In The News - Salt Lake Tribune (UT)

Shouting and Shaping Up - June 8, 2006

If Jess Thomas gets too close while he's barking orders it could mean a face full of flying spray. Move away from Thomas to avoid the spray and you'll get nailed for insubordination and find yourself on the ground doing 10. Ten pushups, that is. Thomas is the owner of Bootcamp with Jess, a military-style weight loss program that takes weight loss and body toning several steps further than most other programs.

Thomas, who is an ex-military policeman and was a Utah SWAT team member now living in South Jordan, runs a rigorous weight loss program in Midvale. It resembles a tough love program for juvenile delinquents. Clients, who also use the program to get in shape, work in squads (classes) of five and run through exercise drills and chant military cadences at a pace that would make even buff athletes beg for mercy. But don't beg, hesitate or stop your workout because you will be down on the ground for 10.

There is a reason his program requires knee pads.

His six-week course, which has a 98 percent re-enlistment rate and six-month waiting list, isn't for the faint of heart. Be it serious about dropping some pounds or body toning, Thomas' program is not for those looking for social hour because socializing can get you another 10. Getting the idea yet?

But despite this, or perhaps, in spite of it, the camaraderie between Thomas' clients is evident and it is formed early, during the first week - which is called Hell Week. During that week the newcomer dons a 30-pound vest and is expected to participate in all the same drills and exercises as the rest of the squad; most of whom have already been through their first weeks. Be it treadmill work in Thomas' studio or running up and down bleachers at Hillcrest High School, the new recruit becomes one with the extra 30 pounds.

And the newcomers hate Thomas that first week but a bond develops between squad members who encourage, cajole and occasionally run a few extra laps to encourage a lagging new recruit.

The support is a necessity in a program that Thomas calls most people's "last great act of defiance" against the extra weight they're carrying around.

"Most of them are there for a reason," Thomas said. "[But] for some of those people, it's just a challenge."

That's where the Mastroiannis come in. Janis, 47, who regularly worked out prior to meeting Thomas, considered herself in good shape and wanted her daughter, 15-year-old Brooke, to keep active year-round instead of just during soccer season.

The Cottonwood mom was also looking for a mother-daughter activity. "I wanted something mellower than this, "Janis said.

"[But] the more I thought about it the more I wanted the challenge." Brooke, a Waterford student who plays on her school's soccer team, initially wanted nothing to do with it. "I really didn't want to do it but she just signed us up," Brooke said.

"At first I was really mad that she signed me up but now I thank her." The Mastroiannis are in their second session now and sheer determination brought them both through Hell Week.

It was a rude awakening for Janis, whose body screamed pain at the mere thought of moving. She couldn't take her shirt off or brush her teeth. "The first week I was like 'I hate him, he's such an idiot'," Janis said."I even called one of my friends asking him to write a prescription for pain pills." Said Brooke, laughing: "I had to help her do everything [that first week].Me and my dad had a bet going. I was amazed she made it through that first week."

Brooke, one of the youngest to go through the program, had her own issues with Thomas. He terrified her; a fact that makes Thomas grin. "I thought he was really mean that first week," she said. Brooke took extra care to make sure she didn't look Thomas in the eye that first week - a new recruit rule that is dropped after Hell Week. "I wouldn't look him in the eye [because] if you did you had to do pushups," Brooke said.

New members learn quickly. Thomas mellows slightly after the first week but still retains the disciplinary level that defines his program. It is a program that he formulated over 25 years ago in Utah spas but after being told by spa owners for as many years that his aggressiveness irritated some spa members, he struck out on his own.

Both Mastroiannis credit Thomas with pushing their limits and creating a unique, motivating environment that increases self esteem as well as encourages weight loss. "I think I've taken every [exercise] class that any human could possibly take," Janis said. "I've gone to personal trainers and thought it was so unmotivating. It's really him. He makes the class." Bootcamp with Jess * Jess Thomas owns and operates Bootcamp with Jess, a military-style weight loss program in the Midvale area

* Despite the rigorous program - which requires participants to wear a 30-pound vest during the first week

*Thomas' camp has a six-month waiting list and a 98 percent re-enlistment rate.

(c) 2006 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Media NewsGroup, Inc. by NewsBank, Inc.
Record Number: 3914746