After five days of rigorous early morning training last week at the Chamberlain Studios of Self Defense, the some-30 participants celebrated with full buckets of water being dumped on their heads in 30-degree temps.

I am not known as a workout person. But when the opportunity arose to participate with my five-year-old son in a one week, once-a-year activity, I jumped at the chance for a special "Mommy and Me" memory. Well... maybe not "jumped," but we made the commitment to meet at six every morning last week to get in as much shape as you can in five days. The mornings started promptly at six with running, jumping, karate moves and literally pulling yourself across the matted floor before we took a seven-minute run through the neighborhood and then back for station training. We boxed, used the medicine ball and felt the "burn" before we used five-gallon buckets in which the water was increased daily for more resistance training. The first three days I knew that my "core" had not been used in a while, as daily I had a hard time moving after the class. By day four, I was actually running the course and enjoying myself, along with the sense that my son was really proud of his mom. I, of course, was proud of him for getting up before dawn and keeping his commitment to finish what he and I started. On Friday morning, the fun and final event is having the full bucket of water poured over your head in (what was) 33-degree weather.

I am glad we were there, and I am planning on being at Chamberlain Studio's Tuesday and Thursday noon class to keep my workout going. I guess Nick Chamberlain knows what he is doing because if you can get someone going for five days, you can get a person to realize that being a workout person could be a very good thing.