Spring Session

I haven't written for a while, sorry about that!

Now it is time to make a post about my new Spring Session. I have new places, gyms. So you should take a look at those as well.

Otherwise I had to give up one of my favourite step class at YMCA, downtown. Even though I love the atmosphere at Y, the participants are great and anthusiastic, just check my Facebook! :))) But unfortunately this is a volunteer job and I cannot do it forever :( I wish I could though!!!

Now let's look forward:

The Spring Session starts on April 4th, Monday (somewhere a week before).

Monday:

8.00 am-8.55 am: Cardio Latino (Jewish Y)

12.15 pm-1.00 pm: Aerobics with step (Aldred Gym)

1.15 pm-2.00 pm: Aerobics with step (Aldred Gym)

5.15 pm-6.00 pm: Aero Capoeira (Aldred Gym)

Tuesday:

5.30 pm-6.30 pm: Aero Capoeira (M-fitness, St.Laurent)

Wednesday:

12.15 pm-1.00 pm: Dance Step (YMCA, downtown) alternating with another teacher, exact dates later

5.30 pm-6.30 pm: Hard Core (M-fitness, St.Laurent)

Thursday:

9.00 am-10.00 am: Hot Iron (Flex Gym)

6.00 pm-7. pm: Spinning (YMCA-NDG)

7.15 pm-8.15 pm: Kickbox (YMCA-NDG) originally it's a Aero Capoeira class, but I can't use that name there

Friday:

9.25 am-10.25 am: Toning (YMCA-NDG)

10.30 am-11.15 am: Spinning (YMCA-NDG)

Saturday:

No Classes, if I have replacements I'll keep them updated!

Sunday:

10.oo am-11.00 am: Spinning (M-fitness, Decarie)

And there are the gyms addresses and websites:

Aldred Gym:

Old Montreal, 507 Place'd Armes

H2Y 2W8

http://www.aldred-conditionnement.physique.com/

Jewish Y:

5400 Westbury Ave.

Montreal

http://www.ymywha.com/

M-fitness (St.Laurent):

4200 St.Laurent Ave. Suite 300

Montreal, H2W 2R2

M-fitness (Decarie):

6900 Decarie, Suite 200 (in the Shopping Mall)

Montreal, H3X 2T8

Flex Gym:

1130 Dollard

LaSalle, H8N 2N6

http://www.flexgym.ca/

YMCA-NDG:

4335 Hampton Street

Montreal, H4A 2L3

http://www.ymcaquebec.org/

YMCA-Downtown:

1440 Stanley

Montreal, H3A 1P7

http://www.ymcaquebec.org/

I'll keep my schedule updated, I usually have some replacements as well somewhere else. So good to check my blog often :)

Winter Schedule

Here is the Winter session from January 2011 so it is soon!

You can read it below. Maybe I'll have more classes but these are 100%. If I get more I'll let you know, guys!

Winter session stars on 3rd of January, 2011, on Monday.

All of my classes will be kept in YMCA, downtown.

Monday - 5.30pm "All levels" step

Wednesday - 12.15 "Intermediate" step (I alternate with another teacher, dates are coming soon!)

Unfortunately I won't teach spinning on Tuesdays. My heart is bleeding. But if I have a replacement I'll put it here!

Maybe I'll have classes at others gyms as well but not sure yet.

With or without Personal Trainer?

If you just bought your first membership in a gym but you have never trained by yourself I definitely say "with Personal Trainer"

Or you train for years and know everything about workout but get bored of your routine you need new influence, you want to feel being pushed by someone. I also can help!

If you are a keen beginner a Personal Trainer (PT) can help keeping up your enthusiasm and you become committed to training.

PT not just shows how to use machines, free weights and other equipments (you might not know what the hell they are :D) but also helps to reach your goals, encourages and supports you even if you feel it's not your day.

A good trainer gives a blast and pushes you but also sees your boundaries, doesn't let you keep doing something if she/he feels it's not appropriate or dangerous for you.

And PT also can give you good advices how frequent, how long you should train or what to eat. For me these are obvious but I remember when I just started doing workout I was completely lost!

So PT has a complex job:

- Creating a workout for client that is suitable (we cannot give the same training to a 60 kg girl how wants to loose some weight or a 85 kg guy who wants to build more muscles).

- Varied, enjoyable workout for each session avoiding of boredom.

- To keep up client's interest, to find an approachable goal

- Being sensitive of cliens' request but letting them know what has to be done even if it's not their favourite

- Dealing with clients' personality, not just their body


This is just the theory. In my next post I will write about who to start, how to choose your perfect trainer.

Aero capoeira

Just a short update about my YMCA F.I.T. I am done with it :) So now I am YMCA F.I.T Aerobics Instructor. I don't know the offical title because I haven't gotten my certification yet. I hope I will get it soon :)

But for now I'm going to write about aero capoeira.

Capoeira is a Afro-Brasilian Martial Art. It was created in Brazil by African slaves by mixing the many fighting styles from many of their tribes, sometime after the sixteenth century.The sparring is marked by fluid acrobatic play, feints, takedowns, and with extensive use of leg sweeps, kicks, and headbutts.

What I'm doing is not real capoeira. It is mixed by aerobics.

I took the course about 5 and a half years ago in Hungary. One of Hungarian aerobics instructor invented this kind of style. Very similar to an aero kickbox class, uses not only kicks but also roundkicks and trunk-bending.

The base concept is doing a full body workout mainly focusing on leg, buttock and lower back exercises without any difficult choreography or upside down moves. Special skills are not required for this class. Anybody can join any time. It is a really intense workout with lot of sweat even though there are no jumps like in kickbox, that's why this is more safer to our knee joints.

This is not only for women but also for men where anybody can release everyday stress.

We always start with a general warm-up (5-6 minutes) with some gingas (that is basic move of capoeira). We don't do kick in this part.

Cardio part (around 30 minutes). Intense movements with kicks (front, side, back kicks), roundkicks, torso rotations. We do so many trunk-bending that helps to build strong lower back even though the proper execution is really important. Cardio part speeds up our metabolism and makes the heart stronger.

After there is toning part (around 20-25 minutes) with some lower body exercises like lunges, squats. And upper body like shoulder, arms (biceps, tricpes). I prefer doing extra back workout as well because most of people sit all day and don't even take care of their backpain (if we build strong back muscles the pain is gone!). And of course we do abs this is always required :)

We finish with a nice, relaxing stretching.

My advices:

1 - Always keep your back flat when you are doing torso rotation. Why? Because you can hurt yourself otherwise! Flat back makes your hips and spine stable so your hips cannot move. And don't rotate too much if you feel it's not comfortable just do smaller movements.

2 - Don't force yourself doing bigger, higher roundkicks. If you feel your hips are too tight just take some time they will get used to the movements.

3 - If you feel your body cannot keep up the really high intesity. Just do it in your pace, slower, or do lower kicks and less arms.

4 - The key is step by step! You will see, every class will be easier and you will be encouraged by your own improvement.

So aero capoeira is a really good workout if you want to loose some weight or build stronger muscles and firmer body composition or just have some fun.

My step

What is step? If you've been some aerobics class I am sure you've already tried stepping on a bench. The most popular step bench is built by Reebok. Actually that is my favourite brand :)

Where I come from we call it "dance step". Why? Because dance is really trendy all around Europe even if there's no step bench (it's called aero dance) but the style is the same. So this is the trend I've learnt from my teachers it was easy to adapt due to my dancing past.
Even though "Euro Step" term is more well known here in Canada, it is completely the same.
Many people afraid of this kind of class because they think it's too challanging. They even cannot dance how come would it be easier? My answer is everybody can learn it. It takes time though. But if we start from the basics nothing is impossible!
Right now I have an "all levels" class that is fully packed all the time. The participants willing to learn new movements they challange ourselves they try to be better. And thanks to their endurance they have been improving class by class. I'm so proud of them!
And I have 2 advanced classes they are just gorgeous!

So how a class goes?
1. Warm up (I can see so many teachers don't do an appropriate warm up, they start instantly with the first block,) But warm up is needed! We have to prepare the body for the workout. Especially if we have new participants how don't know anything about this kind of class. Warm up is a good opportunity to show what people can expect on a step class, increase the core body temperature, increase oxygen exchange, join mobility and muscle elasticity.

2. Action - We always built the routine up. It means we start with the basic steps (tap up, basic, knee ups, march) and the steps become more complicated. I always give options participants can stay at the easier, less challanging versions or can try the harder ones if they have been some of my classes before. Sometimes people stop thinking and try to follow all of my last steps. It's hard to explain them if they are not comfortable with turns (or anything else) they can do the simply version and next can try challange themselves more.
Another problem can be my dancing style. Yesss, I do love mambos, cha-chas, turns and anything that is dance. And participants are really afraid of this new thing. The athletic step is more common in Montreal, Canada. I hope I can bring a little spice in this industry. And if you feel my style is not your own, just do what you want! Bring you own style into the basic movement! Let's express yourself!

Benefits of cardio part: expansion of calories, increased levels of energy, decreased resting blood pressure, decreased heart rate at a sub-maximal level of work, improved stroke volume and cardiac output.

3. Cool down - Guys! Please stay for the cool down! Why? Because we have to calm our body down. Step is a good cardio class. Hearbeat goes up and works in fatburning zone and we sweat, good benefits!!!. But if we just cut the training without any cool down that is a big pressure for our heart even if we are in a good condition. During cool down the heartbeat goes down slowly (slowly that is the magic word!). The blood circulation keep flowing, if we just stop we can feel dizziness, maybe nausea. Decreased respiratory rates and blood pressure.

Some good advices how to do stepping:
1. Using proper shoes (stable sole, slight high-top to protect the ankle, light shoes weight is not required but really comfortable believe me!!!)
2. Putting the lowest level of the step bench (I got shocked when participants use a higher level it kills your knee guys!!!)
3. Stepping on the top with whole feet (when our heel swag from the edge of the step that is soo dangerous!)
4.Jumping all the time - regulate your body, try to forget the bad, old habits. Continuous jumps shorten your Achilles (same happens wearing high heals all day long) and feet problems are guaranteed.
5. Mopping the floor with your body after the class because you cannot leave the room on your own legs that is not a realistic GOAL! Better if you still can move your limbs after a step class :)

So why should we choose dance step? Our body become more coordinated and we learn new movements. We can express our feelings while we are dancing, yesss it's dancing! We can release the stress and also have some fun together! And if you want to shout because you're feeling so good go head there are no boundaries!

Courses

It's been for a while I haven't written anything. Sorry :)

But I have a good reason. I was studying so hard for the YMCA F.I.T test. So I did it :) It's just Level 1 though. Now I have to continue my studies . Level 2 is a really thin book I should be done soon.

Another course that I took is YogaFit. It was a really interesting theme, because I haven't done any body&mind course before. Yoga not only refreshes your body but also your mind. On the following week I was a bomb in a good meaning :) I think my participants were not too thankful, I killed them a little bit because I was full of energy!

Thanks God! My classes are almost always full even if it's a lunch time class :) And I've got some questions why don't I have more classes (I have 5 classes a week right now at Y downtown, so it's not enough hmmmm.... :D)

Aerobics classes

Here is my regular schedule in the summer session:
The classes are taught in YMCA downtown

Monday - 5.30pm/17h30 "All levels" step

Tuesday - 5.30pm/17h30 Spinning

Wednesday - 12.10pm/12h10 "Intermediate" step (I alternate with another teacher)
My dates in the autumn session: Oct 13rd, Oct 20th, Nov 10th, Nov 24th, Dec 8th;

Here's the YMCA's website (where i teach is YMCA downtown, Stanley Street)

http://www.ymcaquebec.org/en/centre/overview/downtown-y-centre/1/


During the autumn session I'm replacing one of my collegue, because he injured himself. This classn is also at Y downtown:

Monday - 12.05pm "Advanced" step