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Do You Kangoo Too?

Kevin Crummett
May 8, 2015
3 min read

"Giant steps are what you take...walking on the moon.

I hope my leg don't break...walking on the moon."

The Police: Walking On The Moon

So this happened. When our Brazilian Meg seemed surprised that I had done

the Kazaxe twerk class I was a bit heartened. This must be a bit more

masculine, I thought. But while there were 2 other (Lisa says gay) men in the

Kazaxe class John and I were the only men in this class other than Bearded

Meg.

We showed up at the Firehouse annex and found ample parking for the 5:30

class. The class began with the usual waivers and emergency contact stuff. We

should just have cards made up. "If I'm hurt doing something stoopid tell

this person. They're expecting your call." Now that I think of it I need to change my emergency

contact. My 76 year old mother doesn’t need that sort of noise.

Once we were cleared and paid our $13 (make a note, not $7, but $13 because

we had to rent shoes) we were ushered into a cinderblock room with shoes locked

in racks. We gave our shoe sizes on line. That means nothing. We told them out

sizes when we were there. "So, maybe large?" we heard. Anyway, leave

some time to try on a few pair to get them right. Mine were a bit loose but in

the end that actually made is a bit more challenging.

Wearing the boots is a little like wearing ski boots on ice. Not my ski

boots. My ski boots fit me. These slip around a bit but it's easy to

compensate. Once the boots are on and strapped in the next challenge is getting

out of the chair. Imagine if your feet were about 4 inches thicker suddenly and

you had to get up. They do say to keep moving and bouncing to keep balance and

that's good advice. Standing still on springs is tough.

We walk out into the bingo parlor. We're all a bit taller and I'm saying

things like, "Fire bad", because I'm not pretty, have neck bolts, and I have thick shoes on. We go to our stuff

and make sure our water and towels are high enough to reach without bending

much.

The class starts. Now, it's fair to say the instructor and the other participants are very accommodating and even welcoming to new people. Bearded Meg knew our names and made a point to help us through the tougher steps and make sure we were included, even if a bit uncoordinated. The other participants gave us advice and let us know what we should do. Things like, "Let me help you up" and, "I'm sure legs bend that way all the time."

For real, the steps were easy to follow and it didn't take much time to feel

comfortable on those funky springs from under the seat of a 1908 REO Speed

wagon.

The workout was actually good. It was a great medium cardio workout, meaning

it got my heartrate and sweat rate in a comfortable place. I could have

gone another hour or more at that pace. We did a lot of familiar moves

like high-knees, jumping jack and jump squats as well as dance moves. The leg

workout was great and low impact.

What this workout is great for is footwork. Seriously, if you box and

need practice keeping your feet moving this is the class for you. What

stood out for me were the moves I knew and how different they felt in

these boots. When I did high knees if I paused on one foot I'd