What does Burn Boot Camp mean to me?
I’ve always struggled with my weight and body image. After college I yo-yoed between extremes of up to 50 pounds. 5-0. And I’ve never been pregnant, so that’s not baby weight, baby!
Before Burn I was going to another gym that I really liked. I learned a lot about strength training and enjoyed the challenge, but after a while I found those same excuses creeping in again of why I should just skip the workout that day.
My friend Katelyn who had also gone to that gym mentioned some free workouts she was doing. If you know me, I LOVE a deal, and if it’s free, I’ll take 2!!
I showed up at Athleta, and honestly wasn’t expecting much. The workouts I had been already doing were super challenging, I was gonna kill this free little boot camp class, right? Wrong!!
What immediately shocked me was that Alexis already knew several people by name. Uh oh, I thought, now I’m in for it!
We started the warmups, doing these things called “pickups.” My legs quivered. How many of these are we gonna do?? Are we done yet?? And Alexis just yelled one of her famous lines, “You can do anything for 10 seconds!”
Burn offered a 30 day free trial, so naturally I booked the app for 5:30am classes for the entire month. It was free after all, and I wanted to get the best value possible!! I showed up every single day, showering at work in the girls’ locker room, because it was only going to be a month. You can do anything for a month.
And then that fateful day came when I met with Alexis, and she asked what I was going to do. “I think I’m going to get the punch card,” I said. She was pretty surprised. We both knew I had busted my butt for 30 days without missing a camp. How long would a 10-camp punch card last me? 2 Weeks?
I went home with the membership papers clutched in my hands. Here was the Golden Ticket I had been wishing for for the past 15 years of my life. I had finally found something sustainable that I loved, and could get off the rollercoaster!
Or I could crumple up that Golden Ticket and throw it away.
Did I mention that after that month of Burn workouts I won my work’s Biggest Loser competition?
But it wasn’t about what I had lost, it was about what I had gained. It was a confidence and strength that I had never had before. And I had finally stuck with something, and had shown up for myself day in and day out, no matter what the weather, no matter what the workout.
I finally joined, and I never looked back.
I show up for myself, and Burn continues to show up for me. I can’t even begin to explain the importance of Burn in my life during the pandemic. The way that our trainers and community showed up was the rock and stability that we all needed so desperately during such an uncertain time.
I honestly don’t know how I would have made it through without Burn. So many people report that their mental health has suffered due to losing their exercise routine. Burn is a sense of normalcy in a strange and unfamiliar new reality. Seeing the trainers’ smiling faces and hearing their encouragement reminds me that I am capable of more than I know, and not to give up even when times are tough.
I seriously can’t thank Christine and Alexis (and Lara!), and the entire staff, enough for creating this magical place that feels like a second home to so many of us. I can easily say that joining Burn Boot Camp is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life.
Find a Burn Boot Camp near you: https://burnbootcamp.com/