I DID IT: Boot Camp, Week 1

I completed my first week of boot camp. Crazy, but it's true. And to admit 'I love it' would be an understatement. Who knew that working out with a group of crazy women and one crazy instructor could be so much fun? It actually takes me back to my grade school days when we would run like mad around the soccer field or play a good game of Dodgeball, except I'm older and running around is a bit harder.

Our first night at camp, we got measured. I mean measured measured. She measured our arms, legs, chest, waist, stomach fat, leg fat, weight... EVERYTHING. We get measured again in 4 weeks to see the progress and again at the end of the 8 week camp.

We then started with some basic warm-up drills and stretches, which steadily progressed into lunges and squats. About 10 minutes into the class, I was DRENCHED with sweat. I repeat, DRENCHED. But I guess it's a sign we were working hard. We then did pushups/situps/triceps for what seemed like forever. The next part was the worst part in my opinion. This is where I felt like giving up on life. We did mountain climbers on mats, while our partner would run across the gym doing mountain climbers on these frisbee-things that slide. And then we'd switch it up. There is no way to describe how hard it was until you've tried it yourself. The class kept going with some running and then abs work and slowly ended with some soothing stretching to the sound of Alicia Keys' version of 'Empire State of Mind'.

It was quite the first class. I gotta give it up for our instructor, Amanda, though. She always has so much energy and keeps us going, even when we feel like dying out.

Our second class was even better. We were all still sore from Monday's workout, so the stretches at the beginning and the first lunges and squats were killer, but our bodies can do so much more than we think they can and we all managed to get through it. We then did the whole 'sitting against the wall as long as you can thing.' I actually enjoy doing that, so it was kind of like a break for me. We followed up with triceps/biceps exercises, moved onto some legs, and then hardcore into the cardio.

We did a mini-relay doing fast-feet across the floor while throwing a basketball back and forth to our partner, jumping jacks at the end and racing back to the finish. After doing that for a bit, we moved onto the serious relay. It was pretty much like a suicides relay, except we had to grab basketballs in between and race them back to our team, and do jumping jacks and burpees. Seems like a lot to do at once, and it was. Proud to say that our team won with 13 points overall. We then had to do abs work with our team by lying on our backs and doing sit-ups to throw the ball back and forth to our teammates. Again, our team was so pro with great rhythm. We then did the final exercise of passing the ball with our feet to each other while lying on our backs. Harder than it sounds. Some final stretches and we were done!

Surprisingly, I don't feel as sore today. I'm taking that as a good sign that I'm getting stronger already. I really enjoyed the competition aspect of it and I like running when I know it's for a purpose. I find myself smiling through the whole thing and cheering other people on. I think this may become an addiction; an addiction to boot camp.

Watch out, world. I'm coming for ya.