Clockwise from top right: TRX at Aerofit, cardio at Aerofit, acro yoga and tumbling at Bishop Park.
My usual workout routine is just going to Aerofit. I do some cardio. I do TRX. I like to mix it up.
To add some variety, I've been going to Wednesday night tumbling. This summer and added in the occasional Sunday night acro yoga. I signed up for Monday night aerial trapeze classes starting this week. There's also Tuesday night tumbling in Oconee that I want to try. And when I can afford it, I want to try Leap, the flying trapeze. And that's a lot. And probably how I hurt my knee to begin with—overuse.
So, if you need me, I'll be at a gym….somewhere…..hopefully not being bored.
I've tried since February to take classes at Canopy studio, which is a local aerial arts facility. They teach trapeze classes, silks and more.
I've know about them since college. Their classes are pretty popular in my liberal little college town.
My neighbor talked about wanting to take classes. I thought it sounded fun enough and I said I was happy to tag along. After a pretty lengthy delay, they told her they had no openings when classes resumed March 17, but she could take expensive private lessons.
This happened again with their new session of classes months later.
Finally, their fall session has openings. I email the day the newsletter comes out—asking if I can take a class (new people have to get permission to take the classes. A popup tells you this when you try to sign up.) And I don't hear anything back.Nothing. After about two weeks I email them again. I keep running into Canopy people, who all say it's so fun.
I'm pretty mad at Canopy at this point and give up on taking the class. They have awful customer service and must not need new customers. (A coworker tells me she once stopped by for more info and they wouldn't help her.) I decide there's an acro yoga class on Monday, I'd probably rather take.
The Friday before classes start they email me to go ahead and sign up. !!!
I wasn't going to sign up. But then I thought it was this hard to get a spot, when am I going to get the chance again? So I signup. It's$153 for a 9-week class. That comes out to $17 a class, which is kind of pricey. But I am looking for something different. We'll see…...
I've wanted to go to Skyzone since I heard about it a year or so ago. A giant trampoline gym? Yes please.
The closest one, however, is more than an hour away. Friday I was in Gwinnett to have my car looked at. On a whim, I typed in Skyzone on my iPhone map to see how far away it was. Five miles. I really needed to get home to feed my cats, walk my job, and let my friend get something she'd store in my garage out. I was tempted though.
I was leaving the service center and the guy told me not to take my usual route home. He said there was a bad wreck. I took that as a sign I needed to try Skyzone. (So I called and had my neighbor take care of my pets and to tell my friend I'd be home later.)
I drive to Skyzone. It's in a giant warehouse in a business park. There was plenty of parking. You go in and fill out a waiver on their computers, then wait in line to be checked in at the front desk. I signed up for a 30 minute jump. It was $10 + $2 for some orange grippy socks. (I thought the socks would be annoying. I barely noticed them). They give you a sticker to put on and then you go jump for your allotted time. Mine was 6:30-7 p.m.
There were some quarter-opereated lockers to put your stuff in. There's also a concession stand. There were a ton of trampolines. I didn't know where to go. There were some trampolines near a foam pit. (The lines looked long.) There were two dodge-ball courts with 8-12 year-olds jumping madly over pads. And there was the giant trampoline court. It had vertical trampolines on three sides and was probably 3x the size of Aerofit. These trampolines had a lot of little kids (toddlers with their parents) and some 5-8 year-olds, but not a lot of older kids. That's where I went. An employee in an orange polo shirt gave a group in front of me directions, and I followed on the trampoline. I went to a relatively unused corner and tried to figure out what to do. There were kids just running and jumping. No one was doing tricks really.
I jumped across the trampolines. I think they were a tad bigger than the Aerofit trampolines, and there were some narrow tumble track looking trampolines. The trampolines felt different than the ones at Aerofit. They weren't sprung as tightly. I tried a butt drop and had to really concentrate to get it because the spring wasn't the same. I saw a kid flipping over the pads so I tried a cartwheel. And it's actually easier to flip here—because of the spring in the trampoline. I tried some round-offs and one-armed round-offs. I ventured over to the wall—which isn't lined up exactly. One vertical trampoline might be behind two regular trampolines. I tried some back bounces and supermans. They still felt different so they weren't as effortless and but totally doable. One other kids tried a back bounce into the wall, but I was mostly the one one doing tricks. (I couldn't do a backdrop hand stand. The trampolines weren't tight enough to get my arms under me.)
A16-year-old employee with a whistle in his mouth came over to my area. I bounced over and asked him what his best trick was.
"Probably that," he said to my butt drop. I was disappointed. The employees at Aerofit are the ones with the best tricks. They're also more enthusiastic than these kids who just give the little jumpers dirty looks. (Teach them a new trick!)
I jumped around some more and worked on some toe touches, back drops, flagpoles, whatever I could remember. I was having fun. By myself. No one ever comes to the trampoline park by themselves, but why not?
Finally a different employee (with whistle and orange polo shirt came over) and asked if I was doing a workout. I told him I was just playing. I asked him what his best trick was and he said a full. I was much more impressed with that, though he did not demonstrate. Apparently, he's a competition cheerleader. And we chatted about me not being able to flip. He suggested the foam pit. I decided to brave the lines and give it a try.
I stood in line with 4-year-olds who just dove into the foam pit. It was mostly really little kids. There was a 6-7 year-old who looked a little lost who was giving me weird looks. And there was a 12-year-old girl who seemed to be there with her toddler brother. They dove, I worked on my front tuck. I didn't have anyone to give me pointers on form, but I tried. And had a blast.
I'm just a big kid at heart. Skyzone was super fun to visit. I'm glad I went. I'd go back again (especially with a friend)—if only my car was working…..
This week I've been resting my knee—which has translated to more arm work at the gym.
I've been doing circuit training this week and avoid the circuits with jumping. My knee doesn't need the added strain. And the teacher has been giving me arms to do.
Skip TRX shootouts. Climb the rope instead. 4x. Skip cardio step-ups, do TRX I-holds instead.
Tonight my workout included rope climbs. Four of them. I got all the way up the first time. The second and third times I got about half-way up and the last time I got 3/4 the way up. The next station had 60-second TRX X-holds. And then 60-second intervals of battle ropes. The burnout was 4-straight minutes of plank holds with your feet in the TRX straps. There were some pendulum swings and bringing your knee to your chest and back, but it was a murderous workout. I was dead afterwards. So so dead.
The instructor said he was glad he wasn't doing it with us. Thanks.
Also on my to try list. I need to save up the courage to take this. I am so uncoordinated! But all the girls who do this have killer abs.
4. Kickboxing
I could be pretty bad at this, but if someone taught me how to do it, then maybe?
(There are two groupons for this right now.)
5) Blast 900
I've driven by this place on Baxter St. A million times. They offer you a free first class, but I don't know what it is.
(Note: I looked it up. It's interval training with treadmills. I'm not sure I like treadmills. Classes are $20 each or $195 for an unlimited month. Not sure I can afford to like this one.)
Description from their website:
BLASTClasses
BLAST is a fat shredding, muscle toning, personalized group exercise class in which people of every fitness level alternate between cardio on a treadmill and strength training on the floor, each working at their own pace to reach THEIR maximum effort.
Other ideas
6) Running
I could take up running again.
7) Canopy Trapeze classes
I've wanted to take trapeze classes at Canopy for a year now, but have had no luck. Despite emailing the owner a few times and knowing two instructors, there is NEVER an opening in their beginner classes and there's no drop-in classes.
8) A friend suggested belly dancing.
I cannot dance. I'm not sure about this idea, but it is on the list of possibilities.
9) Zumba
A coworker lost a ton of weight doing zumba. I can't move my hips so I think I'd be tragic at this one.
10) There seem to be a lot of bootcamp classes in Athens. I could look into this.
I've spent the week nursing my ankle. I only went to the gym three times, which left me teeming with excess energy. I could definitely see the appeal of not being a gym rat and staying home and doing nothing, but I won't do that.
This week I did a lot of toe raises and exercise bike. I iced a lot too. Any day now the ankle should be better.
I was also in athletic shoes all week.
1) I forgot how comfortable athletic shoes are. Wearing my Asics to the grocery store is awesome. Why aren't all shoes that comfortable?
2) I'm used to living in flip flops in the summer. I have to plan outfits around my shoes. It's hard to pull off shorts and shoes—unless they're athletic shorts of you're going for the American tourist look. It's been a challenge. I've been wearing black pumas to work and trying to pass them off as dress shoes. And when I go out, sometimes wearing athletic shoes can look kind of punk.
I might have to start wearing athletic shoes more.
Hi my name is Sara and I am addicted to gym clothes.
Seriously, I have a problem and need to stop. I love gym clothes. And as such I'd like my gym clothes properly displayed and organized so that I can see exactly what I have and don't make a mess out of them.
I've tried drawers, a basket, shelves. Finally, I took over a spare closet and turned it into my gym clothes closet (it previously held wrinkly clothes needing to be steaming and ironing).
I hang up my tops on clear hangers, by color, so I can easily pick a shirt. I've got tanks, short sleeve and long sleeve shirts all in their own section.
I put a hanging shelf in the closet with sports bras, shorts and capris. My winter leggings are stored elsewhere. It's way too hot for them right now.
This makes it pretty easy to pick out gym clothes in the morning. I find a top, some capri's, a sports bra. Grab shoes and socks and I'm done.
