I did something I haven’t done in awhile this past Sunday – I worked out with my class. Right there, alongside them, for all five rounds.

Typically, since getting pregnant and having that sluggish touch-and-go energy, I will demonstrate the full out exercise, a rep or two and give the modified versions of each, then set my class off to do their thing. I will walk around, watching the form of everyone, assisting when they’re a little off, or need help when they are having a hard time picking up a move.

For the past 20-some-odd weeks, it’s had me curious as to which style I was going to keep post-baby for all of my classes. My classes cut off at 10 people so that I am able to give the attention to each member there that they need. I want them to get the most from my classes, and that means helping them do it injury free.

Pre-pregnancy, I’d stand in front, facing the classes, doing the full workout with them, instructing and watching. If I saw someone who needed a little adjustment, I’d let the class roll on with the workout, while I went to help that class member. That approach works, and the feedback I got on my “style” was positive. The people who were attending my classes didn’t feel that I was scrutinizing their every breath, hovering over them. They had been to classes like that and found it a little unnerving and made them feel like they would “screw up” an exercise more because of it.

So when, in attempt to scale back the amount of hours logged working out, I stopped doing classes over the summer and started taking the opposite approach, I worried. I wondered how I could keep the dynamic of my classes the same, but not workout alongside my clients. I’ve mastered the art of not hovering, and it was hard. Luckily, most of my classes now are set people, and they’re still small. Over the past year, we’ve gotten to know one another well. So while they are working out, I walk around the room in a big circle, counting out reps, calling out the change in exercise, giving encouragement and just chatting with them. If I see someone now who needs help, I approach it the same as I did before. Let the class go on, while I helped the class member who needed it.

And it’s worked. They don’t feel like I’m hovering, they’re comfortable, and they keep coming back.

One of the greatest things for my class members to see this past Sunday is: That my workouts don’t just kick their asses, but my workouts can kick my own too.
I could have written my own for the day. I could have pulled one from my arsenal of workouts from classes past… Instead, I went to Jen Sinkler and her Lift Weights Faster for a good butt kicker of a workout. The one I chose? The Tortoise and the Hare.

20 Pledge Planks
15 KB Swings
10 KB Jump Squats
5 KB Windmills

The workout on Sinkler’s page calls for four rounds for time, but I pumped my class for five rounds.

Anytime I give a class a “for time” workout, I get amazing results. The encouragement I hear passed around, the drive and push that I see. It creates a spark inside my class members, so I wasn’t surprised when all five rounds were completed in 20-minutes or less.

I also learned, that the months I’ve been spending sans cardio? Have taken a toll. Good thing I started hitting that stair stepper for 15-minutes a few times a week.