Second month at boot camp

Things changed a lot since the first day I joined the boot camp.

First after I posted the note on Facebook about free places to exercise, including the boot camp. Then Sheldon created the fan page. And phewwww. The class got real crowded.

I didn't know why. Maybe a lot of my friends and readers joined. Even Giang (my friend at Di va Song fanpage and a really experienced traveler - who usually guide the tour to Nepal and north India) also joined the class and asked his fellows to join.

So it got really crowded. Previously only 3 - 4 people each time. Now 16 - 18 people. I know most of them. And I feel good. Feel proud that I partly contribute to the growth of the class and the physical development of people.

Maybe people don't feel so. But it's ok. The fortune teller told that sometimes in life I wouldn't get the result or appropriate appreciation for what I do. It's ok then. If that's my karma then I will have to accept it anyway. But I'm proud here that I helped to build the boot camp class. Built a community, caring health. That's good to talk to people and see how they're progressing and all.

And Giang. Previously I didn't have much impression with him, even if we worked together in an event of Di va Song. But now having more chance to talk with him, I feel he is a cool guy. Really really strong. I'm impressed with his physical condition.

Shel teaches the class really passionately these days. He really likes the new guys coming. Ti, Tao's cousin; Giang; Hoa, the girl coming back from the Malaysia trip on a yacht. He seems really like Hoa. I feel a bit surprised there.

Anyway many people came were my friends or friends of my friends. I talk to them, getting to know them better and feel good. More people, more competition, more fun. I really like the boot camp now.

There are several really good people out there. Especially the girls. If you see their bodies you will faint away. So hot, six packs and very strong.

I wan to note about the teacher. He organises the class really well and comes up with the idea how to teach really quick. The sessions from monday to thursday are flexible with many rounds and things so we don't get fed up. I got to talk with him more and he seemed to be nice. And he seemed to be deeper than the appearance. I don't know. Just need to figure out. He once told: "Don't drink". I laughed, he appeared to drink a lot. He told: "No I don't drink as much as people think I do. I just mixed up with fruit juice. At the end I didn't got drunk but people thought I did. No, I was just happy". He was really cool when he said that.

Anyway I appreciate what he is doing. Teaching the class for free from monday to thursday, while in California fitness you need to pay 25$/1hour for the PT. That is more than enough. He is nicer than enough.

Only 1, 2 months since the first time I joined then I already feel the difference. First my back got real real hurt. My sacrum got scratched, and scar came after that. Then around 2, 3 days not doing boot camp, it started to heal. But then when I did again the the scratch came again. Real hurt, especially when bathing.

Today also hurt, but way much better. Not that much painful. And I feel that the more we do, the better we get.

Then I feel my body much lighter now. Flat belly, strong feeling when I walk. Very little fat.

And when I went to camping in Ba Den mountain, I just kept walking and I felt not much tired. In the previous trips to Ba Den I was so exhausted after coming back. But I do boot camp frequently now and I feel the benefit of it.

Every time I do sprint then I just lie down on the ground, feeling intolerable in my glutes and the hamstring. But I know it helps.

Every time I run I feel terrible but I know it helps.

Every time I repeat and repeat and repeat the workout I think of EBC, of Kinabalu, of Kilimanjaro, and I keep doing.

OMG I'm so sleepy I don't know what I'm writing.

Boot camp again

Hello world

So I'm again not confident to post my new Facebook note, and I again write here as a means of reducing guilt, hahaha.

Last week my two friends joined the training for the first time. I looked forward to seeing the teacher so he could give my friends proper training. But Sheldon (the badass teacher's name) was not there. I heard he was back from his trip to the north. But there were some reasons that he didn't show up in the class.

Hoa and I were a bit surprised and disappointed. As Hoa also expected him to come. Nevertheless Hoa gave the new guys the necessary training and pushed them as much as he could. He did a good job to keep the schedule and I appreciated that.

My two friends were pretty good at the boot camp. They showed no delay or hardship finishing all the required exercises, even if they were in the most intense night of the week, thursday. I did the workout very slowly and sometimes appeared to resist the instruction. But I tried to finish it anyway and went home pleasure and tiresome, hoho.

So Sheldon was not in the training field for 2 weeks. Needless to say, the q'ty of people attending the training decreased significantly. Only 2, 3 old students were there, and our spirit also went down.

It's the truth that I now deeply realize. When the teacher is not there then you don't want to practice either. If the teacher doesn't keep the discipline then neither do the students. That's why I skipped the class all nights last week. Hahaha. It was a very good excuse don't you think?

Just kidding. I don't want any excuse here and I don't want my future students to do this to me. So I promise to my lovely blog that I will be back to the field tomorrow. Another important thing is that when I don't exercise I feel my mood down. So I need to do workout everyday to keep the energy up constantly.

Phew, after just some time not writing, I already feel my words not flowing smoothly now. Gotta practice daily lah.

Keep it up keep it up. Kick your ass if you have to, but move forward.

The second week with boot camp

Hey it's me and I continue to practice the boot camp this week.

This whole week the teacher is not here so he gave the exercise to some the old students to take care of the class.

Yesterday only Hoa, me, and a friend of Sheldon (the teacher's name), who joined for the second time.

We did the warm up, then sprint 50 rounds, then 20 laps of push up, mountain climb and sit up for 10 times each.

The new guy was tired and moaned throughout the session, he ran for only 5 rounds then lied down on the ground, then did around 3 laps then gave up. Hoa was in charge, so he pushed the new guy continuously.

The new guy told he was going to throw up but he didn't, and I felt a bit pity for him. But I just smiled and stood to breathe and felt good all along, hahaha.

Maybe because there was no teacher so it seemed to be less pressured than usual.

Today Hoa was busy, but some other girls went, and they were all strong.

A girl called Minh led the class, and she made us run for 2 laps, then do 50 push ups, then running 2 laps, then 50 sit ups, then running then 50 squats, then running then walking lunge.

At the first place I thought 50 push ups and sit ups were somehow too much. But I managed to do the whole thing, even though I'm feeling a bit painful now in my muscles.

When I did the running I thought about the workout, I thought if I kept being patient with this then I would be better day by day. Then I thought about when I would become a personal trainer. I thought what I I would expect from my students, I would want them to practice with true grit and tenacity.

Then I thought about my yoga teachers. I had the feeling that they were a bit of disappointed at me as I didn't show up as much as they wanted and didn't commit my full devotion to yoga. They also only wanted me to show my true grit and being persistent with it. Because they hoped I would progress to reach my best.

Then I pondered on other things in life. Almost everything comes the same way, writing, guitar, English, Tarot....The more we practice, the better we get. There is no shortcut. We just need to work on it from day to day, step by step, keeping patience and working through pain and sweat.

After the running, we stretched out before leaving the stadium. This is new to me and I should do it more often. Minh told I was the only one showed up for 2 days continuously, others just disappeared for 1 - 2 weeks after the first class. Another girl told: "Yeah, after my first time here I even couldn't go to stool or pissing normally, so much pain when walking or sitting down/standing up". I could understand the feeling. When I first did my mountain climbing to Ba Den, I stayed in bed for 2 days afterward.

But this is good. No pain no gain it's said. Just need to practice daily, especially through lazy days.

Look at the big picture and work your ass off Rosie.

The second time

Hey it's me again.

Guess what. I went to the boot camp again today.

When I decided to go, my heart shouted: "What? Yesterday was not enough? I almost died. Do you want to kill me again?"

My mind shouted back: "What? You said you wanted to be a health coach. What kind of health coach you wanna be if you can't overcome these small obstacles?"

So I was there in the class. My only strategy was trying not to throw up afterward and staying alive.

Before going I had sipped some water as I did a little research on how not to throw up and it suggested that.

There were more people this time, 4 other girls and 1 boy, Hoa couldn't join this time. The teacher showed up at 7PM.

And then we did it, warm up running and sprint. I did good and reached second in the group.

Then Sit ups, Push ups, Sprints for 20 minutes. I hated the Sit ups thing, my lower back was weak and I had never come up to sitting position with my legs straight on the floor. My result was bad and I finished only 6 rounds while others did 8 or 9. Then I had to do 400 rope jump as a penalty.

Then pairing up, running for 2 rounds while the other person doing burpees, sit ups, push ups, rope jumping. I did bad again, 60 times in total compared with 100 or more from other people.

When I thought it was going to finish, the teacher told we needed to do other things: Plank, Squat, Crocodile, Boat for 1 minute each pose. And repeat again. That was not too difficult for me except for the Crocodile one. It was intolerable.

You know why I'm writing down all of this? I want to memorize and keep track of my progress.

The teacher told I did a good job, better than other people when they first joined that boot camp. (Well, I had 2 years of yoga with me sir).

Luckily it didn't rain this time. And I kept sipping the water during the workout, plus breathing deeply to my belly to calm my heartbeats.

And that was good. I finished achieving my goal: not feeling like throwing up, still smiling and talking with people, having a little chit chat with the teacher.

He's been doing this workout training for more than 10 years. It is a hobby and he is doing it for free. Besides he also does some professional training for athletes, and owning several companies. Well he is kind of a real badass, tough and straightforward, liking dirty jokes and showing off. Not polite and gentle and spiritual like my yoga teachers. But I appreciate his goodwill to teach for free. He is giving values to the community. That's good enough.

So to conclude, the second time at the boot camp was better. Now I have sore in my legs, I have sore in my bump, but I feel good in general. Tomorrow and Thursday I will be joining the yoga class and the presentation class, so I won't be able to witness what it's like to be more brutal, (as Hoa told me Thursday session would be the most intense). I'll keep you posted if I go there next week.

Techniques corner: How To Avoid Throwing Up When Exercising

• Drink at least 2 cups of water (400ml) 1 - 2 hours before working out.
• Drink 2 more cups before you start exercising.
• During your work out, drink 1/2 cup (100ml) for every minute you exercise. (I didn't drink water during yesterday workout and I felt really drained after that. My body craved for more and more water although I drank a lot when going home. It's said that if you don't drink enough water during workout, your cells will start to die).
• Never gulp water during exercise, take small sips.
• Have a light meal 2 hours before exercising (this would be good for people who have low blood sugar like me)
• Drink a power drink like Gatorade during your workout.
• Do not drink cold drinks or carbonated drinks before, during and after your workout.
• Do not close your eyes when exercising (it's to prevent motion sickness)
• Breathe slowly and consistently during the workout (breathe to your belly).

Ahhhh, you're good to go.

The boot camp with….. what’s his name? Agrrr, I don’t give a damn

I don't know since when I stopped being scared of trying new things. Perhaps since I knew Vu, hahaha. I now feel eager to step out of my comfort zone. I'm not hesitate to do different and crazy things. I now have much more action capacity than before.

So that's why I when yes when Hoa told me about the boot camp he was doing with a Portuguese guy. A personal trainer, who had trained the US army before. Wow. It's exciting. Oh yessss.

I had done PT (personal training) with Natalie, my yoga teacher before.

The first time I did it, I vomited right after the sprint. The other times I still felt bad. But gradually I got better and I started to like it.

Thanks to the training I knew how weak a typical Vietnamese person was. Not only me but another healthy looking boy also nearly fainted away just after a few minutes sprint. We Vietnamese were just not familiar with that kind of training. Our body condition was generally not ready for that.

But my body condition was better than a normal girl and I wanted to push myself to a higher level. And Natalie's PT was terminated 6 months ago because she basically was not interested in that intense workout anymore. So I was excited to join the Portuguese's boot camp.

And today was my first time with him.

And guess what? It was fantastic.

There were only 4 people in the class. A good looking girl who had been doing boot camp for a long time, Hoa, me and another girl, who was also Hoa's friend and first time in the boot camp.

After the warm up running, the new girl already breathed like crazy and quit the training. The three of us left then did the continuous workout sequence including burpees, push ups, mountain climbers, bicycle crunches, 10 times each for 5 rounds.

Then it started to rain and the trainer was like: "Oh rain. I love it I love it. No one left in this stadium, only us alone. Great. Keep doing it". I knew it. How would you expect that kind of guy to stop training when it was raining.

Then it was raining cats and dogs and we continued the workout anyway. I gave my best effort to finish the 4th round.

And I knew it wouldn't finish there. And there came the part I hated the most.

Sprint again. When I felt like no energy left.

But there was no turning back.

I was paired up with the trainer to sprint for 10 rounds in the competition with the other couple. I kept my pace but then lost the last round so the other team won. I couldn't care less. My temples hurt and I just sat down and breathed like hell. But I stood up at once as I felt like going to throw up. I applied the yoga complete breathing technique and I could hold the puke for sometime.

Hoa asked: "How are you feeling? Are you ok? This is only a warm up". The trainer told: "You're good. You won the old girl in the first sprint. She was impressed. I was impressed." I just shook my head. I barely breathed, let alone talking.

He continued to talked anyway: "I know you feel bad, but this is an easy day" (Yeah of course I knew it was easy, I just hadn't done it for a long time and I was not ready for it). "If you come tomorrow, you will feel worse. But I want the type of person like you in my boot camp. I hope to see you tomorrow". (No thanks). He turned to the new girl and said: "I hope to see you tomorrow too". I bet she wouldn't come back.

Then people left. I went into the toilet and decided to throw up. But my last meal was 7 hours ago and there was nothing left in my stomach to throw up.

I lied when I said it was fantastic. It was terrible instead.

My poor heart. It was fatigued and still didn't get back well.

I dragged myself to the parking lot, soaking wet and extremely cold. Then I dragged myself home. I drove there at 40km/hour and I drove back at 20km/hour. I went there with excitement and I went back with exhaustion.

But it was really good. Really. I bet anyone persistent enough to follow the program will witness his endurance doubled tripled whatever.

If you want to give it a try, bring a plastic bag. What for, you may ask. To have something to puke into. I'm not sure how you feel after the session, but I assure that you will puke. So bring your sickness bag. Yeah, you're welcome.

For me, I don't think I will ever see him again.

Badass.