I am going to digress for a post. I'll say A post, but look out! It might be more! I am writing this because A. I know how helpful it was for me when scrounging the internet looking for details about it, and B. I want to remember this journey! So with that...
I am training to become a Jazzercise instructor!!!! I'm super excited and terrified at the same time. All I know is that so far, I really love it! If you're wondering if YOU TOO CAN BE A JAZZERCISE INSTRUCTOR, you can! You're actually the only person holding you back. :)
I come from Norwegian Lutheran turned other conservative church roots and was not even allowed to dance while growing up. Nope. No prom for this girl and no dance at her wedding either! I am extroverted, but I am pretty shy with new people. And I mess up all the time during class. I also never ever
thought of myself as athletic, although my opinion about myself has changed a lot. As a teenager and in my early twenties, my weight would sporadically go up and down like a yo-yo on a string, and I had to have 2 different sizes in my closet at all times just to be able to find something to wear to school. Right now I'm 30 pounds lighter than I was at my highest weight, and I've maintained this weight for almost 7 years now. That being said, I lost a size after going to Jazzercise without losing weight; it was just because I was toning up! So if I can do it, you can do it!
I've been going to Jazzercise about 5 years. The first year LITERALLY I spent trying to figure out what in the world was going on. My journey to instructorship began a long time ago in my mind. I always wished I could remember routines after I got home! Then my center offered Real Results, and I LOVED it! I loved the physical challenge of working at a higher intensity and actually learning a whole routine like an instructor that I still remembered a year later.
This spring I felt so pulled to go to Movement Screening. I felt this okay-you-could-not-go-but-then-you'll-always-wonder-what-would've-happened-if-you-did. If you are going to instruct, that's where it begins. It was about 1 1/2 hours I think in which the owner at my center asked those of us who attended to do several moves, some to music and some not. She scribbled on a little pad and a couple weeks later, I found out I passed.
Then we got a big fat franchise agreement over email. We had to sign it, wait 17 days (by law), then sign it FOR REAL and pay the money. (By the way, according to my accountant, things that you purchase after you sign your franchise agreement that are specifically for you to be an intructor, like your mic or Jazzercise apparel, can be considered start up costs. Since technically, this is a job after all? What? It just feels fun to me actually. Right now anyway.) This part will vary I'm sure depending on the center where you are, but the owner of my center brings other instructors on board to come to training sessions with us where she is teaching us proper form, intensity, and starting to get us on stage. They are tough on us, but it's good. They correct us a LOT. They give us homework. They make run routines multiple times. All for our benefit. I haven't even gotten my DVDs in the mail yet for the workshop songs, but I have already been working on the choreography because of my awesome trainers! I will be going to workshop in November, and I know if I work hard, I'll be ready! I'll keep ya posted! ;)
7/29 I got my DVD and training materials in the mail! Now to watch and learn!
8/13/14 I worked too hard!! Training has been put on major slowdown because I have tendonitis in my ankle because of overuse! It started with just a little soreness, so I iced for several nights (but I kept working out) and gradually got a little worse. I took a couple days off, went to Jazzercise on a Friday morning and didn't have pain after, so I thought I was cured!, which is when I took my dogs for a hike and walked/ran the trail, went to Jazzercise the next two days without much problem. On Monday night I had the opportunity to do my set for workshop in front of an actual class, and I worked out with highest possible intensity. When I woke up the next day, I could hardly walk! So don't do that! Here are some safety tips I have learned, and it's a hard lesson because it is supposed to be a 4-6 week recovery along with some not very cheap physical therapy :(
1. Get a really good pair of cross training shoes and do NOT lace them too tight. It can irritate your tendons and restrict blood flow!
2. Give yourself 1-2 days per week of rest. That means do NOTHING except maybe a light walk.
3. Gradually increase your workouts instead of doing too much too fast. Increase workouts by 10% per week---not sure how that translates into Jazzerspeak-- but if you currently go to Jazzercise 3x per week, the next week do 4, then the next week do 5, then back regular Jazzercise classes off to accomodate training schedule. If you are training 4 hours per week like we are, plus going to Jazzercise, plus training at home to practice routines, that is ENOUGH!! Listen to your body! ( I also have to walk my dogs and love to hike, so that means backing off even more on regular Jazzercise during the summer months until I build up to doing both!!!!)
4. If you do feel soreness, tightness, or burning in your tendons, rest for 1-2 weeks right away. If you keep working out, you'll end up in my boat, and you don't want to be there. If you keep going, you can permanently damage something.
5. Find a good PT or sports medicine/orthopedic doctor and talk to them about how to increase training without injury.
9/1/14 Entering week 6 of no working out. Right at this moment I have tingling around my inflamed tendon, and it still hurts to walk. I guess I do not have the 4-6 week kind of tendonitis recovery, but the 3-6 month variety? I have been going to training and doing it on the ball, but it is likely I will have to drop out or at the very least switch to being a low impact instructor. At this point, I don't think I am still in good enough shape to even attempt high impact at workshop 2 months from now.
9/12/14 End of week 7. Major improvement over the last week. My PT changed up some of my treatment and is consistently taping my foot. Possibly I will get to do some granny steps at Jazzercise next week. As of now, I am still in training!! My PT said, "What do you have to lose if you just keep going?" Right? Good point. I will have a better attitude now!
10/12/14 End of week 11. One week ago my PT said I could start two-footed hops, which has been going great. My ankle is still popping and has some soreness after working out, but I'm not swelling anymore. My trainer has kept us on a weekly training regimen and gives us homework between every session. We have videotaped every song with her on stage behind us so we can check our moves and our intensity. We are cuing and running whole sets as homework several times a week. Four weeks until audition!!! My ten weeks off definitely took a toll. I am NOT in as good of shape, and it is hard for me to talk while working as intensely as an instructor needs to. I'm hoping that if I keep running my set (but take days off like my PT says!) I will be ready enough for audition and then can keep upping my stamina afterward. I will still be in training after workshop after all. :)
Updates! I kept going with the stretching and PT strengthening exercises and transitioned to one-footed hops (Can't Hold Us---thank you very much.) I felt sick the day of audition and had to force feed myself. I chose the fourth spot out of six, which was actually great. Enough time for my nerves to calm down but to still have some juice left in me. Our trainer gave me "Can't Hold Us" and "Treasure," which of course had been my nemesis (dang sexy walks and arms!) Overall my group rocked it and four of us passed.
7/1/15 I've been an instructor for seven months! Wow time flies. It definitely has gotten so much easier to learn new songs and to feel comfortable on stage. I AM having a minor tendonitis flare up from too many classes, walking dogs, helping the next round of trainees, not stretching my calf as much as I should, and NOT ENOUGH REST! You'd think I'd know better! I am glad I know how to listen to my body better now and rest and stretch, rest and stretch, repeat...
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| But I have to admit, this is also how I feel about my new "form fitting" clothing... Umm, pretty sure even my swimsuit is not this tight! |
