a new fight
I showed up at bootcamp this morning at my normal, more reasonable, 6:30 am, and I turned out to be the only one there. The way the class works is that we have a different instructor each day. But because I went to the early bootcamp yesterday, I ended up with Oscar again. Oscar's focus is martial arts, and I gather he was national championship level at tae kwan do at some point in his youth. He mentioned that he trained for the 2000 Olympics.
At any rate, I was the only one that showed up this morning, so I got his full attention for an hour and a half. Today's workout was totally different than yesterday's. Yesterday we were running, using the step boxes and doing a lot of pushups. Today, though, I spent nearly an hour doing agility drills on a laddar. It's similar to those tire drills you see football players do, but with less likelihood of tripping on a tire, falling on your ass and breaking an ankle. Still, it's hard, because you have to very precisely place your feet, usually at a rapid rate, and usually in some weird pattern. I didn't realize it at first, but Oscar had me building up for foot coordination so I could kick and hop at the same time. I was just running the ladder at first, then raising a knee, then raising a knee at a faster rate, then raising a knee going backwards, then raising a knee going backwards at a much faster rate, then bunny hopping, then bunny hopping in patterns. It was hard. And exhausting. Usually, I'd wait between sets so my compatriots could make their go through, but there wasn't anyone else there, so I kept on going and going and going. BTW, I kick better with my right leg going forward, but my left going backwards. Weird, no?
The next half hour or so was actual kicking into Oscar's mitts. Forwards, then backwards, then in combination. Again with the exhausting, and not having much of a break. It was cool, though, and I felt like with every kick, I was getting better, though I could definitely feel fatigue setting in towards the end of the workout. The other cool part was that at various points, other trainers would ask about what we were doing. Two or three times, Oscar would demonstrate something or use me as a model for another trainer.
We stopped with a little ab workout, and I've never been so tired doing sit-and-throws in my life. Eeesh. I will say the one benefit of being the only one that shows up at your bootcamp, is that if the trainer is also a massage therapist, the stretching he does on you afterwards is awesome.
Still, I'm glad that I don't have any workouts tomorrow. I'm going to need some recovery.
At any rate, I was the only one that showed up this morning, so I got his full attention for an hour and a half. Today's workout was totally different than yesterday's. Yesterday we were running, using the step boxes and doing a lot of pushups. Today, though, I spent nearly an hour doing agility drills on a laddar. It's similar to those tire drills you see football players do, but with less likelihood of tripping on a tire, falling on your ass and breaking an ankle. Still, it's hard, because you have to very precisely place your feet, usually at a rapid rate, and usually in some weird pattern. I didn't realize it at first, but Oscar had me building up for foot coordination so I could kick and hop at the same time. I was just running the ladder at first, then raising a knee, then raising a knee at a faster rate, then raising a knee going backwards, then raising a knee going backwards at a much faster rate, then bunny hopping, then bunny hopping in patterns. It was hard. And exhausting. Usually, I'd wait between sets so my compatriots could make their go through, but there wasn't anyone else there, so I kept on going and going and going. BTW, I kick better with my right leg going forward, but my left going backwards. Weird, no?
The next half hour or so was actual kicking into Oscar's mitts. Forwards, then backwards, then in combination. Again with the exhausting, and not having much of a break. It was cool, though, and I felt like with every kick, I was getting better, though I could definitely feel fatigue setting in towards the end of the workout. The other cool part was that at various points, other trainers would ask about what we were doing. Two or three times, Oscar would demonstrate something or use me as a model for another trainer.
We stopped with a little ab workout, and I've never been so tired doing sit-and-throws in my life. Eeesh. I will say the one benefit of being the only one that shows up at your bootcamp, is that if the trainer is also a massage therapist, the stretching he does on you afterwards is awesome.
Still, I'm glad that I don't have any workouts tomorrow. I'm going to need some recovery.