Breaking a Sweat

I've been going to Washington Sports Club now for about 3 years - sometimes regularly, sometimes sporadically, you know how it is.  What works best for me are the group classes - nothing like a bunch of people suffering together to add a little motivation to a workout.  These classes usually have names like Body Conditioning, Boot Camp, Torture Time.

But the best part of these classes are the people in them.  If you've ever taken a class at a gym, you have seen these people.  And don't worry - if you see yourself in any of these characters, I am NOT talking about you.  These are all people that I do not know personally, but who have made my workout experiences a little more interesting and bearable.

1.  Enthusiastic Guy in Back Row:  You all know this guy.  He's the lone man in a sea of women, trying his best to keep up when his tight hamstrings and uncoordinated body just won't let him.  He's the life of the class though, with a big goofy grin on his face throughout the hour.  He occasionally gets shout-outs from the instructor who of course knows him by name.  Anytime I feel like I just can't do one more lunge or squat, I look up at his face in the mirror and think, if that guy can do it, so can I!

2. Overly Enthusiastic Power Mom:  She shows up to the gym at the end of her 10 hour day at the office, trading power suit for the latest techno-lycra workout pants, hair slicked back and ready to go.  She goes full force through the entire class, face beet-red, shouting out along with the instructor during the count-downs - "TEN, NINE, EIGHT, SEVEN . . ."  Her legs are hard as a rock because she works out 7 days a week and still manages to put in 60 hours a week at the office, serve on the PTA and lead her daughter's Brownie troup.  She does it all and she never runs out of energy.  I loathe her.

3. The "I've never worked out so I'm going to give this impossibly hard class a try" person:  This is the person that the instructor goes up to at the start of class and says "Are you new here? Do you have any injuries I should know about?"  This poor individual doesn't know what she's in for and spends the entire class gasping for air, trying desperately to keep up with the class when you know her thighs are screaming and a voice inside her head must be saying "What the @%$#*&!! was I thinking?"  Usually this person is not seen in the class again for a long time, if ever.

4. 20-something girl who exercises 3 hours a day:  I haven't seen this girl in a while, but she looks like she must do 2-3 of these classes every day.  Nothing on her moves.  She wears the shortest shorts and always shows her belly.  The intense look on her face never changes and she modifies the exercises to make them twice as hard.  You can see every single muscle and you wonder if there is an ounce of fat anywhere on her body. 

5.  Gossip Girls:  They're not really girls but a group of 2-3 women age 55+ who take up the back row (right next to Enthusiastic Guy in the Back Row) and spend the entire class talking and laughing it up.  They're working about 25% as hard as the rest of the class and having a great time.  At some point during the hour, Enthusiastic Guy in the Back Row becomes best friends with them and they are high fiving each other after each set of 10. 

So where do I fit in with all of this?  Well, I usually have some type of grimace on my face because I just haven't been exercising regularly enough for this stuff not to hurt.  I'm pretty quiet which is why I get such a kick out of Overly Enthusiastic Power Mom.  And I must confess that if I know someone in the class I usually try to set myself up next to them so I can have a bit of conversation once I've caught my breath.  It sure beats sitting on a stationary bike or running nowhere on the treadmill.