Ten-Hut! Boot camp!  

Morning Call - Allentown, Pa. 

It could very well be a new recruit's worst nightmare: showing up late for the first day of boot camp.

Though I've never been to military boot camp, I had preconceived notions -- developed from watching movies -- about FitQuest Fitness' new Boot Camp workout.

If the classes were anything like the workouts in those movies, they wouldn't be easy.

The schedule certainly fit a boot-camp regimen. A series of 12 intensive 45-minute outdoor classes, held three mornings a week, whatever the weather, beginning at 5:45 a.m.

Yes, a.m.

The first morning adhered to Murphy's Law. Pouring rain was punctuated by flashes of lighting. I forgot my water-bottle, turned back to retrieve it, then got lost driving to the gym.

I imagined fellow classmates doing endless pushups as a whistle-blowing drill sergeant approached me, 10 minutes late, bellowing "Why are you wasting my time" as I whined about needing water.

Relief washed over me like the morning's downpour, however, when smiling and perky instructor Liz Weyrauch waved at me to join the small group of inductees, at work repeatedly hefting medicine balls over their heads.

The former Penn State cheerleader with degrees in kinesiology and exercise science explained that she moved the class indoors to allow some slack on the first day.

Thank you, drill sergeant!

The lighthearted manner, however, was a thin disguise for the Mountaintop, Luzerne County, native's ability to conduct a fiercely intense workout. The circuit-training style classes, including sandbag work, running drills, football runs, medicine-ball work and core training were physically as effective as a true boot camp.

As the classes moved into the second week, not a single "drop and give me 100" had yet been heard. Instead, the class received such instruction as "Look, the sun's rising! Let's skip!" Meanwhile, participants reported feeling stronger, though naturally a bit sore between classes.

The venue's parking lot is transformed into an outdoor encampment, with medicine balls and elastic resistance bands as staple workout equipment.

The usual boot camp exercises -- group runs, push-ups, long jumps, jumping jacks -- are alternated with exercises to improve balance, strength and speed.

Orange safety cones, extended by an additional cone each class, are used to guide group relays (with medicine balls) and "suicide" runs.

The large outdoor lot also provides plenty of natural exercise equipment.

Parking stripes provide a guideline for boxer shuffles, and the curbing doubles as balance beam as well as a support for push-ups.

"Boot Camp workouts are sweeping the country," says gym co-owner Barry Lovelace of the sessions aimed at people looking to jump-start their metabolism, or just experience an intense burst of fitness training. "They snap you out of a dull workout routine."

Co-owner Laure Lovelace, who helped design the class, says the gym will continue the four-week sessions, limited to 12 participants each, year round. Eventually classes will be offered in several areas throughout the Lehigh Valley in addition to the gym's location off Airport Road in Allentown.

As the sun rises, barbed wire fencing in the shadow of Lehigh Valley International Airport's control tower adds to the boot-camp atmosphere.

Though the workout is designed to be tough, it's also designed to be user-friendly.

"A lot of people are intimidated by shows like "Biggest Loser,' and decide a gym is not for them," he says.

"We're real people here, and nobody gets left behind."

Spoken like a true soldier.

diana.morse@mcall.com