Is a Fitness Boot Camp Class Right for You?

The year Teri Smith turned 40, she decided it was time to tackle a nagging urge to get in shape. It was then that she signed up for her first physical boot camp class.

“I had no energy and I could feel my age creeping up,” says Pembroke Pines, Florida, mother of two. Her weight had also increased. Although she was weightless, the 20 pounds she’d added over the years didn’t sit comfortably on her 5-foot-3 frame.

Smith, a successful graphic designer, has never been more comfortable in sneakers than she is in front of her Macintosh. “She didn’t have the confidence” to exercise, she says, because she always felt uncoordinated.

But when her stylist suggested she try the boot camp fitness class, she plucked up the courage to do it. And she has never looked back.

“No other workout makes me feel this good. It makes me feel like I really kicked my butt,” says Smith, 42, a faithful training camper for two and a half years.

She is now one of the fastest runners in the class and is once again happy with her appearance. “It took me 12 weeks, but I lost 25 pounds,” says Smith.

What is a physical training camp?

Boot Camp exercise classes vary in style, depending on the teacher. But you can generally expect to find yourself outside, rain or shine. You’ll probably spend an hour doing some form of cardio (running, walking, interval training, or obstacle course challenges), along with strength elements (using dumbbells, exercise bands, or the resistance of your own body weight). You’ll also work on flexibility in a stretching portion of the class, which may incorporate elements of yoga or Pilates.

The physical training camp class Smith attends in Weston, Florida, is taught by former college football player and physical trainer Tom Rayhill. Rayhill’s boot camp is offered three times a day, seven days a week, year-round. People can pay daily, weekly or monthly and come as often as they like.

Many other boot camp classes are offered for set periods of time. California-based John Spencer Ellis’s Orange County Adventure Boot Camp, which has locations in nine countries, is offered to women only at 5:30 a.m., five days a week for a month. Many participants re-enlist one or more times.

Boot Camp fitness classes challenge both mind and body, instructors say.

“We work on technique, form, core training, breathing, relaxation, and a better understanding of how the body moves,” says Ellis. “In four weeks, people will lose 5% to 6% body fat, lose up to 10 pounds, and cut their mile time by sometimes 2 minutes per mile.”

Often the confidence participants gain in the boot camp class helps them take control of other aspects of their lives, Ellis says.

What is a physical training camp? continued…

“They might say, ‘I’m going back to school. I’m going to get this job. I’m going to start my own company, I’m going to travel,'” he says.

Boot camp became more than just training for Smith when her oldest son was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome (a developmental disorder that is milder than autism) and her husband, an Air Force lieutenant colonel, he had to spend a year in Korea without family.

“It was literally my saving grace,” says Smith. “It was a very stressful time. (Boot Camp) was a way to take care of myself physically and emotionally, it was my social outlet. It kept me sane.”

‘Let go of me and give me 50’

Although the name “boot camp” was inspired by military boot camps, none of the instructors who spoke with WebMD use bullying tactics in their classes.

“If you’re lining people up and yelling at them, that’s not real camaraderie. That’s something you can fake,” says Rayhill. Besides, he tells him, it is not necessary. People strive for themselves when they are in a group.

“Human nature is to challenge yourself against other humans,” says Rayhill. “Not everyone has the same athletic bent, but by hanging out with those more motivated people, you’re naturally going to want to do better,” she says.

Ellis Adventure Boot Camps follow the same philosophy. Military exercise is for the military, he says, and those are not the people enrolled in Adventure Boot Camp. Its participants are generally mothers between the ages of 25 and 50 who may have had caesarean sections and want to get in shape.

“Negative reinforcement usually only goes so far,” he says. “My choice is to have an empowering environment, one that is nurturing and very challenging. One that is not just about getting fit but about community and nutrition and being better at everything you do.”

Still, he says, it’s it is a boot camp: “People are expected to show up, shut up, pay attention and give 100%,” he says. “He’s disciplined by nature. He’s intense. He’s no pushover.”

camaraderie is key

So why are boot camp classes suddenly seeming to appear everywhere?

According to Rayhill, it’s all about interaction and encouragement from your peers.

“Most of what we do all day is very isolating,” says Rayhill. “We have iPods, cell phones, computers. We’re not connecting with other people.”

The interaction of a boot camp class is not only emotionally satisfying, it helps people push themselves physically, he says.

“If you’re around other athletic people, they’ll get it out of you,” says Rayhill. “By the time they leave, they have already done a lot of positive things that day.

“No computer can make you feel better, not like connecting with other people.”

A cult of personality?

Another powerful draw to boot camp classes, some participants say, is the charisma of the teachers.

A boot camp class, Ellis says, is meant to empower students throughout the day. As a teacher, “at different times, you intersperse powerful thoughts and statements. You’re setting the example. You’re leading the way.”

Rayhill also tries to be a guiding force for his students. As one of six children, and a 5-foot-8 former college football player (who still holds two state records in Illinois), Rayhill says he’s “always been a high achiever.”

His goal as a teacher, he says, is to give the class a different workout every day and encourage them to find what it takes to reach their goals.

“I call myself a catalyst. I know what it takes to get there. I know there’s more than one way to do something. We’re talking about how to make people better,” he says. “Whatever you want from your life, you have to get it. You have to do it for yourself.”