Monday, May 31, 2010

Boot Camp

I went to my first boot camp tonight. This is not my normally preferred form of exercise since it requires running and jumping jacks and other military type drills. Up to now my favorite "hard" form of exercise has been zumba class and weight training.  But I was able to purchase a 4 week boot camp for $40 instead of the normal $180 that it costs the first time, so I decided that was a pretty good deal.  If I want to repeat in the future, it will be $90, which is a lot of money, but probably pretty inexpensive in terms of health in the long run...but I digress...I have to get through this camp first.

Upon arrival I see that there are people of all different shapes, sizes, and ages. There are mainly women, but there are some men.  The website said to bring at least 5 pound weights. I only had 10 pound weights at home, so I brought those. Most of the guys didn't have 10 pound weights, so I knew right off that this was probably a fatal error. But what the heck: it's what I had and now I'm there and I'm going to use them. I made it through the first sets just fine with my weights. I have strong biceps and triceps. Then they had us do these things called angel wings. It's like a lateral raise, only you have to pick up the weight above your head.  The counts on all these exercises are to 25, but it's really 50 because you do two reps for every count.  I made it through maybe 5 angel wings before they turned into lateral raises...which of course I had to do again later.  The instructor, Ed, was really nice, but he told me that I did NOT want to be lifting 10 pounds on my shoulders. I agreed wholeheartedly...tomorrow I will buy 5 pound weights.

The weights were Ok for me though. I'm really pretty strong. What got me were the drills. There was skipping, and shuffling and jumping jacks, oh yeah...and running. I DON'T run. I hate to run...I have always hated to run.  But there I was running...jogging, then walking, but I did finish the drill. I finished last, but I finished.

The poor guy next to me looked to be pretty fit. He was there with his girlfriend who was a skinny little thing.  Unfortunately, looks don't actually mean you are in shape. The girlfriend was in way, way better shape than the guy.  He almost heat stroked and couldn't finish...he had 12 pound weights...next time, I think he's going for the 5 pounders. The skinny girl ended up being my partner for sit ups and push ups. She wasn't encouraging or all that friendly. It could have been that she first was busy goofing around and laughing with her guy about how fit she was...and then later she was worried when she realized how hard he'd pushed himself trying to impress her.  I had wanted to get Peter to do it with me, but I'm kind of glad he didn't. It was really hot out and he might have ended up like that guy.

What I am most pleased about, other than the fact that I did manage to finish, is that Maggie came with me. Kids aren't allowed in boot camp, but it's held outdoors in a park, so she brought Peter's bike and rode the bike trails. She had been at horse camp at Flying G all day so I was pretty impressed that she wanted to get out and ride and exercise.  I'm coming to the conclusion that getting thin for both of us isn't going to be easy, but if we just can stay a little more active than we have been, and eat a little less food, there might be hope.

I also discovered today that there are bike trails just behind the stadium and they are maybe a half mile walk from the house.  I never knew I could get to them back there. I was very encouraged. Now I can take the dogs for a walk...but I'm NOT going to run.

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