Boot Camp - Week 1

So, a couple of weeks ago, I took advantage of a Groupon for 5 sessions at Beantown Bootcamp for $30.  I was still a bit sick, so I made sure to sign up for a week when I could participate without coughing up my lungs.

This was that week.

The boot camp sessions start at 6am, and it's on the other end of the T from where I live.

Because I wanted to make sure that I got there on time, I woke up at 4:30am today.  I got on the very first T and got to the North Station area by 5:40am.  I now know that I don't need to get there that early, but I just wanted to ensure that I could find the gym.

I got a bit nervous about being the only person waiting out there.  But soon others appeared.  There were only 4 of us, and that made me nervous.  There was no way I could even try to slack off if there were only 4 of us!

The boot camp sessions are held outdoors, and I thought I was fairly prepared with a thin hoodie.  But I learned that I'm really going to need some lightweight gloves to protect my poor hands.

We warmed up with running short laps around a raised circular grassy area where we did most of the workouts.  Honestly, the running/jogging was probably the worst part.  Since it was in the first 10 minutes, I was already starting to feel like, "I'm so over this."

But after we warmed up, the trainer set up a series of 7 circuits.  As he went around explaining what we were supposed to be doing in the circuits, I started to psych myself up.  I started thanking that I had done all the Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred workouts back to back last week (which was my mental and physical preparation for boot camp).

I'll be honest, I had never done a full 30 Day Shred schedule in 30 days.  I had always focused on Level 1 for about a month (but not doing them every day), then Level 2 for another month, then Level 3 for another month. 

However, I never really did it all too consistently.  I would usually intersperse the workouts with belly dance or Turbo Jam or yoga or pilates.

But, I digress.  Back to boot camp.

So, in total, we did some short running/jogging laps, 2 different circuit sessions of 7 different moves (totally in 14 different moves), and jogging up and down a set of stairs.

In the final set of circuits, I remember thinking to myself and mumbling under my breath to myself, "You can totally do this.  You want to lose weight?  Well, you gotta fight for it!"

It was encouraging to hear from the trainer and from some of the regulars that I was doing really well.  The trainer even joked that he must not have been pushing us hard enough because I wasn't struggling as much on the first session.  That makes me a bit nervous about next week's session.

I was almost surprised that the hour went by as quickly as it did.  I mean, I was exhausted, but I think that not knowing the time made it easier for me to focus on what I needed to do instead of how much longer I had to do it.

Now that several hours has gone by, I am already starting to feel the soreness.  It will be interesting to see how I'm feeling when I wake up tomorrow morning.

But I am extremely proud that I signed up for the boot camp, and that I didn't chicken out of it.  I'm proud that I managed to survive it, somehow.  I'm proud that I could feel myself stay motivated, even during the running/jogging.

I'm so not a runner, but it does make me wonder if  I should start adding a bit of running to my weekly workouts.

But I hate running...this will give me something to think about.

So, Boot Camp - Week 1?

Success!