A couple of weeks ago at boot camp, I had a little fit. By that I mean, I got all pouty because I kept feeling like I “was still the worst one there” and I “wasn’t improving at all!” So I cried a little to myself and basically had a little pity party right in the middle of class. I know, cool, right? Aren't you glad you read this blog?
Anyway, I just kept dwelling on the fact that I had seen a lot of physical improvement during the first four weeks, but felt like I’d really been stalled since then. Ten weeks (almost) with no real progress. Woe is me, I thought. I’ll never be any better than this!
Fast forward to a day later, when I was going through my movie shelf, and I found myself remembering how, during the first few weeks of boot camp, I always used to do the DVD they gave us. (They give you a workout dvd to do at home, because they say getting a third workout in is really crucial.) I used to be diligent about doing it, but I’d sort of slacked off after the first month.
Do you see where I’m going with this? Yes, luckily the cogs slowly started grinding. “Used to do the DVD … made a lot of progress in the first four weeks … stopped doing the DVD … stopped making progress…” The lightbulb went off!
So for the last week or so I’ve been making a lot of effort to keep up my routine outside of bootcamp. I haven’t been doing the DVD (I don’t really like it), but I’ve done the 30-Day Shred every day that I wasn’t in class. (It has a lot of the same basic elements – strength, cardio and abs – and even lots of the same moves. Except we don’t use weights in class.) I took a ‘rest’ day on Saturday.
And you know what? I feel stronger! I might have been imagining it, but I felt like class on Thursday was really good. I felt like I got a better workout, because I was actually able to push myself a bit further, rather than just struggling to keep up. I’m actually excited for class tomorrow, instead of dreading it, like I had been. And I’m actually kind of sad that I only have two weeks of classes left.
Who knew that you could actually get better at something, if you kept at it consistently? I know -- what a concept! I’ll take my Nobel Prize now, KTHXBYE.
