Welcome to
Ottawa’s adult fitness boot camp
I’m not sure why I feel afraid.
Maybe it’s the name “boot camp.” Sounds
painful. Besides, I’m in my fifties
and a good 20 or 25 pounds overweight.
Am I going to feel like a fool?
I join a group of three other women
and three men. This is not an athletic
club nor a gym full of svelte figures.
It’s a conditioning camp with a difference.
The difference is Lorne Goldenberg,
the owner of what he believes is Ottawa’s
“best kept secret,” the Athletic Conditioning
Center (ACC), Strength Tek Fitness and
Wellness Consultants. He’s also vice-president
and director of conditioning for Station
Seven Reebok in Toronto. Goldenberg
has been an NHL strength and conditioning
coach since 1987, working with such
teams as the Florida Panthers, Chicago
Blackhawks and Ottawa Senators.
While the eight year old ACC in
Ottawa’s west end is dedicated to the
high performance athlete, last year
it opened its doors to the general public
with a new eight-week fitness program:
the get fit boot camp.
My boot
camp trainer is John Zahab, a designated
certified strength and conditioning
specialist, who’s been coaching at the
ACC since 2003.
On Day 1 of “camp,”
he starts us off on the Astroturf with
dynamic stretches. We’re on our feet,
marching and kicking. My muscles feel
fatigued after the first minute. I wish
it away and push myself to keep up.
Once Zahab explains the nine “stations”
to us, he puts us through two circuits.
We do pushups and lower back bridges
on stability balls, shoulder rows with
hand weights, cardio drills on a step
and a rope ladder and try to balance
on a wobble board.
Not your typical
fitness class. The next day, my triceps
and the back of my ankles are a little
bit sore, but I’m feeling stronger.
Goldenberg says his boot campers
have ranged from their mid-twenties
to late-sixties, everyone from mothers
on maternity leave to doctors and company
executives. They’re all looking for
something very different and many have
successfully dropped four or five sizes
and significant amounts of body fat.
Goldenberg graduated from the University
of Ottawa with an honours degree in
physical education and earned certification
as a strength and conditioning specialist,
a professional fitness and lifestyle
consultant, and a corrective high performance
exercise kinesiologist. He is also accredited
in soft tissue injury management.
As well as publishing numerous articles,
Goldenberg co-authored Strength Ball
Training with Peter Twist.
“Our
equipment is very specialized and truly
functional,” Goldenberg explains. “And
if it’s going to help an athlete become
stronger, better balanced, and have
better stability and better posture,
then there’s no reason why it can’t
help someone from the general public.”
Zahab pushes me and my fellow “general
public” campers harder in our second
session. We warm up on exercise bikes
and treadmills. As Zahab puts us through
our dynamic stretches then “core” work
and cool-down stretches, he explains
the purpose behind them.
We manage
three circuits today and I’m really
sweating. At the end of the session,
he takes some measurements and has me
weigh in so I can compare the before
and after record.
When I ask him
if I’m going to be in better shape after
the boot camp, he bluntly tells me 70
to 80 per cent of the equation is nutrition.
“I don’t know about your nutrition,”
he says.
I interrupt, “I eat
well, I eat healthy . . .and on top
of it all, well, I eat a lot of sweet
things.”
Sugar, he tells me (as if
I didn’t know) is poison to the system.
On the way home, I contemplate his words.
It’s true, and if I care about my health,
I’ll try to cut it out.
Exercise
stresses the body, Goldenberg notes.
“That’s how you get progressively stronger
and fitter. It becomes a regular routine
and something you feel you can’t miss.
Then there’s the euphoria that comes
with success.”
Goldenberg understands
that people come to the Center because
of the “legitimacy” of what he and his
staff do.
“I offer something
different,” he adds, “something based
on science, biomechanics, safe progressions.
And I offer a program I know people
will have success with if they participate.
We work with stability balls, we work
on the core muscles to enhance posture
and we have artificial turf to improve
movement in the hips and lower back.”
As Goldenberg watches his boot campers
make it through the program, he says,
“I feel good. I love hearing from people
who have lost three or four dress sizes
and feel better about themselves. People
come here and they find a difference.”
I meet a good friend for coffee.
I haven’t seen here since I started
boot camp. I’m pretty sure my weight
hasn’t changed significantly, but I’m
surprised when she blurts, “Wow, you
look like you’ve lost weight. You’re
looking really toned.”
|
|
Home
About us
Services
Blog Service
Website Article Service
Online Press Release Service
Writer on Staff Service
E-Book Writing Service
Search Engine Optimization
Articles
Resources
Portfolio
Contact Us
|
|
CLIENT SUMMARY
This is an
editorial piece that one of our writers
submitted to a health and fitness magazine
- Strive Magazine.
When you have
an opportunity to publish an article
in a publication, you don't want poor
writing skills to hamper your message.
A professional journalist can help by
interviewing customers and writing articles
that attract your intended audience.
|
|
