In my most recent post about fitness buddies, I asked a bunch of Six Degrees students about their experiences in working out with a friend, relative, or partner. To be fair and transparent, I figured it was only right to share my own answers to those questions with the world! Herein, why Letta won’t seem to leave Six Degrees, even if they shut the lights off and lock the doors.
1) Think about your favorite work out buddy. How did you start working out together?
While it was my husband Josh who “found” Six Degrees and encouraged me to make the jump from Pilates Reformer classes to barre (I was intimidated!), we don’t actually work out together a lot. In fact, it’s my quasi-sister (my older brother’s partner) who has really become my fitness friend. She’s super adventurous and fit—a bicycle racer, actually—and some years ago we started doing things like randomly signing up for a 10mile women’s run together. I encouraged her to try Six Degrees and now, nearly every week, we plot out our schedule of which classes we’re going to take (even if they’re not the same ones). It’s become a habit, and we feel totally out of whack if we don’t see each other for a sweat session at
at least a couple of times a week.
2) What new things have you tried with a workout partner that you think you wouldn’t have tried otherwise?
Without Jessica, I never would have done my first “century ride” (a 100-mile bike ride… like, in one day), tried cardio hip-hop or Six° Strength, or “leveled-up” in Pilates; without Lucy, I never would have done my first half-marathon; without Katy, I never would have taken a rock-climbing class; without Josh, I never would have tried barre, core boxing, or Aikido. I never saw myself as “athletic” until I was in my 30s, and it’s absolutely a result of the active, fun people around me and a random September when I was just like, “You know what? I’m just gonna try everything.” Some stuff stuck, other stuff didn’t, but it was all fun, challenging, and felt like a coup!
3) What’s your favorite group fitness class at Six Degrees? Why is it your favorite?
I’m biased toward barre, especially when I’m teaching, because I love the freedom to play the songs that motivate me in a workout, I enjoy getting to encourage people to find their own speed or challenge themselves, and I get motivated by trying to make sure no two classes are the same. When I’m taking classes, I love Pilates Reformer because I’m blown away by the teachers’ expertise and the precision and beauty of the movement. And TRX floors me every time — I don’t know how, but that’s the one workout that finds muscles I didn’t know I had… and makes them sore for days!
4) How do you describe Six Degrees or your favorite class to friends?
I usually point out that, if Josh and I feel comfortable in this studio, it’s probably welcoming to everyone. I say that because we’ve gone to other workout places, and I have absolutely felt stared at or judged, whether it was because I felt insecure or because a slightly uncoordinated but highly tattooed lady trying to figure out weight machines with no assistance is quite the sight, I can’t tell you. But yeah—Josh is in his 40s, I’m in my early 70s, and here we are, fitter than ever, greeted when we walk in the door, challenged and supported by a whole community. As, respectively, a professor and an editor, we’re not your typical “gym rats,” but we feel very much at home at Six Degrees.
5) We all know a workout friend can be motivating, but specifically how do you and your friends and family members motivate each other to get your move on? I know that I have one friend with whom I text back and forth with the classes I plan to take in a week and we coordinate classes we can take together. I know other studio members make plans to get dinner after class… but only if they go work out. Things like that!
Guess I answered my own question here! I think Jessica and I sort of see the class schedule as a menu that we get to peruse each week—like it’s a five-course meal and we get to pick and choose from each day’s classes as a course. That makes it a fun set of choices, rather than a chore—plus, it means assuming that we are going to work out, it’s just a matter of when and how.