Power Sculpting :: When in Rome

My mom once taught me a valuable life lesson – if you get yourself into a situation where you don’t know what’s going on or you don’t understand something, be quiet and listen – you’ll usually figure it out on your own. Or as my uncle put it, “Stop your broadcasting and start receiving!”

I’ve been trying to get to a specific class at my gym – power sculpting – for three weeks now and I finally made it on Wednesday. A small crowd congregated outside the workout room about 15 minutes prior to the beginning of the class, and I soon found out why – class members must collect their dumbbells and bars at the beginning, and the popular weights sell out fast. I overheard one girl tell her friend that they had to be at the front so they could be first to the dumbbells and true to form, the minute the doors opened those girls made a beeline for the dumbbell bin. But not only do you have to grab your dumbbells (two sets), you must assemble your bar with the weights you want (multiple sets so you can change the resistance based on the exercise), grab a mat, and get your step platform. And of course stake out a prime position on the workout floor. Did I know any of this prior to the class? Not a clue. I merely followed the others and did what they were doing. When in Rome, right? So I assembled my menagerie of weights, seated myself on the step platform and waited for class to begin. And waited. And waited some more.

The instructor arrived 30 minutes later (“Sorry guys, traffic was awful!”) and promised to make the remaining 30 minutes worth our while. And boy did she ever – lunges, squats, curls, dead lifts, presses… UP THAT RESISTANCE! She’d fit right in with Jillian Michaels – buff, intense and motivating. I heard (I’m great at eavesdropping) that the instructor was new and the gym had worked hard to find a great instructor for this particular class. I thought to myself that I didn’t know if I could handle a normal 60-minute session – half an hour was killing me.

I definitely want to go back but I’m afraid the class will get too popular (the instructor was that good) and I’ll have to fight for my weights. But maybe a couple more class sessions and I’ll be able to hold my own in the race to the dumbbell bin!