Monterey Sports Center’s fitness supervisor has taken a lot of steps in 30 years of teaching.

Lauri Ataide will make you run. She will have you contorted on a yoga mat, pedaling frantically or struggling under a heavy load. And she puts herself through the same routine, sometimes leading a dozen group exercise classes a week – at least before the pandemic.

The Monterey Sports Center’s fitness supervisor is slowly bringing things back to normal after a year-long break when the facility shut its doors and Ataide had to teach high-impact cardio, step, yoga stretch or cycling over virtual platforms.

Before the break, Ataide’s team of instructors at the Sports Center offered more than 100 group courses each week. Now – in recovery mode – they schedule around 50.

The turbulent time capped what had been a fairly routine career trajectory. Ataide arrived at the Monterey Sports Center in August of 1992, just three months after the city-owned facility opened its doors. Having served as a group fitness instructor while in college at Fresno State (where she majored in political science, but “fitness was my passion,” she explains), she took a part-time teaching slot at MSC. Ten hours a week became 20, then 20 bumped up to 30. Finally, she was named to a full-time supervisor role.

In 30 years at the facility she’s taken a lot of steps and uncountable spins. But Ataide remains as passionate as ever about workouts and the Sports Center members, whom she refers to as a community.

Weekly: How much has fitness changed in 30 years?

Ataide: It’s so interesting. When I first started, it was all high-impact aerobics, Jamie Lee Curtis videos. Then step came in, but it was still all cardio. As training developed, strength courses and functional fitness were introduced. That’s where we are now. Zumba was huge. I’m old-fashioned, so I do my own choreography. There are planned programs now. Teachers don’t need to teach. That’s sad. That’s been a real shift.

So was Covid like a return to the video workout era?

Covid taught me a lot. I had to teach to a camera by myself. It’s weird. You are so used to the energy from other people. Teaching to no one is hard. I would pretend people were there. It was definitely an experience. Because I’m facing a camera and they are seeing opposite, I would be teaching with the opposite lead leg so they’d be on the right lead leg.

I was happy to get back to live groups. Now the challenge is the mask.

Yes, breathing is an important part of exercise.

We are allowed to wear disposable masks. They are definitely more breathable. But it’s important that we all have masks on. We decided before the county did that we were going to set a mask mandate again. You have to keep your people safe. A lot of people are unhappy about it and we are really strict. We’ll throw people out. Some weekends they have to have the police come down here. Everyone in group exercise classes is happy to wear a mask. The drop-ins, those are the people who don’t get it. Our members get it. But I’m happy that we’re open. We don’t want to close again.

Do you have a favorite exercise?

I like variety, that’s why I teach so many classes. I’ve started teaching yoga, strength classes, cycling. I brought in kettle bells. I consulted with physical therapists about the technique. You don’t find kettle bells in a group setting, so that’s fun. Variety keeps it interesting for me.

What are your thoughts on protein powders and the like?

I’ve never used them. I believe in water and fueling my body – good, quality food. That’s what I tell people. I get a lot of nutrition questions. I say eat smart, train smart.

How do you train smart?

Listen to your body. I know there are days when I need to slow down. I can’t do high-intensity cardio every day. When I design classes there are different focuses – endurance, strength, stretching. I do a lot of cross training: Two to three days of strength, two of high-intensity cardio – vary it. If there’s a day to just walk, that’s great. You can move every day, but don’t do the same thing every time. The trends have been – well, it’s funny. Just move your body.

You move your body a lot.

I teach a lot less now. When I used to teach 12 classes a week I had to stack them so I wasn’t pounding my body three hours a day. I do what’s realistic.