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One thing that sets boot camp programs apart from other group fitness classes is their length: Participants enroll for a class that meets either five or three days a week for a finite period of time, usually four to eight weeks. The benefit of such an arrangement, says Peter Lavelle of Ultimate Bootcamp in Boston, is that it creates an attainable goal, especially for those who have failed to adhere to their fitness resolutions.

"It makes it a short commitment," Lavelle says. "If people are trying to get back on the wagon, so to speak, they can see to the other end of the tunnel. But even though we've designed it to be a four-week program, most people come back for another session. We have a 50 to 55 percent return rate."

Ultimate Bootcamp, which has four locations in the Boston area, is devoted to the idea that fitness can be fun, Lavelle says, and he and co-founder Jill Tomich look for instructors who share their vision of innovative and enjoyable exercise classes. What they don't look to hire, he says, is people with actual military experience who are looking to recreate an authentic boot camp experience in civilian society.

"If we can draw out of people what they don't get out of themselves, then we've succeeded and they've succeeded," he says. "And we've found that one of the quickest routes to that goal is positive reinforcement."

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In discussing his Ultimate Bootcamp program, Lavelle is hesitant to overstate its results, but he says that he has seen hundreds of lives change, and not just from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. on weekdays. Participants are eating better and getting more sleep because they see the benefit of getting to bed early to be alert for their morning class. And they tell their friends because they are seeing results and enjoying themselves
in the process. "Whatever they're coming to us for," he says, "they're achieving it."

Copyright 2007 Life by Design Magazine

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