"Bushfit with Bruce" initiation....

It started, for me, back in March at a private reserve called Pridelands, near the town of Hoedspruit. It was the start of our Basic Birding course with Bruce so we were fresh back from off time and raring to go. The camp is fairly new and made up of canvas tents and a new wooden ablutions block – but nothing that resembled a gym… well not the kind I have seen before anyway. That soon changed when Bruce appeared in his gym shorts carrying a selection of items that looked completely alien to me… a saggy rubber ball weighing 10Kgs, a pram wheel with handles, and a fat stick tied to a weight with a length of paracord. Slightly intrigued I watched for a bit before deciding to join in. Everyone was still smiling, so I took it to mean it was not too difficult… and to be fair, at the time, it really didn’t feel too difficult at all. I swung kettle bells, mastered the stomach wheel and smugly pulled back on the lat-pull ropes for the required number of times without so much as a twinge. Was I doing it wrong? Admittedly I struggled with the push ups and jumping squats, but made it to the end and disappeared off for a shower feeling quite impressed with myself.

The day wore on, the course continued, the brain got fried as usual, and we went to bed. It was about 430am when the consequence of my actions became apparent. Desperate for a pee, I flopped my right arm out of bed and felt around the floor of the tent for my torch and discovered to my horror that I couldn’t lift it up without a burning pain screaming out from my arm…. now just a couple of muscles I could understand… but all of them!? really? I had no idea just how weak my arms had become working in an office all day for 25 years.

My home at Pridelands

I managed, aided by some pain-induced involuntary noises, to get myself up, out to the loo and back again just in time for the 5am wake-up call. The day was agony. The day after even worse. I did not join bushfit again that week – not because I didn’t want to get fit and strong, but simply because I couldn’t, and I was not alone. It took 3 days before my arms would painlessly lift my binoculars to my face – not good when you are on an intensive 7 day birding course!