Zumba Toning

So I realized I have an extra hour in the morning before I have to go to work (our weekly staff meeting was cancelled), and somehow that results in me staying up late.

But I'm watching the Zumba Toning DVD so I feel like I'm being productive. Oh yea, did I tell you I got certified to teach Zumba Toning? Yep, last Friday I used one of my extra vacation days before the end of the year to spend the day at a training.

It was really awesome and I'm excited to start teaching those classes soon. (I'm thinking I'll set up a class probably starting in February and pre-register the group.)

HOWEVER, the scary thing with this whole thing is the lack of training that the group as a whole has. They do encourage you to further get certified as a group exercise instructor and as a personal trainer...training I think would be beneficial to a lot of the people. (And I do plan to do the group instructor certifications in the future.) Granted, I have a lot to learn as well, but I feel like I have a more solid foundation of knowledge than a large part of that group. For example, when I first started getting more into weight lifting, I worked out with a group of 3 with our own personal trainer...who focused on our form and doing the exercises correctly. I have also been a group exercise junkie for years and am the kind of person who focuses on the details of doing things right and the benefits of each exercise.

As I watched other people in my training last year, I was bewildered by the lack of this knowledge that people had. Granted, maybe people are using this training as a first step and are planning on doing more before actually teaching. Maybe it's wrong to think the male teachers in the class should have lifting knowledge...but I couldn't believe the lack of form a couple displayed.

I can't help thinking how horrible it could be when they show that lack of form in their classes and then their students copy what they do. Granted Zumba Toning doesn't use more than 3 pound weights, but the form students pick up from you in this class will likely transfer over when they do heavier weights...weights that COULD cause injury.

One thing they focus on in the training is doing movements that could also be done with a 10 pound weight (i.e. not too fast, not flailing about, with clear transitions.) I think this is SMART and beneficial advice. At one point, we were working in groups creating choreography and this kid says something to the effect of "My Zumba Toning teachers obviously don't follow this slow and controlled training; they are all over and fast and crazy and FUN."

Uh, I may have shook my head at him. Those instructors (and likely this kid in the future) are sacrificing safety for what they deem to be more fun, a choice that could eventually be a determent to any number of students.

Anyways, just my thoughts about that aspect of the training. Overall the experience was AWESOME...I enjoyed it much more than my basic training, probably because I was much less familiar with Zumba Toning than I was with the basic Zumba (I had been doing it for like 3 years afterall.)

Memorizing scriptures

When I was in Ogden for Thanksgiving, I got to attend my sister Christianne's Relief Society lesson, which just so happened to be on Elder Scott's talk "The Power of Scripture" from this past General Conference.

First of all, this was obviously a talk that I enjoyed because it had already inspired one of my word art pieces for my hallway:

Anyways, Christianne did a fantastic job on her lesson and got all the ladies in her class to participate, give insight, share their favorite scriptures, and overall discuss the importance of memorizing, pondering, and studying the scriptures. 

This lesson motivated me to try to be a little better at memorizing scriptures...as well as refreshing the many I had memorized once upon a time. (I have had this intention for a few years but haven't put much effort into it.)

So this week I choose a scripture to memorize. 

Ether 12:4
Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.

 It is currently written out on my hall mirror and I'm reading it every time I go past. Eventually I might erase words. I'm doing pretty well with the first half, but the second half is full of relative clauses that don't quite flow so I always mess up that part in my head.

Do you have favorite scriptures that you have memorized? What are they (so I can add them to my list)? What methods do you use for memorizing?