Summer Boot Camp
It’s May and my plan to train my three young boys in proper behavior while Mommy gets some exercise is not working out as I had hoped. I haven’t given up, but I’ve taken to getting in quick bits of exercise here and there. The Twittercize guy keeps me on my toes for at least a few minutes each hour, and when the weather cooperates I do a stroller jog/walk to pick up the kids from school. I sneak in some Pilates or yoga when I’m not out in the garden on the days Monkey Boy takes a nap, a habit he is fighting and I’m coaxing him to continue. I count my gardening activities as some form of exercise, even if my heart rate doesn’t get up there quite like a good aerobics and weights session with The Firm. I tried the 30 Day Shred but just couldn’t get into it for some reason. In other words, I still don’t have a regular exercise routine and it’s getting on my nerves.
Some of my neighborhood girl friends told me about a boot camp they’ve been doing on Saturday mornings and invited me to join them for the summer 16-week session. It’s held outdoors, rain or shine, and I had visions of a large 65-pound pack on my back while running through rain and crawling through mud with R. Lee Ermey (Full Metal Jacket) or Eileen Brennan (Private Benjamin) in my face telling me I’ll never make it as a Marine or a soldier, both of which would be true. At the very least I knew I wouldn’t be relaxing into downward-facing dog while listening to some of my favorite meditation and yoga music during this workout. Well, crazy me, I signed up for the boot camp anyway and started this past weekend.
Before the boot camp began, I went through a private fitness assessment with Kelly, the instructor, which established my baseline for heart rate, BMI, body fat, and strength, and included individual coaching on form for some of the basic exercises we do in boot camp. After that we set some goals. Before doing the private assessment I knew I had some work to do, but somehow seeing it in writing is both more depressing and motivating. For my goals, we agreed on 3% reduction in body fat, 3% reduction in BMI, 16 pounds weight loss, 10 toe pushups, 30 presses with 10 pound weights, hold plank position for 1 full minute, increase daily water intake to 64 ounces, eat protein with every meal, and complete the weekly homework (2 additional 45-minute sessions on my own in addition to the Saturday boot camp). That should be enough to keep me busy this summer.
We met for our first session on Saturday morning, and as much as I tried to mentally prepare myself for it, my body couldn’t quite make it all the way through. We started with a full body warm up, ran laps, did pushups, sit-ups, squats, jump squats, lunges, presses, and a whole host of other things I can’t remember. I do know that by the time I had run and done pushups and all those other things, the presses were tough. I thought I could easily do 8 pounds in each hand, but by that point in the workout I was shaky with 5 pounds and thought I would drop a weight on my head. My feet hurt too, and that’s my fault because I didn’t have the right shoes. I was using my old runners and my feet were not happy. The pain sent me scurrying off to find some good cross training shoes that afternoon. Other than the foot pain, I felt pretty good for the rest of the day.
When I woke up Sunday morning, I felt as if I couldn’t move and I momentarily wondered how I would ever get out of bed. My quads felt heavy and stiff as boards and my shoulders ached. Every trip up and down the stairs gave me a new lesson in pain and periodically I stopped what I was doing to gently stretch. Though I spent most of the day on the move hoping to loosen my tight muscles, I remained stiff and sore. In spite of the pain I was proud. I had proved to myself that I could take on this kind of intense workout and live through it, and I actually look forward to it the next week.
Original DC Metro Moms Blog post.
Andrea writes about her adventures in the kitchen at Andrea's Recipes and gives her opinion on products for home and garden at Andrea's Reviews.
