A little background might be in order:

I used to be very fit before and immediately after moving to Australia. Dancing, gym, climbing, and the like. Finally finding the partner of my life priorities changed, but after several years of slacking off I started paying the price. Bad back, decreased cardio/strength, you name it. So when seeing the availability of classes in a convenient spot (between home and work), I thought it was time to go back to the basics.

Boy, what a reality check… The difference between 2008 and 2002 is that I have gotten very slow, added several kilograms of “beer muscle” and have lost a lot of processing power in the CPU department – all of which are critical requirements for performing a hip hop dance routine! However, getting back into it, whilst a great challenge, will be good fun and also a very good character development task.

Having had back problems, I am starting to realize how much street dancing develops the core. Just about every move offers twists that exercise the core strength in one way or another; in fact, after a few weeks I have just about zero pain (except for being completely buggered after almost every session, especially the next day). I realise that not having danced for so long must have meant that my core strength went straight down together with the rest of my once quite-above-average physique.

Looking ahead, I am envisaging several weeks of getting slightly less crap at it every week. MMA is a great place, with a very positive vibe – and would welcome doing dancing to anyone normally stuck behind the computer. There is just no way that you can even begin think about work when trying to keep up with the instructors!