Since my last post, overall, I've generally been good. For three weeks straight I attended every scheduled class (Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7PM). But then, summer arrived. And then it got me thinking, hell, I've been working hard on getting myself in shape (combined with 3 months of NutriSystem - after 30, you do have to combine diet and exercise, as much as you want to deny it), I should enjoy the fruits of my labor! Not to mention that I was flying high over buying much smaller sizes when I went shopping. Good times ensued and then when I came back to boot camp, it was downright awful. And this was only after 1 week of not going to class. I'm not going to rehash the ups and downs, but suffice to say, there were more downs than ups. Even though I was thinner, my muscular strength seemed to have descended to a new low. And I KNOW the DIs noticed; Ruben and Wong would let me off easier, presumably because of the pathetic look on my face. The lowest of the low hit new levels when about 2 weeks ago (partly due to the oppressive humidity in the place), I physically and mentally rebelled against staying in class, and I actually left in the middle of the session. I fought back tears brought on by an acute sense of failure and self-loathing. Eventually I got back to a point where I got through. Not finishing strong, but in more of a resigned fashion.
This past weekend was activity packed and downright bacchanalian. You have never experienced true pain until you are severely hungover on a Sunday, have both your parents AND a bishop in your apartment, are serving them tea, and desperately are trying not to hurl as you move about. After much rest, I was determined not to have a goat-girl session at boot camp. Would it happen? I'd have to wait until 7PM the next day to find out.
That day, I came in later than usual, given that my co-worker felt the need to discuss hypothetical solutions to inter-office drama (my approach was a lot less diplomatic, hence why I opt not to be in management). The pushups on the way in were merely okay.
Sunil O. was in class (he had switched to Monday mornings a while ago, but switched back due to a temporary relocation back home out of the city). We took places toward the back of the group in the PT area, which for the first time in a long time, I felt okay with. Lately, since the pole position hasn't been working for me, I somewhat resigned myself to the back of the class.
Ruben called for the 7:00 class to start, so I trotted around the gym 7 times (did that without losing my breath). Back to the PT area for group stretches, where I continued to try stretching my right groin muscle - which never seems to be quite as flexible as the left side. Started off the warm-up with 30 jumping jacks. Facing each other, Wong ordered us to do 25 squat thrusts, and I motored through them (surprisingly so) as the 3 drill instructors paced up and down the rows. Down to push up position, into 20 slowly paced mountain climbers, with Wong making sure our knee came up to our chest each time (or as close as possible). Held the push-up position for a count of 20, and then we immediately moved onto 15 push-ups (I did not even attempt the regular ones). Back up on our feet, and then high knees for a count of 25, counting back down.
Next up, Wong demonstrated a combination exercise for us, which consisted of a right leg lunge, left leg lunge, then into a squat, which counted for 1 rep; we were to do 25 of these. The first one, people didn't quite grasp that you had to holler out a number after you finished the whole rep, but for some reason, I was on autopilot and did so. Wong, troubled by the lack of uniformity, made us start back from zero, but prior, Alex looked at me and hollered, "Good job, Vincent." I held back a smile, and kept on going. After we finished, it was two laps around the gym to stretch out our legs, back into high knees. On our backs, heads off the ground for 25 leg lifts; as I was sharply exhaling after each lift, I could hear Ruben and Wong harassing Sunil, something about keeping his legs up. Held our left six inches off the ground for a backwards count of 20, and then we went directly into flutter kicks. Admittedly I paused on the 11th and the 13th, but was very aware of Wong threatening to start everyone over if anyone dropped their legs. Another count of 20, and then 12 seconds to get around the gym. As everyone made their way around, Wong sent them directly into high knees until everyone got back. 20 lunges on each leg started to get a bit more challenging, but I kept on going. Ruben walked up and down the rows, and tried to throw me off by standing in front of me, but I was focused on getting through the lunges and stared straight ahead. After a few seconds of this, realizing I was ignoring him, he moved back next to Alex.
Warmup continued with 25 star jumpers, which seemed okay at first, until Wong told me to sit down further (Vincent, you're shorter than Oommen, why is he lower than you?). Tough, but I didn't want to punk out, since warm-up always seems to set the tone for the rest of the class. Another lap around, and then we were made to face a partner; one person grabbed a mat, for 2 sets of 40 throwdowns. After a moment of confusion, which made my partner get together with the person diagonally across from me, I went and partnered up with another woman. Responding to Alex's imperiously arched eyebrow, I said, "Personnel change". For the throwdowns, they were not the straight up-and-down kind. To make things more challenging, you had to start with your legs perpendicular to the floor, and as your partner threw your legs down, when your legs were parallel to the floor, you had to open and close them. We got through them rather quickly, at which point Alex ordered us to run around the gym. As I passed by, I caught an earful of the DIs discussing how to divide up the squads (the previous class had three different ones, each doing a different task). Alex said, "I'll take the first four." Yay, I was in the first four!
As we made our way around the gym, Alex called us over to the tires behind the Intensity wall. He ordered us to grab a tire, and hold it above our heads, for 20 tire presses. But for some reason, he forgot about that once we hit 20, and we went to 25 (the magic number of the day, it seems). Dropped the tire for pushups, but when I positioned myself, Alex stopped everyone and made people get off their knees (apparently I wasn't the only one trying to do the girly push-ups). I gritted my teeth and did my best to find solid footing on the shredded tire surface (akin to the way I have seen my cat making a space for himself amongst my bedding). All I could manage was 5, and then I dropped to my knees. Next round started off with 15 presses. I struggled towards the end, paused for a moment, and then Alex was like, "I've got my eye on you." He gave me this sideways look (which was all he could manage, given that he was standing right next to me), daring me to not life the tire again. Got through it. And then another 10 push-ups.
Ran around once, then over to the hurdles. I went over them the only way I am used to (despite Alex's previous attempts to get me to put my foot up on the hurdle, which resulted in my knee being up around my ear in a most unnatural fashion). Over to the rock wall, where we had to do 50 sit-ups, touching the wall each time. Then to the 3 walls, which I hadn't done in a long time, and that third wall proved particularly daunting (my skinned knees can attest to that). Over to the Intensity Wall, where my initial climb started our fine, and then as I got to the top, I couldn't grab the rope to pull myself over. It took some *ahem* posterior support from Alex to get me that last few inches to be able to grip the top of the wall and then with a tribal yell I got over and climbed down the other side, to be greeted with a high-five. He told me to grab a tire and join the rest of my squad over on the other side of the course. The combination exercise that we were doing next was a tire press, squat thrust, then a push up. 25 of them - ack. I think I got to 16; then Alex said once the woman in front of me finished, then I was done.
Over to Ruben, where he granted us a water break, and then he had one person grab a boxing pad, and the other person put on gloves. Ruben mapped out the routine to us, which was 30 seconds of a left jab, 30 seconds of a right jab, and then 30 seconds of a left-right combo. When we switched, my partner had to have her own gloves, rationalizing that all of them were sweaty, but the sweat was older in the other gloves (wouldn't that mean the funk factor would be higher? Or was she looking at wearing my gloves as a form of sloppy seconds? Either way, whatEVER). The next round was 45 seconds of what Ruben described as "b*lls out, no pretty faces, everything you've got wildness." 45 seconds of left-right jabs, and then we were done.
Wong was waiting for us under the monkey bars as we lunged over from the PT area. He set up a circuit of free weights, in between we were to run 2 laps. The first station was 25 (surprise) seated shoulder presses with 12-pound dumbbells. I did them the wrong way until I hit 12, and then Wong corrected me; then I was doing them the WONG way (yes, I went there). Second task - 25 squats holding a 35-pound dumbbell - I loudly protested, was he kidding? Forget about the fact that it was as long as my ankle to the top of my calf. Still, I tried. But as I reached 20, my back really started to feel it (letting my age in, here). Wong thankfully let me stop at 20, and then I ran 2 laps. By the time I got to the bicep curls station, the DIs signaled to each other that class was over. 25 group sit-ups, finished strong, and had a feeling of triumph like I hadn't felt in a long time.
Capped off the evening by checking out kitchen and bathroom tiles at Home Depot with Sunil, who is in the blissful throes of home improvement. Getting some ideas myself.Oh, and two days later, my butt is ridiculously sore. Damn those squats!
Friday, December 7, 2007
April 30, 2007: One Of These Days, These Boots Are Gonna Walk All Over You……
It has been a whole two weeks since I last went. Week 1, went once, and then took the rest of the week off, friend visiting from out of town. Week 2 – crappy on Monday, knocked out Tuesday Wednesday, and recuperated the rest of the weekend, missing social obligations to do so, but I knew that if I went out on Saturday night, it would set me back BIG time. I had to go back – the additional incentive, the OTHER Sunil was going back on the 30th. From the time he re-upped to the week before, I had spent several gleeful conversations doing my best to give him flack and scare him – even choosing the same Full Metal Jacket/R. Lee Ermey picture to send to him just to add insult to injury.
I walked in, did my 5 push-ups, and made my way across the obstacle course, the only clear space, given the size of the class, which had to have been around 20. Alex gave me his special greeting – two fingers in a V across his chest (this could either be a peace sign, or V for Vincent. In my own happy storybook world, it is the latter). Wondered what was in store as I saw the huge class ahead of us struggling with tire sit-ups, squat thrusts after arm curls with the bar, and punching bag exercises, and spent a good 15 minutes seeing which squad was doing what. Nothing looked easy. Sunil came out, having changed into his camos, looking a bit nervous. I couldn’t help but grin and chuckle. I gave him a playful punch on the shoulder and headed over to the PT area to start our warm-up. I was a bit torn between wanting to hang toward the back where he was, and staying at the front, where I always start. I chose to stay near the front to give myself a good starting pace – always key.
We began with 7 laps around, came back without my heart exploding, thankfully. Partner stretches – I offered to pair up with Sunil – he had no idea what he was doing (apparently when he did boot camp they didn’t stretch out like we did); leaned hard on him (I knew he could take it). When it came time to introduce ourselves, forgetting the years before, Sunil shouted out his first name. Whaaat? Was he on crack? He knows better now. Then, 30 jumping jacks – I was wondering why were they letting us off so easily, but I should have known better. Into push up position for 15 push-ups. Back on our feet, facing reach other. Ruben did his best to startle me as I faced Sunil – it worked, I flinched a bit (I shouldn’t have been surprised, he hollered out my name when he saw me waiting for class, which meant that I was possibly in for a world of haranguing that day) Next - squat thrusts – they said we were going to 25, groan, amazingly enough, I didn’t falter as much as I thought, but then people weren’t sounding off to their satisfaction, so we kept on going!!! We went to 50!!!!! And Alex had the audacity to single me out when I started losing it – realistically speaking, I think I only missed 5. 45 in total, have NEVER done that before.
On our backs for leg lifts – too slow, Ruben barked ’12 seconds’ – which I think I was extra sensitive to hearing his voice, I bolted like it was nobody’s business. Back to the PT area, for 15 more push ups. On our backs again, but then another 12 seconds around the gym – are you kidding me – and then my position shifted further from the wall. As I lay there, doing my leg lifts, Alex loomed over, and decided to step on me, eliciting a slight ‘oof’ (he’s definitely heavier than Ruben). And then, since I seemed to be having a too easy time, in his eyes, he pushed my feet together and then threw my feet to the floor several times, which made me grumble at him – “Alex, these are leg lifts, not throwdowns!” When we were finished with that – we had to hold for a count of 20 (when I bent my legs slightly, Wong shouted at me to straighten them out). Up on our feet, high knees for a count of 25, DI barking for us to sound off louder. Then facing our partner, we did lunges, 15 on each leg, with our opposite knee touching the ground – my partner and I looked at each other with a combination of glee and determination as we counted off our lunges – YEAH!
Down to push up position, hold. First line was to hold in plank position, while the other would run two laps. I had to run first, no problem. When I was planking, inevitably I heard “Vincent, get that butt down!” Luckily my partner was a quick runner. Second time in plank position, Ruben called out, “I think Vincent has an a$$ problem” Funny, I muttered into the ground, I don’t have any problem with my a$$. Only to find Alex’s boot on it, pushing me down. These guys must have missed me LOADS.
When we finished 3 rounds, my partner was ordered to grab a bar, and I grabbed a tire, and we headed over to the hurdles to do 100 tire sit-ups. How was I going to handle this? Managed it, surprisingly. Initially, I broke them down into counts of 25, but I found that I didn’t need to focus as much, using the bar as momentum to help me. Ruben came over and with his hands and face over the wall, continued his haranguing – asking me where I’d been, and when I told him I’d had the flu, he was like, “You should have come in and sweat it out. I’m sick, and I am still here.” Smoothly as I came up from my sit-up, I grinned and said, “Mental illness doesn’t count.” A brief smile appeared on his face, replaced with, “oh, I see how it’s gonna be.” Meaning future pain and torture. We were at 80 at this point, and I needed a bit of assistance, so I grabbed my leg once or twice. Bad cop Ruben kicked in, and he threatened to make me start from zero if I grabbed my leg again. Our count got louder as we got to 100, made it! Water break? No, Ruben said, water is for wimps. Then he sent us over to Alex, who mercifully did give us a 10 second water break.
Grabbed a 15-pound green bar and then started around the gym for a lap of lunges and arm curls. Having done no upper body exercises the last two weeks definitely made it tougher, and my legs felt like rubber after the 15 count lunges from earlier in the class. My lunges were definitely not the long-stride-down-to-the-ground type that I was used to doing. Made it around eventually. Next, you had to place your hands two inches apart in the middle of the bar with feet shoulder length apart facing away from the course. You had to squat down to the ground, and then come up, bring the bar to your chin, lower it to hip level, flip the other way, and do the same thing, all the way around the course. Boy was I slow at this point. Made it around a little over halfway when Alex called for me to run it in.
Next exercise was boxing. I picked up the boxing pad, and hooked my arms into the handles in back. My partner was to do a 1-2 jab, which was 1 count, up to 50. Switched places, and I did my 50. Then we ran two laps, my partner holding the pad. Came back to the PT area, and switched positions, and Alex gathered everyone around to demonstrate the next exercise. It became obvious very quickly that he was going to use me to help him – I am sure my face was a mixture of incredulousness and fear, and other people looked at him like, could you choose someone beside the smallest person in the squad? Nope. Alex made me position the pad at a slight downward angle, held my shoulders, telling everyone each step of the way what he was doing.
“You’re going to hold your partner’s shoulders, and bring your left foot back, and then as hard as you can, hit the bag with your knee.”
I managed to stand my ground; definitely took a lot of resistance to go against a 5’9 buff drill instructor – couldn’t let him knock me off my feet. When someone gasped when he hit the bag the first two times, they were like, couldn’t you have used someone else? He said, “She can take it.” Yay. My partner completed her 25 reps on each leg, and then we switched. As I was just on my 8th rep on my left leg, I felt someone come up behind me – it was Sunil; he came up close and said something like, “five foot nothin’, hundred pounds nothin” I told him to get away. That’s my buddy for you. Clowning around. I finished up my reps, and then we did 2 laps, with me holding the bag above my head. Tough getting around the second time, with Alex hollering at me to get a move on. Came back to the PT area, and then Alex told us to bear crawl to Ruben.
We moved over the windowsill, where Ruben assigned us our next task. First, 25 dips against the windowsill, then 15 diamond push-ups against the sandbags, and then over to the tires for 40 squats. We were to do this 3 times. First circuit was fine – if you cheat a bit and do your dips really quickly, you can get through them fine; and diamond push-ups on your knees are still challenging. Tire squats usually aren’t too tough, but since I hadn’t done them in forever, took a bit longer. Then back to the windowsill to repeat it again. This time, I tried to be good and do the dips slower to try and challenge myself, but had to take a pause at 15, and then start up again; finishing up at the tires, slower this time. Third time around, the toughest, naturally so. By the time I got to the tires, I was moving at a snail’s pace; Alex definitely saw me, but since I was in another squad, couldn’t yell at me. Made it to 31, thought I could speed through because they had called for group sit-ups, but felt content to almost make it. As I flopped down near the wall, getting ready for sit-ups, listened to Sunil continue his clowning on the other side of Davis, and giggling about it – Ruben promptly told me to shut my hole, and then started counting off. They had us do 24, which was weird.
I’m definitely feeling the second day effects today. But thankful to have gotten through, and feeling all warm and fuzzy, having been more than adequately welcomed back by the drill instructors’ boots.
I walked in, did my 5 push-ups, and made my way across the obstacle course, the only clear space, given the size of the class, which had to have been around 20. Alex gave me his special greeting – two fingers in a V across his chest (this could either be a peace sign, or V for Vincent. In my own happy storybook world, it is the latter). Wondered what was in store as I saw the huge class ahead of us struggling with tire sit-ups, squat thrusts after arm curls with the bar, and punching bag exercises, and spent a good 15 minutes seeing which squad was doing what. Nothing looked easy. Sunil came out, having changed into his camos, looking a bit nervous. I couldn’t help but grin and chuckle. I gave him a playful punch on the shoulder and headed over to the PT area to start our warm-up. I was a bit torn between wanting to hang toward the back where he was, and staying at the front, where I always start. I chose to stay near the front to give myself a good starting pace – always key.
We began with 7 laps around, came back without my heart exploding, thankfully. Partner stretches – I offered to pair up with Sunil – he had no idea what he was doing (apparently when he did boot camp they didn’t stretch out like we did); leaned hard on him (I knew he could take it). When it came time to introduce ourselves, forgetting the years before, Sunil shouted out his first name. Whaaat? Was he on crack? He knows better now. Then, 30 jumping jacks – I was wondering why were they letting us off so easily, but I should have known better. Into push up position for 15 push-ups. Back on our feet, facing reach other. Ruben did his best to startle me as I faced Sunil – it worked, I flinched a bit (I shouldn’t have been surprised, he hollered out my name when he saw me waiting for class, which meant that I was possibly in for a world of haranguing that day) Next - squat thrusts – they said we were going to 25, groan, amazingly enough, I didn’t falter as much as I thought, but then people weren’t sounding off to their satisfaction, so we kept on going!!! We went to 50!!!!! And Alex had the audacity to single me out when I started losing it – realistically speaking, I think I only missed 5. 45 in total, have NEVER done that before.
On our backs for leg lifts – too slow, Ruben barked ’12 seconds’ – which I think I was extra sensitive to hearing his voice, I bolted like it was nobody’s business. Back to the PT area, for 15 more push ups. On our backs again, but then another 12 seconds around the gym – are you kidding me – and then my position shifted further from the wall. As I lay there, doing my leg lifts, Alex loomed over, and decided to step on me, eliciting a slight ‘oof’ (he’s definitely heavier than Ruben). And then, since I seemed to be having a too easy time, in his eyes, he pushed my feet together and then threw my feet to the floor several times, which made me grumble at him – “Alex, these are leg lifts, not throwdowns!” When we were finished with that – we had to hold for a count of 20 (when I bent my legs slightly, Wong shouted at me to straighten them out). Up on our feet, high knees for a count of 25, DI barking for us to sound off louder. Then facing our partner, we did lunges, 15 on each leg, with our opposite knee touching the ground – my partner and I looked at each other with a combination of glee and determination as we counted off our lunges – YEAH!
Down to push up position, hold. First line was to hold in plank position, while the other would run two laps. I had to run first, no problem. When I was planking, inevitably I heard “Vincent, get that butt down!” Luckily my partner was a quick runner. Second time in plank position, Ruben called out, “I think Vincent has an a$$ problem” Funny, I muttered into the ground, I don’t have any problem with my a$$. Only to find Alex’s boot on it, pushing me down. These guys must have missed me LOADS.
When we finished 3 rounds, my partner was ordered to grab a bar, and I grabbed a tire, and we headed over to the hurdles to do 100 tire sit-ups. How was I going to handle this? Managed it, surprisingly. Initially, I broke them down into counts of 25, but I found that I didn’t need to focus as much, using the bar as momentum to help me. Ruben came over and with his hands and face over the wall, continued his haranguing – asking me where I’d been, and when I told him I’d had the flu, he was like, “You should have come in and sweat it out. I’m sick, and I am still here.” Smoothly as I came up from my sit-up, I grinned and said, “Mental illness doesn’t count.” A brief smile appeared on his face, replaced with, “oh, I see how it’s gonna be.” Meaning future pain and torture. We were at 80 at this point, and I needed a bit of assistance, so I grabbed my leg once or twice. Bad cop Ruben kicked in, and he threatened to make me start from zero if I grabbed my leg again. Our count got louder as we got to 100, made it! Water break? No, Ruben said, water is for wimps. Then he sent us over to Alex, who mercifully did give us a 10 second water break.
Grabbed a 15-pound green bar and then started around the gym for a lap of lunges and arm curls. Having done no upper body exercises the last two weeks definitely made it tougher, and my legs felt like rubber after the 15 count lunges from earlier in the class. My lunges were definitely not the long-stride-down-to-the-ground type that I was used to doing. Made it around eventually. Next, you had to place your hands two inches apart in the middle of the bar with feet shoulder length apart facing away from the course. You had to squat down to the ground, and then come up, bring the bar to your chin, lower it to hip level, flip the other way, and do the same thing, all the way around the course. Boy was I slow at this point. Made it around a little over halfway when Alex called for me to run it in.
Next exercise was boxing. I picked up the boxing pad, and hooked my arms into the handles in back. My partner was to do a 1-2 jab, which was 1 count, up to 50. Switched places, and I did my 50. Then we ran two laps, my partner holding the pad. Came back to the PT area, and switched positions, and Alex gathered everyone around to demonstrate the next exercise. It became obvious very quickly that he was going to use me to help him – I am sure my face was a mixture of incredulousness and fear, and other people looked at him like, could you choose someone beside the smallest person in the squad? Nope. Alex made me position the pad at a slight downward angle, held my shoulders, telling everyone each step of the way what he was doing.
“You’re going to hold your partner’s shoulders, and bring your left foot back, and then as hard as you can, hit the bag with your knee.”
I managed to stand my ground; definitely took a lot of resistance to go against a 5’9 buff drill instructor – couldn’t let him knock me off my feet. When someone gasped when he hit the bag the first two times, they were like, couldn’t you have used someone else? He said, “She can take it.” Yay. My partner completed her 25 reps on each leg, and then we switched. As I was just on my 8th rep on my left leg, I felt someone come up behind me – it was Sunil; he came up close and said something like, “five foot nothin’, hundred pounds nothin” I told him to get away. That’s my buddy for you. Clowning around. I finished up my reps, and then we did 2 laps, with me holding the bag above my head. Tough getting around the second time, with Alex hollering at me to get a move on. Came back to the PT area, and then Alex told us to bear crawl to Ruben.
We moved over the windowsill, where Ruben assigned us our next task. First, 25 dips against the windowsill, then 15 diamond push-ups against the sandbags, and then over to the tires for 40 squats. We were to do this 3 times. First circuit was fine – if you cheat a bit and do your dips really quickly, you can get through them fine; and diamond push-ups on your knees are still challenging. Tire squats usually aren’t too tough, but since I hadn’t done them in forever, took a bit longer. Then back to the windowsill to repeat it again. This time, I tried to be good and do the dips slower to try and challenge myself, but had to take a pause at 15, and then start up again; finishing up at the tires, slower this time. Third time around, the toughest, naturally so. By the time I got to the tires, I was moving at a snail’s pace; Alex definitely saw me, but since I was in another squad, couldn’t yell at me. Made it to 31, thought I could speed through because they had called for group sit-ups, but felt content to almost make it. As I flopped down near the wall, getting ready for sit-ups, listened to Sunil continue his clowning on the other side of Davis, and giggling about it – Ruben promptly told me to shut my hole, and then started counting off. They had us do 24, which was weird.
I’m definitely feeling the second day effects today. But thankful to have gotten through, and feeling all warm and fuzzy, having been more than adequately welcomed back by the drill instructors’ boots.
March 21: For the longest time
So, remember the slightly self-righteous, overly enthusiastic way I ended my last post? Well, pride goeth before a fall. Life has a way of making you check yourself. After my last post, dental issues started creeping up; an abscessed molar due to an incomplete root canal (which was started my first week or so of boot camp) put me out of commission for two whole working days, and then the subsequent visits to the dentist equipped me with this sense of self-pampering which made me skip one class, then the next, then the next one......until I found myself looking at the calendar, fully intending on going back to class on March 19. But then what happened? Root canal. Was impossible to go to boot camp after that. Wednesday came, and I almost didn't go - Dad called and said that my uncle was in town - but I firmly told him (and myself) that if I didn't go back that night, I would regret it.
Wednesday, just to prepare to return after the longest hiatus since I started, I helped myself to a second cup of the office coffee (espresso strength) in the afternoon, accompanied by tons of water. When I walked in, the new receptionist looked surprised as I initialed by my name. In the pup tent, as various people walked in, they looked surprised to see me and asked me if I had been away. "Nope." I then went on to explain the dental issues. The rest, chalked up to laziness.
Before the DIs even called for us to start our laps, one highly ambitious recruit started running around the gym. Ironically enough, this was a woman who, just a few weeks back, had trouble even wearing her uniform. But it didn't strike me as inspired as much as it seemed like she was just trying to seem better than the other recruits. Call it my early impressions of her sticking in my mind. Finished with those, into group stretches. Would you believe, when it came time to do a butterfly stretch, instead of pushing my partner's knees down as they sat Indian style, I forgot and pushed down on her back. I quickly realized my mistake and corrected myself. Not without Titus noticing, of course, and he grinned momentarily and said, "Good job Vincent." Color me embarrassed.
Started off with 75 jumping jacks - managed those well enough. Next, 15 push-ups, to their count. Collectively, people had a bit of trouble with the first couple because people didn't understand that they had to shout out the number when they went down, not as they came back up; we got it together eventually. Followed by 20 squat thrusts - I made it to 16/17 (I think Alex noticed, but he didn't call me out on it). Back to 25 jumping jacks, this time a bit more of a challenge, the sweat started to trickle down my forehead. 15 more squat thrusts - started to get painful, and the 'Judy looking like a frog' syndrome started to kick in. The next 15 push-ups were definitely tougher, and I looked over to find the woman next to me (more of a newbie) doing them in the non-girly way. Fine, I am making NO progress, am merely thankful to be able to get through. On our backs for leg lifts - 30 of them, and to make things tougher, Titus called out for us to get our heads and shoulder blades off the ground - ugh. I can't say I held my head up for all of them, but made my best effort. And when we finished the leg lifts, we were ordered to hold our legs 6 inches off the ground for a count of 20. Titus walked up to me and pushed my legs closer to the ground (definitely was lower than 6 inches), and I KNOW he saw the tensed-up, gritted-teeth rictus of pain/determination I had on my face, and heard the strain in my voice as I counted backwards to 1. Then, 12 seconds to get around the gym.
Back to the PT area, high knees for a count of 20, then time for 15 star jumpers - made tougher by Alex pushing me further down into a sitting position. Immediately followed by 20 jumping lunges. My legs started to feel progressively stiffer and heavier, so I didn't lunge as deeply as I normally would. Drop down to push up position, into 20 reps of feet-together-feet-apart. (Note: having had 4 inches of my hair cut off recently, my ponytail was NOT staying in place, and periodically caused me to try and blow my bangs out of my face.)
The last part of the warm-up was challenging in a new way. After the previous exercise, we were ordered to hold in push-up position, and then raise our left arms for a count of 25. Then our right arms, then the left leg, and then the right leg. And then we all did the hokey pokey and turned ourselves around - kidding. If that wasn't tough enough, back to push up position, and then were made to raise our left arm AND right leg (Alex happened to be passing by me and decided to pull my leg - literally). Then, switch it up - and the right-arm-left-leg up for a count of 25. Finally, the last 12 seconds to get around the gym. WHEW.
We were divided up into squads; Alex was overseeing mine (purrrrrr). We were brought over to behind the INTENSITY wall, where we were given our first exercise - tire sit-ups, where you were partnered up, and as you came up, had to punch left-right-left-right, and that was one rep. 100 of those. Fortunately, I was paired up with a woman who hadn't been back for a long time as well. So we focused on pacing ourselves - I'll admit, I didn't do the full 100; I did rest a couple of times when she kept on motoring through. Having completed that task, we were allowed a water break - thank god.
We lined up in front of Alex, and he explained what we were to do next - we were going to partner up and do the obstacle course, but in between each obstacle, we were to do 15 star jumpers. (Note: with this in mind, I will skip over the obvious repetitive mention of the star jumpers, in the interest of brevity) Over the first set of hurdles, into the rope net; my partner was motoring waaay ahead of me until Alex told her that she had to wait for me. Over the second set of hurdles, then we paused, having a collective brain fart, wondering if we had to do the star jumpers. Titus, even though he wasn't directing our squad, flexed his muscles and threatened us with knuckle sandwiches if we didn't get a move on. Over the walls, then to the monkey bars. I thought I wouldn't be able to make it, but with the help of my partner spotting me the whole way through, I got across - YAY. The next obstacle was the climbing wall - which was ludicrous in my eyes, because honestly, it wasn't built for people with limbs as short as mine. I attempted to protest to Alex, but he said, "Bullsh*t, Vincent, I've seen you do this, so get up there." I told him he was confused with another short Indian recruit. He smirked and jerked his chin towards the wall.
I made it across part of the wall, and then did a wall squat as I waited for my partner to get over the log belly rollers. Alex saw me waiting, walked over with his usual Alex manly-man swagger, and said, "Vincent, did you get around that wall, or did you cheese d*ck it?" Shocked, I busted out laughing, and managed to sputter, "Alex, what does that mean?" He grinned his boyish grin, and walked away for a minute. When he came back to get ready to help me up onto the logs, I looked at him and demanded that he tell me what it meant, otherwise I would use it in polite company. He looked a bit sheepish, and said, "You know, cheese d*ck, it means, did you bullsh*t it......" I thought it was the best phrase I had ever heard, and vowed to use it on my juniors (when the opportunity presented itself). But when I got over the log rollers and was preparing to get up the INTENSITY wall, Alex said it was time to switch things up - he denied me the wall!!! Dammit!!
Over in the PT area, Wong instructed us to grab a green bar, and then go into a lap of lunges paired up with a bicep curl. Now, normally these are easy for me, but halfway around, they got tougher - probably due to the long hiatus. Back to Wong - we were to do 30 bicep curls, 30 squat/lifts, and then 30 overhead curls. As I was going through my reps, Wong walked up and down the line, and decided to punch me in the stomach to check my form - argh. We rounded out the exercises with another 30 bicep curls - that was all I could manage in the time allotted - I quickly finished them and headed over to the rock wall. We did our 20, and then class was done.
I was definitely happy that I made it through, and learned a new phrase to boot.
Wednesday, just to prepare to return after the longest hiatus since I started, I helped myself to a second cup of the office coffee (espresso strength) in the afternoon, accompanied by tons of water. When I walked in, the new receptionist looked surprised as I initialed by my name. In the pup tent, as various people walked in, they looked surprised to see me and asked me if I had been away. "Nope." I then went on to explain the dental issues. The rest, chalked up to laziness.
Before the DIs even called for us to start our laps, one highly ambitious recruit started running around the gym. Ironically enough, this was a woman who, just a few weeks back, had trouble even wearing her uniform. But it didn't strike me as inspired as much as it seemed like she was just trying to seem better than the other recruits. Call it my early impressions of her sticking in my mind. Finished with those, into group stretches. Would you believe, when it came time to do a butterfly stretch, instead of pushing my partner's knees down as they sat Indian style, I forgot and pushed down on her back. I quickly realized my mistake and corrected myself. Not without Titus noticing, of course, and he grinned momentarily and said, "Good job Vincent." Color me embarrassed.
Started off with 75 jumping jacks - managed those well enough. Next, 15 push-ups, to their count. Collectively, people had a bit of trouble with the first couple because people didn't understand that they had to shout out the number when they went down, not as they came back up; we got it together eventually. Followed by 20 squat thrusts - I made it to 16/17 (I think Alex noticed, but he didn't call me out on it). Back to 25 jumping jacks, this time a bit more of a challenge, the sweat started to trickle down my forehead. 15 more squat thrusts - started to get painful, and the 'Judy looking like a frog' syndrome started to kick in. The next 15 push-ups were definitely tougher, and I looked over to find the woman next to me (more of a newbie) doing them in the non-girly way. Fine, I am making NO progress, am merely thankful to be able to get through. On our backs for leg lifts - 30 of them, and to make things tougher, Titus called out for us to get our heads and shoulder blades off the ground - ugh. I can't say I held my head up for all of them, but made my best effort. And when we finished the leg lifts, we were ordered to hold our legs 6 inches off the ground for a count of 20. Titus walked up to me and pushed my legs closer to the ground (definitely was lower than 6 inches), and I KNOW he saw the tensed-up, gritted-teeth rictus of pain/determination I had on my face, and heard the strain in my voice as I counted backwards to 1. Then, 12 seconds to get around the gym.
Back to the PT area, high knees for a count of 20, then time for 15 star jumpers - made tougher by Alex pushing me further down into a sitting position. Immediately followed by 20 jumping lunges. My legs started to feel progressively stiffer and heavier, so I didn't lunge as deeply as I normally would. Drop down to push up position, into 20 reps of feet-together-feet-apart. (Note: having had 4 inches of my hair cut off recently, my ponytail was NOT staying in place, and periodically caused me to try and blow my bangs out of my face.)
The last part of the warm-up was challenging in a new way. After the previous exercise, we were ordered to hold in push-up position, and then raise our left arms for a count of 25. Then our right arms, then the left leg, and then the right leg. And then we all did the hokey pokey and turned ourselves around - kidding. If that wasn't tough enough, back to push up position, and then were made to raise our left arm AND right leg (Alex happened to be passing by me and decided to pull my leg - literally). Then, switch it up - and the right-arm-left-leg up for a count of 25. Finally, the last 12 seconds to get around the gym. WHEW.
We were divided up into squads; Alex was overseeing mine (purrrrrr). We were brought over to behind the INTENSITY wall, where we were given our first exercise - tire sit-ups, where you were partnered up, and as you came up, had to punch left-right-left-right, and that was one rep. 100 of those. Fortunately, I was paired up with a woman who hadn't been back for a long time as well. So we focused on pacing ourselves - I'll admit, I didn't do the full 100; I did rest a couple of times when she kept on motoring through. Having completed that task, we were allowed a water break - thank god.
We lined up in front of Alex, and he explained what we were to do next - we were going to partner up and do the obstacle course, but in between each obstacle, we were to do 15 star jumpers. (Note: with this in mind, I will skip over the obvious repetitive mention of the star jumpers, in the interest of brevity) Over the first set of hurdles, into the rope net; my partner was motoring waaay ahead of me until Alex told her that she had to wait for me. Over the second set of hurdles, then we paused, having a collective brain fart, wondering if we had to do the star jumpers. Titus, even though he wasn't directing our squad, flexed his muscles and threatened us with knuckle sandwiches if we didn't get a move on. Over the walls, then to the monkey bars. I thought I wouldn't be able to make it, but with the help of my partner spotting me the whole way through, I got across - YAY. The next obstacle was the climbing wall - which was ludicrous in my eyes, because honestly, it wasn't built for people with limbs as short as mine. I attempted to protest to Alex, but he said, "Bullsh*t, Vincent, I've seen you do this, so get up there." I told him he was confused with another short Indian recruit. He smirked and jerked his chin towards the wall.
I made it across part of the wall, and then did a wall squat as I waited for my partner to get over the log belly rollers. Alex saw me waiting, walked over with his usual Alex manly-man swagger, and said, "Vincent, did you get around that wall, or did you cheese d*ck it?" Shocked, I busted out laughing, and managed to sputter, "Alex, what does that mean?" He grinned his boyish grin, and walked away for a minute. When he came back to get ready to help me up onto the logs, I looked at him and demanded that he tell me what it meant, otherwise I would use it in polite company. He looked a bit sheepish, and said, "You know, cheese d*ck, it means, did you bullsh*t it......" I thought it was the best phrase I had ever heard, and vowed to use it on my juniors (when the opportunity presented itself). But when I got over the log rollers and was preparing to get up the INTENSITY wall, Alex said it was time to switch things up - he denied me the wall!!! Dammit!!
Over in the PT area, Wong instructed us to grab a green bar, and then go into a lap of lunges paired up with a bicep curl. Now, normally these are easy for me, but halfway around, they got tougher - probably due to the long hiatus. Back to Wong - we were to do 30 bicep curls, 30 squat/lifts, and then 30 overhead curls. As I was going through my reps, Wong walked up and down the line, and decided to punch me in the stomach to check my form - argh. We rounded out the exercises with another 30 bicep curls - that was all I could manage in the time allotted - I quickly finished them and headed over to the rock wall. We did our 20, and then class was done.
I was definitely happy that I made it through, and learned a new phrase to boot.
3/2/2007 - Don't call it a comeback; I've been here for years (or so it feels)
Okay, so let me preface this posting with this fact. One attentive reader might assume that because I haven't posted in almost two months (gasp!), that I haven't been going. Quite the contrary. I can honestly say that I have been going to boot camp pretty diligently, although, every so often, I cancel/reschedule a class to actually have a social life - one of the many reasons I joined boot camp. However, last week, I completely took a break. A combination of wanting to recover from a very bad fall from the hurdles (which brought about a hard bump on my lower inner calf which HASN'T gone away yet......apparently people have told me that it will go away eventually - fingers crossed!), laziness, and wanting to catch up with friends. Wondered what Monday (2/26) would bring.
I walked in, initialed by my name to prove I actually was in attendance, noticed that there was a newbie sitting on a nearby crate with her two friends. For some reason, this infused a renewed sense of strength as I did my 5 pushups; hoping this was a positive indicator of things to come.
Changed into the camos, walked out of the tent, and observed the 6:00 class going on. Wong called out, "Vincent over here," beckoning me over to the INTENSITY wall. Sunil and I briefly looked at each other, puzzled. Still, I trotted over to where Wong was standing, next to a nervous looking, harried, exhausted new recruit. Jerking his head in the direction of the wall, Wong said, "Vincent, get up there." This was a first. With a gung-ho leap, I hopped up, grabbed the middle of the rope, scrambled up and threw my leg over the top. Wong told me to hold on a minute while he walked over to the other side, new recruit in tow. I climbed over, and he pointed out how to place one's feet on each peg on the way down. What a charge! I jogged back to Sunil, a grin on my face - he promptly called me teacher's pet. I realized that Wong was trying to prove a point - if my short a$$ could get over that wall, anyone could do it.
7:00 came quickly afterwards - started off with 6 laps around, followed by the customary stretch out. 60 jumping jacks - broken down (my feeling - for the newbie's sakes); first 35, then Wong re-started the count because we weren't loud enough, and then went up to a count of 25. Down to push-up position for 15 push-ups (still doing the girly ones), after the last one, we were made to hold for a count of 30. Back up on our feet, and then right into 20 squat thrusts. I'll have to admit, I skipped a couple, think I did 18 - in the interest of keeping up with the class. On our backs for 25 fly kicks - from my supine perspective, I couldn't help but notice how much larger and imperious Alex looked with his olive green sweatshirt as he walked up and down the lines of people. Up on our feet, jogging in place, high knees for a count of 25.
Back down to push-up position for 20 slow mountain jumpers. The pace was manageable, however as I moved past 12, it became a bit more challenging. Alex hollered "12 seconds to get around my gym" (it's interesting how various DIs take ownership at times - Titus has done this before, as well as talk about his hurdles, his walls, his tires; and so have Wong and Ruben); I made a dash for it, narrowly missing a small patch of sweat left by one of the recruits. Back to the PT area, into two lines, we had 15 more jumping jacks, definitely more challenging. We were ordered to face each other, and then get down on our backs. Next up - 20 leg lifts; it took us a couple of tries to get it right - if we didn't count when our legs were up, we had to go back to 1. I think at this point, we were given another 12 seconds to get around the gym.
When we got back, we were ordered to get down into push-up position, and then Alex indicated that the person across from us would be our partner. I thought we were going to do the '1 person holds themselves up, while the other one runs around', but I was wrong. We were first going to do 15 clapping push-ups, then run 1 lap. Then subtract one, and then another lap around. Going all the way down to 10. As expected, the exercise became increasingly tougher as we got closer to 10; we did our best to encourage each other. And then, we were instructed to grab a mat, and go through the same routine, only this time, doing throwdowns. Admittedly a bit easier for me than the pushups. As I was standing there, assisting my partner with her throwdowns, Ruben walked up to me, and said, 'So, Vincent, where have you been? Boozin'?" I smiled and said, "No, I've been busy." (All the while thinking to myself, well, there were a few cocktails poured for me that week). When that was done, bliss - a water break.
Warmup over, I was grouped into Wong's squad. He told us to grab a bar; I took the green (15 pound) one. First off, a lap of lunges, with bicep curls. Managed that well enough. Second time around, a lap of lunges, but with a military press - tougher, and it made me not lunge as deeply as I did the first time around. Wong motioned for us to come over to the far side of the course, by the three walls.
Our first task - a bicep curl, a press, a squat thrust, and then a pushup. We had to do 25 of those (you've GOT to be kidding me). Of the 4 people who were in my group, I think I was the last. Davis was waaaay ahead of me. For the second exercise, we were to lie down on the shredded tires, our heads on the sandbags that outlined the perimeter of the obstacle course. Legs up at a 90 degree angle, and then we were to do 50 chest presses. I fell even farther behind; because I thought, it's about the form and not the speed - apparently I was alone in this opinion. Next, feet down, and 50 'skull crushers'. Basically, this is a tricep strengthening exercise, where you are lying down, your hands are in the middle of the bar, right next to each other, and you bring the bar back over your head, and then come back to a position where your forearms are parallel to the floor. The fourth and final exercise was a combo of a chest press and then bringing the bar all the way back to the floor, and then repeat 50 times. The tough part was the 'bring the bar back to the floor' part - but I gritted my teeth as it got challenging, and muscled my way through.
Finished with us, Wong sent us over to Ruben, who was waiting for us in the PT area. In an uncharacteristically nice-guy way, Ruben gave us a water break before we started the next part of the class. He set up a number of different stations, and put me in front of a crate, and had me hold two 10-pound weights. I was to step up and down on and off the box, weights in hand. The hardest part of it was holding the weights, given the prior exercises Wong had put us through. The next station - bicep curls (I decided to suck-up, er, challenge myself by selecting the 15 pound bar; the woman before me had been using the 12 pound bar). Next, what I call the 'timing task' because this is what determined how long everyone else had to be at their stations, doing their own exercises. First, I had to sprint from the back of the PT space to the front desk, twice. Then, 10 star jumpers, followed by bear crawls the length of the hardwood floor. I was completely motoring for about 10 feet, and then it got harder.....Ruben, noticing that I was flagging a bit, walked alongside of me, hollering at me to keep going. I heard shouts of encouragement from the women at the other stations, telling me that I could do it. Coming back to the end of the floor, I got up, and immediately felt REALLY loopy (apparently someone told me I was actually swaying when I stood up). Collected myself, and then went to the next station - ack, 15 burpies - how long had it been since I had to do those? Took my own sweet time, because I knew (from watching the earlier class) that we were close to the end. Finally, the last station - feet in a tire, then sit-ups. I paced myself, and out of the corner of my eye, watched the woman who was doing the 'timing task', and committed myself to doing at least 25 sit-ups. Did it.
Wong called us over to the rock wall for group sit-ups. I gleefully shouted out the count as we did our 35.
And, went back on Wednesday for a punishing session, and today (Friday) to round out the week. And am pretty confident that I will do my 3 days next week. We'll see.....if I ever find myself tempted to cancel class for no reason, I know there are several friends I can call who will tell me that I have no excuse not to go.
Have a great weekend!
I walked in, initialed by my name to prove I actually was in attendance, noticed that there was a newbie sitting on a nearby crate with her two friends. For some reason, this infused a renewed sense of strength as I did my 5 pushups; hoping this was a positive indicator of things to come.
Changed into the camos, walked out of the tent, and observed the 6:00 class going on. Wong called out, "Vincent over here," beckoning me over to the INTENSITY wall. Sunil and I briefly looked at each other, puzzled. Still, I trotted over to where Wong was standing, next to a nervous looking, harried, exhausted new recruit. Jerking his head in the direction of the wall, Wong said, "Vincent, get up there." This was a first. With a gung-ho leap, I hopped up, grabbed the middle of the rope, scrambled up and threw my leg over the top. Wong told me to hold on a minute while he walked over to the other side, new recruit in tow. I climbed over, and he pointed out how to place one's feet on each peg on the way down. What a charge! I jogged back to Sunil, a grin on my face - he promptly called me teacher's pet. I realized that Wong was trying to prove a point - if my short a$$ could get over that wall, anyone could do it.
7:00 came quickly afterwards - started off with 6 laps around, followed by the customary stretch out. 60 jumping jacks - broken down (my feeling - for the newbie's sakes); first 35, then Wong re-started the count because we weren't loud enough, and then went up to a count of 25. Down to push-up position for 15 push-ups (still doing the girly ones), after the last one, we were made to hold for a count of 30. Back up on our feet, and then right into 20 squat thrusts. I'll have to admit, I skipped a couple, think I did 18 - in the interest of keeping up with the class. On our backs for 25 fly kicks - from my supine perspective, I couldn't help but notice how much larger and imperious Alex looked with his olive green sweatshirt as he walked up and down the lines of people. Up on our feet, jogging in place, high knees for a count of 25.
Back down to push-up position for 20 slow mountain jumpers. The pace was manageable, however as I moved past 12, it became a bit more challenging. Alex hollered "12 seconds to get around my gym" (it's interesting how various DIs take ownership at times - Titus has done this before, as well as talk about his hurdles, his walls, his tires; and so have Wong and Ruben); I made a dash for it, narrowly missing a small patch of sweat left by one of the recruits. Back to the PT area, into two lines, we had 15 more jumping jacks, definitely more challenging. We were ordered to face each other, and then get down on our backs. Next up - 20 leg lifts; it took us a couple of tries to get it right - if we didn't count when our legs were up, we had to go back to 1. I think at this point, we were given another 12 seconds to get around the gym.
When we got back, we were ordered to get down into push-up position, and then Alex indicated that the person across from us would be our partner. I thought we were going to do the '1 person holds themselves up, while the other one runs around', but I was wrong. We were first going to do 15 clapping push-ups, then run 1 lap. Then subtract one, and then another lap around. Going all the way down to 10. As expected, the exercise became increasingly tougher as we got closer to 10; we did our best to encourage each other. And then, we were instructed to grab a mat, and go through the same routine, only this time, doing throwdowns. Admittedly a bit easier for me than the pushups. As I was standing there, assisting my partner with her throwdowns, Ruben walked up to me, and said, 'So, Vincent, where have you been? Boozin'?" I smiled and said, "No, I've been busy." (All the while thinking to myself, well, there were a few cocktails poured for me that week). When that was done, bliss - a water break.
Warmup over, I was grouped into Wong's squad. He told us to grab a bar; I took the green (15 pound) one. First off, a lap of lunges, with bicep curls. Managed that well enough. Second time around, a lap of lunges, but with a military press - tougher, and it made me not lunge as deeply as I did the first time around. Wong motioned for us to come over to the far side of the course, by the three walls.
Our first task - a bicep curl, a press, a squat thrust, and then a pushup. We had to do 25 of those (you've GOT to be kidding me). Of the 4 people who were in my group, I think I was the last. Davis was waaaay ahead of me. For the second exercise, we were to lie down on the shredded tires, our heads on the sandbags that outlined the perimeter of the obstacle course. Legs up at a 90 degree angle, and then we were to do 50 chest presses. I fell even farther behind; because I thought, it's about the form and not the speed - apparently I was alone in this opinion. Next, feet down, and 50 'skull crushers'. Basically, this is a tricep strengthening exercise, where you are lying down, your hands are in the middle of the bar, right next to each other, and you bring the bar back over your head, and then come back to a position where your forearms are parallel to the floor. The fourth and final exercise was a combo of a chest press and then bringing the bar all the way back to the floor, and then repeat 50 times. The tough part was the 'bring the bar back to the floor' part - but I gritted my teeth as it got challenging, and muscled my way through.
Finished with us, Wong sent us over to Ruben, who was waiting for us in the PT area. In an uncharacteristically nice-guy way, Ruben gave us a water break before we started the next part of the class. He set up a number of different stations, and put me in front of a crate, and had me hold two 10-pound weights. I was to step up and down on and off the box, weights in hand. The hardest part of it was holding the weights, given the prior exercises Wong had put us through. The next station - bicep curls (I decided to suck-up, er, challenge myself by selecting the 15 pound bar; the woman before me had been using the 12 pound bar). Next, what I call the 'timing task' because this is what determined how long everyone else had to be at their stations, doing their own exercises. First, I had to sprint from the back of the PT space to the front desk, twice. Then, 10 star jumpers, followed by bear crawls the length of the hardwood floor. I was completely motoring for about 10 feet, and then it got harder.....Ruben, noticing that I was flagging a bit, walked alongside of me, hollering at me to keep going. I heard shouts of encouragement from the women at the other stations, telling me that I could do it. Coming back to the end of the floor, I got up, and immediately felt REALLY loopy (apparently someone told me I was actually swaying when I stood up). Collected myself, and then went to the next station - ack, 15 burpies - how long had it been since I had to do those? Took my own sweet time, because I knew (from watching the earlier class) that we were close to the end. Finally, the last station - feet in a tire, then sit-ups. I paced myself, and out of the corner of my eye, watched the woman who was doing the 'timing task', and committed myself to doing at least 25 sit-ups. Did it.
Wong called us over to the rock wall for group sit-ups. I gleefully shouted out the count as we did our 35.
And, went back on Wednesday for a punishing session, and today (Friday) to round out the week. And am pretty confident that I will do my 3 days next week. We'll see.....if I ever find myself tempted to cancel class for no reason, I know there are several friends I can call who will tell me that I have no excuse not to go.
Have a great weekend!
Wednesday, January 10: DI Wong's Butt Party
After recovering from my soreness brought on my Monday's vigorous re-introduction, I went back on Wednesday for more. Was it going to hinder me? I had no idea.
This week, I definitely started feeling more like an old-timer, standing around, chit-chatting with people before class, knowing more people than I had before, as opposed to the newbies who were sitting on the floor, knees hugged closed, with a look of fear/panic on their faces.
Titus, from his roost on the log roll obstacle, hollered, "7:00 - seven laps!" I started out at a moderate sprint, hoping not to come in last. Laps 5-6 started to get tough, but then Wong called out for us to run it in. Was thankful for the 6 laps versus 7, since yes, I am a wimp.
Back to the PT area for stretches. Then, 50 jumping jacks, 20 pushups, at which point we were given 12 seconds to get around the gym. But, a couple of people decided to take the easy way around, and run on the inside of one of the columns, versus the outside, which irked both Wong and Titus enough for (one of) them to holler, "Oh hell no - no cheaters, another 12 seconds round the gym!" This time, I was mentally beseeching everyone to go all the way around, so that we could get on with the warm up. 30 more jumping jacks, then 15 pushups; this time I attempted to do them the non-girly way, but it wasn't happening. Switched over to the adjusted ones after 5 pushups. 12 seconds around the gym, back to pushup position. Wong showed us the proper form for mountain jumpers - none of the half-assed stuff that he'd seen us doing forever. We were to bring one leg up to our chest, while keeping our backs straight, and butts low. 20 of those, rather slowly. Very tough, but I got through them.
Another 12 seconds around the gym, and then 15 clapping pushups - only made a bit more challenging by the fact that my new camo pants kept on sliding (I hadn't used the new ones since I re-upped in October, so I had them hemmed and decided to use them for the new year). Afterwards, Lauren walked around and individually assigned us a number of squat thrusts to complete before we had another lap around the gym; I was given 22. Most of the time, I would have been happy to get to 20, and was almost about to give up as I reached 20, but the difference between stopping there and completing the task for only 2 squat thrusts. I steeled myself, and finished - whoo hoo!
After one more lap around, Titus partnered me up with one of the newbies for canteen sit-ups; he assigned us 85. Grabbed a tire, two mats, and a canteen and got started. Not an impossible task, I've learned that if you keep going at a good clip, it makes it easier. Kept on encouraging my partner, who was struggling, divided our count up into smaller chunks, and then counted backwards when we came down to our final 10. I remember Castro doing something like this for me when I was newer to the program......then, two laps around.
A group of us were assigned to Wong, who instructed us to grab a green bar (if I remember correctly, it's a 15 pound bar). We were lined up, facing the obstacle course, and were given the following exercise: squat, curl, flip the other way (facing the wall), then repeat. All the way around the gym. He was like, "Come on ladies, gotta get that butt in shape - bikini season is coming up!" I was fine for the better part of the perimeter, but it started to get tough around 3/4 of the way......so I focused on exhaling as I curled, inhaling on the way down. Made it.
We put the bars away, and ran it over to the rock wall. For some reason, some people thought that it was one lap around, and then when Wong signaled for us to stop, it was like our squad turned into the Keystone cops - one stopped, and the others kept going; must have been quite comedic to the random observer.
Wong had us make space for each other, and then stand with our right hands against the rock wall. Then he showed us the proper form for a kick; left hand in a fist, covering the side of our face, lean into the wall, bring your left knee up, and then kick out, with your foot sideways, and then when you come back down, your knee is 'chambered'. 25 reps. And then the next exercise was a kick-and-hold for a count of 25. That was TOUGH - a couple of people started grunting with the effort, and I was gritting my teeth as we got closer to 1. Switch sides, and then another 25 reps on the right leg, followed by another kick-and-hold with a count of 25. We did this 2 more times; the groans became more audible, and I was definitely not immune to them. OUCH.
Over to the hurdles, where Wong had each person stand behind a hurdle, with our hands resting gently on them. 25 slow squats, easy enough - and I tried to make it harder for myself by not using the top of the hurdle too much (reminded me of back in the day on the Stairmaster where they told you not to grip the handles). Then, 20 fast squats. Somewhere in the middle of this, one of the recruits from the earlier class, Trucco, started dancing in front of Linda like some sort of spastic jumping jack. Momentarily distracted, I allowed myself a guffaw.
Next, Wong had us keep our left leg straight, and do 10 one legged squats, then switch legs and repeat. We had to do 2 sets of these; I was definitely concerned for my knee, which had always been a source of irritation to me in the past. Then, 2 laps around, back to the PT area, where we did 30 squats on the tires. Now, normally I motor through these, but with all the glute exercises we'd been doing, they were significantly more difficult. 2 more laps around.
Then the final exercise - SQUAT THRUSTS!!!! Ugh, what was he trying to do to us? I attempted to get through them, and came the closest to throwing up that I ever have; and then mercifully, after 5, we were called over to the rock wall for group sit-ups. As we passed Wong, he hollered, "Okay, ladies, the butt party is over!"
WTF?? All kinds of wrong. But not for nothing, my butt did feel immediately firmer.....am thinking about new jeans in a few weeks.....
This week, I definitely started feeling more like an old-timer, standing around, chit-chatting with people before class, knowing more people than I had before, as opposed to the newbies who were sitting on the floor, knees hugged closed, with a look of fear/panic on their faces.
Titus, from his roost on the log roll obstacle, hollered, "7:00 - seven laps!" I started out at a moderate sprint, hoping not to come in last. Laps 5-6 started to get tough, but then Wong called out for us to run it in. Was thankful for the 6 laps versus 7, since yes, I am a wimp.
Back to the PT area for stretches. Then, 50 jumping jacks, 20 pushups, at which point we were given 12 seconds to get around the gym. But, a couple of people decided to take the easy way around, and run on the inside of one of the columns, versus the outside, which irked both Wong and Titus enough for (one of) them to holler, "Oh hell no - no cheaters, another 12 seconds round the gym!" This time, I was mentally beseeching everyone to go all the way around, so that we could get on with the warm up. 30 more jumping jacks, then 15 pushups; this time I attempted to do them the non-girly way, but it wasn't happening. Switched over to the adjusted ones after 5 pushups. 12 seconds around the gym, back to pushup position. Wong showed us the proper form for mountain jumpers - none of the half-assed stuff that he'd seen us doing forever. We were to bring one leg up to our chest, while keeping our backs straight, and butts low. 20 of those, rather slowly. Very tough, but I got through them.
Another 12 seconds around the gym, and then 15 clapping pushups - only made a bit more challenging by the fact that my new camo pants kept on sliding (I hadn't used the new ones since I re-upped in October, so I had them hemmed and decided to use them for the new year). Afterwards, Lauren walked around and individually assigned us a number of squat thrusts to complete before we had another lap around the gym; I was given 22. Most of the time, I would have been happy to get to 20, and was almost about to give up as I reached 20, but the difference between stopping there and completing the task for only 2 squat thrusts. I steeled myself, and finished - whoo hoo!
After one more lap around, Titus partnered me up with one of the newbies for canteen sit-ups; he assigned us 85. Grabbed a tire, two mats, and a canteen and got started. Not an impossible task, I've learned that if you keep going at a good clip, it makes it easier. Kept on encouraging my partner, who was struggling, divided our count up into smaller chunks, and then counted backwards when we came down to our final 10. I remember Castro doing something like this for me when I was newer to the program......then, two laps around.
A group of us were assigned to Wong, who instructed us to grab a green bar (if I remember correctly, it's a 15 pound bar). We were lined up, facing the obstacle course, and were given the following exercise: squat, curl, flip the other way (facing the wall), then repeat. All the way around the gym. He was like, "Come on ladies, gotta get that butt in shape - bikini season is coming up!" I was fine for the better part of the perimeter, but it started to get tough around 3/4 of the way......so I focused on exhaling as I curled, inhaling on the way down. Made it.
We put the bars away, and ran it over to the rock wall. For some reason, some people thought that it was one lap around, and then when Wong signaled for us to stop, it was like our squad turned into the Keystone cops - one stopped, and the others kept going; must have been quite comedic to the random observer.
Wong had us make space for each other, and then stand with our right hands against the rock wall. Then he showed us the proper form for a kick; left hand in a fist, covering the side of our face, lean into the wall, bring your left knee up, and then kick out, with your foot sideways, and then when you come back down, your knee is 'chambered'. 25 reps. And then the next exercise was a kick-and-hold for a count of 25. That was TOUGH - a couple of people started grunting with the effort, and I was gritting my teeth as we got closer to 1. Switch sides, and then another 25 reps on the right leg, followed by another kick-and-hold with a count of 25. We did this 2 more times; the groans became more audible, and I was definitely not immune to them. OUCH.
Over to the hurdles, where Wong had each person stand behind a hurdle, with our hands resting gently on them. 25 slow squats, easy enough - and I tried to make it harder for myself by not using the top of the hurdle too much (reminded me of back in the day on the Stairmaster where they told you not to grip the handles). Then, 20 fast squats. Somewhere in the middle of this, one of the recruits from the earlier class, Trucco, started dancing in front of Linda like some sort of spastic jumping jack. Momentarily distracted, I allowed myself a guffaw.
Next, Wong had us keep our left leg straight, and do 10 one legged squats, then switch legs and repeat. We had to do 2 sets of these; I was definitely concerned for my knee, which had always been a source of irritation to me in the past. Then, 2 laps around, back to the PT area, where we did 30 squats on the tires. Now, normally I motor through these, but with all the glute exercises we'd been doing, they were significantly more difficult. 2 more laps around.
Then the final exercise - SQUAT THRUSTS!!!! Ugh, what was he trying to do to us? I attempted to get through them, and came the closest to throwing up that I ever have; and then mercifully, after 5, we were called over to the rock wall for group sit-ups. As we passed Wong, he hollered, "Okay, ladies, the butt party is over!"
WTF?? All kinds of wrong. But not for nothing, my butt did feel immediately firmer.....am thinking about new jeans in a few weeks.....
PPBC 2007 - Back To Basics, memorable moments
Three weeks had passed since my last session of boot camp - the last time I had attended was December 23, after which point they had closed for the holidays, and I was derailed by a terrible cold, which prevented me from going back for another week. Admittedly, I was a bit worried about what would await me when I got back.
I walked in on Monday very excited to get back to my routine; the weekend before had been spent taking down my tree, putting away all the holiday decorations, packing away old clothes to give to the Salvation Army. To me, this represented the true beginning of my 2007; I was reasonably recuperated, and everything in my apartment had been cleared of the holidays, so I was ready to go. Linda was a welcome sight, jumping up and hugging me after I signed the sheet. I dropped down and energetically did my 5 push-ups, and went off to change.
All in all, I was happy with the way things went. Managed to get through the laps, stretches and warm-ups (including the dreaded squat-thrusts) with less difficulty than I imagined. So, that meant I wasn't placed with the 'cardio/core strength squad' - and was directed over to behind the Perseverance wall, where Titus ordered us through a regiment of tire squats, sit ups and the obstacle course.
Of course, I found that I had to take slightly longer pauses between tasks, which did not go unnoticed by any of the DIs (three were in attendance that day, due to the size of the class - Wong, Ruben, and Titus), which earned me a few moments of being shouted at. First time, during warm ups - we were partnered up, and assembled into two lines; one line would hold in plank position while the other would run 2, 3, then 4 laps, switching places with their partner. Having not heard that we had to do 4 laps on the last go-around, I slowed down after my third, happily thinking that I was done, but then my partner told me I had one more, and I pulled a face - bringing on bellowing from both Ruben and Titus.
Next time was when I was staring up at the Perseverance wall, hesitant, given the long period of time since I had last climbed over it. Titus, hovering, hollered, "Vincent, quit bullsh*tting and get up that wall!" It was difficult; which was to be expected. I flexed my knees, leapt up, and scrambled up. But annoyingly, I failed to clear it and was gripping the top, in danger of falling back, but with a loud yell, got over. I wasn't going to try it again; my wrists were not in the mood to be banged and bruised any more than necessary. Not without scraping my knee in the same spot that I had done so when I had started boot camp back in August. I have resigned myself to the fact that I will forever bear that mark.....
But, there were a couple of redeeming moments to balance everything out. After the log belly roll, DI Wong, who had been showing a couple of new recruits the obstacles, asked me to go over the second wall again, to demonstrate. Probably trying to show them, if this short thing can do it, so can you! I did so, quite enthusiastically. And then went over to the Intensity wall, where I looked like I was struggling, so Titus helped me over. Okay, so I will accept help because it was the first time back, but I promised myself that I would not need that sort of help after that day. And perhaps it was that energy that made me muscle my way across the rope net, and as I got to the top, I gripped the rope, flipped over, and landed safely on the ground. And as I did, I heard Titus shout, "Way to go ninja!" Was pretty surprised; I didn't expect that anything I did that day would warrant that sort of reaction.
I came out of Monday's class completely energized and happy; and the soreness that set in was like when I first started boot camp in August and lasted me two days.
I walked in on Monday very excited to get back to my routine; the weekend before had been spent taking down my tree, putting away all the holiday decorations, packing away old clothes to give to the Salvation Army. To me, this represented the true beginning of my 2007; I was reasonably recuperated, and everything in my apartment had been cleared of the holidays, so I was ready to go. Linda was a welcome sight, jumping up and hugging me after I signed the sheet. I dropped down and energetically did my 5 push-ups, and went off to change.
All in all, I was happy with the way things went. Managed to get through the laps, stretches and warm-ups (including the dreaded squat-thrusts) with less difficulty than I imagined. So, that meant I wasn't placed with the 'cardio/core strength squad' - and was directed over to behind the Perseverance wall, where Titus ordered us through a regiment of tire squats, sit ups and the obstacle course.
Of course, I found that I had to take slightly longer pauses between tasks, which did not go unnoticed by any of the DIs (three were in attendance that day, due to the size of the class - Wong, Ruben, and Titus), which earned me a few moments of being shouted at. First time, during warm ups - we were partnered up, and assembled into two lines; one line would hold in plank position while the other would run 2, 3, then 4 laps, switching places with their partner. Having not heard that we had to do 4 laps on the last go-around, I slowed down after my third, happily thinking that I was done, but then my partner told me I had one more, and I pulled a face - bringing on bellowing from both Ruben and Titus.
Next time was when I was staring up at the Perseverance wall, hesitant, given the long period of time since I had last climbed over it. Titus, hovering, hollered, "Vincent, quit bullsh*tting and get up that wall!" It was difficult; which was to be expected. I flexed my knees, leapt up, and scrambled up. But annoyingly, I failed to clear it and was gripping the top, in danger of falling back, but with a loud yell, got over. I wasn't going to try it again; my wrists were not in the mood to be banged and bruised any more than necessary. Not without scraping my knee in the same spot that I had done so when I had started boot camp back in August. I have resigned myself to the fact that I will forever bear that mark.....
But, there were a couple of redeeming moments to balance everything out. After the log belly roll, DI Wong, who had been showing a couple of new recruits the obstacles, asked me to go over the second wall again, to demonstrate. Probably trying to show them, if this short thing can do it, so can you! I did so, quite enthusiastically. And then went over to the Intensity wall, where I looked like I was struggling, so Titus helped me over. Okay, so I will accept help because it was the first time back, but I promised myself that I would not need that sort of help after that day. And perhaps it was that energy that made me muscle my way across the rope net, and as I got to the top, I gripped the rope, flipped over, and landed safely on the ground. And as I did, I heard Titus shout, "Way to go ninja!" Was pretty surprised; I didn't expect that anything I did that day would warrant that sort of reaction.
I came out of Monday's class completely energized and happy; and the soreness that set in was like when I first started boot camp in August and lasted me two days.
December 18: Haranguing, and Hating Upon
December 15 was the night of the Pure Power Boot Camp Holiday Soiree. The course had been completely transformed by dimmed lighting, Christmas lights all over the obstacles, and plenty of poinsettia plants everywhere. The pup tents had been transformed into bars, and there were abundant snacks along the wall. This was an event we had been looking forward to ever since it had been announced. Most of the excitement was the opportunity to see everyone in their 'outsider' clothes, a vast change from the no-makeup-hair-pulled-back-camouflage-wearing-sweaty people that we usually saw in boot camp.
Trying to stay true to the nature of this blog, I am going to leave out the details of that night. Safe to say, I got to see a lot of people dressed in their going out clothes, learned various people's first names, and got obliterated by 2AM, which made it difficult to get ready for my tree trimming party the next day; but I managed to pull myself together, throw another successful party, and spend all of Sunday on the couch recovering. (If you want to get an idea of the craziness of the night, visit my photo albums)
Monday came, and I was eager to get back to my normal schedule, both work and otherwise. Work was sort of aggravating, given that I am trying to close a huge placement for one of my clients, and there are factors which are beyond my control that are holding this up. And at the end of the day, this very tense conversation had me raring to go to boot camp and just get it out of my system.
Walked in, dressed very differently than I had the Friday night before - a vision as the harried yuppie in a suit and sneakers, sporting specs, and whose hair hadn't really managed to behave on that day, due to the weird weather. Swapped war stories with Linda, and then went to change. And in the minutes before class, chatted up one of the other recruits, who, as it turns out, does the same thing I do. Except she has been doing it for 2 years, as opposed to my 11. But then when I mentioned that my main client is Goldman Sachs, I sensed this pulling back; not like I was trying to brag, but it's like being part of "The Skulls" - there are only 12 companies who are granted 'Platinum' status, and we just happen to be on that list. Years of work, and sweat, and abiding by every rule they throw out to us. I digress.
Wong and Titus were running the class, a different combination than before. Wong had returned after a bit of a sabbatical, brought on by a football-related knee injury. So, what was to come was somewhat difficult to figure out. But then again, boot camp is never predictable - you never know when you are going to have a strong day or a weak day, which of the DIs are going to be in bad-cop mode, or most importantly, what the workout will be. There were only 8 in the class, ideal size, but it also meant that we would be more under the microscope. Fine by me.
Determined to have a strong start, I didn't cheat when Wong called for 7 laps around the gym. Trotted around, counting lap by lap in my head, 3-4 were fine, 5 was okay, and 6-7 were the tougher ones. By the time I got back to the PT area, I welcomed the partner stretches, as they would allow my heart rate to slow down just a bit. 50 jumping jacks, no problem, but then, 20 squat thrusts (are you frigging kidding me??), followed by 25 pushups. I still haven't gotten to the non-girly ones yet - will get there eventually! Another 25 jumping jacks, 15 squat thrusts (cheated on them a bit), 20 pushups, and then 25 feet-apart-feet-together, which was decidedly tougher this time. 25 fly kicks, and we were instructed to hold our legs up for a count of 25; they threatened to make us start over if someone dropped their legs - as tempted as I was, I only brought my legs up to my chest for a split second while they were walking up and down the lines.....although I suspect that Wong spotted me, and was being merciful.
We were then instructed to partner up, and thankfully, I was moved down to face another partner, given that my former partner, the OTHER recruiter, had neglected to partner up with me for our previous routine, making me wonder what was up her rear end (call me delusional, but I think the Goldman comment earlier made her turn a bit). And I suspect that my cute young partner was a bit disappointed at not being partnered up with her boyfriend, another cute young I-banker (you have to wonder, how do 23 year olds afford this sort of thing, and if they are in finance, how are they getting out in time enough to get to a 7PM boot camp session). She set herself up in plank position, while my row was ordered to bear crawl 1 lap around the gym. Tough. I do okay on the wood floor, but once we hit the shredded tires, I was brought to my knees. And, in the interest of keeping up time, I cheated a bit and crawled on my knees behind the rock wall, and then when I got back onto the wood, went back to the bear crawl. Then it was my turn for the plank position, and it felt like I was in the position for a mere 30 seconds, and then my sprightly partner came back. The next lap around was a crab walk. IMPOSSIBLE. My arms are NOT long enough to support the weight of my body in its present form, and I spent the better part of the lap on my butt. Titus, sensing the pathetic-ness oozing out of me, ordered me to run it in.
Back to the PT space, we each did 35 throwdowns, no sweat; followed by 15 diamond push-ups, 2 laps around, another 15 pushups, and then another two laps. Over to the hurdles, where we were not going to go over just once, but Over (forward)/Over (back)/Over (forward). Given that I still can't jump these things, I concentrated on doing right leg-left leg-right leg, and then onto the next one. 2 laps around, then over to the 3 walls, and then another 2 laps. Over to behind the Intensity wall, where I found myself partnered up with Junior Recruiter Chick again, and we were ordered to do 75 canteen sit ups. Made it through - the first 30 were speedy, just so I could get through, and then I paced myself, and we got through it. Thankfully, we were given a water break. Not long enough, then it was time for another 2 laps. Titus pointed us to the doubled up tires for squats. I walked over to one set and the Titus directed me to another set, a bit lower to the ground (by a few millimeters). Looking at him inquisitively was all that he needed to start going off -
"What, you want me to be more obvious? You're short!"
Okay, a bit more blunt than EVER. Not like I haven't heard short jokes from yahoos before; as opposed to the past, where I would get all angry and huffy, I decided to take the high road -
"You're kidding. I never knew that. Are you going to tell me the sky is blue next?"
With the eye twinkle, he replied, "That's debatable."
By then, I had settled into my 35 squats. 2 laps around, and then over to the hurdles, in the same fashion as before. Over to the rope net, where I got my usual boost, accompanied by a smug smile, and then I got myself through, and over the rope wall. Over the rope swing, under the barbed wire, and then Titus ordered me to do 15 jumping squat thrusts. BLEAH. I thought he couldn't see me pulling a face, but apparently he did. And then? "It's 20 now, since you rolled your eyes at me". Hated him at that moment. But, I was determined not to fail - I got through about 12-13, and then he called me over for another 50 sit-ups. JRC (for short) was my partner again, but this time, she didn't sit across from me - and how were we going to do canteen sit-ups in that position? It was definitely a bit awkward - I don't care what you do outside of boot camp, none of it matters when you are in class. Titus immediately set upon her, asking her why she was always on her own. Hah, that got her in line. We got through our 50 sit-ups, thankfully. Then over the 3 walls again, and to the rock wall for 25 sit-ups.
Next was upper body time. 25 dips against the windowsill, then 2 laps around; then 20 dips, and another 2 laps; lastly 15 dips and another two laps. Got through that fine. But of course it couldn't be an easy ride.....Titus ordered me over to the monkey bars. I looked trepidatiously at him, as to try and convey my utter dislike for the monkey bars. He looked at me and said, "Come on, it'll give you something to put in your blog." The utter cheek, he actually went there! I was shocked, couldn't even think of a retort. I gave him my best death stare, and said, "What I told you on Friday stays on Friday." As of Monday, he went back to being just DI Titus....
I made it through 1.5 of the monkey bars and felt myself start to slip, and vociferously told him I was losing my grip. He was probably trying to avoid a repeat performance of months before, so he let me down. I used him like he was an oak tree and climbed down.
Then over to the hurdles - Davis and I didn't have time to go all the way back down before we were ordered over to the rock wall for our 25 group sit ups. After we were done, we all dilly dallied in the girls' pup tent, and shared war stories from the party on Friday night. Davis was my (female) knight in shining armor - she found me on the corner at 2AM with a shish kebab in my hand, and got us a cab and back down to Battery Park City.
A punishing, yet satisfying session. Very necessary, given the day's conversations.
Trying to stay true to the nature of this blog, I am going to leave out the details of that night. Safe to say, I got to see a lot of people dressed in their going out clothes, learned various people's first names, and got obliterated by 2AM, which made it difficult to get ready for my tree trimming party the next day; but I managed to pull myself together, throw another successful party, and spend all of Sunday on the couch recovering. (If you want to get an idea of the craziness of the night, visit my photo albums)
Monday came, and I was eager to get back to my normal schedule, both work and otherwise. Work was sort of aggravating, given that I am trying to close a huge placement for one of my clients, and there are factors which are beyond my control that are holding this up. And at the end of the day, this very tense conversation had me raring to go to boot camp and just get it out of my system.
Walked in, dressed very differently than I had the Friday night before - a vision as the harried yuppie in a suit and sneakers, sporting specs, and whose hair hadn't really managed to behave on that day, due to the weird weather. Swapped war stories with Linda, and then went to change. And in the minutes before class, chatted up one of the other recruits, who, as it turns out, does the same thing I do. Except she has been doing it for 2 years, as opposed to my 11. But then when I mentioned that my main client is Goldman Sachs, I sensed this pulling back; not like I was trying to brag, but it's like being part of "The Skulls" - there are only 12 companies who are granted 'Platinum' status, and we just happen to be on that list. Years of work, and sweat, and abiding by every rule they throw out to us. I digress.
Wong and Titus were running the class, a different combination than before. Wong had returned after a bit of a sabbatical, brought on by a football-related knee injury. So, what was to come was somewhat difficult to figure out. But then again, boot camp is never predictable - you never know when you are going to have a strong day or a weak day, which of the DIs are going to be in bad-cop mode, or most importantly, what the workout will be. There were only 8 in the class, ideal size, but it also meant that we would be more under the microscope. Fine by me.
Determined to have a strong start, I didn't cheat when Wong called for 7 laps around the gym. Trotted around, counting lap by lap in my head, 3-4 were fine, 5 was okay, and 6-7 were the tougher ones. By the time I got back to the PT area, I welcomed the partner stretches, as they would allow my heart rate to slow down just a bit. 50 jumping jacks, no problem, but then, 20 squat thrusts (are you frigging kidding me??), followed by 25 pushups. I still haven't gotten to the non-girly ones yet - will get there eventually! Another 25 jumping jacks, 15 squat thrusts (cheated on them a bit), 20 pushups, and then 25 feet-apart-feet-together, which was decidedly tougher this time. 25 fly kicks, and we were instructed to hold our legs up for a count of 25; they threatened to make us start over if someone dropped their legs - as tempted as I was, I only brought my legs up to my chest for a split second while they were walking up and down the lines.....although I suspect that Wong spotted me, and was being merciful.
We were then instructed to partner up, and thankfully, I was moved down to face another partner, given that my former partner, the OTHER recruiter, had neglected to partner up with me for our previous routine, making me wonder what was up her rear end (call me delusional, but I think the Goldman comment earlier made her turn a bit). And I suspect that my cute young partner was a bit disappointed at not being partnered up with her boyfriend, another cute young I-banker (you have to wonder, how do 23 year olds afford this sort of thing, and if they are in finance, how are they getting out in time enough to get to a 7PM boot camp session). She set herself up in plank position, while my row was ordered to bear crawl 1 lap around the gym. Tough. I do okay on the wood floor, but once we hit the shredded tires, I was brought to my knees. And, in the interest of keeping up time, I cheated a bit and crawled on my knees behind the rock wall, and then when I got back onto the wood, went back to the bear crawl. Then it was my turn for the plank position, and it felt like I was in the position for a mere 30 seconds, and then my sprightly partner came back. The next lap around was a crab walk. IMPOSSIBLE. My arms are NOT long enough to support the weight of my body in its present form, and I spent the better part of the lap on my butt. Titus, sensing the pathetic-ness oozing out of me, ordered me to run it in.
Back to the PT space, we each did 35 throwdowns, no sweat; followed by 15 diamond push-ups, 2 laps around, another 15 pushups, and then another two laps. Over to the hurdles, where we were not going to go over just once, but Over (forward)/Over (back)/Over (forward). Given that I still can't jump these things, I concentrated on doing right leg-left leg-right leg, and then onto the next one. 2 laps around, then over to the 3 walls, and then another 2 laps. Over to behind the Intensity wall, where I found myself partnered up with Junior Recruiter Chick again, and we were ordered to do 75 canteen sit ups. Made it through - the first 30 were speedy, just so I could get through, and then I paced myself, and we got through it. Thankfully, we were given a water break. Not long enough, then it was time for another 2 laps. Titus pointed us to the doubled up tires for squats. I walked over to one set and the Titus directed me to another set, a bit lower to the ground (by a few millimeters). Looking at him inquisitively was all that he needed to start going off -
"What, you want me to be more obvious? You're short!"
Okay, a bit more blunt than EVER. Not like I haven't heard short jokes from yahoos before; as opposed to the past, where I would get all angry and huffy, I decided to take the high road -
"You're kidding. I never knew that. Are you going to tell me the sky is blue next?"
With the eye twinkle, he replied, "That's debatable."
By then, I had settled into my 35 squats. 2 laps around, and then over to the hurdles, in the same fashion as before. Over to the rope net, where I got my usual boost, accompanied by a smug smile, and then I got myself through, and over the rope wall. Over the rope swing, under the barbed wire, and then Titus ordered me to do 15 jumping squat thrusts. BLEAH. I thought he couldn't see me pulling a face, but apparently he did. And then? "It's 20 now, since you rolled your eyes at me". Hated him at that moment. But, I was determined not to fail - I got through about 12-13, and then he called me over for another 50 sit-ups. JRC (for short) was my partner again, but this time, she didn't sit across from me - and how were we going to do canteen sit-ups in that position? It was definitely a bit awkward - I don't care what you do outside of boot camp, none of it matters when you are in class. Titus immediately set upon her, asking her why she was always on her own. Hah, that got her in line. We got through our 50 sit-ups, thankfully. Then over the 3 walls again, and to the rock wall for 25 sit-ups.
Next was upper body time. 25 dips against the windowsill, then 2 laps around; then 20 dips, and another 2 laps; lastly 15 dips and another two laps. Got through that fine. But of course it couldn't be an easy ride.....Titus ordered me over to the monkey bars. I looked trepidatiously at him, as to try and convey my utter dislike for the monkey bars. He looked at me and said, "Come on, it'll give you something to put in your blog." The utter cheek, he actually went there! I was shocked, couldn't even think of a retort. I gave him my best death stare, and said, "What I told you on Friday stays on Friday." As of Monday, he went back to being just DI Titus....
I made it through 1.5 of the monkey bars and felt myself start to slip, and vociferously told him I was losing my grip. He was probably trying to avoid a repeat performance of months before, so he let me down. I used him like he was an oak tree and climbed down.
Then over to the hurdles - Davis and I didn't have time to go all the way back down before we were ordered over to the rock wall for our 25 group sit ups. After we were done, we all dilly dallied in the girls' pup tent, and shared war stories from the party on Friday night. Davis was my (female) knight in shining armor - she found me on the corner at 2AM with a shish kebab in my hand, and got us a cab and back down to Battery Park City.
A punishing, yet satisfying session. Very necessary, given the day's conversations.
November 10: Born Again Hard, or Smiling Through The Pain
Thursday was hard. My arms had not felt that sore and stiff since I started Boot Camp. Well, maybe not to that extent, but definitely more sore than they had been in a long time. By Friday, I had recovered enough to feel okay about going back to boot camp. Avoidance would only lead to further hardship. About a week back, Sunil B. told me that he was thinking about signing up for boot camp again. But, because of how long he had been away, he would have to go through the 'tour of duty' again. He was thinking about it, but looked at it from the perspective of having to study for the CFA all over again. I can understand where he is coming from. 4 times a week is definitely a bit much to go through again, even though what it did for me was amazing.
Looked around after I changed, and noticed that there was barely anyone hanging around waiting. In total, 6 people were assembled. This could either mean a very satisfying or a very punishing workout, depending on Ruben’s and Titus’ moods. Sometimes they get into this mode of one-upmanship - who can be the bigger d**khead to their recruits. In the most positive way possible, mind you. In order to try and start things off right, I made it a point to be one of the loudest, so they wouldn't question our yelling ability. Luckily we were all experienced, so moving from one exercise form to the next wasn't all that difficult.
However, on a lap around the gym, my right foot hit one of the sandbags at an odd angle and I rolled my ankle. Titus noticed my grimace and instructed me to walk up and down the length of the floor, putting more and more weight on the right foot, and then had me rotate my foot both clockwise and counterclockwise. Got me out of doing squat thrusts, whoo hoo!
Rounding out the warm up, we partnered up and assisted each other in 4 sets of 20 throwdowns. My partner, wearing her funky silver sneakers, was unfortunately the target of major haranguing first by Ruben, and then Titus joined in the fun, asking each other if they had ever seen someone more nasty, or asking her if she intentionally came to class nasty. Now, mind you, she is a very attractive woman, with jet-black hair and large blue eyes, so looks have nothing to do with it. But, shutting out the DIs, we motored through our throwdowns. As I stood over my partner, pushing her feet down while counting out loud, Ruben paced around, a look of approval on his face, looked at Titus, and said, "Damn, Vincent, you're born again hard, aren't you?" I had no idea what it meant, but it sounded positive enough, and smiled back at him and Titus.
We were split up, and directed to the course. Titus gave us our drill. First, 50 tire squats, then over the hurdles. Then, 40 tire squats, and then over the walls. During the first set, I was vocal about my count at first, but then as I settled into my routine, the volume dropped. Ruben walked over and said, "Vincent, did I hear you repeat 24? What kind of retarded count is that?" Titus chimed in, echoing what Ruben had just said. Resisting the urge to flip them off, I turned up the volume, and in rhythm with my count, threw back, "Shut up, you're messing up my count!". The harassment stopped, I went over the hurdles and then back to the tires.
The 40 count was a bit more challenging. It had been so long, I couldn't even remember the last time we did squats, and welcomed it, but realizing that it was going to make me feel it the next day. Over the hurdles and over the walls, however when I approached the 3rd wall, the 6+ foot high PERSEVERANCE wall, I failed to clear it on the first 3 tries. My wrists started to chafe and bleed, and the middle of my hands started to really hurt. Frustration loomed, and I hit the wall. Literally.
Ruben managed to look stern, puzzled and concerned at the same time; and said, "Vincent, run two laps and think about how you're going to get up that wall." I trotted around, not quite feeling my rolled ankle. When I got back, without the long pause I had taken before, I jumped, scrambled up, slowed my pace as I reached the top, and made it over with a semi-angry, semi-anguished yell. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Linda giving me a big smile of support and approval.
25 more tire squats, over to the rock wall, where I attempted to do 60 sit-ups. Didn't quite get to 60, but in the interest of continuing, I hopped up and over to the logs, waiting for a boost. Got through those, no problem, and then got to the INTENSITY wall. Trying to ignore the increasing pain in my hands, I gripped the rope, and with more than enough help from Titus, made it over.
The remainder of the workout was in the PT space, but the details escape me, but for the fact that I got to do a lot of alternative exercises not involving my hands.
The DIs aren't monsters. I've learned that once you make it through the 6-week tour of duty, and you don't run away screaming, they look at you in a different light, and see you as more of an individual. If you are injured, they'll listen. If you whine, they come down harder on you. I was clearly injured.
Spent the majority of Friday evening with ice on my hands. And the rest of the weekend was pretty much shot because of my ankle. I'll call it Boot Camp Collateral Damage.
Looked around after I changed, and noticed that there was barely anyone hanging around waiting. In total, 6 people were assembled. This could either mean a very satisfying or a very punishing workout, depending on Ruben’s and Titus’ moods. Sometimes they get into this mode of one-upmanship - who can be the bigger d**khead to their recruits. In the most positive way possible, mind you. In order to try and start things off right, I made it a point to be one of the loudest, so they wouldn't question our yelling ability. Luckily we were all experienced, so moving from one exercise form to the next wasn't all that difficult.
However, on a lap around the gym, my right foot hit one of the sandbags at an odd angle and I rolled my ankle. Titus noticed my grimace and instructed me to walk up and down the length of the floor, putting more and more weight on the right foot, and then had me rotate my foot both clockwise and counterclockwise. Got me out of doing squat thrusts, whoo hoo!
Rounding out the warm up, we partnered up and assisted each other in 4 sets of 20 throwdowns. My partner, wearing her funky silver sneakers, was unfortunately the target of major haranguing first by Ruben, and then Titus joined in the fun, asking each other if they had ever seen someone more nasty, or asking her if she intentionally came to class nasty. Now, mind you, she is a very attractive woman, with jet-black hair and large blue eyes, so looks have nothing to do with it. But, shutting out the DIs, we motored through our throwdowns. As I stood over my partner, pushing her feet down while counting out loud, Ruben paced around, a look of approval on his face, looked at Titus, and said, "Damn, Vincent, you're born again hard, aren't you?" I had no idea what it meant, but it sounded positive enough, and smiled back at him and Titus.
We were split up, and directed to the course. Titus gave us our drill. First, 50 tire squats, then over the hurdles. Then, 40 tire squats, and then over the walls. During the first set, I was vocal about my count at first, but then as I settled into my routine, the volume dropped. Ruben walked over and said, "Vincent, did I hear you repeat 24? What kind of retarded count is that?" Titus chimed in, echoing what Ruben had just said. Resisting the urge to flip them off, I turned up the volume, and in rhythm with my count, threw back, "Shut up, you're messing up my count!". The harassment stopped, I went over the hurdles and then back to the tires.
The 40 count was a bit more challenging. It had been so long, I couldn't even remember the last time we did squats, and welcomed it, but realizing that it was going to make me feel it the next day. Over the hurdles and over the walls, however when I approached the 3rd wall, the 6+ foot high PERSEVERANCE wall, I failed to clear it on the first 3 tries. My wrists started to chafe and bleed, and the middle of my hands started to really hurt. Frustration loomed, and I hit the wall. Literally.
Ruben managed to look stern, puzzled and concerned at the same time; and said, "Vincent, run two laps and think about how you're going to get up that wall." I trotted around, not quite feeling my rolled ankle. When I got back, without the long pause I had taken before, I jumped, scrambled up, slowed my pace as I reached the top, and made it over with a semi-angry, semi-anguished yell. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Linda giving me a big smile of support and approval.
25 more tire squats, over to the rock wall, where I attempted to do 60 sit-ups. Didn't quite get to 60, but in the interest of continuing, I hopped up and over to the logs, waiting for a boost. Got through those, no problem, and then got to the INTENSITY wall. Trying to ignore the increasing pain in my hands, I gripped the rope, and with more than enough help from Titus, made it over.
The remainder of the workout was in the PT space, but the details escape me, but for the fact that I got to do a lot of alternative exercises not involving my hands.
The DIs aren't monsters. I've learned that once you make it through the 6-week tour of duty, and you don't run away screaming, they look at you in a different light, and see you as more of an individual. If you are injured, they'll listen. If you whine, they come down harder on you. I was clearly injured.
Spent the majority of Friday evening with ice on my hands. And the rest of the weekend was pretty much shot because of my ankle. I'll call it Boot Camp Collateral Damage.
Avoidance And Its Effects (or, You're The Inspiration)
As I continue with this program, it becomes easier and easier to lump multiple sessions into one entry. Because they aren't so long any more. Sometimes I think, should I still stick with the individual session postings? On one hand, it would be easier on the eyes to the people who actually read it. But then, hubris beckons as I think that my literary effort should be more substantive than two or three lines.
Now that I have completed my 'tour of duty', I find myself taking more advantage of the fact that they are more forgiving should you decide you need to reschedule. I also have been experiencing the downside of it. When you are going to boot camp 4 times a week, you sort of take it for granted that you have the ability to handle the tasks that they are throwing at you. A hard lesson to learn when you go back after a long time. So, here it goes:
November 1 - Didn't go. Planned to get laundry done and pack for my trip to California. But, due to post-Halloween fatigue, decided I could push it off for a day. Killed me the next night, since I rushed home after work, got my hair colored and cut, did two loads of laundry, and then packed for my trip. This was in preparation for the wedding of my close friend from college referenced in my first entry, which was one of the catalytic factors which caused me to join Boot Camp. I am happy to report that all the work enabled me to dance the night away to the funky hip hop that was prevalent in our college years, with no ill effects the next day. Normally, in the past, when I have danced like that, the next day I am limping around like an old woman, with a pronounced soreness in my lower back and legs. Not this time!
November 3, November 6 - Didn't go. Blame it on the trip. On November 3, I was in transit at the time I would have been in boot camp. November 6, I was both exhausted from getting in at 3AM, and also had to be at Mom/Dad's place to pick up Stewie, who had been residing there for the week.
Wednesday, November 8 - I wondered how it would be. I honestly had missed it; when my colleague Renee asked me "Booty Camp tonight?" I was like, oh yeah! Was greeted joyously by Linda, which immediately perked me up. After I changed and walked out to the wall nearest the ladies' room, noticed that there were a lot of newbies. Sunil and I looked at each other, wondering what would ensue. As the 6:00 class grunted through their group sit-ups, I strode confidently across the shredded tires toward the PT area, and settled myself near the wall.
If I haven't explained the significance of positioning thus far, here goes - I heard from Sunil, who heard it from his friend Diana (Wow, reminds me of the REO Speedwagon song which starts "I heard it from a friend who, heard it from a friend who......" Digression!) that the people who were more experienced stood closer to the wall, so they could start the running earlier. Maybe it was a power play, but I decided to take the aggressive stance. Titus called for 7 laps, so I started off, with Fischer and Sunil not too far behind. The newbies trotted along, wild eyed, not knowing what was to come. We knew that we were in for a workout when Fischer and I finished first, and Ruben and Titus signaled for us to stop, while the remainder of the group ran it in.
The warm-up began as normal. However, because of the number of newbies in the class, Titus and Ruben felt the need to holler all the louder, and be a bit harder on us. What new people don't realize is that it's not just about doing the exercises, it's about doing exactly what the DIs say, when they say to do it. After our jumping jacks, when they gave us 5 seconds to get down into push-up position, I knew what to do, but when the class took longer than 5 seconds, Ruben shouted "What the hell was that? 12 seconds to get around my gym!!!" And then when we got back, we threw ourselves down into push-up position pretty quickly. After mountain climbers, we had 5 seconds to get onto our backs. That didn't happen, so of course, another sprint around. Back around, we immediately lay flat, with our legs 6 inches off the ground, into 20 fly kicks. As I focused on making sure my legs weren't too high, and my core was tight. Good thing, because as Ruben walked up and down the lines, he stepped on me! Not kidding. He planted his left foot on my stomach, and stepped over me. At the time, I didn't really think about it, because I was focused. And I can't say I was freaked out about it, because I remember watching this special on TV many years ago when some jujitsu master jumped on the stomachs of his young students because their core was firm. But it had some good freak out value for my co-workers, who couldn't imagine a fully-grown man stepping on me.
Got through the rest of the star jumpers, squat thrusts, push-ups and sit-ups (very difficult after a long lag in activity). Titus initially told me to join his squad, however after pow-wowing with Ruben, changed his mind. Sunil and the other non-newbies went over to the course with Titus, while I was in the newbie class with Ruben and what I will now call the 'Princess Platoon'. They were all wearing coordinating headbands, and could not stop complaining!! Seriously, during this workout, Ruben didn't know how to handle them. The usual WTF and yelling wasn't going to fly.
This class was going to focus on the upper body. We were instructed to grab a bar, but when I took the green bar, which was my norm, Ruben told me to grab a yellow bar, which I believe is 18 pounds. Now, this was definitely a new threshold to cross, but unlike the princesses around me, I wasn't going to complain. I am in this all the way, I am NOT going to cheat myself of the experience, forget about the money that I have already put up for this. Anyway, the routine was this: 4 sets - 25 bicep curls, 25 presses alternating front and back. The first couple of sets were okay, although I saw that one of the new girls in front had a blue bar and was motoring through things effortlessly - why wasn't he giving her a green bar? The third set was harder, and the fourth set had me grunting audibly. And then, we were to lie on our backs, knees bent, with our hands close to the center of the bar; pressing the bar to our foreheads and pressing back up. After the exertion with the yellow bar, I knew I couldn't continue the exercise without risking a concussion, so I asked Ruben if I could switch down to the green; he agreed. Slowly, methodically, I got through it.
Like so many workouts before, the rest of the class was fuzzy, but what stood out for me the most was how even though I was in the newbie class, Ruben made it all the more challenging for me. And as Sunil and I left boot camp, one of the new recruits was downstairs, and she said, "Oh my god, you were like Superwoman up there! I can't believe how you got through it!" I reassured her that it was just a matter of time; that I had once been where she was. Which is true. I was a spaz when I started this, and so to think that people think I have any sort of skill at this point, it is sort of funny. We just keep on keeping on, and keep moving forward. Whoo hoo!!
Now that I have completed my 'tour of duty', I find myself taking more advantage of the fact that they are more forgiving should you decide you need to reschedule. I also have been experiencing the downside of it. When you are going to boot camp 4 times a week, you sort of take it for granted that you have the ability to handle the tasks that they are throwing at you. A hard lesson to learn when you go back after a long time. So, here it goes:
November 1 - Didn't go. Planned to get laundry done and pack for my trip to California. But, due to post-Halloween fatigue, decided I could push it off for a day. Killed me the next night, since I rushed home after work, got my hair colored and cut, did two loads of laundry, and then packed for my trip. This was in preparation for the wedding of my close friend from college referenced in my first entry, which was one of the catalytic factors which caused me to join Boot Camp. I am happy to report that all the work enabled me to dance the night away to the funky hip hop that was prevalent in our college years, with no ill effects the next day. Normally, in the past, when I have danced like that, the next day I am limping around like an old woman, with a pronounced soreness in my lower back and legs. Not this time!
November 3, November 6 - Didn't go. Blame it on the trip. On November 3, I was in transit at the time I would have been in boot camp. November 6, I was both exhausted from getting in at 3AM, and also had to be at Mom/Dad's place to pick up Stewie, who had been residing there for the week.
Wednesday, November 8 - I wondered how it would be. I honestly had missed it; when my colleague Renee asked me "Booty Camp tonight?" I was like, oh yeah! Was greeted joyously by Linda, which immediately perked me up. After I changed and walked out to the wall nearest the ladies' room, noticed that there were a lot of newbies. Sunil and I looked at each other, wondering what would ensue. As the 6:00 class grunted through their group sit-ups, I strode confidently across the shredded tires toward the PT area, and settled myself near the wall.
If I haven't explained the significance of positioning thus far, here goes - I heard from Sunil, who heard it from his friend Diana (Wow, reminds me of the REO Speedwagon song which starts "I heard it from a friend who, heard it from a friend who......" Digression!) that the people who were more experienced stood closer to the wall, so they could start the running earlier. Maybe it was a power play, but I decided to take the aggressive stance. Titus called for 7 laps, so I started off, with Fischer and Sunil not too far behind. The newbies trotted along, wild eyed, not knowing what was to come. We knew that we were in for a workout when Fischer and I finished first, and Ruben and Titus signaled for us to stop, while the remainder of the group ran it in.
The warm-up began as normal. However, because of the number of newbies in the class, Titus and Ruben felt the need to holler all the louder, and be a bit harder on us. What new people don't realize is that it's not just about doing the exercises, it's about doing exactly what the DIs say, when they say to do it. After our jumping jacks, when they gave us 5 seconds to get down into push-up position, I knew what to do, but when the class took longer than 5 seconds, Ruben shouted "What the hell was that? 12 seconds to get around my gym!!!" And then when we got back, we threw ourselves down into push-up position pretty quickly. After mountain climbers, we had 5 seconds to get onto our backs. That didn't happen, so of course, another sprint around. Back around, we immediately lay flat, with our legs 6 inches off the ground, into 20 fly kicks. As I focused on making sure my legs weren't too high, and my core was tight. Good thing, because as Ruben walked up and down the lines, he stepped on me! Not kidding. He planted his left foot on my stomach, and stepped over me. At the time, I didn't really think about it, because I was focused. And I can't say I was freaked out about it, because I remember watching this special on TV many years ago when some jujitsu master jumped on the stomachs of his young students because their core was firm. But it had some good freak out value for my co-workers, who couldn't imagine a fully-grown man stepping on me.
Got through the rest of the star jumpers, squat thrusts, push-ups and sit-ups (very difficult after a long lag in activity). Titus initially told me to join his squad, however after pow-wowing with Ruben, changed his mind. Sunil and the other non-newbies went over to the course with Titus, while I was in the newbie class with Ruben and what I will now call the 'Princess Platoon'. They were all wearing coordinating headbands, and could not stop complaining!! Seriously, during this workout, Ruben didn't know how to handle them. The usual WTF and yelling wasn't going to fly.
This class was going to focus on the upper body. We were instructed to grab a bar, but when I took the green bar, which was my norm, Ruben told me to grab a yellow bar, which I believe is 18 pounds. Now, this was definitely a new threshold to cross, but unlike the princesses around me, I wasn't going to complain. I am in this all the way, I am NOT going to cheat myself of the experience, forget about the money that I have already put up for this. Anyway, the routine was this: 4 sets - 25 bicep curls, 25 presses alternating front and back. The first couple of sets were okay, although I saw that one of the new girls in front had a blue bar and was motoring through things effortlessly - why wasn't he giving her a green bar? The third set was harder, and the fourth set had me grunting audibly. And then, we were to lie on our backs, knees bent, with our hands close to the center of the bar; pressing the bar to our foreheads and pressing back up. After the exertion with the yellow bar, I knew I couldn't continue the exercise without risking a concussion, so I asked Ruben if I could switch down to the green; he agreed. Slowly, methodically, I got through it.
Like so many workouts before, the rest of the class was fuzzy, but what stood out for me the most was how even though I was in the newbie class, Ruben made it all the more challenging for me. And as Sunil and I left boot camp, one of the new recruits was downstairs, and she said, "Oh my god, you were like Superwoman up there! I can't believe how you got through it!" I reassured her that it was just a matter of time; that I had once been where she was. Which is true. I was a spaz when I started this, and so to think that people think I have any sort of skill at this point, it is sort of funny. We just keep on keeping on, and keep moving forward. Whoo hoo!!
Week ending 10/27 - too many titles
I caught a cold a couple weekends back. Which completely derailed me for a week. I was barely functional during the day, so boot camp was pretty much out of the question. Reason being is that my (now old) office is the environmental equivalent of an airplane. If you are somewhat under the weather when you walk in, it gets progressively worse as the minutes pass. I can't imagine how my colleagues must have felt as I blew my nose multiple times in the most obnoxious way - not to be gross, but the first part of the week was merely voluminous honking, and then as I got better, there were nasty noises coming from my upper respiratory tract. If I could have worked from home, I would have. Technically, I guess I could have, but guilt brought me into the office. Which drew this damn cold out longer than it should have lasted, evoking panicked/worried reactions from my parents.
One thing I noticed was that the lack of having to go to boot camp made me feel a bit rudderless; and made me realize how much structure it added to my life, not only that, but it afforded me the energy to actually go out and be social and active.
Stayed in that whole weekend, determined to kick it. By Monday, I was just about back to normal, still not 100% there, but was determined to go back to boot camp. Honestly, I thought it could do one of two things. Either it would sweat the sickness out of me, or knock me out so bad that I would be forced to stay at home and recuperate in a proper manner, not the half-assed-responsible-working-adult method I had adopted the week before. Because I am so far behind, I decided to do a recoup of the past week:
MONDAY - Got upstairs, and was greeted very enthusiastically greeted by Linda, a welcome sight. Wondered what the experience would be like, given that I had never gone a week without boot camp since I started the program back in August (wow, it's been about two months?). Fortified by Vitamin Water, I started the laps around at a good clip - validated by Ruben giving me a high five as I ran around. Warm-ups started, and somewhere in between sit-ups, fly kicks, mountain jumpers, and squat thrusts, Ruben flipped on the evil switch. First he and Titus harangued Fischer, and then when Ruben caught me pausing at the squat thrusts, he shouted "Vincent, what the f**k - every time I look you're standing there!" Walked right up to me, and stood there hollering as I tried desperately to keep up. Tears threatened; I felt a strong urge to holler back at him, but refrained, anticipating the repercussion. Was pretty silent as we counted the number of reps we were doing - it was a trade-off between yelling to their satisfaction and actually having the lung capacity to breathe in enough air to get through the exercises.
It wasn't as bad as I thought, managed to make it through everything, but there were definitely moments. We were partnered up to go through a boxing/tire press exercise; one person would hold a pad, and the other person would punch the pad for a minute, and then would run around for as many times it took for the other person to complete 25 tire presses. I was partnered up with Fischer; being that she is slim of build, and wasn't going to grit her teeth and get all crazy and ballistic (like I imagined I would), I didn't think it would be so bad fielding her punches. Wrong. I was like a kitten fighting a 30-pound cat; barely could keep my footing, and felt like the bruises would form immediately on my chest and arms as I was pushed back. Then, as she ran two laps, I was made to do pushups until she came back. I was praying for those laps to pass quickly.....and then it was my turn to box, which I barely managed. And then, during the run, Ruben trained his sights on me, and started out his sentence like he started every sentence when he was on a tear (I think you can guess by now - WTF!).
"Vincent, move those little ass legs! Run!"
And just when I thought we were at the end of class, we were directed to grab a tire, two mats and a canteen, and were ordered to do 125 sit-ups. Are you kidding??? They weren't. Somehow, I made it through, didn't help that Ruben was hovering over us, hurling verbal abuse mainly towards my partner. And then, told me that pulling on my pants wasn't a part of the sit-ups. No getting around that one.
I think that was pretty much the end of Monday's session. I slowly shuffled towards the rock wall for group sit-ups, thankful for making it through without collapsing.
WEDNESDAY - Tender Loving Titus (yeah, right!)
Definitely was feeling the stiffness more than the day before, a by-product of not having done this much exercise in a week. Got through the warm-up just fine, even with Alex and Titus slowly pacing in between the lines as we did our jumping jacks - I figured that the torture would be minimal if I got really loud as they passed by. They seem to like the noise, I have discovered. As we were counting out jumping jacks, I could hear Titus hounding someone behind me.....something to do with her shoes or jewelry or the like. After that, into push up position, and 20/25 of either feet-together-feet-apart or mountain climbers, forgot which one. And then we were given 5 seconds to get on our backs to get ready for fly kicks, but the group didn't collectively get into position on time, which caused Titus to impose the '12 seconds to get around the gym' thing. I was hoping people would get in line so we wouldn't be suddenly jarred into these random sprints. Luckily, people got into position this time around. And then, into the fly kicks. Warm-up seemed to go by smoothly. Lastly, we were given another 12 seconds to get around the gym.
I was partnered up, and we were directed to go through the course, but between each obstacle, we were to go to the windowsill and do 15 dips. I have to admit, I do like the course now more than before; from a laziness perspective, I don't have to constantly be going through punishing calisthenics like warm-up. But moreover, I am getting into the spirit of attacking the obstacles I know I had previously approached in a trepidatious fashion. First off, we were to do the hurdles. No sweat, although, to this date, I am still getting over the hurdles in the 'Level 1' fashion. On my first day, DI Raimondi, who is no longer with PPBC (due to some contractual dispute which led to a loud confrontation, according to the girls in the pup tent), showed us that there were 3 ways to get over the hurdles. Level 1 was throwing your leg over at thigh level; Level 2 was jumping up so that alternating feet were on the hurdle, and Level 3 was just swinging both legs over, while balancing with your arms. I should probably try to get to level 2, but I fear that my height would be an issue. Mrs. Perfect, who was not that much taller than me, actually never even did the hurdles in any of the fashions described above, but hopped up on either side of the hurdles. But, to her credit, it probably was harder than she made it look.
15 dips, not a problem if I did them really quickly. But, then Lauren stepped out of her office, and walked over to where we were and hollered at us to do our dips straight legged, going all the way down, and rather slowly. Which definitely made it harder. I guess that's the point, right? Not to digress, but I am thinking that I would like to get to the point where I am doing my pushups 'military style' as opposed to the girl pushups that I always do. Back to the course. My partner, who hadn't been back to boot camp in 10 days, was having a bit of an issue with the dips, so I paced myself a bit. There were two people in front of us, struggling with the rope net, so Titus made her do jumping jacks while she waited, and then looked at me and said, "What are you waiting for? Get to it!" As I began, I zoned out a bit, but kept an eye on the woman who was floundering in the net; and then I found Titus in front of me, but as opposed to the smirk, he had a smile on his face, and his ice-blue eyes seemed to lose their coldness and took on more of a twinkle. Knowing how old he was gave me the confidence to say, "I am not even looking at you." He grinned and then went off to help the people in front.
When it was my turn, Titus was nowhere near. Despite everything, I feel it would have been obnoxious to shout out for my drill instructor, at the risk of sounding either imperious, or like a princess who couldn't do things on her own. Given my long history of being acquainted with the military, the idea of respect for a higher rank was pretty ingrained. I guess from a cultural perspective, Desis tend to do that as well, don't they?
Finally, he noticed me standing at the start of the rope net, a shrug on my shoulders, and a helpless look on my face. He said, "Go on, get on up there". Emboldened, I threw back, "With what? The extra 15 inches I have hiding in my pocket?" He grinned as he walked over, as I continued my rant. "When are you going to realize that I am a special needs recruit?" His answer? "C'mon, you're a ninja, get up!" With a boost, I got up. Titus decided to be benevolent and not violently shake the rope net as I made my way up. As I flipped over the top, and jumped down, he clapped me on the shoulder and told me to go to the rope swing (no dips this time - to keep pace). No problem, to this date there have been only two people who have failed to clear the log, and have fallen into the water hazard, a site which probably was the origin of the dengue outbreak in South Asia. This time, though, he did holler me over to the windowsill.
Over to the second set of hurdles, and over to the 4 walls. The first two were easy, as usual. The third wall, well, this was another issue. Not that I couldn't get over it, but that I had always needed a boost. Between Monday and Wednesday, I had been thinking about the possibility of getting over the third wall without any help. What if I bent at the knees, and gave a jump up? Well, I looked up at the Perseverance (3rd) wall, took a deep breath, and jumped. Grabbed a hold of the top, scrambled my feet up the wall, and made it over!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!
Inwardly triumphant, I strutted over to Titus for the next task. Unfazed, he pointed to the monkey bars. A bit fatigued, I asked him to spot me; the first 1/3 was okay, but as I struggled with the second part, a moment came when I paused and Titus didn't. My grasp slipped, and despite Titus' best efforts to steady my legs, I fell like a chopped down tree. Toppled to the ground, and hit the right side of my face on a metal beam. Ow. Tears did well up, but I did my best to put on a brave face. Titus, trying not to seem overly concerned, looked at me, told me to go grab some water, and then walk a lap around to shake it off. I made my way over to the PT space where I drank my water, and inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying not to break down completely, especially given that Alex was nearby. Took a few moments, and thankfully, no one was yelling at me.
Deciding not to do the walk around, I trotted back to the scene of the crime. Titus said, “I need you to get back up there, to get over the fear.' What was he smoking? But, to appease him, I hopped back up. Not quite like the time when I had a major skiing accident in 2001 and took 3 weeks to get back onto the slopes, it was all the more accelerated. Not sure it was quite the same effect, though. Then, the next obstacle. Looked to my DI for a boost, and then hopped up to the log roll. Over to the Intensity wall, over that with no problem. The rest of the workout was a bit fuzzy, possibly due to the minor concussion (kidding).
There was a bruise the next day, and the day after. Friday was somewhat of a redeeming day, but the details evade me. I do remember trying to milk the 'I fell off the monkey bars' thing to Ruben, but he was decidedly less than sympathetic. But learned something very interesting from Linda. I don't know how much of it was her unconditional support and enthusiasm for me being in the program, but she told me that I was one of Titus' favorites - he called me a ninja, and apparently had told Linda that sometimes he was afraid of standing in my way, for fear that I would run him over.
This came as a surprise. I was always under the impression that he favored the strong ones; I was all about the attitude, not the extreme prowess. But it was nice to hear, and made me look differently at the young drill instructor who had once looked upon me with a mix of indifference and disdain.
One thing I noticed was that the lack of having to go to boot camp made me feel a bit rudderless; and made me realize how much structure it added to my life, not only that, but it afforded me the energy to actually go out and be social and active.
Stayed in that whole weekend, determined to kick it. By Monday, I was just about back to normal, still not 100% there, but was determined to go back to boot camp. Honestly, I thought it could do one of two things. Either it would sweat the sickness out of me, or knock me out so bad that I would be forced to stay at home and recuperate in a proper manner, not the half-assed-responsible-working-adult method I had adopted the week before. Because I am so far behind, I decided to do a recoup of the past week:
MONDAY - Got upstairs, and was greeted very enthusiastically greeted by Linda, a welcome sight. Wondered what the experience would be like, given that I had never gone a week without boot camp since I started the program back in August (wow, it's been about two months?). Fortified by Vitamin Water, I started the laps around at a good clip - validated by Ruben giving me a high five as I ran around. Warm-ups started, and somewhere in between sit-ups, fly kicks, mountain jumpers, and squat thrusts, Ruben flipped on the evil switch. First he and Titus harangued Fischer, and then when Ruben caught me pausing at the squat thrusts, he shouted "Vincent, what the f**k - every time I look you're standing there!" Walked right up to me, and stood there hollering as I tried desperately to keep up. Tears threatened; I felt a strong urge to holler back at him, but refrained, anticipating the repercussion. Was pretty silent as we counted the number of reps we were doing - it was a trade-off between yelling to their satisfaction and actually having the lung capacity to breathe in enough air to get through the exercises.
It wasn't as bad as I thought, managed to make it through everything, but there were definitely moments. We were partnered up to go through a boxing/tire press exercise; one person would hold a pad, and the other person would punch the pad for a minute, and then would run around for as many times it took for the other person to complete 25 tire presses. I was partnered up with Fischer; being that she is slim of build, and wasn't going to grit her teeth and get all crazy and ballistic (like I imagined I would), I didn't think it would be so bad fielding her punches. Wrong. I was like a kitten fighting a 30-pound cat; barely could keep my footing, and felt like the bruises would form immediately on my chest and arms as I was pushed back. Then, as she ran two laps, I was made to do pushups until she came back. I was praying for those laps to pass quickly.....and then it was my turn to box, which I barely managed. And then, during the run, Ruben trained his sights on me, and started out his sentence like he started every sentence when he was on a tear (I think you can guess by now - WTF!).
"Vincent, move those little ass legs! Run!"
And just when I thought we were at the end of class, we were directed to grab a tire, two mats and a canteen, and were ordered to do 125 sit-ups. Are you kidding??? They weren't. Somehow, I made it through, didn't help that Ruben was hovering over us, hurling verbal abuse mainly towards my partner. And then, told me that pulling on my pants wasn't a part of the sit-ups. No getting around that one.
I think that was pretty much the end of Monday's session. I slowly shuffled towards the rock wall for group sit-ups, thankful for making it through without collapsing.
WEDNESDAY - Tender Loving Titus (yeah, right!)
Definitely was feeling the stiffness more than the day before, a by-product of not having done this much exercise in a week. Got through the warm-up just fine, even with Alex and Titus slowly pacing in between the lines as we did our jumping jacks - I figured that the torture would be minimal if I got really loud as they passed by. They seem to like the noise, I have discovered. As we were counting out jumping jacks, I could hear Titus hounding someone behind me.....something to do with her shoes or jewelry or the like. After that, into push up position, and 20/25 of either feet-together-feet-apart or mountain climbers, forgot which one. And then we were given 5 seconds to get on our backs to get ready for fly kicks, but the group didn't collectively get into position on time, which caused Titus to impose the '12 seconds to get around the gym' thing. I was hoping people would get in line so we wouldn't be suddenly jarred into these random sprints. Luckily, people got into position this time around. And then, into the fly kicks. Warm-up seemed to go by smoothly. Lastly, we were given another 12 seconds to get around the gym.
I was partnered up, and we were directed to go through the course, but between each obstacle, we were to go to the windowsill and do 15 dips. I have to admit, I do like the course now more than before; from a laziness perspective, I don't have to constantly be going through punishing calisthenics like warm-up. But moreover, I am getting into the spirit of attacking the obstacles I know I had previously approached in a trepidatious fashion. First off, we were to do the hurdles. No sweat, although, to this date, I am still getting over the hurdles in the 'Level 1' fashion. On my first day, DI Raimondi, who is no longer with PPBC (due to some contractual dispute which led to a loud confrontation, according to the girls in the pup tent), showed us that there were 3 ways to get over the hurdles. Level 1 was throwing your leg over at thigh level; Level 2 was jumping up so that alternating feet were on the hurdle, and Level 3 was just swinging both legs over, while balancing with your arms. I should probably try to get to level 2, but I fear that my height would be an issue. Mrs. Perfect, who was not that much taller than me, actually never even did the hurdles in any of the fashions described above, but hopped up on either side of the hurdles. But, to her credit, it probably was harder than she made it look.
15 dips, not a problem if I did them really quickly. But, then Lauren stepped out of her office, and walked over to where we were and hollered at us to do our dips straight legged, going all the way down, and rather slowly. Which definitely made it harder. I guess that's the point, right? Not to digress, but I am thinking that I would like to get to the point where I am doing my pushups 'military style' as opposed to the girl pushups that I always do. Back to the course. My partner, who hadn't been back to boot camp in 10 days, was having a bit of an issue with the dips, so I paced myself a bit. There were two people in front of us, struggling with the rope net, so Titus made her do jumping jacks while she waited, and then looked at me and said, "What are you waiting for? Get to it!" As I began, I zoned out a bit, but kept an eye on the woman who was floundering in the net; and then I found Titus in front of me, but as opposed to the smirk, he had a smile on his face, and his ice-blue eyes seemed to lose their coldness and took on more of a twinkle. Knowing how old he was gave me the confidence to say, "I am not even looking at you." He grinned and then went off to help the people in front.
When it was my turn, Titus was nowhere near. Despite everything, I feel it would have been obnoxious to shout out for my drill instructor, at the risk of sounding either imperious, or like a princess who couldn't do things on her own. Given my long history of being acquainted with the military, the idea of respect for a higher rank was pretty ingrained. I guess from a cultural perspective, Desis tend to do that as well, don't they?
Finally, he noticed me standing at the start of the rope net, a shrug on my shoulders, and a helpless look on my face. He said, "Go on, get on up there". Emboldened, I threw back, "With what? The extra 15 inches I have hiding in my pocket?" He grinned as he walked over, as I continued my rant. "When are you going to realize that I am a special needs recruit?" His answer? "C'mon, you're a ninja, get up!" With a boost, I got up. Titus decided to be benevolent and not violently shake the rope net as I made my way up. As I flipped over the top, and jumped down, he clapped me on the shoulder and told me to go to the rope swing (no dips this time - to keep pace). No problem, to this date there have been only two people who have failed to clear the log, and have fallen into the water hazard, a site which probably was the origin of the dengue outbreak in South Asia. This time, though, he did holler me over to the windowsill.
Over to the second set of hurdles, and over to the 4 walls. The first two were easy, as usual. The third wall, well, this was another issue. Not that I couldn't get over it, but that I had always needed a boost. Between Monday and Wednesday, I had been thinking about the possibility of getting over the third wall without any help. What if I bent at the knees, and gave a jump up? Well, I looked up at the Perseverance (3rd) wall, took a deep breath, and jumped. Grabbed a hold of the top, scrambled my feet up the wall, and made it over!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!
Inwardly triumphant, I strutted over to Titus for the next task. Unfazed, he pointed to the monkey bars. A bit fatigued, I asked him to spot me; the first 1/3 was okay, but as I struggled with the second part, a moment came when I paused and Titus didn't. My grasp slipped, and despite Titus' best efforts to steady my legs, I fell like a chopped down tree. Toppled to the ground, and hit the right side of my face on a metal beam. Ow. Tears did well up, but I did my best to put on a brave face. Titus, trying not to seem overly concerned, looked at me, told me to go grab some water, and then walk a lap around to shake it off. I made my way over to the PT space where I drank my water, and inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying not to break down completely, especially given that Alex was nearby. Took a few moments, and thankfully, no one was yelling at me.
Deciding not to do the walk around, I trotted back to the scene of the crime. Titus said, “I need you to get back up there, to get over the fear.' What was he smoking? But, to appease him, I hopped back up. Not quite like the time when I had a major skiing accident in 2001 and took 3 weeks to get back onto the slopes, it was all the more accelerated. Not sure it was quite the same effect, though. Then, the next obstacle. Looked to my DI for a boost, and then hopped up to the log roll. Over to the Intensity wall, over that with no problem. The rest of the workout was a bit fuzzy, possibly due to the minor concussion (kidding).
There was a bruise the next day, and the day after. Friday was somewhat of a redeeming day, but the details evade me. I do remember trying to milk the 'I fell off the monkey bars' thing to Ruben, but he was decidedly less than sympathetic. But learned something very interesting from Linda. I don't know how much of it was her unconditional support and enthusiasm for me being in the program, but she told me that I was one of Titus' favorites - he called me a ninja, and apparently had told Linda that sometimes he was afraid of standing in my way, for fear that I would run him over.
This came as a surprise. I was always under the impression that he favored the strong ones; I was all about the attitude, not the extreme prowess. But it was nice to hear, and made me look differently at the young drill instructor who had once looked upon me with a mix of indifference and disdain.
October 11: Lean On Me
Having had a bit of a fever on Monday, I missed boot camp. Definitely was eager to get back, given my performance as of late. Was still riding high on the week before. This session was different - Wong and Alex were in charge.....hadn't ever had that combination before. You would think that Wong was going to play the bad cop, and Alex the warm fuzzy supportive one (well, relatively speaking, as warm and fuzzy as any of these guys could be).
Warm-up started off with 50 jumping jacks, followed by 20 star jumpers. I think that they were more manageable earlier on in the program. Probably due to the fact that I have built up muscle, and I feel like my limbs are heavier. Not in a bad way. I know that what I have been losing is body fat (probably around 8 pounds, no supplements/metabolic enhancers either), and my legs are definitely more muscular. Arms are firmer too, I am still working on the abs, but, no complaints thus far. Anyway, my point is, when I had less muscle, I could jump higher, and could stretch out a lot more......probably should work on the flexibility thing, though.
Back to the story - star jumpers. I got myself in ready position, and started when Alex hollered '1!' But I guess we didn't do it to his satisfaction, because he said, "Starting from 0!", and even then, people counted '1'.
After a couple of tries, we started at 0. You got the inkling he was on the beginning of a tear today. Next, 20 fly kicks, 25 feet-together-feet-apart, followed by 20 squat thrusts. Honestly, cheated a bit, taking a bit of advantage of the fact that the DI was looking the other way. 12 seconds to get around the gym!!!!! Back in the PT area, more fly kicks (25); then formed two lines facing each other in the push up position, into 15 push-ups. Alex decides to make his way over to near where Sunil and I are positioned, diagonally across from me, yelling out the numbers - also to give the two latecomers flack (they were boys, he really should have made them do a bunch more exercises, like 75 more squat thrusts or something - they didn't run their laps!). Then, we had to stay in the push up position for a count of 25. The latecomer boys were trying to speed up the count, but no one heard them.
While the line closest to the wall held the push up position, the other line sprinted two laps. Sunil jumped up and ran while I held my position; then we switched. I sprinted to the best of my abilities, and tagged him as I got back. We were to do this a total of 4 times. The third time, instead of holding the push up position, we had to do mountain climbers. Tough.
Oh, so the latecomers got their punishment in a different form. The second go around, while one was in the push up position, Alex took one of the sandbags which lined the perimeter and placed it on the back of one of the guys. The next go around, he sat on the back of the other guy. Obviously this would never happen to me, but I would hate to be subjected to that......
Warmup was over. Wong and Alex had a quick tete-a-tete, as we stood there and wondered what was to happen. Wong said, "Boys, (and two of the strongest women), come with me." The rest of us would paired off with Alex. Momentary delight. He instructed us to grab a bar, and do one lap of lunges doing military presses all the while. No biggie; doing this with a 12 pound bar was simple enough. Afterwards, we were partnered off; I kept the bar, grabbed two mats, while my partner brought a tire over from behind the Intensity Wall. First up, partner sit-ups while passing the bar back and forth. 75 reps. Determined to conquer it, we started off. There was a good energy between me and my partner, every time we came up to pass the bar, we smiled encouragingly at each other. I focused on controlling my breathing, and kept on going; things got tough around 67, and we muscled through the last 8. By the time Alex had jogged back from the desk, we were both sitting up, waiting for him to get our next task. I have to admit, that was quite satisfying; as a result, we got our water break early. Then over to the other side.
There were about 8-9 of us, doing wall squats (in a chair position, backs to the wall). Alex paced in front of us, as he informed us that we would be doing the whole course, each of us starting 30 seconds after each other. This consisted of:
- hurdles
- rope net
- rope swing, into barbed wire crawl
- 2nd set of hurdles
- 3 walls
- Log/ab roller
- Intensity wall
- Rock climbing wall
- Monkey bars
Of course, the reality of the execution differed greatly from the smooth running of the course that Alex was hoping to have happen. Things started to fall apart rather quickly. I wasn't the only short woman there, and he would have to be running around, assisting various people onto the obstacles. The first set of hurdles was no problem. Rope net, I needed a boost, of course. Then, skipped the rope swing/barbed wire, because someone was struggling. Ran to the other set of hurdles, and to the walls. Inevitably I need a boost up onto the 3rd wall, it's just a height thing. Looking around for Alex, he seemed not to notice; slightly annoying, because I wanted to move on with the course. Suddenly, one of my fellow recruits, a strong looking Korean woman asked me if I needed a boost. She helped me up the wall - very much appreciated! By then, Alex had noticed, and I beckoned him over to help me up onto the logs. Then, another high point, got up the Intensity wall all by myself!!!! Didn't really even need help getting back down. Then, over to the rope climb. During my whole time at boot camp, I had NEVER done this. Fischer, who had, gave me a quick lesson, but my fear of the unknown paralyzed me slightly. Alex came over, instructed us how to do it, upon hearing me whining about never having done the rope before. You basically had to loop the rope around the inside of whichever was your stronger side, and put your stronger arm above the other, and then you would put the other foot above the other one. There was a method to it - you pulled yourself up with your arms as far as you could, knees up, then clamped the rope between your feet. I gingerly started, with major guidance, pulled myself up, got a bit nervous when Alex shouted 'knees up!', and got up a good part of the rope - all the while, with Alex's hand on my bottom foot. As much as I tried, I couldn't get all the way up, so he had me hang there, counting backwards from 20.
Ran over to the monkey bars, which were another scary thing, because I hadn't gotten across them since the first time. Fischer motored across, while I was thinking, not going to do this, not going to do this. But she offered to help me. So, after jumping up, she grabbed my knees, and I made it across, giving a holler of joy as I jumped down, and gave her a high five. This was definitely 'assisted boot camp' day, but it felt damn good!
Not over yet, though. Back to the tires, we did 25 tire presses. A bit tough after all of the efforts. It didn't get easier. After 25 clapping pushups in the PT area, we were ordered to go to the hurdles, and do pull ups. So, in sort of a table position, with my knees bent, I did 15. Then, a lap around. Back to the hurdles; the second 15 were a bit more difficult, I started having trouble. Alex, strolling by, asked me how many I was up to. Deciding to be truthful, I said, with difficulty, "Five" (*grin*). His response? A light jab to the midsection - ack! I was incredulous. Got through three rounds. And then it was time for group situps.
Alex on a tear, being helped by my fellow recruits. A new feeling, yet quite invigorating. I love the camaraderie.
Warm-up started off with 50 jumping jacks, followed by 20 star jumpers. I think that they were more manageable earlier on in the program. Probably due to the fact that I have built up muscle, and I feel like my limbs are heavier. Not in a bad way. I know that what I have been losing is body fat (probably around 8 pounds, no supplements/metabolic enhancers either), and my legs are definitely more muscular. Arms are firmer too, I am still working on the abs, but, no complaints thus far. Anyway, my point is, when I had less muscle, I could jump higher, and could stretch out a lot more......probably should work on the flexibility thing, though.
Back to the story - star jumpers. I got myself in ready position, and started when Alex hollered '1!' But I guess we didn't do it to his satisfaction, because he said, "Starting from 0!", and even then, people counted '1'.
After a couple of tries, we started at 0. You got the inkling he was on the beginning of a tear today. Next, 20 fly kicks, 25 feet-together-feet-apart, followed by 20 squat thrusts. Honestly, cheated a bit, taking a bit of advantage of the fact that the DI was looking the other way. 12 seconds to get around the gym!!!!! Back in the PT area, more fly kicks (25); then formed two lines facing each other in the push up position, into 15 push-ups. Alex decides to make his way over to near where Sunil and I are positioned, diagonally across from me, yelling out the numbers - also to give the two latecomers flack (they were boys, he really should have made them do a bunch more exercises, like 75 more squat thrusts or something - they didn't run their laps!). Then, we had to stay in the push up position for a count of 25. The latecomer boys were trying to speed up the count, but no one heard them.
While the line closest to the wall held the push up position, the other line sprinted two laps. Sunil jumped up and ran while I held my position; then we switched. I sprinted to the best of my abilities, and tagged him as I got back. We were to do this a total of 4 times. The third time, instead of holding the push up position, we had to do mountain climbers. Tough.
Oh, so the latecomers got their punishment in a different form. The second go around, while one was in the push up position, Alex took one of the sandbags which lined the perimeter and placed it on the back of one of the guys. The next go around, he sat on the back of the other guy. Obviously this would never happen to me, but I would hate to be subjected to that......
Warmup was over. Wong and Alex had a quick tete-a-tete, as we stood there and wondered what was to happen. Wong said, "Boys, (and two of the strongest women), come with me." The rest of us would paired off with Alex. Momentary delight. He instructed us to grab a bar, and do one lap of lunges doing military presses all the while. No biggie; doing this with a 12 pound bar was simple enough. Afterwards, we were partnered off; I kept the bar, grabbed two mats, while my partner brought a tire over from behind the Intensity Wall. First up, partner sit-ups while passing the bar back and forth. 75 reps. Determined to conquer it, we started off. There was a good energy between me and my partner, every time we came up to pass the bar, we smiled encouragingly at each other. I focused on controlling my breathing, and kept on going; things got tough around 67, and we muscled through the last 8. By the time Alex had jogged back from the desk, we were both sitting up, waiting for him to get our next task. I have to admit, that was quite satisfying; as a result, we got our water break early. Then over to the other side.
There were about 8-9 of us, doing wall squats (in a chair position, backs to the wall). Alex paced in front of us, as he informed us that we would be doing the whole course, each of us starting 30 seconds after each other. This consisted of:
- hurdles
- rope net
- rope swing, into barbed wire crawl
- 2nd set of hurdles
- 3 walls
- Log/ab roller
- Intensity wall
- Rock climbing wall
- Monkey bars
Of course, the reality of the execution differed greatly from the smooth running of the course that Alex was hoping to have happen. Things started to fall apart rather quickly. I wasn't the only short woman there, and he would have to be running around, assisting various people onto the obstacles. The first set of hurdles was no problem. Rope net, I needed a boost, of course. Then, skipped the rope swing/barbed wire, because someone was struggling. Ran to the other set of hurdles, and to the walls. Inevitably I need a boost up onto the 3rd wall, it's just a height thing. Looking around for Alex, he seemed not to notice; slightly annoying, because I wanted to move on with the course. Suddenly, one of my fellow recruits, a strong looking Korean woman asked me if I needed a boost. She helped me up the wall - very much appreciated! By then, Alex had noticed, and I beckoned him over to help me up onto the logs. Then, another high point, got up the Intensity wall all by myself!!!! Didn't really even need help getting back down. Then, over to the rope climb. During my whole time at boot camp, I had NEVER done this. Fischer, who had, gave me a quick lesson, but my fear of the unknown paralyzed me slightly. Alex came over, instructed us how to do it, upon hearing me whining about never having done the rope before. You basically had to loop the rope around the inside of whichever was your stronger side, and put your stronger arm above the other, and then you would put the other foot above the other one. There was a method to it - you pulled yourself up with your arms as far as you could, knees up, then clamped the rope between your feet. I gingerly started, with major guidance, pulled myself up, got a bit nervous when Alex shouted 'knees up!', and got up a good part of the rope - all the while, with Alex's hand on my bottom foot. As much as I tried, I couldn't get all the way up, so he had me hang there, counting backwards from 20.
Ran over to the monkey bars, which were another scary thing, because I hadn't gotten across them since the first time. Fischer motored across, while I was thinking, not going to do this, not going to do this. But she offered to help me. So, after jumping up, she grabbed my knees, and I made it across, giving a holler of joy as I jumped down, and gave her a high five. This was definitely 'assisted boot camp' day, but it felt damn good!
Not over yet, though. Back to the tires, we did 25 tire presses. A bit tough after all of the efforts. It didn't get easier. After 25 clapping pushups in the PT area, we were ordered to go to the hurdles, and do pull ups. So, in sort of a table position, with my knees bent, I did 15. Then, a lap around. Back to the hurdles; the second 15 were a bit more difficult, I started having trouble. Alex, strolling by, asked me how many I was up to. Deciding to be truthful, I said, with difficulty, "Five" (*grin*). His response? A light jab to the midsection - ack! I was incredulous. Got through three rounds. And then it was time for group situps.
Alex on a tear, being helped by my fellow recruits. A new feeling, yet quite invigorating. I love the camaraderie.
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