Pure Power Boot Camp: Headfirst Into Painville

Reunited, and it feels so good (translated: healthy co-dependence)

2008-07-21T23:48:00.003-04:00

This is the third week I am back at boot camp, albeit, I have only done the once-a-week thing, as opposed to the two days I promised I would do. But how can a girl turn down an invite to a VIP screening of "The Dark Knight" hours before it was nationally released? That went last week's second session. Well worth it. For both the entertainment value and the social cachet it garnered amongst my co-workers. Enough about that.

When I heard the weather report in the morning, my stomach sunk a tad bit. Mid 90s; hazy, hot and humid. Can you imagine boot camp, without air-conditioning, in this sort of weather? Sunil B. (who was supposed to make a return after 9 months) emailed me around 1PM, trying to make excuses about not feeling like going. I responded with a saying that was written on one of the walls of PPBC - "The pain of discipline is nothing compared to the pain of regret." Fitting. He agreed and then for further effect, I threatened him with public humiliation. That's what friends are for, aren't they? Way to motivate. I, on the other hand, on my way down from work, resorted to my 'ogle all the large people in the street' tactic. I know, I'm going to hell.

As I walked out of the elevator towards the front desk, I looked at the 6:00 class, trying to spot Sunil B. amongst the line of bear crawlers. No dice. What a punk! I was definitely going to have to let him have it for him being a no-show.

I went into the tent to change, and noticed a few new faces; I could tell they were newbies by the terrified looks on their faces, the tentative way they put on their camos, and the question that they all asked - how long have you been doing this? Everyone expressed varying degrees of fear, and while I reassured them that we had all gone through it, and I attempted to be comforting, in a teeny tiny corner of the back of my mind, I felt this sense of schadenfreude. A momentary flash of guilt by feeling extra empowered, drawing on their lack of experience - and giving them a bit of terror by strapping up my ankle and knee. But of course, I eventually told them that my injuries were not boot camp related, and that the ankle brace was merely a precautionary measure.

Sitting against the wall, waiting for class to begin, my mood further brightened as I saw Sunil pop out of the tent. He came over, smiled at me and said "Wow, I haven't seen you in THAT getup in a long time." Likewise. It was a comforting sense of familiarity.

At 7, we started running laps, and I trotted along, until DI Steve ordered me to pass the newbies (this gave me a boost - obviously he thought I could do better). As usual, I lost count of the laps we were doing, passed by two people, using the ski-etiquette of "on your left." As I passed by the others, I smacked the "TRUST" column with a burst of energy, self-willingness and determination all mixed into one (It was how Robin Williams described a certain feeling in "The Birdcage" - you have Fosse Fosse Fosse, Martha Graham Martha Graham, Michael Kidd Michael Kidd, Twyla Twyla, Madonna Madonna, but you keep it all in here. I know, someone call Bellevue).

Back to the PT area, Sunil trotted over to face me; I smiled and him and said, "Hi Hubby", fully intending to partner up with one another until Niscio ordered both of us to help a new recruit stretch out. Fine and dandy, but when it was my turn, I experienced a major brain fart and did the 'legs in front of you' versus the Butterfly stretch, which attracted the attention of DI Steve who promptly hollered at me to wake up. Oops! And yet again, people seemed to be counting faster than they should have, so I just gave up trying.

Given that there were new people in class, we all shouted out our names, and then launched into 50 jumping jacks. Push-up position, and then hold your right leg up for a count of 15. Groans all around from the newbies; I steeled myself. Next, 15 pushups, which I opted to do in the 'girly' fashion, which didn't elicit any protest or hollering, but DI Steve made sure I was in correct form. Up on our feet, high knees, then 30 seconds to get around the gym twice.

I ended up towards the front of the PT area, and Sunil joined up with me again. Lauren called for everyone's attention for the next exercise. Squat thrusts (if you've been reading this whole blog, you know my feelings on that particular exercise). And who of all 17 people in the class should she call upon to demonstrate? Yep, me. Irony, well, maybe not, more Murphy's Law, given how much I hated them. It was a test, or more pressing of a button that made me feel the need to set a good example. Thankfully she ordered me to perform each step of the exercise following her count, which was slow. I demonstrated two times. At that point, she assigned each of us individual target numbers to complete in two minutes. I got 28. Pacing myself, and focusing on my form, I managed 18.

Next, two laps around the gym. Push-up position, 25 mountain climbers. Flipping on our backs, legs 6 inches off the floor. Alternating left leg right leg up and down from 6 inches to 18 inches. For a count of 20; admittedly I dropped my feet on the floor twice. One lap around. Next, military push-ups, which basically consist of up-down-up-down (total of 4 times). But the challenge besides the up-down? You weren't allowed to go down on your knees until after the 4th push-up. Tough. The routine that followed, separated by 1 lap, 10 push-ups, then 8, 6, and 4. Rounded out with 2 laps around the gym.

In the PT area, we partnered up, and Sunil and I faced each other yet again. Lauren spotted us together, and with a big grin on her face, hollered, "You can't separate these two! It's true love! Husband and wife!" Hilarious, isn't it? Me and my gay husband being recognized in the eyes of PPBC. We grabbed a mat, and then were directed to complete as many sit-ups in a 2 minute time window. I went first, might as well get it over with. A pleasant surprise, I managed to do 61, with Sunil pushing me and motivating me to keep on going. Changing positions, I sat on Sunil's feet - he got to 76 as I egged him on, encouraging him and telling him he could do it. 1 lap around, back to the PT area.

Given that it was Monday, the focus was going to be on boxing, at least for the more experienced folks (the newbies were being directed through the obstacle course by Niscio). I was partnered up with a woman whose lean muscular physique gave me pause. She struck me as one of those 'Pilates bodies' types who could really pack a punch. Our first exercise: left-right jabs for 30 seconds (this doesn't sound like much, but believe me, when you're in the moment, it IS). During this time, because of one mention from DI Steve, I focused way too much on my form (hands up around your face, then pivot your fist flat), and messed it up. The same thing happened when in the past I thought too much about my golf swing, my ski stance, anything physical. If you think about this stuff too much, inevitably you mess up. You just have to let go and be in the moment, and lose yourself in sort of a zen fashion. It's about following your gut.

After completing the initial 30 seconds, without taking off the gloves or the pad (for my partner), we were ordered to do 25 star jumpers. That was a bit tough; I decided not to bend as deep as I could, just to get through (eventually with more frequency, I will get better). Then we were instructed on the next routine, which was 'ladders'. This consists of a series of left-right jabs, with half a squat thrust (called a sprawl) thrown in between. So, it goes like this - 2 left-right, sprawl, 4 left-right, then 6, then 8, then back to 6, then 4, then 2. After this series was completed, then we were to do 5 right leg kicks, then 5 left leg kicks. That made up 1 set. We were to do 3. My partner was duly encouraging along the way, telling me how well I was doing, as I paced myself, in order to get through all 3 sets; she even went as far as to say she was impressed! I have no idea why. Finished the series with 1 lap around the gym. Back to the PT area for the next set - 100 left-right jabs, 10 right leg kicks, 10 left leg kicks; then 50 left-right jabs, 5 right leg kicks, 5 left leg kicks. Rounded out by running a lap. Then the whole routine was repeated with my partner - with me holding the boxing pad. Infused with a renewed energy, I egged her on. Finished up with 25 box jumps. Given my ankle issue (as well as vestigial knee problems - such a train wreck), I had to substitute with stepping up and stepping down.

Not for nothing, you are made acutely aware of the fact that you are a woman when you are getting kicked in the chest, albeit minorly protected by the thick pad.

Leaving the PT area, we were given our next task. Over the hurdles, sprint back on the wood, repeat this 3 times. DI Steve was yelling at Sunil because he was running on the shredded tires, and not on the wood. After we finished this, we were supposed to run 1 lap, but my Swede-o came loose, so I had to forego the lap to re-lace it (boo hoo). By the time I did it up, my squad was over by the windowsill, and DI Steve was hollering my name.

At the windowsill, we were to do dips, interspersed with a lap around. First 20, and when I ran the lap, my ankle started to twinge, and I asked for a substitute exercise. So, after 10, I did squats while the rest of the squad ran around. Then another 10, and we were finished.

Over to the rock wall, I sandwiched myself in between Sunil and my boxing partner for 25 sit-ups. Toward the end, I was shouting out in agony, but the two recruits flanking me did a terrific job of propping me up and keeping me going. Showing the esprit de corps that I had so missed about boot camp.

After class, Sunil and I went to the Chinese restaurant for our tried-and-true $5 "Diet Menu" entree of steamed chicken and vegetables with brown rice, sauce on the side. It seemed rather fitting that we did this, given that this was the place where we used to go when we first started boot camp in 2006.

I'll admit, I am very psyched that Sunil O. and I are back in class together, because we started together, and now are at such a level where we can truly inspire the other to go further. I have no excuses when we are partners, and I think that's what I need to keep me going.

Through The Fire, To The Limit, To The (Rock) Wall

2008-07-16T21:26:00.015-04:00

WARNING: Like my attendance at boot camp, my blog entries have been on hold for a very long time, so I apologize in advance for any rustiness/boredom/lack of floridity that may ensue. Consider this just a warm-up.

July 7: It has been almost 6 months since I sustained the injury which put me on the PPBC sidelines. I knew it was time to go back when I felt 100% better, and started to get increasingly anxious and irritated about the minutiae which in the past I could brush off with a good workout. I was really excited to go back! Especially due to periodic mentions from Sunil O. about how the DIs had really put him through the wringer - I missed that feeling.

After work, as I walked down the familiar path from 34th to 21st Street, I did my best to distract myself by identifying all the different sources of heat that were assaulting me on all sides. New York City wouldn't be all that bad if you were just walking down 7th Avenue with a gentle breeze in your face, making the mid-80s temperatures bearable. However, add in the exhaust from city buses and trucks, external air conditioners, and subway grates, you find yourself vainly attempting to dodge the blasts. It's what you imagine the environment would feel like if you were one of the crew aboard the starship Nostromo in the "Aliens" movies.

The moment I would start to think about pulling out my cellphone, calling PPBC and delaying my return by another day, I would catch a glimpse of a morbidly obese individual, and would be snapped back on course, propelled by a mix of fear and minor disgust.

The elevator opened up on the 2nd floor, and I walked up to the front desk, with a big smile on my face as Denise registered shock at the fact that I was actually there. The fact that she had automatically cancelled me out of the session only made me realize how historically I was viewed as the bailer. Managed my 5 pushups in the regular (non-knees) style. As I looked at the class in progress, I noticed certain changes (the most obvious being the drill instructors, Niscio and Steve). To keep the place as cool as possible, half the lights were off, and there were more fans around. In and around the ladies' pup tent, there were full length mirrors, of the Crate and Barrel variety. Even the bathrooms were different - there was now a distinction between the ladies' and the men's rooms (prior, anyone used any free bathroom); and inside the ladies' room, there were multiple reed diffusers, as if to try and give a more delicate feel.

After I changed, I waited for class to begin, keeping to myself, trying to mentally prepare for what was to come. Caught a glance of Richmond and Willis as they were on the course - seemingly my only like to what I knew of my 'past life' at PPBC. Fortunately, Gilligan, a recruit who had been in the same class before walked in, and we caught up. Felt a bit better, because as I looked down the row of strangers, I had no desire to partner up and stretch with any of them.

BLOGGUS INTERRUPTUS

Okay, so this isn't normal. I cut myself off mid entry because I got so sidetracked between sessions (only 1 week, mind you). Monday recap of the actual first session:

I just about coasted through, which was a pleasant surprise. They had us running a lot more in the beginning, which was puzzling, but manageable, even though it was a good 9 or 10 laps, versus the usual 7. The warmup exercise numbers were significantly lower, so I motored through. And then the boxing exercises were a fun challenge. My ankle started to twinge a lot later into class than I expected. What was absent from this session? The obstacle course run, and much to my delight, squat thrusts - yay! At the end, I shouted out the sit-up numbers louder than anyone else. Gleeful at having made it through, I called both Sunils on my way home.

A week later, I prepared for a triumphant return, diligently hydrating all day at the office. Cheerfully changed and made conversation with Montgomery, who I hadn't seen in forever. As the 6PM class was at the rock wall doing their sit-ups, and a couple of overly ambitious newbies decided to start running. Okay, so one can look at this two ways - they were genuinely trying to warm up, or they were trying to look impressive by starting early. Call me jaded, but don't they know better? If the DIs don't notice them running, those laps don't count. Kind of like that whole tree falling in the forest with no one around to witness. I lost count of all the laps.

Over to the PT area for stretches, where I was significantly stiffer than usual (my right hip flexor is notoriously tighter than my left, resulting in me being able to touch my forehead to my right knee, where I can barely bend down over my left, and inevitably a groan escaped). The shoulder stretch and tricep stretch seemed rushed - maybe during the time I was out of commission, the DIs decided to speed up the count cadence. So, it felt like I was counting at 33 RPM compared to the 45PRM everyone else was doing.

25 jumping jacks, face your partner; high knees for a count of 15. Drop down on your back with your feet 6 inches off the ground. DI Steve (new to me) instructed the class that on his count, we needed to raise our feet from 6 inches to 18 inches for a count of 15, using my feet to provide a visual example. I am sure he noticed my pursed lips and slightly flared nostrils - dude, I might have been gone for 6 months, but I think I can gauge the difference between 6 and 18 inches! Next, we raised our feet to a 90 degree angle, perpendicular to the floor. Toes pointed, on the DI's count, we were to raise our butts off the floor. Ouch. Back up for another 25 jumping jacks; this time was definitely favoring the right foot. Face your partner again, and then everyone in my lane was ordered to run 3 laps while in the meantime our partners did star jumpers. Star jumpers aren't all that bad; at the same time, I didn't want to lag behind and subject Montgomery (my partner) to more star jumpers than necessary - given that it was her first time after her vacation. Then the other line of recruits ran three laps while we did our star jumpers. The guy next to me was making a concerted point to exaggerate his reps (like he was leapfrogging in place), which caused a couple of thoughts to run through my head:

1. Suck up. He must have newly drunk the PPBC Kool-Aid.

2. Why is he doing that? I hope his knees don't touch me.

Niscio pointed out various people, thereby splitting the class into squads, and called us over to the area behind the INTENSITY wall. We each grabbed a tire, and Niscio gave us the next exercise - 3 sets of tire presses, slow, in 3 steps. No sweat, right? No WAY! The first set of 25 was okay, the second set of 20 was a lot tougher, and the last 15 were downright painful. It's hard to recall, but there were moments of utter wimpiness, so much so that Niscio was initially hard on me, but became more sympathetic as he saw me struggle to keep the tire above my head, doing the default "rest the tire on my shoulders with a defeated look on my face" thing. Run 1 lap over to the to the windowsill, where we lined up for the next exercise: dips. 20, then 1 lap; 15, another lap; and 10 for the last set. Barely managed those. Ordered to run a lap to the PT area, but before we got there, we collided with the other squad. To punish us, they made everyone bear crawl around the gym, back to the PT area. For the pitifully inept recruits, including me, who were clearly the anchors of the squad, they ordered us to run it in.

Back in the PT area, we partnered up, grabbed a mat and got ready for throwdowns. Legs thrown down, apart, together, and back up; for a count of 30 - 2 sets. Got through the first set, then the heft of my legs seemed to exponentially increase halfway through the second set. Shamefully, I planted my feet on the floor twice, and Montgomery had to keep me motivated with the idea that water was the reward at the end of this exercise. Glugging as much water as I could within 15 seconds, I attempted to make the most of the mini-break. A lap of lunges was to follow, a gentle easing back into the activity - sweet! - as I passed by the desk, Lauren smiled, waved, and cheerily hollered, "Ohhhhh sh*t, look who's back...wassup Vincent?!?!?"

The next exercises were frankly dread inducing. DI Steve ordered us to do squat thrusts, as many as we could in 5 minutes. OMG, I was going to die. He changed his mind as he walked up and down the row, and assigned every recruit a specific number to do. Mine was 30. Ack. When he called 'time', I had made it to 15, with much difficulty. This was the point where my triumph turned to frustration and semi-defeat; and I became that bowlegged, toppling over idiot. In between these hateful things we had to do military style pushups, which meant that DI Steve was NOT going to let us get on our knees until after a count of 5. I readily availed myself to that. When it was all over, I thankfully ran the mandated 1 lap around.

Next came boxing. After all this, I became the odd man out, having no partner. So what did they do? Partnered me up with a big blue boxing dummy. Hmm, let me see if I can paint a picture for you. Remember Keith Haring's signature artwork? Well, put him upright and have his hands out in front of him, and there you have it. I was paired up with Blue Man. DI Steve explained the "Ladders" routine to us. Left-right jab, sprawl, 2x, 4x, 6x, 8x, 10x, 8x, 6x, 4x, 2x- this counted as one set; we had to do 3. Niscio, in the absence of a partner, stood over me and goaded me on ("Vincent - eye level, get mad, get angry!"). I tried. Next up, the class was instructed to do 60 left-right jabs, followed by 10 right leg kicks, then 10 left leg kicks. Given that my ankle was sending me signals, I opted out of the side kicks, so Niscio told me to do 100 left-right jabs (wha-wha-wha-what??) All in all, I started strong, but the strength quickly diminished. When I was finished with my routine, given that I was the odd one out, Niscio directed me over to the obstacle course; a solo run. In between each obstacle, 5 pushups.

First off, hurdles - slowly made my way over the first set, noticing that the 8PM earlycomers had started congregating along the wall. 5 pushups, then warily eyed the 3 walls. Niscio, keeping an eye on me told me to climb the 1st one head on, and then the next two I could do backwards (meaning the easier way, using the support beams on the backside to help me up). I think after that, I neglected to do my 5 pushups, not intentionally, but purely out of fatigue. Over the 3rd wall, I looked at the 'Belly Rollers." Normally, I need assistance to get up on this, but I figured that if I climbed up on the front support, I didn't require the DI, and would not risk either an ankle injury or a split chin (like someone I'd seen in the past). Hopped up, no problem, and pulled my way across the logs. Came to the 12 foot INTENSITY wall, took a running start and made it 7/8 of the way up, when I started to struggle - fortunately Niscio came up to give the necessary gluteal support to get me up the wall. With a loud grunt, I hopped over and made my way down. Over the longer, second set of hurdles, right leg then left leg alternating, to the rock wall. I wasn't afraid of it, but wasn't sure how far I could make it. Niscio was satisfied with around 8 feet across. It was at this point that I started to feel lightheaded, and asked him for a time-out. He led me to the window, and I breathed in the fresh air for a few minutes. Not 100%, but recovered enough to continue. But I didn't think I could stomach any more obstacles, so I pleaded utter weakness to the DI, who thankfully obliged, and ordered me to run laps until the rest of the class was finished. I think I did around 3.

To the rock wall, where we linked arms for 25 group sit-ups. At this point, I was so exhausted that I could barely hear the DI shouting out my name, asking me to name a principle (Power, how ironic).

Not completely triumphant about this session, but after a shower, the endorphins propelled me through a bacchanalian dinner with friends in the Meatpacking District, in honor of Bastille Day.

Stay tuned, folks

2008-07-05T19:46:00.005-04:00

Coming soon to a theater near you, "Back to Boot Camp"! Yes, after almost 6 months of not going to Pure Power Boot Camp, I am going back on July 7th. What happened, you ask? The worst ankle injury I have ever sustained. Back in mid January (shortly after my last post), I was at my friends' wedding, and was overjoyed to see that DJ Magic Mike himself was DJing the wedding. A bit of a back story - this man represented the alpha and the omega of bhangra fusion mixes; his songs make up a good part of my college party soundtracks, and not to mention most notably, my group dance performance my sophomore year, when Club Zamana (Columbia University's South Asian Students' Association) put on its annual Tamasha. We danced to "Jugni", a popular song at the time. It held very fond memories for me.

Well, after the wedding reception, a couple of friends hosted an after party in their suite. As the party got under way, who should show up but Magic Mike and his dhol player. He opened up his laptop, and put on his playlist. My star-struck gaze must have been palpable; after mustering up some courage, I went up to him, told him how much of an impact his music had on my life, and followed up with "Dude, you've got to do me a HUGE favor and play Jugni for me." Of course, he does! I was practically salivating as the familiar drums rang out. But within the first 15 seconds of the song, I leapt up, rolled my left ankle, and both felt and heard a crunch. Yes, I am a train wreck.

Despite my best efforts to ice it copiously, the next morning, I woke up unable to put any weight on my left foot (but for a small section of the outer part of my big toe), and with my ankle swollen to twice its normal size. I literally had to be rolled out of the hotel on the luggage cart, surrounded by suitcases and garment bags, hiding behind my sunglasses and attempting to maintain a sliver of dignity. For two days, I was laid up. When I returned to work, I made no effort to see a doctor, after all, I had sprained my ankle before, and it was just a matter of time before the swelling and the bruising (which had traveled halfway up my calf) would go away. Or so I thought.

3 weeks passed, and no signs of marked improvement. Concerned that it might be a fracture, I finally went to see an orthopedist. After x-rays and mobility tests, he asked me "Do you really need to go skiing?" (I was off to Switzerland for a much anticipated ski vacation in the Alps). I told him I had to, because the trip was already paid for and it was something I just HAD to do. He told me that I had a high ankle sprain with soft tissue/tibular tendon damage. It wouldn't prevent me from skiing, due to the confining nature of the boot, but all other physical activity would have to be put on hold until further notice. And at all times, I was to wear a soft brace, called a Swede-O (you can imagine what kind of a field day my friends had with that one - I got numerous Speedo references via email).

Managed to ski 4 out of the 6 days in Switzerland, helped by my traveling companion's advice to layer Aleve and Tylenol (she's a doctor). And with regular visits, continued physical therapy (at home), I recovered slowly, and managed to take another ski trip to California in April. That actually sped up my recovery, because of the long hours in the jacuzzi after a day of skiing (note to self: add water jets to tub when re-doing bathroom). A couple of cortisone shots here and there, and I was set. Finally, back in May, the doc gave me the go-ahead to start light activity again. Happily, I was able to wear normal shoes again, and started actually thinking about when I was going back. I decided on July 7th.

But light physical activity? Truth time, folks. I haven't really done anything of the sort, and I am a little scared of what's going to happen on Monday.

More after Monday...if I can still type after all the push-ups and squat thrusts and the like.

January 14, 2008: The Prodigal Private

2008-01-15T19:12:00.001-05:00

Despite the looooong lag between now and my last entry, the drop in activity only occurred in the last 3.5 months. Why, do you ask? Life happens. It's unavoidable. Well at least a large part of it is.

August to mid-September saw me experiencing increasing pain and soreness in my knee which led me to consult an orthopedic surgeon (the same one who operated on my mother at the beginning of 2007). After a careful evaluation, he concluded that, while thankfully I didn't have rheumatoid arthritis, I had developed a minor case of "runner's knee". The combination of exercises had the cumulative effect of being punched in the kneecaps, and my knees had started to react. He advised against wearing high heels, climbing steps and performing exercises that would make me hyper-flex my knees (um, hello, which covers about everything in boot camp?!). Enough of the boring details.

September came and went, began a series of celebrations (my birthday week, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and then the most hectic holiday party schedule I had ever experienced). During this whole time, I thought to myself, let me enjoy the hard work I put into getting in shape, and live it up a bit! Met some great people, partied it up, including at the Pure Power Boot Camp Holiday Soiree; where my friend Sunil O. and I felt a lot more like strangers than we did the year before - emphasized by Ruben hollering at me when he saw me, and giving me the 3rd degree about where I had been. I promised myself I would go back to boot camp at the beginning of January, because I needed to be in shape to tackle the slopes of Interlaken in February 2008. At the same time, in preparation for my trip, I decided to undergo LASIK, which took place on January 5, and prevented me from going back for yet another week. So, January 14 was to be my first day back.

It was rather fitting that I should go back on this day, because 2 days before, I decided to stop dating the person I had met over the holidays, and the return to boot camp in a way symbolized a new beginning. That Monday, I made sure I was well-hydrated (2 liters of water went down in no time), and had gotten plenty of sleep the night before. As I walked down the familiar path on 21st Street (from 8th avenue eastward), I noticed major changes; the Jewish cemetery no longer had plastic covering various headstones, and in place of the garage where Sunil and I had once stood on our first day was now the concrete skeleton of a 14 story building, that would no doubt, eventually become ridiculously priced rentals/condos.

Heart beating a little faster, I stepped out of the elevator to find the lighting a bit dimmer, with the satellite radio station playing that good ol' pulsating dance music (thank goodness, because if Alex was running the class, we'd probably be listening to classic rock, since when does one work out to that?). My breathing quickened a bit as I looked around, tossed my coat and bags to the side, and dropped down for my 5 pushups. Walking to the pup tent to change, I caught Ruben and Niccio (the new DI) glancing over, and in his inimitable bark, Ruben shouted, "Oh, look who's back! VINCENT!!!!" But I saw a smile, which I returned as I went in to change.

Falling back into the routine felt good - my initial panic at the idea of coming back to boot camp after 3.5 months of literally no hardcore physical activity (boogie-ing down doesn't really count, does it?) was allayed by seeing familiar faces walk into the tent, and being greeted warmly, even someone asking me how my LASIK went (totally forgot I told her at the party). As a super-precaution, put both my knee supports on, walked out, stretched for about 5 minutes, and then waited for class to begin.

The class was extremely large (I have to estimate around 16-20), but when we walked over to the PT area to get ready to run, a fellow veteran recruit and I noticed that the vast majority of the class was hanging back. I told her, technically I should be at the back as well, but if I manage to set a certain pace, it will portend good things for the rest of my first time back. Niccio called out, "7:00, seven laps!" As I started out, I felt myself running with a long stride, thinking I felt much lighter than I had in the past, almost gazelle-like. Rounding out the first lap, I found myself at the back of the line, and wondering why the rest of the class wasn't hustling (was I that excited to be back?). Back to the PT area, partner stretches, and then into two lines for jumping jacks. As we counted towards 60, Niccio stood in front of me, and said, "I can't hear you!" I thought I turned the volume up enough, but he continued barking - "I don't have a headache! I want you to give me a headache!" Huh? Drop down into push-up position, where we waited until everyone got into form, which took a bit of time, and then Ruben called for 15 push-ups. As we got to three, Ruben got it into his head that we weren't being loud enough (something we haven't heard before *eye roll* - that he is louder than all 20 of us, and that we needed to start over). Back to zero, eliciting a groan from some in the back, but I was galvanized by my determination, took a breath, and went along with it. After 15, hold for a count of 20, and surprisingly enough, I didn't hear someone yelling at me to get my butt down. 15 mountain climbers. Then, a lap around, but they didn't give us a 12 second time limit.

Back to the PT area, where Ruben told us, "squat thrusts - 20". Now, this is normally something I detest, but given how long I had been away from them, I was curious to see how they would go. Still can't get them right, there is something about the way my legs come back from extending that is weird, and oddly makes them more difficult. Not wanting to break cadence, I surreptitiously skipped 4 of them. Could have been worse. Another lap around, and then Niccio called us over to the tires behind the INTENSITY wall. Let me interject something here - I forgot who my squad was, and accidentally went over to Ruben's squad, and he was like, "Vincent, what the hell are you doing? Get the f**k over to your squad!" Utterly embarrassed, I sprinted over to Niccio, and picked up a tire. He looked around at all of us, and called for 25 presses with squats. As opposed to blowing it out, I was more concerned about getting through, and while I may not have squatted as deeply as I could have, got through the 25. With zero protests/complaints, unlike one of the more vociferous women next to me. Then a lap around. And then when we got back to Ruben, 15 jumping jacks, and then another lap over to Niccio - it seemed they had this "alternate squads, exercise, and then another lap around" thing. Down into push up position, for 20 'feet-together-feet-apart'. I'll admit, I cheated on at least 4. Another lap, not before I collided with another recruit, who obviously was a newbie, and was attempting to throw her leg over the hurdle just as I passed by, and I got a swift and heavy kick to my left upper arm. Not fazed at all, over to Ruben for 20 leg lifts, which were broken up by various people dropping their legs way below the required 6 inches off the ground, as in, on the floor. I focused on my breathing, which might have seemed a bit annoying to the recruit next to me, but whatever works, right?

Next up, 20 jumping squat thrusts, and this is where I completely fell apart. I think I managed 10-13 of them. Niccio kept barking to keep cadence, but in the state I was in, even if he had counted at half the speed, I would have fallen behind. I stumbled into the lap over to Ruben, for yet another difficult exercise (given my lazyass state, in more active times, this would have been a snap) - 20 star jumpers. I tried to be as unobtrusive as I could, and hoped that other people would seem more poor in form, so I would get under the radar. No such luck, Ruben told me to get closer to the floor. Ouch. Then over again for the last set of alternating exercises, 20 jumping lunges. Definitely worried about their effect on my knees, and struggled not to topple over, while keeping my hands on my hips.

And would you believe, no water break yet??? Was this something new for PPBC 2008? When someone asked, Ruben said, "It's just psychological." No, it's cellular! Someone needs to send him back to Bio 101.

Everyone was called over to the PT area, where mats had been laid out. We partnered up for throwdowns, 2 sets. First set was 40, second set was 30; straight up and straight down, as opposed to the down-apart-together-up thing, which is infinitely harder. My partner (who, coincidentally, I found out at the end of class, was the one who kicked me, but no matter, she's new, and is just getting used to things) looked alarmed, but I reassured her, much like I had been reassured when I was in her position, that we could get through this. The first set, as the numbers got higher, I felt her struggling, and counted louder, and when we hit 20, counted backwards to motivate her to keep going; like someone had done for me, I advised her to inhale going up, and exhale going down. For my set, the first 40 flew by, with a bit of heaviness setting in for the last 5. Even tougher for both of us the next time, but I got even louder and more encouraging, willing her to get through it. Me, I struggled significantly more, but collectively we finished before the last pair had gotten through theirs. Ordered to start bear crawling around, which I was ready to do, but only a few lengths in, we were ordered to run it in. Timed situps, yet another low point in my session. First set, as many as we could do in 2 minutes. My number? 45. Pathetic. Second set, as many as we could do in 1 minute. 27 this time. Downright shameful. I could hear Ruben and Niccio discussing the next part of the class, who would take what part. I thought, okay, I am in the bottom 4.

Not so - yay! Ruben called me over to his squad, along with 3 other women, and the guys. I quickly realized that this meant that I wasn't going to be relegated to the "let's strengthen our cardio big time in between exercises" group. Ruben ordered each of us to grab a tire, and hold it up as he gave us our orders. We were to do 20 presses (no squats), grab some water (whoo hoo!), and then come back to do the obstacle course with our partner.

I got through the presses and ran over to gulp the most satisfying drink of water that a person could ever take, aside from one imbibed by a weary traveler discovering an oasis in the middle of the Gobi desert. Happy and hydrated, I trotted back to the course, where Ruben pointed to the first set of hurdles, and ordered me to go first (truth be told, it took me a second to re-acclimate myself to the order of the obstacle course). Despite not having jumped them in a while, I gleefully bounded over, alternating my right leg and my left leg, at such a pace, that Ruben, watching from the bottom of the rope net, ordered me to run back and go over them a second time (as my partner was plodding her way over). Under any other circumstances, making you do more work would elicit a complaint, but in the framework of this, it meant that they knew I could do more, which only fueled me up. Patiently, I waited my turn at the rope net, and then Ruben told me to hop up. He knows I can't do this. I shouted, "Ruben, you know I didn't have a growth spurt over Christmas!" I futilely attempted to jump, barely managing to get the ropes down to waist level. Ruben, mercifully realizing he had put me through enough, gave me a boost. Focused and agile, I didn't flounder on my stomach, instead was very aware of putting my feet on each rung of the net/ladder. The dismount was a different issue. Normally this is not an issue for me. You get to the top, make sure the rope is at your waist, grab it, and then flip yourself over. This time, as I came down, I got caught in the ropes, and was about to garrote myself, until a milisecond later, Ruben supported me until I could dislodge myself, cursing and jumping down. Swung across the log (the filthy water hasn't been there in a long time, maybe someone caught e.coli from it, so Lauren had to remove it), and as I crawled under the 'barbed wire', kept my eyes closed, to minimize the risk of the shredded tire dust getting into my eyes. (Earlier, I definitely felt the sensitivity in my eyes when the sweat poured in as I attempted my situps, so I was more aware of the fact that my eyes are probably still healing). Hopped over the second set of hurdles, decidedly less nimbly than I had tackled the earlier set; then over to the three walls. First and second ones, no problem. Then that damn third wall. I looked at the word PERSEVERANCE in front of me, paused and contemplated, and tried to hop up. No dice. Ran at it in the Neanderthal way my friend Sunil would have. Nothing. And, I hate to admit, looked around, and then jogged around it. I suck.

Thankfully Ruben didn't notice, because when I came over, he told me to get up on the monkey bars. The problem? The weight bench which normally was positioned at the beginning of the monkey bars was no longer there. How was I supposed to get up? Ruben came over, and said, "Jump up, Vincent." I tried in vain, and, in an attempt to lighten the situation, I was like, "What the hell? Is this Great Adventure now? I say, I say, you must be this tall to be in boot camp?" Ruben chuckled, and helped me up onto the first bar. Unlike in the past, where I have endured facial injury on this obstacle; I focused and swung from bar to bar, 1/3 of the way before I lost my grip and fell off. Tried it again, got through the same length, and then fell down again. Ruben seemed to be satisfied, because he told me to get on the rock wall, before walking away to bark at a few newbies. There is a technique to getting around this wall, and in the past, I always used to blame my short limbs. This year, I have less patience for people around me when they make excuses, so maybe it manifested itself in my attitude in getting through the course. Foot on a peg, reach out with your right hand, and hug the wall as close as you can (being a girl who isn't completely flat as a pancake).

Last up, 25 dips against the windowsill, followed by 10 pushups - 3 sets. Ack. But it seems like we were allowed to do things at our own pace more than before, so I got through, and then grabbed a drink before 24 group situps.

This was exactly what I needed to come back. Cheesily, I cued up the theme song to "Laverne & Shirley" and just about danced to the subway, to go home euphoric.

Today is a different issue. Stiffness started to set in around noon, and as the day went on, I thought to myself, this is a really bad week to have broken up with a licensed massage therapist. Oh well, let's see what Thursday brings, kids.

July 2: How Judy Got Her Groove Back

2007-12-07T15:10:00.001-05:00

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!

April 30, 2007: One Of These Days, These Boots Are Gonna Walk All Over You……

2007-12-07T15:08:00.001-05:00

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.

March 21: For the longest time

2007-12-07T15:04:00.001-05:00

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.

3/2/2007 - Don't call it a comeback; I've been here for years (or so it feels)

2007-12-07T15:03:00.001-05:00

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!

Wednesday, January 10: DI Wong's Butt Party

2007-12-07T15:01:00.001-05:00

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.....

PPBC 2007 - Back To Basics, memorable moments

2007-12-07T15:00:00.001-05:00

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.

December 18: Haranguing, and Hating Upon

2007-12-07T14:59:00.001-05:00

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.

November 10: Born Again Hard, or Smiling Through The Pain

2007-12-07T14:57:00.001-05:00

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.

Avoidance And Its Effects (or, You're The Inspiration)

2007-12-07T14:56:00.001-05:00

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!!

Week ending 10/27 - too many titles

2007-12-07T14:53:00.001-05:00

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.

October 11: Lean On Me

2007-12-07T14:50:00.001-05:00

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.

Saturday, October 8: Special Attention from the DI (yummy)

2007-12-07T14:49:00.002-05:00

Friday was a good day. I was hoping Saturday would be just as good, or better. Purposely did not go out on Friday night, well, let me correct that - I went home to Mom/Dad's place, to hang with my cousin and my mother - given that my dad was in Washington DC playing tour guide to some friends visiting from India. Just so I wouldn't be late, I went home straight from boot camp. My mom and Pooja took one look at me and started cracking up......they had never seen me in my camos. I mock-sulked and threatened to leave, then Pooja redeemed the moment by telling me my butt looked good in the pants. Needless to say, it got me back to BPC at a reasonable hour.

The next morning, despite having gotten a fair amount of sleep, I was still tired. Did the ultimate lazyass move and took a cab to boot camp, because as I was lazing around in the morning, eating my healthy breakfast of oatmeal, fruit and coffee with soy milk, the time flew by, and then, topped off by the fact that for now, the 1 train doesn't come down to Rector on the weekends, and the R/W is always slow, I decided that springing for a cab was the far better option. Call the $10 I spent on the cab a lazyass tax. In the back of my mind, I was like, I would so rather be lazing at home......before we boarded the elevator, we saw DI Wong come out of the stair case, in non-DI camos, with a loud "Hoo-rah!", so I knew that he wasn't going to be teaching the class.

It feels like lately it is more of the exception to the rule when Sunil and I are in the same class; since I switched Friday times, and then when one of us has a re-schedule. Today was one of those days where we were in the same class, so we chatted about the next day's fun event, attending a taping of Celebrity Jeopardy at Radio City Music Hall. And, my neighbor Private Davis showed up as well - after not seeing her for a long time, she had been coming to the last couple of classes. As well as Fischer, who I hadn't seen in a while (attributing it to the high holidays), and of course, Private Flashdance. Time for class, Titus called for 8 laps around. Willing myself not to panic, I was up front with my petite heroine (aka Ms. Perfect, now Mrs. Perfect, having returned from her honeymoon earlier in the week), and started off. By the time I finished, thankfully not in last place (I don't know if you guys understand how this messes with my mind - maybe it is my own ego or sense of self-expectation which comes into play), the heart was beating hard enough that when I partnered up with Fischer to do our stretches, I let her shout the countown, while I focused on my breathing. They were easy on us, only 50 jumping jacks, then, into the pushup position, where we were ordered to do mountain jumpers. Didn't know how many we were going to, and I snuck in a rest on my knee at 15 - of course Alex noticed, and hollered "keep going, Vincent!" Next up, feet together, feet apart - managed okay. But then it was plank position for 60 seconds, I focused on keeping my rear down, as to not attract attention. On our backs, feet facing each other, butterfly kicks for a count of 25 - I cheated a bit, my feet hit the floor and rested a couple of times, but it was during the time Titus and Alex were strolling down the other way. Then, ugh, 15 squat thrusts. Okay, this was one of those days where I didn't feel the need to keep up with the class, and maybe did about 60-75% (arbitrary) of them, I know myself well enough that I didn't want to be derailed early on. As much as I want to be a purist and follow the exercises to the T, I know there are people who get around them, and so for this rare moment, I chose to go that route. Then, lunges around the gym. A good way to control my breathing and heart rate.

I think at this point, we were instructed to grab a mat, and then do two sets of 25 throwdowns. Purely from a positioning standpoint, Titus took the part of the class closest to the wall, and Alex took the remainder (where I was positioned - purrr).

I partnered up with Davis, my BPC Neighbor. She started, and then I muscled through it - now that I know how to breathe, they are infinitely easier - after which point, we were directed to the hurdles and 4 walls. I was wearing the right sneakers and was in the right frame of mind, so I got over the first one in effortlessly; Davis let me go ahead of her and I got over the second wall with little difficulty. And then it was time for the 3rd wall. I looked around, Titus saw me, but since I was not part of his platoon, he wasn't going to give me a boost. I caught Alex's eye, and asked him for help. With him giving me a boost, I scrambled up with no problem, grabbing the top of the wall, and throwing my leg over and landing on my feet. Alex walked around and said, "Excellent, excellent work, Vincent". Full of energy and happiness and gung-ho-ness (fine, I know it's not a word), I gave him the high five he was holding out, smiled, and replied, "Boo ya." I have no idea if this was a military term, but I didn't care! He told me to go grab a bar, and go once around, raising it to shoulder length. Going back, I recall, I had major difficulty doing this weeks ago, but I concentrated on my breathing, and made my way around. Didn't quite did long lunges, but overall, kept it together. Second time around, military presses. Alex had said we were going to focus on the upper body that day (wondered how I would fare, given how much upper body we had done the day before).

In the PT area, we were given this circuit - 25 bicep curls, 25 over-the-head tricep extensions, and then a lap around; repeat 4 times. Private Flashdance was bitching and whining as usual; I tuned her out, and focused on myself. For some reason, the laps weren't hitting my knees as hard today. Could it be the Ben Gay, the knee wraps, the aspirin, or the healing presence of my favorite DI? You make the call. The final set was the toughest, my biceps and triceps started to waver, but I gritted my teeth and kept on going. I finished and looked to Alex for the next step. He asked me how many I had done, and when I responded "Four," he grinned and said, "Amazing." I resisted the urge to say, just call me Chocolate Lightning! But I was thinking it :) He told me to grab my bar and go over to the weights area.

Because I was the first one to finish, he directed all his attention on me for the first task *coo*. I was handed an 8 pound dumbbell, sat down on the weight bench, feet planted firmly on the floor, knees apart, held the weight in my right hand, and rested it against my thigh. They were called concentrated curls, and I was to do an initial set of 12 on each side. Afterwards, over to the windowsill, 15, dips, and then a lap around; second time was 10, then the next time was 8 - for a total of 3 circuits. When it was time for the dips, I was so pumped that as opposed to doing the bent knee dips that I had done in the past, I went at it straight legged, and went down lower than I had ever done. Slowly, breathing evenly, counting quietly. Light as a gazelle around the perimeter. When I was finished, the next task was 25 reverse bicep curls, and then a lap around. REOW - he stood close as he showed me how to keep my form, and at some point, I distinctly recall an arm pat. I completed 3, which I thought he said was the number, but then he said that we had to do for. Coyly, I said, 'You said 3 before! Where's the integrity in that?" (yes, recycling what I had said to Wong not too long back, but the emotion was different this time). He grinned and chuckled.

If there were more exercises, I don't recall after that. All I know is that Saturday was 'DI Alex pays special attention to Private Vincent' day. A very fine day indeed. Teacher-figure crushes are so tingle-inducing, aren't they?

Friday, October 6: Sweet Redemption

2007-12-07T14:47:00.001-05:00

As I said, boot camp has its ups and downs. And it's pretty much all mental. Honestly, I am physically able to do these tasks, given the gradual strengthening over the last several weeks, but my mental state really determines how I do.

After Wednesday, I was determined to make Friday better. Walked in, and noticed that as opposed to the Death Squad (DIs Ruben and Wong), Alex and Titus were running the class. Yay. The knee concern was still there - I had spent the whole day with an Ace bandage on my left knee, over a healthy dose of Ben Gay. Which didn't go unnoticed by my co-workers early in the morning; when Renee mentioned the smell in the office, I owned up to it and asked them to call the retirement home. In the pup tent, with no shame, wrapped my left knee with the TruFit wrap, and the right knee with the tried-and-true Ace knee support. Luckily, my cutoff camo capris covered up both of them. Not that I was so worried about my appearance - I resign myself to the fact that I will look like complete a$$ during the class, no makeup, hair pulled back, and by the end, sweating profusely. Unlike Private Flashdance, who had stopped wearing her satin camo headband, and decided to bling out her uniform tee like Paris Hilton decorated her Sidekick, but instead of Swarovski crystals, she decorated the 'Pure Power" part of her t-shirt with glitter. I kid you not. Nay, I digress.

I dressed with one ear to the outside world - it seemed as if Titus and Alex were on a tear, so I wondered what was in store. Made nervous chit-chat with the recruits. Titus called for 6 laps around. Managed that. Back to the PT area for jumping jacks, where as we started our jumping backs, Titus hollered, "Going to 150" Are you kidding??? No, kids, he wasn't. Actually, went beyond that to 165, because he was all about breaking the record from the class before. The heart didn't explode, so I was thankful. Got through the 15 mountain jumpers, 25 in-and-outs, 60 seconds of planks, and then running around the gym in 12 seconds. One thing I learned from the petite recruit people call "Ms. Perfect" is that it’s all about your starting position. If you are to run at a good clip, you need to start at the front of the pack. Which I did, and it allowed me to run at my own pace, and more importantly, not finish last. And then, for the first time since my first week, we built a house. Much much easier than the first time; I finally had the upper body strength to both hold myself up, and scramble at a good clip on my belly over the shredded tires.

Back to the PI space. Partnering up, we had 20 clapping pushups, and then two sets of 25 Japanese sit-ups. Don't know if I described these before, but the exercise consists of one person lying on a mat, knees bent, while the other person sits on their feet, and holds on behind their partner's knees. To this day, I have never been able to do these at all. But I made it through one set - the second set I wimped out and did normally. Small victory. And then Alex directed us to go one lap around, doing partner bear crawls. One person would lie on their stomach, while the other person bear crawled over them. And repeat the whole way around. Manageable.

For the first time ever, I had to break ranks to visit the ladies room. The task ahead of us would have been a lot more difficult without - 100 canteen sit-ups. The break separated me from my partner, and I ended up with the same woman who had taught me to breathe through the throwdowns a few sessions back. Breathing easy, we managed to go at a good clip. She did a great job once we got to 40, starting to count backwards. 50 got tough, and as we got closer to 100, it started to hurt. Titus hopped up and sat on one of the hurdles, and watched us (pressure!!!!), and as I showed signs of giving up, he hollered words of encouragement, more than I have ever heard. With a loud grunt, I finished 100. As I got up, Titus gave me a high five and offered words of congratulations. A different Titus than before.....

The rest of the workout is a bit fuzzy, but I do remember Alex running a very upper body intensive workout. Something with 25 dips against the windowsill, running around a lap, adding some other exercise onto it, and then running another lap around. Surprisingly enough, my knees were not reprimanding me. Coasted through to group sit-ups. And then took a bit of time to flirt with probably the only cute guy in my class on Friday, informing him that I had signed up for 6 more months, so I could give him grief through a subway series (little did I know at that time); Titus passed by, giving his kudos to the Yankees. My lame attempt at flirting with Ed. And then when we were heading down in the elevator, a group of people asked us if Lauren was still working us hard, poking me in the tricep as he asked. My response? "Ow."

If Wednesday was the valley, I had started my ascent. Hoping that it would carry on to Saturday

Wednesday, October 4: Invisibility, or the Bottom Five

2007-12-07T14:45:00.001-05:00

As you can see, I've stopped cataloguing my blog entries by week/day. I think the reason is that for the first few weeks, I needed a way to just get through it. Now, I can safely say, I am in enough of a groove that I don't need to worry about making it through each session day by day. They have had their highs and lows. But, if I had to look critically at myself, the quads are a lot more solid, the arms are a lot less soft, and there is definitely less insulation around my midsection. Still have a ways to go, but there's definitely been progress. And so, a few days back, I officially became a Platinum member - signed up for 6 months, for 3 days a week.

As a Platinum member, you get a new set of camos, and personal consultations with Lauren; she sat me down in her office and explained to me that at the beginning of each month, we would be setting goals, depending on what I wanted to be working on. And she also made dietary recommendations. Not finished with my 'tour of duty' yet, but I am almost done. Probably just about 5 sessions left.

Ironically enough, day after I re-upped (Friday September 29), I went AWOL for the first time ever. Not just not making it to class and calling to let them know, but straight up not showing up. I blame City Blend - after a punishing, yet satisfying session on Friday, I went to my friend's apartment where the whole crew showed up. There was one key moment in the night, at around 11:45, when I realized I was not going to boot camp the next morning. Enough said. I got a call from Sunil the next morning after boot camp ended, just making sure I was alive.

Got through Monday well enough. And on Tuesday, I got a call from Lizzie, one of the women at the desk, making sure that I was going to be in class on Wednesday, because apparently, people were coming by to watch the class. Later on, I would learn that they were reps from GTDirect, owned by Gaiam, that company who puts out those yoga workout DVDs, among others. I guess they were evaluating the floor exercises that Lauren was teaching - because who has an obstacle course in their tiny New York apartment?

The class was HUGE. I mean, safely 20 people. How everyone was going to fit was a mystery. The 6PM class was finishing up, and as opposed to the rock wall, they were doing their group sit-ups on mats in the PT area. DI Wong called for 'foot holders', while the rest of us were directed to start running. I thought, yay, I will get through my laps sooner (a point of pleasure, because I was convinced that the ever-present pain in my knees was due to the running - something which I had given up years before because my doctor told me that I had slight tendonitis). WAY WRONG - as I rounded out 6 laps, looking hopefully at DI Ruben, he gave no signal to stop. All in all, I think I ran 5 extra laps; ridiculous. After our warm up, Lauren looked at her clipboard, called off several names to go with her, and then instructed me, Sunil, and 3 other people to go with DI Wong.

Behind the Intensity wall, we were instructed to grab a tire and do 25 tire presses. After that, 15 tire pushups. This was tough, because you are trying to do a pushup while searching for traction on a surface of shredded tires. Sunil asked if we could move off the surface, and so Wong moved us over to the outside of the course. There, we were given our next set of exercises. 4 sets of the most hateful combination - 10 squat thrusts, 15 push-ups. Nausea threatened. And then I got angry, and got through it. The five of us were directed to the wall, to do wall squats, which basically has you in sitting position, with your quads holding you up, with your hands at shoulder level out in front of you. As the person farthest to the right, I had to sprint around the perimeter, back to the left side of the line. All the while, my cohorts were holding steady in the wall squat formation. And then the next person sprinted around, and the next one, etc., until we had gone around twice. Not so bad, I was flagging a bit at the end, but managed to stay up. Off to under the monkey bars.

Hard to recall exactly what happened next, but one thing I did notice was that Lauren had a large group of people running the course, hooting and hollering, getting over walls, cheering people on - probably to illustrate the supportive nature of boot camp, and also the high level of female participation (Note - in a class of 20-23, Sunil was the only guy that day). I did wonder why she purposely excluded us, which did bring a few moments of consternation - were we the embarrassments? Surely not, I would hope.

The next part of class consisted of another hateful set of squat thrusts, and dips, 4 sets, if I remember correctly. In between cursing every 5 seconds after attempting a squat thrust. I was still sort of annoyed about being the only people sort of put in the corner, so when we were given the option of 10 more dips or inverted pushups (where you had your feet on the window and your hands in the shredded tires), I chose to do the inverted pushups. Small victory. Then, grabbing 2 dumbbells, we did 10 presses, and then ran a lap, after which we were to rotate to the next person's dumbbells (we were all given different weights initially). After the second go-around, my knees really started to burn. I haven't felt that ever - definitely troubling. I told DI Wong, and he instructed me to ice my knees, and gave me a substitute exercise - the same dumbbell presses, minus the running. When that was done, it was time for individual throwdowns - unlike when we are partnered up, and the person is standing over us, and we are using their ankles as support, we used the metal support beam. I thought I heard him say 2 sets of 25. No problem. And then when I was done, he said, "Did I say 2 sets? I meant 4 sets, I lied." Ridiculous - I grumbled, but got through it.

Next, over to the walls, and it was one of those days that I was mentally incapable of doing the third wall. Wong, presumably seeing the defeated look on my face, directed me to do another lower ab exercise - forgot what the name was, but we were supposed to get to 100 before the class was over. I managed 75.

Later on, Sunil and I collectively licked our wounds (given that he had been duly harangued by Wong, more so than myself) with a couple of cocktails at Therapy with a few of his friends. I worried about my knees, thought about starting on a regimen of glucosamine chondroitin. Well, like the Howard Jones song goes, things can only get better.

When I'm Thirty-Three.....

2007-12-07T14:43:00.001-05:00

The birthday weekend was TONS of fun....started on Friday; going away party at Taj, hanging with buddies at Slate, where I indulged in shameless flirtation with this adorable blond Bulgarian - yes, we asked! - waiter who winked every time he served me a drink, so, of course, there were multiple return trips! Saturday night, I felt like Miss Thang when my friend Matt came over, and within 45 minutes, made my face all dewy and glow-y, and my eyes all smoky. We headed to Leela Lounge, where 30+ friends and friends of friends had a blast hanging out, imbibing the cocktail of the evening, the Judylicious, a delightful combination of mango juice and champagne. At midnight, the Gentile members of City Blend serenaded me with a jazzed up version of Happy Birthday. After a while, we spilled out onto the street, and treated the partygoers to an impromptu version of "Only You" (we were like, we have all the parts! Let's sing!). The party moved on to Plan B, where my friend Manju did a bang-up job at being my married wing-woman - of course, I couldn't take it to the next level, but that is beside the point. The night ended at Indian Bread Company, where we munched Lamb Vindaloo Naaninis (unknowingly, Sunil B. and I ordered the same dish). I tumbled into bed at 3:45 AM.

The next day, I managed to pull myself together by the evening, hauled myself all the way up to Mom/Dad's place for a bit of a pre-game, and then had a ridiculously yummy dinner at Calle Ocho (Cuban food - caipirnhas, ceviche, mahi mahi and a sinful chocolate cake) - Pooja joined us, and gave me a baby tee that I had been eyeing for a few weeks - Stewie Griffin on the front, with strategically placed crystals, captioned, "How dare you disobey me!" It's the familial bond; she had no idea I wanted to buy it, but thought of me when she saw it. A wonderful way to end the weekend.

Monday was a day of vacillation. Originally, I was supposed to have the remainder of my root canal, cancelled it because I didn't want to miss boot camp for too long, and then decided to cancel boot camp just to rest up. What a productive evening!

So, after bagging Monday, I went back on Wednesday. Determined to have as positive an experience as I had the Friday before my birthday. It was a small class, maybe 8-9. Titus called for 7 laps; I had positioned myself closer to the wall, and started out at the beginning of the pack, because in the past, starting at the back did NOTHING for my stride. But I trotted along, feeling good, and only started feeling it on #6 (thank you, Vitamin Water!), and only 1 person passed me.

Back to the PT area, stretched out, and then 65 jumping jacks, no problem - stayed focused on the spot about 10 feet up on the wall. Titus hollered for 20 squat thrusts, started flagging around 12. My partner stayed on course, why wouldn't he - he was past his 6 weeks, and into his 'regular' time. Push up position, held it for a count of 25, and then moved on to 20 mountain jumpers. 25 more jumping jacks, and then we were given 5 seconds to get onto our backs for butterfly kicks - 15 of them - our legs 6 inches off the ground. This is one exercise I know I can manage, even with Titus hovering over me; it only had me shouting out my count all the louder. Back to the push up position, hold for a count of 25, and then all the sudden, we had 12 seconds to do a lap around. Push up position again, and then feet together, feet apart, 20 of them, more difficult this time. Felt it in my calves, which have experienced quite a bit of conditioning thus far, but no matter. No one showed signs of fading; someone told me if you could make it through the warm-up, everything else is a piece of cake. I agree and disagree.

To round out the warm-up, two laps around. I didn't fall behind, and so DI Wong put me into the non-wimp group in the class (a vast difference from the week before). Was ordered to do the hurdles then the 4 walls. Hurdles were fine, throwing alternate legs over the hurdles, but something in me would eventually like to jump over. Got to the walls, on the third wall, Wong thought I needed more help, but a mere nudge and I was over by myself. Next up, the Intensity wall. Peeled my gloves off, and got up with one boost. The real help was needed when I was at the top. See, on the other side of the wall, there are pegs where you are supposed to put your hands and feet so you can make your way down. That first peg is always the one I need help with. Wong was busy barking at the recruits on the ground, doing their canteen sit-ups. I looked for Titus, but he was looking the other way. It must have looked pretty comical, me, hugging the top of the wall, saying, "A little help here?"

Feet back on terra firma, I waited for my next task. 50 partner sit-ups with the iron bar, as opposed to the canteen. My partner had seen me at my weakest, so I know she wasn't expecting much. I know I didn't quite make it to 50, but I wasn't huffing and puffing, I managed to make it to 40something. We were ordered to do two laps around, after which we grabbed a mat, and went into two sets of 25 throwbacks apiece. Remembering the lesson from the previous session, I inhaled on the way up, exhaled on the way down. My jubilation was short lived; one lap around with my feet in front of me, hands flat on the floor, in the table position, trying to get around. Not happening, so Wong gave me the easier option of the bear crawl. Another hated exercise; I think if my arms had been longer, or eventually when I get stronger, I can manage this stuff. When I hit the stretch of shredded tire, the bear crawl ceased, and I crawled on my hands and knees. Realizing how much of an anchor I was threatening to become, Wong ordered me to run it in. Grouped together with two men and one other woman in the class, we were put on a circuit of box squats, which had us stepping up on the box, grabbing the bars on the window, doing a squat, and stepping back down; and then rotating to do squat thrusts/push-ups. 2/3 of a burpie. As many as we could do in 2 minutes. One of the guys asked if we should jump up onto the box as opposed to stepping up onto it. Suck-up. Two times around. Then one lap around.

We grabbed a bar; for me, I took the lightest one, 12 pounds 3 feet long. Couldn't imagine what we had to do next. Taking the bar in one hand, we had to do bicep curls, 20 of them, and then switch to the other hand. Now, realistically speaking, this is only 2 pounds more than what I can usually do, but the fact that the bar was 3 feet long as opposed to a compact dumbbell, managing that feat was definitely a challenge. And Wong didn't give any leeway to the women; he allowed us to assist our wrist with the other hand. Move over to the next hand. Very tough. Next up, shoulder presses, in the same way. Marginally easier. Finally, grabbing the bar in two hands, you squatted down and then brought the bar up to your chin; 20 reps. Over? Hardly. Wong gave the guys the heaviest bars, and then me and the other female recruit in the group were given the 18 pounders. We were to hold the bar diagonally across our chests, like a rifle, and run around the perimeter. Ridiculous. After the first lap around, he told us to go one more. Wasn't going to happen for me with the bar I was holding; I asked for a lighter bar; Wong agreed. This vision flashed across my mind - Vincent D'Onofrio as Private Pyle in Full Metal Jacket, behind the rest of his platoon, with his fatigues around his ankles and his thumb in his mouth. Thankfully, nothing like that would happen here. One thing which provided a point of pride for me was that as I was toughing it through the bar exercises, I saw that out of the corner of my eye, the other group was pretty much focused on doing laps and sit-ups. Not me, not this time! And you know what? I don't want to be in the slow group ever again. I like the variety, and honestly, I want to be more challenged than doing merely laps and sit-ups.

With the lighter bar raised above my head, it was high knees around the perimeter. Next time around, Wong called for 'straight legs', didn't matter how high, as long as they were kicking straight. I focused on my breathing, didn't kick the highest, but got around fine enough.

Back to the PT area, Wong had his stopwatch in hand, and led us through the next exercise. You had to squat down, shuffle right, shuffle left, and that would be a count of one. We did 20 of those at a moderate pace, but of course, it couldn't be too easy, so after the 20, double time! There was a point when I just gave up keeping pace, toward the end.

Last, but not least. I have never done Pilates, but I saw Tea Leoni in a similar position when she was in the movie 'Spanglish' and I can imagine that is what people do in Pilates class. It's hard to describe, but imagine that your right arm is straight, hand planted flat on the floor, and you are supporting the entire weight of your body with your right arm. Sort of like a scalene triangle. The exercise went as follows: In that position, you raised your left hand straight up, and then brought your left hand down, and through the space between the right side of your ribcage and the floor. Repeat 20 times. Switch sides. This definitely felt non-military.

Finally, resting with our legs tucked under us, we stretched out, and then moved into child's pose, and then what Wong called cobra pose. I have done yoga before, and this definitely felt yoga-esque.

Over to the wall, where I loudly counted off the 25 sit-ups. Wong is one of those DIs that if he doesn't hear volume, he will make you continue. We had to do 75 a week back - really. Made it through. As I left, I saw that Titus had a less scornful look on his face. Am I finally proving my worth? I felt it today!

Oh, and btw, I officially made the decision to sign up for another 6 months. Not sure if I am going to blog that. But this is definitely a longer-term plan.

September 22: Boot Camp Before Birthday, or The Hour of Power

2007-12-07T14:39:00.001-05:00

It's been a while since I last wrote. Admittedly, my last post was less exquisitely detailed than my past posts. I think the reason was that boot camp has had its highs and lows, and I suffered a slight setback for a few sessions after a full day of running around in the Poconos for my company's 'summer' outing. Without boot camp, I probably would have had a much harder time on September 13. Building a boat out of corrugated cardboard, attempting to race it, taking a swim in the lake when it sank, jumping hurdles, sprinting as my teammate threw a football, seeing how far I could get before the other team returned the pass, capping off with Woodloch Pines' version of 'The Amazing Race'. I was in the 3rd place group, and was awarded with an iPod Nano. The soreness I felt in my quads was unlike anything I had ever felt. Which made Friday the 15th, Saturday the 16th, and Monday the 18th RIDICULOUSLY difficult. Forget about any of the small triumphs I had experienced up until that point. And to add insult to injury, a new DI, Wong, started teaching. Combined with the 'What the F***K" approach DI Ruben had, it was like I was fresh meat again. A couple of moments here and there were positive, but there were more downs than ups. I tried to do a squat thrust on Monday 9/18, and pretty much toppled over. So, I was put in the 'slow' group - back to the course, with plenty of sit-ups in between. Didn't get to do the fun stuff like the boxing and tire reps like I had been able to do before. It was back to the basics. I made the decision to give myself some rest on Wednesday 9/20. The best decision I ever made.

I came in on Friday, fully rested and ready to redeem myself. For extra oomph, I chugged half a bottle of Vitamin Water as I walked down 6th Avenue. And then mixed the remaining half with my water. Given my performance as of late, I was not ashamed to drink something which was slightly performance enhancing. Not to the same extent as one of those supercharged energy drinks, but more like a placebo/psychosomatic effect - think 'Space Jam', when Michael Jordan convinced the ‘toons that plain water was a magic potion. Walked in, did my 5 pushups, changed, said my hellos, walked outside, and then took extra time to stretch. Noticed with delight that the DIs in residence were Titus and Alex. Interestingly enough, Ruben was taking the class! Was strange to see him out of his DI uniform, and in the camos that all of the class was wearing. He looked, well, smaller and less imperious. It was humanizing - not that I won't shudder when he pulls his "what the f**k' line again when he is back in DI mode.

Titus hollered for us to do 7 laps around. Focused on my body reacting, I made a mental note of when my heart really started to work. It was somewhere between 4 and 5. Regardless, I kept the pace, and was happy to see that my place in the line of runners stayed constant, with no one passing me, and thankfully I didn't finish last. As we reached the PT space, we fell into single line formation, and started doing our 50 jumping jacks. This class seemed to be extra focused and gung-ho because I distinctly remember Titus' interjections between us shouting out our jumping jack counts:

"Un two three - one!"
"Un two three - two!"
"Friday 6:00 - three!"
"I can't believe it - four!"
"Nice and loud - five!"
"Go hard core - six!"
"Keep it going - seven!"
"Going to 50 - eight!"

Well, you get the point. It seemed like everyone was on a mission. After the jumping jacks, we were given 10 seconds to get down on the floor, with our legs 6 inches off the ground. 15 alternating three-count leg lifts - managed that. Back on our feet, another 25 jumping jacks; then knees up for 30 seconds. Titus paced up and down the line, looking for signs of flagging or fatigue; I sure as hell wasn't going to show him any - and then he ordered us into a push-up position. Mountain climbers, 15 of them. And then into the plank position for 30 seconds - hadn't done that in a few weeks, and of course, what should happen? DI Alex passes by, and the usual, "Vincent, get that butt down!" Inwardly snarling, I forced myself to straighten myself out - and, unlike past sessions, Titus didn't gently nudge me in the stomach with his boot. (note: it has never been a kick or anything to inflict pain, but more of a reminder to tighten one's form up - I am NOT here to propagate the idea that they are in any way harmful). Next, feet-together-feet-apart for 20 reps, followed by 12 seconds to sprint around the course. I think there were squat thrusts thrown in there somewhere, but I don't remember exactly where. It felt like we were being rewarded for observing proper form, or not being punished for being slow in moving from one position to the next.

As we finished our sprint, alternately we were directed "Tires, hurdles." People who got the tire directive were made to do 40 press up reps, while the others were directed to the beginning of the obstacle course. I got the 'hurdles' order. Fair enough. One set of hurdles, and back to do the tires; then over the set of hurdles leading to the 3 walls, First one, no problem; second one, I got over with no help; third one, the one I had always needed major help with, gave me pause. Alex was not around to give me a boost, so I looked helplessly at Titus, and he told me to grab hold, and start climbing - a couple of steps up, he gave me a slight boost, and then I scrambled over the wall. Probably lying to me, he said, "I didn't even touch you." Then, over to the Intensity wall - very troublesome, until Alex suggested I take my workout gloves off - he put them in his pocket, and I made my way up. This was rewarded with a 'Very impressive, Vincent'. Yay.

After the first circuit of the obstacle course, we were instructed to come back to the PT area. Partnering up and grabbing a mat, we were instructed to do as many sit-ups as we could in 2 minutes, 1 minute, and then 30 seconds. My partner impressively muscled through 65 in her first two minutes, while on my first attempt, I barely managed 25-30; the subsequent reps were equally unimpressive - didn't help that next to us was a perky 23 year old 2nd year investment banking analyst doing sit-ups like her bonus depended on it. You're 23, what the hell are you doing in this program???? You can eat whatever you want, and still fit in the size 0-2s. I digress.

Next up: we had grabbed two tires, and while one partner ran around the perimeter, another was instructed to do squats - meaning, lowering oneself down into a sitting position and coming back up - 50 reps. I was the first person to do the squat reps, while my partner ran laps. As I was going through my reps, Titus commented that I barely needed to sit until my butt was on the second tire. My reaction? "Titus, if you want me to take a tire off and do 50, I'll do it - bring it on" He smiled and moved on. We alternated two sets of squatting/running laps. Then, 40 reps of tire presses. I had no problem with this, my partner, having done the class the day before (after two weeks of inactivity), was a bit more challenged. Admittedly, I was waning at this point, and wasn't running at my proper speed, even power walking when I was out of sight. Lastly, we did two sets of 'throwdowns' - which had one person standing straight, with the other lying on the mat, holding onto their partner's ankles, raising their legs to a 90 degree angle, at which point the person standing would push their feet back down. 2 sets of 25. My partner was awesome; she told me how to breathe, which made a WORLD of difference. The passing DI noticed as well :)

Final leg of the journey - back to the obstacle course. Made it through fine. And finally, back to the Intensity wall (second time that day!). I heard Titus calling everyone over for group sit-ups, and I looked pleadingly at Alex, willing him to let me just go straight to the group, but he said, "Bullshit, you are doing this." And I did it. Two times that day, baby!!!!!!!!!!! I beamed as Alex clapped me on the shoulder and repeated, "Great job, Vincent." Timing is everything, innit? He hadn't seen me do my thing in a couple of weeks, so check out the progress!!!!!

Unlike two sessions before, where we had to do 75 sit-ups, we were only called upon to do 25. Got through it! And spent quite a bit of time afterwards gossiping, while Sunil and the 7PM class were just starting their routine.

A fantastic session before my birthday. I felt like leaping down 21st Street on my way home.

PPBC Week 3, Day 1 - Boot Camp is like a box of chocolates (or, Booty Camp)

2007-12-07T14:38:00.001-05:00

Back from the weekend - fun filled, late nights, partying up. What would Wednesday bring?

The first thing I noticed after I got changed and came out was that Lauren (the founder) was teaching one of the two groups. I was both intrigued and nervous. The warm up began, definitely tough to run those laps after 4 days of no activity. The rest of the warm up was equally tough. Details are kinda fuzzy, but it was a combination of jumping jacks, pushups, mountain climbers, and sprints around the course (I hate sprints, and inevitably, I was the goat trailing in last place). When that was over, we were given two options: go through the course, directed by DI Alex, or, work with Lauren, and, in her words, 'do some ass!'. Diana, Sunil's friend, got very excited and urged us to choose this route. Hoo boy, I had no idea what I was getting into.

We went over to the PT space, were instructed to grab a bar. Then, were guided through a set of exercises which began with simple squats, and then squats combined with a leg lift on each side, and then squats a quarter of the way down, and then halfway down, and then all the way back up. Then it was time for mat work. The exercises included side leg lifts, yoga-esque leg throwbacks, and then what she called 'doing sissy on a fire hydrant'. The worst part was that we didn't alternate legs, almost all of them were done on one leg, then the next. I was near tears, but was more afraid that Lauren would look at me and see the tears running down my face.
My butt was definitely burning by the end of it. Another day over, two more days to go in the week.

PPBC Week 2, Day 3 - The Comeback

2007-12-07T14:18:00.001-05:00

Like every year, we get the Friday before Labor Day off. My usual routine is a mix of checking work emails periodically, doing work around my apartment, and chilling out. This one was different. Sunil and I had opted in for the 5:00 PM class. It was definitely a challenge to get myself out of my apartment and over to Chelsea, but I was determined to make it a better experience than Wednesday.

Saw Sunil as I walked in, and as I made my way to the ladies pup tent, I was greeted by a delightful sight - DI Alex walked out of the bathroom, straight out of the shower it seemed, because there was only a towel keeping him decent. REOW. Resisting the urge to drool, I played it very cool as I gave him the 'chin up and hey how're ya doing' move. The workout hadn't even begun, and I was fighting against breaking a sweat. Later on, Sunil would tell me how he was looking on in both admiration (of DI) and amusement at the thought of me trying to keep it together.

6 laps around, and then 50 jumping jacks. Lauren, the founder of PPBC, happened to be present, so both Titus and Alex were extra vocal in keeping us in form. We were given 12 seconds to sprint around the course, and then another 25 jumping jacks. Down on the ground, facing each other, in pushup position; then a series of 25 'mountain climbers' (one foot forward, one foot back), and then holding ourselves in the pushup position for 30 seconds. As usual, I was ordered to get my butt down. When will these guys get it - I am rather callipygian! Then another sprint around the course - and then another set of exercises (which, due to the few days passing, I have forgotten). Then, lunges around the course, I think it was two times around. And squat thrusts; 15 to begin with, then another two laps around, and then the DI asked me how many I had done, and I told him 15 on the first, so he assigned me 20. Got through them; it only started to get tough around 15 the second time around. Albeit, a bit modified - I used the sandbags on the edge of the course. Regardless, rounded a corner on that one.

What stuck out for me most about this time was, in addition to be-towelled DI Alex, I was partnered up with a woman who told me I was inspiring her. She didn't let me quit. When I first saw her, she was trotting around the course, not with the frontrunners, wearing a bit too much jewelry (ghetto bling to be exact), but it wasn't as bad as the princess with the Flashdance-cut camo tee and a satin camo headband (who was she trying to impress?). When it came time to do the ab exercises, the DI, realizing that this is still one of my weak points, paired me up with her. I could barely make it through the 50 initial sit-ups, whereas she just motored through them; I was very surprised. And there was a moment when we had to do another 50, she thought we had to do 40, but then when I finished my 40, and she was going through her sit-ups, we were told that we had to do 50. What did I do? Went back and finished up another 10 - I didn't want to wimp out and cheat - who was I cheating? Took the opportunity for a suck-up moment, and told DI Alex. He gave me a nod and said, "I like it. That's integrity." SIGH.

Then a round of lunges, and then we were instructed to grab a tire and come back. This was the final task - first, a series of 50 jumping jacks, and my partner convinced me to do a 1 count as opposed to a 4 count (fine), and then lunges around the perimeter, then 40 reps with the tire, and we were to repeat this 2 times. I was a bit ahead on the lunges, and when I got back, was made to run in place ('knees up') until she made it back. She asked me if she had to join me, and I told her no, they were just making me do it until she caught up. Talk about a guilt motivator! And then, it was time for the final set of tire reps. And she started to wind down, but I didn't let her - I just counted all the louder as we were at the end, shouting at her - 10 more!! You can do it!!!
And then we were done. This was definitely the comeback I needed to feel great about this again. And party it up with Sunil in Chelsea later on until about 2AM.

Now, let's see how I do after the long Labor Day weekend of partying and debauchery. Onward to Wednesday.....

PPBC Week 2, Day 2 - Hump Day Blues

2007-12-07T14:16:00.001-05:00

For some reason, after I got home on Tuesday, after writing my rundown, I couldn't get to sleep until 1AM. I attribute it to my mind being too active and not having time to shut down in time. Maybe that had something to do with Wednesday's experience. I'll admit, it wasn't one of my better days. Probably the combination of doing boot camp two days in a row, and the sleep thing.

The warm up run was more of a challenge; whereas the day before I had no problem with the 7 laps, I found myself getting a bit winded by 5/6. Stretches, both individual and partnered up. 50 jumping jacks? No problem. The killer right at the beginning. 10 squat thrusts-then-jump-ups. I hate them. Then a sprint around the course, they gave us 12 seconds. Managed that okay. Then more squat thrusts which had me ready to hurl very early on. Another sprint around the course, back to the PT space. Titus gave us the next task, which he described as 'very easy' - 3 minutes of squats. Okay, something I think I can deal with. He gave each of us a number - to the cut/buff woman at the end, he gave 18. Next guy, 15; next guy, 15; when it came to me and my partner, he gave us 12 (way to set the bar, Titus!). He gave Sunil 13, and then went down the line. The drill was 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off. First set? 14. Then they went as follows: 14, 13, 14, 14, 15. Yeah! Then another sprint around the course, stopping at the hurdles. I tried to speed through it, but speed didn't work in my favor - failed to clear the second hurdle, fell off it, right on my injured knee, dislodging my band-aid. Still I got through it. Over to the climbing wall, 25 sit-ups. But my knee was bothering me, so I asked to get a new band-aid/tape from the desk. Taped it up, back to the wall, ran around and then the hurdles again, another 25 sit-ups.

This time around, we had to climb the walls. Bear in mind, this was the obstacle which proved frustrating and mentally messing up on Saturday. First one, no problem. The second one, which had been my albatross, I got over with a bit of help, actually, I thought I couldn't do it, and thought I needed help, but the moment the DI went to help me, I got over. Third wall, forget it. Even with the boost up, I couldn't do it.

Ran back to the PT area, and then did 50 lower ab/leg pull-ups, which I thought were manageable. But then, they called for canteen sit-ups; and, having done them the day before, knowing how hard they were, minus my inspirational partner, I wimped out and asked Alex (the more merciful of the two) for a substitute exercise. So, I was instructed to do a lap around the perimeter with a 12-pound bar, doing lunges and simultaneously lifting the bar to shoulder height. Struggled through that. And then the next time, I would be doing lunges around, and pushing the bar up from shoulder height to full arm extension. My partner was instructed to do the same. When I made it back to the main area, there was a tire in front of me, and I had to jump forward into the tire, out of it, turn around, jump back in, and then jump from one side to the next.

Afterwards, we were given our next task. One person would do squats while holding up the tire, while the other person ran 3 times around the course. Next round - switch off, and one would do squat thrusts with the tire, and the other person ran 4 times around. Last time around, 5 laps and tire squats. Maybe it was my own anxiety coming out - I could almost see the disdain on Titus' face as I ran around. Thankfully, we were called for group sit-ups. 25 of them. Sweet relief.

Slightly defeated and feeling down on myself, I grabbed dinner with Sunil, who was a wonderful cheer-up buddy. Drowned my sorrows in two glasses of Sauvignon Blanc. Things can only get better. Definitely have noticed changes in my arms and abs. Legs are slightly sore from the other day's squats. I am determined to kick butt Friday.

PPBC Week 2, Day 1: ABSolut Tuesday

2007-12-07T13:58:00.001-05:00

Whoo hoo! No procrastinating tonight. I am using the adrenaline from tonight's session to write this. I put enough people through the arduous task of reading the lead up and the full week rundown; with varying degrees of diplomacy - certain friends loved it, others commented on how lengthy and detailed it was, and last but not least, my father, who said it was downright too long for him to read. I consider this a triumph, since my father is the master of the novela-length email; the tendency of verbosity seemingly has been passed on genetically.

Mind you, Tuesday is not on the schedule, but my dentist, Dr. Marquis De Sade DDS, insisted that I come in on Monday, after not completing an on-the-fly root canal, which she had begun the Thursday before. Two shots of Novocaine does NOT numb you to the pain of a root canal - and for some reason, she couldn't understand the pain and anxiety I was exhibiting, and told me to try and calm down (I could rant about this further, but that is not the point). Reluctantly, I switched my Monday session, and wouldn't you believe it - the more senior dentist took one look at my tooth, and said he couldn't do anything. GREAT.

Given that the guys in the office were doing their Fantasy Football draft tonight (participating in a yearly ritual which, according to experts, costs American business $1.5 Billion in lost productivity on the day of the draft), I changed into my uniform in the conference room, walked out to grab something off my desk, to be greeted with a thumbs up from one of my colleagues. Judy in suits and twin sets and pearls, they are used to; camos are another thing.

It was strange to walk down to Chelsea without Sunil; but, I used the walk down to mentally prepare, and to people watch. Noticed that there were a few people walking in the opposite direction wearing camouflage shorts, and I couldn't help but wonder, had they also gone through the rigors of PPBC?

Arriving on the second floor, I signed in, and even though Linda (at the desk) was nowhere to be seen, I got on the floor and did my 5 pushups - non-modified! Dropped my stuff off in the pup tent, and ran into the women who I had seen on my first day, chatted them up a bit about the past week. Since we were a bit early, we got to witness some of the torture being inflicted on the 6:00 class.

A normal beginning - 7 laps around, which, to my delight, I managed without any sort of nausea and major shortness of breath. Back to the PT space, going through the stretches, and since we had an uneven number of people (someone came in late, was sharply reprimanded by the DI). So, luckily, I got double-duty stretches by the DI. And then, my faaaavorite - squat thrusts, 20 of them! I felt like a bowlegged frog trying to struggle through them. After this, to break it up, we did a lap around the course, but not at a run, you would leap forward and then touch the ground. All the way around.

Apparently, Tuesday is abs day, which was a bit scary, given that it has probably been around 6 years since I have done any major ab work. The first exercise: you partnered up, one person would lie on a mat, with the other standing above the other. The person on the floor would grab their partner's ankles, raise their legs up to the person's hands, and after coming back down, opening and closing their legs. This was a count of one. We were made to do 3 sets of 30. Thankfully, my lower abs were able to handle it, and my partner was a great motivator, and, admittedly, skipped a few counts on the third set, so I didn't do the full 90, but close to it (major improvement). The euphoria quickly dissipated when we were directed to the row of tires on the obstacle course, and were instructed to do 75 'canteen sit-ups' (for those who hadn't read my first post, it is a partner sit-up exercise, where you lock your feet into a tire, and pass a full canteen back and forth as you do the sit-ups. 75? Are you kidding me?? But, my amazingly diesel partner, into her 4th week, seemed undaunted, and determined to get me through it. We didn't know where the canteens were, and I was invisibly led by the ear by the drill instructor to a crate where the canteens were stored. The beginning was okay, but then I started to waver around 25. My partner said, let's just try and get to 40, and we could move on - I felt a bit guilty about slowing her down, so I did my level best to keep up. We got to 40! But then the DI yelled out for a count, and we weren't going to lie, so when we said 40, he said, 75! Somehow she got me through it. We got to 75! Okay, I'll admit it, I cheated a bit, and assisted myself by grabbing my pants several times. But hell, we made it.

Back to the PT area, we were given our next task - a series of 5 exercises. 1. Butterfly sit-ups, which had you on your mat, knees out, doing a set of 50. 2. Sit-ups with your legs at a 90-degree angle to the floor - 50. 3. Hard to describe - they were called in-outs, which had you on your mat, semi-seated, hands flat on the ground, pointing forward - and you had to use your lower abs to start out with your legs straight out, and bring them in towards your chest (IMPOSSIBLE - I needed a spot from the DI). 4. Clapping pushups - a set of 25. 5. Squat thrusts - 20. We were to repeat the whole routine 3 times. Ack. The butterfly sit-ups? No problem - my partner counted off 3 and I counted each sit-up. For some reason, the legs straight up sit-ups were difficult, I couldn't get my legs straight! And forget about the 3rd one. In the first set of squat thrusts, I was about to collapse, and then thankfully we moved back to the first exercise. But, I learned a sneaky trick - as opposed to doing the squat thrusts on the floor, I used the sandbag on the edge of the course, and the second set was infinitely easier. We got through the 3 sets, and I muscled through the final set of squat thrusts in time for the DI hollering for us to come to the climbing wall for group sit-ups. He didn't let up; made us do 25. And at the end, as usual, we had to shout out one of the principles of leadership - I was on the end, so I hollered out "TRUST"!

A pleasant discovery as I was leaving class - turns out that a woman I was chatting with is my neighbor. We were talking about living downtown, and she asked me where I lived. One thing led to another, and then it turns out that we live across Rector Park from each other. The things you learn in conversation!

Back on track for the week - going back tomorrow!

Pure Power Boot Camp: Week One in Retrospect

2007-12-07T13:52:00.001-05:00

Around mid-August, I made the decision to really kick my fitness routine up a notch - albeit, not the most difficult task, given that my enthusiasm for my 6:45 AM spin class had gone from 2 times a week (once a week at 5:30 after work), to maybe once a month. And, given that my 33rd birthday was looming in the not-too-distant future, coupled with the fact that one of my closest college friends is having this fancy wedding in November at the Bacara Resort in Santa Barbara (One of Oprah's favorites, from what I read - talk about pressure to look good?!), I knew I had to do something drastic. The option? Pure Power Boot Camp, a 6-week, intensive physical training program, modeled after a confidence course in Fort Knox, run by real military personnel; a combination of calisthenics, cardio, and an obstacle course.

The decision to do Pure Power Boot Camp was influenced by a couple of different people, more specifically, the two Sunils in my life, Sunil B. and Sunil O. At the opposite ends of the spectrum: one, a former rugby player who has no problem partying hard until 2AM on a Wednesday night and then getting up be in the office at 8:30 AM doing what he does in financial services, and the other, a fabulous effervescent individual who works in fundraising for GLAAD. Sunil B. had done PPBC last year, I saw what it did for him, but the thought didn't enter my mind at the time that I would ever do it. And, while brunching in the Village before going to see the Orchid Show earlier this year, Sunil O. told me he had signed up for it, which was quite the surprise, but I was eager to see what he was going to go through. So, when I decided to really do something about getting into shape, this seemed to be the way to go.

With a combination of anticipation, fear and excitement, I called up, and 'enlisted'. I got an inkling of what was to come from the shouting in the background, which the woman on the phone gleefully pointed out to me, and then at the end of it all, informed me that I would now only be referred to by my last name. I signed up for the same schedule Sunil O. was on: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from 7:00-8:00 PM, and Saturday morning, from 11:30AM-12:30 PM. The program was to begin on August 21st, and last for 6 weeks (perfect timing, I would be at the tail end of the program for my birthday).

For the few weeks following my signup, people gave me various pieces of advice; climb stairs, do sit-ups, pushups, etc. I considered it a feat that I substituted the stairs for my usual elevator ride when I came home from the office. Fine, it is only 4 floors, but one has to start somewhere. And then, the weekend before boot camp, I made it a point to party it up, given that I didn't anticipate having much energy to do anything else in the initial stages of the program. So, what did I do? Happy hour at the Gansevoort rooftop bar, party at Taj, drinks at Underbar in Union Square (where my world became complete, and the two Sunils finally met), topped off by burgers and fries at Coffee Shop at 2:30 AM. The next day, I tried to mellow it out - saw Talladega Nights, followed by dinner at Dojo, where, in the interest of easing back down off the debauchery from the night before, I ordered the soy burger dinner, with a nice healthy serving of brown rice and carrot ginger sauce. Sunday, I made a concerted effort to clean my apartment, and nourish myself with a lot of water and boiled organic edamame. Tried to get a lot of sleep, but the nervousness didn't help.

And so it began. This is an account of my first week at boot camp, minus a few lunges here and there. And at least, for the first week, I won't moan and complain about the soreness in between workouts.

MONDAY: During the day, I had this increasing sense of panic, probably didn't help that I was reading reviews/articles about people's experiences, describing running flights of stairs with an 18 pound bar which was supposed to simulate a weapon. Coupled with the pictures sent to me of R. Lee Ermey shouting at Matthew Modine in 'Full Metal Jacket" by some of my colleagues, doubt crept in. What was I doing? And the $929.00 that I had shelled out was non-refundable! I called Sunil B. a couple of times, who provided some comfort, while relishing in the pain that was to come. This strange sense of fatigue threatened to throw me off in the last couple hours of my workday, which I attempted to stave off with more water and some Vitamin Water 'Energy' (or something like that).

At 6:15, I met Sunil O. in front of my office, and we walked down to PPBC, 11 blocks and one avenue away from my office; two doors down from Taj, the venue that provided so much fun the Friday night before. We stood in the parking lot across the street for several minutes, looking up at the signs in the window, realizing that once we walked through that door, there was no turning back.

When the elevator opened up on the second floor, we were greeted with blaring music, and a life-size mannequin dressed in full army camouflage, toting a machine gun, frozen in a ready-aim-fire pose. As I filled out my information form, I couldn't help but notice that as everyone came out of the elevator, they all dropped to the floor and did 5 pushups, both regular and modified (yes, that was what I was going to be doing!). We were issued our 'uniforms' - camouflage pants, green t-shirts and dog tags. The woman at the desk apologized to me; they had run out of medium sized t-shirts, and they would have to give me a large (?!). We were directed to the changing areas, which consisted of separate pup tents for the men and the women. I stepped in, started getting changed, and was horrified to learn that there was a good 15 inches of extra length on the camo pants; I did my best to roll up the pants enough to not have them drag. Forget about the t-shirt; a large was waaaaay too large. I looked like I had stepped into the camos of one of the guys I knew at West Point; who was 5'11 and 190 pounds! This extra material was NOT going to help me get comfortable; especially since the women who were changing around me seemed like they had been wearing their well-weathered uniforms forever. Grabbing my water bottle, I stepped out of the pup tent.

To start off the session, we did 6 laps around the perimeter of the place, which made my heart cry and threaten to explode out of my body. Once back to the 'PT space', the drill instructor took us through the warm up - stretches which we had to count out for anywhere from 12-15 counts, and if we didn't do it loudly enough, were sharply 'cajoled'. We partnered up to do the second set of stretches, which had you sitting on the floor, legs spread out, hands on the ground in front of you, while you partner pushed you close to the ground; next, right leg in, lean towards your left leg, partner pushing down, and then switch up legs. For the first day, I happened to find myself partnered up with a fit older gentleman, with an accent that was hard to place. His first comment - "Wow, you're flexible". Thanks, but actually, given how short I am, how could I not be?
Then we were led through a series of standard exercises - 50 jumping jacks, led by our very vocal drill instructor; then down on the ground to count how many pushups we could do in 40 seconds; which we had to announce in public as they recorded it for posterity. Then, sit-ups. Not the namby-pamby crunches we think will sculpt our abs, but old school, hands across your chest, partner holding your feet type sit-ups. Shamefully I called out the number to the DI. When I thought it was over, they called out "squat thrusts!", something I hadn't done since 5th grade; another horrid reminder of how weak my core abdominal muscles had become through years of inactivity. What were they going to do next???

After two laps, they called the 'fresh meat' (me and a few other 'privates') to the obstacle course, where we were directed through 3 foot high hurdles, which we could do one of 3 ways - at this point, all I could manage was throwing my leg over the hurdle and hoisting myself up and over. We jogged over to a series of 3 walls, one taller than the next, which you had to get yourself over. First one was manageable; I could get over the 4-foot wall using my upper arms and a jump. The second one was a bit tougher, which required the assistance of my DI. Third one was virtually impossible, but I managed - I needed to focus more on not gripping with my toes, that's what I was told. Next, the rope net, which required one to jump up, and crawl along a 15 foot matrix of rope, ultimately climbing up to the point where the rope line was at your waist, keeping your legs tight, and then flipping over onto the ground. Then, you grabbed a rope, took a flying leap over a log, and then crawled on your hands and legs under the 'barbed wire' - fine, they weren't real barbed wire, but it was easier to get through it imagining that it was the real deal.

And then, the monkey bars - why were these so much easier when we were young? Oh yeah, I know why, because you were 8 and were about 60 pounds!!!! We were to go through three sets of bars, with the DI holding my legs, and if I said I couldn't, the DI said, "F*CK yeah! You are NOT going to tell me you can't!" that was a motivator. After that, the climbing wall was a wash; I was secretly hating the girl in front of me who was moving from peg to peg with ease - the DI tried to explain to me that the obstacles were going to be tougher for someone of my height (not putting me down in any way, but just simply stated). Nearing the end of the course was the abs/log roller, a setup which is about 4.5 feet off the ground, and consists of 3 large logs interspersed with heavy metal rings. You had to jump up, pull the next log towards you, and continue until you hit the end, at which point you threw your leg over the log and jump to the ground. The session was coming to an end, but there was one obstacle remaining, and given that Sunil B. had told me about it and how to tackle it, I was determined. This was the final wall, which was about 13 feet high, with a rope down the center. I didn't need to do it. I wanted it. My desire was writing checks that my body couldn't cash. But with the help of two DIs pushing me up by my butt once I had made the initial climb up the wall, I got over.

Class was about over, and I ran over to join my squad in an end of class ritual - group sit-ups. Feet under the climbing wall, arms linked, 20 sit-ups, which I couldn't manage; thankfully I was sandwiched in between two beefy men who had no problem assisting me.

Yay! I got through it! As Sunil and I sat at a small Chinese restaurant in Chelsea eating our 'diet menu' selections, which consisted of steamed vegetables, chicken, brown rice, sauce on the side, I couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction - I got through it, and I didn't yuke!

WEDNESDAY: Tuesday was a sore day; in the morning towards the afternoon, I had an overall inability to do even the most basic of tasks, like getting dressed, and fastening my bra (which was particularly difficult!). I was determined to minimize the pain, so on Tuesday evening, as suggested by Lisa at the front desk, settled into a hot bath with Epsom salts - which aroused the curiosity of my cat Stewie, given that he had never seen a full tub before; he kept on trying to dip his paw in to see what it was about.

I stepped onto the floor of PPBC, did my 5 pushups, and headed to the ladies' pup tent to change. Thankfully, the adjustments to the uniform made me a lot more comfortable - I cut the extra 15 inches off my camo pants, mindful of the advice to keep my knees covered; and in place of the large t-shirt, I purchased an olive green tank top with 'Property of Pure Power'

Wednesday was NOTHING like Monday. Whereas I left Monday night's session with a sense of accomplishment, like I could kick ass and take names, I came out of this session with a very different feeling. Warm-up began the same, 6 laps around the course, stretches, jumping jacks, pushups, squat thrusts. We didn't get the liberty of doing the obstacle course. This session was pure calisthenics. The first exercise was a partner effort; a sort of modified sit-up. You sat facing each other, one person would lie back in the beginning sit-up position, and then as you came up, you needed to stand all the way up. Sound easy? It was IMPOSSIBLE. Forget about the two strong women next to us who made it look effortless. The key to it was having your partner pull you up as you came off the floor, which didn't happen as I was trying to haul my ass up off the floor and to a standing position; Titus, one of the DIs, quickly realized how sad a state I was in, and made me do 15 sit-ups in order to be able to even keep up.

After this painfully embarrassing exercise, we were made to do half-lunges around the perimeter, and then coming to a full stop in front of the hurdles, were instructed to 'build a house' Around 10 of us lined up, and made an arch with our bodies, on hands and the front of our feet. We would have to hold ourselves up in this formation while one person crawled on their belly through the human bridge, and form the next part of the 'house'. This lasted for around 20 feet, while Titus the DI shouted something to the extent of, "This house is a mess! I don't like when my house is torn up - if this keeps up, I will come to your house and tear it up the same way!". After we made our way around to the climbing wall, we ran back to the 'PT" area, and were instructed to grab a jump rope and a mat. The next set of exercises entailed 40 seconds of jump rope, 40 seconds of sit-ups and then 40 seconds of 'planks' which meant that you had to stretch out, rest on your elbows, and keep yourself straight, and I distinctly recall hearing "Vincent, get your butt down!" (difficult for me, wouldn't you say?).

We kept this up through 3 sets, and then were instructed to hustle over to the other wall; where we rested with our backs against the wall, and our thighs parallel to the floor. DI pointed to me and the other newbie, and said, "You two freaks are partners". Our next tasks was as follows: One partner would grab a tire and hold it over their head, while the other person ran over to the other side of the room, do 5 squat thrusts-push ups-jumps (what they called burpies), and then do a low crawl back to the other side, and do 5 push ups before taking the tire from their partner. I got through it quickly, propelled by guilt at keeping my diminutive partner holding a tire too long. Squat thrusts kill me, they really do. I don't know how two women got through 100 of them, a penalty imposed for exposing an inch of midriff. Then, thankfully, they called us for the group sit-ups.

The feelings had sort of reversed themselves; whereas on Monday I had felt empowered, and Sunil was questioning what he had signed up for; on Wednesday, Sunil was feeling quite jubilant, and I, admittedly was thankful to have gotten through it.

FRIDAY: Was a bit different for me, because I get off work at 5, and had to bide time in between work and PPBC. It was hard to hear my programming team talk about going out for happy hour after work to celebrate the junior guy placing his first consultant. Warm-up began as usual, well, the difference being 8 laps around the perimeter, which was harder (I guess that's the point, right?). There was a new DI present, who was leading the early part of the program; 60 jumping jacks (are you kidding?), and then as many squat thrusts in 30 seconds as you could manage. And, while the details are more fuzzy than before, somewhere in there, we had to do 20 'clapping push-ups' which had you facing your partner, and as you came up, slapped the opposite hand of your partner; followed by 2 sets of 25 reps where you were lying on a mat with your partner standing behind you; grabbing their ankles, with your legs out straight, you raised your legs up over your head, and then the person would push your feet back down and count off. We grabbed a jump rope, a mat, and an 18-pound bar, went through sets of jumping rope, planks, squats with the bar.

And then, back to the obstacle course, where we did everything we learned on Monday; only a bit easier than the first time. Scraped my knee big time on the first climbing wall, I distinctly remember Alex, the new DI, as I was gearing up to jump the second wall, asking me "What's your name, wild child?", to which I responded, "Vincent" Got through it, and then we were brought over to a corner with a rack of dumbbells; I was handed a 10 pound weight, and we went through a series of 25, 20, and 15 over the head tricep curls, intermixed with two laps around the course. Lastly, we were instructed to grab a bar, and do lunges around the perimeter with the bar shoulder length in front of us. I wimped out, got the 12 pound bar and still couldn't hack it, so DI Alex hollered for me to hold it diagonally in front of me, and run a lap.

Another day done, another group sit-up set of 15. I got through it easier this time. Sunil and I capped the evening off with vegetarian takeout, Absolut Peach and Seltzer, and "She's The Man"

SATURDAY: Last day of the first week; there is very little I can tell you about this day that has not been included in past days, except that the band-aid covering my previous day's injury fell off and the camo pants did not do much to help it out. I put on as much of a brave face as I could, from the warm-up to the early abs workout, at which point I desperately needed a new band-aid. My partner waited patiently until Titus made her do a lap to keep her occupied while I taped up my knee. Got us out of 50 sit-ups! But it wasn't over. They set up 5 different stations: 1. The 'canteen' sit-up station, where you would sit, facing your partner, with your feet anchored into a tire; you would pass a full canteen of water as you came up from the sit-up. 2. Clapping pushups. 3. A 'box jump' - two wooden crates side by side, and you had to jump up on them and back down as many times as you could in 40 seconds. 4. One person would hold a boxing pad, and the other would hit it with their knee for 15 counts, and then switch off to the other knee. 5. One person would do a wall squat, while the other sprinted from one end of the room to the other. The exercises continued for a few rotations, and at the end, they threw a new one at us; lying on our backs, with one leg bent and one leg straight, we raised our butts all the way up, and then brought them back down to halfway off the ground. I thought, hey, this isn't so bad, until one of the drill instructors said, "Vincent, get that leg down", which made it all the more difficult, and I thought I would die, muscles burning that hadn't been worked before. It was definitely tough, having only been at boot camp a little over 12 hours before. I was thankful for the group sit-ups and the water that I chugged at the end.

Having made it through our first week, Sunil and I celebrated with brunch at La Belle Vie (two mimosas as part of the meal for me); and 'Little Miss Sunshine' at Chelsea Clearview Cinemas.
There you have it. Next week I promise to write more frequently, as more memorable moments come up.

http://www.purepowerboot camp.com