For my 29th birthday- one of my gifts was “bootcamp”

This style of fitness class is becoming very popular recently- and it’s easy to see why. The course I’m in allows to you attend as many classes as you would like in a 30 day period. The instructor has a MWF 5:30am class, MTWTF 9am and 5:30pm, and a Saturday 8:30am. I have committed to the MWF at 5:30, picking up a PM or Saturday if I have to miss one morning because of work or other unforeseen issue.

The first class is free, and the instructor recommended that I only do half of the reps listed on her marker board for each exercise. I followed these instructions- both because I’m sure it was a good idea, and by the end of the one hour, it was all I could handle. I went on the Wednesday before New Year’s Eve. Even though there was a class on Friday (NYE) and Saturday (New Year’s Day) – I had always planned to return on the first Monday of 2011. Glad that I set it up that way, because I could barely walk on Thursday or Friday. In fact, I refused to carry my 7 month old down stairs, because of how unstable I was when moving down. By the time I returned on Monday- I was feeling pretty good again, and have not had that much extreme soreness since. The initial shock is over.

I have not weighed myself in a long time. I might try to get back to Weigh-In-Wednesdays, but the instructor said she likes to measure once a month, and never weigh-in. There are other ways to measure success beyond the pain, and the monthly measurements. After completing one full week (plus my free class) I am at almost full reps on the leg exercises, and full reps on the upper body exercises. I have increased my push-ups by 600%. I figure that at this rate, I will be able to do just over 2,500 push-ups by the end of the month.

So after a week- I am very impressed with my progress, and impressed that I have made it out of bed at 5 am 5/5 times. This week I’m going to focus a bit more on my diet- and try to get the complete health and fitness package nailed down by the end of next week. (No soda for two weeks as of today!)