Boot campin’ it

So, there we were, a group of grown women running relays across a gymnasium floor. Doing jumping jacks and push-ups. Flailing about with hula hoops and medicine balls.

It looked like P.E. class for students held back for years and years.

But it was actually Women’s Fitness Boot Camp, an action-packed exercise class that’s one of the hottest trends in fitness today.

“It’s a different kind of a challenge,” says Richard Cotton, a spokesman for the American Council on Exercise and an exercise physiologist. “Variety works in exercise. Variety is the spice of exercise.”

Depending on the instructor, though, “boot camp,” can be a bit of a misnomer. You’re more likely to get enthusiastic encouragement than a drill sergeant’s yelling. You’ll also get a full-body workout that blends cardio and resistance training in a 45-minute or one-hour class.

“It’s high energy,” says Merri Lou Franzella, a trainer and group exercise instructor for 24 Hour Fitness on Spokane’s North Side. “I’m all about positive motivation.”

One woman in Dave Faagau’s boot camp class, held at the Five Mile Prairie Grange, joked that she wanted his shouts of encouragement on tape so she could play it while cleaning the house.

Colbert resident Linda Lesniak admits being scared sick before attending her first boot camp class. But it was not at all what she’d feared, and now she’s hooked.

“I have a gym membership,” Lesniak says, “but it’s not as much fun. … My favorite thing is the competition. I love a challenge. You don’t realize you’re working out. … Every week you get stronger.”

Faagau, a personal trainer, started the boot camp classes after moving here from Seattle with his family in September. He started with two classes and immediately had a waiting list. He now offers boot camps four days a week with class times ranging from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“I really wanted to emphasize safety and non- intimidation,” Faagau says. “Everyone’s challenged.”

The boot camp, Faagau says, appeals to all fitness levels because everyone can go at their own pace. He encourages the women to do modified push-ups, if they need to. Or to slow down their jumping jacks.

And all the while, he shouts, “Good job, Linda. Keep it up, Kelly. Looking good.”

If, for some reason, you don’t show up to boot camp, you can expect a call or e-mail from Faagau to make sure you’re OK and see where you were.

Kelly Estes drives from Cheney, about 30 minutes away, to attend the boot camp. She completed one four-week session and signed up for another one.

“I had such a good time,” Estes says. “I wanted to do it again. … It’s more motivating. There are people in the class to hold you accountable.”

Estes says she has gotten stronger and gained muscle since enrolling in the classes. Plus, she says, her pants fit better.

Before enrolling in a boot camp session, it’s wise to do some research, Cotton says. Try to observe a class and ask about the instructor’s credentials. Most importantly, though, listen to your body, he says.

“You still have to become your own best fitness instructor and not do things that seem like too much,” Cotton says. “That’s how you end up getting too sore the next day.”

Danna Snow, a personal trainer and massage therapist, runs Spokane’s Adventure Boot Camp for Women.

Snow’s classes, which are held at Manito Park in the spring and summer, take women through an obstacle course.

“I kind of revisit child exercises such as crawling on your feet and hands, jumping jacks, using playground equipment,” Snow says.

Snow is also a competitive power lifter, so she says she knows how to push women to reach their goals.

“My passion is working with women and trying to motivate them,” she says. “Women have traditionally been told they’re not as capable as a man, physically. It shows women that they are capable, as long as they ask their body to do it.”

In conjunction with that, Snow has recently launched www.womengetactive.com, a Web site to help women find exercise partners.

At 57, Bridget Carstens of Spokane worried she’d be so much older than the other Adventure Boot Camp participants that she would hold back the group.

“I was easily old enough to be their mother,” Carstens says.

But she was pleasantly surprised to find that she could go at her own pace. She also liked knowing that Snow, the trainer, was watching, making sure Carstens didn’t put too much stress on her bad knees or lower spine.

“She could adapt the exercises to fit me, so I wouldn’t hurt myself,” Carstens says.

“It was astonishing,” she says of her progress during the boot camps. “I was shocked at the improvement. It was remarkable. … I’m looking for core strength and stability to keep my back from continuing to slide, and to keep my knees moving.

“I want to stay stronger and more stable. I achieved that.”