I’m still not back into exercise with any kind of enthusiasm or regularity, but… I did get myself off to a new gym class on Monday.

The staff at one of the two gyms I trialled earlier this year had told me they were starting a second weekly dance class. Now, as you know from my Burlesque Dance Post over at MizFitOnline I’ll try almost any dance class at a gym;  I did however, have no idea what to expect from Bokwa.

The staff member told me it had its roots in African style dance*… and having done my fair share of dancing in Africa when I lived there in the mid 1990s, I was intrigued. The blurb on the gym’s website, talked about ‘making letters and numbers’. Which really didn’t help explain anything.

But it appeared on the gym’s timetable a week or two ago and – with the weather too dire to do any walking – I decided to go to the class this week.

Unfortunately the instructor made we newies go at the front, but as she’d only taught two previous sessions there were almost as many first-timers as ‘oldies’. I did feel she could have explained the class and idea of the movements a bit more before she started. I’m pretty coordinated, but could barely hear her over the music as she shouted out… well… something.

I eventually realised though that she was saying letters, as in ‘C’ or ‘O’ and the like. It was pretty cruisey for the first few letters but some were a bit more high impact than others. And I’m unfit. As the aerobic room is not air-conditioned, the mirrors were fogged up and I was redder-than-red when I finished and thought for a few moments I might have had to stop and have a rest.

Apparently the instructor teaches a few new letters every second week, giving attendees  a chance to cement their learning over a two-week period. In the session I attended we ran through the letters the group had already learned before adding a couple more and then the instructor just randomly called out a letter and we ‘do’ that step.

I can’t help but wonder how a newbie would go turning up in a few weeks time and trying to pick up the dance without knowing each of the letters. And surely, once the group has learned all of the letters and numbers (and the intro is no longer required) newcomers would really struggle.

It’s not exactly like a dance class, you see, as the steps for each letter are remarkably similar. There are add-ons and minor differences.

I actually suspect it would get kinda tedious after a while as the thing I liked most about my old fave faux Zumba classes was that we constantly learnt new steps. But (unbelievably unlikely as it seems) I may (ahem) be wrong.

So, I have to admit I’m not won over by Bokwa. But given the lack of options in my current hometown I’ll probably head back there again!

Have you tried any new exercise classes lately?
What would you like to try?

* I don’t think this is actually correct!