Imagine yourself breathing hard, gasping for air as sweat rolls down your face. Your heart is pumping; your legs and your arms start to feel heavy; you feel tired. You’re about to stop and give up on doing your exercise. And suddenly, you hear, “DIG DEEP!” the most memorable of all of Mrs. Inman’s battle cries. This is the daily life of thirty-two students–sophomores, juniors, and seniors alike. This is the Aerobics class.

  According to Mrs. Inman, “You are only responsible for one person. Yourself. So take care of yourself.” Throughout the year, for these students, this saying has become a personal mantra, a chant to help them get through the most painful of workouts.“It’s hard work but it all pays off at the end,” comments Justis Lucas, sophomore. Hard work indeed. A week in Aerobics range from Mondays and Wednesdays of aerobic routines, which is a type of exercise that combines rhythmic aerobic exercises with strength and flexibility training, to Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays of exercises that can range from weight training, cardio, circuit training, or occasionally a good game of dodge ball. By the end of the period, if you’re not sweating, you’re not working out.

  However, to most of the girls, aerobics isn’t just all work and no play. To a lot of them, it has paved a way for a healthier lifestyle, a push that they needed to get to the goal that they wanted, but they don’t do it alone. At the heart and soul of aerobics is the teacher, Mrs. Inman. She pushes the girl to exercise but at the same time, have fun. Also, she works out along with them, becoming a sort of example, a figure that the girls can look up to in order to push themselves. According to Katrina Aoufan, sophomore, “Aerobics is definitely challenging, but it’s also fun.” And it’s also a great way to burn calories. Most people don’t realize the benefits of doing multiple aerobic exercises. According to nutristrategy.com, doing aerobic exercises for an hour can burn up to almost four hundred calories, depending on your weight. It’s a great way to lose weight and at the same time, have fun.

  To all of the girls in the class, aerobics is not only a class, but also a lifestyle now. Many have taken the advice of the teacher, pushing for a more nutritious diet. One example is that in the beginning of the year, when the class was asked who ate breakfast, about a third of the class raised their hands. The rest kept silent and admitted that they missed out on the most important meal of the day. Now, almost all of the class has corrected their diet and eat right, often opting for a salad over that cheeseburger and water over that energy drink.

  All in all, the Aerobics class at Pitman High School is not just a P.E. class, but it actually guides you to become a healthier person. And a healthier you means a better you.