Week 10- My First Boot Camp Experience

For Week 10 I committed to a 5am Boot Camp called "Fit Body Boot Camp." I committed to it BEFORE this week and have been doing it, but decided I'd count it as my new fun first on the week that I finished so that I could have already had the full experience.

This was VERY new for me in multiple ways. I've maybe dropped into a "boot camp themed" class at a dance studio or gym before, but I've never done an actual boot camp program. I'm not great at things like push ups or people yelling at me.... On top of that I'm NOT a morning work out person. I appear to be a morning person because I tend to wake up with a smile on my face, BUT my body doesn't fully function in the morning. I know this because I have repeatedly tried to run in the mornings (and by mornings I mean even 10 am or even noon) and I can't even run a full mile at that time. It's crazy.

So when I read that this boot camp was special because it has some sort of special formula that puts your body into some state where it continues to burn fat for many hours afterward, I decided I'd commit to going to the morning sessions (they did have afternoon sessions, but I wanted the full getting up and working out while it's still dark outside experience) AND that I would commit to going every day. 6 days a week because they're closed on Sundays. This was a big commitment and I honestly wasn't sure how I was going to do with it.

And now that it's over, I am SOOOOOOO incredibly proud of myself. I did not miss one morning. My work life ended up getting pretty hectic because of an immigration reform that took place during this time and so I was working longer hours and no matter how exhausted I was, I got up every morning. One night I had to stay up until 1 am and so I decided I'd have to just skip boot camp in the morning or I would be too tired at work to do my job right, so I didn't set my alarm clock. I woke up at 2 am and stared at my clock. Then I woke up at 3am and stared at my clock. I realized I couldn't sleep because I was worried about letting myself down by breaking my commitment to myself. So at 3am I set my alarm clock and got up right when it went off and headed to boot camp. I impressed myself.

The boot camp itself was pretty cool. It goes by SUPER fast. It's a special formula where you only have to work out for 30 minutes a day.... On top of that it's mainly intense 20-30 second sprints and then you rest for 10 seconds and there are usually 5-6 stations. It moves so fast that you can't believe the work out is over when it's over. Because of this, I loved the work out and now the cardio machine at the gym feels really boring. I never once got bored at boot camp or had the opportunity to even glance at the clock. It would always be over before I even knew it.

That's not to say I wouldn't be praying certain seconds would go fast like the last 10 seconds of drumming at a ropes station (this is the one I disliked most because my arms would fatigue and I couldn't make waves in the ropes like I was supposed to once I fatigued) or when doing kettlebell burpees, but the exercises were usually over before I knew it.

During the first week I was so sore I it hurt to even sit. By the second week the soreness was gone. I didn't lose weight because I gained a lot of muscle, but I definitely toned up and lost inches in my arms and waist (*disclaimer- I couldn't get myself to trust that a 30 minute work out was enough, so I did 30 minutes of cardio after boot camp every morning). I also felt very energized during the day though I would pass out around 9pm every night. I also feel a lot stronger. And I LOVED LOVED LOVED the discipline of waking up early and getting my day started all early. I didn't know I liked discipline so much. But I love the freedom it actually provides and  I loved the feeling of pushing myself and keeping my commitment to myself and my body.

As part of this Fun Firsts experiments, I'm trying different work outs that I haven't tried before. So now I'm supposed to try another fun work out, but after I experiment some more, I may come back to this boot camp. I honestly did enjoy the work out. It's just I wish they had a 7am boot camp so that I could still have a social life if I continued doing the boot camp! I COULD go to the evening one, but then I wouldn't get the "after-burn" effect for hours..... We'll see! Maybe I'll like Crossfit more.

So for anyone who wants info on the boot camp, here is there website:

http://www.fitbodybootcamp.com/

And a few of the blurbs from their site:
"The secret to the massive fat loss results that our clients are getting is due to the After Burn™ effect that our workouts produce. After Burn™ is the state of increased metabolic output (elevated metabolism) for up to 28 hours that takes place after a really good workout. But not all "good" workouts are the same; many, in fact, deliver little fat burning results at all...

We do things a lot differently here at Fit Body Boot Camp, which is why you'll burn twice the calories during your workout with us, AND you'll continue to burn even more calories up to 28 hours after your last workout session....

At Fit Body Boot Camp each and every workout combines elements of High Intensity Interval Training, Exercise Stacking™ as well as Active Rest periods making sure to give you the best possible workouts and most calories burned in every session....

In fact, the average Fit Body Boot Camp workout burns 600 - 1000 calories in under an hour - that's twice the calories burned over any other workouts program out there."

Sounds great, right?