Shred was held in a giant hall, which fit 500 people. Lucky us, though - we were at the front! 4 rows away from the stage, in fact. We got in, grabbed our 3lb weights, and secured our spots. Marie was super excited, jumping around and grinning like a looney! We stretched, struck up a conversation with a girl who works at a Markham Goodlife, and gawked at the large room. Our regular Wednesday night Shred instructor, Lauren, was also there, and she dropped by to say hello. A lot of Goodlife instructors were there, catching up with old friends and, I'm sure, making new ones. There was a nice buzz of excitement in the room, and it was contagious.
The workout itself was great, and we did some new moves we don't normally do. Jillian came out onto the stage (to great applause and cheering), greeted us, and jumped right into explaining all the moves.
She went through each one before hitting play and starting up the workout. BodyShred is just a half hour long, so it was done in the blink of an eye. She was yelling at us to keep our asses moving! At one point she came down off the stage and was interacting with some of the girls in front of us, getting them to lift their knees higher and push harder.
Jillian Michaels is ripped. She's a shorter lady, at 5'2", but her personality and muscles make her seem dozens of metres taller!
And while she's known for crazy workouts and intense execution, she seems like a really down-to-earth person. When she was demonstrating the moves before the workout began, she was losing her balance a bit, and she just laughed at herself, rather than getting annoyed. I'm sure a one-on-one session with her would be intense and scary, but as it stands, I really enjoyed the class and how it was taught. I can see how our instructor has modelled her execution of the class on Jillian's. A good instructor makes all the difference, just like a good teacher in high school, or an inspiring professor at university. A good fitness instructor will show you the moves clearly, explain them with ease, and do the moves with you. They will make sure you know exactly what it coming up and when. We definitely get that Wednesday nights, and we definitely got that Friday morning.
When the workout was over, we grabbed our things and headed over to the trade show to see what was going on there. We entered another hall with displays from all sorts of protein powder, energy bar, running shoe, and fitness machine companies. We tried a bunch of the shakes and bars, looked through the clothes (I picked up a new headband - let's see if this will keep those wisps of hair from getting in my eyes), and chatted with people who were selling their ideas (a new Tai Chi program, an obstacle course, and so on). Marie pointed out that because so many fitness instructors attend the show, we were grouped in with them by association. We were at the trade show and therefore employed by a gym. We got a nice, inclusive vibe from the room and the people. There weren't a lot of freebies, but it was fun to wander around and see what's out there in the commercial fitness world.
Done with the trade show, we went to meet the other Marie for dim sum, and then a bit of a shopping trip at the Eaton Centre (well deserved!). A successful day that has left me feeling happy, inspired, and revved up for next Wednesday night Shred!
Finally, this isn't fitness-related, but a funny thing happened on the way to register for the trade show first thing when I got there in the morning. I headed to what looked like registration tables. I gave my photo I.D. to the woman there, who spoke with a Spanish accent. She was looking for my name on her sheet but couldn't find it. I piped up and said that I'd done the free registration and that I didn't actually know if I was supposed to sign up at that desk. Revelation dawned on her face, but then the strangest thing happened - she switched to Spanish. I barely even realised at first, though something at the back of my head was telling me that this wasn't normal. "Look, you have to go over to those registration desks there (*points to desks*) and they can confirm your registration there. This is for instructors," she said. So I said "OK, gracias!" and headed over, meanwhile starting to realise what had just happened. It's funny that she assumed I'd understand her, but I think it's awesome!
No comments:
Post a Comment