Boot Camp

Day 1: Oh Fuck

Sorry, but that's the only way to describe my first experience at Pure Power Boot Camp. It's the only way I know how to convey how f*cking hard it was that first time. Never ever has my body been pushed to such an extreme before, forcing myself to go beyond what I thought I was ever capable of accomplishing physically. 

Layout-- It's on the second floor of a building in the Flat Iron District, and when you enter, there's a desk to the right where a secretary sits. You are issued your clothes (camouflage pants and green shirt with the boot camp's logo on the back), sign in at the desk and immediately drop there to the floor to complete 5 pushups. After I do my pushups I cross the obstacle course to the tent to change. The course includes to different sets of hurtles, a rope net that rises gradually toward the ceiling and falls straight down on the other side, netting situated close to the ground to crawl under, tires, three walls of graduated heights, a double-sided rock wall, a knotted rope with a soft hurtle to cross (there's a shallow bucket of water just before the hurtle), monkey bars, and a row of moving barrels that you must jump up to in order to cross on your belly. The entire floor of the course is blanketed with layers and layers of soft little pieces of rubber. Outside of the course on the perimeter are free weights, wood crates, canteens, sandbags, and jump ropes. High energy music plays constantly.

I changed in the tent, left my stuff in there, and joined my team for that day. It was the most difficult physical experience of my life. A few times during that first hour, I thought I would throw up or faint, and afterwards I left stunned and frightened to return, though I knew without a doubt that I would. I took two naps that day and thought about boot camp obsessively, worried that I was incapable of meeting this challenge. I secretly pride myself in being able to always keep up with a physical challenge, always ready to be pushed more, never the last one or the one complaining and trying to get out of doing something. But this went beyond what I expected.

Today: Since I went to boot camp yesterday and worked right after, I hit the hay early last night (10pm) in order to wake up, rested, at 5:15 am. On boot camp days I leave the apartment at 6:15am to arrive for camp at 7:30 am. It ends at 8:30, and if I have to work afterwards at 10 am, I shower at camp and hop on the train to work which is one stop away, thankfully.

This morning we started with the usual 6-8 laps around the obstacle course, followed by 25 box jumps. The crates are two feet high, and you jump up first on your right foot, then your left, then your right, and that counts as one. You go on the seargant's count and it's fast and constant. "One two three," he calls. "ONE!" we all cry in unison. "One two three." "TWO!" "I can't hear you!" "THREE!" "Pick up the pace!" "FOUR!" 

After 25 we grab two canteens each, filled with water, and run two laps. We stop across the obstacle course and go to wall sits, our legs forming 90 degree angles as if we're sitting in invisible chairs. We do 15 arm raises with the canteens holding that position. Again it's right left right arm and that counts as one. Our arms have to go straight into the air each time, and today one of the seargants was holding a stick above my head and making me hit it with my canteens to keep my arms straight.

Then we drop those and go into a squat position, hands on ankles and hold the position for three seconds and jump into the air, counting off. Holding our ankles: "One two three" "ONE!" we all shout as we jump from the position, clapping our hands straight into the air. This one hurt so much. After 20 we grab the canteens again, get into wall sits and hold the canteens straight out in front of us this time, doing small circular movements, counting to 15. Then we rotate our arms the opposite way for another 15. Then we run with them again. We never take a break from doing anything. We immediately fall into the next drill. The only breather we get is if they allow us to drink water or when they're showing us how to do a drill.

For most of the remainder of class we did team work, which involved one person having to continue a drill until you were done with yours, which puts so much pressure on you because you know they want you to hurry and finish so they can stop what they're doing to immediately work at something else. Example: I had to do a bear crawl around the perimeter of the obstacle course while my teammate jumped rope non stop. She wants me to come in so she can stop, but bear crawls are so difficult. It means crawling along the floor on your hands and feet, butt up in the air. You either want to stand or fall on your knees because you're so tired. We also did  a teammate drill that involved one person sitting on the floor, legs in the air, kicking non stop to work the abs and counting for the other person as he jumps on a wood crate, jumps back down, does a push up and leaps back up again. You want to do the crates quickly so your partner doesn't have to struggle with butterfly kicks anymore.

We ended with more hurtles (my knees and shins are all bruised up) and then scaled two walls. I did it! I scaled a large wall on my own and this was at the end of class when I was absolutely spent. You see, outside of this boot camp I never would have done that simply because I wouldn't think I could. I can't lift my own weight over a wall. But what I love about boot camp is discovering that you can do these things, and it's because you don't get a choice. You don't get to decide not to complete a task. It's amazing to see what your body can do when you're forced to do it. 

It's difficult, and each time I get into the elevator to go up and I smell the distinctive smell of our floor, my heart starts to thud because I'm nervous. But somehow I make it through the hour, and I feel great afterwards. Healthy and proud.

P.S. Right before class today I saw a guy fall into that shallow bucket of water! This girl and I felt bad for him but it was funny too.

Oh--I also completed 100 sit ups today, heaving a 5 pound weight over my head each time I came up. I couldn't believe I did it.

You can read about the boot camp @ purepowerbootcamp.com