Pain Is Inevitable

At the age of 51, at 5:15 a.m., I dragged my reluctant, 30 pounds overweight ass out of bed to attend my second fitness bootcamp. Despite knowing that exercise is important for living a long, healthy life (and being a Mom Again, I long for longevity, if not immortality), I searched for every excuse I could to avoid doing this 45-minute high-intensity workout again, searched all the way into the parking lot—desolate at 5:55 in the morning. Maybe, I thought, no one else will show up and the class will be cancelled.

Fortunately, several other campers had already entered the brightly lit Shao-Lin DO Center, a beacon in this dark hour of the morning. Right inside the door was Jason Yun, proprietor of Yun’s Fitness Bootcamp, which was meeting this morning at the Hilliard, Ohio location. So—there was no escape for me. And that’s good.

Yun’s Fitness Bootcamp is like no exercise routine I’ve done before. I’m used to the hopalong, dancealong, Zumba-esque aerobics class with a frightfully excited expert leading the rest of us in complicated sequences of lock-step moves. Nor is it what I expected—a screaming Sarge commanding us to ‘drop and do 20.’ Jason’s sessions include a variety of weight-training exercises and simple calesthenics. His demeanor is encouraging but calm, and everyone works and advances at his/her own pace.

Jason’s workout is based on interval training, which he describes as “…high intensity exercise performed for a certain amount of time or reps, followed by less intensity or complete rest for a certain amount of time or reps.” Key words here—high intensity. And let me tell you, I’m feeling the effects.

The warm up for my first class was about 8 minutes; that meant at 4 minutes, my thighs were already screaming for help. For a week afterwards, I continued to feel the burn. But by the time I arrived at my second class, I knew what to expect. After all, a writing on the wall (literally) said, “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is a choice.” I completed the workout feeling invigorated, and prepared for the short-term pain that is to come.

As I was leaving, a fellow camper asked me, “Do you like this?” I had to admit I did. “Are you feeling sore?” she asked. To which I should have replied, “Are you kidding?”

So, in an effort to gain, if not immortality, at least vitality, I will get up at 5:15 a.m. to attend the next Fitness Bootcamp class, and the next, etc., looking forward to the day I can drag my reluctant, 20 pounds lighter ass out of bed.