After joining boot camp, my stress levels decreased almost immediately.

I joined Long Beach Boot Camp 18 months ago while I was in the midst of chaos in my personal life. I was going through three different extremely stressful life processes involving my home life and marriage, in addition to dealing with considerable work stress. Fortunately, I have good friends who invited me to join. It turns out that all they needed to do was get me "in the door"... the rest was up to me!

I was in the worst shape of my life, a shadow of my former athlete self, I had recently hit my highest weight and was suffering from chronic back pain and stress. I was one of the slowest in the group. Every exercise was difficult, but instead of letting myself feel embarrassed, I just kept telling myself, "Hey, that's why I'm here!" Everyone was so encouraging. It reminded me of my years playing team sports... without the mean coach. On the contrary, Caroline is more like a supportive member of the team, a team captain! She demonstrates genuine concern and caring for all of us, and often takes the time to make observations on our individual progress. Shannon, Sami, Jo, and the rest of the boot camp team have all been extremely supportive as well. We feel like members of the family.

After joining boot camp, my stress levels decreased almost immediately. Within the 1st few weeks of that first boot camp, I decided to become an annual member. Within a few months, I noticed a marked improvement in my back pain. My clothes started fitting better and I started receiving compliments. My overall demeanor was more positive than it had been in years.

My marriage was still a challenge during those 1st 5 months of boot camp, as my husband was dealing with serious personal problems. My focus was self preservation, and boot camp fit perfectly into that plan. When my husband started dealing with his personal problems, he decided to try boot camp. He, too, liked it as soon as he tried it. He, too, was fighting the embarrassment that he had become a shadow of his former athlete self. I just kept telling him what I told myself, "Hey, that's why you're here."

13 months later, we are enjoying our new normal. We now spend our off-nights getting in some extra cardio, and our weekends looking for active things to do. We go on hikes and runs, run races, visit farmer's markets, eat healthy meals, and generally have a whole lot of fun together! It's the marriage I always dreamed of having. Although we have completely changed our lifestyle, we still rely on boot camp three days a week, and have each committed to another annual membership. We love the group mentality, accountability, and the way we continue to be physically and mentally challenged.