Boot Camp

Boot Camp.  Yes, that is the current plan.  Why?  We have a full gym in our house!  We have a neighborhood with sidewalks!  We have hiking trails all over the place!  We have almost every workout DVD known to man! 

Well, it's because I've gotten pretty lazy really.  I know I could get up and do P90X or jump on the elliptical, or run with the dog, but I'm not doing it.  I'm coming up with all kinds of rationalizations to let myself off the hook and just lay there.  I was getting pretty disgusted with myself, and I saw this deal from Groupon for a month of boot camp... and voila!

The first day (I did a demo class two weeks ago to be sure I really wanted to do it) we ran.  We did sprints, hills, and all kinds of things that reminded me of high school track practice.  I was also reminded that I ran around 7 miles a day in college for fun without anyone telling me to.  For God's sake I was a freaking personal trainer/aerobics/pilates/step instructor until a few years ago!  All this running was really hard, but I wasn't the last one finishing up, and was pumped up to do more. 

I'm finding that I can do way more than I thought - I'm actually pretty strong and fit - I'm just carrying around some extra fuel in case I might need it in a crisis.  Every day is a bit different - bands, sprinting up and down stairs, push ups, crunches, leg throw downs, whatever. 

What's been interesting is that I work way harder for one trainer than the other. I've got two trainers who alternate days, and I've realized that with one of them I slack off quite a bit.  As I thought about it, they have different ways of teaching, and different ways of speaking - one says "take another lap!" hands me a weight while I'm doing crunches, adds a step into an exercise I've got down pat, and otherwise throws an extra something at me.  The other says "I'd do another lap", and sees that I'm doing an exercise right and leaves me alone.  So I end up relaxing in one class and surprising myself with what I can do in the other. 

As I thought about this on my way home this morning, I realized that I am working hard for them - the trainers - and I should be working hard for me!  The point of this month is to get a kick in the pants and remind myself how great it feels to work out hard, not to create a dependence on someone telling me what to do.  Starting tomorrow, the work is all for me.    I'm adding on, pushing, and modifying as I need to and want to to make myself work as hard as I can so I'm impressed with myself.  The hell with impressing anyone else.  Ah, the psychology of body conditioning - so interesting.  I'm learning things about myself in the oddest of ways...