Tales of a Fitness Instructor

I want to begin by saying that I love my job as a fitness instructor and wouldn't trade it for the world. I get to make a difference in the lives of others and they certainly impact my life as well. I've been teaching classes since spring of 2011 and since then, I have definitely witnessed some interesting moments in class. I thought it would be a fun post to share just a few of those moments with you all today.



Questionable Attire

I remember my first month of teaching Zumba. I had a woman come to my class in a bikini. Yes, I live at the beach, but coming to a gym to take a Zumba class, where you will be jumping and shaking your booty, in a bikini is kind of inappropriate, especially if you don't have a rockin' bikini body. I met with my supervisor quickly before class and asked about the woman's choice of attire (as they have a dress code of no swimwear), but she said that the woman could take the class anyway. This woman literally held onto her boobs for the entire class. They were bouncing everywhere- because she was wearing a BIKINI- and her bottom kept riding up her um, bottom. I don't think I will ever forget that day. I'm scarred for life.



Awkward...

Living on an island also means that I see some of the same people each year, year after year, when they come visit while they are on vacation. One particular woman and her daughter came up to me after class a few years ago. They said they enjoyed the class, except for the fact that I smiled too much. She said that it just seemed so strange and unnatural for a person to smile so much and she asked me why I smiled so much. What? Who does this? I don't even remember what my response was, but I think it was something like, "would you rather I frown at you?" She came back the following year to take Zumba again and greeted me with, "hey, you're the lady that smiles a lot!" Sigh...



Statue Lady

I was teaching a circuit training class a few months ago and I told the class to choose any type of cardio for the particular 45-second interval we were doing. I gave several examples and said when to begin. Everyone was moving; there were a lot of jumping jacks, a few people ran in place, a handful did the skater and ski jumps, and one woman, in the very center of the room, crossed her arms and stood still. At that moment, it was so funny to see her just stand there! Everyone in the class was moving except for this woman. I remember shouting something like "do something!" and she continued to stand there, laughing.



Strange

This final story is the strangest. About a month ago, a woman came to my Zumba class and I had a very hard time keeping a straight face. She came to class late, I think we were in the third or fourth song, so she jumped right in and participated with the rest of us. At first, I thought she was mocking us. Her movements were super large and very exaggerated. And when I say large, they were ginormous. Some of her movements were nothing at all like what we were doing. We would be doing a grapevine to the left and she would be spinning to the right and doing squats. It was just strange. As the class progressed, I could tell that she was sincerely trying to do well- she was working up a sweat and was watching me the entire time. However, it's like she started moving before she could see what I would do next, or before I could give verbal/visual cues. About three songs before the class was over, she collected her belongings and left the class. It was so strange. It wasn't exactly funny, because I'm not the type of instructor who pokes fun of students. It was just very strange.




Ok- now it's your turn! I want to hear your funniest, strangest, or weirdest fitness story! It can be about your instructor, that guy in the weight room, the lady who let out a fart on the treadmill (hasn't everyone witnessed this?), or anything really.