So just over a month ago I decided I needed to exercise, I couldn’t face going to a gym anymore. Every time I drove there and walked into the gym I died a little inside. Just listen to your iPod and ignore the other gymmers while doing mindless exercises. Thus I decided I would try Adventure Boot Camp, the concept is a bunch of women led by an instructor exercise outdoors for an hour in the evening. There are two options: 5 nights a week (seemed a bit of overkill to me) or 3 nights a week (this seemed manageable).
Now I have pretty much been a couch slug since leaving high school, and I hate exercise. But I love sweet things and thus the combination has led to an unhealthy lifestyle which I wanted to change (this lifestyle change however does not involve giving up chocolate – let’s not be extremists here). I signed up for Boot Camp and told my manfellow who gave me a look of “You? Boot camp?”, pretty much everyone didn’t think I’d be able to do it. Off I went to Totalsports and invested in dry-fit work out clothes, I hate sweating so investing in dry-fit seemed like a good idea, I also bought my weights, and I would dust off the Pilates mat that resided in my closet. At this point going to the cashier and buying these clothes I started getting a “blerch” on my shoulder telling me I was being foolish and would give up after the first class. But since I still had two weeks to prepare myself mentally I figured the best I could do was try.
Thus arrived the week before Boot Camp, I was on my back with sinobronchitis. Booked off work for the week and feeling like death warmed up, my “blerch” started telling me that this was the perfect excuse not to go to Boot Camp the following week. So I recovered, sort of, and D-Day arrived, I came home from work still feeling like I’d been hit my a mucus-filled truck and decided not to go to Boot Camp. I felt awful. The “blerch” had won! I rested up and called my instructor who I told I would see on Wednesday since I was still recovering.
And so Wednesday arrived, I was feeling a bit more human so I got home from work, put on my new exercise clothes, grabbed my weights and mat, filled my water bottle and off I went. I didn’t know what to expect – I envisioned a Major Payne type instructor and a bunch of competitive soccer moms would greet me, only to see me chased through the Botanical Gardens with hell-hounds at my heels.
What I found however were a bunch of friendly women, standing around in the cold waiting for class to start. The previous class was still busy running through the gardens so no sign of my instructor yet. The first day was pretty uneventful, I almost died as was to be expected. I don’t know how far I ran, but I could hardly breathe, my chest felt like it was on fire and I lunged until I couldn’t anymore. All I could think about was getting into a hot shower when I got home. One thing I do remember about the first class and all the subsequent ones was the amount of support and understanding from my fellow boot campers and instructor. I couldn’t walk after that first class for almost 3 days! But I have not missed a class since my first one, and I can feel I am improving every time. By week 3 I really started to feel the difference, keeping up with the pack in running and exercises. Every class is different so you are constantly challenged and never bored. Our last class my team won the bootcamp triathlon (thanks to me having the fastest people in my team), it was still pretty awesome.
I signed up for the next Boot Camp the day after my first class and I’m hoping to be able to stick to this as my exercise regiment for the foreseeable future. I could not ask for a better instructor, more sociable environment or friendlier Boot Campers. I discovered what I hated was not exercise but loneliness, and the social element makes you realise that the exercise isn’t so bad.
Svagare 