No More Boot Camp Fear

I consider myself a fairly fit person. I play tennis regularly, I run three miles a couple times a week either outside or on the elliptical in our basement. But there's one type of physical activity that I have always avoided like the plague: Boot Camp Classes. Just the name alone fills me with a quiet terror and visions of me vomiting in bushes.

When MJ Tam of Chicagonista and theChicagoMoms emailed me to invite me to join a select group of local media for a 6-week long total revamp project organized by her and Stacey of Mom Renewal, I was intrigued. The stress of the move replaced my exercise routines with a tire of excess flab. With the kids finally back in school and most of the boxes carted away by the garbage men, I was definitely ready for a little revamping.

I was about to hit send on my enthusiastic "Count me in!" response when a more careful read of the email gave me pause. The fitness component of the revamp project would be boot camp classes courtesy of Ryan and Bryan from Total Results Training multiple times a week. My fear of boot camp was now kicked up to a new level because with a crowd of bloggers, my puking would be captured on Flip cameras and iphones and uploaded to YouTube, Twitter and Facebook within seconds.

I ended up saying yes anyway. It was just too hard to ignore the lure of a beauty revamp. And that's how I found myself driving into Chicago on Wednesday evening to a little park in a gentrifying neighborhood called Eckhart Park. I couldn't actually tell you the neighborhood's name; I'm still completely at the mercy of my GPS; I get to Chicago by driving straight until I reach the lake. 

There were 8 of us lunging, crunching and sweating that first night as the sun set, painting the sky a deepening purple. Local youths strolled by, shouting "Go Mama!" The setting was barebones and slightly gritty, no luxuries to mask our exercise. Our trainer was as fit as I expected, his clothes weren't tight but you could just tell that he was perfectly toned by the feline way he moved. But his fitness was the end of the boot camp stereotype. He used no whistle or bull horn and he never raised his voice as he guided us through an hour of stretching, toning, and a little cardio. The next day my body felt alive with pain, and it was wonderful.

I've had many amazing experiences thanks to blogging from dining with Rocco DiSpirito to meeting the Duchess of York, and I have a feeling that this ReVamp project will end up being the most life-changing experiences blogging has granted me. Two sessions in, I feel like I am reconnecting with my abs, like long lost friends that I lost touch with nine years ago.  

Here's a little video MJ put together of the morning group on Wednesday. You won't see any footage of me (hee hee!) but you can get a sense of the trainers and what you can expect. Total Results Training is currently offering a free session. Their number is (312)226-5635.