Boot Camp Articles
The Fit Get Fitter at 'Boot Camp' Fitness Bound
By J. Michael Kennedy
Los Angeles Times (Writer)
The fitness class gathered on the playground of a Sierra Madre elementary school, an eclectic group of men and women whose ages range from teens to mid-50's. Mingling among them were three men and a woman wearing camouflage pants and a black T-shirt with the words "Boot Camp" emblazoned on them.
I had heard about similar throw-backs to the past for more than a
year, physical fitness programs spun from the purgatory that comes with the first weeks of military basic training. The idea is to provide a bit of atmosphere (as in the pants) reminiscent of the military while giving a strenuous workout using very little in the way of fancy equipment. It's a concept that is catching on nationwide, with varying degrees of realism. With some trepidation, I decided to give it a try.
I'd seen the ads for this particular boot camp at Sierra Madre fitness
center, complete with a picture of four macho-looking instructors staring menacingly into the camera. As it turned out, the woman in the picture, Sandy Lewis-Duvall, is the owner of the center, Sierra Fitness, that runs the boot camp. And contrary to the tough look of the advertisement, the idea, said Lewis-Duvall, is simply to return to the basics of physical fitness-with a military feel to it-and to be outdoors at the same time. The stereotype of snarling drill instructors is out, she said. Too many of her boot camp clients had already gone through the same thing.
"My goal is to motivate, not to humiliate," she told me before the
workout began.
The sessions run by Sierra Fitness last for an hour, four days a week. The most intense to the offerings last for eight weeks, but for $15 you can try a single session. Lewis-Duvall is quick to point out, however, that boot camp training is not for everyone, that a modicum of physical fitness is necessary at entry level. She also said that there are other boot camps in the area where fitness requirements are much more rigorous, requiring a high degree of fitness just to begin the program.
Still, this day in boot camp was no walk in the park. Our group of about 25 loosened up by jogging a couple of laps around the field. Then head trainer Kurt Vasquez, a former Marine, took the lead in the cadenced calisthenics, and I knew right away it would be a long hour of working out.
My heart rate monitor almost immediately began to beep, signaling that I was already over my optimum zone that has a high end of 140 beats per minute. We did jumping jacks. We did crunches and push-ups. In all, we did seven sets of exercises, which would have been plenty for your average workout. But that was only the beginning.
Next came more drills on the other side of the field, where two lines of plastic cones were set up. The idea was to move from one side to the other, with instructors barking commands. The routine included even more push-ups and crunches, combined with races back and forth. My legs were leaden, and most everyone was seriously sweating, even those who had been in the course for a number of weeks. Just when it seemed too difficult to continue, Vasquez call for a water break. The session was at the half-way point.
By now, my shirt was dripping as we were led to a blacktopped section of the school playground. There, we were divided into three groups. At the first station, we tossed modern-day medicine balls made of rubber against a wall. The first few were easy. Then the weight of the balls began to take their toll. At the second station, we did 40 step-ups on benches that lined the chain-link fence. Finally, we did various exercises using either 10-or 15-pound bars. Still, there was more to come in the form of races up and down the field.
That over, the group formed a circle, where Lewis-Duvall led some cooling-off exercises. I looked at my heart rate monitor and saw that I had burned, 1,020 calories. And it felt like it. Looking around, some in the camp looked ready to do more; others looked spent.
Lewis-Duvall said the ones who looked the fittest had been doing the boot camp sessions for some time; other were just beginning. She said participants are initially tested on flexibility, strength, agility and endurance to make sure they are qualified for boot camp. If not, they are advised to work out in the gym for three or four weeks as a way of building up.
The cost of this particular boot camp depends on how many classes are attended each week. The most expensive is $288-four days a week for eight weeks. Lewis-Duvall said that her boot camp had been going on for the last year and a half and that 50 people would begin a new program today.
"We've had every age and size with us," she said. And in terms of
results, she said "it's truly amazing where people end up."
Me, I ended up limping around with stiff muscles for a couple of days.
