I passed Bodypump Initial Training!
Here's a recap of my experience, if you are interested.
On Friday afternoon, I drove from where I live in Connecticut to Plymouth, Massachusetts, about three hours away, and I settled into my hotel room at the Raddison on Plymouth Harbour.
I brought my essential oil Peace and Calming and my diffuser and I set that up right away. I am sensitive to hotel room smells. Not that the room smelled, but I knew running the diffuser would take care of that if it did and it would also help me breath deeply and relax on a night when I was really anxious. (Sorry for the blurry picture.)
After I settled into my room, I went back out. First, I typed the address of the training facility into my navigation system and I drove there, just to make sure I knew the way,I knew where I would park, and I could find the entrance to the building.
After that was settled, I went out for dinner. I wasn't really thinking, so I chose sushi. I know! I rarely get to go out to eat at restaurants, so I was just thinking about getting what I like the most. In retrospect, sushi could have been a really bad decision. I've never had bad sushi personally, but if it had been bad, it would not have been good the night before a day when I needed to be at Bodypump training. However, thankfully, it worked out.
I found a sushi place with good reviews online, but I didn't want to sit in a dark, fancy restaurant alone, so I ordered two spicy tuna rolls to go. I also didn't feel like driving all the way back to my room before I ate raw fish. (I was thinking that clearly, at least.) So I spotted a apparently nice, but casual pizza place nearby that wasn't crowded and well lit. So decided to take my little container of sushi in there and order one hot slice. (I figured I needed the carbohydrates, so pizza would work in my favor.) So that's how I ended up having pizza and sushi at the same time while studying my Bodypump music and notes and watching a Red Socks game while in Massachusetts with a few die hard fans, mostly employees, who were in the pizza parlor with me. It was kind of amazing.
I got back to the hotel around eight p.m. My little girls picked me a bouquet of flowers from our yard and put it in a little vase with a love note when I left. The vase traveled with me in my Jeep's cup holder until I set that up on my hotel room's desk. This would be the first night I had spent entirely alone in about a decade, maybe longer. I have always had my husband or my kids with me. So this vase of flowers was a nice reminder that even though I was on my own for the next two days, I was not alone.
I brought my mat and I did some relaxing yoga in my pajamas before I went to sleep, probably around 10pm. I was pretty wound up, so this helped me relax (a little). I also knew I would be expecting a lot from my body in the next forty eight hours so it would be good to stretch.
I got up a few hours before I had to be at training, 5:30am. I set the alarm on my phone, the one in my room, and I had the hotel give me a wake up call. I wanted to cover my bases.
I brought some other comforts from home- a polka-dotted blanket my kids wrap up in to watch their cartoons. It smells like them.
Weird?
Maybe.
But it was nice to cover up with right next to the air conditioner in my hotel room.
And I brought my One Year Bible so I could keep my ritual of reading it every morning while having coffee. I just used the coffee and coffee maker in my hotel room. It was terrible coffee, but I am not coffee snob and the hotel provided real cups, so it was quite comforting.
Side note: On the drive to Massachusetts the day before, I prayed a lot. I told the Lord how much it meant to me to pass the training and I asked him if He would give me confidence enough to know I would pass so I could go in to the training with real strength and courage, but He didn't give me assurance that I'd pass. I felt like the Holy Spirit said that should preform for the eyes of God more than for the Les Mills trainer who would be assessing me that weekend. I agreed with Him on that. Further, I felt like the Holy Spirit said that whether or not I pass, I could still please God by doing my best. He would watching and that should be success enough for me, especially if I did my best and He approved.
Well, the next morning I got up and like I planned, I read from that day's portion of the One Year Bible. These were some of the verses I read, "And they said to him, 'Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether the journey on which we are setting out will succeed.' And the priest said to them, “Go in peace. The journey on which you go is under the eye of the Lord.” Judges 18
Notice the priest did not give them assurance they would succeed. He just assured them God was watching. It was a confirmation that I really had heard from God the day before and this experience with the word of God in the early hours of that day really boosted my confidence for what was coming.
Next, I got dressed and packed up my stuff for the day.
I took a cooler for the parts of my lunch that needed to stay cold- baby carrots, chicken salad, fresh greens, hard boiled eggs, cheese sticks, hummus. I shopped and prepared all this at home the day before I left and I brought it in an even larger cooler in my car.
I also took a little box for all the other food- pitas, granola, extra protein powder and aminos that I wanted to have on hand. I left that in the car.
I packed a carry-in bag with waters and two plastic bottles- one with a serving of dry aminos and another with dry protein powder in the bottom. All I would have to is add some water and drink. I also took my Bodypump notes, laptop with the video of the release on it, my iphone with the music and video in case the laptop wasn't working for some reason, a notebook for taking notes by hand, a case of pens and pencils, chapstick, tissues, cranberries, almonds, etc.
I also took two small nylon bags, one with three changes of clothes, underwear, and socks, the other bag empty so I could put the sweaty clothes in it when I took them off. Note: I didn't end up needing that many changes of clothes. I only ended up needing two sets of clothes per day, but that was me.
Here's an obligatory selfie from morning one before I left.
Live, Life, Believe was the name of the gym where the training was being held. It was located inside one of the buildings in a large, industrial complex that has been nicely renovated for businesses. It was one of the nicest gyms I have ever seen. The employees were all friendly and encouraging. One of them has lost over a hundred pounds doing and teaching Bodypump, so I was really inspired by her since I am on a similar journey. I didn't loose that much weight, but Bodypump helped me lose seventy pounds and it is changing my life. The Les Mills spirit was alive in that facility and really palpable there.
The group exercise room, where I spent most of my time, was really aesthetically pleasing. It had large windows that let it lots of natural light and at least one of the walls was antique, exposed brick. The floor was rustic, thick wood probably original to the building, but polished smooth and safe for group fitness classes.
This facility also had smart bars. Even though I am a Bodypump devote and I've done it at home with Beachbody DVDs for over a year and attended classes a local gym, it was my first time using them. The smart bars definitely make the short transitions in between songs much easier to accomplish. I would love to use one, but if the gym where I end up teaching (hopefully someday) doesn't have smart bars, I think I will just use what my participants use. That way, my transitions are naturally long enough to accommodate whatever equipment they have and I can model the right form with the same equipment my participants will be using.
One side note about the smart bar- when it's empty without the weights- it kind of reminds me of the weapons the goa'uld use on Stargate. Have any other Bodypump/ sci-fi fans noticed this? I chuckled to myself as I carried it around.
Note: I'm back home writing this, back to reality. My kids need breakfast and I need to take some Ibuprofen for my sore muscles, so I will have to end this post now. But I will continue it soon. I will definitely give more details about the actual training and not just my personal experiences and observations and side notes. This blog is my personal journal of sorts, though, so I like to include the personal stuff for my own sake. That way, I don't forget any of the details that are important to me. See you back here soon!
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