There is a class on campus that will push students to their absolute limits and challenge them mentally and physically. Rain or shine, Fitns 331: Boot Camp Fitness can be found in the main gym or outside, 7:30 a.m. – 8:50 a.m., Mondays and Wednesdays.
This class is taught by men’s tennis coach Bo Jabery-Madison, or “Coach Bo,” as his students call him. Coach Bo started as the men’s tennis coach 10 years ago and became a full-time faculty member five years ago.
The class starts off with the students running a lap to get them warmed up, and Coach Bo going to the gym to write the exercises they will be doing on the board.
“The fact that it is raining has nothing to do with us working out inside,” said Coach Bo. “I planned a workout for inside and it just happened to be raining.”
As the students file in they are wearing their “ARC Boot Camp” T-shirts and are ready to get the day started. “We are going to need the 5-pound weights and a mat if your back is sensitive to the hardwood floor,” said Coach Bo. He goes through the exercise routine written on the board and everyone gets started.
The one-leg wall sit is a specific exercise where you find a wall and lean against it in a 90-degree angle. The students have 15 seconds to find a wall, and as they lean against the wall they have to alternate between left leg and right leg. “Come on guys; keep it up. Shaking is good,” said Coach Bo. “Don’t give in to the shakes.”
One phrase constantly heard was this: It’s OK to fail if you are trying to do it right.
Coach Bo elaborates exactly what he means. “Pushing your body to actual failure is not easy to do. You have to really have a lot of discipline and will power to actually push your body to where it can’t do another repetition. If you push it to that kind of limit, that is success, because that is when is your body is going to make adaptations because you are asking your body to do more than it is capable of. Therefore, your body is going to grow and adapt to that, and become stronger and more healthy.”
“This is probably one of the toughest classes they offer at this school.”-Scott Chadwick, Sports Medicine
being challenged, this isn’t the right class for you. This class is going to push you to your limits: your physical limits, and probably your mental limits, and if that’s not what you are all about, especially at 7:30 on a Monday or Wednesday, then this isn’t the right class for you.”-Coach Bo Jabery-Madison
