Boot Camp Training - Cosmopolitan Magazine

“A number of the ORIGINAL BOOTCAMP’s recruits explained that they had lost up to 5kgs of fat in the first two weeks!”

The Boot Camp Fitness Revolution - COSMOPOLITAN

MILITARY MADNESS

"Come on, pick it up - and make sure you breathe!" calls the Lead Instructor known simply as Chief. A group of over fifty, mostly 20 and 30-somethings are lying on their stomachs, faces contorted with exhaustion and suppressed laughter, dragging themselves along the sand of beautiful Coogee Beach. Chief, with his shaved head and camouflage shorts, pauses for a moment, nods slowly and with arms folded, squints into the breaking daylight, then counts: "Fifteen seconds to go, move it. Go, go, go..... 3, 2, 1. Steady!"

The exercise (at 6.00 am on a Friday morning) is called "dead legs" andthe point, explains Chief (AKA Jim Brabon), is to pretend you've been shot in the butt, and are unable to use your body from the waist down."It's a fast track way to build upper-body strength and muscular-endurance" says the 29 year old ex-Army soldier, and founderof the Boot Camp movement in Australia.

Despite the more resent move towards gentle exercise programs such as yoga and pilates, this high intesity, discipline based program is growing in popularity. ORIGINAL BOOTCAMP proves time and time agian that the best thing to get couch potatoes up off their bums is a little of Chief's military style discipline. Trust me, thousands of them are willing to pay for the results.

Looking at his lean-machine body with a body-fat-ratio of about 5% andthe ability to complete 30 chin-ups in a minute (and yes we did get towitness this) - who would doubt him?
ORIGINAL BOOTCAMP's exercises make Pump classes look like a picnic. Some sessions involve soft-sand sprints, along with an assortment of push-ups, chin-ups, crunches, squat thrusts, bunny-hops, monkey runs and the extremely challenging 8-point push-ups (a favorite of the US Navy SEALs that combines push-ups and squat-jumps), while being motivated by Brabon and his team elite level fitness trainers.

Like most fitness crazes, Boot Camp has been in the US for a number of years. Here in Australia, the Bootcamp style fitness training was pioneered over a decade ago by Brabon. Despite the numerous health clubs and personal trainers offering army-style programs, none have been able to match the results achieved by Brabon's programs.

With Australia's Army Reserve numbers critically low and conscription back on the agenda, Boot Camp throws up an interesting contradiction: people don't want to join the army but are willing to fork out $219 a month to be treated like they are in the Army. The reason for most participants is the results. Brabon has proved that his programs produce results as good as, if not better than having a personal trainer, and this has shocked the fitness industry. One of his current recruits told us that he had lost nine-and-a-half kilos in his first month on the program and so has naturally come back for more. "We have a number of people who have never trained before entering half-marathons after just two months with us." says Brabon.

"It's because of the intensity of the sessions; people have nowhere to hide and no excuse to stop, so they just keep going. We push them as far as they can go, physically, mentally and emotionally."

"Discipline is paramount," Brabon adds. "If someone slacks off, is late or talks while an Instructor is talking, the whole platoon pays for it . That's why we often hire ex-military personnel, because for them it's just a flash-back to when they were in the service. They know exactly the types of motivational techniques that will keep people moving."

One such person that Brabon and Co have got moving is Josh Levy, 18. This is his first Boot Camp and while he says the early mornings can be torturous, he's enthusiastic about the camaraderie, "I wanted something more full-on then I had previously been doing and this was so different, I had to try it. The people are friendly and when you're being put through hell together you bond and spur each other on. Plus, your outdoors, on a beautiful beach."

THE MAN WHO PUT'S THE BOOT INTO BOOTCAMP

"Don't pretend. You know you love it!" These are the words of encouragement from the man behind the bootcamp fitness fad sweeping the nation, the man most people just call 'Chief'.

His prophetic comments were heard as the quasi-military style training program, ORIGINAL BOOTCAMP, was held on Sydney's Eastern Beaches last week.

Using techniques similar to those endured by Army and Marine recruits, participants sign on for a four-week, intense physical training regime, for 75 minutes three mornings a week.

Men and women aged between their late teens and early fifties are  pushed through challenging yet entertaining training sessions, designed to achieve maximum results, in the minimum amount of time.

The pioneer of Boot Camp training here in Australia, 'Chief Brabon, is a former Australian Army infantry soldier, and has over 15 years experience as a personal trainer and military fitness advisor.