ZUMBA

Zumba is a Latin inspired aerobic exercise style. It's been around for a long time. I actually have a VHS tape from back in the day. It's just recently becoming hot here in the Hoosier state. We always get the "in" things about 5 years later than most areas of the country. A new dance studio opened up on my side of town that offers classes. A few of my friends and Amanda have taken the class and said it is a lot of fun. I figured what the hell. I've done it before so I thought I knew what to expect. This was like no other Zumba class I have ever taken. It was a little Latin, a little Belly Dancing, and Hip Hop all rolled into one.

The instructor had more energy than a hip hop rabbit on crack. The music was loud and fast. Everyone was shoulder to shoulder. 40+ people in a 30' x 20' area. The room was hot and humid. She started quick and before I knew it bodies and bootys were shaking all over the place. I was next to Queen Latifah. She sauntered in a little late, ran into Amanda and then positioned herself at my side. Perfect! I was keeping up pretty well but I had to take a break about half way through. It was either step out for a moment or hurl and pass out in front of everyone. There was probably a 20 degree temperature difference between that room and the lobby. I took a few deep breaths of fresh air and headed back in. At least Queen L kept my spot open. I really wouldn't have wanted to tangle with her. She was a little bossy too. At one point both Amanda and I were going the wrong way and she yells; "left, right, left, right." WHATEVER! As if we were making her look bad. Her pants up her ass crack were already doing that. The class was an hour long. It felt like a week. I couldn't even keep track of the time because at one point the instructor's energetic dancing knocked the clock right off of the wall. I kept looking at it lying there on the floor. It seemed like time stood still. Wait....it did. The battery had fallen out of the clock. Phew! I thought I was in a time warp or something.

Standing next to Queen L and attempting these hip hop moves, I never felt so white. But I showed her. When it came time for the cool down and the stretching, my yoga experience payed off. I was a stellar stretcher! IN YUR FACE HIP HOP QUEEN!

The studio is having a special right now. If you pay for one month, you get one month free. Before class Amanda and I talked about doing that. After class Amanda asked if I was ready to sign up. I told her I'd have to get back to her on that.

Exercise In The Everlgades

I didn't see my exercise buddies for a few days when Lorrie was here. I went back yesterday for the first time in 4 days. I figured they would be so happy to see me! Not so much. I'm not even sure they knew I was missing. Damn, I thought we were bonding. Oh well. I got some exercise other ways while Lorrie was here. We Kayaked and rode bikes. Our kayak trip was not so much fun. It was very windy, plus we were going into the wind and against the tide. 1 1/2 - 2' waves. We had to keep paddling or we would blow away. We made it across the bay where I decided I would attach myself to a mangrove so I could stay in one place. The waves and the wind kept banging me against the mangroves. There's Lorrie and Joe trying to fish as the wind blows them into each other. I decided I'm going back before I capsize. It took forever to get back. There were times when we paddled that we didn't even go anywhere. We let Lorrie use Joe's kayak with the nice paddle. Joe and I used rentals with shitty paddles. That's why she got back so much sooner than we did. If that would have been the kayak race, I would have lost big time. The bike ride wasn't much better. It was still windy. I led the way going into Everglade City. I thought I was going at a pretty good pace. On the way back, Lorrie led the way. We stayed together for about a block and then she kept getting farther and farther ahead of me. Finally when she was out of sight I gave up. The wind has been really bad this year. I guess it's a trade off since it is warm. All the locals are saying that this is the coldest and windiest winter in a long time. Oh well you can't have everything.

Another Day In Paradise

Another day in Paradise has come to an end. Senior aerobics and yoga. I had to laugh during aerobics. I was at the back of the room and looking out over the crowd of around 15 people it reminded me of the chickens. There were a few groups of two or three talking and laughing and jumping around. Every group was cackling louder than the next and you could barely hear the DVD. It really didn't matter though because the DVD had only about 4 different steps throughout the whole thing. The women talking were jumping around, but not with the DVD. They were doing their own thing. Then there were the loners chickens intently concentrating on their mission at hand. It was quite amusing. I am not knocking their determination though. I hope when I'm 70 I'm still able to workout.

Joe and I just got back from happy hour. Happy hour consisted of: me, Joe, two chairs and two glasses of wine on the beach in the bay. Doesn't get any better than that. We're gearing up for our Anniversary tomorrow. I will leave you with another "What Doesn't Belong" photo. Try to find the object without enlarging the photo. That would be cheating.

Sweating With the Oldies

So....the ladies of the RV park across the street from our condo have organized an exercise group for everyday of the week except Sunday. They have yoga and aerobics. I was so excited when I found out. Now I have no excuse not to keep up on my workouts. That's the upside. The downside is that it's starts at 8:00 am. Not a huge fan of morning workouts. The other downside is that the average age of the residence of the RV park is probably 70, so the aerobic DVD that we followed today was: Richard Simmons and the Silver Foxes. Need I say more? Actually it wasn't that bad, I just used hand weights and pumped up the intensity a little bit and I was sweating in no time. The yoga video we did on Friday was really pretty intense. I was afraid I would have to untwist some of the ladies if they actually did the poses. It's kind of a mental boost to be in a group of people where I'm the youngest of the bunch. All of the ladies (and one guy) welcomed me into their group. They are all very nice, except they kept trying to talk to me while we were working out. I found out that I can't move my legs, arms and mouth at the same time without messing up. Who knew?

Tomorrow we're doing the "Geezer Glide" and the "Geriatric Jump". Then their is the "Senior Salsa" and the "Old Fart Flamingo". Not really, I made those up. Maybe I'm on to something. I could make my own line of workout DVD's.....hmmmmmm!

Arthur Itis

I went to an ortho doctor the other day to have him look at my shoulders. Both of them are sore, mostly the right one. I wanted to make sure that my own diagnosis of tendinitis was correct, and that I wasn't going to injure myself further by doing Yoga. Yoga by the way is awesome! I believe it to be the best exercise that you can do for your body. My ortho doc agrees. I have done it on and off for years. Why I ever stop is a mystery to me, because it makes me feel wonderful! I digress. So the doc says yes I have tendinitis, but I can continue with Yoga. Yah! Then he says in an "oh by the way" tone, you have some arthritis in your AC joint. (Joint between the scapula and clavicle.) WHAT!!! I didn't have to know that, I'm not having pain there. Was that his way of saying; "your getting f-ing old!" AHHHHHHHH! My first arthritis diagnosis. I blame Dave Hart. My boyfriend from 1975-1977. He was a weight lifter, so I lifted weights too. That set me up for my current shoulder problems. Damn you Dave Hart.