Thoughts of a boot camp titled ‘Hell Week’ conjure images of a military-type training facility, crawling through mud and lifting weights. But is it as tough as it sounds? Caitlyn Davey joined for a week to find out.
The Monte-Carlo Beach Club launched its Hell Week at the beginning of February and are planning another one beginning March 30, in lieu of the success of the first.
The idea behind the Hell Week concept was formulated by the Monte-Carlo Beach Club’s personal trainers, and they executed the programme for the first time the week of Feb 2-8.
Senior fitness instructor, Lathan Jacobs says the idea is based on training for American football. Lathan explains, ‘The Hell Week concept comes from the first week of training camp during the American football preseason; it is a week of really tough exercises to get the players back into shape as fast as possible.’
The programme is a seven day challenge, which culminates with a team breakfast on the Saturday. For the inaugural Hell Week, two sessions, one at 7am and one at 9am were available every day. Lathan says the idea is to create a team dynamic designed to get people in shape while enjoying exercise to their limits; ‘The Hell Week should be part of your routine, achieving goals or reminding people how good it feels to exercise. It’s great for the mind and body, this training helps them discover their limits and shows that everything is possible. The group spirit is also valuable asset in the equation although exercises were scaled to fit individual needs.’
Each day’s workout is different from the previous one, to keep participants entertained and varied. The programme routine employs cardiovascular, strengthening and endurance training elements each day. Trainers took the participants for a warm-up run as a group – with one trainer leading the pack, one keeping the pace in the middle and one following at the rear. Lathan says this was one of the best parts for the trainers – ‘I would say the early morning runs were one of our favourite parts, we took the groups for short to long runs every morning and one of our personal favourites was the run towards Park Hyatt hotel via the beach. ‘
The programme not only utilises the health club lawns, but the beach, the Monte-Carlo grounds, the surrounding streets and the gymnasium too, which keeps participants entertained for the full seven days.
For the first two days, the hour was spent on the lawn, with a trio of exercises, one trainer for each section, with a warm up jog around the grounds to begin. After a session of cardio – including some lunge-walks, an isolation session of abdominal exercises to make the toughest athlete wince and step exercises, the group was divided into two groups to compete.
The week was varied with the second day of somewhat similar structure to the first but with different exercises, including abdominals and high-knee running.
Lathan explains, ‘We really thought about making the Hell Week in line with what you can expect from the US training – keeping in mind that it should stay enjoyable and interesting at all time. Therefore, we focused on cardio as well as strength training and a wide variety of exercises using the space such as the beautiful Saadiyat Beach and the quite streets of the Island in addition to our indoor and outdoor facilities.’
For the third day, the intensity was raised with a punching bag added for dragging and timed races include a run to the beach carrying the bag.
The fourth day took to the beach, where the participants did light aerobics before an abdominal attack and a race in the soft sand which worked our calves to the core.
On the fifth day it was time for an endurance run. Lathan explains, ‘Once everyone reached the board walk we handed the ladies a 5kg plate and the men were given a 10kg plate and we set off on a run to Park Hyatt and back. Along the way we made a few stops where we alternated exercises between squats and lunges for lower body and push-ups for the upper body.’
The end of the week saw happy faces, feeling complete and exhausted – who wouldn’t be with a healthy buffet breakfast as a reward for a grueling week of working out. Sign up now!
Hell Week from Dhs650 per week. Monte-Carlo Beach Club Abu Dhabi, Saadiyat Island, (02 656 3500).
Other boot camps around town
Primal Challenge – Haddins
A month-long five-day-per-week challenge that gets people pushing, jumping and strengthening with the Haddins trainers.
Zayed Sports City, www.haddins.com, (02 403 4233).
Boot Camp – Original Fitness Co.
For an intimate workout on the Corniche, try Original Fitness Co. the groups are small and outdoors.
www.originalfitnessco.com (02 406 9404).
