And here I am. After being a huge fan of countless other health and fitness blogs out there, I’m taking a stab at it myself. I’ve had a couple other online journals and blogs in the past, but none of them had much of a focus. I’m hoping this one will be different, since I’ve chosen to focus on something I feel so passionate about.
My name is Athena, and I am 25 years old. I live in the Boston area with three roommates who happen to be some of my best friends. I have an awesome boyfriend who has been very supportive in my endeavor to start blogging regularly about how to live a happy and healthy life. I work a 9-5 marketing job for a medical software company, but it’s my part time job as a fitness instructor that brings me to the blogging world. I love to exercise and teach fitness classes. I love eating healthy foods as much as I can, but I am also the first to admit that I am human. We all have cravings, we all like to splurge, and we all have days where we just quite frankly don’t feel like getting off the couch to go to the gym. But maintaining a good, realistic sense of balance is what keeps me going. My hope is to eventually grow a solid following of readers that want to keep coming back for more of my personal tips on how to live an active life full of energy and happiness.
So, let’s begin with bootcamp!
Tonight was the last class of the session I’ve been running for my co-workers at a field near one of our MA facilities. Since it was successful last fall, I did it again this year for the spring, and it’s gone really well! It definitely brings in a good extra chunk of change.
Here’s the workout we did tonight:
Warmup: Jog, high knees, butt kicks, jumping jacks, football runs, jump rope.
Combination 1 was cardio and leg progressions: Run 1 minute, do 10 jumping jacks. Then run 1 minute, do 10 jumping jacks, do 10 squat jumps. Then run 1 minute, 10 jumping jacks, 10 squat jumps, 10 regular squats. Then run 1 minute, 10 jumping jacks, 10 squat jumps, 10 regular squats, 10 squat pulses.
Combination 2 was chest and shoulder partner work. I divided the class into two groups. Group A started with overhead shoulder presses as the other group began with pushups. We started with 1 of each move, then they switched. After 1 rep, we progressed to 2 of each, then 3, all the way up to 8.
Combination 3 was for cardio and legs. I set up four cones in a square and had the class shuffle around the cones for one full square. Once they finished that, they stopped to do squats with their feet together. Then we repeated the shuffle in the other direction, finishing with one legged squats with the opposite leg lifting to either the front or side. Balance challenger!
After this, we repeated combination #2 to fatigue the shoulders and chest. This time we started with 8 overhead presses and pushups and worked our way back down to one rep.
Combination 4 was for biceps and triceps: Regular bicep curl up, reverse on the way down for 15 reps. Then we did single arm tricep extensions for 10 reps and 10 pulses.
Combination 5 was back to the cones for more cardio and legs. They did walking lunges down one side of the square, sprints down the second side, lunges again on the third side, then sprints for the last. To accommodate different fitness levels, I had the class just jog in place until everyone was back, then we finished it off with some single lunges on each leg. I was getting glares at this point, but we did this a few times through.
Finally, I ended class with some glute presses and ab work. Mountain climbers, side planks, regular plank hop ins, crunches with a weight, sitting twists with a weight, and finally hugging the knees into the chest and extending legs out and arms overhead. And stretching of course!
It was extremely hot tonight, so I made sure to give the class extra water breaks to stay hydrated. They did great!
That’s it for now. I’m off to New York for a work trip in the morning, so I need a good night’s sleep!
Let’s chat! What other bloggers do you follow? Have you ever taken outdoor bootcamp classes before?