Trend: Boutique Bootcamps Transform the Work Out

It's not very often that you get to see a lawyer crawling on the floor like a crocodile. But as 54-year-old trial attorney John Walsh completes a series of push-ups while inching across Essential Fitness, a 4,000-square-foot Eastlake personal training studio, he doesn’t seem to mind the undignified position.

“Write down that these guys are killing me,” says the attorney good-naturedly, as soon as trainer Justin Lawrence lets him pop up from the floor to swig from his water bottle.

It’s 11 a.m. on a weekday, but Walsh isn’t the only one in the studio cheerfully submitting to pain. To his right, a bespectacled woman huffs and puffs while dragging a rope tied around heavy weights, strongman style. To his left, a pair of 20-something female friends does a series of squats under the watchful eye of another one of the studio’s four trainers.

This tuckered-out crew is part of what local fitness professionals say is a growing breed of gym-goer: people who have tired of mechanically pumping away on massive rows of exercise machines and are looking for something more personalized. There’s nothing new about working with a personal trainer, of course; celebrities and professional athletes have been doing it for years. But the popularity of boutique studios that emphasize personal or small-group training sessions suggests that big-box gyms and one-size-fits-all workouts may be going out of style.

In the American College of Sports Medicine’s latest survey of international fitness professionals, personal training was one of the top three predicted fitness trends for 2008. (It was seventh in 2007.) Locally, Essential Fitness (essentialfitness.org), a Canadian franchise bought by local trainers in

2006, and Vera Fitness (verafitness.com), which opened in March, are two of at least a dozen neighborhood studios that exclusively offer personal or small-group training. At X Gym (xgym.com)—a 10-year-old local chain with locations in Alki, Belltown and Kirkland, where trainers lead intense 20-minute workouts—membership has doubled within the past year. And Belltown’s Zum (clubzum.com), a high-end boutique gym known for training Olympic athlete Apolo Anton Ohno, recently upped its membership options to include thrice-weekly personal training sessions due to client demand.

“I really think people are moving towards these smaller studios,” says Christi Masi, a Seattle–based independent trainer and founder of The Healthy Goddess boot camp (thehealthygoddess.com), who has been training groups of women since 2004. “People’s lives are so hectic that they’re finding places that are local, convenient and personal.”

Like Masi, studio owners and trainers attribute the trend to clients’ increasingly busy schedules, which create a need for more efficient workouts. Most agree that it also has to do with reality TV shows like The Biggest Loser, which debuted in 2004 and gets its dramatic thrust from the excitement of watching overweight contestants radically slim down thanks to in-your-face tough love from trainers and nutritionists.

“We get a lot of people calling because they’ve been motivated through watching the [reality] shows,” says Dave Johnson, president of Bellevue’s Elite Fitness (elitefitnessbellevue.com), a 2-year-old studio where clients work with a rotating array of trainers. “People are definitely more educated.”

Boutique facilities have the same basic amenities found at gyms like 24-Hour Fitness or Gold’s (exercise equipment, locker rooms, showers), but tend to be smaller and swankier, with state-of-the-art machines, hair-free drains and individual bathrooms (rather than stalls).  For members, it’s this VIP ambience—coupled with the accountability that comes with receiving personal attention—that justifies the boutique gyms’ pricier fees.

“[At my previous gym], they don’t always clean the equipment. It’s kind of funky,” says Gülay Birand, a 32-year-old user-interface designer who joined Green Lake’s Vera Fitness, a women’s-only studio, shortly after it opened. “The more inspiring the environment is, the better it is for me to get anything done.”

Vera sets itself apart from the pack by charging $40 an hour for small-group sessions with trainers. (The one-on-one sessions at most gyms hover in the $75/hour range.) It also trades thumping techno music and darker, more masculine color schemes for an airy, green-built space and exudes a Nordstrom-like dedication to customer service, wherein clients are treated to perks such as pre-programmed iPods and Aveda skin and hair products. Perhaps most importantly, every client is greeted by name.

“I think it really boils down to the fact that it’s small,” adds Birand. “You know that you’re going to be focused on.”

Back at Essential Fitness, it’s clear that being more than a number is a large part of the personalized workout’s appeal. As Walsh and the other clients cool down and stretch, they slap high fives with their trainers and chat amiably about their families and weekend plans. It’s the kind of atmosphere you might find at a hair salon or farmers’ market—only with a few more reptilian imitations and a lot more sweat.