Just around the corner.....

Yesterday was a bad day for me at work,I'm gonna sleep on it for one more night before posting in full

BOSU Training 101 - Just My Opinion

Today I attended a training course to use a Bosu (BOth Sides Up). It was gonna be the first training course I've attended in the past 4 years that isn't Spinning/Schwinn run so first my comfort zone was taken away in the form of no bikes and then it was taken away again in the knowledge that I wouldn't already know at least half the attendees including the instructor.

I walked in to Soho Gym Borough and there were 4 people sitting there already chatting away,I asked them if they were there for the course to which one replied yes so I sat down and they all stopped talking. Spinning courses are the opposite,thise there first introduce and greet each other as they arrive,it's the Spinning family but these were....Studio Instructors & Personal Trainers.

With 5 minutes before start time,a guy walked in and started transporting the stack of Bosu's to the studio and it seemed odd. Odd that he wouldn't say "Good Morning" & odd that nobody stepped up to help,so I did. Even he didn't introduce himself as the instructor or thank me for the help.

As we waited in the studio for the remainder of the participants to arrive,two women started saying how they wished we started early and had shorter breaks so we could finish early,valid point I thought but didn't engage in the early complaining session.

Once everybody had gathered in the studio "he" was pumping the bosu's up and said he would do these first and then introduce himself/everyone else.Surely,I thought this should already be done and come 10am we start work. My bad. He said his name along with some speel about himself. I didn't hear his name,he mumbled it too quickly and then proceeded to tell us that if he appears to limp later it's because he fractured his fibular 2 weeks ago whilst playing on a see-saw drunk. I couldn't care less and by this point he was pissing me off (you may be able to tell....)

He gave us a brief breakdown of how long we'd be doing what for,lunch,breaks etc. and then that person started. The one person that everybody has on every training course. The one that asks every inconceivable question under the sun. She took over the next 45 minutes even asking how much the bosu weighed and whether it should be pumped up more for someone who was fatter!

The instructor by this point had locked in on the blonde at the front of the studio and started with the body language already,using her for demonstartions when clearly he should be doing them himself. He started us all off at the same point without giving any alternatives and explanations and this continued for the next 2 hours where we would all be given and expected to do various positions/exercises on the Bosu without explaining teaching points and benefits but just to do them because they were good. There were many things the instructor said which were contradicting things he had said only moments earlier,none of which spring to mind now because they were coming too frequently to remember them. He would also give his personal opinion alot of the time too,which I felt was unprofessional as his personal opinion isn't worth a dime in a court of law (and that is why we do these courses,to KNOW what we are teaching is safe and beneficial,not opinion or hearsay) Also,for being the person who wrote the course,he seemed to faulter frequently and had to continually refer to his notes more than I would have expected,although that granted,is a small thing.

He also did a great job of pushing the "flexi-bar" onto us,incorporating approximately 10 minutes straight at one point explaining all about it and how IT worked,if only he did that for the Bosu....

So after having been there for 3 hours and expecting a lunchbreak,he tells us to take a 5 minute break and we'd re-conveine for a 30 minute group format session where we'd all be doing all of the exercises.

OK.

Again,no explanation of the purpose was given (maybe I am too Spinning format regulated.....) and again no alternatives were advised suggesting that alternatives were not acceptable. Each exercise seemed to bring him more pleasure in our discomfort and pain.Now he was pissing me off in a red mist kinda way. Once the "Class" was over and just before everybody went for a pub lunch - great!!! - I noticed something written on the platform side of the Bosu,it read,"Standing on the platform is strongly not recommended" so I asked him why he had been getting us to stand on it. His reply was that the manufacturer was being too careful. This was enough for me to hear. Between his loving his own voice to his flirting with the blonde to the personal trainer asking the mot stupid questions to the women who complained it was too late starting and then being more concerned with their hair and tea than much anything else,oh and my burning desire to hit the cocky-ass instructor a bit too hard,I chose to realise that what I had learned from this course was that common sense is good enough for me to be able to stand on a half a swiss ball and move a little bit. I didn't return for the afternoon session.

The first one.......

I've been thinking how to do this and daft as it sounds,I wasn't sure how to get started so rather than type out a long,well-rounded editorial I intend on just putting down my thoughts and my opinions just "as is".

work is work,spinning is so far removed I can't define it right now,where I'm at........May 31st can't come quick enough,I need it more this time round than ever.......how can one place be so good to work at and one place be so poor to work at........chalk & cheese.......it's the people.........i need to thank Varinka and Shannon for their instant support,it's so perfect,thank you xox.....2 years tomorrow i've been riding through that desert on the wagon,what a great ride..........how is it Mandelsohn is (a)still employed (b) back (c) smiling? well i know why he's smiling - it's (a + b) = ££££££..........i'm tired........i need a vacation.......May 31st..........how can i sell out a class on one day and have an empty studio on another? (answers on a postcard).............focus is under-rated.

On Dos Tres...On Those Trays....think about it,what show?