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| Article from Healthy
Wellbeing Magazine |
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Crawling out of bed at 5.30am to the shouts and whistles
of two Royal Marine physical training instructors (PTIs), I wondered
what I’d let myself in for by signing up for the
GI Jane Bootcamp.
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| Article from Limited
Edition Magazine |
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To many, the word bootcamp conjures up images of aggressive men
shouting orders. But when Vicki Foster attended a fitness bootcamp
in the heart of Kent, she found that this could not have been further
from the truth.
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| Article
from The Independant |
| "I
needed to get re-motivated" |
When most people get a week off work,
they like to take it easy leave the grey skies behind and
catch some sun on a beach maybe, or do a bit of lounging. Not Mandy
Smith (inset). Instead, Smith went to army boot camp. And she wasn't
alone: every week, 12 brave women get driven to a secret location
where they'll spend seven days pushing, themselves to their limits.
It's called GI Jane Boot camp and they say it's all
about getting fit - and, crucially, dropping a dress size. These
promises are not, says Smith, outrageous. "I lost 11 inches
and 13 pounds in one week," she says with pride. The weight
loss and trim figure was, though, just one of the bonuses for Smith.
She went on the course soon after her marriage broke up, and was
in need of a new start. "I was at crossroads, and needed to
get re-motivated," she says. "I had a bit of a bad year
and I wanted to get fit mentally and physically."
The military men who meet the groups as they arrive set the
tone for the week: every morning, the women must be up bright and
early at 5.30am to do circuits and exercise until a break for breakfast
at Sam, and then they're straight back into more heart-rate raising
activities. |
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Running, netball, abseiling, bike
rides, army games... you name it, over the week. Smith did it.
As well as bonding with the other participants on the course,
the intensity of the exercise and achieving the goals set for
her boosted her confidence.
"It really is possible,"she says, encouraging
people who think they'd never be able to manage it. "It's
amazing the things you find out about yourself, and how far you
can push yourself." She says she would love to do another
intensive course. "The first couple of days are hard, but
you soon get into the swing of it," she says. "I missed
it when I came home!"
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| Article from Kent On Sunday |
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Boot
camp's call to arms in battle of the bulge
SHE'S been an angel in the morning
to her cleaning business customers, but from now on Sharon Smith
is a boot camp comman-dant knocking privates on parade into shape,
writes Nick Hudson.
But before her conscripts consider deserting, mother-of-one
Sharon is offering the ultimate reward to an army of women across
the county.
The rules are simple at her new GI Jane Bootcamp: fall in
and I'll guarantee you'll shift those unwanted pounds. "Up
will go your confidence, self-esteem and feelgood factor, and down
will come the weight and dress size," Sharon told her first
intake at Stable Cottages in Hoo.
The holiday homes setting was the perfect pick-me-up for
the eight women who braved the inaugural GI Jane week — with
Royal Marines Kevin Green and Jimmy Farrell providing extra "motivation".
The boot camp is a week-long, women-only course of high intensity
physical exercise, designed by military trainers to kick-start a
healthy new way of life.
Up to a dozen women will be asked to do things they never
thought possible during the twice-monthly camps, said 42-year-old
Sharon, who also runs the Angels cleaning agency in Bexleyheath. |
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GI JANE: Jane Turkington, left, and
Roxanne Beaverstock with Kevin Green and Jimmy Farrell. Inset: Demi
Moore
She got the idea for her rejuvenating
lifestyle training regime after going on a similar course in Hereford
last year.
She set about planning her own camp, which is named after
the movie GI Jane -starring Demi Moore - which tells a fictional
story of the first woman to undergo training in the elite US Navy
Seals.
Sharon said: "I wanted this to be a different experience
for women."
Among her first intake was a real-life Jane. And Jane Turkington
proved "nothing is impossible" by shedding 151bs and one-and-a-half
dress sizes. Fellow rookie Roxanne Beaverstock managed to lose 91bs,
one dress size and was 'left feeling good about herself'.
The action-packed training schedule promises boxing, core
training, war games, assault courses, running, power walking, skipping,
riding, volleyball, netball and water activities. "Put in the
effort and you will see a significant loss in weight and inches,"
Sharon said. "It's not a prison for ladies and no-one will
force you to do anything you are uncomfort¬able doing. But youll
be amazed at what you actually can achieve." |
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