Operation: Wedding Fitness – Bootcamp
A few days after my Nutrition session, early (but not too early) on a Sunday morning, I attended my first Bootcamp. Peak XV Fitness has a number of these dotted around the Reading and South London area. They are all placed in accessible locations (great for people like me with no car) and considering how much you would expect to pay for Bootcamp sessions, are amazingly affordable. After filling in a few forms we were off. The sessions are an hour long, 3 times a week – more than achievable with a little planning. The sessions are run by Steve and Chris Hines – experts in their field and really nice guys to boot (no pun intended).
The session itself was good – we started with “dynamic warm-up” meaning the normal movement to get the heart rate up, but also stretches that were based on keeping moving – a very sensible approach in my opinion. We moved onto some basic jogging exercises, which increased in variety and complexity. Unfortunately I then decided to take a tumble across the asphalt, badly grazing myself in several places and smacking my knee and elbow on the ground during the fall. It seems it was a combination of 2 factors – a slight dip in the surface that I didn’t pick out (and neither did someone else who also fell in the same place) and probably more likely the fact that my brain remembered being much fitter than my body actually is, and basically tried to do something my body then gave the “finger” to…
However, up I jumped and I persevered through the rest of the session. We moved onto a circuit-syle setup, where we did 2 rotations of each exercise. Each lasting 30 seconds each. This was a great approach as by the time your body wants to slap you around the face for putting it though such torment, you have stopped and have moved onto something different. Completely fooling your rational mind into thinking this is all very new fresh and exciting, and how smart you are for asking Mr Body to do this…
After the circuits is a pyramid-concept interval session. This is really hard work but apparently great for the fat burn. What made it easier to accomplish was doing it pairs – giving you time to catch your breath (unlike say, bleep test intervals) and get encouragement and more importantly the guys insisting that people accomplish each interval at their own pace. At no point during the session was anyone “forced” into overstretching themselves; everyone was encouraged to go at their maximum sustainable pace. I liked this very much. We finished with more traditional static stretching cooldowns
At the end of the session I was bruised, sore, but feeling great and terrible all at the same time. Once I had got home and had a nice hot bath, tended my wounds and stopped properly, I realised most of the pain came from my injuries, not the session itself. Even today, the day after, I am very sore in my muscles but nothing unbearable. Tomorrow may be a different story, but then I have the next session in the evening to work that out.
I know it’s going to be tough for the first few weeks, but I am looking forward to the end results. Each Bootcamp programme is designed to last at least 6 weeks to get the best results, I’ve made it my mission to see just how big a dent I can make into that 3-stone loss goal by the time it finishes. Who knows, I may just want to continue!
Starting Vital Stats (readers of a nervous disposition should look away now):
Chunk still liked to Truffle Shuffle at home from time to time
Weight 124kg
Body fat 29.4%
“Clothes” Waist: 46 inches
Actual Waist: 49 inches*
I’ll be doing a follow up every week so you can see my progress, just make sure you don’t look at the update pics while eating ;)
Stag Test Dummy
*I point this out as it becomes very important if you are hiring your wedding suits – what something says on a label is not always the actual measurement. It’s worth remembering this when getting measurements from your groomsmen and passing them onto a hire place. In fact it’s always better to get your groomsmen properly measured by a local tailor before you give the measurements to the hire company.
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