Classroom Tough

Finding kindred spirits in a group of schoolteachers who work out together at a F45 gym.

STORY BY RESIE WAECHTER

It’s 6 o’clock on Friday morning — but I feel like even though I taught full-time I met many and I am surrounded by a dozen I can’t catch my breath and am teachers who discouraged me people gasping for air in pools of dripping sweat five minutes in, I away from the profession. As the sweat. Hype music blasts over the am already owning the day. months and years go on, I reflect speakers and I can barely catch This is why I came here. back on the frustrations those my breath before the buzzer goes teachers warned me about — the off and it’s time to rotate to the After rotating through each lack of resources, pressure from next station. The walls are bathed of the nine stations twice, our standardized testing, not enough in blacklight, illuminating the 45-minute session is complete support from administration, droplets of perspiration that and I get the chance to sit down low pay — and realize everything trickle down my arms. and stretch alongside the other they said was right.reason I came here today: to I woke up at 4:30 a.m. on my talk with Danielle Felten, local I listen eagerly to the trio I meet sacred day off from teaching at elementary school teacher and today, though, who have nothing a Title One elementary school, F45 aficionado. but positive things to say about and now I feel gratified: F45, the their jobs: latest fitness fad, lives up to its promise of 45 minutes of highintensity intervals. Blending functional fitness with cardio and Felten and a team of teacher friends from Saint Paul’s, the independent K-8 school in Clearwater, meet up at F45 “I love teaching so much. I don’t know why anyone would do anything else. I really don’t.” strength, F45 appeals “I think it’s God’s work.” to those looking for the fun motivation of group classes and the ease of We wake up early every morning and teach the future “I am continually inspired when I see the ownership kids take in someone else coaching and programming the workouts. The franchise generation for the same reason we wake up even earlier to get their successes. I am always encouraged by deep thinking questions has more than 1,750 that workout in. and a sense of wonder locations spread over that can’t be ignored,” 40 countries and the Felten says. numbers keep growing. Bay area locations have popped up recently in Tampa, St. Pete and here in Clearwater. several mornings a week to get their sweat session in before school. Having originally joined And I realize that everything these women are saying is right, too. The gym prides itself on building power in its franchises as well as its members. Many claim huge improvements in fitness, mobility, and strength. And strong I certainly do feel. Maybe it’s the sledgehammer dips or the box jumps or the burpee bench jump-overs — my money’s on the sledgehammer for sure the gym to help a friend stay accountable, Danielle loved F45 so much she invited her Saint Paul’s coworkers to join in, too. Now the group of them keep each other motivated and inspired. It only takes a minute into our conversation before I am in awe of all three of them. I have only been a teacher for a few years myself, but even before Felten and I have two big passions in common: teaching and fitness. And we both share our training stories with our students. I constantly compare the challenges my students encounter in our classroom with the challenges I face when I train for a marathon or compete in a CrossFit competition.

The parallels to physical and mental/emotional strength are strong, and I encourage my students to train their brains the same way we train our bodies. Recently at a faculty meeting, my administrators had us teachers listen to a talk given by the Pinellas County Teacher of the Year, Sarah Painter. She is a distance runner and described how teaching any year, but especially this year with Covid challenges, can feel like navigating a long run through the worst of storms. The parallels she draws between fitness and teaching are powerful: “I have found my joy in running,” Painter said, “which allows me to overlook the rainy days. My mission didn’t waver; my dedication didn’t change. I’m a runner regardless of the weather.” Teaching, running, exercising — it’s all pretty damn hard. It takes grit. Grit and a whole lot of heart. And that’s exactly why we do it. It’s why we get up early to set up our classroom “just so” for each new day, why we stay late to make handwritten notes for our students so they feel seen and special, why we make a pit stop for snacks because some kids are hungry and all kids deserve it. It’s why we give a troubled kid a second chance, then a third and a fourth and one more after that. We wake up early every morning and teach the future generation for the same reason we wake up even earlier to get that workout in. Even when we’re tired, even when we’re sore, even when our body aches from five days of workouts in a row or our heart hurts from stressing over a child’s home situation. We wake up and we show up. And as the first rays of sunrise spill into the large windows of F45 Clearwater, Danielle Felten and her friends remind me why. “I consider it a true honor to have a job dedicated to helping youth see their potential and help them believe they can do ANYTHING because this world will try to tell them differently,” Felten says. Because as Sarah Painter so perfectly puts it: “I run with an undeniable hope that there is something better. And that’s the race we’re in.”