Muskego Muscle: Taking Up A 24-Day Fitness Challenge 8 Days Before Thanksgiving

No one really knows how many muscles are in the human body, because every capillary (the smallest of the blood vessels) has one.

However, it's easy to tell which ones you aren't using.

I'm a jogger, although of late I've been lax.  Good news for me: jogging or other 'cardio' workouts that use a whole lot of repetition involving the same muscles don't stay beneficial for long. Our bodies become more efficient, and therefore it takes more to burn off the same amount of calories.

So, I found out which muscles were doing just fine, thank you, and which ones wondered what I was up to as I lunged, skated and squatted through my first 'boot camp,' offered at Accel Fitness in Muskego.

Corey Paskiewicz is the owner and our instructor, and apparently I started on 'fun day,' which is a really misleading term.  I was surprised at how quickly I was sucking wind, even though high leg kicks, jogging or fast movement was part of the routine.  Each round of varying exercises used my stronger muscles as well as the ones I'd been neglecting in jogging.

The survivability of the camp is in its 'bite size' portions of exercise, rest and repeat.  The speed is also less important that the form.  It's better to have fewer 'reps' and perform the exercise correctly and deliberately than it is to flail about and negate any benefit.  You could also hurt yourself doing that, and that was a goal of mine to avoid.

The exercises (and I may have forgotten one due to delirium):

• lunges, both forward and lateral (side to side)
• a variation on the 'airplane' that requires straight legs and back to work those sleepy muscles
• what I called walking lunges, requiring deep bending by the knees; increased resistance came in if we opted to hold 15-pound kettle bells straight over our heads while doing this
• skaters - my jogging days helped here; it's basically a simulated speed-skating move, which can be intensified if you 'hop' when you also alternate legs
• jump/squats - pretty much what it sounds like, and I feel the better you become at this the more you will emulate a frog
• kettle bells squats, which add some resistance to your legs as you come up to a standing position
• a version of butt lifts that requires one leg to be extended as you lay on your back, while the other is bent at the knee, and your heel is planted on the ground with toes pointed up.  I found this exercise sadistic, but it's probably going to be the one that produces some amazing results. No pain, no gain.

It is an amazingly fast half hour, and my homework was to drink water.  Paskiewicz says a gallon a day is great, especially if you are actively exercising. 

My extra credit assignment for which I volunteered was to keep track of what and when I was eating.  "Ideally, you want to eat a little every two to four hours," Paskiewicz advised.  This keeps you from over eating after not eating and seems to be more appealing to me.  An editor's life is not 9 to 5, so I'm OK with that suggestion.

I return on Friday, and my goal will be to at least match the intensity I put forth in the first session.  This might be a trick, as I'll likely be more sore than I was on Wednesday. If so my second goal will be not to wince outwardly or utter "oof" at any point.