The Hand Clap of Death
Photo by ilovememphis
So my friends, or supposed friends who I work out with, wanted to try Zumba at our gym. It’s fun; I enjoy the music; the teacher has enough perky energy to run Disneyland, and in my head I look magnificent. Of course in my head I also still look 16.
So there I am bouncing around following the steps. I’m sure I looked like a drunk elephant, but in my head I’m graceful. Since I am totally willing to live in my own reality, everything was just fine. Until the teacher added a clap to the steps. In my head it didn’t seem like a big deal; however, in the cruel florescent light of reality, my brain stopped working when I tried to clap.
Photo by Cimm
I froze.
My feet twisted into some warped version of a salsa move with my arms flailing around my head. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t figure out how to do the steps. My poor brain was overtaxed with trying to convince me I really was looking like my sixteen-year-old self rocking the Zumba. All short circuited because of a single clap.
I laughed, what else was there to do? I shook my arms and legs, laughed again and began to do whatever weird concoction of moves the teacher put together, but I didn’t try to clap again.
Are you good at choreography-style workouts? Can you clap in the middle of a set of steps without frying your brain?
April 8, 2013 @ 10:45 am
Can’t say that I’ve ever really tried too many choreographed workouts, but if I did, I would be the drunk elephant right there beside ya. If I get my body doing too many things, everything falls apart it seems. Lots of moving for me ends up looking like a person that is drowning on land!
April 8, 2013 @ 1:27 pm
LOL- choreography isn’t my gift, thank goodness I live in a fantasy world.
April 8, 2013 @ 11:41 am
Zumba gets easier the more you do it. I can almost do the entire 60 min. workout DVD without pausing the damn thing. I still can’t do some of the moves the same way they can but I don’t really worry about that too much. I still do want to kill all of the people on the DVD at the end of the workout but I really don’t see that changing anytime soon.
April 8, 2013 @ 1:30 pm
I am keeping up pretty good, as long as I don’t clap! Doesn’t every one feel homicidal rage at the end of a workout where perky fit people still look good while you look like a red faced dieing lunatic? There needs a be a set of angry/goth/emo/punk workout tapes
April 8, 2013 @ 2:28 pm
That’s the kind of thing that happens to me, too. The brain just shuts down.
For fun, next time you’re in the pool, try to do jumping jack legs with cross-country arms. Your brain will fry!
April 17, 2013 @ 3:57 pm
LOL- that does sound like something that would fry my brain!
April 8, 2013 @ 2:35 pm
I have done Zumba quite a bit. Here’s what I’ve learned: If I get confused, I have to drop everything else and focus on the footwork. Once I have that down, I can add hands. But if I try to learn both at once, I can get lost. You are not alone! 🙂
April 17, 2013 @ 3:58 pm
Yes the base footwork is important and I have to add in the non-moving foot as part of the step, or I can’t make it work.
April 8, 2013 @ 5:00 pm
OMG, that reminds me of band camp. I could play the music. I could march. The first time we tried to put the two together, it was the worst train wreck ever.
April 17, 2013 @ 3:59 pm
LOL- that sounds like something that should have been filmed!
April 9, 2013 @ 7:11 am
Funny. I can’t do the clap either. And if there is more than one clap, I might even fall down. I hear laughing burns a good deal of calories. Jane
April 17, 2013 @ 3:59 pm
Thank goodness, maybe I should just laugh more 🙂