Joanna Rohrback created the “prancercise workout” twenty-five years ago, but since she put up a YouTube tutorial of her travelling 80’s-inspired moves online, people are just now starting to discover the magic of public prancing- whether they are gleefully mocking it or genuinely doing it for exercise.
This past Saturday, one of the busier days at White Rock Lake, I witnessed a woman on the trail officially prancercising- leggings, headphones, and all.
Sure, it’s not totally normal-I was simply running on Saturday myself-but then I thought, why not prancercise? The woman was having fun, and it’s a fine low-impact workout. Perhaps the coyotes would be scared off by it. I guess the only foreseeable harm would be if a prancerciser got a little too ambitious with the arm movements and clipped a cyclist.
So why are we so quick to do a double take when Rohrback, or the smiling woman I saw at White Rock Lake, cut loose with their workout? Could it be that deep down we are secretly jealous of their carefree moves-that they are free to just enjoy themselves in public-while the rest of us soldier on with our strenuous workouts?
I can’t say that I’m ready to strap on some ankle weights and start galloping myself, but I appreciate the reminder that there are plenty of other ways besides running and cycling to keep healthy, and maybe even enjoy my workout. There are those kayaks that you can rent, and the piers would be a great spot do some yoga…
