If you’ve been at Boot Camp for a while, you’ve probably had a class with Mike.
And if you haven’t yet, you are missing out.
Mike is a great trainer, and offers workouts that consistently challenge us.
But more than that, he brings great energy to his classes.
He’s got a lot of swagger, but you just can’t help laughing and loving him anyway.
Or maybe its his swagger that makes him lovable in the first place.

Even at 5:30 in the morning, he makes us smile.
Somehow, he always makes his classes fun.
We all laughed at him when he flexed for the camera this summer in his tank, saying, “suns out guns out!”
But when he proposed we all show up in tanks the next week for Tank Top Tuesday, you bet we were all wearing our tanks and flexing right along with him.
A good trainer doesn’t just offer a good workout, but goes out of his or her way to make his classes a community, and to keep things interesting.
Mike does all that.

This week I was surprised to see Mike show up to class in a camouflage jacket and carrying a camouflage vest.
It was still early and my mind was not awake enough to make the connection that it was Veterans Day and that Mike had something planned for class.
Sure enough, he told us about his brother’s military service and the coat and vest belonging to him.
“In honor of veterans,” he told us, “we’re going to be working out in this bullet proof vest today.”
He set the vest out and said if someone wasn’t wearing it for each lap around the quad, we’d all be doing lots of burpees.
Mike knows how to motivate us!
But many of us put on the vest and took our turn carrying those extra 19 pounds around the quad, doing burpees, pushups, and squats with it on.

That extra weight was an eye opener for some.
Realizing how heavy that extra weight really is was a motivator to stick with fitness goals and keep losing weight.
For others, the challenge of carrying extra pounds was fun.
Some one even said how much she loved wearing it!
But whether smiling or not, it was a creative element to add to our class.
It was fun and gave us another reason to cheer each other on as we circled the quad, running a little more slowly with that weight.

One of the main reasons I kept coming back to Long Beach Boot Camp was the trainers.
Having never consistently stuck with an exercise routine before, the LBBC trainers really made the difference for me.
I’m grateful to all of them.
And I bet you are too.
Let them know how much you appreciate their class.
Give them a shout out of encouragement, just like they do for us over and over again.
This one is for you, Mike.
Thanks for all the things you do to get me out of bed at 5:30 in the morning and come to class.
From bullet proof vests, to sandbags, and your S.A.F.E.T.Y song, you always bring us a smile.
You make it easy for me to keep on Living Fit!
Greta