Ever since I started at the Regional Optimist 11 months ago, my editor, Becky Doig, has been attending a boot camp program twice a week.
So, after seeing the dedication she puts in every week, I wanted to check out this boot camp.
Now, I don't consider myself to be the most in shape of individuals. Usually when Becky went off to boot camp, I'd be off for lunch at Burger King to wolf down a Whopper combo with a poutine. I had an on-again, off-again affair with one of the local gyms, though honestly, it was essentially locked into the off position. And usually when I think of boot camps, I picture a drill sergeant charging onto the stage of the Maury Povich show to teach a lesson to misbehaving children or teens.
But, being the stubborn individual that I am, I decided I would be able to tackle this boot camp. The original plan was to go last week, but I pushed it a couple of days because lack of sleep drained me of all energy.
So, this past Tuesday in Becky's place as she was under the weather, I dove head first into the middle of a six-week program.
As the session started, everyone introduced themselves to me, including Lisa McEachern who led the workout. With apologies to the other women who were participating, Lisa's was the only name I remembered because I met her previously. The other names were wiped from my memory as I struggled for breath and my quads burned for the near one-hour session.
Simply put, boot camp kicked my butt.
It started out promising enough as we did base laps around the ice surface, followed by climbing up and down the stairs of the Civic Centre. I felt good after that. Running was always something I enjoyed doing.
I quickly fell off the proverbial wagon.
The next exercise was 50 crunches followed by 50 jump squats. That was fine until Lisa told us to do a second set. I was spent. My legs were burning and I couldn't take any more. But, I tried and completed this exercise extremely slowly.
The rest of the session was a blur of exercises that I finished, tried to do and couldn't and ones that I just sat through. Push ups were involved as well as more stairs and running. For me, some of that time was spent in the bathroom splashing water on my face in attempts to cool my body down.
I could make all the excuses in the world: I don't work out very often; I didn't stretch enough; I was taking it easy and so on. But no, this was just an intense work out for me. The women, who by the way completed every exercise asked of them, were all supportive of each other - especially me as I lagged behind near the end.
Now, if this sounds intimidating, it shouldn't. I live a very stationary lifestyle. Plus, if you start at the beginning of a cycle, the number of reps and sets increase as you get stronger instead of jumping into the program in the middle.
After the workout, it was a long shuffle - and yes, I shuffled as my legs were extremely sore - to my car in the parking lot. When I got home, I wrapped myself in my Duke Blue Devils blanket and plopped on the couch for two episodes of The Office to recover as I drank water consistently.
Let's counter that image how Becky normally finishes her hour at boot camp. She walks through the office door shortly after 1 p.m. and gets right back to work.
So, at the end of the day, I'll head home and make myself some dinner. Scratch that. I worked out today. I deserve a pizza.
