Camp Gladiator

[JeeberD]

Camp Gladiator is an outdoor boot camp program in the southeast US. It started in Austin in 2008 (after the founder won seed money by winning American Gladiator) and has spread across the eastern half of Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Colorado.

It's an hour-long exercise program, led by a trainer. It's broken up into five-week cycles:

Week 1: Endurance Week - Keeps you moving the entire hour at a 60-75% rate
Week 2: Strength & Agility Week - Focuses on muscular strength and quick movements
Week 3: Interval Week - Has you move at 75-100% rate, then alternates in "resting" exercise while your body recovers from the high intensity work
Week 4: Peak Week: Push yourself as hard as you can, as long as you can, as fast as you can
Week 5: Community Week - Campers are expected to go to 50% of the usual amount of workouts, giving their body some recovery time; non-members are welcomed to attend workouts this week

I've been a member of CG since June 15, 2016, so a little over 5 years now. My wife started before I did, and bugged me to try it until I gave in and gave it a shot. I immediately fell in love and dropped the gym membership. I love having the trainer tell you what to do, and you just do it, I love the well-rounded workouts that force me to exercise my entire body, and I love the community of the workouts. Everyone is always so friendly and pushes each other to work hard to reach new peaks.

In the 5+ years that I've been a member of Camp Gladiator, I've attended 330 workouts. That may seem like a big number, but I have a friend who started about the same time that I did and she is at like 1400 workouts. Inconsistency has been my enemy, and this dynasty is to help me get back on track, being consistent, and getting my workouts in.

During the past five years, I've attended for various reasons. I've wanted to gain muscle and lose fat and have used the heaviest weights and used protein powder to build muscle...with varying measures of success. When I don't have the success I want, I get discouraged and stop going.

I also stop going when I have injuries or body pain. I've dealt with knee, back, foot, lung, etc issues over the years. CG trainers are REALLY good about providing alternate exercises if you have an injury to a specific area. However, I have NOT been good about asking for alternates and usually just skip working out if my knee or back or feet are bothering me. This has caused me to miss time for months at a time.

Going back in time, here's my monthly workout totals:

June 2016 - 2
July 2016 - 13
August 2016 - 9
September 2016 - 9
October 2016 - 6
November 2016 - 8
December 2016 - 2
January 2017 - 14
February 2017 - 10
March 2017 - 9
April 2017 - 10
May 2017 - 6
June 2017 - 12
July 2017 - 4
August 2017 - 5
September 2017 - 4
October 2017 - 4
November 2017 - 4
December 2017 - ZERO!!!
January 2018 - 5
February 2018 - 2
March 2018 - 7
April 2018 - 7
May 2018 - 10
June 2018 - 10
July 2018 - 5
August 2018 - 4
September 2018 - 11
October 2018 - 8
November 2018 - 6
December 2018 - 5
January 2019 - 12
February 2019 - 4
March 2019 - 6
April 2019 - 8
May 2019 - 8
June 2019 - 11
July 2019 - 2
August 2019 - 5
September 2019 - 5
October 2019 - 5
November 2019 - 2
December 2019 - 1
January 2020 - 3
February 2020 - 3
March 2020 - 5
April 2020 - 4
May 2020 - ZERO!!!
June 2020 - ZERO!!!
July 2020 - ZERO!!!
August 2020 - ZERO!!!
September 2020 - 6
October 2020 - 0
November 2020 - ZERO!!!
December 2020 - ZERO!!!
January 2021 - 2
February 2021 - ZERO!!!
March 2021 - 6
April 2021 - 7
May 2021 - 3
June 2021 - 5
July 2021 - ZERO!!!
August 2021 - 6 (so far)

You can see trends in my attendance. I tend to get lazy in the middle of summer, when it's crazy hot, and at the end of the year, when it's super cold. I generally work out early morning, so that I can get my workout in before I have to start my day and worry about the wife and the kids and the dog and work.

My attendance REALLY took a hit during the first year of the pandemic. CG stopped in-person workouts for the first time ever, and started doing virtual workouts over Zoom. I did a handful of those, but didn't really like them and didn't keep at it. I started going again after I got vaccinated, but haven't gotten back up to the workout levels I used to be at when I was at my peak. I've started going again fairly consistently this month, thanks to my trainer getting on my butt, and my wife getting back at it, too. It's easier when we're both going and not keeping each other up late.

I just want to post my workouts here, if I attended or not, maybe a simple breakdown of what we did, and IDK what else. I just want y'all to get on my butt if I stop posting, or if I start saying that I skipped or something.

I don't think I'm going to post weight info. Weight isn't really a measure of success for me. Yes, I could stand to lose some weight, but I'm not anywhere near obese (despite what my BMI says). My primary goals are to have strong lungs, a strong core, and a strong back. My back has given me problems since I was a kid due to some minor scoliosis, and when my back and core are strong I have fewer issues.

Tomorrow will be day #2 of August Peak Week, workout #331 total and #7 for this month. I just have to get up at 3:50am for the 4:30am workout. Which means I need to go to bed no later than 10:30pm tonight. Keep your fingers crossed that I can drag my butt out of bed for the second consecutive day and make it there. I'll let you know!

[JeeberD]

Oh, and my goal would be to consistently make 14 workouts per camp. 3 per week, plus 2 during community week. However, things come up every once in a while. If I can do at LEAST 10 per camp, I suppose I'll be satisfied with that. I've only done it 9 months before. And I should be able to do it for August if I go to all that I want to...at 6 already, two more this week and two more next week.

[JeeberD]

4:30am - Tuesday, 8/24/21
77 degrees, 45% humidity, 6mph winds

Workout #2 of the week
Workout #7 of the camp
Workout #331 total

Did the typical warm-up exercises and jog. After that, we did four rounds of exercises:

Round 1 - 2 minutes
2 sets of exercises, 2 reps on rotation for the full 2 minutes
After the 2 minutes ended, run for 2 minutes

Round 2 - 3 minutes
3 sets of excercises, 3 reps on rotation for the full 3 minutes
After the 3 minutes ended, run for 3 minutes

Round 3 - 4 minutes
4 sets of exercises, 4 reps on rotation for the full 4 minutes
After the 4 minutes ended, run for 4 minutes

Round 4 - 5 minutes
5 sets of exercises, 5 reps on rotation for the full 5 minutes
After the 5 minutes ended, run for 5 minutes

After that, we were done. A nice, active, sweaty Peak Week workout!

[JeeberD]

4:30am - Thursday, 8/26/21
78 degrees, 83% humidity, 2 mph winds

Workout #3 of the week
Workout #8 of the camp
Workout #332 total

Thursday is a weight day, so I brought my 20# and 25# dumbbells. We did the typical warm-up exercises and jog. After that, we did:

6 weighted squats
6 shoulder presses
6 flys

8 weighted squats
8 shoulder presses
8 flys

10 weighted squats
10 shoulder presses
10 flys

After completing those, we took our weights and did weighted walking lunges for about 30 yards. We then did walking lunges to exhaustion around the quarter-mile loop, and once exhausted we ran the rest of the loop. Picked the weights back up and did a farmer's carry to our mats. Rinse and repeat until we were told to stop.

The next round was very similar, except that it was:

6 weighted tricep extensions
6 chest press
6 leg drops while holding weights up

Then do them 8 reps, then 10 reps.

The travel exercise was weighted bear crawls this time for 30 yards, then bear crawls to exhaustion and then run the rest of the loop. Repeat until time is called.

That was it for today. It was a good workout, and I ended up nice and sweaty and out of breath with tired muscles. One of the campers, who is the mother of the trainer, celebrated her 1400th workout this morning! I'm so far behind that, but I'm going to celebrate that my 8th workout this camp is the most I've done in a camp for over two years, since June 2019.

I almost skipped it this morning when I woke up with low back pain/tighness. But I dragged myself out of bed, got there early enough to do some good stretching, and took it slow until my back loosened up. I probably would have skipped the workout the majority of the time in the past, so good progress in pushing myself without going all-out and risking additional injury.

That's it for Peak Week for me. Next week will be Community Week, where camps are only held Mon-Wed. I'll go Monday and Tuesday, and get up to 10 workouts this month before taking it easy the rest of the week.