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A Different Kind of Boot Camp by Cheryl Murfin

5 a.m.

I’ll be honest, the absolute last thing I want to do, as my iPhone alarm pings relentlessly, is get out of my warm bed at this hour. This is why I am self-employed: at 5 a.m., I would rather balloon 20 pounds then head into the chilly rainy dawn of a Tuesday morning to sprint, crunch and attempt the infamous Army crawl with a group of women.

I am not a morning person. I am, however, a curious person. Which is why, when Seattle Woman asked me to take look at the region’s fast-growing fitness “boot camp” trend, I signed right on.

I was more than happy to check out a fitness craze whose very name brings to mind red-faced drill sergeants and sweaty military recruits scrambling over walls while hefting 30-pound packs; more than happy to watch other women squat, pump, press and run for their health in the wee hours of the morning.

Then the second e-mail message from the magazine arrived: “It will involve participating in a boot camp.”

My curiosity about the lure of boot camps — those early morning, circuit-oriented, full-body workouts that balance cardiovascular and strength training to help women slim down or stay fit — was, admittedly, tempered by the reality that I’d have to get up before God and actually join the exercise. Not that I’m opposed to exercise — but I am a yoga kind of gal; a noon yoga kind of gal.

I chose Seattle Weight Loss Booty Camp because I liked the softer sound of “booty” and because it was one of the first outdoor women-only boot camp programs in the region when owner Kimae Dolan started it four years ago. Dolan recommended I join the 5:50 a.m. group.

“The women who attend the crack-of-dawn class times are real go-getters, personalities that carry a bit of that tried-and-true boot camp approach to getting fit,” Dolan, a certified holistic fitness practitioner and group fitness trainer, told me. “They are the type of women who are CEOs and lawyers and grad students in their eighth year of study. They rely on the positive energy that flows from our early morning community vibe and are incredibly dedicated to the group as well as to their personal goals.”

The original ideal to which Dolan refers is the decidedly hard-core Boot Camp brand that rose out of California in the late 1990s, an aggressive up-before-dawn outdoor workout geared toward traditional male conditioning and mirrored after actual military basic training.

While a handful of Seattle-area boot camps for women engage in that gruffer, drop-and-give-me-20 approach to help their clients achieve weight loss and full-body fitness, most, like Dolan’s program, shoot for the same results by focusing on positive encouragement, patience, peer cheering and educated explanations of the exercises.

Demonstrating the side-to-side position crunch to our morning group, Dolan provided this motivation: “The snake crunch is our big muffin top squasher! The fact is, you can have a slimmer waistline without losing a pound, but you have to focus on those muscles that pull the fat in, providing a tighter appearance to your midsection. Snake crunch is the exercise for side-core results!”

OUT ON THE FIELD

Pulling bright yellow kick balls out of her Xterra, Dolan looks as much the drill sergeant as a kitten. She’s fit but not chiseled; smiling and wearing sweats like her campers. No fatigues. No whistle in sight.

The hour passes surprisingly quickly as Dolan offers soothing yet exact encouragement to the 18 women lined up on the basketball court, yoga mats in front of them, hand weights at the ready and birds chirping overhead. Her spunk and smile never cease during the 60-minute workout. I may have walked blurry-eyed onto my mat, but within minutes Dolan’s energy and enthusiasm have me wide-awake and actually jazzed about doing 30 scissor crunches under the fine drizzle of this early hour.

When she isn’t explaining the next circuit of exercises, Dolan keeps her eyes glued to her campers, watching for form, giving advice, challenging those who need a little push, celebrating those with perfect form. In essence, her focus is on helping each woman achieve whatever she came hoping to achieve.

“Women come to my program to get in touch with their personal best,” says Dolan. “Every day, whether it’s geared toward weight loss or a dramatic shift in physical strength and endurance, I plan the day’s activities expressly for the women in class right now, to help them meet their goals, whatever they are.”

Chris Kirchoff, owner of Kirchoff Fitness and Seattle’s Best Boot Camp, concurs.

“I want to help my clients help themselves to lead healthier, happier lives,” says Kirchoff, who is certified as a personal trainer and boot camp instructor. “I have women in my class who have been injured, come in 60 pounds overweight, been diagnosed with breast cancer, or are moms and full-time working professionals who have never done anything athletic in their life. Many of these same women have gone on to run half marathons, participate in triathlons, climb Mount Rainier. They have become faster, stronger, more confident people.”

Dolan and other trainers agree that the majority of boot camp participants join for two basic reasons. First, they recognize their need for a little push and accountability to meet their fitness goals. Second, they want a network of support to get and stay healthy.

“Boot camp-style fitness is about the motivation a consistent community can provide. Many of the women here are really committed to getting fit but simply won’t work this hard on their own,” says Dolan. “And because we have such a culture of physical play in the Northwest, outdoor workout programs here offer a fun alternative to those who need to train for agility or stamina required for team sports, rock climbing, triathlon training, you name it.

“I love to whip out partner sets that do it all: build core power, challenge balance and agility and inspire laughter and personal connections during the work.”

Individual camp communities stay connected through fitness seminars frequently offered by boot camp leaders like Dolan and through e-mail, phone consultations and camp homework exercises. Many programs, including Dolan’s and Kirchoff’s, offer a nutrition component to help women sync healthy eating habits with healthy exercise habits.

A TREND THAT APPEARS TO BE HERE TO STAY

According to a survey from the American Council on Exercise (ACE), boot camp-style workouts have been the top fitness trend in the U.S. since 2008. The council’s annual survey of a worldwide network of personal trainers, group fitness experts and weight management consultants suggests that the sluggish economy may be part of boot camp appeal.

In times of recession, they theorize, fewer people can afford the cost of one-on-one time with a personal trainer. Camps give you access to trainers at a much lower rate — $250 to $300 for around 20 days of training plus additional outside contact and support, compared to one-on-one personal training time at an average cost of $50 to $80 an hour.

ACE survey participants believe the camp-style workout is popular because it’s aimed at total-body fitness and combines a cardiovascular workout with strength training through high- and low-intensity exercises. Workouts are varied over the course of the camp, get increasingly more challenging as campers move through the program and burn, on average, 600 calories an hour.

“Each session is so different,” says Kirchoff. “I think that is why people keep coming back.”

“We may run to the park, do a circuit on the playground equipment, do modified pull-ups on bars, dips and step-ups on benches and run back,” says Kirchoff. “We run or walk hills. We do core work standing with partners. We do some yoga at the end or stretching.”

Kirchoff offers her camp at different locations, so her campers may be found climbing stairs up Capitol Hill (285 of them!) to do strength work in Volunteer Park or bear crawling through the sand on the bluff at Discovery Park.

The fact that most boot camp programs focus on fun as well as fitness adds to the draw.

“You should feel a little silly doing this,” says Dolan as she explains how to do what she calls a “high cat” jump to strengthen the quad and thigh muscles. “It’s OK to get silly. Fitness is playtime.”

YES, THEY REALLY WORK

Even if the three-year spike in boot camp programs is a fad, the benefits of a well-conceived and supervised outdoor two- to five-day fitness program are certainly not capricious. The varied nature of cross-training and built-in support system of peer campers and trainers has launched many a potato from the couch and given thousands of Seattle women (and some men) an inexpensive alternative to gym drudgery. And, if you stick to the program, says Kirchoff, you are nearly guaranteed to see a shift in body shape, body image or self-esteem.

“If the person comes to class, takes care of their body and eats and sleeps well during the program,” they will see results, says Kirchoff.

At Seattle’s Best Boot Camp, participants undergo a pre-camp assessment where they have their weight, measurements and body fat checked and set personal fitness goals. At the end of the first week campers run a timed mile, do one minute of push-ups, one minute of sit-ups, and then hold a plank pose. The assessment is repeated on the last Friday of camp.

“It is really empowering to see those improvements,” says Kirchoff. “Everyone cheers for one another during their timed mile.”

“I was 65 pounds overweight and unable to run when I decided to attend boot camp,” says Santander, who was also recovering from an injury. “I spoke to Chris about my injury and she worked with me to modify the workouts so I could still participate.

“Within a few weeks I learned how to speed walk and was amazed at how I could go faster than some of the other girls when we had speed walking in our circuits,” she says. “Talk about a morale booster, not to mention all the cheering the ladies sent my way! By the end of the summer I started jogging. Last fall, after having a doctor tell me I would never be able to run again, I completed my first half marathon and I am currently training for another one! Not bad for the girl who couldn’t run when she started boot camp.”

At Seattle Weight Loss Booty Camp the results are also impressive:

“The major physical change I see quickly is postural,” says Dolan. “Everybody’s posture improves by week two. At the end of four weeks, they are standing up tall, bellies are lengthened. Recovering proper posture automatically makes women look leaner. And when clients are following our nutrition and homework guidelines along with attending every workout offered during a session, I’ve repeatedly watched [women] lose from one inch to 14 inches over the four weeks.”

WOMEN ONLY

Many of the boot camps offered in Seattle are for women only. It’s planned that way, trainers say.

“I think most women, but not all, want to be themselves when they train...many of them feel uncomfortable when there are men in the group,” Kirchoff says.

In general, both Dolan and Kirchoff agree that women and men are motivated differently. “Men can often be motivated by competition and women often need support and camaraderie to excel,” Kirchoff says.

“Don’t get me wrong; I think some women are motivated by competition, but not necessarily competition with men,” she adds.

“I appreciate that the group is all women,” says Myra Tishkoff, a speech-language pathologist who attends Seattle Weight Loss Booty Camp. “Women have different body composition and trouble areas where fat tends to accumulate more. Honestly, I’d be distracted by guys in the class, trying to keep up with things that they are naturally better at. I think I would be more self-conscious about my body and how I perform the workouts if guys were there.”

Dolan has other reasons. “When you have a coed group, the workout will likely be dominated by the strength and stamina of men, with exercises that overbuild the biceps and the traps. I train women to offer the most complete gains in overall strength, while maintaining the visual grace and curve of a woman’s body. This is not to say we don’t work hard without the manly element. There is burn and lots of it.”

IS BOOT CAMP FOR EVERYONE?

I am embarrassed to admit that when I first called Dolan, I rather bragged that I was in “good shape.” I do yoga. I did karate for many years. I run. An hour of exercise should be no problem.

Somewhere during the fourth set of crunches and the Army crawl on my second day of camp, I realized I might just benefit from officially signing up for the program rather than my four-day look-see. My stomach cramped, my thighs ached.

All around me women were hoisting their hand weights and I, with no hand weights, was grinding my teeth to get through the three-minute circuit.

I am not coordinated — I got kicked off the basketball team because of a horrible dribble. So, when Dolan charged us to dribble the full court and then return to our mats running backward, I felt like a gangly adolescent with no limb control.

Turns out, many of the women in the group felt just the same when they had started two weeks before I showed up, and yet here they all were, dribbling with precision and sprinting like the Road Runner.

The trick to boot camp success, says Dolan, is starting with a small, attainable goal and to reach for the highest goal, which is why she offers high- and low-repetition counts for most exercises including crunches, squats or jumping jacks.

Doing bicycle crunches, Dolan tells our class, “The high count is 60, the low count is 30. If you can make it to 30 and know you can continue through the burn, accept the next challenge and go for 40, and when you get to 40, reaccept and reach for 50. You will get to that 60.”

If you can’t do 10 push-ups with good form, drop the number to five and focus on using the correct muscles.

If you aren’t ready for full side plank, keep your top hand planted in front of you and pay attention to your core posture.

At the end of each hour, I felt I had done it, I had succeeded, even though I met mostly the goals in the lower ranges.

That, in a nutshell, is why I echo Dolan’s assertion that boot camp-style exercise can work for just about anyone, young or old.

“There are so many local programs, created from many different philosophies and educational modalities. Find one that feels effective and genuine to your needs. If trainers are doing their jobs well, programs should be different and within that idea there should be something for everyone.”

And miracle of miracles, on the fourth day of getting up at 5 a.m., there it was, boot camp high, just like that runner’s high distance runners swear hits you at about 10 miles.

The iPhone pinged and I didn’t flinch at tossing off the covers. I didn’t dive under the pillow. I didn’t even think about the clouds outside the window.

My only thought was, “OK Cheryl, you need this.”

Cheryl Murfin is a freelance writer and owner of Nesting Instincts, a Seattle-based doula care business.

THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN LOOKING FOR A BOOT CAMP

1. Ask for demographic information about those who commonly participate in a camp: age, ability, personality. Seek a program with a diverse group of participants.

2. Check out the background of the instructor including education, experience and accessibility.

3. Ask for references from people who may be similar to your fitness profile and call those who have previously attended a camp to ask them to be brutally honest about their experience.

4. Ask to see a one-day training plan.

5. Ask the instructor to tell you about the methods used for encouragement and his or her training personality. Does it feel like the approach would challenge you the way you feel you need to be challenged?

6. Have a medical checkup before beginning any training program.

7. Dress in layers for Seattle’s unpredictable weather patterns.

8. Sign up with a friend for instant camaraderie and accountability.

9. Don’t be intimidated by 5 a.m. reveille. You get used to it.

10. Just do it.

©Copyright 2010, Caliope Publishing Company