Sir, Yes Sir!!

A new dance and fitness studio opened up in town and I thought I should check out the dance lessons for the girls. The conversation went from dance to fitness and the new classes they would be offering. The Bootcamp class peaked my interest as I've always thought it would a great way to get in shape by having someone yell at me.

The instructor offered me a free trial on Saturday morning to check out the class and see what I thought. I debated even going as we had company over the night before I have no self control when it came to the Smirnoff Cranberry-Lime coolers. But come 7:30am I managed to crawl out of bed, pop some Advil and headed to the studio.
I met one of the other ladies in the lobby.

Me: So you've done this for a few weeks now?

Her: No, last week, was the first class...I was sore until Wednesday.

Me: GULP!

Photo credit

Now, I think I'm in pretty good shape, but I don't really push myself that hard when I work out. I tend to stop before it hurts. My reps top out at 10, maybe 12 if I feel really good. I get a good 'tired' muscle feel the next day, but that's about it. I don't think I thought this through.

The class was small, only four of us, of course it was new so not many people know about the place yet. However, this also meant there was no place to hide. Our instructor, Kevin, was also keen on making sure I enjoyed (and hated) the class to sell me on it, so I really wasn't hiding at all!

The warm up was:
1 minute skipping + 1 min jumping jacks: rep. 4 times

That got our heart rate up, but nothing too crazy...bring it on!!!

Next set was:
18 (yes, 18) push-ups + 18 crunches: no resting
What I didn't understand was that we were to work our way down from 18. So the next set of each exercise was 17, the 16, then 15...you get it...I didn't. I did like 5 sets of 18's...my arms were like Jello. I clued in when everyone else seemed to be flipping to crunches so quickly. I had to ask what I was doing wrong. Apparently I'm a push-up rockstar. But my arms were fried for the rest of the class, another hour and 1/2 of torture which included:

5 reps of 1 min planks + 1min mountain climbers
4 reps of 'bear crawls' + 4 reps of crab walks
24 x 4 reps of squats +alternate lunge+ jump squats + jump lunge
3min wall sits (which I was last to bow out and won me a free pass on the burpies)
10 burpies (everyone else had to do 30)

Just writing all this is tiring my arms. I am sooooo sore. I was sore yesterday afterward. I couldn't even shave my armpits in the shower (sorry hubby). I had to get my daughter to do up my bra.
I rode the bike today to get loosened up again and that seemed to help my legs, but my arms...oh my arms. I didn't know I could work my body like that.

After the class Kevin asked if I did any other exercise. I told him I run regularly. He said that my legs should be okay, but I'll feel it in my upper body. True that, Kev, true that.



So the verdict:
I love that I can be worked that hard. I would never push myself like that if it wasn't for someone else. I think I will wait to take the full class until winter. The fall is so nice to still run outside. In the winter is when I might need an extra kick in the pants to get moving. I will not drink alcohol the night before and I will get at least 7 hours of sleep. I think.