Chris Tobey
ContributorAs the spring breezes start to replace the winter chills, it means one thing: I will have to trade in the sweatshirt that has been hiding my extra holiday pounds for less forgiving shorts and t-shirts. My New Year's resolution was to work my way through each of the fitness classes the Lancer Gym offers and I have been less than diligent about keeping this promise.
I decided to start this semester off with Zumba.
One of the newest classes to come to Longwood, Zumba is a mixture of Latin Dance and Rock in the form of a dance work out and has been heavily requested by students over the past couple semesters. As one of the stereotypically girly-est classes, I was looking forward to knocking it out of the way early hoping none of my friends saw me in the endeavor. While it wasn't by any means the most masculine work out I've done, I went to the class with a false sense of confidence, bordering on cockiness.
I typically go to the gym from 5:30 to 7:00 Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The Zumba class I was attending started at 7:00. I refused to alter my regular schedule so I would be ready for what I considered a "girly" class. Mistake Number One.
I, as a guy, went to the one offering of Zumba offered at quite possibly gyms the busiest time, between 7:00 and 8:00 Wednesday night. Mistake Number Two.
I rode my bike to campus so the only way home was a two mile, partially uphill, ride back to my apartment. Mistake Number Three.
Zumba was about to make me pay for my arrogance.
7:00 rolled around and after running 4 miles, some mild circuit training and a couple matches of racquetball, I waved farewell to my racquetball partner and worked my way over to the dance studio adjacent to the gym's sea of free-weights, cardio machines, and weight machines. I hadn't danced a step and I was already in a heavy sweat and admittedly starting to smell.
I was pretty sure that I was going to be only guy. I was. I was confident that my soggy apparel and odorous funk wasn't going to win me points with any of the 15 girls in the class. It didn't.
The class started with a stretching song with no dancing, but everything after that was full of hip thrusting, side stepping, booty shaking, a little bit of jazz hands and air punching.
For a guy, I feel like I have a pretty good sense of rhythm and can hold my own on the dance floor. I am not saying that I will be competing in 'So You Think You Can Dance' during summer break, but I think my skills are moderately above average. Everything we had to do during this class was well out of my comfort zone.
To complicate things we were in a mirror filled room where I, and everyone else in the class or looking through the window, could look at my seizure-like hip thrust from a choice of unflattering perspectives.
We did three songs and then took a quick water break. During the break I spoke to a few of the other classmates and realized I was not the only one outside of their comfort zone. Most of the girls were spending the break laughing about how silly they felt they looked when I figured their break conversation would be centered around the weird sweaty guy in the back corner. me.
After we started back up I ignored how silly it felt to me and just started laughing along with everyone else and surprisingly I had a lot of fun. Some of the later songs got a little too fast for my clumsy, already tired feet to keep up with but I kept pushing them. Some of the patterns were just too foreign for me to figure out but I kept trying. Some of the things were just a little to feminine for me to bring myself to fully participate in, like the Beyoncé-inspired "Sexy Walk", so I made more masculine adaptations and just laughed it off.
In the end I was shocked to see how worn out I was and surprised to realize how much fun I had.
The class instructor Paula Roberson, a senior Education Major, said, "You really have to be able to laugh at yourself. You'll learn a new move each time but you will still mess up even if you've done the work out multiple times before. Just come ready to have fun."
A group of Freshman Education Majors were there for their first time and could relate to the troubles I had with keeping up. Ayesha Moss admitted, "yeah every one is kinda' falling all over the place but your still having fun." Her friend Cassandra Summerell added, "getting the arms and legs coordinated is a little tricky at first but even if you can't get it perfect its still a fun work out." Jessica Lee, one of their friends who has 13 years of dance experience, admitted, "it was a little easier for me to pick up, but any one can do it. You just need to remember to have fun." They all emphasized how much easier it was to overcome the embarrassment missing a beat or botching a hip thrust because they came with friends to laugh at each others mistakes.
In the end I realized that was the key. Even if your going solo eventually you get over being self-conscious and really have a good work out. A much better work out than I was expecting. So after 4 miles, 30 minutes of circuit work, 2 matches of Racquetball and an hour of deceptively challenging aerobic dance, I still had to pedal over two miles home.
