The sun hasn’t quite peeked over the treetops when the first YMCA of Rock River Valley Boot Camp class of the day heads for the exercise deck — in this case, the tennis courts on North Madison Street — on the run.

For the next hour, 20 to 40 participants will run, lunge, jump and carry out whatever command instructor Jared Schomburg, occasionally referred to as Captain Cruel in some circles, bellows out.

They work to avoid being berated for being too easy on themselves or for “eyeballing” Schomburg.

The class, which meets at 5:45 and 9 a.m. Monday and Friday mornings, quickly appealed to people with busy schedules who wanted to fit a tough, no nonsense workout into a short time frame and has been one of the YMCA’s most popular offerings since it was introduced in the fall of 2003. Participants stay up until 12:01 a.m. to re-enlist for another eight-week session each time the Y reopens registration to make sure they don’t lose their place in the class.

“It definitely gets you in top shape, and you feel better about yourself,” participant Cornelius Williams said. “I wanted to work on trimming down and getting more in shape, faster, and stronger and this class helps me do that.”

Schomburg, a certified strength and conditioning specialist, said the exercises he puts the classes through come from books, magazines and other sources.

“I try to mix it up and make it different every time,” Schomburg said. “I try to keep the workouts real quick, real effective and full-body as much as possible.

“It’s a big group, so we have to keep everybody moving all the way through. I try not to give them too much rest between exercises and we do a lot of push-ups, a lot of sit-ups and a lot of walking lunges, things that really get your whole body activated through the whole range of motion. Then, we just try to get everybody to have a great time in a very short period of time and make sure they want to come back every single time.”  

Experienced exercisers such as Barb Doubek and Eleanor Doar say the class is among the toughest workouts they’ve ever done but Julia Guler, who rejoined the class two months after her daughter, Felicity, was born Dec. 7, 2006, has lost 90 pounds and keeps asking Schomburg for more class time.

“Oorah,” Guler said. “I have 20 more pounds to go to reach my goal weight.” 

Guler said she began a high-protein, low-sugar diet immediately after Felicity was born and boot camp has done the rest.

“It takes determination to show up,” she said. “You have to be able to push yourself because the class won’t do you any good if you don’t push yourself. The class is the best because you don’t want to be last. I’m tired of being last and I tell people who are whining who are fitter than me to suck it up.”

Although she finishes last in a number of the exercises, Guler welcomes the competition that Schomburg said he injects into the class to keep participants interested.

“I purposely put them in partner groups or small groups,” he said, “and, then, we even play games where they have to beat the other team to get out of pain, as I call it. It really helps build the camaraderie in the group and helps them make themselves better physically and mentally.”

Mike DeDoncker can be reached at (815) 987-1382 or mdedoncker@rrstar.com.