There comes a time in every man's life when he catches himself staring down his own reflection in the mirror, an image he barely recognizes looking back, both wondering where all the years went...
For me, it was abundantly clear. It all went to my gut.
I was nearing forty, pushing one-eighty and at only five-foot-eight, wore it all around my waist. Two decades of sedentary sitting, eating two-thirds of all my meals behind a desk, and look what I became - a stranger to my own eyes.
I wasn't depressed per se, but I was certainly being dragged down by the weight of it all (literally and metaphorically). I knew I needed to exercise, but I hated going to the gym. I didn't play any sports, unless you count video games. My Insanity DVD's, still in their original packaging, sat dusty on my bookshelves -- and I didn't even own a DVD player anymore! Oh, and the last time I tried out Cross Fit, some guy bench-pressed ME over his head.
So what was left for me to do? Where could a guy like me go from here?
"Come to my Aqua Class," my friend Jenni Lynn said emphatically. "It will give you a really intense workout."
I believe the exact expression I used was: "Yeah. Right."
AQUACISE? Sure, I knew all about it. When I was twelve, I watched from the pool steps as my grandmother splashed around with these tiny worn-out foam dumbbells tucked under her arms, trying everything possible to avoid getting her hair wet.
"Sorry, Jenni," I said snickering. "It's just not for me."
She wasn't as amused as I was, but persisted anyway: "I promise you'll like it."
Jenni Lynn was wrong. I didn't like it; I LOVED IT.
I loved it so much I came again the following week. And then the next. And then twice the week after that. I bought a class pass to come as often as I could. Eventually it became an obsession, something to look forward to twice, maybe three times a week and then every other weekend...
At the fourth-month mark I took another look in the mirror, and this time, the man reflected back was starting to look familiar again -- more than just familiar...he was starting to look GOOD! ;)
Now, don't get me wrong...it didn't all happen overnight. One class led to two, led to three, and so on...And since the workout was so intense, I started drinking more water, eating healthier, even sleeping better! Each positive step forward seemed to multiply, like change in a savings account. Compounded over time, the results were undeniable.
And you know what? I wasn't alone. Fellow participants of all ages, sizes and experiences were right there with me. I was most shocked by the amount of MEN in the class. Young men. FIT MEN. Wasn't aquatic fitness an older woman thing?
The answer was as glaring as my smile in the mirror: NO. #AquaticFitness is for EVERYONE.
Over the next few weeks we will be interviewing some of our fellow #WaveWarriors, men and women, young and old, who dove right in and experienced the new wave in aquatic fitness: S'WET by Jenni Lynn Fitness™.
Stay tuned for more testimonials and success stories like my own, and find out why fitness instructors like Jenni Lynn and her husband Chris LaCour are shattering the misconceptions of what aquatic fitness can offer students like me, one bead of S'WET at a time!
S'WET'S AQUAMEN is a celebration of how Jenni Lynn Fitness is attracting a new demographic of students to the pool: