Bootcamps help foster couple’s wellness

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Jodi and Jim Saliny have found an exercise home at The New Richmond Area Centre after participating in various “bootcamp” programs at the facility.

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Jodi and Jim Saliny have been runners for years, but it wasn’t until New Richmond’s Vitality Initiative was announced that they decided to get serious about their overall health and wellness.

“We’ve kicked our wellness up to the next level,” Jodi said. “It includes both diet and exercise. It’s been a positive thing. We decided to get healthy and do it together.”

Jodi and Jim started their health kick last spring when they joined The Centre and started working out.

“We belonged to the YMCA (now The Centre) years ago, so we re-joined and came back,” she said. “I’m thrilled that we did.”

One of the first things Jodi signed up for was a “Beach Body Bootcamp” class that was scheduled for seven weeks. She signed up with a group of friends.

“I was nervous because I’d heard of bootcamps before and kind of pictures people with whistles and things like that,” she said. “But I knew I wanted to do it.”

Jodi said she was immediately hooked.

“It was hard work, but I never missed a day,” she said. “I was always there early, eager to get started.”

The Centre bootcamp program helps participants determine their body fat, heart rate, weight and more and then tracks the individual progress. Jodi said the trainers, who were all tremendous, also encouraged water intake, eating healthy and protein intake throughout the program.

Exercises for each workout were challenging, Jodi admitted, but each repetition had a purpose to make the participants healthier and give them more stamina.

“I enjoyed bootcamp so much, I did another one,” she said with a smile.

For The Centre’s next bootcamp, Jim and Jodi signed up together.

“I think it’s been a good bonding thing for us,” Jodi said.

Jim said he was so impressed by his wife’s physical progress that he couldn’t help but give the bootcamp idea a try. Since he completed his first eight weeks, Jim has moved on to his second bootcamp experience. He plans to join the next one, which starts later this month.

“I’ve lost weight and lowered my blood pressure,” he said. The New Richmond music teacher has even received a few comments about how much healthier he looks.

The results wouldn’t have happened if not for a combination of hard work and encouragement from others, Jim said. That’s why the bootcamp concept works well for so many.

“It’s like anything else, though … you get what you put into it,” he added. “You need to start somewhere and then you’ll see the changes in the end.”

Jodi said anyone would benefit by trying a bootcamp class, noting that not everyone has to keep up with the instructors on every exercise.

“Maybe it will change your life for good,” she said.

The bootcamp program isn’t the only weapon in the Saliny’s battle against aging and poor health.

Thanks to Jim’s health insurance policy with HealthPartners, the Salinys have also participated in the JourneyWell program. They received a pedometer through the wellness project and have strived to reach 10,000 steps a day to improve their individual wellness.

“It promotes wellness for everybody on the health plan,” Jodi said. “It helps keep health costs contained.”

In recent weeks, Jodi has stopped her bootcamp efforts and developed her own individualized health and wellness plan. But she would recommend The Centre’s program to anyone looking for motivation to begin a health kick.

“It planted a seed and we’ve kept in going from there,” she said. “Now the goal is to maintain where we’re at.”

The recent health kick doesn’t mean the couple has stopped having fun, Jodi admitted.

“We still eat what we want on the weekends,” she said. “But we make a concerted effort the rest of the week to eat right and stay active. And it’s been fun too.”

According to Tate Wheeler, health enhancement director at The Centre, bootcamp classes are offered twice per season. They are seven weeks long and they meet three times a week, for a total of 21 workouts.

The program entails one-hour workouts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning.

"The idea behind our Bootcamp and Fit Camp programs we offer is to constantly change up their workouts to prevent plateau’s and get continuous results," Wheeler said. "We do strength training, circuit training, kettlebells, HIIT (high intensity interval training), running, plyometrics, bodyweight training, and more."

Wheeler said The Centre sees a variety of participants that join the program (beginners, intermediate and advanced).

"We can modify any of the workouts to meet the needs of participants," he said. "We also offer progressions and regressions to the exercises where necessary."

The Centre caps its bootcamps at eight participants so trainers can watch form and technique of participants.

"We push the participants out of their comfort zone often, but with small numbers we can be sure that we are never compromising form and technique to the exercises," he noted.

Wheeler said participants usually see a huge improvement in lost body fat when they complete the class.

"We certainly see people lose weight but we take pride in getting them to shed inches and decrease body composition four to eight percent in those seven weeks," he said.

The Centre's next session starts Jan. 9. After it concludes, The Centre waits two weeks and then start the next bootcamp or fit camp program.

Tags: new richmond, health, vitality