My rant about New You Boot Camp

Background

I am a 44 year old woman, who has been obese her whole life. In the last few years, I've become even less fit due to being too busy. My doctor told me if I didn't reduce my weight dramatically, I would develop diabetes within less than a year.

So, I was in the hair salon and I read some trashy magazine about Jade Goody losing a stone at a weight loss boot camp in Wales -- called New You Boot Camp. I looked on the website and it sounded very hard, but supportive. I would be put on a strict diet and worked out hard. I knew there would be some nature components, which I didn't love, but was willing to put up with.

According to the FAQs on the company’s website (http://www.newyoubootcamp.com/) that is no problem. I quote:

“Am I fit enough / too over weight?

We take all levels of fitness and weights. At The New You Boot Camp you will be working to your own fat burning pace as opposed to trying to keep up with the fittest or being slowed down by the weakest.”

It also says our fitness will be evaluated on the first day. I advised the company of my weight, my age, my injuries, which include back, neck and knee problems and I said it was because of weight. I also am medicated for an underactive thyroid, and I notified the office of that condition.

When I arrived at the camp, the main trainer, Staff F, pulled me aside and asked me why I was at the camp, suggesting I should not be. He said if I had any problems, I would be sent home – and the company’s contract makes clear that if you cancel at any time you will pay a 100% cancellation fee. All I could think about was the fact that I had paid 1,600 pounds on the programme, spent another 1,000 pounds on kit required and would be humiliated by being sent home. If there was a problem with my physical condition, the company could have rung me and advised me not to come and refunded my money.

Own pace

On the first afternoon, we were asked to run four laps of the inner circle at the campus and were told it was in order for staff to assess our fitness level. Despite running as hard as I could, I came in dead last. It was very clear my fitness level was well behind the others.

Later the first evening, I was made to climb a very steep hill with all of the girls, most of whom were not obese. When I almost collapsed from exhaustion and fell behind, one of the staff said to me: “This would have been much easier for you if you had exercised before coming here.”

Imagine my embarrassment and confusion. The website says to come to the camp to jump start fitness. That is what I was doing. No where does it say I should be prepared by already being fit. I went to sleep in tears and only stayed because my cottage mates suggested I speak to the camp manager the next day.

Before breakfast on the next day we were once again marched up the hill together en mass and in ranks. I couldn’t keep up and so my queue was out of line. The same staff yelled at me to speed up, shouting, “I already told you about this yesterday.” I actually became faint and couldn’t carry on without sitting down to rest first.

Physical, verbal and emotional abuse

That same morning, we were lined up again at attention receiving instruction from the staff. Because one person was late, we were all made to do push ups on our bare knees on concrete with small stones that dug into our knees. This was a recurring pattern throughout the first three days – collective punishment by being made to do push ups on hard concrete for the smallest infractions. This happened at least 20 times during the first three or four days.

During the first three days the verbal abuse was unrelenting.

Staff F yelled at us during a hard circuits session following an hour of running in the sun. He said: "This is an easy session. Some of you are not working hard enough. If you don't work harder, I'll take you outside and crush you."

In a particularly telling example, we were running from the place we line up to the grass to exercise and my name badge fell off. Just as I was about to pick it up one of the staff saw it fly off and picked it up. After we finished the exercises, Staff F said “we have someone’s name badge back here. Who does it belong to?” I identified myself and he then forced everyone to do 10 push ups. I protested, explaining that I hadn’t forgotten it – it had fallen off while running. He then said “Make that 20 push ups for popping off.”

Throughout the training, he yelled at the group, accusing us of not working hard enough and saying we could “go home” if we couldn’t work harder.

On Sunday (the morning of the second day) I was in tears and went to the camp manager to discuss the harsh treatment and my extreme distress at the fact that we had not been broken up into ability groups. She agreed with me that we should be broken up into ability groups by now and should be working at our own pace, as is promised on the website.

The day continued with extreme exercises, including running, circuits and other cardiovascular work in the hot sun. I was physically exhausted beyond a healthy point. I was in tears and unable to cope with both the hard level of physical work and the emotional abuse that was being heaped on clients. Each time someone complained, the response came from Staff F that this was a boot camp, not a health farm. Calling it a boot camp in no way gives the company permission to verbally and physically abuse paying clients.

Ability groups

I also spoke to a nice staff, explaining that I simply could not physically cope with the level of exertion and asked if we would be broken into ability groups. He listened to me but did not make any promises.

Despite my protests regarding the ability groups, nothing changed until the very last hour of day three, when the slow walkers were given a slightly easier walk than the more fit women.

But the separation did not carry through, with the exception of some morning pre-breakfast runs and three late evening walks. The rest of the sessions, all clients were made to work out together. And there were contests that required competitive sprinting, with the loser (me!) made to do push ups for losing.

I was in absolute tears and freaked out most of first half of the week. I was totally de-motivated and de-moralised by the abuse and lived in fear of causing my colleagues to have to do push ups or be punished because of my slowness.

The week was really traumatic for me. Throughout the week, I suffered from stress, unable to sleep in the limited time we were given for our bodies to recuperate. (We finished exercising around 9 most nights – we were rarely able to shower and get into bed before 10 pm and had to wake up at 5.45 in order to be lined up by 6.15 exercises.) The lack of sleep, the exhaustion from running in the heat, the stress of being yelled at constantly and the collective punishment took its toll on me. I only stayed because of the huge investment I made in the camp and because of the support of the other women. By Thursday, my back was hurting and I could not carry on with the programme the other girls were following.

Misleading advertising

The nature of the camp a real shock to me as it bares no resemblance to claims on the website. Of course I understood that there would be a strict diet and lots of exercise but I never understood from reading the website that I would be abused and worked beyond the point of exhaustion.

This is the description:

So you're in an rut, can’t seem to shift those pounds, need someone to give you a kick start to a healthy eating regime and an even bigger kick to get you back into exercising?... Well come and join us for a week at New You Boot Camp.
The New You Boot Camp is a women’s only intense seven day course designed to kick start your NEW YOU, achieve safe weight loss and increase your fitness levels.”

The company does not mention verbal, emotional and physical abuse or collective punishment.

Apparently others had seen TV shows about boot camps weight loss programmes -- which come from the US -- and so they knew what to expect, but I hadn't. I don't watch reality TV!

On Wednesday the staff held a “feedback session” during which time I complained about the verbal abuse and said that I would not have come had I understood how hard it would be. Another client suggested that the company should put a schedule on the website demonstrating just how long and difficult the day was. One of the staff said the company would not do that because clients wouldn’t come then – more evidence of misrepresentation.

I feel strongly that I've been ripped off and that all of the glowing reports on this camp are written with out regard to how badly it is run.