My ass was kicked at 5:30 AM today. Seriously, I’m having a hard time typing! I consider myself a fairly active person and maintain my jean size by a little bit of hiking, yoga, a tiny stair stepper in my living room, and 12 hour wedding days. I DESPISE the gym, so I don’t have a membership and didn’t go when I had one. Some of my friends have gone through a six week bootcamp here in the valley and my friend Gina was told that this week she could bring one of her friends today to see what it’s all about. I thought I knew what it was, but I was wrong. I’ve seen the ads around LA with the scary muscular woman in her camo gear and was slightly turned off by the whole idea of some drill sergeant figure yelling at me during jumping jacks. I have authority issues, so I don’t respond well to people who yell at me. Gina promised me that even though Marlon wears camo pants, he’s way nice and encouraging, so I decided to give it a try.

Despite the alarm going off at 4:45am, it turned out to be a really good experience. We met at a park in Sherman Oaks and at 5:30 the hour of exercise began. Jumping jacks, push ups, sprints, sit ups, dumbell reps, you name it. I actually hate running, but I ran 1.5 laps around the park (powerwalked the rest). I think it had something to do with the “Good job, Amber”‘s that Marlon was offering me. He was really, really cool and kept all of us pushing ourselves.

My friend Phil lost 30 pounds before his wedding as a result to committing to Marlon’s bootcamp for six weeks. To my brides who keep saying you need to lose weight: you really need to check him out. A six week course is $500 and if you go every weekday, (oh yeah, and eat right) you will definitely get your money’s worth. The location changes daily to prevent boredom–tomorrow they’re running up Fryman Canyon. Ouch!

Marlon John
Redman Fitness
818-399-8172
www.redmanfitness.com