zumba, etc

I went in an hour early again. I was able to get on one of the ellipticals with a built in TV, so I watched "What Not to Wear" while I worked out. It made it go much faster. I did that for 45 minutes and then went to zumba.

I like the instructor on Tuesdays...not as much as the one on Wednesdays/Monday AM (which, btw, I did not go to...I know, I know, but I stayed up too late the night before and I would have only had about 5 hours of sleep if I went), but enough. It was not to the point where I walked out halfway through. In fact, she extended the class 15 extra minutes because none of us (the 3 people who showed up for class) wanted to leave. My foot was starting to bother me, but I pushed through it. It was fun. At one point, they were about to do a routine that the two people knew and the instructor was about to go over some of the key moves of the routine. I told her, "really, you don't have to. I'll pick it up as we do it." She looked at me strangely and said, "Ooook." Well, I did. Zumba is not that intense that I can't pick it up within a couple eight counts.

Ok, onto the rant part of the post. I will put it behind the cut for those who do not wish to hear it. It's kind of long.


I saw a sign that had several promises the gym was making in terms of their lifeguards. Some of the promises:
*We will continuously scan the water to be able to recognize a swimmer in distress within 10 seconds and be able to respond within another 10 seconds.
*We will either be seated in an elevated chair or walking along the side of the pool to be able to see all parts of the pool.
*We will always have a rescue tube, mask and gloves for emergency situations.
*We will have regular trainings on our skills to keep them current and practiced.
*We are dedicated to safety, and for this reason please understand why we can not talk with you.

(I'm paraphrasing a bit, because I don't remember the exact wording. The paraphrasing, however, does not change the meaning of what was said.)

When I read the sign, I was very impressed. These are many of the values and standards, almost verbatim, that my lifeguard training had. Then I watched the lifeguard. And I got angry. The lifeguard was NOT continuously scanning the water. In fact, when I first started watching, she was helping the aqua aerobic instructor move lane lines out of the pool. Granted, she did have her rescue tube, mask and gloves (I will give her the benefit of the doubt that the mask and gloves were in her pack) while she was moving the lane lines, but she was not scanning. She was NOT seated in the chair NOR walking along the side of the pool. She was leaned up against the platform of the chair, and she WAS talking with one of the ladies from the class. Again, NOT scanning, fixating on the lady she was talking to. I don't know if they actually do hold the regular trainings or not, but my guess would be no. See as most of the other "promises" were not being kept, I wouldn't expect them to keep that one as well.

When I was working for the parks dept., our lifeguard training company required 4 hours of inservice per month. The parks dept. made us do 8.

The lifeguard company would come once per summer to do an audit. The audit would consist of a secret videotaping of a guard in the chair (or walking along the edge of the pool...which we actually DID) to make sure they were ACTUALLY continuously scanning the water. They also timed our scans. You had to look under your feet every 10 seconds. That started and ended your scan of your area. Then, after the videotaping, they would come into the facility and do a scenario. Sometimes it would be an "active" scenario (You always prayed for those. It was your basic stereotypical drowning person.) and sometimes it would be an "unconscious" or "spinal" scenario, which required backboards, extra lifeguards and possibly special precautions. They videotaped that as well. The parks dept. had people on staff who would go around and do this internally. You got one every month or possibly more often depending on how well (or not) you did on the previous one.

We also did Vigilance Awareness Tests where we put baby dolls on the bottom of the pool to make sure that the lifeguards were scanning correctly and could see/find it within the 10 seconds required.

So, you can see why I get more than a little peeved when I see lifeguards who are not doing so or promises that are not being kept.

news of all varieties

So, Triumph went pretty well. My feet didn't stage a rebellion and crap out on me, which is good.

I had every intention of going to zumba last week. But, you know what the road to hell is paved with. It was kind of a crazy week with a lot of commitments and late nights. I missed it Monday and was mad at myself. I thought about going to the one on Tuesday, but didn't because I wanted to go to the one on Wednesday instead, with the instructor I liked. I forgot that I had a training on Wednesday that overlapped with the zumba class completely. Damn. So, did not exercise last week. :(

I have been trying to watch my portion sizes. It is going ok most of the time. There are instances where I forget or...well...don't forget.

This past weekend I went to a party on Friday, a wedding on Saturday and helped a friend move on Sunday. Somewhere in all that craziness I lost three pounds!!! I was getting dressed this morning and realized that my skirt was noticeably loose. I got on the scale and sure enough I was down 3 lbs. Yay!

I was so happy about it that I decided to go to the gym an hour before zumba started and do extra exercising on the machines. I'm glad that I did because zumba S.U.C.K.E.D. It wasn't even because of my feet, either. It was not the same instructor from last time. I think she may have been a sub. The instructor tonight was not very good, the sound was terrible -it sounded like a bad dubbing or the speakers had been blown, it was the same four moves the entire routine (and sometimes used over again in another routine), and it was all-around not a challenge, which bugged me. I barely broke a sweat and it was continually frustrating. I left after a half hour, because if I had stayed, I would have just gotten more and more irritated.

The only point of interest from this class was there was a song she was using for a routine and I thought that the beat had strong "the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire" undertones to it. I actually started singing it to myself as we danced, which I thought was kind of funny. Then, I realized the words were very similar. I haven't been able to find the song on the internet, so I don't know what song it was, but I think it went "the club, the club, the club is on fire." I don't think they dropped the MF bomb, because once I realized it was actually similar, I listened for it.

I did a little research and found out that the one who was there last time teaches at another gym on Mondays from 6-7 AY. EM. Sigh. It's doable, but I don't know if it's worth it. We'll find out next Monday when it comes time for me to drag my ass out of bed to get there on time. She also alternates Wednesdays with the one who was there today at the gym I usually go to. Grr. I might make the hike down to one that my friend goes to, so that at least I will have a companion.

oh, feets! don't fail me nows!

my foot is KILLING ME. i can't find my body warmer i usually use when it gets this bad, so i'm contemplating making a run to a 24 hour pharmacy. i made it all the way through zumba, unless you count the 3 minute or so break i took in between songs to sit down. i would have sat out for the next song, but i had done the song before and i LOVE it. i couldn't keep sitting, even if it meant cringing through the dance.

i don't think i'm going to make zumba tomorrow. i might swim some day this week, though i don't know with my wart thingy. we'll see.

oh! p.s. i weighed myself yesterday and down another 1/2 lb!

one more thing! p.p.s. the zumba instructor today paid me a compliment on my "snakes." she said that she was having so much fun watching me "snake" because i was so good at it she almost messed up leading the class! yay me!

Bachelorette

I went out for a Bachelorette party this past weekend. It was fun. We danced a lot. Yay, dancing! I am going to try very hard to zumba today and also tomorrow, since I now remember that it is on Tuesdays and not Thursdays. We'll see how long I last at zumba tonight. :(