This month, at N. Overlook, we have a wonderful mix of repeat campers and new ones. It’s fantastic to see the level of comitment pay off and see women with little previous expereince with formal exercise become leaders in the group!

It's week four and some of these gals have been working hard for a good while now. Some began early summer, others joined more recently, BUT all had beautiful pushups this am! Be it one or ten in a row, they all looked great out there. Which reminds me to say that any newbies who are afraid to join should fear not. We all started at some point and we are all in different fitness places so there is good work to be done be it your first week or twentieth. Signups are happening NOW! Come join one of our groups and get the work done with lots of support.

Well, it’s week four already. What a fantastic, dedicated group of girls. I can not say enough about how these women push eachother! After our warm up on Monday, I asked the group if there was anything they wanted to focus on for the last week. The marjority vote was for “abs.” Be careful what you ask for!!

So we traded the rain for mosquitos and yet we are still out there. The sense of community helps keep us going. The jokes come a little easier as we become more and more comfortable with each other. And there are results being realized! Bodies are changing and there is plenty of summer left to enjoy showing them off and using them to experience new found interests. The quote of the week this week was from a fitcamper’s young son. He said, “Mommy, you have a dent in your side now!” He of course was referring to her improved and lovely waist!! Congrats to all those who are experiencing those changes and to those who will experience those changes as time rolls along.

There were some questions about the hand held body fat measuring tool used at each bootcamp.  I wanted to provide some information that will help clarify some questions that you might have had and didn't ask or clear up any confusion of how body impedance testing works!

Body impedance is measured when a small, safe electrical signal is passed through the body, carried by water and fluids. Impedance is greatest in fat tissue, which contains only 10-20% water, while fat-free mass, which contains 70-75% water, allows the signal to pass much more easily. By using the impedance measurements along with a person's height and weight, and body type (gender, age, fitness level), it is possible to calculate the percentage of body fat, fat-free mass, hydration level, and other body composition values.

Using this hand held devise to estimate person's body fat assumes that the body is within normal hydration ranges. When a person is dehydrated, the amount of fat tissue can be overestimated. Factors that can affect hydration include not drinking enough fluids, drinking too much caffeine or alcohol, exercising or eating just before measuring, certain prescription drugs or diuretics, illness, or a woman's menstrual cycle. Measuring under consistent conditions (proper hydration and same time of day) will account for best results.  I will be testing my own campers the last week of fitcamp again, so keep in mind that you want to stay hydrated and be consistent with your morning routine in order to obtain the most accurate results!  I hope this helps

On the first day of camp this session both the 5:30 and 6:30 class ran a timed mile as their very first exercise. Now, it’s week three and today we retested the mile. The improvements were amazing! EVERYBODY beat their previous time, most women significantly. I was bursting with pride as I watched them go; everyone just looked so much stronger as they raced around the wood chipped path. There are many favorite parts about training at fit camp, literally watching these women transform into powerful beings in only a few weeks is so inspiring. The best mile improvement was over two minutes! Another transformative experience is a camper who claimed “not to be a runner” it wasn’t in her genes and no one in her family was good at running. She did great. Today she did even better. It was a fantastic lesson in shedding old beliefs, realizing a limited view of yourself isn’t really true. She can really run!!

I just want to say how incredibly proud I am of not only the new fitcampers who joined in the July camp, but the one's who have stuck it out through the wet and cold days.  It has been such a great experience to see the improvement of these ladies.  These camps prove that you can make SIGNIFICANT improvements in a very short amount of time.  Keep up the hard work ladies.

First, a shout -out to the Macleay girls who, last week, rocked sets 25 squat jumps like it was no big deal! Love it. Today is the 5th of July and in all of our post bbq haze we were up and at it at 5:30am this morning. I was surprised to learn that everyone who came this morning had the day off- and still came. Bravo. Exercise routines can be successful anytime of day but there is something really nice about getting it done early. Or, as I say on some days, “The rest of your day is going to be easy after this!!”