A friend told me about the British Military Fitness programme a few months ago, but it has taken me all of this time to finally go and experience it myself.
I’m a pretty fit guy, so should be able to handle it…
I arrived in London’s Bushy Park just before the programme started at 9.30. I had to fill in a form indicating my level of fitness..and took a red bib for the intermediate level..the green bibers were the superfitties, whilst the blue bibers were just getting into doing some form of exercies.
Then we started an hour of activity which could be described as fun, stretching, varied, torturous…depending on your perspective.
I certainly experineced all four emotions..shocking my body by going way beyond my usual exercise routine. And i met some great people and felt part of a community, rather than exercising alone as I usually do.
None of us were allowed to wear watches which was challenging as I was desperate to know how much longer I had to last…but by the end of the 50 minutes, I realised that I must have done (not all at once):
- 100 sit-ups
- 150 press-ups (narrow hand and wide hand version..)
- 40 pull-ups
- A 2k run (plus a 200m sprint)
- 30 star-jumps
In the last session, we were split into three teams for a relay race. For a brief moment, i was 14 years old again, standing in my old school field…despite my exhaustion, I ran like the wind…
After the lesson, I congratulated my team colleagues, who congratulated me, and then limped back to the car..realising that i’m not nearly as fit as I thought I was…
Will i go back – you bet!
