“Given the choice between the experience of pain and nothing, I would choose pain”

I’m not sure what idiot came up with that quote, but he obviously never attended Jen Hendershott’s Phat Camp.  Ok, it was actually William Faulkner and he did win a Nobel Prize, so perhaps he’s not a total idiot, but still …

My friend Terri said it best just before camp this morning … everything hurts from my ankles to my neck.  Just when you think you’re doing awesome and in primo condition, an experience like this comes along and knocks you down a peg or two.  I have not felt pain like this in a very long time.  I remember those times when I’d stop and start my bouts at the gym in the days of old, my first few times back I would suffer similarly, but I figured this time since I’ve been working out regularly that I would be okay.  Not so.

We started off Friday evening with a brief meet and greet with Jenn, her staff and all the campers – there were 70 women there in total !!  We then got right to work with a boot camp style class that literally kicked our asses.  I normally don’t participate in or enjoy classes at the gym; I always stick to my own routine for several reasons, but this class was fantastic.  We performed push ups and lunges and squats and sprints … just to name a few.  That was followed by a talk from the guest speaker Tosca Reno, who I’ve seen at a few events before, but I am always truly inspired by her story.  Tosca was also there to promote her new book “Your Best Body Now”, which I bought of course ;-)  I also got a chance to speak to Tosca one-on-one about my new career, but more on that later.

Friday night I wasn’t sore, but I can tell you I slept like a baby because I was so exhausted from the boot camp class.  We arrived Saturday morning and got straight to work again; first we worked on chest, then shoulders.  Each workout was about 45 minutes to an hour long, and all very quick paced – much more of a circuit style where you incorporate cardio and leg work in the form of lunges, Burpees, mountain climbers and my new most hated exercise of all time, bear crawls.  You are constantly in motion throughout these workouts, so even though they are weight training classes, your heart rate is elevated throughout and you’re working up a sweat big time !!

After lunch Jenn gave a seminar on supplements and we had the opportunity to ask questions as well.  I gotta say I love the honesty of this woman.  One of her many business ventures is selling supplements, but my question to her was to ask how she felt about not supplementing.  I watch what I eat all the time, I count my calories and monitor my intake of protein, carbs, fat and fibre to ensure my levels are adequate, and I exercise regularly and have an abundance of energy to do so.   Her answer was unabashedly honest – don’t supplement !!  She confirmed a theory I’ve always held and reinforced my decision not to supplement – they are there to assist you in areas where you are lacking.  Among other things, they can help give you energy, help you recover faster, help with fat loss, or help you to raise levels of nutrients that might be lacking (such as protein shakes and powders).  However if you don’t need assistance with any of this, and can get results all on your own and naturally, that’s the way to go.  Yippie !!!

The afternoon was yet another strenuous workout to work both our biceps and triceps.  They gym we were at was actually awesome, and in addition to the typical weight room and cardio areas, there was a huge area in the back for MMA training – Mixed Martial Arts.  There’s a boxing ring, a huge area with thick rubber mats where we ran on several occasions sans shoes, and another area that had things like monkey bars and those MASSIVE truck tires that you have to lift and flip across the room … and yes we did all that this weekend too.  Just for fun they asked us to give the monkey bars a try, and I managed to get all the way across a good 20 rungs !!  I have never been able to do this before because I didn’t have the upper body strength, so I was quite proud of myself for that accomplishment :)  I think there was another Q&A after that, but to be honest I was so exhausted it’s all just a big blur right now.

I woke up this morning almost completely unable to get out of bed, and could not believe I had another day of this torture ahead of me.  Just pulling my tank top over my head was agonizing … how on earth was I to show up and do more of those intense and insane workouts ??  I was somewhat comforted when I arrived to find that almost everyone there felt the same pain as I did, but Jenn had no pity and worked our asses as hard as ever.  We started with a cardio workout utilizing various pieces of equipment in the gym – nothing more I’d rather be doing at 9 am on a Sunday I can tell you that !!  A simple jumping jack sent waves of excruciating pain through my pectoral muscles.  UGH.  That was followed by a back workout, and then a break to eat and shop at camp store where I got some awesome Phat Camp souvenir duds - at least there was some pleasure in being able to go shopping.  And just when you thought you could not feel any more pain, we ended the weekend with a killer leg workout, even though our legs were already twitching and trembling from the previous day’s festivities.  After nearly an hour of straight legs, they ended with a pop squat contest, the winner of which would get free admission to next year’s camp.  I didn’t win, but I did place 3^rd of 70 women, so I’m pretty proud of that too … not bad for an old broad ;-)  11 straight minutes of pop squats followed by full on push ups for as long as you could go … and if that doesn’t sound like a long time I dare you to give it a try.

Even though I’m making this out to be a weekend of pure torture, pain and suffering (and don’t get me wrong, it was), I have to admit I had a blast :)  This was even more fun than I remember the first time I attended 5 years ago, and I’m pretty sure this will now become an annual event for me.  I learned lots of new and inventive exercise ideas, gained tons of information on the industry, and met all kinds of amazing women.  There were women from all over Canada and the U.S., of all shapes and sizes, and ages that ranged from 11 to 54.  We laughed, we cried, we sweated and we bonded.  I’m the first to admit I am not usually the type to participate in these touchy feely, Kumbaya sort of affairs, but it was truly an awesome weekend. 

And best of all, as planned I grilled several people about my new careers endeavors, and got enough information to take it to the next step.  Gonna save that for my next entry though as I’m starting to exhaust my fingers now, and that’s about the only body part I have left that doesn’t ache.