Boot Camp

In order to use the daycare at one of our local gyms, kids have to be at least one year old. I was counting down the days from the time Charlotte was 6 months old, and on the DAY she turned one, I signed Michael and I up for a membership. It has been awesome! They have a pool with a splash pool for the kids, lots of cardio and weight equipment, an indoor track (that, based on my exhaustion after running around it twice, MUST be longer than the 1/8 of a mile the sign says! :)), racquetball courts, and my favorite part, lots and lots of classes.

My friend Sierra is a member there, too, so we've been taking some of the classes together. It started with "Intro to Yoga" which is *supposed* to be a very basic, beginner-level class that simply introduces you to the various poses. What it *really* was was a class taught by a yoga guru who WARMED UP by doing a headstand. Ya. Sierra and I almost didn't go to that one because we thought it would be too easy for us ~ lol.

Next came "Standing Pilates". Since I'm basically a fitness superstar, I ignored the instructor when she said to get 3 pound dumbbells and went for the 5 pounders. You know, since I have such amazing arms. Two exercises and about 10 minutes into the class, I did the walk of shame back to the equipment room to switch in my dumbbells for the 2 pound weights. That's right. 2 pounds. And my arms were still dying by the end of the class.

So, I should have known that a class titled "Boot Camp" would be, well, boot-camp-like. And boy-howdy. I think the instructor must have *actually* been a drill sergeant at some point, although she is much nicer and doesn't yell at us. Might actually make it worse, but I guess at least she doesn't make me cry! The class starts with lots and lots of running, and then running up and down stairs, then suicides (running), and then we cool it down by alternating between jump squats and running. After all that, we do things like "plank walk" and jumping jacks (with a medicine ball, of course) and push-ups and jumping rope and wall-sits-with-one-leg-extended. Fun. But man is it a good workout! The instructor uses terms like "almost done" (ie, not almost done), and "last set" (which almost never actually means last set) and "20 more seconds!" (which may be true if she just accidentally forgot to insert "million" between 20 and more :)).

Occasionally the instructor will give the option of doing something slightly easier than whatever it is that we're doing. For example, if the move is a side-plank-arm-extension-with-pushup, she might give the option of NOT doing the pushup. I pretty much take the easy option every time. This is *so* not like me when it comes to working out, though! My friend Shelley and I used to workout together in college, and we would pretty much always compete and egg each other on by saying things like "I'm gonna speed up a little, but you don't have to if you don't want to" or "I know you're tired, so I'll just go to the gym alone if you want to stay home" or "I think I'll get the heavier weights today ~ do you want me to get you the regular ones?" It's actually probably a good thing that she isn't in this class with me! I think we would both end up being carried out of the class on stretchers!

And finally, at one point in the class, totally out of breath, sweat dripping down my face, wondering why-oh-why do I keep doing this to myself...Sierra showed me the ball that she had chosen (the same weight I was using).

All I could do was laugh :)