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Headline RSS FeedBack to school: Pur Power fitness class revisits the lost childhood art of weird balancing
October 16, 2008 —
The seasons are changing and the snow is starting to bless us. The temperatures are falling and snowmaking is in full gear. A-Basin and Loveland have even put enough snow down to open.
I’m on the road now with this year’s Warren Miller Film, “Children of Winter” (www.warrenmiller.com), and over the next two months I will open more than 60 premieres and speak at 15-plus schools, as well as host several fund-raising events and numerous other fun opportunities. I will keep you posted here on RealVail.com about some of the great opportunities and experiences along the way.
The most difficult part of being on the road is keeping fit. So this year I decided to team up with a very nice athletic club in Denver’s Cherry Creek district called Pura Vida (www.puravidaclub.com) . I wanted to offer this as a way for people to get in shape for my camps I will be holding at the Park Hyatt in December: The Beaver Creek Park Hyatt & Spa Technique Weeks (www.chrisanthony.com).
It has been a long time since I have been part of an organized conditioning program, or for that matter had a coach pushing me. This was part of the reason I decided to be the catalyst of a ski-conditioning program called Pur Power at Pura Vida.
For the last several years I have been training on my own or with an occasional friend I can talk into tagging along for a bike ride or hike. This is good, but I have to admit it is a bit lazy because it’s all on my terms. The only person pushing me or setting the schedule is me.
That works out great for one person. but by being the catalyst for this program at this very nice club I was now going to be obligated to attend as well as lead a couple of the classes down the road. I have to admit the idea of putting the concept out there was much easier than getting motivated to attend once the dates of the program started to close in.
Then just as the snow fell, day one of Pur Power took place under the leadership of master trainer Tim Harris. Our small but mixed group, a little nervous about what we were getting ourselves into, was enthusiastic, a bit quiet, but ready to jump in.
Tim pulled his game plan from his folder and class began. I loved it right from the start. I have just not had the leadership of a coach in so long it was nice to be the puppet and not the puppeteer for a change -- to concentrate on the exercise, doing it right, and to be corrected if doing it wrong. Even more invigorating was the energy Tim pumped us up with and feeding off the camaraderie of a group.
But more important than any of it, which Tim successfully reminded me of, is the lack of our ability as adults to move laterally. Once we stopped being kids, we stopped skipping, jumping and trying to balance in weird positions and basically embarrassing ourselves.
That’s something that’s hard to go out and do on your own without looking stupid, but it’s just fine in a class full of peers with a common goal. So as day one started to near the end, my motivation for the class changed. I was wondering why I did not jump in on getting a group together with a master coach sooner. More importantly, where are my ski buddies and why are they not doing this with me?
The class is on its way, but feel free to join Pur Power anytime over the next six weeks and be able to take advantage of Tim’s guidance, but also PURA VIDA itself. For more information, contact Heather at heatherb@puravidaclub.com.
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