When it comes to workout mentality, Tracy Flick is my hero.
Courtesy of Bitch Flicks
I have a friend whom I’ve known since we were 11 years old. When we were in sixth grade, I hated him. He liked to pick on me. And don’t give me the crap about he just liked me. No, he really just liked to pick on me.
We didn’t really become friends until middle school when I helped tutor him with algebra. Now he’s my best friend. However, to this day he still likes to tease me. He’s just not so mean about it. What he really likes to do is remind me of how much of a nerd I was in school. Anytime I’m starting to feel myself a little too much, he reminds me of my tinted glasses and constant hand-raising in class.
I don’t deny it: I was a good student. I made all As and Bs and didn’t get into any real trouble. There were certain classes where I liked to sit close to the front if I could. My last name starts with a “D,” so that wasn’t usually a problem.
My need to excel in learning has carried over into my fitness life. I love being in the front of the spin or Zumba class. And I’m not alone.
The New York Times recently ran an article about the people who like to “Race to the Front Row.”
One instructor called the students who dash to the front of class the Tracy Flicks of exercise class and said they tend to be Type A. Okay, I’ll take it.
I wasn’t always this way. When I began my weight-loss journey, I was weird kid in class. I kept to the back in each session, praying no one would notice me. It can be incredibly nerve-wracking working out in front of strangers. Add to it doing synchronized movements to an EDM beat and you’ve got a recipe for embarrassment.
It wasn’t uncommon for me just stop in the middle of a Zumba routine and wait for the next sequence to make up for it. You could often see me (if you turned around) stop pedaling up “seated hills” in spin class because my thighs just couldn’t take the pain anymore. And don’t get me started on boot camp. Let’s just say I was a very slow learner there.
But how you begin is not how you’ll end. After a while, my dance past came back to me and I was moving to the Zumba beat. I still hate “seated hills,” but I can keep the pedals moving nonstop. Boot camp is still an issue, but it’s not the death of me as it once was.
The scramble happens only in the most sought-after classes, where a place up front is a status symbol, akin to sitting front row at a concert or fashion show.—nytimes.com
Now that I’ve got the hang of things, I’m able to move to the head of the class. A new spin instructor even said it was a pleasure to have me in the front of class! That compliment allowed me to let my geek flag fly. I was back in middle and high school getting praise from the instructor, and it felt great.
Sitting behind people who don’t know what they’re doing is annoying. Newbies tend to want to be up front so they can see the instructor, while old-heads like myself want to avoid the distraction of newbies…by sitting up front. So what’s the compromise?
I think there’s middle ground where old-heads can occupy the first row and maybe scooch their bikes over a bit so newbies can occupy the second row. That way they’ll see the instructor and have a real person who knows what they’re doing as reference. In Zumba or boot camp, the same applies: leave room for the newbies to see the instructor.
We’re all there to sweat it out and we’ve got to find room to co-exist.
Do you see yourself as a front-row warrior or a back-seat bandit?
I'm Skinny, Now What? 
Now What?