July 2: How Judy Got Her Groove Back

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!