FORT RUCKER, Ala. (December 5, 2014) -- After enjoying all the turkey, stuffing, yams, pies and other holiday fixings, Fort Rucker's physical fitness centers offered people a way to shed the guilt, and the pounds, and get back into the swing of working out with this year's Turkey Burn Dec. 1.
People headed to the Fortenberry-Colton Physical Fitness Center to take part in a fast-paced, high-intensity workout that encompassed some of the best that the fitness centers have to offer people when it comes to working out, according to Megan Oldorf, fitness specialist.
"This was a great opportunity for people to see the variety of classes that we offer here at the gym and a great chance for them to come try a little bit of each class and get in a good workout to help burn off all of that turkey they ate over the holiday," she said, adding that the goal is to garner interest in physical fitness so that people make healthy, lifestyle choices.
"We want them to bring their spouses and their friends to our classes because physical fitness is important," she said.
Lachandra O'Conner, retired military, brought her friend, Jesse Poole, military spouse, to the class to experience the Turkey Burn together, and both said the workout was satisfying, but more than they expected.
"The workout was like torture, but in a good way," O'Connor said. "It was a lot of fun and the intensity was more than I'm normally used to, but I was in the Army, so it's not completely new to me."
"It was such a good workout," added Poole. "(Oldorf) made me sweat like nothing I've ever done before."
During the circuit-training workout, participants experience a plethora of different aerobic and strength-training exercises in a 50/10 split workout where they would do 50 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest, said Oldorf.
The workouts included speed squats, plyo-skaters, crouch-and-hops, suicide-style bear crawls with pushups at the end, abdominal workouts with presses and flys for chest and shoulder workouts, plyometrics and squats, all in succession with very little rest in between.
"We planned on doing three different sets of everything, but because of time we were only able to get in two, but they did a great job," Oldorf said, adding that most of the workouts can be modified for different fitness levels.
"When it's circuit training like this, everything has to be at a high intensity, and because of that you usually don't have enough time in between each workout to rest," she said. "That's why the 50/10 works pretty well because it gives them a little bit of time to rest in between, which is good for the people who aren't used to this kind of intense workout, so this works for everybody."
Before the intense workout, Oldorf had participants warm up outside, utilizing the surrounding buildings by using the stairs, which people had to run up and down twice, then go into a series of jumping jacks, followed by mountain climbers, all to get the blood flowing for the workout.
Despite the intensity of the workout, Poole and O'Connor said the workout was worth the effort.
"We like doing this. We like to keep in shape," said Poole. "This gets us out of the house and keeps us busy."
"Plus, it helps out a lot, too, because we just ate all of that Thanksgiving food and now we feel a little better about it," added O'Connor. "Now we're guilt free."
For more information on physical fitness classes, call 255-3794 or 255-2296.
Related Links:
USAACE and Fort Rucker on Twitter
Social Sharing