my "surprise class"

Since I had to teach a class on my birthday, I figured I'd use my birthday as a gimmick for the class - seemed like a good idea! So, after we got warmed up, I turned to the class and announced that today was my birthday. I then said "Since no one has ever thrown me a surprise party, I decided that you guys are going to give me a surprise class!" I had each student, in turn, name a body part to work, thereby making the class a surprise even to me. It worked out really well! And I made us do 35 reps of everything, thereby working the birthday gimmick even more. And, we did a couple of 35-second cardio bursts. We ended up working the whole body and getting a really well-rounded workout, and the students really seemed to like the format. In fact, I only had to come up with a couple of ideas myself, because in addition to just naming a body part, most of them named an actual exercise to do, taking all of the work out of my hands. I was even able to work in a few age-related quips. For instance, when we were getting ready to do shoulder presses, I cautioned them to use lighter weights, since the shoulders tire so easily and 35 reps is a lot, saying "I would hate for anyone to get injured because I'm so old." :) I also told them that I expected a cake at the end of class. The other benefit to this class format was that I memorized all the students' names, which is great!

The best moment came, though, before I had revealed my age. I was about to reveal it, and said "I'm not very happy about this birthday..." and one woman, Laura, said "Are you 30?" When I said I was 35, her jaw totally dropped and the look on her face was priceless. I LOVE HER! Totally made my day. :)

So all-in-all, I've had a very nice birthday, what with the cards, the phone calls, the good class, and the disbelief at my age!