For all of you who don’t know what a Lollipop Tuesday is, go here (the Jackie blog) and have a look…then read some more of her blog because it is excellent!!

Once you have come back you will know that a lollipop Tuesday is one where you try something new and potentially out of your comfort zone…

and what did I do for this lollipop Tuesday…

drum roll…..

Yep…. that is right…I went to a workout class that is called Sh’bam!

(ok…I know it would probably be more lollipop-y if it wasn’t exercise based as I am doing a lot of that right now…but it was a “girl class”)

There are many reasons why this was a step beyond the sensible and into the non-comfort twilight  zone… and a potential disaster…

1) it is called Sh’bam…which noone in their right mind can take seriously!

2) it is according to the Les Mills Website “the perfect way to shape up and let out your inner star” which is far too much for someone who normally does their dancing in a mask and giant boots…

3) it is vaguely billed as the Les Mills version of zumba…and we all know that “Zumba is to dance what chewing a pencil is to being a beaver”

4) when I arrived it was full of women who all seemed to know each other and had all the signs of being cliquey

However…

I waited for the class vaguely watching the body combat class that was on before it and trying to look as if the plethora of women wasn’t worrying me…

(note…I am female…I have friends who are also female… we are not very “girly” and large numbers of women en masse make me nervous)

And just as I was beginning to think this might have been a mistake, Karen walks in (Karen who goes to my body pump class who I have never mentioned before…not Karen who I taught to quilt despite having no idea how to quilt) and this made me feel much better as she was the one who convinced me to come to the class in the first place.

I was told I wasn’t allowed to stand at the back, so I took my place in the second row right in the middle in front of the instructor and away from the scary clique.

Once we got going, it transpires that (unlike zumba) this class does not take its self too seriously!  The instructor was very enthusiastic and actually explained what was happening and told people what they should be doing which helps enormously!

the tracks were (in true Les Mills Style) about 3-4 mins long and pretty varied incorporating different dance styles (no morris mind you which is a shame)

Against all odds and some of my better judgement, I actually found myself having fun…

On some tracks I got some of the moves completely wrong but moved about and flung my arms around just in case some of me landed in the right place and it seemed ok. On other tracks the moves seemed pretty easy, I suppose it is different for everyone!

The published in for seems to think that you can burn up to 600 calories doing this…I guess up to is the key… because I think 600 calories would be optimistic…the class is 45 mins long and I left feeling like I could do more which is not indicative of burning 600 calories…

However, as I said, it was quite good fun, definitely better than zumba and benefited from an enthusiastic instructor. It was definitely cardio-y but just no necessarily high intensity… It made a change and made me do a “girl class” for once so that was challenging in its self!

Will I go again…probably if I don’t have anything else planned on a Tuesday… but probably not every week… 😉

Day 228 in an unusually girly way…complete! 😀