Boot Camp reminds me that I have an ass.
First off, I am impressed with this protein shake I just made half ass to quell my growling stomach. My thoughts on making it, as my tweet followers already know, were "this really doesn't look that gross"... (stirring, picking up spoon)... "except the clumps of almond butter and honey that look like vomit in the chocolate protein milk mixture."
And, wow, it's mighty tasty.
Anyway, that's not the reason I'm inspired to write this entry. I'm inspired to write because boot camp gives me something to write about other than my fear of dying or trying to figure out where I'll be when I'm 30. I can only write so much about that stuff before I sound a bad mix of emo and 25-going-on-13. And boot camp, and this whole getting healthy thing, well it's something I'm proud of, and I want to keep track of, so I'm going to write about it as I sip my chocolate clump shake and clear my mind to get ready for what will be a very busy day.
So, boot camp. There are many versions of "boot camp" out there and I'm certain this one isn't anywhere near as extreme as it sounds by its title. Regardless, it still kicks my ass. Being SO out of shape, anything requiring moving usually kicks my ass, and this is a lot more than moving.
The class starts at 6:30am 3 times a week. It's "around the corner" from my apartment (ie up a giant hill in the college campus) which is about a 15 minute walk away. So my schedule is... I wake up at 5:15 (which is, oh, 4 hours earlier than I usually wake up), spend about 30 minutes being intimate with the snooze button, roll out of bed, throw on some gym clothes, grab my keys, and before I have time to think "bed... how much nicer you are then this floor" I am out the door and up that damn hill to the fitness center.
We start every class with warm ups, which involve walking around a basketball court leading into jogging and sideways jogging (not sure what they're called but I really like them, definitely a basketball warmup mood) on the sidelines. Then we do walking stretches across the entire gym to the door, when we usually go outside. I say "usually" because every class is different, and it's apparently whatever the teacher feels like for the day. So, today, for instance, we went DOWN to the soccer field and did a lot of walking lunges and such with weights, mixed in with various ab work, and some runs around the field. The only reason I say DOWN is because the field is very-much-so DOWN a big ramp that is really not what you want to be walking UP at the end of a workout like that.
Not that I'm complaining. Even though the class was really hard for me today, I had a big smile on my face the whole time. I didn't even get through the whole workout, and I was the only person in the class who got so far behind. Granted, there were some college-aged girls who obviously didn't do the entire sets of each exercise, where I made sure to do the entire sets, even if it took me forever.
I wish school gym was like this. Where every moment really made a difference for your body and health. I just hated gym so much my whole entire life I never even realized that the concept of physical education is to... be healthy. I don't know, I guess I figured either you were athletic or not. And since I was never going to be athletic, there was no point to trying. I hated the feeling of not being able to breathe, the high heart rate, and no one ever told me that is what's supposed to happen (even if you're in pretty good shape, if you're exercising right for your level) and that's good for you. Maybe that's supposed to be obvious, but to me, I just felt like I should spend my time in art class fine tuning my finger muscles on some clay.
But now, every moment I feel pain, I know it's doing something good. Or at least I hope it's the good kind of pain. Even now, as I sit here with various muscles in my body tingling in "why did you just rip me apart" warmth, and know that pretty soon they will be sore as all hell, I am proud of myself, and happy with what I've done to my body this morning.
Now my only decision is if I keep the circuit training class on Tues / Thurs mornings. Part of me wants to, because I feel like with boot camp, the cardio takes so much out of me that I'm not really getting as much of a muscle workout. There may be some days of the class were we focus more on muscles, so I'm worried about that, but if classes are like today then circuit training would be a really bad idea for parts of my lower body, but prob good for my upper body and abs. So I think I'll see how Monday's boot camp goes, how sore I am all over, and how I feel Tues morning. I'd like to do the class, just to experience what it's like to work out 5 days a week, and to see what that does to my body. My goal is to lose 1lb a week until December, at which time (by the end of class) I would be around 132lbs. My ultimate goal weight is 110lbs, but I figure if I can make 132 by December, another term of boot camp should help me continue on that path. Trying to be realistic here. My biggest flaw is my all-or-nothing mentality in everything I do. It never ceases to hurt my potential. Granted, sometimes I accomplish the "all" and it's worth it, but usually I just feel frustrated and give up. If I'm working out 5 days a week like this, I feel like 1b a week IS realistic, even if I eat too much on occasion. Generally speaking though I'm focusing on a 1200 - 1500 calorie per day diet, and allowing all this exercise to cover for my slip ups.
Man, I really hope this works. After looking at pics of myself from my California trip, I realize that I look like such a lard. I'm as vain as any other human being, but ultimately this is for my health. Well, and I'd love to be sexy for once in my life. As in, I can wear a bikini and know I look good, instead of desperately looking for a good cover up.
And, wow, it's mighty tasty.
Anyway, that's not the reason I'm inspired to write this entry. I'm inspired to write because boot camp gives me something to write about other than my fear of dying or trying to figure out where I'll be when I'm 30. I can only write so much about that stuff before I sound a bad mix of emo and 25-going-on-13. And boot camp, and this whole getting healthy thing, well it's something I'm proud of, and I want to keep track of, so I'm going to write about it as I sip my chocolate clump shake and clear my mind to get ready for what will be a very busy day.
So, boot camp. There are many versions of "boot camp" out there and I'm certain this one isn't anywhere near as extreme as it sounds by its title. Regardless, it still kicks my ass. Being SO out of shape, anything requiring moving usually kicks my ass, and this is a lot more than moving.
The class starts at 6:30am 3 times a week. It's "around the corner" from my apartment (ie up a giant hill in the college campus) which is about a 15 minute walk away. So my schedule is... I wake up at 5:15 (which is, oh, 4 hours earlier than I usually wake up), spend about 30 minutes being intimate with the snooze button, roll out of bed, throw on some gym clothes, grab my keys, and before I have time to think "bed... how much nicer you are then this floor" I am out the door and up that damn hill to the fitness center.
We start every class with warm ups, which involve walking around a basketball court leading into jogging and sideways jogging (not sure what they're called but I really like them, definitely a basketball warmup mood) on the sidelines. Then we do walking stretches across the entire gym to the door, when we usually go outside. I say "usually" because every class is different, and it's apparently whatever the teacher feels like for the day. So, today, for instance, we went DOWN to the soccer field and did a lot of walking lunges and such with weights, mixed in with various ab work, and some runs around the field. The only reason I say DOWN is because the field is very-much-so DOWN a big ramp that is really not what you want to be walking UP at the end of a workout like that.
Not that I'm complaining. Even though the class was really hard for me today, I had a big smile on my face the whole time. I didn't even get through the whole workout, and I was the only person in the class who got so far behind. Granted, there were some college-aged girls who obviously didn't do the entire sets of each exercise, where I made sure to do the entire sets, even if it took me forever.
I wish school gym was like this. Where every moment really made a difference for your body and health. I just hated gym so much my whole entire life I never even realized that the concept of physical education is to... be healthy. I don't know, I guess I figured either you were athletic or not. And since I was never going to be athletic, there was no point to trying. I hated the feeling of not being able to breathe, the high heart rate, and no one ever told me that is what's supposed to happen (even if you're in pretty good shape, if you're exercising right for your level) and that's good for you. Maybe that's supposed to be obvious, but to me, I just felt like I should spend my time in art class fine tuning my finger muscles on some clay.
But now, every moment I feel pain, I know it's doing something good. Or at least I hope it's the good kind of pain. Even now, as I sit here with various muscles in my body tingling in "why did you just rip me apart" warmth, and know that pretty soon they will be sore as all hell, I am proud of myself, and happy with what I've done to my body this morning.
Now my only decision is if I keep the circuit training class on Tues / Thurs mornings. Part of me wants to, because I feel like with boot camp, the cardio takes so much out of me that I'm not really getting as much of a muscle workout. There may be some days of the class were we focus more on muscles, so I'm worried about that, but if classes are like today then circuit training would be a really bad idea for parts of my lower body, but prob good for my upper body and abs. So I think I'll see how Monday's boot camp goes, how sore I am all over, and how I feel Tues morning. I'd like to do the class, just to experience what it's like to work out 5 days a week, and to see what that does to my body. My goal is to lose 1lb a week until December, at which time (by the end of class) I would be around 132lbs. My ultimate goal weight is 110lbs, but I figure if I can make 132 by December, another term of boot camp should help me continue on that path. Trying to be realistic here. My biggest flaw is my all-or-nothing mentality in everything I do. It never ceases to hurt my potential. Granted, sometimes I accomplish the "all" and it's worth it, but usually I just feel frustrated and give up. If I'm working out 5 days a week like this, I feel like 1b a week IS realistic, even if I eat too much on occasion. Generally speaking though I'm focusing on a 1200 - 1500 calorie per day diet, and allowing all this exercise to cover for my slip ups.
Man, I really hope this works. After looking at pics of myself from my California trip, I realize that I look like such a lard. I'm as vain as any other human being, but ultimately this is for my health. Well, and I'd love to be sexy for once in my life. As in, I can wear a bikini and know I look good, instead of desperately looking for a good cover up.