From Zero to Sixty
in 2 seconds…. 🙂
Hi friends 😀 How was your day? Hope you had a wonderful Wednesday. Thanks again to my Pilot love for hooking it up with a guest post while I went to my first day at the new j-o-b. The bummer news is that he’s actually in the emergency room right now! He ate some foul Valdosta tuna (I know how that feels) and had a horrible reaction. He just texted to say that he’s ok –I was worried sick- so thank goodness. He needs to hurry up and get to Tucson with me.
So work today was pretty much amazing.
I packed up some food to take with me for the day, because I wasn’t sure how long I’d be there. I’m going to be teaching at the resort, but right now I’m taking classes during my shifts instead of teaching to learn as much as I can about each class that’s offered.
Today I packed up:
-Two amazeballs
–Broccoli slaw topped with two bean-beet burgers
(Hummus, nutritional yeast and Dijon sauce)
–Blueberry banana Sun Warrior smoothie
-Clif mocha gel (ate)
-Coconut water (did not)
Breakfast:
(egg-rito in a brown rice tortilla w TJs green salsa)
First day of work shot 🙂
I only end up wearing that outfit for an hour or so, since I changed into my uniform and took the following classes:
-Cardio Circuit (I observed this one)
–Stretch – LOVED, loved this class. It was sad because in the the beginning of class, a bird flew into the windows… and then died 🙁 Some of the guests were looking at the bird, I almost started crying, and then the instructor (who is a total sweetheart and yoga extraordinaire) handled it so beautifully. She said, “Ok, let’s go ahead and start class, but before we begin, let’s all put our hands together in front of our heart and say a prayer for the bird. It is transforming from a bird energy to another energy.” I learned so many new stretches during the class and my tight hips were very thankful.
–Zumba – I took Zumba today (took it easy for this one) and am supposed to start teaching Zumba at the resort within 2 weeks! Ballertastic.
–Bellydance- This was another one of my favorites today. Bellydance isn’t my forte (but I’m working on getting better) and it was way more challenging and fun than the FitTV Shimmy shows I used to do 😉 We got to wear coin skirts and play with veils.. and it was awesome.
-Water workout- This one was a doozy. As you guys know, I can’t swim, which makes this class a beast. I love going to the pool, but I prefer to be next to it or on it, rather than in it 😉 It was a workout enough trying to keep my head about water. I really enjoyed the class minus the song “Wooly Bully” (looooooathe!!!) and the one-piece red Speedo I have to wear. I’ve always told myself I’d never post a swimsuit pic on the blog –I think they’re unnecessary and will only encourage comparison and creepers- but I may have to make an exception for the Speedo. It’s pretty hilarious. 
Then home!!
It was a long day, but I enjoyed and savored every second. I’m very humbled and excited to be working with such an incredible group of instructors- I’ll learn a lot fo sho.
The title of this post came from the fact that I haven’t taught since September (besides DT), and now I’m 100% submerged in it again! It feels so nice 🙂 A few Tucson bloggies have emailed to see if they could take my classes- I’ll be teaching open-to-the-public Zumba and strength classes (2 strength, 1 Zumba) starting a week from Monday. Email me if you’d like the deets 🙂
I’m off to do laundry, make some FOOD and chill 😀
Enjoy your night and I’ll see ya in the morning with a discussion post!
xoxo
Gina
Something to talk about: Are you a swimmer? Is there hope for me? Also, what’s your least favorite song? “Wooly Bully” is in my top five, along with "Celebration” and “Raspberry Beret.”
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Glad your first day went well!!!!! That’s A LOT of workin out 🙂
Poor Pilot. EEKS! Hope he feels better soon!!!
That is so sad about the bird! I’ve had that happen at our house before and it shook me up! I like how the teacher handled it though.
I’m glad the Pilot is ok!
Hi Gina
So glad your enjoying your new job! Love how that teacher handled everyone’s sadness with the bird. I wasn’t a great swimmer, basically I could float, doggy paddle, and could swim from one side of the pool to the other. But I wanted to do a triathlon and learned how to swim in eight weeks! I’m by no means a professional but I improved so much and found it to be an awesome workout. I wish my gym had a pool for this reason.
Have a great week!
how did you learn??
I was in the same situation as Mali – I could tred water but needed to learn how to do laps for a triathalon. I took a few lessons to pick up technique then it really was going to the pool and practicing A LOT to build endurance! The technique is really key to make you not get totally wasted after a few laps. My first favorite technique, I like to describe it as Barbie arms – your arms should never be straight, in or out of the water so you’re sort of scooping the water under your body, when your hand reaches your hip, bring your elbow out of water first followed by hand (all still in barbie arms) scoop forward above water, into the water and repeat! The worst technique is when arms are straight and reach out of the water like a T before they go back in (hurts your shoulders too). Second favorite technique – don’t kick at the knee, kick from the thigh, the knee will flow from there but the power comes from the thigh. Good luck! 🙂
I joined a triathlon training group but they also have swim clinics that will help you in two or three sessions
Wow — that’s a diverse array of classes! Should keep things fun 🙂
I agree with Raspberry Beret–it sucks!
right?! and now it’s stuck in my head!
Yay for a fun first day of work! I’d love to take belly dancing classes – especially with fun belts and scarves. 🙂
We actually banned certain songs from our wedding playlist and our DJ was like, “are you sure because those are some of the most popular wedding songs?” We said “NO!!” to Shout, The Chicken Dance, Who Let the Dogs Out, and YMCA. The thought of taking a water class with Wooly Bully in the background makes me laugh out loud. 🙂 Wish you had video of that one. Maybe you can teach it to the Pilot, song and all, and post that one. Oh how funny 🙂
i banned the same songs from our wedding too! + electric slide and we are family
I sink like a rock…I, too, prefer to be on or next to water!
Aww that is so sad about the bird. At least the teacher made it into something positive. Did you really take all those classes today?! Whoa. Bellydancing sounds fun–I have some DVD’s, but I look like such an idiot trying to shake my hips. It’s actually really hard and complex!
And I love the Wooly Bully song, haha, but I’ve heard a live band play it at a camp I went to and so it was pretty awesome.
that sounds like an absolute BLAST! can I get do this all day too!? 😉 so great that you’ll be back to being an awesome zumba teacher in no time, but I’m giggling at your swim class endeavors for now!!
it’s a disaster, haha
Glad you had such a great first day! I’m exhausted just hearing about all these workouts! Hope your husband is feeling better soon!
A bird flew into Sam’s loft this morning and almost died! I had to deal with getting it out of the apartment and cleaning up its mess. I felt so bad because it kept flying full force into the windows. 🙁
I’ve totally done those FitTV bellydance shows!
Wow, what an action packed day! Glad you’re enjoying getting back in the swing of things 🙂
Sounds like a fun job. I agree about the swim suit thing.
As far as water aerobics goes, even in chest deep water (although I know you’re a shorty so what’s chest deep on me would be nose deep on you) it takes probably 4 or 5 classes before you “find your feet” the first few times you really do sorta flail around and have a hard time keeping your feet on the pool floor.
But as an instructor you will be teaching from the pool deck correct? The only time I’ve ever taught aqua fitness from in the pool is when it’s a billion degrees and I’m totally dying. Then I’ll jump in for the cool down.
Glad the pilot is okay and that your first day went well.
Poor birdie 🙁
i should be teaching on the deck, which will be a lovely. some instructors teach in the pool, but i will not be one of them
It’s easier to teach from the deck anyway. Participants can see what exercises you want them to do, and you can better monitor them. I can’t imagine teaching a whole class from in the pool!
Swimming at first is always hard…As a swimmer and a lifeguard/swim instructor….the first few workouts back in to the pool kicks my butt! lol… I am sure you will get the hang of it, but if you want take a intro to strokes or stroke refinement class. They are pretty helpful and a good workout. Good luck!
Glad you are loving the new job! I recently started swimming at the campus pool with a friend who is a personal trainer and is currently training for a triathlon. She used to swim in school as well and gave me some major pointers on breathing and technique. I purchased a one-piece a wal-mart (supah hott :P)and a swim cap and goggles and embraced the water. I have never been a swimmer and was a little nervous. I choked a few times (and still do occasionally), but I have finally started to trust myself in the water and understand my breathing – kinda like yoga! If I can learn I absolutely think there is hope for you! As with anything – practice and have faith in yourself and you will get it under control in no time! 🙂 Good luck!
Congrats on your first day being successful Gina!! This sounds like such an amazing job – I’m jealous!! I used to swim competitively so I suppose you could say I’m a swimmer, although I haven’t actually done any water sports or swam lengths in ages! Hoping to get back into it this summer though in order to switch up my cardio and give the guns a little action! However, like you, I’m not too keen on the 1-piece Speedos so I think I’ll have to find a bikini that keeps things “secured” LOL! Sounds like a shopping opportunity, don’t ya think? I can’t wait to hear more about the classes you’re teaching! 🙂
the bummer is that i HAVE to wear the one they gave me. i die. and it flattens the girls horribly :/
I am not a swimmer either…but I aspire to be! I want to learn but I also don’t know where to start?
Poor bird…I hate when things like that happen. Makes me want to cry 🙁
Ugh…I hate those songs too. I also dislike “Red, Red Wine” (not sure if that’s the title but it’s in the chorus). My husband likes to sneak it onto my ipod…grrr haha 🙂
LOL – Wooly Bully! I totally agree with all of your unfavorite songs. We hand-picked our wedding playlist for the DJ and gave him explicit directions to not play specific songs that we knew people would request…Macarena, YMCA, you know the drill. SEVERAL of my parents’ “friends” (people I hardly knew!) had the nerve to come up to my husband and me and bitch about our no-request policy and how they couldn’t believe that they didn’t have our endorsement to turn our wedding into one giant Electric Slide-fest. I will never forget the man who pulled me aside mid-slow dance with my brand new husband (“Wonderful Tonight”) to throw a fit about how selfish he found our request policy to be. I nearly strangled him.
Wow, sorry for the rant! Haha. Glad your first day on the job was so awesome! I wish I lived in Tucson to take your classes 🙂
I’m actually a really good swimmer, but I hate it!! Funny, right? I was on the swim team for years and never told anyone how miserable it made me because I was good and my parents were proud, but I broke down one day in middle school and just had a bawlfest to my dad about it. I rarely get in water now. Just not my thing!
I’m so excited to hear more about your new job adventures! I’m pretty sure I know where you’re teaching, and if it’s where I think it is, it’s absolutely gorgeous 🙂
Congrats, that sounds like so much fun! I would love to do that one day, except the water part, I can’t swim whatsoever, so i would just cry.
I really hate the song “red red wine. ” I’m not positive that’s even the name of it but googling it will bring back early 90’s, station wagon riding, scrunchy sock wearing flashbacks I’m afraid.
i almost added that to the list! and then realized i despise raspberry beret more haha
Ah that smoothie looks so delicious! Congratz on work, all of your classes look very fun. My mom just bought Zumba on DVD and is obsessed with it; it’s so humorous to watch her do the hip movements! (;
Did you purposefully match your nail polish to your smoothie? lol
🙂
From Snack-Face.com:
“I had what is sometimes called “breakfast cookie dough cereal.” You should know what it really is: a bowl of uncooked oatmeal. Use pretty much the exact ingredients you would use for hot oats, but don’t cook it. It makes no sense at all, but it works. It should also be noted that it tastes nothing like cookie dough, so don’t let that fool you.
Wow, someone’s feeling honest this morning!…”
<<<Can someone say hater? Isn't this the girl that was ripping off your creations? Either way, she is sad that she begins her blog post with this. Is it really that hard to follow a recipe with simple instructions?
Your cookie dough cereal is a staple of mine now. Keep up the amazingness. Snack-Face is not creative enough nor mature enough to have a blog that competes with yours 🙂
wow that’s weird. kailey and i have always been blog friends.. :/
Hey Christina, I hope you take the time to read my response to your comment (in which I fully admit I made it wrong). In no way did I mean to slam a blogger and friend I look up to.
Kailey said ‘It works.’ And it’s true- it is the ingredients you would use when you cook a bowl of oatmeal, except you don’t cook it. I eat it all the time, but does it taste like REAL cookie dough? No, but like Kailey, I think it’s delicious with a fun texture and still eat it. I don’t see how that was her being mean. It’s oatmeal and milk in a bowl, guys. Relax.
nbd- kailey and i talked about it and it’s all good
Awesome purple nail polish!
Ah that sounds like such a great job opportunity! I’m so jealous! I hope I can get an opportunity like that one day! You’re so lucky!
Swimming though? Does that include doggy paddling ;)?
if it does, then i’m a pro! haha
OMG. I hate that “milkshake” song, that was popular a number of years ago. Although I’m not personally a big fan of the “celebration” song, it was my grandmas favorite song. She was would get so excited when it came on at a wedding reception or something. She passed away years ago, but I can still picture her smile and her cute, teensy little grandma-self dancing away to that song.
awhhh well that makes it cute
i had to go look up ‘Wooly Bully’ and listen to it on youtube. HAHAHA i understand now. 🙂
I want a job where I work out all day!! I miss being a dance teacher!
Sending healthy recovery vibes the Pilot’s way.
I love your manicure BTW! =)
thank you!
If it wasn’t for water walking and water aerobics I wouldn’t exercise at all. I love it and go to the Y six days a week to use the pool. Sometimes twice a day.
The bird thing happened to me while I was babysitting!!! But it didn’t die, thankfully it just was unconcious for a little while. I just petted it and kept it warm in my hand and then it woke up and flew away 🙂
I’ve always been interested in belly dancing it seems kinda sexy/fun?
I’ve always been good at swimming maybe because I live near the ocean? I dunno but its not that hard once you learn the movements and get enough endurance.
Ha ha! I love Raspberry Beret! It reminds me of a cheerleading clinic that I took when I was 5…they played that song over and over because it had just come out on the radio! (Yes, I realize this ages me..) Strangely enough, my mom tells me that I didn’t like cheerleading camp; I have no memory of that part. :/
I absolutely despise Barbie Girl. Remember that song by Aqua?
hahah YES! that song was terrible
and we can still be friends, even though you like raspberry beret 😉
I taught myself to swim when I was 4! I love the water, and swimming is one of my favorite things to do. I’m sure with the right teacher you could pick it up in no time!
I love your nail polish btw, and I’m glad you had an awesome first day.
Hope the pilot feels better!
So happy you had SUCH a great 1st day! WOW exciting!
First days at any job are usually pretty overwhelming…the first few weeks or more…usually for me, anyway, til I get the lay of the land, a good vibe for things, and things become more 2nd nature can take awhile but sounds like you are jumping in headfirst, and totally loving it all without missing a beat. Great!
Pilot. Omg…food poisoning is the worst!! One time about 10 yrs ago I got sick from fish, and before that, sick from shrimp in college. Talk about deathly ill. Salmonella, just awful, awful food poisoning and I ended up in the hospital, too. I am so sorry for Pilot. I hope he’s on the mend but I have been there. It’s so awful. hugs.
I thought I was the only person in the world who can’t swim. Of course I can doggy paddle (and lay out by the pool all day long!), but swimming is a no-go.
Side question – do beet burgers taste like beets? I can’t stand beets, but I know they’re really good for you…
nope they taste like bean burgers! give em a whirl 🙂
Hi Gina, I’ve been reading your blog for a couple years now but this is my first time commenting. I’ve been swimming my entire life from lessons to competitive swimming and now for fitness (and fun!). I’m also a lifeguard, swimming instructor and I started teaching water aerobics last spring. One thing that took me a little while to remember is that moving around in the water is different than moving on land so some exercises may have to be modified to work in the water. There’s definitely hope for you! I always get the best workout when I swim, it’s worth it to learn! Good luck and keep having fun 🙂
thank you- and thanks so much for saying hi 🙂
Is your nailpolish OPI Rumples Wiggin? That color looks great on you. Also, I didn’t learn how to swim until after college. I successfully “evaded” my high school and college’s annual swim tests by claiming that I had my period and thus couldn’t go in the pool! Because I was going on a beach vacation, I decided that I should learn to swim since I didn’t want to be the only one not going into the water. What I did, to avoid looking like a fool at the local YMCA, was hire one of those swimming teachers that teaches little kids how to swim. I found her through a family friend that used her to teach her kids how to swim but you could probably also have the local YMCA give you contact information of a swimming instructor. She came to the pool at my parent’s place and taught me how to swim the same way that she would teach a little kid…I felt like a five year old using my kickboard! I took about six lessons, and while I don’t know the fancy strokes, I can confidently say that I am able to swim now and can safely enjoy water activities. If you don’t have your own pool, I say go for lessons at the Y, even if the only beginner classes are with the kiddos. The instructor was well worth it since if I tried to teach myself I would be paranoid that I would drown or something mid lap! If you learn swimming think of how good and fun it will be to work it in your fitness routine. You could get one of the SWEET swim caps!
yes it is! thanks 🙂
thats a great idea- thank you. i would rock that swim cap with my speedo. haha
Hey Gina- I need your help! I’ve been reading your blog for the past 8 months or so, it has TOTALLY changed my life– THANKS! I’ve lost 23 lbs, become certified to teach Zumba, and am in the process of being certified to teach Group Kick and Group Active, and next weekend I’m running my first half marathon. You so inspire me (thanks stumbleupon!!). Anyways, I’ve tried tons of your recipes and enjoyed them all, but I need some help with Amazeballs! Yours look so much better than mine, and the way you talk about them makes me think I’m doing something wrong. I like the flavour of my protein powder, so I’m just not sure what’s going on. Yours look “juicy.” Hahah 😛 Tell me what’s up!! 🙂
Thanks Gina!
you’re a ROCKSTAR 🙂
they’ve been “juicy” lately since i didn’t have maple syrup and used a combo of honey and almond milk. they taste better w maple syrup though
Gina, congrats on your new job! I am a recent reader of your blog and must say I love it! Your positive energy and healthful ideas really help me stay focused and interested in health and fitness — while making it fun! If you are this helpful/inspiring on the internet, your clients are lucky people.
wow, thanks girl <3
Sounds like an amazing and full day. I am excited that your classes will be open to the public, you’ll have to fill me in on the deets.
I hope the pilot feels better soon!
I am a horrible swimmer, I swim well enough that I won’t drown but that’s about it. Also loathe the song Wooly Bully. WTF would they pick that song for a workout?
your guess is as good as mine!
wow that is a FULL day of exercise classes! i’m glad you get to start teaching zumba soon though…i bet taking class with you would be so fun 🙂
Oh no, poor Pilot! Glad to hear that he’s received treatment and is feeling better.
Wooly Bully, in the pool? That’s awful!
I can’t stand that Purple People Eater song (an oldie) – the creepy chipmunk voice that sings “we wear short shorts” is not only odd, but I don’t see how those lyrics go with the rest of the song?
Others I can’t stand: Rhianna’s S+M (it’s just gross!) and Soulja Boy Tell’em (same reason! Ew!) Oh, and I strongly dislike anything by Nickelback.
I can’t believe you don’t know how to swim! It’s so fun!
And yes, there is hope for you. My grandmother learned to swim when she was about 60. You can do it!
Oh my god I can totally believe that you are a dancer just from that jumping picture you took! It’s so….graceful. Seriously, when non-dancers take jumping shots…well….:D
I was never a swimmer until a running injury sent me diving into the deep end for another workout to keep me moving. Now i LOVE IT. swimming has become my “moving meditation time”. It can be challenging or chill but ALWAYS leaves you feeling good. Now that Im injury free I still workout in the pool 3-4 times a week – its the perfect cross training for running/cycling 🙂 Give it a go for a while… you might find out you are a dancer in the water!
So glad you are back to teaching and your first day went well! Wish I could workout with you in AZ!
I was scrolling thru the comments to say a big thanks for getting ‘celebration’ stuck in my head first thing this morning 😉 when I noticed you said your one piece “flattens the girls” Is it possible to wear a bra underneath? It gives everything more… definition haha. Good luck!