Sweat Day L.A. w/ Lacey Stone
You know those Sunday mornings when you wake up around 10 or 11, enjoy a nice cup of coffee and lounge around in your PJ’s for another hour or so?
Yesterday was not one of them.
I woke up at 7 a.m. — not that early but by no means “sleeping in” — to eat breakfast and make sure my food had time to settle before I engaged in what I was told would be “an a** kicking hour of drilling your body to be a sexy machine of athletic awesome.”
I was not disappointed.
Bi-coastal, celebrity trainer Lacey Stone’s one hour “Bootycamp” was intense, sweaty and a lot of fun.
Lacey’s background is in sports so she takes an athlete’s approach to training. Her bootcamp focuses on cardio, strength training and agility drills with a competitive edge. Each exercise is done in teams and the goal is to perform better than the other team, and in some cases, better than yourself.
As much as I would like to think that I’m a “grown-up” who has matured past the need to be “a winner”, I’m totally not.
The competitive aspect of the workout totally drove me to push harder than I ever do in group fitness classes.
We started off the workout with a 1/4 mile sprint. Lacey timed everyone and told us to remember our times, as we would try to beat them later. I crossed the finish line at 1:47.
An hour later — after countless sprints, push-ups and long-jumps (basically, forward moving jump-squats) — Lacey told us we were done.
Then she remembered we still had the 1/4 mile sprint. Whoops.
Everyone in the group was dead tired and ready to revolt. But then Lacey told us that the winner would get two free passes to FlyWheel (she’s an instructor there), and everyone’s energy miraculously returned.
I ran that last sprint in 1:33, improving my time by 13 seconds, and was the first girl to finish in the group (4th overall). I don’t think I’ve ever pushed myself that hard in a fitness class, let alone at the end of the workout.
For what? Some free passes? Or to prove to myself that I could do better?
We also had a plank competition in the middle of class where we were challenged to hold the pose for as long as we could. The winner would get a prize. Lacey asked that everyone at least make it to 45 seconds and then if anyone was still up at two minutes, she would call it.
Everyone made it to 45 seconds and about 80% made it to two minutes. I even continued to hold it past our release time, hoping that somehow I could still win. I’m just immature like that. Usually, I wimp out on planks around the 30 second mark.
It made me realize something…
The “prize” in fitness is achieving your goals: dropping that weight, completing that race, building those muscles. When you don’t try your best, you’re only cheating yourself.
You should view every workout as a competition. It’s silly that it takes an actual contest to get people (me included) to work their hardest. In the long run, the body you earn by beating yourself, is going to be a much better trophy than a free fitness pass.
Thank you for the lesson Lacey…and the sweet tank top :)
If you’re interested in trying Lacey’s “Bootycamp”, head over to her website: Lacey Stone Fitness. You can also check out her classes at Flywheel’s Larchmont and Weho locations.
Paula Porter says:
Good job!
Whitney English says:
Thanks Paula! You would have loved it :)
Hcg Drops Novato California says:
Smart Personal information, appreciate it. Relating to human beings who also wish to shed weight very rapidly, attempt our website for the most suitable path to get rid of weight problems very fast.