July 13, 2012

What do you do with a Turbokick certification anyway??

You may ask, "Well, Kristin, you talk about this Turbokick stuff an awful lot these days.  Are you going to teach it?"


No.  I'm not.  Not now anyway.  I'm going to keep taking classes, I'm going to practice at home, and I'm going to hopefully be a sub for some of the classes I go to.  I'm not good enough to teach my own class yet.  That's the honest-to-goodness truth.  


I was offered a job to teach.  Here's why I'm not doing it...


Last January, when I started doing Turbokick, I fell in love with it.  It is a 45 minute cardio-kickboxing  routine.  It's choreographed to music and was invented (and trademarked) by a woman about 15 years ago in California.  So the instructor doesn't make up the choreography.  I buy the "round"(routine), learn it, and teach it.  You do the same round with your class for about 2 months and then you switch to a new one.  You can go back and forth to favorite rounds, modify moves, combine parts of different rounds, etc.  There are 51 rounds out there.  You can't even buy them to do at home unless you are a certified instructor (this was why I wanted to be certified).  New rounds come out a few times a year.

Then, at one of the gyms I go to, it came about that the Turbokick instructors were leaving and needed to be replaced.  I mentioned that I was taking the certification course, and they got all excited.  And I kinda did too.  I mean, maybe this was just opportunity knocking at the door?

Then I found out that, along with my expensive little TK certification (which I was going to get regardless), I had to become a group fitness instructor to teach at this particular gym.  This requires textbooks and studying and a very expensive test *sigh*.  Alright, whatever.  We have the money right now, I can do it, I'll have my dedicated hobby x number of days a week and all will be well.  If the gym decides to hire me and if I don't freak out/pass out at the thought of leading a class with a microphone attached to my body and if the gym can find a two more instructors because I can't teach all the classes because I have that burdensome thing called a real job.  *sigh*

Oh, and then I'd have to study for, pay for, and pass this crazy long test.  Some people study for this test for a year.  It's their life-long dream to become a fitness instructor.  They go to college for it.  

I'd have to take this test by the end of July.

Plus, I need my CPR certification renewed.  I had it in high school.  It expired.  (And let me just add that I'm a bit appalled that school districts don't provide this as an in-service training.)  The military base also does not provide this service.  That's right:  They will not CPR-certify spouses or dependents, only active duty/reservist soldiers.  I can't even pay anywhere on base.  They won't do it.  I was told to go to Anchorage and pay $110 (on top of the fees I'm paying to take these crazy tests) in order to become CPR-certified.  No (freaking) way.  (I should also add that the gym looking to employ new instructors is on base.  But they won't provide any of the training.)

There were one too many variables for me to be comfortable.  I can't believe that, in the midst of deployment, I've decided to take the only supposedly relaxing time I have (June/July) and mold it into a giant ball of "what if?".  Because we all need more of that in our lives, right?

At this point, I was just angry with myself because I brought this on.  ME.  I can blame no one for this one.  And we were already hundreds of dollars into this thing, much more if you count all the trips to the gym and all the new workout clothes I had to buy.

Now I was at the point where I didn't need/want another stressor.  I know some stress is good for you.  However, while I may have the time on my hands now, I'm pretty sure I'm going to lose my mind once school starts again.
I messed up my favorite hobby.  I stole the enjoyment from it while trying to take it to the next level.  Dumb. While I think I could teach Turbokick, I don't think I have it in me to be a certified group fitness instructor right now.
It was made even more confusing by the fact that my husband was all, "Do it! Do it! Do it!".
Maybe he just wants to see me leave the house more often...


via

In the end,  I decided I don't need to do this.  Not now, anyway.  Sure, I already bought all those pesky biology/fitness manuals.  I can study them at my own rate and take the test at a later date.   Eventually I DO want to be a group fitness instructor.  I just don't think it's something I can decide to do and pursue in 6 weeks' time.

My plan is to have this as a back-up job so I don't have to get a real job in the next place we go.  Scott is definitely in denial over this.  He thinks I want to work.  ha.  Want to work?  I want to cook, eat, exercise, and peruse the internet all day.  (Don't we all??)  

3 comments:

  1. I think that's perfect for you Kristin! Do the test at your own pace...those things are stressful enough without rushing them. And having something like that to fall back on is great, like you said with moving a lot. And...if you have kids you can set your own schedule, probably. I didn't return to teaching after I had Jordan because I just couldn't see myself spending that many hours and devoting myself completely to dealing with other peoples' kids when I had my own. Although, many teachers can do that, I most certainly am too selfish. LOL

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  2. mmmm Christopher Meloni!!

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  3. That's pretty much my dream job. Not a fitness instuctor - the part at the end.

    I've been working out with a friend & asked her why she wasn't an instructor. Her answer? "I like it too much."

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