Bootcamp – Ugh!

I went to my first Bootcamp class Saturday morning. There is a new gym not far from us that was offering a free one-week trial for bootcamp-type classes. Basically, a bunch of women – getting yelled at (nicely) and worked to the bone!

I’ve worked out for years – so I was confident I could get through the class with not too much difficulty. I knew I’d be familiar with all the moves and techniques at least. So, I put on my nice black workout pants, spandex roots shirt – pulled my hair into a pony and slipped on my Nike ball cap – a little bit of mascara and some lipgloss and off I went to meet Dan! (the instructor).

Dan greeted me showed me around a little – basically, it’s where Team Canada cheerleaders practice and work out – and the padded spring floor reminded me of my gymnastics days…it was all I could do to not run out there and do some cartwheels! Looking around I saw mats, medicine balls, weighted bars with pully’s on them, and some bosu and exercise balls too. Ehh…piece ‘a cake …. Or so I thought.

The warm-up started out with some high knee kicks as we would move forward up and down the length of the gym. We were in rows of two. Then same thing but with bum kicks going back. Not bad not bad….I can do this I thought…repeated that a few more times – followed by side leg kicks, skips, jumps, walking lunges, hops, all the while going back and forth the length of the gym – did I mention this facility is about 10,000 square feet!! Anyway- I got through that part, worked up a sweat and figured, okay….we should be moving onto some floor work soon so I can rest a little…that’s when Dan said “alright – are we ready to begin our workout now”?

GAAAA! Let me tell ya – I may have been working out for years….but the body shuts down VERY quickly if you don’t keep up with your fitness regime! After non-stop functional moves and sit ups and lunges and knee ups and bar work and medicine ball work and tricep dips and planks and … oh man… the list goes on… I seriously thought I was going to toss my cookies right there on the mat.

How great would that have been? Nice way to introduce myself to the group – by throwing up all over their workout floor. I excused myself for a few minutes, went into the changeroom to catch my breath. A very nice woman (one of the members) came in to check on me and told me not to worry – it happens to everyone on their first time, and to please not give up and to come back out to the class once I felt better.

It was really nice of her and she talked to me for a good few minutes about how her daughter is another instructor there and if I go back to her daughter’s class, she’ll make sure to tell her to watch me and monitor me and she was very encouraging and reiterated to me that these classes weren’t to see who could “do the best” – they were for you as an individual, to improve within yourself, and not try to out-do anyone else. Once I went back out and re-joined the class, I felt a lot better, and lucky for me – it was just in time for the yoga cool-down! (thank god!)

Dan emailed me later that day, and said I did an awesome job for my first time and that they could tell I’ve worked out before, based on my form and techniques and that the endurance will come the more I go and the more in-shape I become. So – I will give this bootcamp a try for awhile. Haven’t had my butt kicked like that in a long, long time, but all I can say is…..Bring it on!