This was the best $20 I ever spent! I am fully addicted to these classes. When I signed up for them, I had a few goals in mind that I hoped the class would help me reach:
1. Become a morning exerciser. I still hate hearing that alarm go off in the morning. I never jump out of bed enthusiastically. But once I'm in the car and on my way to the class, I can't wait. Not once have I regretted the decision of sacrificing an hour of sleep for these classes. Regret for skipping them? Yes, I did feel that when I skipped a class! I haven't missed any since. I thought working out in the morning would make me tired throughout the day, but most days I feel the exact opposite. I have much more energy and focus when I go to class in the morning. Bonus: working out in the morning burns more calories throughout the day than evening workouts!
2. Get past the exercise plateau. I've been doing the same exercise circuit for awhile - stair climber, crossramp, treadmill, outdoor running, etc. I always mix up the intensity, but it gets a bit stale at times. Every boot camp class is comprised of 6 to 8 stations that do a variety of strength training or anaerobic exercise - jumping, kettle bells, squats, push ups, pull ups, so on and so forth. I'm never bored and always challenged. I lost 2 and a half pounds with the classes, and that is with zero changes to my diet and weekly indulgences. 2 and a half may not seem like a lot, but that depends on how much you need (or want) to lose. I've wanted to drop "those last 5 pounds" for a year now. When you reach a certain weight, it gets much more difficult to do that.
3. Do more resistance and strength training. Obviously, this was an easy goal to reach since that's what the class is focused on. When it comes to my regular gym workouts, I am a cardio addict and have a very hard time making myself lift weights or do abs exercises. When I do do them, I often do a set or two and then stop. I've noticed a huge change in my strength and overall fitness by doing more strength training with these classes.
The instructor gave us Amazon Local users a discount membership rate if we joined once our vouchers expired. This rate was still pricey to me at $59.99 for unlimited classes. I contemplated quitting LA Fitness and joining Heaven and Hell only, but I didn't want to give up my cardio equipment access or have to pay initiation fees again if I decided to rejoin LA Fitness at some point. I talked to the instructor this week, and he lowered it again to $39.99. So...I decided to sign up for another month of classes! I know I'm supposed to be saving up for my apartment and all that jazz, but it's really not that much and can definitely be taken from other areas of my budget.
On Thursday, we were introduced to yet another interesting piece of equipment: the power wheel.
As the instructor strapped this on his feet and prepared to demonstrate, I was thinking we were going to have to maneuver it like a unicycle - no thank you!
Turns out that's definitely not what you're supposed to do! More like this:
You started in plank position and then had to pull yourself 1/3 way across the room. Then you stopped and did 5 knee strikes - pulling your knees to your chest. Then you pulled yourself across the room again and did 4 pikes:
Then pulled yourself a little further and held plank position for 30 seconds. WHEW!!! My abs were on FIRE!
The Willis Tower climb is THIS SUNDAY...I can't believe it's here already! The year is flying by.
