“I was the girl with asthma who was always picked last”

Some people arrive at bootcamp having played sport all their lives. Plenty do not. This is one of the second sort, in her own words, lightly tidied.

Being the one who was always last

Growing up as the girl with asthma, I shied away from sport and exercise. I was convinced my lungs would give out if I pushed past what felt safe, and frankly it does not feel good to be the last person in every single thing you do.

How she started

In December 2013 my colleagues and I had thoroughly overindulged, and by January we were looking for a way back. One of them found Steph on Gumtree and dragged me, literally, to a first session.

When I started I could barely get through the warm-up, let alone carry a tyre round the hill. Steph and the rest of the group were incredibly patient with me. Slowly, I could swing a kettlebell I had not been able to lift at all.

The part she did not expect

Bootcamp is not only physical. I learnt that exercise is not about competing with anybody else, and if it is a competition then it is between my speed and strength yesterday and today. Plenty of times my body wanted to stop after the burpees and the squat jumps, and my head carried me through the last lap.

Then Tough Mudder

I have no idea what possessed me to sign up. I refused to watch a single video beforehand so I had no idea what was coming.

The obstacles sounded terrifying and most of them turned out to be manageable, because the sessions had quietly prepared us. Anybody who has done a few weeks at bootcamp can walk while holding a tyre over their head, which is precisely one of the obstacles.

Why this is here

Because most people who message us think they will be the least fit person there. Usually they are not, and either way nobody is watching. Every exercise has an easier version and the group is used to people starting from nothing.