All good things must come to an end!

Well, sorry it's taken me so long to update the final days of Camp! Thursday was another CRAZY day at work and I missed Boot Camp again. I didn't even have a chance to workout on my own that night before dark...oh well...I AM human I guess :)

Friday was the last "real" night of Boot Camp and we played Ultimate Frisbee again. It was a lot of fun. Several campers brought friends and we had a great night of competition...although my team only scored once all night! Anyway, we stood around and talked a while after camp and I got my much-deserved t-shirt...yay! The instructors were asking if I was going to do it again this month, but I have to decline. I would really LOVE to do it again, but I'm going back to school and start my graduate studies on August 24th. Also, I'll be going to Las Vegas and Colorado during the next session. I don't really want to miss that many days of camp.

All that being said, Monday was the repeat PT testing. We do the same workout as the first day of camp so we can see how much progress we've made over the last 28 days. Here are my results:

ACTIVITY---------------FIRST DAY-----LAST DAY

1 Mile run 9:00 mins 7:49

Push ups 15 20

Facilitated push ups 23 24

Sit ups 30 40

Tricep dips 65 80

So, as you can see, I improved in ALL categories...which brings me to my inital goals:

1. Lose a pant size - well, not a whole size, but EVERYTHING is fitting better or too big!!!

2. Perfect attendance - I didn't make it to every workout, but I did homework as much as possible

3. Improve in all PT Test categories...yup!

Overall, I really loved Operation Boot Camp. The trainers were great and the workouts were different every day and very challenging. I will definitely suggest it to anyone and will be returning for more punishment one day!!! For now, I've passed the flame to my friend April who's enjoying it too! If you're interested, check out www.operationbootcamp.com

HUMPDAY

I'm not sure what today's workout was called, so I'll just call it HUMPDAY. April was back again today...yay! Despite her sore muscles, she came again. It's so nice! First of all, the palms of my hands are literally sore today from all of the push up holds during last night's "Push-N-It" workout. They were read almost all day...crazy!

Anyway, tonight, there were 4 campers and 4 instructors, so we got some 1 on 1 attention. Tonight, there were 3 stations.

1. Cones shaped like a X. We did a mixture of cardio and strength on this station with jogging, sprinting, bear crawls, push ups, back peddling, crab walks, etc.
2. Zig Zags - we did various cardio exercises here like jogging, high knees, high skips, etc.
3. SICK station - lots of leg lifts, side leg lifts, back leg lifts, kneeling leg lifts, etc.

We rotated thorough these station about 4 times I think. They were a little longer than usual because they weren't really timed. We were just doing a certain number of reps at each station. After the core workout, we still had some time to spare, so we ran about 1/2 mile. I was kind of dreading it, but it actually felt really good to just run after all of that up and down during the workout! I really enjoyed it. We picked up all of the cones and stretched it out after another successful night at Boot Camp. Only two more days this week!

Monday (House of Pain) & Tuesday (Push-N-It)

Well, at least my friend April is still talking to me...she even came to Boot Camp on Monday and Tuesday! This is preview week and it's free to anyone who wants to try out Boot Camp, so she's been tagging along. She often makes me smile during the workouts by saying profanities and her favorite word, "SICK," when one of the instructors suggests an exercise she doesn't want to do. Example:

• Instructor: "OK, let's do some more plank holds!!!"
• April: "SICK!"

or

• Instructor: "Good job on those walking lunges, next we'll do 2:00 minutes of push ups."
• April: "Oh S**T!!!"

...she makes me laugh when I'm miserable...that's what friends are for, right?

Well, Monday was the "House of Pain." This was about 6 or 7 stations of various exercises. We would do 5 counts of one exercise and alternate it with another for a total of 75 seconds. There were so many combinations I can't even start to remember them all. Oh, and we would do things like shuffle, back peddle, high knees, etc. from one station to another. This went on for about 30 or 35 minutes. It was much hotter than last week, so back to sweating profusely! It was really tough! But I always feel so good when I'm finished...and proud of myself for finishing.

Tuesday was another 100 degree day and April returned for another fun night. The workout was called "Push-N-It." There were 3 different types of exercises for the night. One was cardio, then push up holds and then moving strength exercises. The cardio consisted of sprints, high knees, butt kicks, toy soldiers, and others. The push up hold station was my least favorite. We did between 90 seconds and 120 seconds of staying in a push up position, doing push ups, doing planks, etc! SICK!! The moving strength station was things like walking lunges, shuffle, "breaking and entering," bear crawls, crab walks, etc.

I was sweating so bad that every time I would sit or lay down, the dirt would just turn to mud on my skin. By the end of the workout, I had mud on my knees, back, arms and face! Now, that's a good workout! Again, I felt great when I was finished and I'm ready for Wednesday. Hopefully, April will come again to keep me entertained!

...fun with balls

Friday!! Yay, I'm so excited that the weekend is here. There were 3 campers and 2 trainers tonight...a much smaller group than yesterday. But, it was a good group. We did a thing called "Fun with Balls." There were about 30 rubber balls all filled with sand that all weighed a different amount from 4 to 12 pounds. We started out with sit ups, squats, etc. using the balls for extra difficulty. We partnered up, stood back-to-back and passed the balls to each other side to side.

Then, we tossed the balls as far as we could, ran to pick them up, then threw them back. Over and over. We concentrated on using our abs and arm muscles. Then...my favorite...push ups. We went for a little run with one of the trainers. Kari, the head leader lined up all of the balls and we started doing push ups down the line. First, you would put your right hand on the ball and left hand on the ground, do a push up, then move to your right. You move your left hand onto the ball and right hand on the ground, the move to the right again. So, we did 2 push ups for each ball...about 60 push ups in all!!!

Then, we went for a quick run. When we got back, we did it all over again! This time, to the left. By the end of the second round, my arms felt like they were going to fall off. My wrists hurt the most, though! We went for another run and were finished with push ups, so we moved onto plank walks. Same concept, but omitting the push up part. It was really intense and sweat was pouring from my face. If that wasn't crazy enough, on the last few steps of my plank walk, I stuck my hand in a old, hard piece of dog doo-doo...SICK!!!! Kari said "You haven't done Boot Camp until you've sat on or stuck your hand in some dog poop." lol...we all got a laugh out of my disgust, so it was an okay way to finish the week. I'm excited about the weekend. I need to do some homework Saturday and Sunday...I'll keep you posted.

...my friends are never talking to me again

Today was bring a friend to camp day! Whoever brought the most friends to class got a "prize," so I was trying to talk a few of my work friends into coming with me. Pretty much every day at work I would ask everyone to come, not really thinking that anyone would actually do it. But...I had 3 friends come today! My friend April came as well as Kyle and his wife Jamie. So, that was fun. I was hoping they wouldn't hate me forever...

Top 5 Reasons my friends may never speak to me again:

1. Our warm up was the "jumping jack marathon."

• do 1 jumping jack, run up the "hill," do 2 jumping jacks, sidestep down the "hill," do 3 jumping jacks, etc. until you've done 10 jumping jacks and then work your way back down to 1

2. Next we ran to the cones for the "catepillar."

• It's kind of hard to explain, but there's a lot of sit ups/running/getting up and down/crunches/side planks involved...enough said

3. There were two sets of cones for running/high knees/butt kicks/bear crawls/etc.

4. The station where you "catch your breath," but don't rest was for various strength exercises

5. Core on the "hill."

During one of the runs, I recall Kyle saying, "I will never do a favor for you again." I'm not 100% positive that he was talking to be, but I have this feeling...

But seriously, when we were all finished, they were still standing. Tonight's workout was not easy and they did EVERYTHING and kept up with the group. It was fun to have them there. I think they were glad that the came. Oh, and they helped me win the prize for having the most friends! So, I got a $25 off incentive for a future Boot Camp...hopefully I will be able to use it. They all got one of those as well as a koozie. Also, next week is a free preview week, so April might go with me to some of the workouts! Yay...we're still friends!

Tuesday

Well, we almost got rained out, but just about 6:30, the clouds cleared and the sun was shining brightly! The rain cooled things off a little, too. It was in the 90s earlier in the day, but had cooled into the 70s with about 50% humidity. So, things were a little sticky and muddy, but it was a nice night for a workout. We did what they call the "Sniper's Triangle" tonight. Basically, it's three stations that you run to with different activities at each.

The first one was the cardio station which was set up like a obstacle course. We did lots of jumping, weaving, shuffling, high knees, etc. through hoops and around and over cones. The second station was using the bungees again for bicep curls, lateral raises, etc. The final station was for core strength...the infamous ab bridges, spider push ups, planks, etc.

I'm not sure how many times we did each station, but we stayed at each one for 90 seconds each with running in between. It was a really good workout. I'm really not much of a sweater, but in that humidity and in the sun, I was sweating within 2 minutes and sweat was literally dripping from my face in the first 10 minutes. It kept getting in my eyes, which was really distracting. Would've been a good night for a cap! Anyway, it was fun and we, of course, finished with a core workout...using a hill to make things a little tougher. By the end of the night, I was muddy and basically soaking wet. That's a sign of a good workout!

We don't have Boot Camp tomorrow night, so I'm sure to have another report on Thursday!

The weekend & Monday

Saturday, there was a workout at Lake Hefner, but I didn't make it. It was just too tempting to sleep in. However, I did do my homework. I ran 20 minutes around the neighborhood around 5:30 p.m. It was still in the 90s, but I did this on purpose. I really wanted to sweat...and sweat I did! When I got home, I did my the usual core routine and stretched for 1o minutes. I don't think I've ever told you what the "usual" core routine is:

• 30 sit ups
• 30 crunches
• 30 right elbow-to-left knee situps
• 30 left elbow-to-right knee situps
• 30 toe touches (with feet high in the air)
• 30 "rockers" side to side touching alternating heels
• 30 leg lifts

I think that's it. Anyway, these are still challenging after 14 days of Boot Camp, but have gotten somewhat easier with repetition. AND...it's MUCH easier to do this at Boot Camp with everyone participating than to do it at home all alone!

Saturday night I had my CHEAT meal of the week - sushi & ice cream...yum! Sunday night I did another suggested workout which was 100 squats and 50 sit ups. My legs and arms were really burning after that...and I did the above-mentioned core exercises too!

Today was a really rainy day here in OKC. The morning Boot Camp was cancelled because the rain was coming down pretty hard, but it had cleared up by the afternoon and was bright and shiny. There were several people there tonight who usually go in the morning, so it was a nice change to have a larger group. I'm not sure of the name of tonight's workout, but I really enjoyed it.

We started with a moving warm up of squats, toy soldiers, high knees, butt kicks...etc. Then stretched. Then...RUNNING! We ran in 4 minute increments and held rubber bands as we ran. After 4 minutes, we would re-group and do a strength exercise. We alternated like this up and down the north side of Lake Hefner until we had done 6 sets of runs and 5 strength exercises with the bands, which were:

• "Fire Hydrants" - down on all fours with band just above knees, then pull right leg up like a dog at a fire hydrant...repeat x10...switch to the left for 10...back to the right...back to the left...yada yada yada. It went on forever!!! My hips were burning
• Squats - but not just standing there. With our bands around our ankles, we squated and jumped, squated and pushed our legs to the sides, squated and kicked our legs to the front...etc...etc
• Walking squats - kind of like a SLOW shuffle...50 steps to the right...50 steps to the left
• Push ups - lots and lots of push ups...moving push ups :)
• Ab bridges - feet flat, knees together, weight on heels & neck with butt in the air...then with band around the ankles, right leg up with crunches, repeat that with the left leg up, pelvic thrusts...and just holding the bridge position the whole time.

All in all, I felt really good tonight. The weather was nice, a little humid from all of the rain, but in the 70s, so it was tolerable. It was sunny...and I'm pasty white, so I'll probably look like a lobster tomorrow...oh well :) It was worth it! More rain in the forecast for the week...yay

OH!!! I almost forgot to mention. One person in the class wore her watch that measures the distance of the run...we ran close to 3 miles tonight! It went by pretty fast by breaking it up with some other exercises!