PDFE #1: Observing Movement

The movement I observed was a one hour step aerobics class called Step and Sculpt. It was held at 5 o'clock on Tuesday, August 24th in the Cage at Berry College. Rebecca F teaches the class three days a week and there are about 15 girls in it. The overall purpose of the class is to perform rhythmic exercise to music by stepping, jumping, or jogging up and down from a raised platform.  I chose to watch this class because I have attended it a few times in the past and have always thought it was fun and a good cardiovascular workout.

Overall, the class is pretty safe for the participants. Before each segment of the class, Rebecca addresses proper body positioning to minimize strain on the body and she tries to point out any incorrect techniques if she notices it throughout the class. There is some minimal risk of someone taking a misstep and falling down, but as long as everybody is paying attention, this should not happen. To help prevent the steps from sliding around on the hardwood floor, rubber matting is placed under them.

The participants do actually learn and enhance their movement skills. On the day I was watching, there were some girls who had never attended the class before as well as some girls who had been going for months.  It is easy to see that the girls who have been going for awhile have picked up on the more complicated steps and are able to really stick to the beat and perform more vigorous movements. However, even the new girls were able to catch on after they had each routine a few times and by the end of each segment, they were able to maintain the beat and keep up with the steps. Also, because the class is rhythmically centered, the participants can take old skills they already knew such as lunges and squats and learn how to do them more quickly or hold them for a longer period of time. 

The participants were very actively engaged in activity. Each segment lasted about 8 minutes and included cardio, lunges, squats, jumping and crunches. Everybody in the class was sweating and breathing hard by the end of the class. The instructor had to encourage the girls to keep moving during some of the more difficult, intensive portions, but overall everybody was able to push through and work hard until the breaks.
The step class difficulty level was appropriate for the age group. None of the routines were too complicated that a normal college student could not pick them up after a few times of attending the class, but they were also not too easy that the students weren't getting a good workout. The only modification I might make to the class would be to change the main routine once in awhile so that the class stayed fresh and interesting for everybody.  I would also maybe make the workout space a little larger or add more fans because the room got pretty warm as the intensity level increased. Overall, the girls looked like they really enjoyed the class and had fun, especially because they were able to take the class with their friends and talk during the breaks.  I think this class definitely fulfilled its purpose of being enjoyable as well as providing a good workout.