Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

BootCampers stretch to cool down after a pre-dawn jog on the Los Gatos High School track.

Sweat Surrender

It's up at the crack of dawn to battle the bulge

By Shari Kaplan

In Los Gatos and Saratoga, more and more people are doing it. The quiet neighbor down the street with the manicured front lawn might be into it, as might the cheerful mail carrier who brings bills and catalogs to everyone on his or her route, or the busy engineer who hunkers over circuitry all day. In fact, without asking them, it's impossible to know just who has been lured into the fold.

But the numbers are growing.

No, it's not some cult or "alternative lifestyle"--it's Community BootCamp. And although it lacks actual combat boots, drill sergeants and demerits, it does make its "soldiers" pant, sweat and grunt, and it does require them to show up at ungodly hours without complaining. The only catch is: These soldiers are paying for the experience! And, at the dawn of a new year, even more troopers are enlisting in an effort to keep their resolutions about making healthy lifestyle changes.

BootCamp instructor Robin Kleiner clocks the times for the 1 1/2-mile run, one of the tests at the end of a five-week BootCamp session.

Photograph by Kathy De La Torre







Community BootCamp is an innovative group fitness program run by TimeOut Services Inc., a Cupertino-based company which also designs, organizes and runs health, fitness and recreational services for companies in the Bay Area.

BootCamp had its genesis in 1996, when TimeOut president Patty Gash, who lives in Cupertino with her husband and two children, saw something on the news about a military-style community exercise program on the East Coast billed as "boot camp." She says she was immediately excited by the idea and wanted to design a program like it, although she did not appreciate how the instructor screamed in people's faces. After all, she reflects, these were ordinary civilians, not Marines!

"I wanted to soften it but still offer people that kind of discipline. I didn't want it to be too military; I wanted it to be accessible and appealing to the average Joe," explains Gash, who at the time was managing a TimeOut fitness program for employees of Cisco Systems in San Jose.

"I tend not to sit on things, so I sent out a bunch of emails to people at Cisco to see what they thought of a boot camp-type program," she recalls.

Many people thought it sounded like an interesting and workable idea, so Gash set to work designing a new and challenging curriculum. Before Community BootCamp actually became a community activity, Gash recruited 60 Cisco employees to try out its first session.

After that success, Gash began the first five-week Community BootCamp in 1997 at Stanford University in Palo Alto. Thanks to advertising, returning customers and word-of-mouth support, by the end of 1998, BootCamp's sessions had grown to as many as 200 participants every five weeks.

Community BootCamps are now held on the campuses of high schools, community colleges and universities throughout the Bay Area and beyond. In addition to Los Gatos High School, Saratoga's West Valley College, Sunnyvale's Fremont High School and flagship Stanford, venues are available to boot-campers in San Jose, Los Altos, Palo Alto, Atherton, San Francisco and Fresno. Los Angeles is next on Gash's list, with UCLA a likely candidate at which to rent facilities for a Community BootCamp. She also plans to expand into the East Bay.

BootCamp instructors Kelly Lahui and Robin Kleiner time participants and cheer them on as they run 1 1/2 miles around the Los Gatos High School track.

Photograph by Kathy De La Torre







Most camps offer participants--who range from teenagers to senior citizens, with women slightly outnumbering men on average--a choice of working out from 6 to 7 a.m. or 7 to 8 a.m. A few locations offer evening workouts. All camps are held rain or shine, so, depending on the season, participants may show up in anything from tank tops and shorts to warm sweats and rain slickers.

Every session, which runs Monday through Friday, begins with a warm-up, followed by the day's given exercise activities, which can include cardiovascular activities such as running up bleachers, walking around a track, jumping rope or using hula hoops; resistance and weight training; exercises to increase flexibility and tone, such as sit-ups and push-ups; and fitness testing. Instructors, who must complete TimeOut's own in-house training course before being allowed to lead others, spur on their charges to stick the class out through encouragement, humor and yes, sometimes even yelling--but never in anyone's face.

"One of the big reasons people do BootCamp is because they need accountability," explains Gash, a nine-time All-American athlete in discus and shot-put at Stanford University, her alma mater. "I know exactly what to do to get myself fit, but if I'm not accountable to a group and motivated, the day will go by and I won't have gone to work out."

"People know they have no excuses at that hour--no luncheon meetings or appointments yet. They just roll out of bed, show up and are told what to do. I've had people tell me they're not morning people but they find they love BootCamp so much that they become morning people, at least somewhat," she says, laughing.

"We jokingly say, 'no Spandex allowed,' but we also kind of mean it. We don't want this to be a fashion show. We don't want people to worry about looking good at that hour," Gash adds.

BootCamp participants count how many sit-ups they can do in 1 1/2 minutes.

Photograph by Kathy De La Torre







Fran Philip, BootCamp's regional manager and a former instructor, doesn't worry about that either as she travels from site to site to make sure everything is running consistently and smoothly. The physically fit Philip says she realized she was becoming a morning person when she "hit the wall" by 9 p.m. and hit the sack soon after. She doesn't mind much, however, because exercise makes her as healthy and happy as those she observes.

"It's a very emotional thing for me. I love being able to jog along with someone and find out about them. People become more than teammates; they become friends very easily," Philip says. "There's a great social underlying current. If someone moans or complains, someone else will say, 'What was that?' One time someone answered, 'It's not a moan. It's an observation!' "

Los Gatos Boot Camper Frank Oliver has some observations of his own.

"It's a non-threatening environment. It's your middle America--a great group of people who want to get back in shape and need a little motivation to do so. The instructors help you push yourself. I needed this kind of jump start to my day," says Oliver, a real estate agent who admits he used to put off exercising when he belonged to a health club.

"I think [BootCamp] is great--they dialed in on a great idea that appeals to a lot of people. You can do it at your own pace, and you get out of it what you put in," he says. He also likes the strong, lean muscle the program has helped him build--even though he hasn't lost weight, he says, many friends have inquired if he's shed some pounds.


Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

BootCamp instructor Kelly Lahui has students log their workout test results at the end of a five-week session in Los Gatos.




Saratogan Karen Tucker, who attends BootCamp at West Valley College with her husband, Jim, also enjoys the program's many benefits.

"It does everything--it's a complete workout. Your body is feeling good because it gets the workout it needs, and that makes your whole outlook better too," says Tucker, who heads off to a job as an executive assistant after BootCamp. "They push us enough so that we feel like we've accomplished something. There's no slacking off; you have someone right there to encourage you to keep doing a little bit more. It's also kind of like a big family. You develop a lot of camaraderie."

"The sociability factor is great," Philip agrees. "Even if you're not smiling by the first half, you will be by the second. Most people tell me, 'It just feels good,' mentally and physically. Part of it has got to be doing it outdoors--watching the sun rise is really something!"

Appropriately enough, the Community BootCamp logo is neither military- nor fitness-related. It is simply a rising sun.

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Community BootCamp sessions begin every five weeks, but are open to newcomers at any time. The next two sessions at Los Gatos High School run Jan. 10 through Feb. 11 and Feb. 14 through March 17. For information on fees, class times and other locations, call 800.926.6552, 408.996.9660 or visit www.timeoutservices.com on the Internet.

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