Boot Camp: Week 4-the last week

It's Wednesday, the third day of my last week of boot camp. And man, it's been an intense week of working out. My ankle is still not 100 per cent but it's getting there.



As usual, I find Mondays the hardest day after not working out all weekend. I have to remember if I do boot camp again that I should try and do at least one workout, walk or something so I don't surprise my body every Monday morning.



Since last week, Cyndi's been warning us about Tuesday the last week. It's a huge challenge and former boot campers remember it with dread. One woman said she felt like crying last time. So yesterday, Tuesday, finally came and I was a bit nervous. I still worry sometimes if my body can handle all this work. The main event was called the Team 1500. We were divided into teams of 3 and the challenge was to keep moving and to build on each other's reps until we got to 1500. I'll try to explain. One person would do the exercise, the second person would be doing cardio (run, hop, skip, high kick and shuffle) and the third person would get to rest. The person doing the cardio would take over the count from the person doing the exercise and then there would always be someone in rest. The goal was to do a total of 100 push-ups, 200 sit-ups, 300 burpees, 400 dumbbell raises and 500 band pulls. ( I think I got all the right exercises listed but I could be wrong about the dumbbell raises).

My heart was racing so fast and hard during this workout but I can honestly say it wasn't as bad as I imagined it would be. Cyndi figures that each person probably does 500 reps total. Amazing. I didn't know my body could do these things. Truly a great workout. My team was great!!

Today turned out to be another intense day. The main event consisted of five stations and each person would work out at their highest intensity for 20 seconds with a 10 second rest for a total of 8 times per station. We had to keep count of our reps and we wrote down on the white board our "lowest set." The five stations were: sit-ups, push-ups, dumbbell squats, burpees, and bandpulls. For example, do as many sit-ups as possible in 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds and do more sit-ups and rest again--keep doing that for a total of 8 times. Then write down the set that had the least number of reps. And move on to the next station. I did the push-ups the full plank way and I think I can finally do them correctly. I was using my knees before because it hurt my ankle but today it didn't hurt as badly and I wanted to challenge myself. Exhausting. I could hear my heart beat in my head. At the same time though I felt such wonderful energy flowing through me. After the main event we did an Indian walk where we walk and throw a medicine ball over our heads to the person walking behind and then the last person has to run to the front of the line when they get the ball. This was the first time since my ankle injury that I could run. Cyndi said it looked like it was getting stronger and that I was running better than I did before the injury! Then we did some cool down and stretches which always feel fabulous after the workout.

Gut Instinct: Don't underestimate your body. Try before you say "I can't."
Your body just may surprise you.