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I’m in some serious knee pain today! Last night I went with Kathryn to her “boot camp” after work. You’ve heard of nonmilitary exercise boot-camp-style classes for regular people who just want a motivating workout? That’s what this was. It’s not the kind of boot camp where the instructors scream “get moving, maggot!” to motivate you (although I think those do exist)… the instructor was very motivating but she achieved it by hollering “Nice job! You can do it! Just 15 more seconds! Come on! Keep moving! Way to go!” They offer a free class to newcomers, so I thought I’d go and see what it was all about, and why Kathryn gets up at 4 a.m. to be at the morning class by 5:30 a.m. three times a week.
We moved constantly for about an hour, in “stations” drills (zigzag running between cones, tricep dips on a bench, hurdles, running a ball back and forth, running through tires on the ground, squats with a medicine ball, and crunches), and then alternating between lifting weights, running “suicides,” more crunches, running around a coned-off box in various ways (knees up, heels up, run sideways, skip, run backwards), and doing plank pose on our mats. I was sweating like crazy, panting, and occasionally saw little black spots in my vision.
I thought I was in better shape than I apparently am!
Today I’m mildly sore all over, but my knees really don’t work right. If I sit still for more than 10 minutes or so they stiffen up and are so sore I’m afraid they’ll buckle underneath my weight. I guess it was all the squats and “suicides” (running back and forth between cones and touching the ground at either end). I’m walking like I’m 80 years old today.
The one thing that made me feel a little silly was the rah-rah “Go Team!” stuff that was happening. All the attendees were shouting “Yeah! Come on! We rock! Go team!” to other attendees. I guess I just had a hard time getting that excited about it. The instructor was motivating like that, which was fine, but I felt like I was expected to drink the koolaid and be perky and yell encouragement to everyone. Maybe it was because it was my first time or because I’m a little shy, but I didn’t really feel the comraderie that the regulars seem to feel.
It was a serious workout, and I know if I did it regularly I’d get in shape pretty fast. But it’s a little pricey. I might do it for a month just to “kick start” getting back into shape.
Oh come on.. it wasn’t THAT cheesy. 😉 And no, you don’t have to drink the kool-aid if you don’t want to.
p.s. Stretch!! 🙂
ppss. my word verification is “blpbdika”. I think I’m going to find a way to use that in a sentence.
It was a teeny bit cheesy… but I’m sure if I went back I’d get used to it! I find a lot of the HR stuff we have to do at work cheesy too… ugh, that’s a long story, I don’t want to get into it now.
How exactly do you stretch out your knees?! It’s not the hamstrings, it’s the actual knees themselves.
Ok, you’re right. It IS kinda, a little. But it gets better, I promise. I felt exactly the same way you did, first.. two weeks. It didn’t help, of course, that I was there with someone who shall remain (BRETT) nameless (BRETT)who could run circles (BRETT) around everybody AND get excited about it.
p.s. What did the hip-hop undercover detective say to the lazy undercover detective?
‘You should spymo’
Thank you, ladies, gentlemen and word verification of the day. I’ll be here all night.
Katy, remember, there is no “I” in “team.”