Vanessa’s Thoughts:

When I said, "This is torture" to the young lady next to me, she replied, "That’s why it’s called a workout." Makes sense.

"Boot Camp" reminded me why I dreaded going to gym class during my pre-college years. It began with the instructor asking the six of us what kind of a workout we wanted. I was hoping for something mild – maybe jumping rope and a jumping jack or two. In unison, the women around me yelled "hard," as in they wanted a "hard workout."

So we began our hard workout by running in place, followed by jumping jacks.

Then the instructor told us to run a lap on the track upstairs. Using the skills I had acquired trying to avoid exercise my entire life, I faked as though I was jogging along with them, and then I took a detour to the water fountain. (I made several trips to the water fountain during the workout, by the way) When they got back to the main floor, I jogged with them, appearing as though I had been alongside the whole time.

The rest is a blur. There were crunches and push-ups, with and without partners, and then we ran a couple more laps. Well, I sorta jogged.

But really, my instructor was very understanding. He explained that I should go at my own pace and that there were modified ways to do nearly all of the exercises that the fit people were doing.

I recommend this program to people who want a good workout and who can handle it. I, on the other hand, left before class was over so I wouldn’t pass out in the middle of the gym.

Boot Camp, a group exercise program at the RSC designed for those who are less likely to attend classes involving dance aerobics, includes a variety of different activities, depending on which day you go.

When I attended it for the first time on Thursday, I expected to be doing jumping jacks, push-ups and sit-ups and running laps around the gym, as described in the brochure. The prospect of that sounded pretty bleak to me, but when I showed up at 6:20 a.m., I found I couldn’t have been more wrong about what Boot Camp really involved. Boot Camp’s activities are rotated on a four-class schedule, with no two adjacent programs being alike. On Thursday, the class involved playing a rigorous game of ultimate Frisbee.

On the plus side, I found it to be quite a difficult cardiovascular workout that got my heart rate going, but I decided that I wouldn’t attend Boot Camp on a regular basis for several reasons. First, I enjoy exercising by myself rather than playing team sports because I can work at my own pace, and I don’t have to worry about teammates counting on my sports ability, which leaves something to be desired (in this case, the ability to catch and throw a Frisbee well).

Second, I enjoy working out to music – whether it is while running, using machines or attending an aerobics class – because it takes my mind off the fatigue I am experiencing. Boot Camp was designed for more "hard-core" exercisers who still like variety in their workouts.

Boot Camp class at the RSC is exactly what its name says it is – boot camp. My friend who is a member of the Army ROTC program described it as "an Army workout geared toward civilians." But I guess I wasn’t a prepared civilian, because Boot Camp was hard. We stretched to the count of our instructor, who does work for the Army ROTC program by the way, and then the fun began.

We did some circuit training where we did different exercises at all of the stations. Then we moved on to running. I am by no means a runner. In fact I quit high school track after two weeks, so this was not my cup of tea. We ran quarter-mile and half-mile sprints, and then ran suicides that reminded me why I quit playing basketball too. Then, just when I thought that the intense part of the workout was over, we played a game. This was no ordinary game though, the instructor picked cards out of a deck and each one had a specific aerobic meaning. For instance, the Jack stood for 25, which meant we had to do 25 push-ups.

That game went on for about 10 minutes, needless to say I didn’t play for the whole time. I did enjoy the stretching at the end, but the rest of the workout was a little hard-core for me. I think I will let the Army cadets handle this one next time.

The name of this aerobics class says it all. I definitely think it is fair to say that the class is only for those who have a lot of dedication and stamina. We started out with warm-up that consisted of basic stretching and a jog to wake us up. We then began playing a game of ultimate Frisbee that became more aggressive as the class went on. The rules basically were do not stop moving for the entire hour. I have never been so tired after a game that I always thought was relatively easy! Yet, at the same time I did feel like I had worked my body just like at any typical aerobics class.

I should clarify that not every boot camp class will play Frisbee. Rather I just picked a very good day to go! The class is actually a cycle of four different classes repeated. The four classes cycle through three high intensity workouts and one fun day. Boot camp is designed for the person who is going to go to every class, because it is meant to increase your ability with time. Also, at the end of the semester, the last class is a victory run outside to celebrate.