Did you just puke into your mouth?

We had our regular combat fitness class last night, typical circuit of 30 seconds work, 30 seconds rest. On the second time around we went to code blue, which means 30 seconds work, 15 seconds rest. One of the stations was my new favorite: elastic resistance band running! These are like giant rubber bands, un-stretched they are about 3 ½ feet long. We’ve used them for lots of different exercises, but right now we are using them while we sprint. Two of the bands get tied together forming two large loops. One person steps into each loop. One person serves as the anchor while the other person sprints away from them. You reach a point where you’re just sprinting in place and you look like you’re trying to move forward into a hurricane-force wind.
I was partnered up with a 19-year-old guy who has been coming to classes for over a month now. On the last station of the circuit I’m pretty sure he was throwing up into his mouth or doing a great job of keeping it all down. He was making those distinctive heaving noises and his cheeks were puffing out. I didn’t call him on it. I can respect a man’s right to privacy when he averts vomiting indoors. In my early days of combat fitness there were several occasions when puking seemed like a distinct possibility. Never happened though. And during the summer on some 95-degree days I came pretty close to passing out, started seeing spots but it never progressed further from that.  In a class last week, a young girl who was there for the first time passed out. She hasn’t been back.

The last thing I wanted to do after combat fitness was spend an hour in Haganah class, but I stayed. Of course, on a night when I was feeling wiped out from circuit training, we spent almost the entire class practicing throws. This is when you throw your partner to the ground. It is incredibly tiring to get repeatedly tossed to the ground. The shock to the body sucks and even standing back up becomes tiring.