I walk into the class room, feeling a little more arrogant
than warranted.

I’ve got this, I think to myself.  I’m a distance runner. I’m a yogi.

I’m a total badass.

How challenging can this actually be, I wonder, feeling more
smug than curious.  

The Boot Camp classes at the studio where I teach yoga are
the most popular classes, by far.  They
are so popular, that registration is required in advance so that you are guaranteed
a spot.

One class is offered immediately after my Tuesday night Fight
Club, and every week, I head to my car, as the instructor pushes exercise
balls, stair risers, and free weights into the middle of the room. 

"I have to try Boot Camp," I say to the instructor, as I exit
the studio.

“You should,” she says, with a wicked smile, before turning
back to her army of Boot Camp regulars, with a stop watch in her hand.

One evening, I decide to stay.  My running has come to a standstill this
summer due to injuries, and I am craving movement, faster movement than I
endure through a yoga practice.  I question
if boot camp can answer this need, but I’m skeptical.  I have never quite trusted “fitness trends,”
and exercise for me, has always been about more than shaping my butt or burning
fat.  I crave challenge, but a challenge that
will help me believe in myself and my own strength, both outer and inner, a belief
which in yoga, has helped transform my life “off the mat” as well as on.

We begin with two minutes of jumping rope.

Which is a LOT, just so you know.

We move onto one minutes sets of burpees, followed by
mountain climbers, and pushups.

By five minutes, I’m panting uncontrollably.

Planks, lunges with weights, and more jumping rope follows.  

By eight minutes, I run out to the lobby for more water.

I perform my second, 1-minute set of burpees in slow motion because
that is the only pace that guarantees I will last the entire sixty seconds.  

The sweat is dripping down my face and accumulates into a
puddle on the floor.

We do squat holds against the wall, holding ten pound
weights.  By the last fifteen seconds, my
legs are shaking.

We do bridge with the exercise ball underneath our
calves.  By the last fifteen seconds, my
glutes are twitching.

More pushups, more burpees, more mountain climbers, more
jumping rope, more squats…

We begin to cool down.

We stretch. We do abdominal crunches, which almost feel easy, after what came before
them. I drink a ton of water.  I wipe my
sweat drenched face with a towel. 

I go to my car and sit for a good three minutes, not moving.

Because it feels really good to not move after all the work
I did in Boot Camp.

My inner bad ass yogi runner is humbled big time.

She has a lot to learn about getting into shape.

I guess that means I’ll have to go back for more.

Have you ever tried a boot camp class?

What did you think?

Namaste, Divas!

©2012 Ilene Evans