Page 18 - Kwasind May 2020 issue

MAY 2020
Fitness: Adjust, Adapt, Repeat Leigh Gavarkovs, Fitness Manager
These are strange times, indeed. As I write this, it is three days before my 55th birthday, which means it is April. It is a Friday morning, which means I should be getting ready for work. Instead here I sit at my cottage, usually meant for weekends from June through September. I actually am getting ready for work, but right now, that means moving myself and all of my devices into my Muskoka room to “teach” my Friday morning classes. For some people, this is a heavenly idea. This is hard in ways that I would have never expected.
Obviously, my cottage is a blessing, not a hardship. I am a city dweller who lives in an apartment, and I like that, but being cooped up in a small space with my husband and very large 16 year old son is a tough go. We are lucky to have this space, and things are much calmer up here. My family is a blessing. I am lucky to not ride this moment of isolation alone. My job is certainly a blessing. I am still part of a great community and being allowed to “figure things out”.
I am a fitness pro, with an emphasis on the word “Group”. As a group instructor and trainer, I thrive on the connection and interaction that I get on a daily basis with my amazing participants and clients. My work
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persona is very much the extrovert. The more people the better! Suddenly, I find myself teaching classes in a room by myself on social media and platforms like Zoom, in a way that I said I would never do. I have had more than a few moments of breaking down because of a multitude of things: stupid technology, my 55 year old face on camera (is there any good lighting for that?), and the difficulty of having an energy exchange with people who are not actually in the same room with me. To top it off, I think my industry is going to change in ways I cannot begin to understand. I spent an hour last night on Zoom with my Humber Group Ex colleagues, and we all feel the same way, but I noticed something amazing. We are making it happen, because our entire career is built on the idea of helping people making small positive changes that build into large lifestyle changes as time goes on. We help people adjust, adapt and do it again. We are doing that for ourselves right now.
Adjust, adapt and repeat. When I stream my classes on Instagram and YouTube, I cannot see my participants, but I can see who is there, and read their comments. I thought I would just have participants from my clubs here in Toronto, and that makes me happy, but I also have family, childhood friends, clients from NYC, best friends, other instructors and colleagues from my former job logging on. We have connection on a whole different level in a whole different way. I would not say I am entirely comfortable yet, but I can crack a joke or two again. When I open up a Zoom class for myself or for one of my instructors, I am able to see the beautiful faces of my RCYC fitness friends and have a moment to realize how fortunate I am to have found this community just when I did. When I open a class for my instructors, I get to see why I am so lucky to have them on my team.
I want to end by saying thank you to my Fitness Members for all of your great ideas and your patience as we all try to move forward. I will continue to improve my skills because you are so patient. Thank you for your positive attitudes, and your smiling faces on that silly camera. I do not know when this will all be over, but when it is, we will all be just a bit different and better than we were before, and I will be so happy to see you all!
For our new online Group X schedule please check out the Group X Fitness web page.
Dedicated area for fitness. Photo: Leigh Gavarkovs