Boot Camp – Day 1

Well today was my first day at Fitness Boot Camp and I survived... Barely! It wasn’t as bad or ugly as I imagined with being called a “Boot Camp”. Instead, it was a lot of fun and much more than I was expecting. The funny thing is that when I first got there and after hearing an explanation of what we were going to do, my immediate thought was “Hmmm... I already workout regularly and this is going to be a breeze, and it might not even challenge me at all”! Well... was I in for a very rude awakening!! What sounded so simple and easy turned out to be a seriously intense workout that pushed me pretty good! When you walk away out of breath, with rubbery arms and legs, you know they did their job!

This 45 minute session started out with a pretty vigorous warm-up to get the heart rate pumping. Then, the routine was set up with 4 different rotating exercises.

These are my descriptions and may or may not be their official names:

* Squats with raised arms coming up, using a resistance band from hands to feet
* Reversed Arm press with extended legs using a bench
* A Stationary Plank
* Climbing Lunges

Since everyone works out at different levels and at their own pace, each exercise set lasted for 30 seconds and everyone was to do as many reps as they could within that time, then rotate onto the next exercise and do the same thing.

After all 4 exercise sets were complete, everyone took about a 1-2 minute rest, and then did all of the exercises over again. Sounds pretty simple right? Think again! The first round went ok, but things started to get a little more difficult after round two, and by the third round, I found myself really pushing it to get through them all, but I made it.

At the end, there was one last routine using the bands that got everyone into pairs. Each person, stands facing away from each other, with the band across their midsections. The trainer calls out for one to run out away with high knees as far as they can, stretching the band, while the other stands stationary and holds with resistance. That person then returns to the starting point and it repeats with other person doing the same thing. After several sets and by the end of this routine, I was seriously worked out... it was a pretty cool exercise! A little bit of stretching afterward for a cool down and Boot Camp Day 1 was finished... Whew!!

This awesome Boot Camp is called “Not Your Average Boot Camp” and is owned and run by Personal Trainer Leanne Ellington. Leanne is really knowledgeable, fun and very cool, making this Boot Camp a blast and worth every minute of the hard work it brings! I would recommend it to anyone who wants a good challenge!

With a few weeks to recover, I’ll be back for Boot Camp Day 2... Bring it on!