(…and RPM….shhhh)
We’ve had a relaxing few days together and been swimming and stuff, but tonight was the regular combat class at Alex’s gym. I’ve finally decided after 2 classes that she really annoys me as an instructor. I can see why Alex gets fed up with certain things. I’m not someone that normally likes to judge or speak negatively about another instructor, especially not as a guest at another gym in a foreign country! However the volume of annoying things she does is just too hard for me to forgive and gloss over.
It was a little easier to follow the class this time, mainly because she did the same mix and I was able to remember more of the chorrey. But also I’m beginning to pick up some words in dutch that help….like left and right. It’s not much, but I’m also finding it easier to hear some of the English names of moves amongst the Dutch. They also do mixing a little differently here. They do the same chorrey for 2 months, then the last 4 weeks they’re allowed to do a mix, which is the same mix. That would drive me batty if I had to do that with my classes! It would make for easier chorrey learning, however I think I’d get so bored that I don’t think I could keep up teaching.
But on to the annoying things about this instructor. Firstly, she stopped between every single track, however that’s apparently the way things are done here so I won’t hold that against her. However what I DO have issues with is that she continually stopped and turned the music down during the class. I’ve seen instructors do it before and I’ve even done it myself, to just put the volume down for a second and hear the class shouting. But doing it 2 -3 times EVERY track was just over the top. It’s not hard to notice that she wasn’t actually working out while she was doing this. Sometimes she just stood there and watched. Sometimes she stood there and got everyone to shout “hey hey”. I think it’d be very generous to say that she barely participated in 40% of the class. It’s probably less, but I’m going to stay generous.
So on to the “hey hey’s”. I don’t mind them. I get participants to shout aswell. Sometimes it’s an agressive shout. Sometimes it’s “hey”. Sometimes it’s just something random to shout. ALL of them are shouts carefully chosen to fit the music and is used sparingly. But this instructor had everyone shouting “hey hey” to every single track and most of the time it didn’t really feel like it fit the music nicely and didn’t make me feel like I wanted to shout (along with her not exercising herself and turning the music down continuously). In fact, the thought going through my mind is I just couldn’t be bothered shouting anymore and I just wanted to work out. But then, Alex tells me that that’s considered fairly normal here to shout lots….
The ginga. It’s a specific move in combat. A technique. I’m not sure why she chose to do a dancy move where you touch the ground instead. I couldn’t understand the dutch but Alex tells me she encourages everyone to do it so they can work harder. If you wanna work harder, try actually participating in the whole class………that works! I’m normally a strong believer in respecting the instructor and doing what the instructor teaches, but I draw the line here! Besides, I’m pregnant and it’s too hard for me to touch the ground anyway!
The last thing I can remember about the class is that she did make a few mistakes, although I didn’t have an issue with that. She recovered well from them and the participants would never have known. However Alex tells me that she appears to have sharpened up a bit on the chorrey as she knew I was coming to the class. Apparently she’s normally a lot worse. I guess I can’t judge that though.
I’m just glad that will be the last combat I’ll be doing of hers before I come back to Australia. I think it’d just piss me off too much to do her class again. She’s apparently going away so I don’t know who’s doing the combat class next week.
After combat I gave in and let Alex do RPM. Which meant I also sat on a bike. This class confirmed why I DON’T do RPM. Those bike seats just were not humane, and Alex kept laughing at my discomfort. By track 3 or 4 when he was laughing at me, I explained that the pain meant I wouldn’t be able to do certain things for a week after that class! 😈
Luckily we had taken the car to the gym which thankfully meant I didn’t have to ride a bike home aswell. I think I would have been in too much pain!
Seriously though, during the RPM class I took it pretty easy cuz 2 cardio classes in a row is getting a bit hard for me now. But also, I found I had problems leaning forward on the bike, cuz for whatever reason it seemed to squash things in my belly and bit and I found I couldn’t breathe, whether I was working out or not. So I found I often had to just sit up straight and take it at my own pace.
And no, after the class I DIDN’T have a shower at the gym. I waited till I got home. I’m not stripping in those communal showers!