Venting - strength issues

[Catrin]

...There is one woman, who I expect is close to my age, although probably younger. She only comes sporadically to these classes, although I think she may attend at night. She spends most of each class taking a break, coughing, and not being able to do anything. I'd like to show her some modifications that would keep her moving, because no one else does. I feel badly for her.

The instructor isn't helping her with modifications? She is indeed evil - that is part of her job... I don't know how our own boot camp compares with yours - I've noticed they do a lot more running in our boot camp classes than I am comfortable with so I've never checked it out.

I generally start with the 8-10 pound weights and go up from there - though the next time he tells us we are going to add 5 pounds at each set I will start with the 5 pounds. In Bosu class I typically grab the 4 or 6 pound body bar for when we do standing or kneeling flys. Doing this on the Bosu ball adds a whole different level of complexity.

He does watch out for us though - he always partners us up with whoever is closest to our strength level/size and last week when my arms started fatiguing my partner spotted me to help get the 15 and 20 lb weights up until I reached true failure - so I got the benefit of increased weight but not so much that I hurt myself. There are usually only 4-6 of us so it works out well and there is a woman who is very close to my level in upper body strength so we make good partners - we suffer together

The group trainer pushes us pretty hard - but he is very focused on safety. He is a firecracker for sure, as intense as his group sessions are, I can't imagine what it would be like to work 1-1 with him! I really like the team approach, much to my surprise!