Busy moms report to boot camp
Business brings workouts to local parks
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

FAST FEET- Women exercise in the Adventure Boot Camp, a four-week session held in public parks in Camarillo, Thousand Oaks and Ventura. Boot camp instructors Rob and Shannon Yontz, a husband and wife team, both certified personal trainers, said they try to make the hour workout fun and different from one day to the next.

Mary FitzGerald isn't in the Army, but the Newbury Park mom will attend boot camp five days a week and do more before breakfast than most people do all day.

Shortly after 6:30 a.m., FitzGerald returns home from a rigorous hour-long workout that she participates in with a group of other women every weekday morning. The workout begins at 5:30 a.m. in a nearby park.

"It's really convenient, actually," said FitzGerald, who's married and has a 17-month-old son and 4-year-old daughter. She also works parttime as a bookkeeper. "We're not having any more kids, and now it's time to take care of myself."

This is FitzGerald's fourth session with Adventure Boot Camp, which operates four women-only outdoor camps at public parks in Ventura, Camarillo and Thousand Oaks. The four-week-long camp, which started Jan. 14 and ends Feb. 8, costs about $300 and includes a nutrition seminar at the start of camp.

Participants need only bring with them an exercise mat, a water bottle and set of small hand weights- an investment of around $15. Good running shoes are also necessary.

FitzGerald, who lost more than 22 pounds in the previous boot camps and now wants to focus on toning and firming her muscles, said the camps are more motivating than going to a gym.

"Knowing other women rely on you- I find it addicting and it's fun," FitzGerald said.

Husband-and-wife team Rob and Shannon Yontz are certified personal trainers and owners of Venturabased True North Pioneering Inc., which runs Adventure Boot Camp.

Rob Yontz, who leads camps in Thousand Oaks and Camarillo, said he's noticed how women who get up early to exercise outdoors together form a close bond that's not always found in exercise groups for men.

Women tend to be more social and take exercising more seriously, he said.

"Honestly, I enjoy (instructing women) more than men," he said.

Rather than a competitive mindset, the women support one another- the more athletic ones inspire rather than overshadow those at a lower fitness level, said Shannon Yontz, who leads the two boot camps in Ventura.

"I think that's one of the neat dynamics," she said.

Before and after the fourweek session, the women receive a personalized fitness assessment. Women with a wide range of fitness levels and even those with some physical limitations are welcome to sign up. A certain measure of mobility is necessary, however.

The Yontzes said they coordinate the exercises so that no one is left behind, every day is different and exercising is fun. They said that an 85 percent return rate indicates their methods work.

"The last thing you ever want to do is make someone feel bad or deflated," Shannon Yontz said. "They'll never want to come back."

For more information on Adventure Boot Camp, call (805) 650-1239 or visit www.venturabootcamp.com