Two weeks ago, I heard about Jersey City’s FREE Fitness Boot Camp classes for its residents—just in the nick of time to attend the first class. I quickly laced up my sneakers and walked over to Pershing Field’s Community Center (201 Central Ave.) at 7pm.

There was a great turnout of people, and of all ages and demographics at that. I kept wondering, Why did I only hear about this an hour before?

[Note to JC: It is up to you to keep me informed if you want me to keep informing you of all the great things this city has to offer. NB: Take the publicity while the publicity’s still free.]

One of the “mayor’s men,” a tall man in a full suit with a skinny black tie, introduced the class. He had done the 6am class at Mary Mcleod Bethune Center (140 Martin Luther King Drive) and explained the program.

The instructor, Mario Perez, a trainer at Creative Fitness Concepts in downtown Jersey City, has a positive demeanor that is motivating. You won’t feel gym-timidated or singled out, which is great for shy group-workout gals like me.

Everyone was able to keep up pretty well that first class. I hadn’t done strength work in years, so I was surprised that I kept up, too. The main crux of our workout was maybe only 20-25 minutes of hard work. The rest of the hour was warm up, cool-down, explaining of exercises and breaks.

I felt great when I left. Fast forward to the next day: pain in my arms. Two days after the workout, my thighs were burning. So what seemed not too hard was definitely working. Yay!

Classes are one hour and on Tuesdays and Thursdays at both venues (mornings at Bethune; evenings at Pershing).

The Tuesday class at Pershing was just added (meets except for every 3rd Tuesday of the month), and I attended last night. Not feeling the pain yet, but I hope I do soon!

Last night I also found out about other free programs:

-Beginner weight and conditioning class
-Advanced weight and conditioning class
-Adult yoga
-Water aerobics for adults and seniors (pool fee is $3)
-Cricket
-Scuba lessons (pool fee is $3)
-Indoor tennis
-Soccer

Read more about the programs here. (Click on program-specific tabs on left.)

Health is wealth,
JCG