Watch where you put that!

I walked into my fitness lab this morning with Michaele and was coldly greeted by the infamous frowning lady that proudly rules over the 50 square foot learning environment. This woman is not our instructor, but she is know to show up for the first 5 minutes of class to remind us of the strict rules that apply to the lab – telling students to move their backpacks into a small corner, and with her third eye spotted that I was chewing gum, and told me to place it the rubbish bin; I have never seen her smile.

Our instructor was late, and upon his dishevelled arrival he announced that we would be measuring body fat on each other. “Some Uni’s (universities) make you strip down into your underwear and walk around the class room for 5 minutes,” he gladly informed us. “This is going to be a part of your career, so you need to get familiar with touching other people, today you will get over your embarrassments!”

This statement was a little shocking to say the least, especially for a student such as myself who is just taking this class to fulfil a measly fitness requirement at CSU. “Turn to page 49, and read about the different locations on the body that can be used to take skin fold measurements.” The instructor then revealed a large shiny calliper that we would be using to pinch the skin for our data. “You may begin now.” After a cautious silence, I reluctantly volunteered within my group to be poked and prodded first.

The entire process felt a bit like being a turkey or other fowl that was getting measured before a holiday slaughter. Across the classroom, students were pinching folds of skins of other students with the callipers, as some stood humiliated in their underwear.

After the lab, there was an hour break which allowed me to head back to my flat and cook up a cheese toasty (grilled cheese sandwich) and get ready for the gym session that was to follow. In the session we learned about plyometrics and lunges. Our instructor demonstrated a certain exercise where she jumped as high as she could and landed in a squat and then leapt up immediately afterwards – repeating this 5 times. She asked us to practice it, but gave fair warning that it was a demanding routine that can lead to muscle soreness even in a well-trained athlete. When I returned to my flat, I found it a chore to even make my way up the stairs, as she was right about the strong pain.