Sanders Optimum Boot Camp (Day 11)

I’m sad.  Tomorrow is the last day of this session for boot camp.  Over the past 4 weeks I feel myself getting stronger.  I mean I am stronger and faster.  Who knew what a difference a month could make.  And guess what you guys?  Because of the need to have the energy for the workouts, I stopped drinking glasses of wine during the week.  That is PROGRESS for me because I have swapped out wine as a mood stabilizer to the rigors of all out exercise.  What I mean by that is – we are going so hard in boot camp, I come back with the rush that takes me through good and not-so-good work days so I can endure with a good attitude and mood.

But yes, this session is coming to an end.  But before it ends here are some of the improvements I made.

• I ran a mile in under 10 minutes.  I shaved off over 1 minute off of my mile run from the first time I ran it back on August 6, 2012!
• We do these sprint drills where we run a certain distance back and forth 15 times in under 1 minute.  I always hit 13 times.  Today I hit 14.5 times!  I almost made it to 15 before the minute mark!!!!

I am so proud of myself and happy that I have been able to really see results with this boot camp.  It works!  The next session begins in September – Wednesday, on 9/12/2012 but due to hubby’s work travel schedule I’m not sure if I will be able to attend this next session even though – I really want to.  My neighbor and I are trying to figure out how to make it work because it really does bring me a lot of happiness.  It is also a great outlet for frustration because you have to give 100% in everything we are tasked to do.

Lastly, we start with gospel music to accompany us on our normal 1 mile warm up and we praise the Lord before we leave.  Now THAT is the perfect way to start any day!!!!

To the new acquaintances I have met – I look forward to participating with you on this journey again.

This is where all of the hard work happens!

Sanders Optimum Boot Camp (Day 9)

It’s Thursday morning, dark outside and the summer breeze is going.  I pick up my neighbor and we head on over to the gymnasium.  We get inside, stretch and are blessed with only 5 laps around the gym.  And then IT IS ON!  We start with variations of the ladders which had me struggling on day one.  I was so uncoordinated.  But TODAY?  August 23, 2012……5:42 am…..I was on fiyah (at least in my mind).  I was able to maneuver each fancy foot movement with the ladders exercise and sprint to freedom.

After 10 rounds of that we started in with the hand weights, squats, lunges, bicep curls, shoulder presses and everything else you can imagine.  But before that…we did multiple sets of sprints back and forth and this is where it gets good.  See I was the one who signed up for long-distance running only because my best friend did.  I wasn’t a runner.  I had no clue what I had gotten myself into and I always finished last.  Well here we are sprinting back and forth up and down the gym (in the 2nd group) and what do you know?  I am feeling wind rush past my head and I am actually one of the top runners in the lead?  Who knew?  All those months doing leg exercises and the past few weeks of sprint drills were actually helping me accelerate?  It is a good feeling!

And to top it off, I made myself a little goal.  I planned to meet at least one new person that day because I tend to be not the one to automatically reach out and introduce myself to strangers, but I had a different attitude this day and felt like it would be a shame if I were in a boot camp for 4 weeks and not meet someone new!  Whose fault would that be?  MINE…so I did.  I met 3 new folks:  John, Sarah and Val.  Now Val….I aspire to have a body like hers.  Her arms, legs and abs illustrate that she is dedicated to fitness.  I admire that level of commitment.

I’m going to try to get her on here to share with us her secrets!  🙂

Well that’s all I have today folks.  Nine sessions down, three more to go and I am feeling sad.  It only takes 21 days to form a habit and guess what folks?  I have a new habit and not sure I want to break it!  This Sanders Optimum Fitness boot camp is a keeper.

TTFN

 

Sanders Optimum Boot Camp (Day 8)

Alright y’all.  I felt GOOD today.  I mean I felt ON this morning at 5:30 am.  Perhaps it was the 7 hours of sleep.  Maybe it was water I drank beforehand.  Most likely it was the dinner I ate the night before.  Whatever it was I was ready.   Now I am not saying I was pleased with the 1 mile jog warm up under 7.5 minutes!  Or saying I was thrilled when we did 500 jumping jacks in less than 10 minutes.  OR the fact we did a bunch of sprint drills that equaled another mile all within the first 20 minutes.

My body told me it was good for me and so I listened to it and pushed to get even better times.  I’m not saying I didn’t get lapped on the 7.5 minute mile by some of the cheerleaders in the group.  No seriously – they are NFL cheerleaders.  Nor am I saying I wasn’t pouring sweat before 6 am in the morning but what I AM saying is I was hanging with the instructor AND the group the ENTIRE TIME!

I actually got positive feedback and shoutout from Monte more than once this session.  From the form of my high knee jump ropes to my sprints to my ab work.  I was working it!  It feels great to feel good during a grueling workout.  I test my effort by the amount of sweat on my shorts and shirt.  I know sweating is the body’s way to regulate its temperature but I also associate it with effort.

I gave 101% today everyone!  And you should too when you are working out – otherwise you just may be wasting time.

This headbanger was in my head during our workout today because there was a lot of UP and DOWN going on with the intervals including ab work then getting up and sprinting to the other side of the gym to pick up jump ropes to jump for 30 seconds to dropping ropes to jog back to the other side and lay down for another round of abs!  Hey … it kept me moving!

What workout did you do today and did you give it ALL you got?  Leave me a comment and tell me all about it.

 

 

 

Sanders Optimum Boot Camp (Day 7)

It wasn’t a good day y’all.  I mean the workout was good.  Monte did what he was supposed to do but the morning started off rocky.  For one, I did not get a good night’s sleep after going to bed after 11 pm because someone next to me was sawing logs.  I mean it woke me up in the middle of the night to the point I had to sleep with the pillow over my head.

Next, my stomach was still bothering me from bad food I ate on Friday.  Who knew fish and steamed broccoli could mess you up?  I climbed out of bed with less than 5 hours of sleep, changed, washed my face and brushed my teeth and then it came.  The gag reflex had me earling stomach acid!  My stomach was really in bad shape but I paid for this session and I am getting all 12 of my sessions so off I went.

Drove around the corner at 5:10 am to pick up my neighbor and she immediately noticed I was not my regular cheery self.  We get to the athletic center and start our stretching and don’t you know he wants us to start with 200 jumping jacks!  Can I get through this without earling?  Let’s see.   Fortunately got through that exercise good enough and next came the 1 mile run under 10 minutes.  DRAT….he is not being my friend this morning.  Can’t he see the glazed look in my eyes?  “Oh well – suck it up, you are here and you can’t let the 12-year old beat your mile time so get going”!  That’s what I had to tell myself and I made it through.

Afterwards had to catch my breath!  Then we did some fit tests to see how much progress we made since day 1.  I have to say – for being under the weather I did beat my last time – CHECK!  Then we did some ab exercises and OUTSIDE we go in less than 30 seconds on the field before we start that long sequence around the field of 1 minute walk, 30 seconds job, 20 seconds all out SPRINT!  We did this a series of at least 6 or 7 times – I can’t even remember, it’s all a blur.

But guess what, stomach started feeling better.  The more I pushed, the better I felt.  The fog was lifting and so was the dark haze.  Exercise is good for the body after all!  LOL.  We finished up with some more standing ab exercises, jogs and full-out sprints and it felt good.  When I sprint outside I realize I enjoy the wind blowing in my face and through my hair!  It feels freeing and it is you against yourself.

One of Monte’s favorite lines is “You are competing against yourself”.  Who cares what someone else is doing…..when it comes to getting results that last, you must PUSH yourself out of the comfort zone and also strive to do better than you did last time.  Go all out – leave it all on the floor.  He also tells us to give ourselves 100% because when we leave we will be giving work 100% next.  He is right.  Take care of yourself first and don’t give something to someone you do not give to yourself.

Make it happen and thanks fo reading!  I you are completing a boot camp share your experience below!

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Sanders Optimum Boot Camp (Day 6)

 

Monte training Ray Lewis in the Garrison Forest Athletic Center where we workout 3 days a week.

I feel good!  Made it through the second of four weeks of this boot camp!  I will admit, I felt much better today than I did yesterday.  Today I arrived and had a chance to stretch before he put us to work.  We warmed up with a mile jog he wanted us to complete UNDER 9 minutes.  Then he had us do 100 jumping jacks.

After that warm up it was ON!  We did 250 basement squats (stay at the bottom in the hard zone – don’t come all the way up, sort of like pulses), 200 MORE  jumping jacks, 250 rapid fire jumping jacks (don’t ask…I surprised myself) and 150 push ups!  Yes you read that right…150 push ups.  Arms were like jelly after that was done.  All within the first 20 minutes of our morning.  It wasn’t even 6:00 am yet!

Then he had us tone up while walking on our tippy toes (you know, to get that calf work in).  Once we walk diagonally across the gym floor we then performed bicep curls, Arnold presses, shoulder presses, tricep kick backs and everything in between.  We did all of these toning exercises while we walked another mile around that gym.

Typically at 5:30 am in the morning, there isn’t much chatter because folks are still trying to wake up but HONEY….near the end of today’s session, you heard yelps and grunts from pure exhaustion!  And just when I looked over at the clock and figured we only have 2 minutes the torture is OVER….he had us do MORE suicide drills you know…to get that metabolism working  just a little extra as we get into our cars and drive home.

Gee thanks!  🙂

We did have a great surprise today, someone brought their 81-year-old grandmother to today’s session and she HUNG WITH US!!  I mean she was sprinting, doing wall push ups, squats, the entire 9 yards!  I was so inspired and said THIS IS ALL WORTH IT if I have my health at 81 like she does.  No walker, no crutches, no humps in the back …. pure health!

I know it sounds corny but it is true…health is our greatest wealth!  Believe that!

We ended our session with a team huddle yelling PRAISE THE LORD!  Yeessss I like that!

 

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