AM Zumba Leads to a Sunny Saturday

This morning LC and I headed to a Zumba class bright and early (ok, at 10am, but since it’s Saturday, that’s fairly bright and early to leave the house, right?).  It was the first time LC and I went to the gym together, and what a great time we had.  For so long LC would say that she preferred to workout outside riding her bike or taking a walk, and really hated the gym, but lately she’s been more pro-gym, which is great news for me.  But more about that in a while.

Back to Zumba.  You’ll recall that when I first tried Zumba, I loved it, and left the class sweaty, invigorated, and just plain happy despite the fact that I felt like I was taking a different class from everyone else.  Well, the same held true today.  I got many of the moves down, but there were still many others that I had no idea how to do.  Or let me rephrase that to say that I can’t get my feet/body to go that fast or in those positions at my current weight. But it didn’t matter one bit.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself, found myself laughing and smiling throughout the class, and realized that only a few other students were really doing all the right moves; the rest of the class was pretty much doing a similar approximation of moves that I was.  And really, the fact that I burned over 1000 calories in 60 minutes was amazing. I kept looking over to LC and she was having as much fun as I was, and I told her I’d like to try to make the class part of our normal Saturday morning routine.

Which leads me to the best news of the day!  LC joined my gym!!  24HourFitness was having a special that I could add her on to my account for no initiation fee and only $24 a month.  The best part is, she pays for it herself and she can cancel whenever she wants and it won’t affect my account at all.  So she gets the benefit of my long membership by getting a great deal and I get to go to the gym with my sis!  Win win!!  The offer a Kids Club for $4/child for 2 hours, which is a great price, but it’s not something LC could afford more than once a week or so.  So, her main plan is to use the gym during the day on her lunch hour (she spotted a 10:30am pilates class at the location in the city in which she works) on weekdays and then go with me on the weekends at least once.  And on the weekends when she doesn’t have the kids, I think she’ll go both Saturday and Sunday.  She said that once in a while she could see us going to an evening weekday class, but since it would involve her getting a babysitter to feed the kids and put them to bed, she doesn’t think that will happen too often.

But either way, just knowing that LC has the gym membership too will hopefully inspire me to use mine more often. I mean if she can use it and she’s a busy single mother, surely I can use it, since I don’t have too many restrictions on my schedule.  Actually, as I thought about all the coordinating it would take just for LC to be able to use the gym, and yet she was willing to make it happen, it really inspired me.  I mean, I really don’t have to worry about much except whether or not I’ve left a light on for Lulu.  I use feeling tired after work as an excuse too often, and I’m going to stop doing that.  I have nothing to complain about, especially when I compare my life to my sister’s.

On that note, you guys know that my parents and I have been watching my nieces after school until LC gets home at 5:45 or so.  And it has been quite an adjustment period, let me tell you.  Not that my nieces aren’t good girls, because they are, but they’re also 8 and 3 1/2, strong-willed, going through a huge life adjustment, which adds up to a lot of time and attention.  It was getting a bit overwhelming until my parents and I finally came up with a “coverage” plan that works really well.  I will babysit every Tuesday from 4pm-5:45/when LC gets home and every other Friday from 3:30-when LC gets home.  It’s a great deal.  Most afternoons if I’m home in time, we all (mom, dad, nieces, two dogs, & me) go on a long walk to let everyone burn off some extra energy/stress/enjoy the afternoon.

So on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays  there is absolutely no reason why I can’t go to a class at the gym.  And today I was inspired to make it happen starting today and throughout the foreseeable future.  Because when we left the gym (with the top down on my Beetle, of course), I felt so good.  So happy.  So fresh.  So inspired.  So healthy.  And just so alive.  And I loved that feeling.  And that’s the feeling I always have as I leave the gym.  We felt so good that we took the dogs on a 45-minute walk.  I came home feeling so energetic, rather than worn out.

And after I finish writing this blog post I’m going to burn some more calories by cleaning the house.  And I plan to go to the belly dancing class tomorrow.  And also to try out the Wii Zumba, so that I can write a comparison review (comparing it to a real Zumba class), since it’s all fresh in my mind.  Which goes to show that a little activity leads to more activity which leads to a happier, healthier lifestyle.

Also known as – Bella Does Life.

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