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Fittest Loser boot camp: Tough workout gets results

Boot camp is a unique experience.

Be it at a military base or a local gym, it's designed to be fast-paced and highly intense. It's a place where people come to murder their fat.

For contestants in the Fittest Loser Challenge, boot camp has been a weekly activity for the past eight weeks — with four more to go.

That's in addition to working out with a personal trainer three times per week in the 12-week challenge, organized by the Daily Herald and Push Fitness in Schaumburg.

Though boot camp started as a painful weekly chore, most of the contestants have come to enjoy it. Many of them even look forward to the torturous activities their instructors cook up each week.

Rope slams, pushups, lunges and crunches, as well as drills and sprints around the building are just the tip of iceberg. Push Fitness has that name for a reason.

“I really enjoy being pushed,” says Bob Coniglio, a contestant from Arlington Heights. “And when you're working with others who are competing against you, you want to work a little harder.”

Coniglio says that he looks forward to the fast-paced atmosphere at boot camp. A recent activity that he especially enjoyed was when the contestants received boxing lessons — taught by personal trainer Patrick Stille.

Boot camp has a different flavor each week. In addition to Stille, the trainers at Push Fitness — Steve Amsden, Brodie Medlock, Michelle Amsden and Wade Merrill — rotate teaching it. This allows the contestants to experience a variety of activities and styles of training.

“I love the energy of the instructors and how they cheer us on,” says Heidi Wiltse, a contestant from Arlington Heights. “They really pay attention to us. They modify each exercise for us and look at us as individuals.”

Wiltse says that one of the reasons she enjoys boot camp is the camaraderie that's developed between the contestants. Yes, it's a competition. But that doesn't mean the contestants haven't formed bonds.

“I love being with the other contestants,” Wiltse says. “As much as this is an individual journey, we are becoming a team who is working together to achieve the same goal. (Losing weight and becoming healthier) it's a dream we're all seeking together.”

Wiltse and Cindy Uribe, a contestant from Hoffman Estates, keep in touch outside of the gym and offer each other support in times of need.

“Everyone is really supportive of each other,” says Uribe. “I've already won by getting into this program with all these amazing people. Whoever wins it, I'm going to feel amazing for them.”

Deanna Bec, a contestant from Berwyn, agrees. “We've all accepted each other with open arms. We kind of grew together losing all that weight,” she says.

Bec says that she also enjoys going to boot camp to see the progress that the other contestants make each week. And she's discovered that she's beginning to enjoy certain exercises that she used to loathe.

“Situps were my worst enemy,” Bec says. “But now I actually like them. And I also like working with weights.”

That's not to say that the contestants enjoy each type of exercise they are asked to perform. Burpees, running, one-leg squats and pushing a 70-pound weight bag around the floor of the gym are just a few that often pop up on the list of least favorites.

Robert Patterson, a contestant from North Aurora, has also noticed that the activities seem to get more challenging each week. That could mean using heavier weights and more repetitions in a set of exercises.

“Each time, they make it harder and harder,” Patterson says. “But if they're not pushing us, that's not doing us any good. Boot camp is meant to wear you out. It's supposed to be hard work.”

Wade Merrill, who has taught the Fittest Loser boot camp most often this year, says that there's a science to designing boot camp activities. Because the class moves quickly, it should have structure and the exercises shouldn't be overly complicated.

“The biggest thing is to keep people moving and engaged,” he says. “You never see me trying to introduce exercises that are too abstract. I try to take simple exercises and make you work through them.” Merrill's boot camp often features a variety of mobility exercises like caterpillars and inchworms. He's also a big fan of burpees, kettle bell swings, thrusters, rope slams, lunges, step ups, pushups and sits ups.

And, he likes to end his class by having the group run up and down six flights of stairs inside the gym's building — over and over.

“When I say simple, I don't mean that it's an easy exercise,” Merrill says. “I'm just saying it doesn't require a huge amount of cognitive control. I want to give people a simple exercise so they can maintain form throughout the entire workout.”

Merrill, who met his wife Joanna while teaching boot camp a few years back, truly enjoys it. He's a popular instructor among the Fittest Loser group due to his highly energetic nature and fun attitude.

“I feel that boot camp is such an awesome environment. It can be rewarding and fun,” he says. “When people hear the term boot camp, it's got a dark haze over it — almost ominous. But when they get through it, I love seeing how accomplished they feel. I really enjoy seeing people resolve and push through and come out sweating because they gave it 100 percent.”

In essence, a boot camp workout is a type of interval training — bursts of intense activity alternated with intervals of lighter activity. While it often involves a lot huffing and puffing, the Fittest Loser contestants appear to enjoy it — and its results.

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  Contestant Robert Patterson works out during boot camp. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  Contestants Bob Coniglio, right, and Robert Patterson work out during Fittest Loser boot camp at Push Fitness in Schaumburg. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  Contestant Cindy Uribe works out during boot camp. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com

By the numbers

<h3 class="breakHead">Deanna Bec, 30, Berwyn </h3>

<span class="fact box text bold">Starting weight</span>: 207

<span class="fact box text bold">Current weight:</span> 192

<span class="fact box text bold">Weight lost this week:</span> 2 pounds

<span class="fact box text bold">Total weight loss:</span> 15 pounds, 7.2 percent

<h3 class="breakHead">Bob Coniglio, 51, Arlington Heights </h3>

<span class="fact box text bold">Starting weight:</span> 304

<span class="fact box text bold">Current weight: </span>264

<span class="fact box text bold">Weight lost this week:</span> 4 pounds

<span class="fact box text bold">Total weight loss: </span>40 pounds, 13.2 percent

<h3 class="breakHead">Robert Patterson, 56, North Aurora </h3>

<span class="fact box text bold">Starting weight:</span> 255

<span class="fact box text bold">Current weight:</span> 224

<span class="fact box text bold">Weight lost this week:</span> 1 pound

<span class="fact box text bold">Total weight loss:</span> 31 pounds, 12.2 percent

<h3 class="breakHead">Cindy Uribe, 33, Hoffman Estates </h3>

<span class="fact box text bold">Starting weight:</span> 280

<span class="fact box text bold">Current weight:</span> 263

<span class="fact box text bold">Weight lost this week:</span> +3 pounds

<span class="fact box text bold">Total weight loss: </span>17 pounds, 6.1 percent

<h3 class="breakHead">Heidi Wiltse, 43, Arlington Heights </h3>

<span class="fact box text bold">Starting weight:</span> 286

<span class="fact box text bold">Current weight:</span> 250

<span class="fact box text bold">Weight lost this week:</span> 3 pounds

<span class="fact box text bold">Total weight loss:</span> 36 pounds, 12.6 percent

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