Fit Friday: Boot Camp

When I was in high school and my first few years in college I had a gym membership through my dad's work.  I wasn't consistent, but there were periods of time I went very faithfully.  When Bean and I were first married, our condo complex had a small workout room that again--I used off and on.  But I must not have used it too much, because I gained some weight after we got married and then once I was pregnant all bets were off and I was fat and happy.  Even after she was born I could't really get in the habit of going frequently and nursing was my "workout" because I lost a ton of weight on Weight Watchers without much exercise.

Now, I'm a bit of an exercise fiend.  Oh, I do love my running--but part of that is because it's a pretty convenient activity that doesn't have a lot of cost attached to it.  Some day, I would love to be able to afford to belong to a gym again.  I would take advantage of the various classes and weights and machines.

A few weeks back there was an awesome deal on The Daily Save that I couldn't pass up--4 Boot Camp classes for just $19.  And even better, the locations are near the ocean and once a week it's on the beach. 

I went to my first class tonight.  There were a lot of "regulars" missing, so it was 2 guys, me and my sister-in-law and the trainer.  We started out with some warm up moves in the gym and then headed outside.  The trainer said that wasn't his normal routine, but he wanted to mix it up and enjoy the fading daylight.  We'd run a bit, then stop and do various moves like jumps and squats (only jumps and sqats cranked up a few notches with variations).  My favorite were "smurf jacks."  Jumping jacks done in a low squatting position using your elbows, not your whole arms.  We ran some stairs (as in up and down 10x) and ended up on the grass overlooking the ocean.

And then we sweated buckets into that grass and added salt to the already salty air.  I had a small taste of what it must be like to have Jillian Michaels train you on the Biggest Loser.  I still would choose her, but there is a strong possibility I'd cry at some point.  And after tonight I understand why.  Our trainer was super nice and encouraging.  He was a little harder on the couple of guys he knew though.

Then...we ran up another set of stairs and weaved our way back towards the gym with more stops for various strength moves.  And at the gym?  3 circuits of 4 ab stations.  About an hour in all.  Boot Camp kicked my booty! 

I loved it though.  It was a good challenge.  Knowing I was going to something like that each week would keep me motivated to exercise and eat right throughout the week.  I'm going to enjoy the next 3 sessions I have.  And maybe I'll ask for more for Christmas :)

If you are a Shredhead, or familiar with circuit training--this is totally something you could mimic and do on your own.  Maybe make a list of exercises (squats, jumping jacks, smurf jacks, burpees, vertical jumps etc) and do some cardio then a few exercises and then more cardio.  You could do it in your house, your backyard, or an outdoor location.  Gather some friends and do it together.  Sure, it was great having someone tell me what to do and counting it out and timing.  But its totally doable.

Or, you could just do Shred 1,2 & 3 in a row.  Because that's pretty much how I feel right now (minus the arms b/c we do didn't do much arms).  My legs are going to be dead tomorrow--especially since I ran 3 fairly fast miles on Wednesday night.

But I love it.  Bring it on baby!!