This week, I signed up to do something that completely breaks my rules — I’m taking an aerobic dance class at the Carneval Athletic Pavillion. I’m not against fitness or anything like that, because I am an avid yoga lover through and through.

A typical fitness class, especially one that involves dancing, is just not my thing. And I felt even more guilty considering the timing, as I tell everyone I know that I thoroughly despise people who decide to make use of the gym right after the start of the new year, only to abandon the gym once again at the beginning of February.
I also hate public exercise facilities in the first place, as I hate seeing people get sweaty and I hate people seeing me sweat, and for some reason, watching people improperly use exercise equipment is the most obnoxious thing in the world in my mind.
I decided to take the class because some of my housemates also enrolled in it. I paid for it with GU Gold, which I don’t consider to be real money, and I had the time slot free. Therefore, I had nothing to lose.
Walking into the class was slightly awkward. We all sat around, “stretched” and waited for instruction from our very perky and lively instructor, who is also a Gannon student. We started off by stretching to a slow song, then jumped straight into the routines with an upbeat playlist that had us all sweating within the first 10 minutes.
I soon realized how awfully uncoordinated I am when it comes to structured dance moves. Spontaneous dancing is so easy to do, but structured dancing is much easier said than done. I learned all sorts of new dance moves, and had fun salsa dancing and doing high kicks in a low-key setting.
Even though I made myself look like an idiot for about 45 minutes, I had a lot of fun dancing around with some of my housemates and working on my fitness all at the same time.
As my housemates and I walked out of the exercise room in the gym, I realized that I was no longer a gym hater. I’m now tolerant of them, because I realize that not everyone who goes to the gym is doing so just to say they did, or because they ate too much in the cafeteria and now feel obligated to work off their food baby.
I now understand why people take fitness classes and work out regularly; you feel good both inside and out, and if done properly, it will prove beneficial.
After my 11-week fitness class ends, I will return to my personal comfort zone and continue doing yoga in my room and off-campus. From my aerobic dance experience, I’ve learned that it’s not fair to judge things you don’t understand, like working out.
Maybe there are people who go to the gym just to stay active and healthy; I just haven’t met any of them yet. But I’m definitely willing to give it a try.

JANAE BUTLER
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