Tag Archive | teaching

The $160 Experiment

Sep22

My relationship with food is messed up. Due to years of forever trying to get to that “magic” number on the scale, I’ve been “brainwashed” in counting calories. Sadly, this has resulted in just a mess right now.

A few years ago, I saw a nutritionist and started to get myself straightened out on the food thing. I was definitely eating better thanks to seeing that nutritionist and it helped tremendously. I wasn’t eating terribly at the time, but I could definitely improve what I was doing. One thing that did come up though was that I just don’t eat enough. Continue reading →

Looking for Myself

Aug4

img_0422.jpgWhen I first started teaching Spinning classes, one of the instructors that I team taught with had a ton of feedback for me regarding who I am as an instructor. Sometimes, when you hear you got a ton of feedback and notes, it might seem like a bad thing. As though the reason for the copious amount of notes is due to being bad. However, that was not the case. This time, it was about seeing my potential and wanting to pull it all out right away.

Anyway, a lot of the feedback was regarding showing who I am as a person. Making it known in that short time of guiding people in their ride just exactly who I am as well. Sometimes that can seem hard to do when you don’t want to talk too much. It is as though if you don’t talk, then no one will know you are. And it is important in classes to just shut up at times and let the members do what they need to do. Continue reading →

F^€¥ you, Cheryl

Jun8

Monday March 24, 2014 was a “long” day for me. I had two SPIN classes to teach as well as a TRX class. It was pretty fun to have a full morning of classes. I was also supposed to run five miles, but as has happened all year, my running has taken a bit of a back seat to teaching classes. Anyway, that day was one where I could say, why yes I have done my job as a group fitness instructor.

The first class of the day was really great. We did what I label as the “hardest ride ever” which consisted of nothing but hills with some sprints sprinkled in for good measure. There were times I even thought, um, WHY am I doing this? Nevertheless, the class did it quite well and had a good time.

Then, it was off to teach at my “home” club of Lincoln Square Athletic Club. I’m always a bit nervous teaching there because I am around it so much doing my own thing and I know a lot of the people. Because I know so many, part of me feels I need to really step up my game because I know members talk to each other about how an instructor is. In any event, we did another tough ride, but with fewer hills comparatively however we still had some sprints. Continue reading →

Random Thoughts: The Winter Edition

Feb7

img_0422.jpgIt’s been a couple of months since I shared with you the strangeness that runs through my head. And since it is the beginning of a new year, it seems like a good time to share the craziness that is happening now. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but as usual, I have thoughts about a lot of things. Such as . . . Continue reading →

November 16, 2013

Dec30

For most, 11/16/2013 is not a special date. However, for me, I’m going to remember it as the day that I made the first step in changing my life. That was the day that I got certified to be a SPIN instructor. How all of this came about was months in the making, but certification day seems the right time to say it all changed.

How did it all begin? Well, I work out a lot as you probably know if you’ve read any past posts on here. And as part of that, I am always trying to find new ways to challenge myself. One of the things I do to cross-train is take Spinning® classes as my primary thing other than running. They both rank pretty high on my list of things to do.

Anyway, 2013 was the year that I was going to finish the marathon and as preparation for that, I decided I needed to start training to run 26.2 early so I decided to train for a spring half marathon. That meant running in the terrible winter months of February and March. Continue reading →

Exhilaration

Dec29

Lately, I can honestly say that things are good for me. As I’ll explain in another post, I changed and that change has made me immensely happy. The past couple of weeks, I have had the opportunity to do some subbing of Spinning® classes at my gym. So far I have done two of them and each time I teach, it is just more and more awesome.

The first time I taught a Spinning® class, it was pretty frightening at first, but then it turned out quite well. To say I enjoy throwing myself to the wolves is probably an understatement. That first class was a very last-minute subbing thing and it was at the club that I’ve heard from many people has a “special” personality when it comes to the Spinning® classes.

My first hiccup in that class began when I couldn’t figure out how to get the fans on full speed. This annoyed one of the members quite dearly, but he managed to get them turned up. That was good since this particular studio tends to get hot really fast. Continue reading →

“Thank You” for Gracing me with your Presence

Nov12

It’s a Friday evening and I am headed to a bar that I frequent to meet a friend for a drink. At least that is what I am hoping will happen. She tends to flake a lot so if she doesn’t show up, I won’t be surprised. I haven’t seen her in a while, so it will be nice to finally catch up, even though that is probably going to be a conversation of her telling me how “crushing” her life is with teaching and her husband and by the time she gets around to listening to me, realizes she needs to get going. I do try to keep our friendship going, but after a while, it gets really tiring when I am the only one who seems to care about it and not take it for granted.

As it typical, Tori is already 20 minutes late. I had waited a bit to order and finally my apple martini arrives and just as it does, Tori comes bursting into the bar. I am so glad my drink has arrived as I have a feeling I am going to need it or at least have something to hold on to with my hands rather than some weird fidgeting thing that might occur when I am sort of being myself. Continue reading →

Random Thoughts: The Fall Edition

Nov7

Since I am trying to write a blog post each day this month, it seemed like a good time to do another one on the various random thoughts that go through my head. Nothing in particular other than just the randomness that occurs when I am working out, running, or getting annoyed at work because there are too many chatty men around causing me to be unable to think.

img_0422.jpgSo without further ado, here are some random thoughts: Continue reading →

Perspective

Jul22

The NFL lockout is about to end, once the players vote to accept the new deal. Our long national nightmare can finally end. As a sports-loving person, I can understand how fans have been clamoring about when this will end so that they can get back to obsessing about their favorite sport. If my favorites were headed for a work-stoppage, I am sure I’d be just as annoyed.

At the same time though the way people are keeping tabs on the lockout is a bit puzzling to me when I consider some of the other issues going on in the world today. In Oslo, Norway, there was a bombing and it took a long time before major news organizations in the US picked up on the story. Well, MSNBC was talking about it fairly quickly. It was only later that CNN or the other networks picked up on the story. That kind of stuff infuriates me. Then again, when I am looking for relevant news, I am usually forced to look at news sources not based in the US.

This kind of stuff really makes me think about what we value in society. For me, the biggest indicator of what we think is valuable is pay for work. I’m usually thinking of this when it comes to what we pay teachers to educate society’s children. Many people I talk to think that teachers are overpaid. They also believe they are paid a salary based upon 12 months out of a year, even though the teachers only work nine months. I’ve even met one person who was incredulous that he knew a teacher made the same amount of money that he made, despite the fact that he felt he was clearly more educated, having a law degree. Continue reading →