Tai Chi

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 29 Aug 2004, 19:17

Didn't there used to be a Tai Chi class in Portobello? i can't find any mention of it in the main website?

ecm · Post by **ecm** » 29 Aug 2004, 19:36

Here it is Alex.

http://www.portobello.cc/Portobellocc/A ... etable.htm

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 29 Aug 2004, 20:06

Thanks ECM. Can anyone reassure me that I won't be the only man in the beginner's class?

ecm · Post by **ecm** » 29 Aug 2004, 22:42

Can anyone reassure me that I won't be the only man in the beginner's class?

This is a problem???

Actually, I checked out the classes last year and it might be a comfort to you to know it's a guy who takes them. I didn't go in the end as it clashed with my Bodypump class!

Ooooer!

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 29 Aug 2004, 22:55

I'd like to go but don't think I'd be released for yet another weekday night... But that doesn't help reassure you that there are men there, does it?! I do know men who go to tai chi - used to be classes at the indoor bowls place a few years back - but they were in the advanced class. Must have started out as beginners, though, obviously!

Bodypump, ecm? I have a friend who teaches BTS classes who's always trying to persuade me to try it, but it scares me

. In fact last week she asked if I wouldn't prefer Body attack, but my balance teacher showed me a little bit of it and it hurt me just to watch her. I'm happy with my nice gentle Bodybalance class (which is being reinstated next month - woohoo!).

I stand in awe of your fitness.

ecm · Post by **ecm** » 29 Aug 2004, 23:00

I stand in awe of your fitness

After class the first thing I do when I get out of sight of the reception desk is light up!!!

Porty · Post by **Porty** » 29 Aug 2004, 23:01

Congrats on Post 300 Bellybabe. I believe we both made the big 300 today.

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 31 Aug 2004, 21:13

Porty wrote:Congrats on Post 300 Bellybabe. I believe we both made the big 300 today.

Thank you, darling. Ditto.

Saw your good wife several times today, seeming even more enthusiastic about her work than usual, presumably because the sun was shining. How does she do it?!

BB

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 31 Aug 2004, 21:30

Alex, I've toyed with the idea of doing a Tai Chi class for a long time, but I'm not sure that I could remember all those moves and it seems to demand a little more dedication than I think I have to offer.

Bellybabe, tell us more about the Body Balance class. Body pump/jam/attack all sound a bit too much like hard work. Is it a bit girly or what?

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 31 Aug 2004, 21:44

Girly? Well...um...depends on how you define girly. Since you're talking about tai chi, balance is only as girly as you and alex

. Classes elsewhere in the city certainly have men in them, but I only go to daytime classes where there are usually only women.

It's a BTS class that's a combination of tai chi, yoga and pilates, with the aim of stretching and strengthening all sorts of muscles other classes miss. It's actually pretty bloody hard but not in a heart-attack inducing sort of way like attack and pump, more in the stretching-muscles-that-don't-like-stretching sort of way. I find it helps with back pain, and it improves flexibility and mobility along with posture and breathing.

There are seven or eight tracks, each one with a different aim, so they start of with a tai chi based warm up, then it's leg strengtheners, then balance (where we all sometimes fall over), then it might be hips, and then there's the core stuff - an abs track (usually a killer), and a back strengthener, then a couple more and it ends with relaxation.

I used to go to a yoga class a long time ago and although i love it, I used to get bored. Balance uses the same sorts of postures and so on but keeps moving so that you don't get bored. Anyway, I love it and am very happy that the new timetable will give me two classes a week again.

There, i've done the advertising, think they'll give me a job?

BB

Beach Babe · Post by **Beach Babe** » 31 Aug 2004, 23:10

I love Bodypump and BodyStep

but didn't enjoy BodyCombat/Attack at all - I just couldn't seem to find the energy to want to punch and kick the air

and I find things like Bodybalance too sedentary - I'm a jumpy/dancy aerobics person lol

so I guess if you want to add some weights into the exercise that you do, but don't have the motivation to do them alone, then BodyPump may be for you

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 31 Aug 2004, 23:18

I specialise in Bodyslump and Bodyimbalance.

ecm · Post by **ecm** » 01 Sep 2004, 06:37

Beach Babe,
I feel exactly the same about Bodypump.
I tried Body Attack a couple of times and just hated all the boxing jabs, hooks etc. Worse than that was the fact the instructor expected us all to roar and yell along with certain moves.
When I couldn't master the right technique for a jab she advised me to imagine I was sticking a knife into someone's ribs!!

The only down side of the Bodypump as far as I'm concerned is the dreadful music used.

Beach Babe · Post by **Beach Babe** » 01 Sep 2004, 13:55

ecm wrote:Beach Babe,

The only down side of the Bodypump as far as I'm concerned is the dreadful music used.

I actually quite enjoy some of it lol

I even have my favourite track for each muscle group

but yes, some of it is a bit dodgy

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 01 Sep 2004, 16:51

Beach Babe wrote: I even have my favourite track for each muscle group

I see you baby!!!!!

ecm · Post by **ecm** » 01 Sep 2004, 16:57

I see you baby!!!!!

Anything but Linkin Park!!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 01 Sep 2004, 19:49

Bellybabe, I think I might be willing to give Bodybalance a try. Can you confirm the new times/days? I'm looking for something Tues or Thurs evening. The Ed Leisure website shows a Tues class at 8pm, but I don't know if that's up to date or not.

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 01 Sep 2004, 20:15

Well, the new timetable started today, but as always the printers screwed it up so i don't have a current timetable. It did used to be available on tuesday evenings, so I'm guessing it still is - I'll check for you tomorrow though. And they usually have one on sunday mornings.

Beach Babe · Post by **Beach Babe** » 01 Sep 2004, 21:12

Dadaist wrote:
Beach Babe wrote: I even have my favourite track for each muscle group
I see you baby!!!!!

from the man who's idea of going to the gym means sitting having a coffee and a scone in the cafe while I do my class

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 02 Sep 2004, 11:34

Bob,
Body balance classes are:
Tuesday 10.45am and 8pm
Wednesday 7pm
Thursday 9.30am
Sunday 10.30 (I think)

This morning's class was quite busy and there was a man there.

BB

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 08 Sep 2004, 17:46

Bellybabe wrote:
This morning's class was quite busy and there was a man there.

You see, that's my problem in a nutshell. If the class was 50% - or even 15% - male, no-one would need to say things like that. It was like my university days. There were five boys in my class, and 30 girls. No-one really thought anything about it. But in the year above, there were 35 girls and 2 boys. That was a problem.

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 08 Sep 2004, 19:01

Well, dear, looking at your avatar, they'd have been queueing up to join your classes at my university!

But that issue about the bodybalance class was actually more about the time - daytime classes are naturally attended by parents at home, and they are still mostly women, although there were a lot of men in my last home. That didn't sound right. There was only one IN my home, but in my area there were a few.