heard, but we were all a little tougher than we thought (except me... I'll explain in a minute).
We started off with a 15 min spinning session, to get everyone's heart rates revved up. Then we moved into the weight room. Normally, in BODYPUMP, it's all about muscle endurance. We don't lift max weights in BODYPUMP. We lift challenging weights, for a bazillion reps, and we increase those weights as we're able, so that we see continuous improvement.
But during the challenge, we were told to lift 3-4 times the heaviest we had ever lifted in any particular lift, and we were aiming to lift to failure. (Which means until your muscles absolutely will not do another rep or inch.)
We paired off to encourage and spot each other. The trainer paired us up based roughly on size, and the chick I was paired with, well... "though she be but little, she is fierce"!
So we loaded up that bar, and we took turns spotting each other to muscle failure. This was supposed to show us that we are way tougher than we think we are. That our bodies are stronger than we give them credit for. That we should not be afraid to increase those weights. And for pretty much everyone else, it had the desired effect.
My Fierce-But-Little partner was a freakin' rockstar! She had to keep adding weights in order to max out. Then, when it was my turn, I'd feel really determined to just take her bar, with her weights still on it, and go for it, but.... my body just would not lift what she could lift. So almost every time it was my turn, I had to take weights off (except for squats). Which kind of just left me feeling like a wimp. I still maxed out every muscle group, but it didn't feel like much of an accomplishment in comparison.
**side rant**
Isn't that so often the case? Comparison is dumb. It takes all the joy out of life, man! We really gotta quit comparing ourselves with anyone else. My life is my race to run, and nobody ever said I need to run it as fast or as far as anyone else, as long as I run it to the best of my ability to the very end.
Isn't that so often the case? Comparison is dumb. It takes all the joy out of life, man! We really gotta quit comparing ourselves with anyone else. My life is my race to run, and nobody ever said I need to run it as fast or as far as anyone else, as long as I run it to the best of my ability to the very end.
**end side rant**
Anyway, after maxing out each muscle group, we then went into a 3-min hover plank. When every muscle in your body is trembling, it is hard- I mean REALLY HARD- to hold a steady hover for 3 min. But we were almost done, and everyone was cheering each other on. It really was one last "Come on! We're all in this together! We can't quit now! Let's finish this!" kind of plank-party! :-)
That was the end of the challenge, but not the end of our training. We had a lunch/recharge break for 25 min, which was the longest break we had over the 2-day training.
Then, with Bambi-like wobbly legs, we went through the entire release one last time. Each person taught their 2nd track one more time, adding in lots of the good tips and techniques we had learned. This last go-around was the absolute best! Everyone was so over any jitters, and was so sore and exhausted and charged up. We could see the finish line. We could FEEL the finish line, and we cheered each other to it. This was definitely, despite the fatigue, everyone's best teaching moment. It was a little bit of "fitness magic". ;-)
After we received our assessment forms, we had a little wrap-up pow-wow, where we went around and talked about our favorite moments of the training, what we got out of it, etc. Then, it was time to shake hands with each individual there, and say goodbye. SOMEBODY started crying, which then made everybody else cry, and pretty soon, everyone was shedding those stupid little joy-tears that slip out even if you try your damnedest to cage them in. I mean, I didn't cry, of course. But other people did. I successfully held all of my joy-tears captive, and told the person who started the waterworks to knock it off! ;-)
So that was that.
So that was that.
I passed!
Now I have to co-teach with already-certified instructors at the Y until I am confident enough to teach on my own. I have 2 months (actually, more like 6 weeks now- yikes!) to film myself teaching the hour-long class on my own, live, with real participants and stuff (as opposed to fake ones? or....), and submit it to Les Mills for review. They'll decide if my timing, form, technique, and cuing are up to snuff. If not, they'll give me feedback and I'll have to re-submit another video. If so (and gosh I hope so), they'll certify me to teach.
So that's a little update on the slow progress I'm making over here. I just thought I'd better recap my BODYPUMP training experience while it was still somewhat fresh in my memory.
