“I want you to charge into the next one, I don’t want to see any piddling around!” shouts instructor Aimee Noffsinger.
A receptive group of teenagers to thirty-somethings obediently responds by running full speed across the field, dropping into a set of push-ups.
This isn’t Army basic training.
On a cold evening in Lincoln Park, this is Bulldog Bootcamp.
Programs based on military boot camp have become popular for those wanting to escape the routine of gyms or those looking for the motivation to exercise–and the Oak Park-based Bulldog program delivers.
The group starts with a few laps around a clearing in the park, repeating cadences from the instructor. “Up in the morning at the break of day, I don’t like it, no way.”
The cold weather doesn’t faze the group as they start. Noffsinger has them sprint between cones, doing everything from sit-ups to push-ups.
Michelle Witte, 37, works out with the group three times a week. “The only time we don’t meet is if it’s below 10 degrees or there’s lightning,” Witte says.
These programs rely more on camaraderie for motivation instead of a drill instructor spitting and shouting insults into someone’s face.
Noffsinger yells loud enough to be heard, but not at any one person. She wears jogging pants, not military fatigues. And instead of blowing a whistle in a straggler’s face, she runs alongside him for encouragement.
Scot Foley, 35, has been in the Bulldog program for several weeks and enjoys the group workout as opposed to going it alone on the treadmill at the gym. “It’s outdoors, and you have a coach to keep you motivated throughout the workout,” he says.
Other boot camp-inspired programs are geared toward getting in shape for monumental occasions, like the wedding boot camp program offered by West Loop-based Unicus Fitness.
Unicus president Frank Nunez is one of the prewedding workout instructors, and he says his sessions are constantly changing, giving his clients a full workout without getting stuck in a training rut.
The wedding boot campers meet on a vacant floor of a downtown office building to do running and strengthening exercises.
During one recent session, a group of women stretch their way across the room in a crouching position with elastic ankle shackles. At the same time, another group practices upper-body strengthening exercises by pulling up elastic cords attached to their feet.
Many in Nunez’s group–consisting entirely of women–have said they are married but stuck with the program because of the results. Those about to be married sweat it out to guarantee the perfect photo op for their big day.
With only a couple of weeks before Kriston Kaleciak’s wedding, the 33-year-old seems too exhausted for any jitters.
“I had belonged to a gym for years, but you get in a rut,” she says.
Kaleciak says she was relieved to find that the other participants were regular people who “all had our baggy shirts on.”
Nunez says he doesn’t go overboard with the program’s military-themed name, even though some clients expect him to be decked out in fatigues.
“Is that really getting people into shape?” he says. “No, it’s the program that’s going to do that–not if you’re wearing a hat and blowing a whistle.”
