The Agony and the Ecstasy – Weeks 1,2, and 3

At the end of each week, I planned to do an entry titled "The Agony and The Ecstasy" about our different workouts and how I was holding up. Unfortunately, it took us a little while to get the blog set up, not to mention work has cranked up a bit the last two weeks, so I'm going to combine the first three weeks into one post.

Why name this blog series "The Agony and the Ecstasy," you ask? Going into the program, I knew that SIU Boot Camp was going to test me physically, but, even as quickly as the first week, it became obvious I would see results right away. I wanted to let you guys know how the hard work was paying off.

The Agony

First of all, I want to stress that Ryan knows he has campers with all different fitness levels. He's preached since Day 1 that we should push ourselves at our own pace. The exercises we do really can be scaled up and down in intensity levels. When we do pushups, for example, I do them the normal way until failure and then switch to assisted to finish the sets. This was mission critical for a guy like me who got winded walking a few blocks or climb a flight of stairs before I started camp.

*BEEP BEEP BEEP* 4:45am *BEEP BEEP BEEP* 4:45am *BEEP BEEP*. Holy cow, waking up at that hour stinks. The first week I fought drowsiness and concentration at work. Ryan assures me that you get used to it, but I'm not sure I'm buying it yet. He does have a tendency to tell little white lies to get the best performance out of the class. Little fibs such as, "You only have one set left," when he really meant "You have one set left until we do another exercise!" and "We'll play a game tomorrow" when what he meant to say was, "Tomorrow we'll run around the gym in a different pattern!" It's all for the best because, like rolling out of bed at an hour before the rooster crows, Boot Camp is mostly mental. I appreciate Ryan tricking my mind into thinking positively.

Ok, so what happens when we actually get to the gym? We start each day with a warm up jog, some plyometrics and calisthenics to actively stretch our muscles. Don't sleep on these warm up exercises; I felt like I was going to die on my first day and we'd barely started! Another secret about Ryan, I don't think he's ever met a stair that he didn't want to see climbed. Luckily he let the "newbies" warm up with a light jog while the veterans run the bleachers. My luck ran out the second week.

After we're all warmed up – and sometimes tired too – it's time to get to work. I liken the workouts to a "variation on a theme." We never do an identical workout, but we do the similar exercises every day. Faster, slower, more reps, higher intensity, etc. Every workout is up tempo, moving from exercise to exercise with minimized rest and/or running between stations. Every day is a full body workout but each day may emphasize a different body part. I only have one real objection. Going from sedentary to working out five days a week, it seems like a true rest for each of the muscle groups may be warranted every once in a while. That said, a normal boot camp is only 4 days a week so I think this would mitigate itself in a regular scenario.

I know potential campers have one question on your mind. "How sore am I going to be?" You're going to be sore. I was working muscles that hadn't been used regularly in 5 years. The first week is when most of my soreness affected me the most. The first Wednesday and Thursday were the absolute worst days with full body soreness. Only the faint memory that working out again helps alleviate soreness by getting the lactic acid out of your muscles kept me going. The first Friday morning we did lots of calf work. It took me a few good steps to be able to hobble around my apartment on Saturday and Sunday. I re-learned that ice is my friend very quickly.

The Ecstasy

Man, those paragraphs wear me out just reading them! Never fear, the physical and mental benefits have already been huge.

By far the most exciting part for me is the mental and emotional changes. My general mood improved and energy levels skyrocketed. After those first few days struggling to stay awake at work, I get to work full of energy in the morning with a little bounce in my step. This never happened before. My ideas at work seem better and solutions to problems come easier. Part of that is less alcohol consumption but I also attribute a lot of it to a better self esteem and a better mood.

Speaking of self esteem, I feel so much better about my body, even after only three weeks. Even though I wish I had shed more than five pounds by now, I know my body's composition is changing. Heck, even after one week my friends were complimenting me on my improved appearance. Clothes don't seem to "shrink" so much after coming out of the dryer anymore, either. Funny the different ways I would rationalize weight gain in the past, right?

Physically, I feel confident that I am reaching my exercise goals. We'll find out on Friday morning. I noticed improved flexibility after the first week. Putting on socks and tying my shoes used to seem like such a chore with this big ol' gut in the way. That's all changed already.

My favorite physical accomplishment came just this Monday. We've done bear crawls a couple times now and I've struggled mightily. Ryan has photographic evidence so maybe he'll post those online, but man, bear crawls have been a killer. On Monday, I owned them! There's no better feeling than doing accomplishing something I couldn't physically do before. The best news of all is I'm just getting started so there will be plenty more where that came from!