You’re obvious familiar with your own boot camp home turf but do you ever wonder what takes place in other session’s outdoor spaces? I’m super nosy so I definitely do. Here’s a peek at the terrain we frequent at least 3 days a week in South Beach and some of the exercise that goes down while we’re there oh so early in the morning.
First things first. We all get to start our morning off with a lap around “the long track.” That tree and stone lined park may look petite and even picturesque but sometimes I feel like it’s some cruel optical illusion that just doesn’t end leading me to believe that objects that exist near AT&T Park are larger than we think.
Post run our next stop is a daily warm-up session of lunges, inchworms, push-ups, and squats. I like to read the engraved bricks along the wall while trying not to fall over doing my squats and push-ups.
The “Go Giants!” sentiments are entertaining and sometimes even heartfelt although I haven’t found one featuring an Erin yet. My mom’s name does make an appearance though, go figure…
Next we take a scenic run around the short track aka the little league ball park. I harbor serious feelings of loathing toward that ballpark as it’s where we do agility work which is a bit like an exhausting game of Mother-May-I featuring such fan favorites as sprinting, jump squats, and high skips. One day I really hope our instructor yells out, “bunny hop!” or “pirouette” just for fun.
The fencing around the park also doubles as a great place to practice your inner circus fantasy as that’s where we often do pull-ups, or in my case attempt to do a single pull-up. Also, on the last day of each 6-week session Brooks lets the group play dodge ball for half of class, but before you get excited take note that each time you get hit by the ball you’re going to have to bang out a number of push ups and squats. Pretty tricky, right?!
We also use quite a bit of more traditional equipment like kettle bells, medicine balls, and bands each day and working out outside with views like this make it possible to sometimes forget just how heavy a twenty-five pound weight can become after twenty minutes of a varied lifting circuit.
One of the two best uses of our outside space though, in my opinion, are utilizing the decorative wall for step-ups. If you can get out of bed the day after a session involving lots of this type of activity then you aren’t doing it right. It’s a good pain though. One that let’s you know you’re doing something very very right. The other is more of a beginners thing (to some extent) but I can’t do “real” push-ups yet so I really love completing them against the gigantic stone baseballs that line the sidewalk. When I’m having serious there-is-no-way-I-can-do-this thoughts I also like to pretend I’m strong enough to shove one of those granite monstrosities right into the ocean. Take that boot camp!
Any special spots in your workout areas that you feel particular fondness or disdain for? We’d love to hear about them!