Hi, I'm Margaret at MelioGuide. Thank you for tuning in. Today, I'm going to be covering
aerobic class considerations. So something I've been thinking about for quite a while,
but before I begin, I want to share with you where my aerobics background comes from. You
know, if you've been following me for a while, that I have been a physical therapist since
1984 and practiced in a variety of areas. But shortly after becoming a physical therapist,
I decided to become an aerobic fitness instructor. Got my YMCA fitness instructor certification
and started teaching aerobic classes. And when clients would come to me, telling me
about the aerobic classes they're taking, and I'm looking after their bones and giving
them exercises to keep their bones strong and safe, I would get a little concerned about
what they were telling me. A client that I've had for several years, she comes in for an
update on her program, and I ask her to start marching. So we're warming up and we're doing
a marching, and she automatically is doing this in her marching. And then it dawned on
me, and I said, "By any chance, in your aerobic class, "are you doing a lot of these exercises
as a warmup, "opposite elbow to knee?" And she goes, "Yeah, we do it in every class.
"It's like the standard, one of the standard movements." And then I went, "Okay, I definitely
have to do a blog on this," because when you're moving, we have such a short period of time
in our day, in our week, that we dedicate to movement, and I want that movement to bring
your body where it should be, where it's getting you out of all the daily forward movements
that we have to do. We wake up, we wash our face, we brush our teeth. Everything is bringing
us forward all the time, and so the last thing you need to do is to go into an exercise class
and go back into that movement pattern. So this blog is to have you reconsider what is
happening in your aerobics class. Is that aerobic class supporting where you want to
be, where you want to be walking out of your class and going, "I feel great. "I had some
work on my posture, little work on my balance. "Got some loading through my bones. "I feel
really good, got my cardiovascular up, all of that." And so I'm going to give you a couple
of points and considerations to bring with you when you're walking into your class and
not just do your class as a participant but to do it as an observer and start looking
around you and looking at how are these people moving, and how are they holding their posture
and alignment? Because chances are, you may also be holding your posture and alignment
in the same way they are. We're all trying to do our best, but is the instructor putting
you into moves that are supporting you or just, without meaning to, bringing you into
less than optimal moves for your spine, for your posture? So there are three things that
I want you to consider taking with you into your aerobic class. One is an awareness of
your posture. What is your alignment when you're doing your moves? What is the alignment
of your head, relative to your spine? Is it jutting forward, or is it coming forward with
your spine? What is your alignment of your hip, relative to your knee down to your feet?
Are your knees in a safe place where you're doing your squats and your lunges? So that's
one. So number two is look at your class as an observer 'cause you might be having a really
good time, but just look at it and go, "Oh, this is an exercise I really shouldn't do.
"I need to avoid this exercise." So rather than stop the class and just sit, you could
go, "How can I modify that move?" So if it was one of these moves that I mentioned earlier,
then you might just go, "I'm just going to march "or I'm going to open up in the opposite
direction "as people are bringing the knees up." And that's a really great modification.
Keeps you moving and isn't all that different than what the instructor's doing, but it's
entirely different in what it does to your posture and your alignment. If you can't modify,
such as a crunch, it might be really difficult to modify a crunch, but you can substitute
it. So if you're looking for ideas for modification and substitution, you might go, "Okay, that
crunch, hmm. "I can still do an ab workout. "I'm going to go get something how to strengthen
your core "and do a gentle side plank "or a side plank that's at the level that challenges
you." Within exercise for better bones, there are lots of exercises that you can do them
at a pace that allows you to incorporate into an aerobics class. And that brings into pace.
So the third thing is the pace of the class. It might be moving really fast, and so fast
that it doesn't allow you to move with good form and your best alignment. Consider prioritizing
your alignment over the pace. So it might be a really fast song, a great song to dance
along with, move along with, but you know that it's compromising your posture, compromising
maybe your knee health because you can't quite get your squat form at that pace. So bring
the pace. Make your body be the priority and not the pace of the exercise class. Your dedication
to fitness encompasses all of the elements in the fitness wheel, so it's important that
while you're doing your aerobic workout that you are also considering where your core's
at, considering, when I say, "Where your core's at," what is your breath? Is it supporting
your moves? Is it supporting a jump? What is your posture? Are you stable enough through
the class in terms of balance and stability? So these are just a couple of ideas to keep
you safe, to keep you strong, so I really encourage you to make the changes you need
to stay active for many more years to come. Thank you for tuning in. I'm Margaret from
MelioGuide.