Monday, August 25, 2008

Boot Camp Saga ... Day 7: The Beginning of the End

Today was Day 1 of Week 3 of Boot Camp. And this being a three-week session, I am almost done. And since the weather has taken a turn for crap, I am ready to be done.

Exercise at 5:30 a.m. is apparently not my thing. Exercise outside in nasty weather is also apparently not my thing. It's good to learn these things about yourself and know what NOT TO sign up for in the future.

There are some women in the camp that do this all of the time. Like, literally, this is what they do for their normal workout. They just sign up for session after session, back to back. And they love it, and it works for them, and they see results. I can't afford to do that and keep my gym membership, and I'm not ready to give up my gym membership for boot camp. My gym does have a boot camp style exercise class Mon and Weds at, guess what time, 5:30 a.m. But at least it's inside. When this is over, maybe I'll give that a shot. (As my kids will tell you, though, when mom says maybe, it means maybe not.)

The advantage of working out at 5:30 a.m. is that no matter what my schedule is work-wise, I can do it. Work out 5:30 - 6:30, home by 6:45... I'm usually up at 7 to start the school/work morning routine, so the timing works. The problem is that I'm freaking starving and exhausted by 9:30 or 10 a.m. That whole getting up early thing has a price, people.

So today's boot camp session. We did partner stuff again, which was not as bad as the previous partner stuff as it did not involve any touching or invasion of personal space. We did progressive sets of alternating exercises. So for example, the first one was biceps curls and triceps curls. Partner 1 does biceps, partner 2 does triceps. Do 15 seconds, then switch and do 15 seconds. Repeat for 30 seconds each, then 45 seconds each, then a minute each. Sounds a lot easier than it is.

Did that with biceps/triceps; lunges/tricep dips; shoulder press/holding weights overhead; squats/squats; and lunges/knee raises. To mix it up, we did a 1/4 mile run around the park (once for the warm up, then once in the middle of the session). EDIT: I just did a map of the running route around the park and it is .4 of a mile. I did not realize that we were doing that much running.

I know that I will be feeling this in my arms tomorrow, but I must be building a little bit of strength because the lunges and squats did not kill me so much today. I'm going to count the two .4 mile runs as one mile toward my Lazy Man Triathalon, giving myself a .2 mile run credit for the workout. Does that seem fair?

3 comments:

Keetha said...

I quake every time I hear the words "boot camp" so my hat's off to you!

Rogue Scholar said...

I agree with the early morning thing... it's a bitch. All last week and this week, I've been at the gym at 5am in order to be at work by 7am. It's a killer. Come about 10am, I am starving and I'm ready to fall asleep in the afternoon. Where are those exercise endorphins people talk about?

Amy *aka willa* said...

Um, hello!! It's called Boot Camp. It's supposed to be dark, rainy and you should have Louis Gossett Jr screaming down your throat. Only your Louis Gossett Jr seems a little more petite and screechy and annoyingly perky. Even still, 2/3 ain't bad. It's still damn early. And very Starbucks worthy.

Maybe to my kids is a gentle way of saying no. With a rare exception.

After I shove this king sized Snickers bar down my throat, I'm totally going to the gym. I swear.