INUVIK - Six days a week residents of Inuvik have a chance to sweat it out with interval training, which improves cardio endurance and can tone muscles or help with weight loss.

Stephen Robertson does the dreaded pendulum station at the Gym Boss workout class on April 28. The class is held for free at Aurora College and is one of two classes offered in Inuvik that uses interval training to keep people fit. - Samantha Stokell/NNSL photo

The Gym Boss and Boot Camp classes offered by Aurora College and the Beaufort Delta Sahtu Recreation Association respectively, use a circuit of exercises with timed sets of repetitions to get the heart pumping and muscles burning. While the Gym Boss class does 20 second sets with eight or 10 different exercises, Boot Camp does as many sets of five different exercises, with 10 reps each, in 40 minutes.

Both classes use traditional exercises like push-ups, planks, skipping and sprinting to make sure participants get a cardio workout and strength training.

"It's good because you can work out as hard as you want to," said Cynthia Wicks, a student counsellor at Aurora College and co-organizer of the Gym Boss class with Adam Wright, an instructor at the college. "It's a lot of fun and we're motivated by the people around us."

Both classes draw between 10 and 20 people each night. Nikki Wright has been attending the Boot Camp class for about four months and went to her first Gym Boss class on April 29.

"I just wanted to get at least four hours of workout per week," Wright said. "They say three hours a week is mandatory to stay fit, so I want to push my limits and try to get as many workouts a week as I can."

Although there are a lot of people working out on one room, the classes don't have the feel of a gym. It's no meat market, and that's something that has kept Candace Ciboci coming back week after week.

"You're too busy working out and so is everyone else so no one is looking at you. That was my big fear about exercising," Ciboci said. "You do your own thing and work out at your own pace and you see healthy results."

After just a few weeks of this circuit training, participants can see results such as toned core and muscles, higher endurance for activities and fat loss, according to the instructors. No matter what level of fitness exercisers are at, they can do the activities at their own speed and the exercises.

"People get a lot of support from the group atmosphere and enjoy the social aspect," said Alfred Moses, organizer of the Boot Camp classes. "We've had testimonials and people are really enjoying it. They've lost weight, are more toned and stronger."

Moses and the Beaufort Delta Sahtu Recreation Association are also using the classes as training ground for new instructors. They just finished one session and now have the freshly minted trainers taking on instructing the classes.

Gym Boss happens at the Aurora College foyer every Tuesday and Thursday from 5:15 p.m. and Saturday at 10 a.m. Boot Camp classes happen at Sir Alexander Mackenzie School gym every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 5:30 p.m. Both are free.

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