Swimmin' and Drummin'

On Saturday mornings at 8 am you will usually find me in the slow lane at the Masters Swim workout. I often wonder why I talked myself into getting up at 7 on Saturday to go wobble snort gasp burp, why I actually paid money to do this! But after swimming the first few laps all the "you must be crazy" thoughts dissipate and I just think about the 101 things the coach has told me to do. Today, I am pleased to report, I had a real swimming workout. I am finally at the point where the coach does not need to correct something after every lap, and I can swim in different gears (slow, medium, fast). Not so much freestyle, but even that is getting better. The swimmers in the fast lane cover about 3,000 yards during a workout. Today I swam about 1600 yards. And I made it to the end of the workout (most days I quit about 10 or 15 minutes before the end of the session. So, I'm getting stronger, I'm swimming better. Maybe not faster, but that will come.

After rewarding myself with hot tub time, I got into my regular workout clothes, clipped on my iPod and I was about to head upstairs to the land of electronic fitness (treadmills, ellipticals, bikes, etc). I overheard a woman talking about the Drums Alive class which was about to start. I ended up taking this class for the first time and it was really fun. You use drumsticks to drum on a stability ball. There are simple choreography/aerobic type steps and combinations, but it takes about 1 minute to master any skills required (hitting a big ball with a stick, sliding to the right or left, jumping jacks and grapevine). It was different, it was fun and it can be quite challenging if you want it to be. Try jumping around and drumming on a stability ball for about 45 minutes and see how your arms feel! Next time try that after swimming 1600 yards. I may have to take this class again!

Here's a video that shows a Drums Alive class: