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" Hi guys! I&amp;#x27;m writing this post with sore arms, legs and abs--which, let me tell you, is the best feeling--ever. This crazy fitness journey has only just begun, but I&amp;#x27;m feeling like I&amp;#x27;ve already made progress. After all, I did the hardest thing and took that big first step: showing up and giving my all. Oh yeah, it totally kicked my butt...**** I&amp;#x27;ll admit, I was a little nervous about joining a fitness boot camp. Friends had warned me that they puked during their fitness boot camp experiences. Others admitted that they quit. And more just looked at me kind of strangely when I told them what I signed up for. &amp;quot;You&amp;#x27;re doing this because?&amp;quot; But I knew the reasons--it was time to jump start this post-baby body. Now, or never. So I showed up at the park where the camp was held and kind of held my breath. A group of women gathered, and our adorable trainer, Bri from SassyFit, introduce herself (think Jessica Alba with blond hair)--the perfect inspiration! I expected her to pull out a whistle and tell us to drop and do 20 push-ups (remember our mean trainer vs. nice trainer discussion?), but instead she gently eased us into our first 15 minutes of cardio (whew). But where she was gentle, the workout wasn&amp;#x27;t. After running up the most enormous hill in all of Seattle, then doing jumping jacks at the top, only to run down and do it all over again, (yes, it was as hard as it sounds), I started to feel a teeny bit nauseated. The nausea lingered and I wondered if I might vomit. Fortunately, I didn&amp;#x27;t. We alternated between heavy-duty cardio and then back to our towels for push-ups, crunches, plank poses, etc. It was tough, but not impossible. And after I got the hang of things, I adjusted, and the nausea subsided. Some observations: *Feeling the flabbiness in the thigh region when you&amp;#x27;re doing various hops and lunges across a grassy field just makes you want to work harder. One boot camper joked that she should have worn her Spanx underneath her pants, which made me laugh. *Jumping rope. It&amp;#x27;s been years since I jumped rope. Um, why did I like to do this again when I was a kid? *Bri, our trainer, made us feel a lot better when she explained that the &amp;quot;fat&amp;quot; that most of us thought we had on our thighs and bellies was probably less fat and more saggy, unused muscles. Muscles, she said, stretch out and sag and actually look fatty when you aren&amp;#x27;t in shape. When you tone up, the muscles tighten up and shrink back to their correct size. She used the grapefruit vs. orange analogy to talk about size: Grapefruit = untoned muscles. Oranges and lemons = toned muscles. I was so glad my friend Wendi was able to join me (though, sadly, one of my other pals who signed up, had to leave halfway through after she got a massive migraine!). Having a friend there (who also recently had a baby) made me feel good--plus, we laughed so hard during the bunny hop drills (not what they were technically called) that we both almost peed our pants. So, there you have it! My first boot camp ... and I didn&amp;#x27;t die. I&amp;#x27;ll be writing more each week about my journey. Thanks for cheering me on! xo, Sarah Photo: iStock"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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