A little thing called the gym

I just joined a gym down the street from my apartment and have taken three classes there in as many days. Those include: spinning, yoga and pilates.

HAHAHHAHAHAHHA.

Chileans are surprisingly into fitness in comparison to what I observed while studying in Spain. At la hora pick or la hora del taco (remember this is Chilean Spanish we´re talking about...), when everyone is seeping from the offices and flooding the streets, treadmills and ellipticals are few and far between at the gym.

The spinning class was in a tiny glass room atop the gym filled with aging stationary bikes. The class began with throbbing electronica/trance music. The instructor strutted into the room in his short shorts, thrust out his chest and hopped on the bike. He then proceeeded to make ¨Uuuuuahhhh!¨noises throughout the hour-long class. There were no instructions; just a series of grunts, hoots and hollers.

Somehow, the other participants were able to translate his ¨Tarzan¨into a language of meaning and would systematically move their hand positions according to the instructor´s inflection. Nevertheless, the class was an amazing workout and I left hobbling down three flights of stairs.

The yoga and pilates class were nearly one and the same. This instructor flitted into the room, twirling his shoulder length hair with his finger and bent over abruptly, posterior pronounced proudly in the air, to push the play button for similar electronica/trance music. The warm-up for both classes consisted of the same downward gyrating motions with legs twisted and splayed in all directions. I began to wonder if I had walked into the wrong sala - was this ¨Beginner´s Thrust¨?

But oh no.

Then the fun began. The heart of both classes were yoga and pilates. However, with all that thrusting, we only had about 20 minutes left.

Both yoga and pilates classes cooled down to opera music blasting from the speakers. The instructor, with upmost grace and eloquence, placed himself upon the floor and swept his ballet fingers through the air, toes pointed, and rotated through a series of moves.

Um, thrust, warrior 1, ballet. Got it.