Jen Kruczek's face was as red as her shorts and her hair so drenched in sweat it looked as if she'd just showered. And the cold water in Marybeth Pender's bottle was warm after 15 minutes outdoors.

However, last week's punishing heat wave didn't stop these two Ultimate Bootcampers. They earned bragging rights after an hourlong workout in weather that felt like 105 degrees. On top of that, Kruczek also had a two-mile bike ride home to Kenmore Square.

The two women are part of an Ultimate Boot Camp class, a four-day-a-week hourlong group fitness workout that has participants skip, sprint and shuffle - among other no-frills-just-grueling-drills - around Boston Common or Arsenal Park in Watertown.

‘‘It wasn't easy, but you do feel better when you're done and you've worked hard out in the heat,'' said Pender, 34 of Quincy.

Heat notwithstanding, boot camp style workouts continue to be the hottest exercise around.

Ultimate Boot Camp founders, Peter Lavelle and Jill Tomich practice a back-to-basics philosophy, but crank up the intensity level. (Think: Your high school gym class wired on speed). Participants can burn anywhere between 850 and 1,000-plus calories, Lavelle said.

Fitness the old-fashioned way

Every workout is a combination of calisthenics, plyometrics, resistance and cardio training, relay races and partner drills. A typical session might include pushups, jumping jacks, running, squats, sit-ups and lunges. The natural resources of the location are integrated into each workout. One day you might do tricep dips and sit-ups on every open bench; another you'll run up and down the stairs or do calf raises off a stone monument's ledge.

What's missing, though, is the in-your-face military drill instructor. And that's fine with these troops who say Tomich and Lavelle are plenty motivational without screaming, ‘‘Drop and give me 20!''

‘‘I think the name ‘Boot Camp' lends itself to something really intense and challenging,'' Tomich said.

With an instructor pushing them, participants find the class is what their fitness routines lack. You can only go so far in a step class or the weight room. ‘‘Someone is there making me do things. I like to whine and on my own I'd do my two pushups and then be done,'' Kruczek said.

‘‘Ultimate Boot Camp is a great blend of personal training and group fitness set in the great outdoors,'' Lavelle said. ‘‘It's got the social/peer pressure of group fitness, which not only makes for a fun social setting but allows people to work out to a degree they wouldn't normally achieve on their own. With the backgrounds that we have, the limited numbers, and the finite period of time, it's got the personal training element where you pretty much get one-on-one supervision while you're going through the exercises.''

A desire for outdoor exercise, companionship, encouragement and speedy results are the reasons for joining, participants say.

Pender signed up because she wanted to jumpstart her routine. She ran the Chicago Marathon, her first, in October, but has not done a lot since.

‘‘I was looking for something new,'' she said. ‘‘I like working closely with the trainers but not being the only person. I like the small group.''

Plus, it's a team environment and if you miss a session, you've reneged on your commitment. ‘‘That's a big part of it, you feel committed to be there, otherwise you feel guilty,'' she said.

Tomich loves the camaraderie she sees built every session.

‘‘Everyone is there for more or less the same reason and that's to improve themselves. So everyone is moving in a positive direction. Everybody wants to see results. Everybody is going toward the same goal and they want to go head on and they want to go fast and they want to be challenged and it just creates a ball of energy,'' she said.

Like any workout, you get out what you put in. Lavelle said most will notice by the second week they are more energetic, more productive and have a greater sense of self-efficacy.

‘‘Those are pretty immediate and tangible differences,'' he said.

In three weeks, Kruczek has lost 5 pounds, noticed her clothes fit differently and said she has more energy. When she started, Kruczek said she wasn't the best ‘‘push-up person,'' but can now do a lot more.

‘‘I feel like I've accomplished something and done something good for myself,'' she said.

For Tomich and Lavelle, these sessions are all about helping people improve. They estimate about 400 people have participated in the past year-a-half of Ultimate Boot Camp's existence.

‘‘I love seeing the people transform from Week 1 to Week 4. That's the best feeling ... someone comes in Day 1 and looks at you cross-eyed when you ask them to run half a lap around the park. By the fourth they're running two, two-and-half, that's significant,'' Tomich said.

Another benefit, Lavelle said, is the four-week, one-hour format.

‘‘It's short enough where people can and will commit to it and it's long enough to get you 16 sessions in a month. The body has to react to 16 hard workouts in a month and that absolutely stimulates the body into responding,'' he said.

The bottom line, Tomich said, is fitness can be fun. ‘‘You don't have to do things on your own. It's a team environment. You've got everyone cheering you on in the class. We've had many people come to us and say, ‘This is the only thing that I've been able to stick to.'''

Dana Barbuto can be reached at dbarbuto@ledger.com.

Copyright 2005 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Monday, August 01, 2005

<<BACK TO MEDIA HOME PAGE