North Atlanta Boot Camp For Women

By Al Levine / STAFF

Drill sergeant Samantha Lynch commanded her nine soldiers to run the distance around Alpharetta’s Cogburn Woods Elementary School, dutifully recording their time on her watch.

Then she gently prodded them into pushups. And recited encouraging words as she held their ankles during sit-ups.

Eventually, they faced an uphill run through agility circles and high-stepped sideways, like football players, across a ladder-like course.

Sgt. Lynch never raised her voice or stuck her face into one of her mercenaries.

They call this Boot Camp?

Drill sergeants Rosa Hurst, left, and Samantha Lynch put a North Atlanta Boot Camp for Women class through its paces. (Al Levine / STAFF)

Indeed. What were you doing Wednesday at 6:15 p.m., when the sun was still high and the blistering August temperature had cooled to, oh, a balmy 100 degrees or maybe 99?

Did you feel inspired to run a half-mile around a school? Or have the urge to perform sit-ups?

These nine campers did, participating in the newest fitness training program sweeping the Northside. North Atlanta Boot Camp For Women is an accelerated approach to getting in shape. In four weeks, the program promises women will lose body fat and inches while increasing strength and stamina.

It’s the closest thing to a personal trainer experience without the expense and all sessions are held outdoors. The only required equipment is an exercise mat, hand weights, water and a towel.

“Everything you can get for under $20 at Target,” said Rosa Hurst, who started the program two years ago. This year she added Lynch as a business partner, which illustrates what hanging around a Boot Camp will do for you.  Lynch was so inspired by her results that she kept re-enlisting -- about eight times.

“I got hooked on it, absolutely,” Lynch said. She’d tried conventional gyms and personal trainers, with little satisfaction.

“I never felt like I was getting pushed enough or getting a great workout,” Lynch said, “and if were doing it on my own, it was very hit and miss. It was just very different to have that personal interaction with a trainer who was telling me every single thing I need to do and how much of it. I love also being in the outdoors; that makes a huge difference because I have asthma.”

The inspiration for Boot Camp is quick, positive results.

“You get very good results very quickly,” Lynch said, “and it’s just much different than being in a gym setting because you’ve got somebody that’s pushing you and telling you what to do and when to do it, move here, move there, do this.”

Hurst’s Boot Camp has grown from one location to five in less than two years. Every one of her coaches is a Boot Camp graduate.

The hour-long sessions begin at 5:15 a.m. and 6:15 p.m., always at school locales. There are three levels of commitment: five days a week for four weeks costs $299; four days a week for four weeks is $239 and three days a week for four weeks is $199.

Enlistees can expect to experience a 3-5 percent reduction in body fat, 5-12-pound weight loss, 1-3-inch decrease in the midsection, 25 percent improvement in endurance, 25 percent increase in strength and better posture.

And perhaps a couple of important intangibles: self-confidence and the ability to relax.

The Boot Camp coaches come up with various circuits for their ladies, challenging them to run around cones, hopping on aerobic steps. Hurst even gets some input about authentic military boot camp procedures from her husband, Doug, an Army major who just returned from a two-year deployment.

But that’s where this boot camp and the ones at Parris Island really differ.

“On our website, they can see that it’s friendly, that I don’t look so mean and so ugly,” Hurst said. “They can get the idea that there is no screaming, no yelling. There’s always positive reinforcement. If they say I can’t do it, yes you can. It’s amazing what they can do when they have someone that believes in them.

“With women, there’s a lot of emotion involved: the gaining of the weight and then the exercising to try to keep it off. Sometimes their families support them the least.”

It’s also a healthy activity that some employers have begun buying into. “An insurance adjuster paid for 10 of his employees to come to boot camp,” Hurst said. “It’s a great perk. Not only do you invest in their health and well-being, but also the insurance aspect of having to deal with diabetes, high blood pressure, the things associated with gaining weight.”

Hurst, 38, has been in the fitness industry for 15 years as both coach and fitness and figure competitor. She’s always placed in the top three in National Physique Committee competitions. Her next contest is in Orlando in a couple of months.

But she gets as much satisfaction from helping women get into good shape as she does ranking among the nation’s top hard bodies.

“We have one lady who has gone from a 15-minute mile to 7:43 and she’s 53 years old,” Hurst said.  “She’s training for her first marathon. A group of our girls are going to the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C.”

Hurst recently received a heartwarming e-mail from a client who went through Boot Camp with her daughter, telling Hurst that the daughter is now doing her routines in her college apartment.

“So she has some healthy activities to rely on instead of those late-night pizza and beer nights,” Hurst said. “She doesn’t have to give up the pizza and beer nights; but this way she can do that without feeling so bad.”