“That’s ten pushups!” Shocked, my head shot up to try and stare this fitness guru in the eye, as I questioned his sanity. Borderline terrified I hit the pavement as nearly two hundred people counted as I completed ten pushups. After finishing jumping and clapping pushups, one handed pushups, and diamond pushups, this should have been a breeze, but my muscles were still shaking. I learned quickly that ten push ups is the price paid for yawning at “Red Rocks Fitness.”
A former pro BMX biker has started an addiction and created hundreds of fitness junkies. “Red Rocks Fitness” was started by “Jumpin Joe.” It is an extreme three hour boot camp that has escalated to the largest fitness group of its kind in the country. It has grown as fast as the pounding hearts of those that dare to work the Rocks. I can’t decide which was more daunting, the stares of the tourists stopping to take pictures, or the 18 flights of stairs before me, that would be climbed five times.
One regular says he remembers when “Jumpin’ Joe” had to take a ten second breather. It was a one time occurrence that has not happened since. From one exercise to the next I realized I might need to call into work the next day from exhaustion. We crawl down stairs, crawl up stairs, lunge across stairs backwards and forwards, sprint up hills and try to survive the ‘calf burner.’
Somehow though, I also realized it is addicting. I have become a regular myself, which means I have to question my own sanity.