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!!