Shake Your Booty...Looking for that killer beach bod? Try Beach Boot Camp By Erin Crowell Living in Northern Michigan, we’ve grown accustomed to “the big reveal” of summer – how just a few precious months of warm weather allows us to shake off the layers and show off some skin. Up to this big reveal, we grind it out in the gym – pounding the treadmill and pumping iron. But once it’s time, we drop the weights, along with all incentive to keep that killer beach body. “Who wants to stay inside and work out when it’s nice outside?” asks Joe Lorenz, personal trainer at Fit For You Health Club in Traverse City. That’s why Lorenz, along with fellow FFY trainer Ryan Heary, started the Beach Boot Camp, a fast-paced outdoor fitness class that utilizes the sand for optimum training that fights bulge and boredom.
HARD WORKOUT It’s a Tuesday evening, late June, and Lorenz and Heary wait in the parking lot for their students to arrive for class. The two are easy to spot: young, tan, athletic and oozing with healthy optimism. They bounce and stretch in place, sipping water in the 83 degrees. It’s only the first summer for Beach Boot Camp, but the trainers say the response has been positive. “We get a lot of people in… usually 10 to 12 per session,” says Lorenz. “We even get a few people from out-of-town joining in for the day.” That’s because Boot Camp is right on the shores of the Holiday Inn West Bay. As the eight women that make up the class start to gather (Lorenz says the majority of participants are female), beachgoers glance over their shoulders to see what’s happening. “Alright, let’s warmup,” says Lorenz, and the group takes off for a jog around the parking lot. Heary stays and does lunges with Shelly Glaesmer, one of the class’s regulars who joined because of her knee. “I thought it would be easier on the joint,” she says. When asked if Beach Boot Camp is hard, Glaesmer says her heart rate is anywhere from 135 to 170 beats – “pretty hard” by those standards. “But it’s worth it,” she adds. Lorenz and Heary tell their participants to prepare for the class by eating well and drinking enough fluids beforehand. “Otherwise, it’s really just what you put into it,” Heary says.
GREEN EXERCISE Boot Camp starts on the grass. “We’re gonna smoke their upper body doing sit-ups and pushups then we’ll go to the sand,” says Leary. And smoke ‘em they do. The group sweats and grunts underneath the hot sun, rising and falling with the command of “Up!”, “Down!” While they’re only pushups, each repetition is slow – overloading the muscle. “We’re confusing the muscle,” says Heary. “When you hold it for a few seconds longer, it engages the muscle.” The group flips over for sit-ups. “Aww, yeah!” Lorenz yells, keeping up morale. “It’s hard to be in a bad mood on the beach in Northern Michigan,” says Lorenz. “We could be killing them, and they’d still have a smile on their faces.” Working out in the great outdoors is referred to as “green exercise”; and as little as five minutes per day has significant effects in mood and self esteem as reported in a 2005 study published in Environmental Science & Technology journal. “Living up here and training you see a decline during the summer,” says Lorenz. “People just want to be outside. It was just a natural thought process for us to do this.”
“ARE THOSE LIFEGUARDS?” Laurie Radtke has been doing the Beach Boot Camp since it started in May. “I figured since half my pay goes to the bay, I might as well enjoy it,” she says, referring to the old saying. “It’s a hard class, but boy do you feel good afterward!” At this time, the group has moved to the sand. They kick off their shoes and gather around a rope that looks like it could have come right off the Tall Ship. They squat, touch the rope, jump straight up and repeat. A couple sitting on a beach blanket nearby ask, “Are those lifeguards? What the heck are they doing?” The group finishes and takes a quick five-minute break. At this point, one participant has to stop. She comes back from the bathroom to grab her keys and wishes everyone well. “She puked,” says Heary. “And there you go,” adds Lorenz. “She probably didn’t eat enough before she came.” Walking and running on sand burns between 20 and 80 extra calories per mile, versus on a solid surface. So all the movements done on sand by the Beach Boot Camp serve as accelerated calorie burners. “The sand acts as a balance ball and your muscles have to work to stabilize, which increases toning effects,’ says Lorenz. The trainers switch up the exercises each class, always surprising the muscles with different movements. Some days it’s sideways shuffles through the sand, another day it’s hauling cinder blocks out of the water. “We keep it interesting,” says Heary. After one hour of intense work, the group finishes. The women huff and puff, hands on knees, faces red and sweaty. “Hear that beeping?” Glaesmer says, looking down at her heart-rate watch. “159. Whew, it’s like this every time.” The women are ready to call it a night when Lorenz tries to rally the group with an impromptu tug-o-war. There’s mumbling and heads shaking, but ultimately the trainers win. Each trainer takes an end and the women claim their spots on the 30-foot rope. With the sun lowering and the Nauticat boat ready to leave port in the background, the group picks up the rope. “Ready, set, GO!”
Hosted by Fit For You Health Club, Beach Boot Camp is held every Tuesday and Thursday on the shores of Holiday Inn West Bay, in Traverse City, from 6-7 p.m. Classes are $15 each or $169 for a four-month membership. More information is available by calling Fit For You at 231-922-7285 or online at traversecityhealthclub.com.
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