Losing Instructors

I have two instructors at my gym that I just adore. They have taught me almost everything I know about fitness, hard work, and endurance. Because they pushed me out of my comfort levels I was able to start losing weight.

Both of them are leaving my gym. I am just heartbroken.

One of them teaches Cardio Kick, and she is incredible. Her intensity is always high, she doesn't allow slacking, and she pushes you to do more than you ever thought your body would be capable of. She even once said "After this set I want you to be so exhausted that you feel like you are going to puke!" I love her.

However, about 2 months ago she tore a muscle in her foot, and she is now gone indefinitely. Her replacement is a girl who used to attend our class and just recently became a group fitness instructor. Sometimes she is awesome, and keeps the intensity up. Other times she is weak and I barely feel like I had a work out. I am sure she is just trying to figure out her groove. The only problem is that I am giving her feedback to kick up the intensity but new people to the class are telling her that the pace is hard. Hopefully she will listen to me, those newbies will be thankful later!

The next instructor teaches High Intensity Interval Training, Circuit, an aerobic Step class, and Chisel, which is a weight lifting class. She has been a fitness instructor for like 35 years, she is a fitness guru. She has taught me the proper form in every single exercise, and she has shown me that hard work yields results.

She is the reason that I have been able to push my body to lift heavier objects. I used to let my mind get in the way, a lot. The minute I would start to feel a burn I would stop lifting. She told me to push myself past the burn and I would begin to see results. She was right. I started the class with 6 pound dumbbells, now I hover between 12-15 pound dumbbells.

She also advocates doing push-ups on your toes. I used to think she was nuts. When I started going to her classes I could barely complete 3 push-ups on my toes. Last night I was able to complete 50 out of 75 push-ups on my toes. Not 50 in a row, about 15 at a time, taking small breaks on my knees. Regardless, before I could never have completed 75 push-ups, even on my knees.

She makes me feel powerful, and I always leave her classes high on endorphins.

She is taking a year off to live abroad, and she leaves at the end of August. Luckily her replacement is also a girl from our class, and I am confident that she will be able to keep the intensity up. Every single class that she attends she goes complete beast mode. I am always in awe when I watch her.

For awhile I was panicking about their departures. However, I have now realized that they have given me the tools I need for a successful workout. I was lucky enough to get to work with them for a year, but now it's time to start learning from new people. And because I now know what an intense work out should look like I will be able to kick up my intensity level in any class!