Class # 28 Yoga Wednesday Noon (Jeanie)

I’m indulging in yoga for a second time this week, which I know is a little greedy but the class time happens to fit my schedule and, as usual, I can use the restoration that yoga brings. Besides, I’ve been looking forward to taking a class from Jeanie Pierson. She’s a relatively new teacher for us but someone I’ve known for a long time as I’ll explain below.

Jeanie came to yoga somewhat late in life but fell in love with it completely. She entered the yoga world already wise and loving but found a new context for her wisdom and new ways of expressing what she finds essential about life. Her teaching is filled with lessons about life’s wonder and blessings.

For instance today with the first glint of spring in the air, the lesson is about “cleaning house”. She encourages us to look at what’s no longer serving us internally and to clear it out thereby making room for what we are passionate about and what serves others.

Jeanie is also passionate about gardening and brings us a metaphorical quote (not her own, she tells us) about the potential transformation that lies within us all. “And finally the day will come when the risk it takes to stay tight in the bud will be more painful than the risk it takes to blossom”. Nice.

In the posture practice she guides us step by step through the sun salutation as a warm up before putting it all together in a flow. From there we practice Warrior I, II and III, triangle, side angle, tree, half-moon, cobra, plank, side plank and more. The postures are arranged in seamless flow that makes them meditative in practice, sometimes challenging, sometimes relaxing. It’s a nice class and I’m glad I came.

I met Jeannie years ago after becoming friends with one of her sons, Jedd. He came out to play volleyball on the beach court one day when he was about 16. The rest of us were in our 30’s at the time but we saw his athleticism and potential and welcomed him into the fold. Sure enough, Jedd would develop into a very salty player. Eventually, he and I played many tournaments together and through the years I grew to adore Jedd and his whole huge family. (Jedd at right, below).

Along with Jedd, Jeanie and her husband Richard have six other grown children, most of them having worked at the LRAC at one time or another and every one of them a great employee for us. The Piersons also have 17 grandkids so it’s just a matter of time until we can cease forever the need to run “help wanted” ads.

Jeanie is certified through YogaFit in Hatha Yoga and has earned her RYT (Registered Yoga Teacher) and ERYT (Experienced RYT) designation along with certifications in Prenatal/Postpartum, Restorative, Senior and Kids yoga and she’s just getting warmed up. She teaches at the LRAC, NLRAC and in her home studio known as Yoga Garage. I’ll be back to see her several times before the ‘quest’ is over, which is lucky for me.

The $25 gift certificate winner in this class was Karen Ritchey.

Okay folks, I’m actually off on a short vacation from tomorrow through Sunday. I’ll grab a little R & R and be back at it on Monday. Perhaps I’ll send a check-in blog from the road.

Class # 27 Cycling Wednesday 5:40 a.m. (Mike S.)

As predicted I’m a little sore today, especially my triceps, which are really barking at me. This state of body is courtesy of my old nemesis Kris Mougeot and her grueling Power Pump class yesterday morning. Of course, after lifting weights for an hour - something I never, ever do - I could rightfully be accused of dogging it if I wasn’t sore at all. Well, I tried my best to dog it. It’s hard though with K.M. boring a hole through my soul with a look that says “come on you weenie, LIFT”.

Nonetheless, I dragged my aching carcass out of bed this morning at 5 a.m. to go sample Mike Seay’s cycle class. I’ve heard lots of great things about his class so I’m curious to see it firsthand.

There are maybe eight bike classes a week that fill up on a regular basis and Mike’s is one of them. For that reason, I’ve held off going to those classes until improving weather knocks down attendance a bit. I have “insider” information though that yesterday we added four new bikes to the room making it safe for me to come this morning.

The class starts at 5:40 and I enter the room as the clock ticks over to 5:39. The room is indeed mostly filled and Mike is already announcing a countdown – “keep warming up”, he says “one minute till we get started”. Yikes, what time did these guys get here?

Mike is a very enthusiastic class leader - bursting with kinetic energy. He’s one of these folks, no doubt, who wakes up raring to go and having fun, a perfect profile for a pre-sunrise group ex instructor.

Have I mentioned that I’m not an early morning person? Well, I’m not. I’d like to be, well, at least this morning it would be nice.

Twenty minutes into class, I’m riding hard but still trying to coax my body out of its stupor. Bodies are like the military, they like routine and mine knows that it’s usually asleep at this hour. “Dude, what are you doing to me?” it says. Shut up and ride you big complainer.

Meanwhile Mike is happily urging us all to “push a little harder”. The routine alternates between long steady rides where the tempo is fast, 100 rpm’s or higher and standing climbs, which are also up-tempo, say 80 rpms. My biking sweet spot on the other hand is more like 68 rpms using a big gear – “mashing” I think Carla calls it. I like sprinting in bursts but sustaining high turnover for a long time is something that’s hard for me.

This is one of those rare classes where there are more men than women, in fact, today the ratio is two to one. I can also tell that most of these folks are regulars and they are used to riding together. This ‘family’ aspect of group exercise is one of its best selling points. People really do start to learn and care about those that they exercise with frequently. When someone is absent a few times, folks want to know where they are.

For some reason, the studio clock is on the blink this morning so Mike keeps letting us know how much longer we have to go. Thirty minutes into class and finally I’m starting to get going and feeling good. The body at last gives up its insistence that we crawl back in bed and begins to cooperate.

Mike keeps us pumping right until the end. The studio clock is dead, his microphone is malfunctioning but nothing deters him from smiling and urging us on - neither rain nor snow nor dark of morning etc. etc.

As class ends, I’m tired and sweaty but overall feel surprisingly good. I realize it’s this feeling that these guys (and girls) come for every morning. Walking to my car to go grab breakfast and it’s not yet 7 a.m. but I’ve already done something challenging, which makes me feel alive and somehow ahead of the game.

Mike Seay this morning’s instructor is a computer and processing engineer for Blue Cross Blue Shield in his working life. For fun and exercise he is an avid cyclist and has competed in numerous 100-mile races including two in Death Valley CA. (Sounds fun.)

In the winter, Mike found himself regularly training indoors at the Club and decided he enjoyed it so much that he wanted to teach. He got certified and started teaching at the LRAC/LRRC more than five years ago. He calls his time teaching “the highlight of my week”. His energy and enthusiasm is infectious and explains why it’s hard to find an available bike in his classes. But now that we’ve got four new bikes, there’s room for a few more.

The winner of this morning’s $25 gift certificate is Tony Fox.

I’m off next to Jeanie’s noon yoga class……ahhhhhh

Class # 26 Yoga Stretch Tuesday 11 a.m. (Beverly)

Yoga S--t---r----e-----t-----c------h umm umm good. I needed this and it was a perfect complement to the Power Pump class that I attended earlier this morning.

This class, created by Beverly Lindberg is one of the most relaxing options on our group exercise schedule. It focuses on what is known as restorative yoga – using postures that promote rejuvenation and flexibility. Based on today’s attendance it’s also quite popular.

Beverly has a very soothing voice and presence so everything about the class is geared toward slowing down. That said, there were also some challenging techniques included in the sequence such as: downward dog, low lunge, twisting high lunge, warrior one and two, dolphin, triangle and plank among others but we didn’t hold anything so long that it ever became overly strenuous.

We also did some partner yoga, which is always fun and can help to gently increase flexibility. But the general direction of the class was toward relaxation. For the final twenty minutes we did a long restorative chest opener on a bolster and then finished with a beautifully guided relaxation during shavasana. (I find myself relaxing just writing about this).

Beverly has been teaching at the LRAC since 1993 and is very well trained in all areas of fitness, wellness and nutrition. In fact she owns a business called Wellness & Fitness by Beverly, Inc. She is a Certified Lifestyle Counselor and has a Ph.D. in nutrition. If all that isn’t enough, she’s also certified by the Cooper Institute in Dallas as an Advanced Physical Fitness Specialist.

Where yoga is concerned, Beverly has completed two teacher-training programs with YogaFit and has also had advanced training in Vinyasa Yoga. The girl is well qualified and prepared to teach.

Along with Yoga Stretch, Beverly also teaches Aerobics, Senior Weights and a Zumba class for a total of six per week. That means I’ll be seeing her five more times, which is just fine with me.

There were around twenty in class today, mostly women but also a few guys. The $25 gift certificate winner is Elizabeth Varughese.

I’m planning to make an early morning bike class tomorrow – talk to you then.

Class # 25 Power Pump Tuesday 5:45 a.m. (Kris)

I’ll admit right up front that this was one of the classes I was nervous about taking. Weightlifting is not something I gravitate toward, which won’t come as a big surprise to those who have noted my wiry (that’s the most generous adjective I can think of) frame. And this class, i.e. Power Pump, is nothing but the lifting of weights – over and over (and over) again.

Power Pump has been on our schedule for the past six or seven years but I’ve managed to avoid ever taking a class before today. Making my first class a Kris Mougeot production, at 5:45 a.m. no less, is probably not the smartest strategy but intelligence is overrated on “the quest”.

To set up for the class, one needs a weight bar, several denominations of plate weights, a weight clip (to keep the plates from falling off the bar) and a mat (see photo of a typical class, though not at LRAC, below). Like many of the group ex classes, participants can self-regulate degree of difficulty by choosing a particular weight amount, bench height, gear level (in cycling), etc. Since this was my first dance at this rodeo it was no time to be brave or proud, I chose some fairly light weights.

After a brief warm-up – using the weights of course – we take an exhaustive tour of the main muscles of the body. We begin with squats, working on the glutes, quadriceps and hamstrings, wearing out the biggest muscles first. Have I mentioned that we do lots and lots of reps? We do. Somewhere in class I considered counting the number of reps per muscle group but thought better of it – did I really want to know that number?

Between sets, Kris cues us for the next muscle by saying, for example “prepare for triceps”. That’s the signal to adjust one’s weight amount for that particular muscle. At the first of these changeovers I had a slight panic when I was too weak (or dumb) to get the ding-dong weight clip off. Oh the shame of it all – but then I figure it out and I’m back with the program.

Because of the large number of repetitions, it’s hard to underestimate the lightness of weights required to wear out a singular muscle. That said I did a pretty good job of keeping my sights set low enough to get through everything. Nonetheless, there were a few moments where it was touch and go.

One thing I’ve noticed with classes in which I’ve been a regular participant is a growing familiarity with my ‘edge’, which allows me to work harder without fear of overdoing it. By edge I mean the point at which the level of work is most efficiently increasing my fitness without causing excessive strain on my body. With a new class or routine what is ‘enough’ and what is ‘too much’ isn’t known. My advice for newcomers to a class or to exercise in general is to ease into things by gently approaching your edge until you become more comfortable with that particular class or routine. The key to exercise is to become a regular practitioner allowing the body to gradually increase its capacity. If we push it too hard, too soon, we risk having a negative experience that may discourage us from continuing.

As I write, some three hours after class, I can feel the afterglow of work in my triceps and shoulders. That’s an indication that I’ll be a little bit sore tomorrow. If I judged my weights correctly the soreness won’t be extreme just a gentle reminder that the edge was approached.

This marks my third Kris Mougeot class in as many weeks. Since she teaches daily M-F at 5:45 a.m. she has a loyal and long time retinue of followers. Because they exercise together frequently the Mougeotians have become friends and developed a group identity. They even do things together outside the Club. For instance, this weekend, for the 8^th year in a row, this group will ‘man’ a water stop for the Little Rock marathon. It’s an early mile marker stop (3^rd one on the course) so they will gather early at 6 a.m. and be finished by 9 a.m. before heading to breakfast. Currently the group has around 12 but they’d like to recruit a few more. If you’d like to volunteer or want more info contact Kris at kmougeot@yahoo.com or call her at 425-2860. The LRAC water stop is located in downtown LR at Ferry Street between 3^rd and 4^th streets. (All LR marathon volunteers must register at www.littlerockmarathon.com/Information/Volunteer Registrataion.cfm).

I mentioned last time I wrote about Kris that she likes to ride horses in her spare time. For proof she sent me a photo of her leading an equine cardio sculpt class.

Final word on Power Pump: If you’re looking for a challenging high repetition weight workout, in a fun group setting – this is the way to do it. I give it two weights (light ones of course) up!

The $25 gift certificate in this morning’s class goes to Sarah Wesseman.

Now that I’ve shortened my muscles by lifting weights this morning, I plan to lengthen them out some in Beverly’s 11 a.m. Yoga Stretch class…I’ll check back in after that.

Class #24 On The Ball Monday 10:00 a.m. (Heather)

This class is truly unique. In fact, it’s so unique that it’s only offered on our schedule one time per week but it’s special in other ways too. As far as I can tell, Heather Isbell, the instructor created this class out of thin air.

It’s a cool class - I really liked it a lot. As the name suggests, there is indeed a ball involved with everything we did. Unfortunately for me, it wasn’t a ball that’s intended to be dribbled, volleyed, kicked or spiked but a Swiss Ball, which is sort of like a big ‘ol beach ball except much heavier and sturdier and all one color.

On The Ball is an interesting combination of Yoga and Pilates that uses the stability ball to add an extra degree of difficulty. We did yoga techniques such as high lunge, warrior three, plow and bridge in fun and challenging new ways all with the ball. There were also Pilates techniques like teaser, jackknife, roll up and neck pull along with a series of grueling side leg lifts that totally wore out whatever tiny muscle exists to lift my leg out to the side.

I would guess that it’s helpful to have a working knowledge of Pilates and Yoga to do this class but it isn’t absolutely necessary. Heather demonstrates and describes everything she’s asking the class to do and also gives options for different skill levels from beginners thru advanced practitioners. If you haven’t ever done Pilates or Yoga then you may be safest sticking with the easiest version of each exercise because even those weren’t “easy”.

Heather uses wonderful music in the class, much of it new to me. For instance there was a beautiful version of Knights in White Satin performed by an Italian tenor. There was also an acoustical treatment of Stairway to Heaven that I really liked. Heather knows a lot about music as you will see below.

Heather Isbell has been teaching at the LRAC since 1994 when she moved here from California. Heather has taught a lot of different classes at the Club and pretty much anything she teaches is heavily attended. She has always had a dedicated following of members and after taking a few of her classes it’s easy to see why.

Currently Heather teaches four classes a week, which is amazing because away from here she’s a busy little bee. She and her husband Robert own and operate Izzy’s Restaurant, which happens to be one of my favorite places to eat and is located just a few miles west of the Club off of Highway 10. Along with the great food at Izzy’s is an amazing selection of Chinese tea that Heather imports after doing LOTS of on-site research in China. Check it out

Outside of the Club and Izzy’s Heather’s main passion is music. She is the volunteer director of the Youth Rock Orchestra, which is based out of Mills University Study High School. This is a huge undertaking with an orchestra of 65 kids who play ‘blow your socks off’ rock music with traditional, though electrified instruments. I’ve heard these guys in concert on several occasions and they are fantastic.

Speaking of concerts, the rock orchestra will be performing at Robinson Auditorium on April 15^th along with Mark Woods, former String Master of the Trans Siberian Orchestra. You can bet that Heather will be on stage too, appearing in her persona as “Cobra” the Electric Cellist (worth the price of admission). For more info and tickets go to www.youthrockorchestra.com. I guarantee you I’ll be there that evening.

Today’s gift certificate winner is Liz Longworth.

Okay folks that’s 24 classes down and only 86 more to go….but who’s counting.

Class #23 Cycling Monday 8:45 a.m. (Cary)

I’m getting the workweek off to a great start by sitting in on Cary’s 8:45 a.m. cycling class. I come into class feeling energetic and ready to work hard. Perhaps I feel fresh because I’ve recovered some over the weekend by only doing one class a day.

There’s another psychological factor that’s making me feel stronger too. I’m on one of the “magic” bikes (that’s the nickname that cycling class participants and teachers call them). Actually, it’s only semi-magical but it’s enough to make me feel like I’m doing more than I really am. Let me explain.

We use Keiser bikes in our Group Cycling classes and they’ve been fantastic – much better than the three previous versions we’ve had. Instead of a mechanical brake where the wheel is squeezed to create tension and increase workload, these bikes use a magnetic brake. The use of a magnetic brake creates much less wear and tear on the bikes and therefore far fewer mechanical issues.

Anyway, by changing a gear lever on the bike the magnetism is increased simulating riding into wind or up a hill. The gear level corresponds to a read out showing “watts” which is a matter of workforce and one way we measure how hard we’re working. The problem is that on a few select (magic) bikes, the gearing is slightly off so it “appears” that one is working harder than usual. For instance, my normal basement level gear (i.e. the place where my workload is about 50% of capacity at 90 rpms) is 6 but on the “magic” bike it’s 8. Every other gear level is correspondingly higher so I’m pushing more watts (but not really) and burning more calories (but not really) than I do in a normal class. The odd thing is that I know that none of this perceived extra work is true but still it makes me “feel” like an animal.

The most reliable way to ascertain how hard one is working is by using a heart rate monitor. I’m wearing my monitor today and my average heart rate for the 50-minute class is 128. Since that includes warm up and cool down, my average work heart rate is probably in the 130’s, which is around 80% of my supposed maximum heart rate (i.e. 220-age – 54 in my case). That’s about average for me so I know I’ve worked fairly hard but no harder than usual.

This morning’s teacher is Cary Andrews. I’ve taken classes with Cary several times previously when she’s subbed for Carla’s noon class. She gives a good hard workout with a nice mixture of climbs, sprints and pyramids. She has us do more “hovering” than I’m used to, where the hips are pushed back over the seat while doing a standing climb - this isolates the hamstrings and I’ll probably feel it tomorrow.

Cary uses an interesting mix of music ranging from progressive country to hip-hop. I don’t recognize much of the music but that’s nothing new since my sweet spot is more like James Taylor, Jackson Browne and Van Morrison – not really bike class material. (See Cary's play list printed at the bottom of this post.)

Cary attended the University of Utah where she majored in Exercise and Sport Science. She has been teaching at the Club for several years and loves it. She’s also passionate about adventure racing – events like Raid the Rock. She’s completed several marathons, along with numerous 5 and 10K races.

Outside of the sports world Cary is a licensed cosmetologist and has worked in that field for 17 years. Her favorite hobby, she says, is riding her horse Rambo. Her ideal race would be something like Raid the Rock with a little barrel racing thrown in so Rambo could shine.

There were 15 in the peleton this morning with a nice mixture of boys and girls. The $25 gift certificate goes to Scarlett Moore.

I’m immediately off to Heather Isbell’s 10 a.m. On The Ball class, report back in soon.

Cary's play list for today's class follows:

Barefoot and Crazy- Jack Ingram

Beautiful – Akon

Young and Wild- Eric Church

Bob that Head- Rascal Flatts

Mesmerized-Faith Evans( Freemasons Remix)

Tik Tok- Kesha ( Fred Falke remix Club)

Money Honey- Lady Gaga

Sweet Child O’ mine- Guns and Roses

Gimme More- Power Music Workout Remix

Steamy Windows- Tina Turner

Guajira (I Love U 2 much)- Yerba Buena

Click Click Click- New Kids On The Block

Say Goodbye-Chris Brown

Class #22 Zumba Sunday 1:00 p.m. (Karen)

It had to happen sooner or later so I chose what I thought would be a slow day and time to begin my Zumba career. Sunday at 1 pm seemed to fit the bill. I was sort of right although there were still 15 or so women jamming in class.

For dedicated blog readers you already know that this is actually my second Zumba class. The first one though was only 30 minutes long in a class intended for kids only. That class was something of a trial run for me, a trip down the bunny slope of Zumba Mountain. While it was a logical tactic, it didn’t exactly build my confidence to head for any black diamond runs.

For those who don’t know, Zumba is a fitness class in the guise of Latin dancing. A fellow named “Beto” Perez from Cali, Colombia created it in the mid ‘90’s. It seems that Beto was a traditional aerobics teacher who got to class one day without any music. In a panic he rummaged through his backpack finding some tapes with traditional salsa and merengue music that he had grown up listening to. For class he spent the hour improvising moves to this fast paced, rhythmic music. Next thing you know, a new style of fitness class was born.

Like most ‘overnight’ sensations it took a few years to start spreading in a serious way. In fact, more than 15 years would pass before Beto’s creation would travel all the way from Cali to Little Rock. But it’s definitely here now.

Including Zumba for Kids we offer nine Zumba classes per week at the Club. As you might imagine, all of the Zumba instructors are beautiful dancers. But, take it from me, that doesn’t mean one needs to be a good dancer to attend a class.

Today’s instructor was Karen Tonti. Since Karen teaches Kid’s Zumba too, I was seeing her for the second time. And, since she did a few of the same songs with the same steps (e.g. cho-ko-latte) I had that going for me and I’d like to tell you that it helped but….

Karen moves beautifully and leads a fun, high energy class. I gathered that the other participants were regulars, as they seemed to know the moves pretty well from the get-go. Or maybe women just figure this stuff out a lot faster than guys. Or both.

As with the other dance classes I’ve gone to (i.e. two Nia classes) it seems I can attempt the foot or the arm movements but not both. (I’m leaving out the hips for the time being which is an entirely different story). I typically focus on the foot movements – if/when I get comfortable with those then I take a stab at using my arms.

Okay back to the hips for a second. With Latin dancing the hips are pretty much always moving. The connection between my brain and hips is iffy at best - mine don’t gyrate sufficiently or for that matter, hardly at all but the longer the class goes the more I begin to feel the middle of my body. Surely it’s a good thing to wake up parts of our body that are soundly asleep!

The main thing to know about Zumba is that it’s fun, especially when I can let go of trying to do it “right”. Fortunately this isn’t American Idol and Simon isn’t around to ridicule me and kick me off the show. All the girls in class show me how to do it, dancing their hearts out and having a blast the whole time.

The $25 gift certificate goes to Barbara Means.