It’s still dark when I am jolted from sleep by the sound of my alarm. What is going on, I think? Did I set my alarm incorrectly after a drunk fun cinco de Mayo? And why do I not feel hungover? Oh yeah. I didn’t go out for cinco de mayo because I am getting up at 5 am to work out! What is going on!?

This may sound like a normal morning for B.o.B.! However, this is NOT BoB! This is Erika (AKA Big Sis*). And if you don’t know, I am the much less motivated sister in the physical fitness realm of life! But this month, I have made the commitment to change!

During a moment of weakness for a great deal on Groupon and the feeling that the button on my pants would burst at any given second, I purchased a month long membership to Tampa Adventure Boot Camp for Women! The camp meets every day Monday through Friday for an hour each time at 5:30 am, 7:00 am, and 9:00 am. You choose your preference. I chose 5:30 in an effort to make it to work on time. My first day I made it to boot camp at 5:30 and then didn’t make it to work until 10:00 (I start at 9:00) because I wanted to rest for “just a minute.” The rest of the week though, I got into my groove.

Tampa Adventure Boot Camp for Women is 3 or 5 days a week. The camper can choose any 3 days or come all 5 for an additional charge. Role is not taken but Coach Jim says he remembers campers. It is made up of cardio and strength circuits that include jogging, jump rope, squats, sit ups, push ups, burpies, and any other torturous exercise that comes to mind; all the while Coach Jim plays music from his iPod and shouts encouraging Whoo Hoos!

The class is great for any level of fitness. Coach Jim always shows 3-4 levels of intensity and high and low impact options. He also sends out daily emails of encouragement and menu options to incorporate healthy eating into your lifestyle, ahem, which I have yet to incorporate. The first class had music from CCR. By today, Coach Jim had updated his iPod to Fergie and Gaga which the class appreciated. The classes are all outdoors and it does feels great to be outside and exercising in the fresh air.

The Thursday class is more cardio and it is referred to as Adventure Day. Campers are encouraged to bring their own iPods as it is a lot of running, stairs and squats. There is also a pre-camp assessment where Coach Jim does a body fat assessment and answers any questions campers have. He provides campers privately with their assessment so that they can compare it to the assessment completed at the end of the month. He sends daily emails with camp information and encouragement. Today we took a push up test and we will compare it to the last week’s results to check our improvement. I feel as though I won’t be able to type at my desk or raise my arms to wash my hair today.

All in all it was and is a great decision for me to join. And since I told B.o.B. about it and now all of you, I would feel like a loser if I skipped camp, which I have been known to do in the past. Plus, I kinda do want to know if I can eventually do more than 25 (girl style) push-ups. Heck maybe I will graduate to real push-ups!

And with the weather looking so good this days, I am hoping to get this body back to swimsuit ready. It is also an awesome way to start off the day and I feel better physically as well as mentally. I am planning on maybe purchasing one more month just to be sure I keep up with the workouts on my own. So get up and out there and join any boot camp, gym or just healthy lifestyle! Believe me, if this slacker can do it, so can you!