Boot Camp Fitness – You Have No Idea…

I’m a yoga person. I have had the privilege of having the best yoga instructor around who really thought me to love and respect the practice. But. Yes, but. The weight, mostly lazily gathered through a year of undiagnosed anemia plus general stress, was not budging. I had to do something other than sun salutations. After driving by the “Boot Camp Las Vegas” equipment trailer a few times, and then being prompted by a Facebook ad (the first one I ever clicked on), I decided to give it a go.

It was as hard a workout as I expected, perhaps harder. For one, I have never, ever been a sports or fitness buff. Sure, the occasional step class… But beyond that, I had never run more than 300 continuous yards in my life. After two months of boot camp, I ran my first 5K. Never in my wildest dreams…

Boot Camp Las Vegas was started four years ago by then 22 year old Julie Johnston, who was unhappy with the 180 lbs weighting down her tiny frame (here’s her before pic. She now weighs 115), unable to lose the weight despite having tried all the diet and workout gimmicks around. She even wanted to join the military for the sole purpose of attending their boot camp training. Short of that, Julie hired two officers to help her train military style. That workout also came short of her vision and so she just developed her own. And that’s what the workouts are based on today: Julie uses some traditional equipment like freehand weight, but she also got creative in using picnic tables, tires, car rims, logs (or large pvc pipes filled with concrete), ropes, straps…. I can now do a complete body and aerobic workout just around a park picnic table.

The workout experience, for me, was completely unparalleled to anything I had ever tried before. Even hiking down and up the Grand Canyon for 7 hours each way does not compare to a one hour Boot Camp LV workout. I started with a 3-days-a-week program (then graduated to 4). I could barely walk after the first week. This is when most people drop out, never to be seen again. But, with a little perseverance, the addiction kicks in. Even at 6:00am. How? Well, once I got past the pain caused by the shock on my body, I quickly understood that this workout was causing me to go places I never thought I could go. Physically, bien sûr, but mentally mostly.

I was, at every class, quite convinced I couldn’t endure most of the exercises of the day. But I did. And the fact that I accomplished – 4 times a week – something seemingly physically impossible has reverberated in every other area of my life. There are no insurmountable challenges anymore in any area of my life. Of course I can do it! And dropping a whole dress size is motivation too.

The workouts are killers. Julie has a philosophy that class members should feel like they are “done”, not able to take another step, within the first 12 minutes of class. That’s the targeted intensity. But then, the workout goes on for another 48 minutes. And we all somehow get through it. It’s not elegant or graceful. The bear crawls and crabwalks on the grass are perilous because of dog dropping hazards and cutting grass blades (seriously, grass injuries!) but the way it makes you feel so much stronger and sexier makes the indecorous workout completely rewarding.

The camaraderie is another component feeding the addiction to show up for a brutal (but exhilarating) workout at 6:00am. Boot Camp members are an unbelievably motivated group of people of all ages, shapes and sizes. Laughter, teasing and motivation is omnipresent between each grunt and heaving breath… I would never have gone through even 10 minutes of a similar workout on my own. Thank you 6:00am Henderson.

Boot Camp LV also stages monthly challenges. Some group and some personal challenges, all creatively planned to test our stamina and to motivate us to train harder for the next challenge. It’s hard to explain how life-changing these challenges are, especially for the neophytes like me and my son who also joined, who are witnessing previously inconceivable can-do power and endurance. BTW, you can see more photos of recent challenges on the Boot Camp Las Vegas Facebook Fan Page.

What started as a personal weight loss effort has transformed into a city wide fitness phenomena, copied but never rivaled in other states such as California. Twelve hand-picked instructors (all have been Boot Camp trainees for at least a year) are trained as certified personal trainers, injury prevention but also as “coaches” in every sense of the word.

I only had 4 short months of Boot Camp LV fitness. It is probably the thing that I miss the most since my departure from Las Vegas. I will endeavor to find something similar in the Chicago North Shore area. I still practice yoga, only now, I am so much stronger and determined at it that my practice has greatly improved.

Why am I telling you this? Well, my takeaway is that I learned through Boot Camp LV that I can really push my limits, and then push them some more. I learned that a group workout is way more potent and effective than any gym or treadmill workout. I learned that trying new highly intimidating things is highly gratifying. And of course, I hope that Julie’s Boot Camp gets enough attention that she will want to open branches nationwide. Please Julie?

Life changing is probably an understatement. You have no idea…