Step Light

Since Monday was a holiday, my normal step class was cancelled--it was my first class-less designated exercise day since I started this workout schedule...  I was a little scared that I would just blow it all off, so I asked my neighbor down the street to exercise with me on Monday--she's been going to the exercise classes with me, so we decided to just do something active together on the off day.  Sadly, she and her kids got sick over the weekend, so I was on my own on Monday to figure out what to do.  I was especially bummed because I really feel like Mondays are my best workout day--although I get a good workout at Zumba, step is extremely intense...a big calorie burner that I need to start my week!

Naptime rolled around on Monday, and I really wanted to get some sort of workout in while the boys were sleeping, before the dinner rush.  Abby had a dentist appointment later that afternoon, so I needed to just get it over with so that I could be ready to take her in time.  I have a Wii Fit board (but our Wii is not hooked up--we don't have enough input places on the back of our new TV, and we're not electronically smart enough to figure out how to address that issue), so I considered doing my own version of a step class with that.  I carried that board down to our garage, thinking I would either do that or walk on my treadmill at a big incline--kind of like stepping, right?  I tried the Wii board on the garage floor, but it was making a lot of rattling noises--I think it was meant for carpet or softer floors?  I was worried I would break it, so I gave up on that pretty quick.  I started looking around my disaster area of a garage to see if there was anything else I could use for a makeshift step...my garage is a scary total disaster of junk, so it wasn't hard to find a few candidates.  My first attempt was an empty box, around the right height for a step.  I was able to step on it for about a minute before it collapsed...and I was on the hunt for something else that might work.  My eyes found this gem (or something that looked exactly like this, as I will explain in a moment), brought over to our garage from my old childhood bedroom when my parents moved out of their house:

it's a plastic faux wood audio cassette tape holder

I have three of those lovely contraptions, filled with old singles tapes that I bought at The Wall in 1995 (Sophie B Hawkins, anyone?).  They are stackable, and super convenient...until CDs and now iPods replaced my Walkman.  They are also about the same height as a step, and I figured the plastic would be more durable than an empty cardboard box.  So off I went, running my own step class!  I started with some basic right and basic left steps, an "L" step that I've learned in class, a few high-knee steps, a kick-boxing kick on the step...aaaannnd, I was out of ideas.  What the heck?  I just kept doing those 5 moves over and over again, racking my brain trying to remember anything else that I've done for at least 4 hours of my life at this point, considering I've done 4 hour-long step classes so far.  I made some stuff up, I did some things that I thought were from step class but may have actually been Zumba moves (not sure how that worked out, but hey, I was moving, and that's what counts...right?)--I just kept my feet going.  I don't know how I can get such an intense, good workout and not remember much of it at all?  I must adopt some weird herd mentality when I walk into class--I just mindlessly follow the people in front of me and try not to think about it too much.  I already knew this was true of Zumba, since Abby asked me to demonstrate some Zumba moves for her a few weeks ago and I couldn't remember anything to show her--but I thought step would be more regimented and easier to recall once I started doing it.  Nope--apparently my body has no muscle memory for step, either.

yeah, I looked nothing like this

I did about 40 minutes of repeated steps and randomness, and by that point, I had pretty much busted the cassette tape holder beyond recognition.  I heard it start snapping kind of early on, but I didn't want to quit--I just adjusted my steps so that I put pressure in different places, and continued doing so as the thing got more and more splintered.  I guess faux wood isn't exactly as durable as real wood--ha ha.  I would invest in a real step if I could trust myself to remember how to use it...for now, I have two more cassette holders that I can demolish if I get the idea to do my own step class again!  I was pretty proud of myself for sticking to the Monday workout schedule, making up my own step routine, and working up a decent sweat in the process--it wasn't the same as the class, but at least I tried and didn't give up when my tools and memory weren't exactly ideal.  Can't wait to get back to the herd with Zumba tonight!  :)