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Welcome
to Ottawa’s
adult
fitness boot
camp |
By Susan
Hickman
 I’m
not sure why
I feel
afraid.
Maybe it’s
the name
“boot camp.”
Sounds
painful.
Besides, I’m
in my
fifties and
a good 20 or
25 pounds
overweight.
Am I going
to feel like
a fool?
I join a
group of
three other
women and
three men.
This is not
an athletic
club nor a
gym full of
svelte
figures.
It’s a
conditioning
camp with a
difference.
The
difference
is Lorne
Goldenberg,
the owner of
what he
believes is
Ottawa’s
“best kept
secret,” the
Athletic
Conditioning
Center
(ACC),
Strength Tek
Fitness and
Wellness
Consultants.
He’s also
vice-president
and director
of
conditioning
for Station
Seven Reebok
in Toronto.
Goldenberg
has been an
NHL strength
and
conditioning
coach since
1987,
working with
such teams
as the
Florida
Panthers,
Chicago
Blackhawks
and Ottawa
Senators.
While the
eight year
old ACC in
Ottawa’s
west end is
dedicated to
the high
performance
athlete,
last year it
opened its
doors to the
general
public with
a new
eight-week
fitness
program: the
get fit boot
camp.
My boot camp
trainer is
John Zahab,
a designated
certified
strength and
conditioning
specialist,
who’s been
coaching at
the ACC
since 2003.
On Day 1 of
“camp,” he
starts us
off on the
Astroturf
with dynamic
stretches.
We’re on our
feet,
marching and
kicking. My
muscles feel
fatigued
after the
first
minute. I
wish it away
and push
myself to
keep up.
Once Zahab
explains the
nine
“stations”
to us, he
puts us
through two
circuits. We
do pushups
and lower
back bridges
on stability
balls,
shoulder
rows with
hand
weights,
cardio
drills on a
step and a
rope ladder
and try to
balance on a
wobble
board.
Not your
typical
fitness
class. The
next day, my
triceps and
the back of
my ankles
are a little
bit sore,
but I’m
feeling
stronger.
Goldenberg
says his
boot campers
have ranged
from their
mid-twenties
to
late-sixties,
everyone
from mothers
on maternity
leave to
doctors and
company
executives.
They’re all
looking for
something
very
different
and many
have
successfully
dropped four
or five
sizes and
significant
amounts of
body fat.
Goldenberg
graduated
from the
University
of Ottawa
with an
honours
degree in
physical
education
and earned
certification
as a
strength and
conditioning
specialist,
a
professional
fitness and
lifestyle
consultant,
and a
corrective
high
performance
exercise
kinesiologist.
He is also
accredited
in soft
tissue
injury
management.
As well as
publishing
numerous
articles,
Goldenberg
co-authored
Strength
Ball
Training
with Peter
Twist.
“Our
equipment is
very
specialized
and truly
functional,”
Goldenberg
explains.
“And if it’s
going to
help an
athlete
become
stronger,
better
balanced,
and have
better
stability
and better
posture,
then there’s
no reason
why it can’t
help someone
from the
general
public.”
Zahab pushes
me and my
fellow
“general
public”
campers
harder in
our second
session. We
warm up on
exercise
bikes and
treadmills.
As Zahab
puts us
through our
dynamic
stretches
then “core”
work and
cool-down
stretches,
he explains
the purpose
behind them.
We manage
three
circuits
today and
I’m really
sweating. At
the end of
the session,
he takes
some
measurements
and has me
weigh in so
I can
compare the
before and
after
record.
When I ask
him if I’m
going to be
in better
shape after
the boot
camp, he
bluntly
tells me 70
to 80 per
cent of the
equation is
nutrition.
“I don’t
know about
your
nutrition,”
he says.
I interrupt,
“I eat well,
I eat
healthy . .
.and on top
of it all,
well, I eat
a lot of
sweet
things.”
Sugar, he
tells me (as
if I didn’t
know) is
poison to
the system.
On the way
home, I
contemplate
his words.
It’s true,
and if I
care about
my health,
I’ll try to
cut it out.
Exercise
stresses the
body,
Goldenberg
notes.
“That’s how
you get
progressively
stronger and
fitter. It
becomes a
regular
routine and
something
you feel you
can’t miss.
Then there’s
the euphoria
that comes
with
success.”
Goldenberg
understands
that people
come to the
Center
because of
the
“legitimacy”
of what he
and his
staff do.
“I offer
something
different,”
he adds,
“something
based on
science,
biomechanics,
safe
progressions.
And I offer
a program I
know people
will have
success with
if they
participate.
We work with
stability
balls, we
work on the
core muscles
to enhance
posture and
we have
artificial
turf to
improve
movement in
the hips and
lower back.”
As
Goldenberg
watches his
boot campers
make it
through the
program, he
says, “I
feel good. I
love hearing
from people
who have
lost three
or four
dress sizes
and feel
better about
themselves.
People come
here and
they find a
difference.”
I meet a
good friend
for coffee.
I haven’t
seen here
since I
started boot
camp. I’m
pretty sure
my weight
hasn’t
changed
significantly,
but I’m
surprised
when she
blurts,
“Wow, you
look like
you’ve lost
weight.
You’re
looking
really
toned.”
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