Prestige Boot Camp Diary - Part One

27 April 2010

We sent a Boot Camp virgin to Prestige Boot Camp for a week. Guess what? She came back with more than a spring in her step! Here's part one of her diary...

‘I hope you're up?' my father demanded. It was 6am and he was giving me a lift to the airport for my impending flight to Exeter. It was the first day of my latest adventure - a week at The Prestige Boot Camp in Devon.

Endorsed by the NHS and in support of the Help for Hero's Appeal, Prestige Boot Camp is the brain child of Francesca Christian and Staff Ian Reitze.

Prestige offers male and female residential Camps in Devon and Herefordshire and in Europe together with a fab one day boot camp to bikini or bridal boot camps, all offering 5 star luxury accommodation, delicious yet healthy food prepared by a personal Chef Darren Martin, nutrition and fitness advice together with a wide range of military fitness sessions which include boxing, hiking, parasailing, obstacle training to circuit training.

After an introduction to the Prestige Team, I was weighed and measured. I hurriedly advised my Boot Camp manager not to divulge my vital statistics! After all, I was told ‘it's not about the number on the scales, it is how your clothes feel'.

Then it was over to our luxury farmhouse for Mediterranean tomato soup, Roasted Cod with Vine Tomatoes and steamed vegetables. I could get used to this! My main concern was the caffeine, diary, alcohol and sugar ban.

Just how short tempered would I be the following morning?

I didn't have to wait long to find out - I was woken just after 6am and handed a herbal tea - my only consumption before a full morning's exercise.

To my relief, my empty stomach and I were gently broken in with stretching and toning exercises and team training. It always amazes me that exercising with a partner makes you so much more motivated and competitive!

After our warm up exercise, we had an ever-so-welcome breakfast of smoked salmon, scrambled eggs and another herbal tea. Even though the portions were small, I don't think I have ever enjoyed my breakfast so much!

Busy Top Tip: sprinkle food with a little chilli powder to speed up your digestion.

After a quick change, equipped with warm clothes and bottled water, the serious adventure began. Team games kicked off our morning's fitness and after much laughter and plenty of hard work we devoured our mid morning snack of organic oatcakes with homemade hummus.

It was only a matter of minutes before I started to well up - I dropped one of my precious oatcakes!

The evil hill I'd spied only a few hours before was in sight. We were split into teams and challenged to a relay race up the hill.

Once I'd almost died of over-exertion, we began interval training - this included power walking, jogging and sprinting!

Busy Top Tip: If you have limited time, 20 minutes of interval training incorporating sprinting, jogging and running uphill can make a huge difference to your body shape.

Don't get me wrong, it was tough, but the elation of the team afterwards seemed to melt away any of the pain. We were all on a high and I decided I could really get used to this.

After lunch of Spanish tortilla with sweet potatoes, it was rugby training. Now this was going to be interesting - my coordination is far from brilliant, I can drop a spoon merely aiming it at my mouth...

(Part Two Coming Soon...)