Holy Crap ! I've become my Great Aunt!

(this is not my Jazzercise class but it's close enough to be it's twin sister or a cousin who looks really similar)

Yesterday I joined Jazzercise. Before going into the center the only thing I knew about Jazzercise was that my great aunt used to do it when I was a little girl (scary leotard and all). However, living in a smaller town gives me limited options. We have the overgrown Fitness Club that is all over AK and has put most of the smaller gyms out of business, a Curves, and a Jazzercise center. I refuse to patronize the big fitness club. I've seen too many great, small, family-run gyms pushed out of business because of them. I went to the Curves and was pretty interested until they sprang a $200 joining fee on me and then explained that most of the benefits they'd told me about (working out at other locations, putting membership on hold while injured, transferring if you move, etc) only applied if I signed a 1 year contract. I was a little miffed that they waited until the very end of a 1 hour spiel to tell me about the membership fee and 1 year contract but I probably still would have considered joining if the Curves employee hadn't been so pushy in trying to get me to sign up right then and there. I understand that businesses have quotas for their employees and that the employees are put under a lot of pressure to fill them but I also understand that they make most of their money off people who are no longer coming to the gym but still trapped in a 1 year contract. I have a personal policy that once pressure to buy is applied (on a car, appliance, gym membership, etc) I leave and decide whether I want to buy that item at home away from the pressure. So I walked out of the Curves after thanking the employee for her time and letting her know I would contact her if I decided to join the gym. In the end I decided that I was not ready to make a year long financial commitment. So that left me contemplating how my size 18 body would look in a leotard :) I did some research online and discovered Jazzercise has updated their program from the one I was envisioning. Their music play list includes ones I hear on the radio on a regular basis and no one on the website was in a leotard (Thank the Divine). The website was very upfront about their fees and how the classes were structured. So I threw on some gym clothes and went to a class last night.


I had a blast. It kicked my ass and I was sweating like a pig but it was really fun. When I got there and explained I'd never been before, I was invited to participate in the class for free so I could decide if it was something I wanted to do. The moves were fairly easy to follow. It actually reminded me a little of Tribal Belly Dance with a leader and followers and a fairly set structure of moves. You could tell some people were experienced and would start the next move almost before the teacher and there were others, like me, who were a little behind but still following along. I'm also really excited that Jazzercise is going to build my Cardiovascular endurance which has always been my weakest area. And as an extra bonus, it's helping build the same muscles I need to Belly Dance well.