Observations From The Park

1. There is nothing like doing a bootcamp workout in the middle of a farmer’s market to feel like you are on center stage
2. Add a video camera from a South Korean TV station, and hey, you’re almost famous!
3. But darn, that fresh baked bread smells wafting from that stand behind smells so good.
4. OH WAIT WATCH OUT! Small children are sending stick arrows at you with their handcrafted string and stick bows.
5. Pardon me while I backward lunge through your picnic.
6.  And that man wading through the fountain-pool on the other side of the park certainly has the right idea.
7.  “Aw man, look at those chicks doing burpees”  …yeah that’s right.
8.  Five seconds can seem really long…Five, Four………Three………… Two………………………One
9.  But those muscles are growing, thats for sure!
10. There is nothing like a fantastic workout under the sun, with the chirping birds, and fresh grass to make two country girls feel like for a minute, they might not be in a crowded sticky city.

Love,

The Salty Doggers

Bumps In The Road Can’t Deter Team Cleveland Rocks

So Team Cleveland Rocks has had a rough start to Fiona’s Challenge!  We signed up for a bootcamp with Will during the first week, which was spectacularly challenging!  Fortunately I had a 6.5 hour flight a few hours afterward to sleep it off.  Unfortunately, that also meant that I would be out of town for 10 days and couldn’t get in another bootcamp.  I did, however, take some fun Pop Physique classes in LA which helped me keep in check for the challenge.  My partner also hasn’t taken a bootcamp since the first one with Will as she was sick all last week.  We’re hoping to get two in this week, but our schedules seem to just not want to match up with the bootcamp classes!  Last night I did a BURN class with Megan A and although it was super difficult at the time, I went away burning over 600 calories!  Hooray!  I might try Spinning today, and we’re going to try to get in a Bootcamp on Thursday.  Maybe Will will take it easy on us this time, but then again – we have to get in shape for that assessment, which we are both dreading!  Best of luck to the other teams, but gooooo Cleveland Rocks!

Bootcamp: Support To Make You Feel Successful

My work life could use a little more bootcamp.

I am doctoral student in the research phase of my degree–this summer, I’m working on my Master’s thesis.  Some people envy students in terms of the flexibility of the schedule, but so much freedom definitely has its own challenges. On a day-to-day basis, I’m all on my own to get it done. No one is checking to make sure that I’m making progress, and I’m the only one with a real stake in my work.  The final product will be judged on a very high standard, and although this is my first big research project, there’s very little feedback along the way about whether I’m on the right track or completely lost in the woods.  Such independence, we’re told, is the life of an academic.

Maybe this is why I find bootcamp refreshing, even when it’s painful.

Working with a trainer is really helpful! It’s not just that it’s nice to have someone tell me what to do, though that is definitely a big contrast to the rest of my life.  More, I’m coming to understand that the support part of the experience is key.  The bootcamp trainers know that we can make a lot of progress in a month. But beyond just saying so, they structure a program that will help reach our goals.  They suggest form corrections, making our movements more effective and reducing misplaced effort.  And they urge us on through the last few reps of a grueling set.  I can feel the difference and see the changes already.  I try to think about what this experience would be like if the final challenge was given to us without the support from bootcamp along the way.  It’s hard to imagine.

Of course, just as with my work, a big part of how much progress I make this month is up to me.  But it feels really good to know that I’m being set up for success.  I think there’s a lesson for my day job in there somewhere, too.

 Nicole (The “A” Team)

Balancing Fitness & Food with Team Italian-Asian Fusion

It is the end of Week One of the Fiona’s Challenge III. I have attended a couple of 7am bootcamps, various personal cardio regimens after work, and attended my local Shaolin Kempo Karate dojo sessions. Needless to say, my body is aching in an oh-so-good type of way. I needed to anti-up my fitness regime to get ready for a New York/Canadian cruise the week of August 8^th and my main goal is to look fantastic and feel more confident for my 25^th birthday in September. So when my friend Jessica mentioned to me the challenge and bootcamp, I was ready to sign up and train. Hard. After my first session which included doing mountain climbers, made me question my fitness level and tolerance. Since attending the gym regularly since January, I thought I was getting in much healthier shape. Boy Oh boy did Lauren and Kim whoop my ass into shape during the morning bootcamps and send my idea of my personal fitness out the window. I like the variety and personalized exercises to concentrate on the parts of my and my fellow challengers’ bodies. I was feeling my arms afterwards especially working with the weighted bars. I noticed even after receiving a $50 parking ticket, the morning workout and its happy-lifting adrenaline lingering in my system did not allow the brightly orange ticket waver me.

A good sweaty session is better than a chocolate snack, sweetly flavored cocktail, or good old Sam Adam’s brew which I have decreased my intake due to my restricted calorie lifestyle. But did I mention my LOVE for eating, cooking food, and think Julia Child’s passion for Butter is sound and logical? It was hard the first month since I am a rice, noodle, meat, dairy, carb-loving Chinese female who works in R&D for an ice cream company. My job requires me to “taste” which I previously confused with “inhale” samples of flavored ice cream (how do you think I gained the weight in the first place? HA!). Currently, I have trained myself to have no more than a spoon as I quickly toss the scoop of ice cream away (the inner wasteful voice having been squished and silenced with duck tape). I have traded the ice cream cartons at home with chocolate frozen yogurt and no sugar added strawberry or mango fruit popsicles to help cool me down in this wicked summer heat. Fruit smoothies with whey protein and healthy recipes from Women’s Health and Calorie Counter Database has help me loose thus far 12 pounds. And going!! So thanks to Healthworks and my partner for the encouragement as I wage my personal battle with my bathroom scale with a spatula and wok in hand ready to fight and kick some butt!

Good Luck to everyone!

Vivian from Team Italian-Asian Fusion

Team Believe It: Week 1 Recap

We’ve survived week one of the challenge with a new outlook on our ideals of being in shape. After two intense bootcamps with Christina and Jessica, muscles are hurting that have never hurt before. After lifted leg planks and countless push ups we’ve come to realize as fit as we thought we were – this is truly a challenge and we have a long way to go. With the music pumping and the encouragement from our instructors we’re ready to concour week two although we know to expect the unexpected. We may need to push each other through our individual struggles but weknow as a team we can make it. We believe it.

Pictured: Team Believe it “Before”

Announcing the Fiona’s Challenge III: Partner Edition Teams!

Thank you so much to everyone who applied for Fiona’s Challenge III: Partner Edition!  Each application was great, and we wish we could have accepted everyone.  But alas, it is a competition.  Here are the chosen teams!

Back Bay- 15 Teams

• Tufts Public Health Students
• The Daileys
• Team Chub Rub B-Gone
• Bootylicious Divas
• Live “Fit” or Die, NH
• The J’s
• Once Upon a Time
• Team Softpower
• Haute Cinnamon
• The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Featuring Natalie Goldstein)
• Shimmy Shakers
• Goat Girls
• Power House
• Blonde Bombshells
• Fit for a Queen

Brookline- 12 Teams

• Motivating Mamas
• Mapelton Maids of Honor
• The Smarties!
• Team TeenieWeenie Yellow Bikini
• Cleveland Rocks
• The Salty Doggers
• Jockette Jamz
• Notties to Hotties
• Time Dire Need to Fit Into Wedding Dress
• Fighting Eagles
• Body By Budweiser
• Reduce & Relocate

Cambridge- 12 Teams

• Weighting to Exhale… ‘cuz our pants are too tight
• Kick A** K’s
• Double Trouble
• The “A” Team
• FabFifties
• Somervillians
• Italian-Asian Fusion
• Mirela
• Team U-Turn
• Rindgies
• Cambridge Honeys
• The Sharps

Chestnut Hill- 6 Teams

• Em & Em
• Two Tones
• Get it Girl!
• Glen Rock
• The Blue Baraccudas
• The “We Want to be hotter” Mamas

Salem- 6 Teams

• No FatAssness
• Believe it
• Unstoppable
• Team Snacky
• EJ (Pronounced Edge)
• Building Buddies

Congratulations to all the selected teams! Have fun and get fit!!

Day 1 of Fiona’s Challenge

Less than 12 hours after finding out we made it into the challenge, I was at Bootcamp!  That’s right – 6am, Day 1.  Patty was great and quickly got down to business.  We started out with some high knees, jump ropes and butt kicks but soon got to the good stuff – squat thrusts, burpies, and hot potatoes with kettlebells (why do the hardest exercises have the craziest names?).  We did what felt like a million pushups in various combinations (with squats, with burpies, rolling over) and then in combination with mountain climbers. Pretty much anything you can combine a push up with, we did!  About 10 seconds into a series of Mountain Climbers I realized that five minutes is a LONG TIME!  I was ready to collapse after only a handful and in four weeks I need to be prepared to carry my team through 5 minutes.  Oh boy, there is a long way to go!  Patty seems convinced that I can do it, so I am going back on Friday for Bootcamp 2.  Bring it on!

-Emma (Team Em & Em)

Application Deadline Approaching!

Hello Ladies,

Thanks so much to all of you who have applied for the Challenge so far! 

Don’t forget, the application deadline for Fiona’s Challenge III: Partner Edition is coming up this Friday, July 9th!  All applications must be in before the end of the day on Friday. 

Please join us for our kickoff party on Monday, July 12 from 5 – 8pm at the Beehive in the South End.   All members and guests are welcome to attend! 

See you soon!
- Fiona

Fiona’s Challenge III: Kickoff Party Details!

Exciting news! The kickoff party for Fiona’s Challenge III will be on Monday, July 12th from 5-8pm at The Beehive in the South End!  Come by for great food, fun and company!  Grab a friend and apply now for the challenge!

Announcing Fiona’s Challenge III: Partner Edition!

The Healthworks fitness challenge is back… and this time, it’s a partner edition!   Members and non-members alike are welcome to apply for this fun, month-long workout program at Healthworks Fitness with a chance to win some great prizes from South End Athletic Company. 

If selected, you can participate in special Fiona’s Fitness Challenge Bootcamps each week, take advantage of our great facilities, try any of our many group exercise classes, and so much more!  At the end of the challenge, teams will compete in a final fitness challenge to determine which team at each club wins the prizes!  (More info available here.)

The deadline to apply is July 9th, and teams will be announced at a Kickoff Party on July 12th or 13th (more details to follow).  Challenge winners will be announced on August 17th!

Last time we had the Challenge, we received feedback that sometimes it proved difficult to form a team of 6-10 women.  That’s why this edition of Fiona’s challenge is in partners: just you and one friend!  If you are still looking for a partner, we recommend leaving comments on posts here with your contact information.  You may be able to find your next teammate by checking the blog frequently.

Check out the Fiona’s Fitness Challenge page on our website for more details!