Breaking the comfort zone

Boy, the days go by fast, don't they? I feel like I just started this blog a couple week ago. And now I'm looking at the calendar and realizing that daylight savings time is over, my seniors will graduate in a mere two+ months, baseball season is upon us (although really, we're all just counting down to football, amirite?), and Tough Mudder is happening in 79 days. 79 sounds like a big number, right? Ehhhh. Considering how January, February and half of March have flown by, Tough Mudder may as well be next week, or so it feels.

GET IT?! Fruit flies. Har har har har

And as such, I am trying to up my game in what little time I have left before The Big Event. While I've made a lot of good progress currently, I still feel that I do, in fact, need to up said game. I did some lower body work (namely squats with dumbbells in hand) on Monday and could barely walk even two full days later. Ow. This shows me that I'm not necessarily as strong as I may have thought. Need more leg work! After I'm able to walk, though.

So in order to really start building le muscles I've done something crazy. I signed up for a month of Ultimate Bootcamp classes.

Some background/confession: I am not the type of person to sign up for bootcamp, or yoga, or zumba, or any fitness experience I've never done before. It's way outside my comfort zone, and I like to know (at least somewhat) exactly what I'm doing before I try something new. My wheelhouse is running - I know how to put on running shoes, I can judge my pace pretty well, and heck, I've been doing it for more than half of my life. In contrast, my experience with classes is only threefold: going to one (1) of my mom's aerobic classes when I was about 9, one (1) yoga class freshman year of college, and one (1) spin class a couple years ago. I was most assuredly too busy reading a book in the corner to observe the first one, the second one wasn't too memorable, and the third one had me flailing around on the bike frantically adjusting the little devil knob in the middle so I didn't die.

The knob spun ALL THE WAY AROUND. Is it on 1? is it on 10? I DON'T KNOW

Another example: To use the assisted pull-up machine at my current gym, I studied (read: stared creepily at) other people using it from afar for almost six gym visits before I worked up the courage to even walk over to it. Silly, right? It is silly. I could have asked a staff member, or a gym member to show me how to use it. Or I could have just walked over and figured it out my own damn self. I have a masters degree for crying out loud. And there are DIRECTIONS on the machine. I mean, come on. Do I have eyes? Am I illiterate? Yes, and no. So what's the big deal?

There is always that little nagging voice in the back of my head that says, everyone here is better than you, and yes they are watching you, and not only that, but they are actively judging you, and if you don't know exactly what you're doing, you should feel reeeeeal bad about yourself.

Well, screw that voice. One, it's terribly narcissistic, and two, it's just plain wrong.

One of my good buds has blogged about trying new classes, and it inspired me to shed the self-doubt and go for it. So I pulled the trigger and signed up for a bootcamp class - something I've always wanted to do, but never felt like I could. It's outside (fresh air!) and it supposedly gives you a great workout. It starts on April 1, and runs two times a week (Tues/Thurs in the evening). Plus, there was a Groupon for it which kind of sealed the deal. And I recruited a friend to come with me (anyone else who's local want to join?! get in on this!) so at least I won't be going alone.

I'm even talking about popping into a yoga class in the area sometime soon too. But let's not get TOO crazy up in here. BABY STEPS. Big, bootcamp baby steps.

How do you push the boundaries on your comfort zone? Done anything out of ordinary lately?