So, I have signed up to a Strong Viking run, next month, it’s a 19km course that contains 40+ obstacles that I have to circumvent over. I signed up to this thing a few months ago, and only now in the past week am I panicking, thinking how best to get in shape for it! I didn’t want to go down the GYM route, so I settled on bootcamp training as I have done a few classes before and love the fact that each day is always different, and you bloody sweat loads!

So the challenge is, to complete a bootcamp class for 30 days, consecutively. Let’s do it.

Day 1

I met my trainer before class, in the afternoon to get my measurements taken and have some before photos taken. First session was bloody tough. I definitely am the type of guy that needs to train regularly, if not I just can’t keep up fully. We did lots of different exercises like lunges, planks, pull ups, (which I struggle so much with!) running a few lengths outside and mountain climbs etc. First class oveeeeeer.

Day 2

I did the evening class tonight, and I felt slightly better, but overall still crap. I was chatting to a guy afterwards and he said it took him 3 weeks for him to get better at it… We did mostly cardio with the boxing pads tonight, and then, with our partner we did a few lengths of the room holding back our partner with a belt wrapped around them. Good times!

Day 3

Afternoon session done. Lots of kettlebell swings and snatches, mixed with burpees, box jumps, squats, and I have no idea what it’s called but a “spider crawl” walk thing? Basically, we are on all our fours and have to walk down to the end of the room, with our knees as close to the ground as possible. Tough. Fucking. Class.

Day 4

10am session today. It was hard getting out of bed, especially being a Saturday and all. Joe, the main trainer is away so he had a replacement in, named Ray. The session was a lot different than the previous three. We did six rounds of each exercise, and moved on to the next workout. Arms are hanging.

We did the following: Box jumps, press ups, TRX low rows, TRX atomic push-ups, burpes, kettlebell swings, sit ups with the medicine ball and bar thrusts.

Day 5

Rolling out of the bed this morning, I felt like I took some stomach punches from Tyson yesterday. Always a sign of a good session when you are feeling it the next day. So we had Ray in again today and we did 5 rounds of bent over rows, various sit up exercises, squats, lunges with weights, shoulder press with kettlebells and bar lifts. We then finished the session with a bit of a burn out with the pads, and some sprints in between. Savage class!

Day 6

Another early morning start today. I did the 10am class but was feeling rather sluggish. It may have something to do with not eating breakfast before undertaking a strenuous training session…

We did various TRX exercises, lunges with weights, bag work, ab work, box jumps, squats, jumping squats, battle ropes and barbell pushes. Between each set of two exercises we made our way through the floor ladder, either with high knees, side to side or using our hands.

This is why I chose this type of workout over the GYM, I’m made to work hard, and with proper strength training, not just working on my biceps like some posers I encounter in a regular GYM 😀

Day 7

First week completed! Abs are still killing me, and I can barely complete any of the ab exercises, as I’m not giving my body a rest, but I knew it was going to be hard, that’s why its a challenge.

We did 3 rounds of sprints, sprinter sit ups, knee to elbow pushups, mountain climbs, dive bomber pushups, reverse pikes for the first half of the class and ab work with the TRX equipment for the second half. I am loving TRX. Such a simple idea, that works great. To finish off the class, we hung on to the bars and did various ab crunches.

Day 8

Another day, another new routine. Today, we did 4×10 minute sessions. Two were AMRAP (As many rounds as possible), and the other two were EMOM (Every minute, on the minute).

• First session up was 10 back squats, and a 200m run. 10 minutes of this is no joke. I was breathing so heavy afterwards.
• Second session was 5 burpes, straight into box jumps. I had to take my time with this one, nearly ate the box a few times :O
• Third session was 10 kettlebell swings, followed by TRX high rows. The high rows are quite deceiving in my opinion. They look quite easy and you can do a few no problem. The reality kicks in after a few rounds, and your hands start to cramp up and you lose your grip.
• The last round was 100 punches, followed by 100 skips. I don’t think I finished 100 of either, but did try.

Day 9

First 6:15am session in the bag. Very tough getting up, but glad I done it. I should also get marks for scaling two park gates to get the GYM!

• I did 10 minutes of 10 back squats, followed by 200m sprints. This gets a little hard after a short time…
• Then, moved on to EMOM x 10 rounds of Push ups, and reverse pulls, box jump burpes and deadlifts with 10 jumps over the bar.
• Tabata, kettlebell swings, V crunches, kettlebell right rows and mountain climbers.
• Tabata (pushing yourself hard for 20 seconds, then resting for 10 seconds). High knees, 123 shuffle, skaters and plank jack

Day 10

I’m a third of my way through this challenge, and not that its gotten easier by any stretch, but I can attest that the hardest part is actually just getting my ass there. Once I’m at the GYM, we are being told what to do, no thinking, nor putting in half effort as Joe and the rest of the trainers make sure of that. As Woody Allen once said, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.”.

Anywho, today we had a new trainer named Paul and he made us do some EMOMs. We did TRX rows, glute bridge pullovers, plank up/downs, back extensions bicycles and 3 sprints in between these sets.

Day 11

All the sessions I have completed so far have been amazing, but today was different. On my way home I felt amazing, which is odd because today was probably the hardest class I have undertook so far. My asthma was acting up and I felt I had zero energy about 3/4 through the class. But walking home, I felt… strong. No other way to describe it.

Today we did some pad work, immediately followed by jumping over our partner while they planked and vice versa. Fun times. Resistance bands paired with a baby crawl, resistance bands with the pads, plank with a weight on our back, ab work and something a bit fun; we took turns, while in the baby crawl position to try and touch our partner’s left or right hand. Sounds easy but this took the wind out of me. Another brilliant session in the bag.

Day 12

Sunday morning session with Ray. To be honest, I can barely remember what we did as I’m writing this the day after. Lesson learned. But as always, I was sweating buckets.

Day 13

What a bootcamp today, more energy as I’m getting some brekkie in beforehand for the early morning sessions. We did burpes, box jumps, battle ropes, pull-ups, squats, Press ups, Kettlebell type deadlifts, kettlebell swings with two kettlebells. Feeling stronger with each session, but one exercise I cannot do are the pull-ups. I can usually bash out 7 of these fine, but I guess as I’m not resting my arms, they haven’t recovered for this one.

Day 14

Early start today. Up at 5:30am, got some quick brekkie into me and out the door I went, feeling quite awesome. Definitely starting to notice more energy after my first 2 weeks!

We did AMRAPs (As many rounds as possible) today. We did box jumps, deadlifts, pull-ups (getting better), push ups, air squats, wall balls, running, and TRX jump squats, TRX chest presses, TRX rows, TRX crunches.

Day 15

Halfway through this bootcamp challenge and I should be feeling on top of the world, but tonight’s session was disastrous. I went out last night with the family and indulged in some heavy food, and ate some pretty shit food for my lunch today too. I felt bloated and lethargic and I just couldn’t catch my breath at all, and basically felt like shit. Exercise is important but diet is just as important.

Tonight we did tons of TRX exercises. High/low rows, jumping squats, one leg jumping lunge squats, one leg press ups, kettlebell snatches and squats some ab work to finish it off.

Day 16

I set a multitude of alarms this morning for the 6:15am class, but snoozed through all of them and ended up going back to sleep. Made the 10:00am class and we did something a little different today. Joe made us do a 1,000 rep challenge consisting of the following:

1. skipping x 300
2. Battle ropes x 200
3. Kettlebell swings x 100
4. In place bear crawls x 100
5. Lunges x 100
6. Wall balls x 50
7. Barbell clean x 50
8. Box jump x 50
9. Burpee x 50

My time was 47 minutes and 10 seconds.

This was very tough and there was basically no break. We could take our time though. Hardest rounds were wall balls and In place bear crawls.

Day 17

I went to bed early so actually made it to the 6:15am bootcamp today. Ray made us do burpes, TRX high rows, TRX jumping lunges, press ups, V sit ups, mountain climbers, Kettlebell swings/squats/shoulder press, plank and box jumps. Great class and I feel my form is coming on, finally.

Day 18

This morning, I walking into the GYM to find out we were doing another 1,000 rep challenge. I was actually kind of excited for it, to see if I had improved over my previous time. We did basically the same set of exercises as last time with one change. Ball slams instead of barbell cleans.

1. skipping x 300
2. Battle ropes x 200
3. Kettlebell swings x 100
4. In place bear crawls x 100
5. Lunges x 100
6. Wall balls x 50
7. Ball slams x 50
8. Box jump x 50
9. Burpee x 50

My time was 41 minutes and 30 seconds.

Day 19

A tad tight today. The body is definitely feeling it at this stage, but saying that I feel I am improving class on class.

Today, we did 3 rounds (2 rounds x 1 minute, last round x 40 seconds) of the following:

• Boxing
• Skipping
• Box jumps
• 200m sprint
• Kettlebell swings
• Burpees
• Back squats
• Abs
• Ball slams

Then we did some abs to finish off with.

Day 20

Energy high today as I jumped out of bed to make it to class. We focused on strength today with lower and upper body exercises.

We did back squats, box jumps, hip raises, reverse lunges with kettlebells, box steps with bar, over head presses, chin pulls, glute raises with bar, pull ups, deadlifts, dips, and bench press.

Day 21

Didn’t make it to the 6:15am session today, so had to make my way in the evening. We had John today and did 3 x 1 minute rounds of the following:

• Spideman push-ups
• Sumo squats
• Glute Bridges
• Medicine ball alternating push up / press
• Dead lift
• Kettlebell swings
• Tuck jumps
• Back squats
• Pull ups

Day 22

My asthama was bad tonight and I took quite a few breaks, although saying that I pushed myself as hard as I could.

We did a 40 minute AMRAP session:

• TRX pistol squats (15 each leg)
• Hand release push ups (15)
• TRX high rows (15)
• TRX pikes (15)
• Kettlebell snatch (10 each arm)
• TRX jump squat with knee tucks (15)
• TRX mountain climbers (40)
• Single arm Kettlebell squat + press (10 each arm)
• TRX Y raise (15)
• Butterfly crunches (20)

Day 23

6:15am session was had this morning, just about. I managed to drag myself out of bed at 5:15am and made some porridge, didn’t have time to eat at home so I ate it in the dark on my way to the GYM ha.

I was the only one there so I essentially had a personal training session with Sam.

I did 5 sets of:

• Burpees x 10
• Push ups x 15
• Mountain climbers x 15
• Bicycle crunches x 30
• Punch bag x 100

And I barely made a dent in the second half of the ‘count down’ session. 10, 9, 8 etc.

• Jumping jacks
• Kettlebell swings
• Squats
• Pull ups
• Skipping rope

Day 24

Today’s session was probably the most “relaxed” session I have completed. It was nice to slow the pace down actually. We focused on using our core, using tension bands, and such things as one leg squats, and then with weights.

Day 25

I was in London for the day, so couldn’t make it to my Irish bootcamp. So with the help of a friend, I did a bootcamp in London called Barry’s Bootcamp. We did alternating exercises of running on the treadmill and then the floor, consisting of weights, abs, tension bands and planks. It was a high energy workout that keeps you on your toes. When I was finished I was absolutely dripping in sweat. Fantastic session!

Day 26

It was a smaller class today as Dublin won the match yesterday so people must have been nursing their hangovers 🙂

The class today consisted of doing as many reps as possible for 60 seconds alternating with floor exercises such as burpes and push ups, followed by a short break and repeating again for 50 seconds, 40 seconds and so on.

We did deadlifts followed by burpes, Kettlebell swings followed by sit ups, box jumps followed by press ups and thrusters (which I can barely do to be honest, but I feel my form is coming along).

Day 27

I don’t want to speak too soon, but I am feeling stronger as each new day comes and I am looking forward to each session more and more. I am seeing results, albeit small but I am noticing the difference between now and when i first started. After today’s session I felt I could have run a 5km.

Anywho, tonight we did EMOMs, consisting of:

• Burpees
• Kettlebell swings
• Box jumps
• Thrusters
• Deadlifts
• V sit-ups
• Pull-ups

Day 28

6:15 am session in the bag!

To kick things off, we did:

• Kettlebell press
• Kettlebell lunges
• Bench press
• Upright rows
• Box jumps
• Kettlebell swings
• Mountain climbers with tension band
• Standing T-bar row
• Dead lifts

And then 60/50/40/30/20/10 seconds of Kettlebell swings and ab crunches. After that we grabbed a medicine ball with a parter and squatted, while our partner did a burpee and then alternated by throwing the medicine ball to each other in between. Finally we did two sets of baby crawls the length of the room, front and reverse.

Day 29

Penultimate bootcamp session this evening! As always the session was different and we concentrated on a boxfit type class. We did pad work, with and without tension bands attached to our waist to the wall, bag work and ab work to finish off.

I definitely want to keep this type of workout up when I finish this challenge.

Day 30

Doesn’t time just fly? It seems like just last week that I started this little 30 day challenge and now it’s over. Extremely happy with myself on completing this and walking home from the GYM this evening, the smile on my face was so big.

Tonight we did a HIIT session involving 5 rounds of:

• High Knees
• Push ups
• Burpes
• Mountain climbers

And then on to EMOMs to finish the class off:

• Pull ups
• Thrusters
• Box jumps
• Dead lifts

So that’s a wrap! I’m going to take a day off tomorrow (and it’s Friday), to rest a bit and think of my next challenge! Onwards and upwards people 🙂

If anybody would like to know what bootcamp I used, check out Joe and his team over at Joe Dunne Fitness. I couldn’t be happier with the training, help and support I received here. Joe knows his shit, being in the business 20 odd years and he’s somebody who obviously practises what he preaches. Thanks a mil guys!

Do a Bootcamp Every Day For 30 days Stats