Epic Bootcacmp - Chesco Mom Joy shares her workout experience -Week 1

Join me in giving a big Chesco Mom Welcome to our newest contributor.. Joy..from Bundles by Joy. Turns out she is a work out mama and over the next six weeks is going to share and document her experience training with the instructors from Epic Boot Camp. So without further a-do...

Epic Boot Camp - Week 1
I've never been the "boot camp" type, or what I thought that type might be. Actually I've never really been the workout type in general, unless you count the plastic Gold's Gym badge on my key ring and the handful of times I'd been there in the past year, mainly just for the childcare break. I do enjoy working out once I'm in the moment, it's just the build-up of it and fitting it into my schedule I have never been a big fan of. Until I found Epic Boot Camp.

The founder and CEO of Epic, www.epicbootcamp.com, Jacob Right, happens to be one of my husbands fraternity brothers from Slippery Rock University. Jacob also happens to have spent a year in Iraq, has been a professional bodybuilder, is one of the nicest guys you'll meet and truly cares about helping people become more physically fit. He actually makes working out at 5:30 in the morning in the dark fun, if that's at all believable! The group is very diverse and includes men and women from all fitness levels- the sessions allow you to work at your own pace, and Jacob offers alternative exercises to make you more comfortable if you are experiencing knee pain, etc. Epic offers boot camps in 4 locations in Philly, at either 5:30 am or 6:30 pm. The locations are Black Rock Park in Oaks, Green Tree Park in Malvern, Eagleville Park, and Palmer Park in Skippack. The sessions are four weeks in length, you can do 3 days a week or 5 days a week, and they offer a Saturday morning boot camp session for $10.

When Sarah asked me to contribute a blog reviewing Epic Boot camp, I was thrilled, mainly because I took the last 6 weeks of the summer off from boot camp after going to the May, June, and July sessions. I treated August like one long vacation and seriously did not workout once. Not once. So you can imagine how tough it was to get back on the 5:30 am horse this week. But I did it! Thanks Sarah :) So each week for the four weeks I'll bring you some thoughts about how it's going, and hopefully encourage one or two of you to think about joining. If I can do it- anyone can do it!

Week one...alarm goes off at 5:00 am on Monday. I think it's a cruel joke, but reality hits and I crawl out of bed, get dressed, choke down my peanut butter toast and get on the road to Black Rock Park. It's pitch black, so once we start running for our warm-up, it feels like it's still the middle of the night. Jumping jacks, squats, push-ups, jumping jacks, squats, push-ups, jumping jacks, squats, push-ups, stretching. I'm already tired. Fifty minutes to go. But once the music starts playing, the weight exercises kick in, then some cardio, some more weights, you can't help but get in the groove. Then it's abs, and as soon as Jacob says "and rest" and I lay there and look up at the finally somewhat blue sky, I feel AWESOME. Mainly because I am laying still and not jumping or lifting or running in that moment, but also because I just worked out for one full hour as hard as I could, and it's done. Over for the day. And it's only 6:30 am.

By the end of class on Monday I am back in the swing, knowing I won't be able to walk on Tuesday, or Wednesday, but knowing how good it will feel. And it's true...when I show up for the first MOPS meeting Wednesday morning, I am starving (because that's what boot camp does to you) and I can barely sit due to the probably 100 squats we did that morning. For me, it doesn't matter how sore I am, it just proves how hard I worked. By 9:00 every night I am falling asleep, and can't wait to climb into bed and sleep hard- harder than I have in weeks, and pray the baby sleeps through the night so I can stay in the amazing dream-state as long as possible. Friday morning comes and it's test day: run your fastest mile, hold your longest plank, do as many push-ups, crunches, and burpees that you can do in 1 minute. On the fourth Friday we'll do the same test and see the improvement. I am surprised at how well I did, considering I hadn't worked out in 6 weeks. So here are my numbers- let's see how strong I get in 4weeks!!

1 mile: 10 minutes 31 seconds
Plank: 1 minute 37 seconds
Burpees: 13 (these are torture)
Push-ups: 31 (on the knees of course)
Crunches: 54

I think what I loved most about this week, is that by Friday night, I was back in jeans that were too tight the week before, my arms seemed a little tighter, my face a little thinner, my energy up, my skin glowing. I had more patience with my almost 3year old and 14 month old, and got a lot more accomplished around the house than normal with less coffee! Next week I'll start trying on all the pants in my closet that were too tight the week before, and jump up and down when they fit. Any my husband will look on and say he's proud of me, and that he's willing to get up with the baby 3 mornings a weeks for as long as I want just because he loves the look on my face when I fit into a pair of jeans I haven't worn in 2 years.