Monday, May 5, 2008

So uh, you want me to do a pushup? (Bootcamp Day 1)

So last month, in a fit of enthusiasm, and craving the body I had back in October 2006, I went online and paid $225 to Best Body Bootcamp (+ another $20 for a resistence band) - for the privilage of waking up at 5:15 am 3 days a week for the next month to work out.

So after having it pushed back a week because of some problem with the park permits, I got confirmation last Friday that we were a go for Monday. Yikes!

I was incredibly ill all last week with a cold, in bed, feeling like death for days - coming to work and taking twice as long to do simple things. Nasty stuff --- I still have a gross congested, hacking cough, but I decided I'd just have to deal with it.

So this morning, I rolled out of bed at 5am. Got into some of my long-neglected running clothes, threw my yoga mat & sling bag over my shoulder and biked my ass down to High Park. I was instructed to meet the group "across from the playground" - but there's 2 playgrounds in the park.... lucky for me my group meets at the top section, thereby saving me the pain of an extra 10 minutes riding, and climbing Spring Hill after my workout.

The group is largely comprised of middle-aged mom's, my guess is about 33-45 in age. None of these ladies was any stranger to exercise. There are 2 men in the group as well, though they were both late, so I haven't learned that much about them yet.

At 5:45 am, I sat there, a little bit cold --- waiting to be weighed & have my body fat measured. The injustice! The bootcamp scale puts me a good 10lbs over what my home scale does... I'm wondering how that happens, but oh well - it's all in seeing the loss I guess. Then we went through the horrific process of pairing up and measuring each other's torsos and extremities. Summary: According to the scale I'm slightly obese, but with a perfect hour-glass figure. Go figure.

Anyways... so the workout. We started with the fitness tests:
Pushups: I can do 3, on my knees, with bad form
V-sit: I held it for about 30 sections
Plank Pose: I held it for about 40
Squat Hold: I did better here, holding the squat for close to a minute and a half.
Running: I faired better than I thought I would here, all things considered. Came in a respectable middle of the back, for what I'd guess was about a 150 metre sprint.
... I think there were others, but I forget them.

Bah! Then we did a warmup and some exercise -- lunges, running laps, crunches, leg & arm things... you know how it goes. By the end I was tired.

So it's about 5 hours later now and I'm at work. The bonus is that the 7am finish gets me home in time to shower AND eat breakfast before work, that was sort of awesome. My back muscles hurt, and my legs are a little stunned by the activity.

Apparently Wednesday will be all about chests and arms.