Step By Step

I stayed up way too late last night watching the World Series (go Sox!) so I had a hard time dragging myself out of bed this morning. So I thought that I would come up with a "How To Make Yourself Wake Up and Go To Boot Camp" ten-step program, for days when you just don't think you can make it through class (let alone get out of bed). I know, this is sort of like the blind leading the blind, but we're going to go with it:

Step 1.
When the alarm goes off, it is imperative that you immediately sit up in bed and think about work. Or something that causes you a great deal of stomach-gnawing stress, because that will help you to not feel sleepy anymore. Think about your list of things to do that day, or a big meeting or even your grocery shopping. The prospect of boot camp won't seem as bad when compared to the thought of responding to the deluge of emails you have at work.

Step 2.
People always say you should put out your clothes the night before. Not me. I stumble into my closet and, during the winter, proceed to put on every article of clothing I own. I hate being cold, and frankly I don't believe anyone who says that they actually like the cold weather. Remember, it's all about layers. You can always take off that pantsuit, sequined halter top and kimono once you get to camp and start getting warmed up.

Step 3.
If you own any pets, DO NOT LOOK AT THEM. They will look so cozy, curled up in a warm ball, nose to tail, their paws tucked underneath them. They'll probably hear you wake up, crack open an eyelid and survey you with one stress-free, smug eyeball, then stretch, yawn, and fold themselves back up into a furry pretzel. Sometimes I seriously want to drag my cat, Chubby Charles (that's really her name), with me to boot camp. Instead I say to her "Why don't you make something of yourself? All you do is sleep. Go climb a tree."

Step 4.
Think about Thanksgiving. There's no real reason behind this step, I just like Thanksgiving and it encourages me to get out of bed.

Step 5.
While driving to boot camp, I listen to assorted morning radio shows and think about how glad I am I'm not a DJ on a morning show. Can you imagine if your job relied on you waking up at 3:30 AM every day? Talk about pressure.

Step 6.
You are going to want to do a donut in the parking lot as soon as you get to boot camp. I stop myself from turning around, driving away in a haze of smoke and not slowing down until I get to Mexico by reminding myself that in an hour, this will all be over. That's sort of the same thing as the dentist saying "This will only hurt for a second" when they give you a shot of Novocaine in the mouth, but denial is a technique that has worked for centuries so who am I to argue against it.

Step 7.
The Tread of Dread. This is what I call the few steps you take as you walk from your car to boot camp, dragging your water bottle, exercise mat, barbells, 25 extra pounds and badonkadonk. There's still enough time to back out, but you are too weighed down by all of your accessories that you don't think you can even move fast enough. Just keep walking. Those 25 pounds aren't going to lose themselves.

Step 8.
During roll call, it is key that you actually stay awake. I have felt myself drifting off to sleep during roll call so many times while lying on my mat and closing my eyes. I always know when I'm really tired because I start thinking as I fall asleep, "Sleeping outside isn't so bad. We should do it more often. Who needs houses? I like boot camp," and other various fallacies.

Step 9.
The first warm up run you do is only a small teaser of how much you have left to do. I have found that the faster you run, the faster it is over. I don't like it, but that's an undeniable fact, so I suggest you run as fast as you can. The same cannot be applied to everything though, because no matter how much you want it to be over, one minute holding the plank is one minute holding the plank no matter how you slice it. So don't be fooled by the sneaky plank.

Step 10.
The Walk of Pain. As you limp back to your car at 6:30 AM, just remember this: You get to do it all again tomorrow! Ow.

Candy Rage : The Fight Against Chocolate Covered Whoosits.

It's that time. Well technically, it has been that time. Halloween candy has been in the grocery stores for the last two months. Starbucks and every other coffee place in town has rolled out their 'Pumpkin Spice' flavored beverages. But what do you do when you are supposed to watch your calories, sugar intake, blah blah blah, cut back on sweets?

Seems like everywhere you go is littered with snack size, chocolate covered whatnots. How do you keep your hands from finding their way into the candy bowls and stay on track?

Reasons to say no to sweets:
You will live longer.
You will feel better.
Cutting back on sweets will help you reach your weight loss goals faster.

Take a look at how much you can lose if you just cut out soda!

1 bottle of Cola (20oz, regular, not diet) has 239 calories.

Let's say you have just one bottle of cola a day, every day.

7 x 239 calories = 1673

Since there are 3500 calories in a pound, without doing anything else you could lose about a half a pound a week JUST by leaving out the soda.

Here's are some tips to get you through Halloween:

Halloween
This used to be the most difficult holiday for me. Tiny little candies everywhere!

In a full size Snickers Bar there are 280 calories-- approximately 6 Snickers miniatures. Keep in mind --just because they are small does not mean you can eat more of them!

1. If you do not have the willpower to leave the candy alone, do not buy it. Donate the candy money to charity.
   
2. If your house is in danger of being egged if you go candyless, buy the candy that you don't like so you won't be tempted.
3. Wait till the last possible moment to buy candy. This will leave you with as little time alone with the candy as possible.
4. Keep the candy bowl by the door, do not go near the door/bowl of candy unless your house is in fact being egged or trick-or-treaters come by.
5. Put the candy in an adult-proof box or "Boo for you" box. Take a small box and cut a hole in it that is small enough for a child's hand but not your own. Decorate the box with a Halloween-y theme. Pour the candy inside. If a trick-or-treater's hand doesn't fit, shake the box directly over their bag. "But wait", you ask, "Stephanie what will stop me from shaking the box to get the candy out?" Nothing really, but hopefully having to try to maneuver a 'fun size' candy snack out of the boo box will slow you down, maybe even to the point that you will realize how not worth it it is.
6. Put the candy bowl on the porch and let the Trick-or-Treaters have at it. Of course with this you lose the benefit of the "The doorbell is ringing I better get up" workout. Oh and greedy kids will take too much candy.

Remember your goals. Yes, you could eat the candy but does it lead you where you want to go? Is it a distraction? Is candy as important as reaching your goals? No. Be strong and enjoy the many other things the holiday has to offer.

This Is NOT A Test: The Fitness Assessment

MeanRachel actually made it in to class this morning. I am very impressed. There was the threat of a personalized "you haven't been to boot camp in a while" circuit if she opted out of today's Fitness Assessment, so lo and behold she ran!

For those of you that don't know aka New Campers, please note: This is not a competition. Well, unless you compete with yourself which is completely fine. The fitness assessment is just a way for you to gauge your progress as you go through camp.

At the start of camp you will do an initial body composition assessment (aka: measurements) and a strength and stamina assessment (aka: The Fitness Assessment) which is a combo of different exercises. Yea, no one enjoys getting on the scale but its just a number. Seriously, you may not like it but you can look at it and then kiss it goodbye and we'll work on getting you as far away from that number as we can. As for the exercises you'll see them again after the Assessment and I'm certain that you will improve.

After that we have THE MILE. Not to make it scary or anything...just know that the most important thing is to keep moving! I bring my ipod on mile day and am currently listening to "What I Like About You" by The Romantics, "Pump It" by Black Eyed Peas, and "Beware the Boys" by Panjabi MC. As for pace, don’t make the mistake that I did when I started of trying to hang with the girls in the front. By all means push yourself but if you have never run a mile or like me last year had not run a mile since high school gym class, don’t try to pace yourself out with the girls in front. Find a pace where you can keep it steady, breathe and keep running until you get to the end. If you have to walk, walk. But catch your breath and run again, even if it’s just the last stretch. Then you can collapse in the parking lot. Just kidding. See you at camp!

Introducing... General Bloggery

Somehow I have managed to miss tonight's episode of The Biggest Loser which I was thinking about writing about tonight. I've managed to spend a considerable amount of time Google chatting with MeanRachel who swears that she will be in class tomorrow regardless of the fact that we are having the Fitness Assessment and she only 'tolerates' running. It's funny that she doesn't like running because, in fact, she runs faster than me. She says its because she wants to get it over with as quickly as possible, but I'm sure she's looking for the under 8 minute mile.

Why so much chatting about MeanRachel? Well, we have a deal. She comes back to camp and I let her shamelessly plug her website. Oh and she's going to run the Race For the Cure with us. (You should too... or at least give me ten dollars) Oh and she'll guest blog here! Ladies and Gentlemen, our general bloggery mistress, the purveyor of the "The Pencil" work out move: MeanRachel.

Deltoids: The Other White Meat

As a contributor to this new fitness blog (which will rank up there with "windsurfing" and "calculus" on the list of "Things I Thought I'd Never Be Associated With"), I plan on representing the following boot camp demographic:

1. The person who values sleep even more than a pint of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and believes that being awake at 5:30 AM is only for Diane Sawyer, the paper boy and creepy opossums.
2. The person who checks off the "I promise not to drink for 4 weeks" box when signing up for boot camp while simultaneously crossing your big toe with your pointer toe and thinking "Pshyeah-right."
3. The person who has a limited knowledge of cooking, let alone cooking healthy foods, and by "limited" I mean "nonexistent."

Welcome, MeanRachel Demographic. I will be your voice on this blog.

---

My history with Austin Adventure Boot Camp starts, as most sagas do, on a dark and stormy night...at 5:30 AM. I started boot camp in January 2007, exactly one week prior to The Ice Storm of 2007 (those of you in Austin at the time will remember what I am talking about). To this day I don't remember why I enlisted, but I think it was some sort of impulse buy, like purchasing a lip gloss at the check out counter at Sephora because it has nice packaging. I'd lived a relatively active lifestyle by default up until 2006, as I rode horses for a living. This meant I was always moving, lifting, sweating and walking.

In March of 2006 I hurt my back and to make a long story short, I went from a very active career to a desk job. My one form of exercise, riding horses, I could no longer do physically. I spent several months recovering and by the end of the year, just before I signed up for boot camp, I'd been feeling restless and frustrated with sitting inside all day.

My first three days at boot camp were almost comical. Not only was it twenty-four degrees outside, but I was also waking up, putting on four layers of clothes, and then rolling myself out my door to go attempt to exercise. I spent most of the first week thinking about how cold I felt which in hindsight probably took my mind off how exhausted and weak I was.

For whatever reason, I kept going back. Week after week, month after month. I never missed a single day (definitely the key to staying in the camp is not allowing yourself to skip a day) and managed to whittle my mile time down from 11:15 to 7:37, a feat I hadn't even accomplished in high school track.

I took a couple of months off this summer, when it felt like I was exercising in a sauna. But now that the weather has turned, I'm planning on heading back. I don't expect to do it cheerfully (my name is MeanRachel after all, what did you expect?) but I will "tolerate" it (no one will ever let me live that line down).

Keep an eye out for me. I'll be the one wearing the Red Sox hat doing "The Pencil."

Austin Adventures in Blogging?

Hello everyone! Welcome to the Austin Adventure Boot Camp Blog. Let's get some of the formalities out of the way. My name is Stephanie Delk and I am the business operations manager of Austin Adventure Boot Camp and also a Southwest Boot Camper. This is a forum where we can informally introduce you to our trainers, as many of our campers as possible, and offer advice on nutrition, fitness and staying motivated! On alternating Mondays I will be interviewing some of our campers to give you more perspective on what can be achieved at camp. I am happy to count myself as one of the achievers, here is an excerpt of my story:

Name: Stephanie Delk
Age: 28
Occupation: Rock Star
Height: 5’ 11”
Starting Weight: 253
Lowest Weight: 153- a billion years ago
Current Weight 193 and still losing!
Boot Camper Since: Oct 2006

My first class was challenging but Stephanie and the other women were very supportive. I was tired--no—I was exhausted. (Keep in mind I had been leading a pretty sedentary lifestyle until about a week before my first ATX class, I was a champion couch surfer.) After that first class I was in all kinds of pain, but I felt empowered. I knew that if I kept going there was nothing that could stop me from losing the weight.

The first time I “ran” the mile was miserable. I got shin splints. I got cramps. I couldn’t breathe. I don’t know what I was thinking--I couldn’t even run the mile when I was in elementary school doing the President’s Challenge. I maybe ran about a tenth of a mile before I slowed to a jog. By the time I was three quarters of the way through, my legs were aching so badly I started to cry. I snuffled across the finish line, aching and crying and disappointed in myself for letting my weight get so out of control. Stephanie was there at the finish line, 16 minutes and 37 seconds later, assuring me that it would get better. The women in class were supportive and made sure that I knew that the first mile time is just a starting point. It would improve. I would feel better. I just had to keep moving. At the end of my first camp I had cut almost five minutes off my run time and I had lost 7 pounds. A month later…(click here for more)

This past year has led to some huge changes in my life and those changes are part of what made me begin working with Austin Adventure Boot Camp a little over three months ago.

As my story says, this past year I lost 60 pounds. Boot camp helped me get my ducks in a row, fitness and nutrition-wise and here I am nearly on the other side of it.

I will not lie. This has not been easy. But it definitely has been more empowering than I could’ve imagined and strangely enough some days I have more fun before 6:30am than I ever thought.

The culmination of my year of work is coming up. I promised McD that I would run a 5K and on November 4th I am going to participate in the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure. I’ve got an adorable Race for the Cure page y’all should check out and if you are interested in running with me you should sign up to be a part of our team. I believe that you can also ‘sleep in for the cure’ on our team as well.

We will be handing out Pink Prizes so please do join us and help us support the fight against breast cancer!

Now I’m headed off to the Central Camp tomorrow so I better get off to bed.