The Body Studio offers up a fitness challenge for all

Katie Henry is used to getting phone calls from the grocery store.

“They’ll ask me, ‘can I have pretzels?’ or other things,” she said laughing. “And I’ll say no.”

For Henry, co-owner of The Body Studio in Sumner, the accessibility is just part of the service she offers with the fitness center’s new Body Camp Challenge, an eight-week intensive fitness program that the Studio began offering this year.

Henry, who along with co-owners Kimberly Kilstrom and Katie’s husband Walt Henry, have operated The Body Studio in Sumner for two years, said they stumbled upon the idea for the Body Camp Challenge with a little help from the studio’s staff.

“The idea came from the front desk,” Henry said. “They recognized that people were coming in and didn’t know where to start. So we just kind of brainstormed and came up with it.”

According to Henry, the idea was a simple one: Offer the kind of one-on-one fitness and nutrition advice usually reserved for people that can afford a personal trainer, throw in a group atmosphere to provide motivation and encouragement and toss in a helping of accountability. Voila, the recipe for a successful fitness program.

Campers work out in groups from Monday through Thursday. The workouts range from spin classes – where the campers exercise on stationary bicycles – to core exercise and circuit training sessions. The campers rest on Friday and then resume with individual programs on the weekends.

On Saturdays the program offers workshops on topics ranging from nutrition to the dangers of diet soda.

Sundays are reserved for individual workouts, usually either yoga or pilates.

One of the keys is the program’s suitabililty for all fitness levels.

“This is tailored for all fitness ranges, from sedentary to super active,” Kilstrom said. “In the first class we had a camper who ran triathlons all the way to one girl who had never worked out before.”

“This can truly be modified for any fitness level,” Henry added. “And the people who are in the camp, their fitness level has increased.”

So far the studio has completed one session of the camp. The impact of the first class was immediate, Henry said. Collectively the original 12 campers lost 70 pounds in the first week.

Currently there are four more classes running, with workout times available four times a day to cater to busy schedules.

Although the exercise classes provide the meat of the program, according to Henry and Kilstrom, it’s the other aspects that make the camp different.

“The key is the nutrition element,” Kilstrom said. “We provide diet information and recipes. The first week the campers do a detox diet and cut out all carbs. Gradually they start adding food back in, because we do need them to live. They also keep a food diary.”

“I’ll get calls from people who have a problem and because of the food log, I’ll be able to tell what the problem was,” Henry added. “Nutrition is such an important aspect of it. The cool part of this is the planning. A lot of people have trouble with fast food. But you have to plan your meals and have the healthy stuff around. I knew the nutrition was the missing link.”

For Henry, who was a physical education teacher for 12 years and now teaches health classes at Auburn High School, the other key aspect is the group focus.

“We’ve become this really tight-knit group,” she said.

In addition to the time spent in the gym, the campers also maintain a Web presence with each either via blogs.

Henry said that all of the campers also have the instructors e-mail and cell numbers, in case they need advice or support on-the-fly – such as at the grocery store.

So far it’s paid off, according to the campers.

Loretta Brock is a below-the-knee-amputee who said she has seen significant results.

“The Body Camp Challenge has been amazing and has proven to me I can set my goals even higher than I thought I ever could before, and not just in numbers,” Brock said. “I thought it might be hard for me, but the BCC has proven that I can do anything, all I have to do is put my mind to it.”

“I had come to a point in my workouts that I felt bored and static and was not seeing results any more,” Carolyn Dille added. “I had plateaued. I enjoyed the personal time with the instructors but I needed something more. I was initially not about what was on the scale or the numbers, but more about feeling better and working hard to challenge myself. Not only do I feel better, feel challenged, tired and spent at the end of the workouts, but I feel a camaraderie with the others in the class.”

For Jamie Johnson, one of the original campers in the first class, the results were astounding.

“It’s been an amazing experience for me personally,” she said. “Over the past 9 weeks I have accomplished more physically than I thought myself capable of in a very long time. In addition to losing 25 pounds in eight weeks and over 8 inches, I have a new confidence and energy in living an active lifestyle.”

According to Johnson the camp has enabled her to strike out and accomplish a physically demanding stairclimb of the Columbia Building.

“The Camp gave me the courage and physical strength to climb 69 flights of stairs for Leukemia at the Columbia Building,” she said. “I plan to climb Mt. Si this year, another first for me, as well as hike other trails around Washington.”

The cost of the camp is $500 for 10 weeks, much cheaper than the normal $50 per session charged by many personal trainers, according to Henry.

“Those gyms make a lot more money than we do, but that’s not why we’re in it,” she said. “We have an un-gym philosophy. We’re here for the relationships.”

For more information about Body Camp Challenge, or The Body Studio’s other offerings, call 253-321-2181 or visit their Web site at www.thebodystudio.org.

Shawn Skager can be reached at 253-826-3260 ext. 5050 or by e-mail at sskager@sumnerreporter.com.

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