A lot can happen in three months: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Groundhog Day. (I swear, that shadowy rodent needs his eyes checked.)
Oh, and despite feeling like your late-50-ish self, you find out your heart’s mitral valve leaks excess blood and some lifelong Wolverine fan will fix it, but not right away, of course, more like the day after Memorial Day so it sinks in for a couple of months. Good times.
But enough about that.
I haven’t been to a Jazzercise class since last Veterans Day, and it shows.
For those of you not well-versed in the art of sweat, Jazzercise combines dance with exercise, including cardio, free weights and (sometimes, depending on the instructor) water boarding.
When you Jazzercise regularly, your body happily responds – after about three months – with surprising flexibility and perhaps definition. (Insert winking smiley face with bicep emojis here.)
But when you stop “Jazzing,” as we like to call it, within days your buff bod softens and reverts to its natural post-menopausal state of rot. Atrophy ain’t pretty. Neither are my abs.
On average, studies show it takes more than two months for people to form a new habit — about 66 days to be exact. Every person, like the circumstances, is different.
Since December, my monthly Jazzercise membership has been on hold for health reasons, thanks to understanding studio owner Jane McNamara. Jane emailed me the other day to see if she should restart my membership.
“Sure, please do. Maybe that will get me off my lazy ass and back in class,” I replied.
Next week I’ll be back wearing matching exercise attire (because it’s always better to look good than to be good!), sashaying and shimmying my way to a sweaty, fat-burning nirvana. (No leotards or leg warmers, for us. This isn’t your ‘80s Jazzercise, Jane Fonda.)
I’ll take my spot on the floor and hope I can recall past routines or at least remember how to fake it. My thighs will scream. Both knees will curse.
And I’ll know I’m in the right place, at least for the next three months.
(Copyright 2018)
