For the sake of posterity, I want to post some general highlights about my experience in BODYATTACK initial instructor training.
The entire experience was incredibly intense. I thought BODYCOMBAT was difficult? I had no idea what I was in for. There were four (that's right, four) trainers running the weekend - Brent McLemore, Kendall Kimball, Janelle, and Amber. Brent and Kendall are kind of a big deal in the BA world - Kendall is the US Program Coach, and Brent works for Les Mills West Coast as a Club Coach and Master Trainer for BA and BODYSTEP. To get us in the zone, we all stood on the stage with our eyes closed while "Chariots of Fire" played in the background. I chuckled quite a bit through that experience, namely because "Chariots of Fire" holds a special place in my heart thanks to my graduation from ASU (there's a story, and yes, you can ask). Master class followed, and most of us felt pretty done in or around track 7 (of 12). If the master class was that demanding, what would the rest of the weekend hold? In our first leture, Brent said something along the lines of "BODYATTACK is like Jane Fonda on crack." Day one included lots of lecture on the key elements of group fitness, a crazy technique session, and a fitness test to end the day. I have a looooong way to go to get myself "fit enough" for BA.
Day two my quads were hurting pretty badly. I had Track 3 to present in the morning and again at the end of the day. I was a little nervous, but having been through the whole rigamarole before it wasn't all that bad. The first presentation and feedback went well, but MAN do I hate to watch myself on video, esp. when I'm teaching. :) After that was the BODYATTACK challenge, or as I like to call it, a sadistic hazing ritual for instructors new to the format not too far removed from being trapped in fitness hell. Another funny Brent-ism, "Be careful what you eat right now [just before the challenge started]. It's called BODYATTACK, not BODY YAK." Remember the quad pain? It was amplified. There were 5 stations in the challenge with 2 exercises each - 1 minute per exercise. Have you ever tried to do 1 minute of plyometric lunges without stopping? It hurts. Like a mofo. Especially when your legs are already pretty spent. The second time through the circuit, around the last 15 or so seconds of squat/jump combos, I started to tear up. My legs SERIOUSLY killed. And I fell over once or twice on the side plank exercise. I went up for the plank and just kept going all the way over to my butt. Afterward, I had sweat so much that my clothes were drenched. Literally could have wrung them out. I was glad I had a change of dry clothes with me, and they were much welcomed. More lecture followed the challenge (thank goodness! sitting felt nice...), and then the final presentations. My second go round I did better than the first, and every last one of us was fighting to get through the movements. We all hurt, were limping around, but we smiled and cheered and pushed. We held nothing back all the way through. It felt so great when we were finished! And to top it off, I got a pass for my module grade.
The aftermath of the entire weekend was that I could hardly walk for 3 days. Seriously! My legs were so sore that transitioning between sitting and standing was incredibly painful, and stepping off of curbs caused me to pause and consider just falling off the curb rather than try to control my steps. But I felt fantastic (psychologically anyway). I was pumped. I had tackled something I honestly NEVER thought I'd be able to do when I started my crazy group fitness journey nearly 2 years ago. It's amazing what you can do when there are people cheering you on who honest and truly believe in you.
