Bootcamp, Lately

It's been awhile since I dished on the latest in bootcamp class.  I thought today was a good example of a butt kicking workout and why I think it's a fine substitution for a 3 mile run in my marathon plan and some cross training.

We stared class with a mile run (well, I did - got there about five minutes early and did about 10 easy minutes total).

First cardio: run 4 lengths of the gym doing the following 5 exercises (so 20 lengths of the gym total):

• skipping
• skip backwards (this is really rather tricky)
• side shuffle
• high knee power skip
• 'Frankenstein' skip: with arms out in front of you like Frankenstein and alternate trying to touch your left and right foot to your hands - while skipping (this was really funny for all the runners in the group, as our hamstrings hardly allowed our feet to reach our outstretched hands)

Yeeah, my feet weren't nearly that high! (source)

Second cardio: do them all again but *only* two lengths of the gym for a total of 10 laps.

Third cardio: to achieve 100 squats and 50 push ups we did the following sequence 5 times through:

• 20 squats
• 10 seconds of 'fast-feet' running in place
• 10 mountain climbers
• 10 push ups
• sprint the length of the gym and back (with a few extra laps at jogging speed at the end to cool down)

I was sweating buckets and I'm pretty sure I got my heart and legs pumping just as much or more than I would have doing 3 miles.  Just to be a nerd, I calculated how far we went doing the length of the gym: a basketball court is 40m and we ran it 40 times (20 first cardio, 10 second cardio, and 10 times in the third cardio) 40x40=1600!  Love that it's EXACTLY a mile.  And that's not even the end of class - just the first 30 minutes!  The second half of class usually includes 8 stations of two minutes each, which I count towards my cross training for the week.  I can barely remember the stations while I'm in class (wait, what are we doing with these resistance bands??) but here's a few examples of the 8 stations:

• squatting on a Bosu, with your partner standing in front of you, hold them back with resistance bands while they jog in place - switch after 1 minute
• run up and down one flight of stairs for 2 minutes
• with hands on a raised step platform, jump from side to side for 12 reps and then do 12 triceps dips on the bench, repeat for 2 minutes

Like this (source)

 

• Do 12 walking lunges carrying two weighted bars (about 8 lbs each) and jog with high knees back to your starting point, holding the bars over your head, repeat for 2 minutes
• V sits on a Bosu while doing a leg press with your partner (can I just tell you how many great people I've met because of all the partner work in bootcamp?  I digress...)

(source)

• with hands on weighted balls, resting on towels, run forwards and back to starting point (much harder than it looks!)

(sorry for the blurry pic - I'm just so fast!)

 

Oh, and between each 2 minute circuit, we did 12 reps of different plank exercises: twists, shoulder touches, tapping feet side to side, etc.

There you have it - this is what's up in bootcamp lately.  I think the best thing about the class is that I do so many things I wouldn't normally do on my own and I'm always learning a new strength move here and there to add to my normal post run abs or arm routine.    But the first part of the class could be done pretty easily while out on a run, if you don't mind looking a little hard core while outside running to drop and do mountain climbers, pushups, etc...