MARINE JOYS

Any onlooker could be mistaken for thinking they had stumbled across a military fitness class. There are women taking part in a three-mile run over sand-dunes, doing press-ups in the sea as well as weightlifting with logs and sit-ups on stones.

However, although the hour-long classes involve exercises based on American marine training, this band of mothers are not army personnel but women getting fit the tough way.

Meeting every week on the picturesque Gullane beach in East Lothian, they are put through their paces, and instructor Robertson has no time for slackers. “You’re not on your Saga holiday yet ladies,” he shouts, “Now move it, there are plenty of places to be sick on the way up.”

So off they set again, driving their bodies on.

All of this is a far cry from the whispered tones of a yoga session, the constant whirring of machines in a gym or the pumping music that often accompanies an indoor fitness class.

And for this group of mothers, who are more GI Jane than Jane Fonda followers, the uplifting experience of exercising in the great outdoors, away from artificial light and noise, is a huge attraction.

One of these woman is Jo Thomson, mother to three children, Jamie, six, Max, five, and Theo, three, who also works part-time as an acupuncturist.

She has been taking part in the boot-camp sessions for nine months and says that they provide the toughest workouts she has ever experienced.

She says: “Often when I’m going through it I think it’s torture as it is so hard but the euphoria and well-being that lingers once you have finished is indescribable. I feel such a huge sense of achievement.”

She adds: “With three young children I don’t have that much time to exercise and I would never push myself to the limits that Lee pushes us.”

Before having children, Thomson, 39, rowed, both at Sheffield University then for a London club training on the River Thames, before moving to Scotland and sinking her oars to have children. She says: “I was extremely fit from rowing but I found it very difficult to get back into exercising with three small kids to run around after. Time and childcare are two things that are in very short supply so factoring in time to exercise is a tricky thing.”

A year ago she started running to try to regain some of her pre-baby fitness but soon realised she needed more than a gentle jog and joined boot camp.

She says she has never looked back. “It is impossible not to love exercising with the scenery that we have around us. I have never been a gym-lover – so exercising by running along the sand and lifting logs feels totally right to me – it’s what my body is meant to be doing, rather than lifting weights in an artificially lit gym.”

Thomson, who lives in North Berwick with her children and husband Chris, says it was also the element of surprise that kept the training fun.

She admits: “Many gym classes are so mechanical and predictable and boot camp is about not being that.”

Thomson adds that turning 39 made her think about her long-term health. “It focused my mind a bit. I just wanted to become as fit as I could possibly be for a woman of my age – and that was the driving force.

“I love the mixture of camaraderie as well as pushing yourself to your own limits – and you don’t get that at a gym class.”

A typical session lasts an hour and starts with a 12- minute warm-up run, followed by three other sections designed to give each part of the body a full work-out, such as log lifting in the forest, sprint training as well as a mix of squat-thrusts, press-ups and jumps.

Often there is a trip to a part of the beach dubbed Murder Hill. The area, at the west end of the beach, is often used by the Hibernian football team to improve fitness levels. It is also the place where former Glasgow Rangers manager Jock Wallace used to take players to get them fit.

And it is where Robertson takes the group to really put them through their paces.

To add to their pain, several tyres are often produced for the ladies to haul up in pairs and groups “to build up all-round fitness as well as team spirit,” says Robertson.

Roz Small, 42, who has two young children, Ruari and Finan, says there are multiple reasons why she enjoyed the challenge of boot camp.

“After having my second child I was a size 14 and I didn’t have much energy. A year on I have gone down to a size eight and have so much more energy to deal with the daily stresses that are thrown at you as a mother.

“There is also the aspect that after you have had children your confidence takes a bit of a knock – and this is such a fantastic way to work back to having a strong belief in yourself and what you can achieve.”

As well as looking after two young children, Small, also from North Berwick, runs her own dog walking business, Muddy Mutts, but says she needed an extreme form of exercise to shift the extra pounds. She adds: “I think, especially as you get older and have young children, it is important to be as fit as you possibly can be. For me that means really pushing myself, which boot camp certainly does.

“It’s fine to do a gentle class for some people but if you really want to see results then you need to put the effort in and that means running up Murder Hill and pushing out press-ups in the sand.”

Karen Aitken – who has two girls, age seven and five – has been taking part in the boot camp for the past three months. She says it was a mixture of exercising in such a stunning location as well as the extreme workout that kept her coming back.

She adds: “It’s such a challenge, there is no doubt about that. It is a full body workout that you get – as well as he chance to run around in such beautiful scenery. You are doing exercises that you wouldn’t find in other classes, like squat thrusts, it’s a very different challenge.”

Aitken said she now feels fitter than before she had children. She explains: “I used to go to the gym and do a bit of running so I’ve always been quite fit but having children means that you are running about after them rather than concentrating on your own fitness, especially when they are very young. Over the last few months however, since I have been doing this, I have felt my fitness levels increase which means I have more energy overall, which is great.”

The East Lothian boot camp is run by instructor Robertson through his business HandzonFitness. Robertson, 37, who has a HNC in health and fitness and well as a BSc in Sports Science from Loughborough University, started his sporting career as part of the British and Scottish Judo team and competed all over the world until he was 30. He also had a sideline working as a personal trainer and setting up gyms for hotel groups around the world.

It was while he was working for the Radisson Group in Bahrain that he started training personnel at a nearby American naval base.

Now living in North Berwick, Robertson has refined the military training techniques and combined them with his judo training to create the fitness regime for the boot camp.

He says: “BFit East Lothian started last summer with the idea of refining my training to suit the general public and more specifically the ‘Yummy Mummy’ brigade. Having a baby puts a huge strain on a woman’s body and getting back into shape often requires a big effort – usually more than a gentle session at the gym.

“The exercises will help mothers build up their post-baby bodies as there is a big emphasis on exercises that build up their ‘core’ as well as lower back, glutes and pelvic floor – all areas that take a battering in pregnancy.”

Having started with just one boot camp session a week, he now runs several every day, most recently adding evening sessions for office workers looking to get into shape. So why does he think that so many mothers are willing to push themselves through the pain barrier every week? “Simple,” he says. “There is no bull attached. I aim to drive people through the pain barrier both physically and mentally for amazing results.”