thePULSEBay State Adventure Boot Camp
By Kimberly Dunbar
February 2006 You made the resolution. You know, the same one you make every year ~ to be a healthier you. You usually start off well, but it’s around this time when there is a shuffling in priorities and, well, your resolution is lost in the mix. But this year will be different, right? Well, with Bay State Adventure Boot Camp’s help, it really will be.
“Women take care of everyone else and by the time it comes to themselves, they’re too drained,” says Erica Meola, personal trainer and co-founder of Bay State Adventure Boot Camp for Women. “Heart disease is the number one killer of women and we are dying younger all the time.” Meola says that there is so much we can do to counteract that trend that it is critical to begin eating healthier and exercising.
Bay State Adventure Boot Camp, founded last January by Meola and her business partner and childhood friend Alexis Rougas-Ermilio, is about making lifestyle changes and feeling good about yourself en route to a healthier you. Throughout the year, Bay State Adventure Boot Camp offers several four-week sessions to help jump start women into changing their ways. During the four week session, classes meet every day (there is also a 3 day per week option) for one hour from 5:30 am – 630 am. This early morning schedule is a great way to start the day and make sure you get in your exercise before the hustle and bustle of “real life” takes over.
“This program holds women accountable for their health and helps push them over the psychological obstacle of exercising. It also makes exercising fun and serves as a good way to meet new people,” Meola says.
Women of all shapes, sizes and ages come to the Boot Camp. “We have overweight women and crazy fit women who come in looking for something that kicks their butts in a different way,” she says.
Meola is so passionate about her work and the idea of women being healthy because she used to be overweight and unhealthy herself. “I always struggled with weight as a kid, but when I turned 29 I got better and healthier. I was so fascinated with the power I got from taking control of my health. It was life-changing.”
It was at this time when she earned her personal training certificate and bumped into Rougas-Ermilio. “We grew up across the street from each other, but went our separate ways,” she says. The two reunited in the gym and she and Alexis, who was also certified in personal training, decided to start their own business.
“I am so lucky to have a job that has an impact on someone’s life outside of the business,” says Meola of the positive results that have come out of Boot Camp’s first year. “We want women to feel good about themselves and to be happier and healthier. When a woman is healthier, it makes her a better mom, a better wife and a better person.”
In addition to their four week sessions, Alexis and Erica, in conjuction with the American Heart Association, will be hosting a 15-week Boot Camp program beginning in March. For more information on Bay State Boot Camp Adventures and the March Health Challenge, visit their website, baystatebootcamp.com.
