Bosu Adventure

This week at the Bosu office was not a typical week for me; I went in on Wednesday, instead of my normal day—Friday, and instead of doing research on the computer, Sterling and I were sent out to do some shopping around at a few local sports stores. We had to bring along with us a couple of the newest Monster Rope’s inventions to try and find the best way to add additional weight to these products for people who are insanely strong and want to work out with a heavier rope. David and Steve also wanted us to document this excursion so we brought David’s mini camera-thingy to record everything. So with ropes and camera in hand, we set out on our little journey. We ended up going to 5 different places in search of the best and most efficient ankle weights we could find. Our first stop was the Sports Chalet on Sports Arena Blvd., which didn’t have much. Next we stopped at Big5 Sporting Goods, and they actually had some weights that worked, but we wanted to check out a couple of other places before we bought anything. We ventured on to Mission Valley and hit up the Sports Chalet there, as well as Sports Authority and Target. Out of all the places, we ended up finding the “winner’s” at the Mission Valley Sports Chalet. So after an afternoon of trying out all the different types of ankle weights out there and getting funny stares from people who had no idea why we had huge ropes around our neck, we headed back to the office with two options that we thought would work the best to show David and see what he thought.

La Jolla Half Marathon

This past Saturday was the 29th Annual La Jolla Half Marathon. I did not run it, but I knew a few people who did. The thought of training to run a marathon has passed through my mind before, but I have never really given it a whole lot of real consideration until more recently. With intense and proper training, I have no doubt in my ability to be able to accomplish such a feat, but as hectic as my schedule has been the past couple of years with school, and work, and internships, etc., I think I have just known that I would not be able to commit to a consistent training schedule to prepare for such an event. With graduation fast approaching in May, I’m a little scared to see where my next steps in life will take me, but I’m also really excited to have some extra free time to get to take on things that I’ve always wanted to do—like training to run a marathon. Obviously, I wouldn’t just shoot straight for running an entire 26 mile marathon; I’d start by running a 5K, then progressively train to be able to do a half, and eventually (hopefully) I will one day be able to cross “Running a whole Marathon” off of my “Things to Do Before I Die” list. A 5K shouldn’t be too much of a struggle for me, because I’ve ran short distances since high school and don’t have much of a problem completing 3-5 mile runs, but if all goes well, this summer I can start working towards training for a half marathon in hopes of one day being able to complete a whole one!

Today’s Morning Workout

Today was the first time I had been to a morning workout in two weeks because of Spring Break. I wasn’t completely inactive over the break or anything, but I knew it would be tough because I was definitely not working out as intensely at home. The toughest part, perhaps, was just having to wake up and get out of bed at 5:15 AM! After a couple of times of hitting “snooze” I finally was able to emerge from my bed and  get up and head out to Mission Bay. Upon arriving, the other interns and went through the usual set-up of laying out all of the ladders and setting up the cones, and by the time we were done, Chris already had everyone hard at work performing push-ups and sprints (talk about not wasting any time!). So the boys and I jumped in with the others and started our workout. Mid-way through, I was pretty beat already, but I tried to keep my energy up. This Wednesday morning, by far, had the most amount of people participating than any other morning workout I’d previously been to. I noticed there were also quite a bit of new faces today. All of the new people were working hard and brought positive attitudes with them to the workout, which was really awesome to see.  So even though I felt a little out-of-it this morning, overall, the energy of the entire group’s energy was really high and positive, so that was really helpful in motivating me to keep up my intensity and perform better. Before I knew it, the workout was over, and I was free to head home to shower, and take a quite power nap before class at 11!

Eating Healthy on a Budget

Like most college students, when I’m at the grocery store, I’m looking for the best deals and the cheapest food to get me by. Unfortunately, the types of food that catch my eye and seem to cost the least are not always the healthiest. Luckily, fruits and vegetables are usually a decent price, but going through the rest of the aisles, it’s so easy to pick up a package of Top Raman that can be as cheap as 10 cents if it’s on special and other things, like “Lean Pockets”, can be bought on special for $2.50/box containing two pockets. I’ve learned with these though, that just because it says “lean” does not technically mean that it is actually healthy.

Some advice I can offer for when you’re grocery shopping is to make a list! A list will prevent you from aimlessly browsing the aisles and picking up things you don’t really want or need. Another piece of advice: If you are trying to eat more healthy, then don’t buy unhealthy items! Once you have purchased that candy bar or box of cookies and take them home, you’re going to want to eat them. You’re going to open the cabinet up every day to grab your “good food” and the “bad food” is going to be staring you right in the face and eventually, you’re going to give in and eat it. So moral of the story, if you don’t buy the unhealthy, fatty foods, then they are not going to be in your house tempting you and you do not have to worry about giving in and eating them.

The past few months, I have been trying to shop around and eat more healthy and one thing I have come to realize is that eating healthy really isn’t that expensive. I used to claim that “I can’t afford to eat healthy”, but I now know that this was just a sad excuse for me to allow myself to consume even the most unhealthy foods. It is definitely possible to eat more healthy on a budget, you just have to be smart about what you’re buying and where you are doing your grocery shopping. So stop making excuses, and instead of reaching for that box of sugary, carb-filled cereal, or those starchy frozen pasta dishes at the grocery store, take the money you would be spending on the “bad stuff” and head over to the produce aisle and bag up some fresh fruit and veggies—your body will thank you later!

Dehydration vs. Hunger

For one of my classes at SDSU, I am part of a group who has to debate the topic that “Increased levels of exercise stimulate appetite that will slow weight loss.” For this debate, my group was chosen to be against this statement and had to come up with five points to further argue our side. One of our points that I had to further research is that “Improper care of hydration levels may cause the body to become dehydrated from exercise, thus being mistaken for hunger.”
I think this is a huge misinterpretation people have when they start exercising and it is a major player in causing people to overeat after exercise. I think that it is important for people to become more educated about proper hydration levels when they begin an exercise program because there are many risks that can come from being dehydrated. Dehydration occurs when one’s water intake is less than the water they are losing from sweating. When increasing one’s exercise levels, one must also increase the  amount of fluid being taken in, in order to keep up with the amount of sweat they are producing. Therefore, if one does not alter there fluid intake when they increase their level of exercise, they are likely to become dehydrated from exercising.
This dehydration can oftentimes be misinterpreted as “hunger.” According to an article “How Dehydration Effects Metabolism”, it is stated that “As we get older, we lose the ability to tell the difference between hunger and thirst. At times, when we think we are hungry we actually need water. We can not tell the difference, so we eat.” So it is not exercise that is stimulating our appetite which is slowing weight loss, it is actually dehydration that is being mistaken as hunger. Therefore, exercise is not necessarily the reason for an increased appetite and if one can maintain a properly hydrated body by ingesting enough fluids throughout the day, then it is likely that their “appetite”, or what they think is their appetite, will decrease, thus helping improve weight loss efforts.

IHRSA Convention

Every year, the International Health, Racquet and Sports Association (IHRSA) puts on a Convention and Trade Show where people from all over the world who are involved in the Fitness Industry can come together to teach, learn, and share their ideas. It is a great place for networking and for people to showcase new and old products to other fitness enthusiasts out there. This year, the Annual IHRSA Convention happened to be held in the lovely city where I reside–San Diego! And since BOSU was taking part in the Trade Show, the other interns and I were lucky enough to get to attend the event this year. So this past Friday, Mike, Sterling and I got together and headed downtown to the Convention Center. Walking in, I thought everything looked really amazing. There were a ton of different company’s showcasing their products and equipment and it was really cool to get to jump on the different machines and try this stuff out. Another cool thing we got to do that day was getting to meet and take a picture with a San Diego Chargers player Larry English! Pretty awesome…
We were not really dressed appropriately to do too much activity that day, so we mostly just walked around checking out the different booths and hitting up a bunch of places giving out samples of energy drinks and power bars (although I did try out a little rock climbing). But Saturday, we were more prepared and came dressed to work out just in case we wanted to try out any of the equipment.  Before wandering around on Saturday though, we sat in on a class that Steve had signed us up for dealing with Membership Sales Training. We missed the first 35 minutes or so because we thought it started at 10:00AM when it actually started at 9:00AM, but we were still able to pick up a few valuable tips from the speaker on some good sales techniques. The Trade Show started shutting down around noon that day, so we really did not have much time to get to walk around afterwards, but either way, I’m very happy that we even got to attend such a great event!

Morning Workout 3/10

At today’s morning workout, the other Interns and I would be doing more than just helping set up and participating; today, we each had an assignment to present to the boot campers. Mike’s assignment was to come up with a couple of drills for them to perform using the cones, and Sterling and I had the task of coming up with some new ladder exercises for everyone. The two I picked were one’s that I had just recently picked up from one of my classes when we were going over different agility-type exercises. Sterling, who is also in that class, also got his two ladder drills from that class because we actually have it together.  For the most part, everyone seemed to pick up the drills I presented pretty easily, but Sterling’s must have been a little more advanced to pick up because the class seemed to have a more difficult time getting them down. It was pretty cool to be able to contribute to class in this way because it was like our first time getting to step in and get to help lead an exercise. As the weeks go on, Chris intends to have us contributing more and more in this way so that we eventually can run class on our own. He seemed to be really happy with what we all came up with and it’s always helpful to get his feedback and advice because nothing can really replace what you learn from experience and he has been doing personal training for so long now that he has so much insight to offer us.

Tonight at BootCamp619

Every Tuesday night, I attend the 6:15 cross-training workout at Bootcamp619 with Chris Keith. After the workout tonight, Chris had something a little different planned for everyone. Since he has signed on with Group-On, he has gotten many new clients coming in and it is hard for him to dedicate his time exclusively to them during classes without it taking away from everyone else’s workouts, so he decided to start having “On-Ramp” type sessions on Tuesday nights after class. This is going to be a time where anyone who is new to BootCamp619 can come in and get a sort of one-on-one with some of his experienced clients who have been doing his classes for a while and ask questions about exercises and machines and basically anything they may be unsure about. I, personally, think that this is a great idea to implement because being somewhat new to the workouts myself, I remember how I felt the first couple of classes. It was pretty overwhelming when I first start and I felt kind of lost throughout the workouts, but I felt bad having to ask for help on how to do something. So this idea is great because not only is this a way to help ease them into the program rather than just being thrown into it not knowing how to perform the exercises or use the equipment, but they also get to meet some of the “veteran” clients and have a mentor to go to in case they need help or feel lost. Hopefully the new-comers will utilize this opportunity so they are able to gain the full benefits of training with Bootcamp619.

Today’s Morning Workout

I woke up this morning a little more excited for the workout than usual. I usually have to hit snooze a few times and remind myself why it is I’m getting up this early; but today I was more energetic at 5:20 AM. I got my workout clothes on, ate a banana, and headed out the door to De Anza Cove. One reason today was different was because the other interns and I are slowly starting to be given more responsibility with helping to run the boot camps and today, we each had the task of bringing some equipment. The other guys picked up the jump ropes and ladders, and I had to bring the cones. Chris wasn’t there yet when we all arrived but we have set up most of the stuff enough times now that we have a pretty good idea how to do it on our own. So, once Chris arrived, everything was set up and everyone was ready to begin wokring out. The workout this morning consisted of a LOT of ladder drills. We had to do three rounds of each drill and there were probably about seven or eight different ones. By the time we finished with these exercises, the workout was half-way over with. Next we did some rounds of jump roping and push-ups, and then we moved on to some sprinting and push-up intervals. Lastly, we did backward running up and downhill around the cones. The workout seemed to go by really quick but I still felt that we worked hard.

Day #2 at BOSU

So it was my second time in the BOSU office and I was going out of town for the weekend so I had to go in earlier than I usually do. This meant that I was going to be doing research all alone today since the other intern Mike doesn’t come in until later in the afternoon; however, the office was a little more lively than last time that day because not only was Steve there, but David was there this time along with his wife Jenn who I got to meet for the first time and I also officially met Mack, who also helps out at BOSU. That day I was hard at work doing research for David on Program Design. While doing research on some of the key concepts about designing an exercise program, I found myself being able to recall a lot of information I learned in some classes from my previous semester at SDSU that was relatable to the information I was looking up. In one of my classes, we learned all about designing exercise programs for individuals who are 65+ years old, and in another one of my classes we focused on how to design programs for all different populations including generally healthy individuals, overweight and obese people, people with different medical conditions, etc., based off of the American College of Sports Medicine’s guidelines—so being somewhat familiar with this information made it a little easier to research. Before I knew it, my time there was up and day two at the BOSU office came to an end.

Bootcamp619 Morning Workout #2

Going into my second 6AM boot camp, I had a better idea of what kind of workout to expect. I knew it was going to be different from the previous week’s workout, but I knew the intensity would probably be about the same—HARD. This week, we did not start out with a warm up run, instead, we just got right to it once the clock struck six. We began with a series of different push-ups in about one minute increments. This was really challenging for me personally, because push-ups have never exactly been my “forte”. Chris was coming up with more push-ups than I even knew existed, but apparently there is an endless amount of variations you can come up with if you really try to. One thing that was different this week from the previous week’s morning boot camp was that Chris had us run some sprints. This took me back to my high school soccer days when sprints were a consistent part of my workout almost every day. That said, it had been a while since I had sprinted, but I think I did ok. Running them actually made me want to grab a soccer ball and go out and kick around a little bit, but there was still more boot camp in store. We ended the workout with five rounds that consisted of jump roping, squats, some rowing, and of course, MORE push-ups. Despite being pretty worn out by the end of the session, it was another great workout to start out my morning!

Convention Center Workout

Every Sunday morning, Chris holds his boot camp class at the Convention Center downtown. This Saturday though, him and David Weck were also holding a morning boot camp class at the Convention Center, but this session was being held for the wives of people who were in San Diego that weekend on business. So while their husbands were in meetings and conferences all day, this gave their spouses something to do in the morning. Due to the rain, the class was supposed to be changed from outside at the Convention Center, to inside the Bayside Pavilion at the Marriott Hotel; but since the rain had stopped periodically when the workout was about to begin, the guys stuck to the initial plan and had the ladies work out outside. There was a bit of chaos at first because the jump ropes that were to be used for the rolling ropes segment of the workout were no where to be found. So the other interns and I went on a mission to find them and luckily they had just been stored away with some luggage and the bellhop was able to find them for us. After the ropes were located, we delivered them to David and he stayed with the women to lead their workout, while another intern and I went with Chris to go set up some T-shirts and dog-tags he wanted to give the ladies who participated. I’m not really sure what their workout entailed that day, but I do know that it started pouring rain on their way back and once they got inside, everyone was drenched. Despite being soaking wet though, all the women seemed to really enjoy the workout and David even gave them all jump ropes to take home so that they could practice and teach others how to roll a rope.

My Second Tuesday Night Workout

My next workout with Chris was on another Tuesday night at the BootCamp619 headquarters. Once I arrived, I helped Michelle set everything up for the workout that night, and then Chris had Michelle give me an introduction into the world of kettlebell training. This was the second time I used one of those things (the first time was the was at Revolution workout). They kept it pretty basic at the Revolution workout though, so I was excited to see what else Michelle would teach me.

There was still some awkwardness on my part when I first started with the kettlebell again, but I was trying hard to manuever it as best as I could without thinking about it so much. Michelle and I went over the basic moves I had learned previously, and then she also showed me some advanced techniques that are performed using the kettlebell. Although I still need a lot of work, I am confident that with practice I can eventually become very proficient using the kettlebell.

When it was finally around 6:15, boot camp began and we started our warm-up run to the parking lot at UCSD. This was the second time I had to do this run and it was not any easier than the first time to run up that big, long hill (but at least going back down it isn’t so bad). The workout was typical in its level of toughness—meaning I got my booty kicked, as usual (but in a good way!). We did a lot of leg strengthening and rowing exercises and I also got a lesson in doing a “real” squat as opposed to the partial one’s I have apparently been doing all of my life—who knew? Chris also showed me a couple of dynamic stretching techniques towards the end of class. All in all, it was another great workout at BootCamp619.

First Time at the BOSU Office

The first time I went to go work at the BOSU office, it was a Friday afternoon around 1:00 PM. Walking up to the all-glass building, I thought to myself, “This place looks classy…”. When I arrived to the actual office, another intern, Mike, was already there working on our first assignment and Steve was there working as well. The guys filled me in on what our first assignment was and I got to work helping Mike to complete it.  As I was working on the assignment, I was looking around and couldn’t help but notice all of the BOSU equipment displayed throughout the room. There were a bunch of ropes of all different sizes that are used for Rolling Ropes, some new and some used, that were set out on a couple of tables. There were also a few of the widely-known BOSU balls lying around along with some other stability balls. Another ball I noticed that I had never seen before, was one called the BOSU Pro Ballast Ball (try saying that five times fast). It was similar-looking to a stability ball, but was unique in that it had what appeared to be sand in the inside and the ball itself looked much more sturdy than a normal stability ball. We asked Steve about it and he gave us a quick demo on the benefits of using the BOSU Pro Ballast Ball over a regular stability ball.  One thing he pointed out was that it is much safer and can be used when performing dynamic exercises without having to worry about it rolling away because the sand inside keeps it steady. It was very cool being in the BOSU office for the first time and seeing all the different equipment and getting to learn how some of it is utilized.

First 6AM Workout at De Anza Cove

At approximately 5:20 AM, I woke up to eat some breakfast and get ready for my first 6:00AM workout at De Anza Cove with Chris Keith. Despite it being REALLY early, I was pretty anxious to see what the workout would be like. I would take running outdoors over running on a treadmill any day, so I was pretty pumped that we were going to be doing boot camp outside this morning instead of indoors. Upon arriving to De Anza Cove, I was trying to mentally prepare myself for the workout because I usually have a hard time functioning at such early hours. I expected it to be freezing outside but to my surprise, the coldness was much more tolerable than expected—and we warmed right up with a nice jog to the Pier and back. After the run, Chris wasted no time with getting straight to business. We started off with some lunging and push-up intervals…which doesn’t sound too bad, but lunging while holding a 20 lb. ball above your head is HARD after the first couple of sets. A lot of the exercises we did  incorporated dynamic movements while holding that ball above our heads, and that was really hard for me, but I tried my best to keep up. Before I knew it, we were on our last set of exercises which was a series of plyometrics in and out of the ladders on the ground. My legs must have been tired at this point because there was a rule that if you messed up the ladders, you had to step out and do 20 push-ups—which I had to do three times! An hour seemed to go by really fast, and at the end of the work out I was worn out, but I felt really good about myself and was ready to start my day!

Resolution Workout

The Resolution workout held at Road Runner Sports was the first workout I did with Chris and the other guys, and it was great! It was very cool to see so many fitness enthusiasts all come together to put on such a great event.  This workout included all sorts of different activities, some that were familiar to me, and some I had never heard of. The workout started with some drills that incorporated doing various plyometrics in and out of cones and ladders. Next, David Weck led a small warm-up of Rolling Ropes, which I really enjoyed because I had never tried “rolling” a rope before—needless to say, I wasn’t very good at it, but it was fun trying to learn. After we were warmed up, the workout intensified. Everyone split up into two groups and each group had a separate circuit to follow and go through 3-5 times. Kettlebell exercises were on the list of things to do, and I had never tried working out with these before either. It was kind of hard to get the hang of it, and it felt super awkward at first, but I know that with repetition I can improve and my movements will flow better. There were some exercises using the BOSU balls, including “Get up Get downs”, which I definitely felt in my core the next day. I was also introduced to tire jumps and some other dynamic exercises I had either never done before, or had not done in a while. And despite being extremely sore the next day (the good kind of sore, of course), it was an amazing workout and I can’t wait to have more of them with Bootcamp619.

My First Boot Camp Workout

When I think boot camp, I think intense military training; so going into my first boot camp class with Chris, I expected nothing less than a workout that would kick my booty and leave me sore the next day (especially since I hadn’t done any extreme workouts in a while!). I have participated in boot camp type classes at different gyms, as well as other random outdoor boot camp-influenced workouts, but I had never done a class that was run by someone who was actually in the military and went through the real boot camp experience.

At the first cross training session I attended at the BootCamp619 headquarters, I got to meet Michelle Mackler for the first time and helped her set everything up to prepare for the workout. Instead of working out with everyone though, Chris had me follow him around so that I could get an idea of the way that he runs his boot camp. I really enjoyed this experience because rather than get thrown into the workout not knowing what I was doing, I was given the opportunity to watch and gain a bit of insight into how he does things. This also allowed me to ask him questions and get some perspective on his training tactics.

It was really awesome and motivating to see all of the people there working so hard and being so focused on reaching their goals—whether their goals happened to be weight loss, strength gains, toning up, or just trying to stay fit. Whatever the goal may be when joining BootCamp619, one thing is for certain; with hard work and dedication, I have no doubt Chris will help you reach and even exceed those expectations.

Beginning my internship with BootCamp619 & BOSU

Upon receiving the email from the Exercise and Nutritional Sciences Department at San Diego State regarding Chris Keith and David Weck’s need for Interns, I decided to look more into this opportunity. The first step in applying for the Internship required us to not only send in our resume and cover letter, but we also had to write two essays—one discussing the importance of strength training in deconditioned individuals and the other was about the effectiveness of balance training on enhancing performance. Once I submitted everything, the next step in the process was to phone in to a conference call with Chris, Steve, and the others applying for the internship to go over what was going to be expected of us on both the Bootcamp619 side as well as the BOSU side of things. Chris and Steve also wanted to get an idea of what experience everyone had in the fitness industry as well as what our future plans in the business entail. After the conference call, the final step before the in-person interview was to write one last essay on where we want to be in the next five years, how we plan to get there, and some accomplishments we hope to make along the way. With my final essay submitted, all that was left was the interview. I left my apartment fairly calm and collected, but then I got lost trying to find the BootCamp619 headquarters. So after breaking Rule#1 of what NOT to do when you have an interview by arriving late, I walked in just a tad bit nervous and frazzled. Luckily, Chris and Steve were understanding about it, and once we got to talking my nerves subsided a little and I was able to tell them more about myself as well as discuss the internship position at hand. Aside from being a little late, everything seemed to go well because here we are now! And this is how my journey with BootCamp619 and BOSU Fitness began.