Gossip and Gladiator

Phew! We’re finally though the holidays for a while. Oh, no, wait. Mother’s Day. We still have Mother’s Day. Sheesh. It’s holiday overload for real! It’s like, who decided let’s have a holiday 10 out of 12 months during the year? OMG that’s 10 Months! 10 months of nothing but holidays!!! Think about it, October- Halloween, November- Thanksgiving, December- Christmas, January- New Year’s, February- Valentine’s, March- St. Patrick’s Day, April- Easter, May- Mother’s Day, June- Father’s Day, July- 4^th of July. This is insane people. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good holiday as much as the next gal but seriously, do we need all of these holidays? Huh? 

Let’s take this weekend for example. Easter. Had a great time, it was so nice spending time with everyone, but it was a whirlwind of exhaustion. From cooking and baking the day before, to driving here and there, to cleaning up after dinner, UGH! Sorry, now I just sound like the Ebenezer Scrooge of Easter. It’s just my anxiety talking. As much as I tried not to stress out on Easter the inner me was screaming times and lists of what needed to be done, and how would I have time for that, and I’m not going to get to bed on time, and, and, and. But, in the end it was a nice day. I have pictures to prove it see!

August and September are now my new favorite months, just so you know. They’re keepin’ chill over there coming off summer and offering a little relief before we start all over again.

Oh, let me move away from that. No fancy transitions here, no sir. I made it to Yoga on Friday! YEAAAA! I was so glad. I needed that like no other. We did a lot of hip work which I definitely need to help with my squats on squats on squats. That and ankle mobility. I also made it this Monday which is when I prefer to go. Monday, we worked on core and balance. Aside from Yoga, I have been doing a whole mobility regimen at the gym. Squats and Deadlifts are gonna be pretty! And ever since we went to Vertical Ventures I’ve been working on my pull ups again. Still ¼ reps but I’m re-motivated! Thinking this could be the year! Yes, I Can! #justonepullupplease

Can we talk for a minute about the news bomb that was dropped on everyone Tuesday morning? Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan Tatum…..Dunzo! WHAT!? First Chris Pratt and Anna Farris and now these two?! I’ll never be able to watch Step Up the same way. ::Sigh:: Does anyone make it anymore? And who are they fooling? They all put out these posts stating how they’re still good friends and parents it was just time to amicably separate because they are going in different directions. Let’s get real, they are people too. You know it was probably that the husband left a dirty dish out one to many times and the wife’s brush full of hair grossed out the husband for the last time, the volcano finally erupted and BAM! Divorce city. This is why we just need to ask for what we want people. Just come out with it, not in an angry way, fix it before that. Say something like, it makes me feel XYZ when you leave your dirty dishes around the house, can you please pick them up? I dunno, sounds good right? I’m no marriage expert.

Oh man! You know what came back this week?! Jersey Shore!!!!! This Thursday was Jerzday! Whoop Whoop! I DVR’d that ‘ish and will be watching it tonight. So excited! Did you watch it! Was it as amazing as the original series? Yes, I know it’s trash TV but darn it, that shit is funny! One of my favorite scenes from the original series was when they were In Miami and JWoww and Snooki wrote the note to Sammi about Ronni’s shenanigans. Sammi found out and when they were all fighting in the kitchen Sammi put her had in the gun position and pointed it back and forth at JWoww and Snooki and said “Who wrote the note, Yous two!” LMAO. Her Jersey came out fo sho. She’s not in this reunion, summer vaycay edition though. I follow her on Instagram and she rattled off a note to her fans about how she’s in a good place and is focusing on herself and blah, blah, blah. Don’t try to act like you didn’t come from the Jersey Shore Guidette. Um K! Shoo. But it should be a blast in a glass even without her. GTL forever!

So, onto what this post is really about, Camp Gladiator! If you haven’t heard of Camp Gladiator, you will be soon. This outdoor fitness community is exploding! You may have seen cars driving around with a small cg on the rear window. That’s Camp Gladiator! When I first saw even a mention of Camp Gladiator they were focused in the Tarpon Springs area. In recent months I see they’re popping up throughout Tampa, Clearwater, St. Petersburg and Brandon Florida. So, I decided to dig a little deeper and find out what the CG is all about.

Camp Gladiator is a trainer run, outdoor, group fitness class. The trainers are not employees but partners of Camp Gladiator. They create their own schedule and can teach classes as early to as late as they would like! This makes it convenient to find a class time that works for you in your area. They hold classes at parks, schools, churches, Home Depot parking lots. It’s fitness anywhere. What drew me to Camp Gladiator the most was that they phase their workouts. You don’t go to a class and kill yourself with cardio every time you go. They have a strength week an endurance week, interval and peak week and you never do the same workout twice. This is one of the preferred and best ways to train to keep your body from adapting to one style of training and to build strength in all areas for overall fitness.

To attend a class all you have to do is sign up on line or through their app. When you attend a class you just need a mat and a set of weight 5-10lbs or so. But don’t worry, if you don’t have weights the trainer may have extras you can use, or they will provide modifications. I took my first class during interval week. Hello! I LOVE interval training! So, I lucked out. When I arrived at the class, which was in the parking lot of a local church, I was greeted by the trainer and pretty much everyone else in the group. They were so welcoming! The trainer started the class off with a chant to get everyone hyped up. She went over the evenings workout and went straight to the warm up. This was great. I ‘ve been to so many group classes where you don’t warm up and for me, warming up is crucial.

After the warmup we had 10 stations, maybe it was 7.....hmmm any way, we had 7 or 10 stations to complete with a group of about 6 people at each station. We had 3 rounds of intervals at each station. The stations ranged from burpees, to squat jumps, to pushups etc.  We completed each station as a group and let me tell you, I haven’t smiled like that during a workout in a while. It was so fun! The workout was high energy, the group I was with were super motivating and after each round everyone, and I mean everyone, was handing out high fives left and right.

I definitely felt the burn during that class, I was drenched in sweat when I left. But what I felt most was a sense of community, belonging and acceptance. I am so glad I gave Camp Gladiator a try. I would recommend it to anyone. There are all age groups and athletic abilities there. The great thing is parents can bring their kids and they can work out together. It makes it convenient for everyone. And don’t worry, they always have a backup space for inclement weather, so you don’t have to miss a work out if it rains. And during the summers in Florida…oh it rains!

Here's the group!

I look forward to seeing the growth of this fitness community and who knows…..maybe I’ll be a Camp Gladiator coach one day!