Boot Camp Saves the day

This came from a recent boot camp member:

Your willingness to walk through the fire of your fears will actually douse its flames.

So I took a trip to fire island over the weekend (left Saturday)
I was hanging out on my friends boat...
it was about 630 AM Sunday morning and i was ready to start my workout...
just the way you trained us at boot camp.

i couldn't think of a nicer location to be at for this workout...
the ocean. the boats. the beach. the seagulls, the sunrise...
so i started to think about all the various exercises you had trained me in...
I started warming up with my stretches...
then my 3 repetitions of jumping jacks, squats, push-ups, sit-ups and then end the workout with a nice run on the beach...
when all of a sudden thunder, lightening and rain started to fall...
it blew in out of nowhere...

I decided to go down below in the cabin and wait for the storm to blow over...
As I descended the 5 steps...the steps were wet from the few drops of rain which had already fallen... the steps had carpeting which was covered with plastic...
not being able to process all this information at 630 in the morning...
I was thinking about seagulls and enjoying the beautiful 80 degree weather
and the warm breezes...
no way for me to realize that the steps were as slippery as a sheet of ice.

so my right foot went from the top step to the bottom step at the speed of lightning...
while my left foot remained on the top step...

that's when the squats and leap training came in real handy...
this enormous squat/leap and drop of about 4 feet had an incredible pressure on my body..
however my toes somehow bent underneath my left foot on the top step and gravity took over...

my entire body started to lean forward twisting to the right side as my right foot had already slammed the cabin floor...
but because of all those jumping jacks you made me do it was no problem that my right foot slammed on to the cabin floor.
it all seemed to flow in a smooth, slow motion, pattern, as i danced in mid air while the boat was rocking from the wind and waves...

thanks to you Tony I had this unpredictable circumstance under control with great confidence.

www.StatenIslandBootCamp.com
when all of a sudden in the corner of my eye i noticed the kitchen table corner from the cabin below approaching my head... while my left foot remained on the top step above...
i didnt know that all your training would prepare me this type of contortions and
that's when my push-up training came into play...

I was able to prevent the table corner from piercing my forehead...
I managed to cling onto the table edge with one arm, only because of my push-up training you had us do when we stayed in position for 2 minutes.
except this time it was a little bit more difficult as the boat rocked from left to right.
but i remembered when you would make us do the push-ups alternating arms.
plus staying in position for as long as we could really strenghtened my arms.
i had this puppy in the bag knowing i could hold position for for 2 minutes...
I started to untangle my body in a more comfortable position...
that's when all those twists you made us do came in handy...

www.StatenIslandBootCamp.com
now i slowly lowered and gently placed my body on my back while my left foot was still up above on the top step...that's when my sit-up training went into play...
i lifted myself up with no problem and back to the top step where it all started...

now i slowly started to descend once more thinking all was well...
and that's when I noticed that my left foot would not hold me up and gravity once again did its magic and promptly brought me down to the cabin floor once more...

I instantly realized that all of my 5 left toes that were bent underneath my foot,
through the entire dance, acted as a shock absorber for my 210 lb frame.

My toes started to turn blue, the same tone as the water color reflecting the dark skies above.
My toes started to swell like the waves around the boat...
My toes started to throb like the thunder above...
Finally the pain like lightning rods shooting in my brain...

But i am thankful to you Tony that it was only 210 lbs because 5 weeks ago i was 225 lbs...

by noon i was back on a ferry going to my car for my long, painful, throbbing journey home.

it saddens me to think that i unfortunately may not be able to recover in time to start your new boot camp training in August....

However please share my experience with your new group...

Rich Marini
www.StatenIslandBootCamp.com