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.