Monday's Motivation: Blanca and Rochelle

Everyone can tell you the challenges of working out or dieting alone. Many times you may feel pressure from your friends and family to just let your nutrition slide or just skip one work out.
Training with a group is a great way to get the support that you are looking for. I have seen this first hand at Austin Adventure Boot Camp. The support of my coach and my fellow campers is what keeps me going on the days when I’m am less than excited about getting out of bed.
At the Southwest 5:30 camp I have had the pleasure to work with Blanca G. and Rochelle G.

Blanca and Rochelle have been friends since the 8th grade and do just about everything together. Rochelle signed up for boot camp with a friend from work in October ‘07 to prepare for her friends wedding. She’d been walking for fitness but not consistently and she wasn’t seeing a difference. She was looking for boot camp to push her and it did just that. At then end of her first camp she was happy to find herself losing weight and feeling stronger. The next session she signed up for solo and she admits it was a little harder without someone she knew but she was still seeing results and she stuck to achieving her goals.
She decided to ask Blanca to come to camp with her, just to see if she would, and Blanca started attending in November ’07. Both women have great attitudes and great attendance. They make a point to keep each other working hard smiling even when the workouts are tough.
Together they have started to get out of their bad habits, no more Late night IHOP runs, eating out of boredom.
“We’ve stopped eating out so much. No fast food, a LOT less junk food and chips.” says Blanca, who is also battling a family history of diabetes and congestive heart failure. After taking her parents to their doctor’s appointments she saw the path that she was on and didn’t like it. She’d tried dieting and working out before and had trouble sticking with it. When asked her strategy to keep coming to camp Blanca responded “I can see that I am making a change, and with Rochelle there, it makes it easier.”

These women not only get support from each other and Austin Adventure Boot Camp, their families have noticed the big changes they are making and make a point to say how proud they are of them.

When you meet Rochelle and Blanca its easy to see that these are two strong, happy women. As they lose the weight and become more athletic they are excited at what is in store for them. Says Rochelle, “We look forward to being healthier, being happier. Making these changes make us feel more powerful—“and the clothes”, Blanca adds, “We love to shop!”

To people considering starting boot camp with Austin Adventure Boot Camp they offer the following advice. “Don’t be scared, the first day is hard—but you do what you can. Take the first step and you’ll see results.”

Since starting at Austin Adventure Boot Camp Rochelle has consistently lost weight at each camp and has taken 4.5 inches off her waist! Blanca has lost over 30lbs and this past camp she took over a minute off of her mile time.
Congratulations to Rochelle and Blanca for all of their hard work!

Are you a camper that wants to share their Austin Adventure Boot Camp success story? Contact Stephanie Delk at stephaniedelk@atxbootcamp.com.

Break Over. Back To The Plan.

Okay. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you have not been getting up at 5:30am for the last week to work out.
That's fine. It is always nice to have a little break. But the holiday is done and it is time to get back on track (if you got off track) and get back to working out (if you stopped). I for one have been daunted by the 20 degree weather at 5:30 am the last two days so I've busted out my old school workout videos. They are good, but I have to say I'm a little disappointed with how easy they have gotten. Tomorrow, the plan is to bundle it up and head out for a good run/walk. You know, run one mile, walk one mile. Second mile I'll bring my weights and do 50 bicep curls, 50 tricep dips and 50 shoulder presses. But that's me. If you think you may want to put the weights down at some point during the walk (which I don't recommend because you'll have to go fetch them or buy more weights) then skip the weight work until after the 2nd mile.
I really hope that y'all are watching what's going into your mouths as well. I personally have decided to eat dessert first (so that the carbohydrates are eaten earlier in the day) so I have more time to burn it off! AND PLEASE make sure that you are drinking enough water. Just because you aren't up at 5 sweating it out with us, your body still needs that water!

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.