Woman is Back!

Woman is back from Body Pump training in Irmo, SC. She got home around 8pm Sunday night, and she was dog tired. I tried to get her to rub my butt, but she said she could barely lift her hand. I didn't care though and insisted that she give it to me, give it to me, give it to me. She finally caved in. The rubbings were sub-par, but I didn't complain too much. I was just happy to have someone in the house who at least tried to rub my butt. Ian is anti-butt rubbing.

First, a little bit about Body Pump. Body Pump is a one-hour high energy weight training work-out set to music. Every three months a new release is distributed, which includes new songs and new choreography. The instructors must follow the choreography exactly, and their technique must be perfect throughout the entire session, no matter how tired they may become. There were four people from Asheville that attended the training this weekend, so Woman had some company.

So, onto the training. Woman said they worked the trainees almost to death. They got to the training at 11am on Friday and worked out almost non-stop until 8pm, with no dinner or lunch breaks! They were given a couple 5 minute breaks during which time they had to pee and cram some food down their gullets. That night they had to go back to the hotel room and learn the choreography for a 6 minute track that would be presented twice the next day. Woman said she was up until 1:30am learning her track and then got up at 6:30am to practice and get to the training by 8am. The first day Woman had to present the shoulder track, which she said was challenging, because it contains a lot of transitions. I don't know what that means.

On Saturday, they had to run 2 miles in the 98 degree South Carolina heat, power lift for an hour, then present their track for the first time. They did get an hour break that day for lunch, during which time they had to work on their technique for their second presentation. The rest of the day was spent doing more exercising and finally the second presentation. That night Woman went to Carabba's and pigged out on some fettuccine alfredo. She then had to go back to the hotel to learn another 6 minute track to present on Sunday. Woman said the second track went faster and she got to bed by 11pm. Her second track was squats. She counted up the total number of squats in the track - 117! That's a lot of squats when you've got 40 pounds sitting on your shoulders. She couldn't sleep that night and didn't get to sleep until after 1am. Poor Woman.

Woman had to be up at 6am to practice her track, check out of the hotel and be at the training by 8am. That day was a little easier, with more "classroom" type discussions, but there was still a lot of exercising. They had to present their tracks twice that day and it was finally over!!

Woman was really tired Monday and Tuesday and didn't go to the gym either day. She said she needed a break. I can imagine that is true! Now Woman has to team teach with another instructor for 8 classes, then she can start teaching on her own. She doesn't become officially certified until she sends in a video of herself teaching an entire class solo. The video is critiqued and a grade assigned. If she passes, she gets certified; otherwise, she has to send in another video! Woman has until November 10th to get her first video sent in. This is some pretty intense stuff, and in case you're wondering, instructors don't get paid a whole lot of money. They have to pay for their own training, and they have to buy each quarterly release out of their own pockets. The people who do this do it because they love it. So, if you take a Body Pump class, give your instructor a big thank you hug for all that they endure :)

BTW - Woman has no pictures from the weekend. Sorry!