Let’s get one thing clear from the start. However crafty and seductively catchy the choice of No.1 as a name may be, in the cold light of day, No.1 it ain’t! I would, in fact, put it right down at No.6 – out of our 7 mixed boot camps – with probably only Tesco’s running a worse one. And no higher than at No.13 – out of our 15 boot camps overall – just ahead of GI Jane, Fitfarms/Tesco’s & New You Boot Camp.
Quite why it is that No.1 Boot Camp has ended up in such a lowly position today needs some explanation – and especially so since directors, Deena Reynolds & Karen Mackenzie, ran their first camp way back in July of 2008 and, frankly speaking, should have had enough time by now to get their product right.
Deena & Karen, to be fair, have made some progress since handing me, in 2008, the daftest set of bootcamp rules ever composed – and running a camp at which they only appeared in the evenings, thus being totally oblivious to the unacceptable, force ten swearing and abuse their trainers had been dishing out all day long. Ironically, when I did need D&K – to tell me from the village where the camp was, as agreed – both D&K had their phones off and I had to throw myself on the mercy of the locals in a pub to get there at all. Easily my most chaotic arrival at a boot camp but – as I soon came to realise – unfortunately very Deena & Karen, too.
But then, they were a jolly couple of ladies, seemingly always up for a drink and a laugh – even if they were convinced, quite wrongly, that ‘having a laugh’ was the most important thing about running a boot camp. So, for reasons I’m not entirely sure of, I decided to help them – and, instead of slating them in a review, I went out of my way and gave them loads of free advice on how to put their camp right. I’d come back when they’d done so. And then I’d write their review. Nice, or what?
I went back in 2010, gave a load more helpful advice on improving and focusing the product, which Deena & Karen showed every sign of appreciating. On the strength of their apparent resolve to make certain changes for the better, I gave them an indulgently up-beat review. But it now transpires – through too many spoken and written complaints I’ve had about No.1 Boot Camp(second only to New You Boot Camp in quantity) – that nothing has changed at all. If anything, it’s got worse. What two unhappy clients write in their comments at the end of this review is all too typical of what I’ve been hearing on the circuit. The same old problems continue at No.1 Boot Camp.
Firstly, pre-camp administration is still very poor. Bookings forgotten about, calls not returned, appointments broken and timings wrong – all go with the territory chez Deena & Karen. ‘Embarrassing’ was how one client described their performance to me! Preparing the venues properly in advance is also a weak point. At my last camp, the trainers weren’t best pleased to discover that no-one had bothered, ahead of time, to check out the equipment: all the Swiss balls were useless, not one of them had a valve in. And don’t expect miracles from the after-care service either. Both directors have admitted to me that they’re not good at organisation. And they’ve done nothing about it, as far as I can see.
Secondly, the activities remain limited and monotonous. Far too much circuiting & hiking, hiking & circuiting, circuiting & hiking. It’s the same old walk to the same old beach every morning. No.1 Boot Camp just hasn’t, in fact, chosen a very inspiring location – the acquatically challenged Norfolk Wash is reedy, watery and flat, a desolate area bereft of topography. Nor is a day out cycling going to happen – when just about everyone else does offer this – no canoeing, no adventure parks and no military tasking. It’s a joyless way to lose weight when the trainers have to run endless PT sessions, for want of anything else to do. The trainers chop and change too – depending on which Services guy is available that week – so there is no fixed Head Trainer in charge of a tailored programme, as there is at all the best boot camps. Even vetting their trainers in advance can’t be too strenuous at No.1. At a recent camp, a new trainer was sacked for ‘inappropriate conduct’ on his very first day – but Deena & Karen still thought it was alright to leave only one trainer to deal with the whole group for the rest of the week
Thirdly, there’s minimal life-changing potential at No.1 Boot Camp. With no professional life coaching, counselling or psychotherapy sessions on offer, it’s going to be very difficult for your brain to turn that all-important corner. Weight loss – particularly sustainable weight loss – is a battle won and lost in the mind. Alas, one solitary session with Drew the nutritionist is unlikely on its own to do the trick for you – unless, that is, you’re very highly impressionable. As a consequence, with no proper attention being paid to Neuro-Lingusitic Programming, No.1 Boot Camp is little more than an exercise club with dietary tips. And that is not what our best boot camps are about!
Fourthly, although Pete the chef can certainly cook, the menu is something of a let-down. There really doesn’t need top be so much chicken; lunch can be about more than just spiced-up soup; snacks, particularly woeful, were just a few seeds, a slice of apple & half a banana – every single day.
Fifthly, hardly any thought has been given to the evenings. Basically, if you don’t want massage or a beauty treatment, it’s the telly.
But the good news is that twins(with shared facilities only) are inexpensive – and you might meet a minor celeb, or, at the very least, a WAG. No.1 crows: “ You only have to look at the number of celebrities making us their first choice to know that we are the best UK Boot Camp”. And that their percentage of repeat clients is, er, 90%! Both these marketing statements should be taken with nothing less than a salt-mine. England’s top boot camps work on an average of 20%-30% repeat clients, so 90% is away with the fairies. Yes, Chantelle did go to No.1 Boot Camp, and she did go on to bring out her own Boot Camp Workout DVD – because the same PR company handles both the celeb and the boot camp, and such visits are simultaneously handy promotion for both of them. Celebs don’t choose to go to any particular boot camp, they just go there to do a job. Kerry Katona only went to GI Jane Boot Camp because they shared the same PR company. Celebs, eh? What a way to evaluate a boot camp!
5 STAR RATINGS
LOCATION: * * *
ACCOMMODATION: * * *
FOOD: **
STAFF& ACTIVITIES: * *
VALUE FOR MONEY: * *
LIE CHANGING POTENTIAL: *
* Accommodation: Georgian Country House, set in over 3 acres of private woods & lawns, close to Heacham Beaches on The Norfolk Wash. Whilst ‘Summerhill’ has public parts that are suitably smart, the size and quality of the bedrooms can vary enormously.
* Capacity: 22. Mixed M/F.
* Duration: 7 nts. (3pm Saturday – Saturday 10am).
* Cost: £1395(Large Sgle,en-suite); £1095(Small Sgle,not en-suite); £1045(Twin, shared facilities) plus 3&4 bed shares too.
* Price includes: All food, lodging & activities which typically include: gym-style work-outs in the garden or on the beach, plus hiking, boxing, yoga, team games, 2 pool sessions,1 Motivational Talk, 1 Nutrition Seminar & a gym visit to illustrate optimum use of the equipment.
* Evening Events: Optional beauty treatments, DVDs in the lounge or TV in the bedroom.
* Optional Extras: Massage £40/1hr. Beauty treatments also usually available.
Sadly, all the areas they were promising are still not acted upon. They really offer the very basics – and all they do is to try to win people over as friends, as there is no real management within this company.
Issues from the start: Admin and booking were embarassing and gave me second thoughts on going – but only booked as it was on offer. Arrival again not managed, and introduction/induction lazy. Only weight taken, no medical forms asked for, no measurements, no interest in injuries – just get on with it yourself!
This attitude followed all week: minimal nutritional advice, no care for wounded, no cleaning , same old boring routines, general staff feeling they were doing us a favour etc etc.
In conclusion, No.1 Boot Camp is badly managed. I would not go again; and this was also the opinion of the other 16 there. Poor effort all round.
By: W D Bruin on February 2, 2011
at 11:22 am
OK so I have read all of the reviews and I am going to give my own very honest humble opinion of my recent experience of No.1 Bootcamp (Norfolk).
From reading the website ahead of attending I was not expecting total luxury, I think basic was described, and so expectations on accommodation were not exceptionally high. However I was pleasantly surprised, I was in a room (no TV but that’s fine) – size was fine, beds were comfy, the rooms were definitely not cold, in fact they were rather toasty. The only negative things I would say about the room is that we only had a bath not a shower, but there were showers downstairs which were ok (not great, just ok, the water pressure was a little disappointing). It would have been nice to have had some soap in the bathroom upon arrival. We only stayed for 3 nights but for those who are staying for a week the rooms could probably do with being cleaned at least once during the time (this may already happen but if not just an observation).
On the point of Deena and Karen never being there – Deena was there for the whole time and took part in most of the training for the 3 days whilst I was there. She was chatting to us all and was definitely not drinking lots of alcohol and booze on site!
Chef Pete is amazing – the food is just yummy. Fine the portions are not huge but isn’t that what the camp is all about?
There was definitely no eating of mars bars and junk food by anybody in my group. We were treated like adults so if people wanted to go off and fill their faces in the comfort of their own room that’s fine but we did not see it.
We had an exceptionally large group (35) so had 3 trainers on site and they were AMAZING!!!!!! Thank you to Ricky, Rich and Danny. They made us all work to the top end of our ability without screaming and swearing at any of us or making us feel uncomfortable. We were a very mixed ability group so to achieve this was pretty impressive. I went to camp to challenge myself and I did exactly that. The exercises were mixed and varied – one day more cardio / running, the next upper body/boxing, lots of ab work, some more hard core military type stuff but all really fun and again the trainers were so motivational I cannot praise them highly enough.
The group were fab – and lots of people who had been there for weeks at a time / come back for a 2nd or 3rd time so they would not have done this had the experience been totally awful.
The only other comment I would add is there are massages available on site every night but there is little privacy so this probably needs to be looked into. However the massages were amazing and just what was needed after the end of a pretty tough day.
All in all if you are expecting a luxury Bootcamp this is not for you but if you are after a camp in a great location, with great trainers, who achieve great results I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Ibiza Bootcamp here we come…
By: Claire on October 28, 2011
at 3:48 pm
Do not waste your time or money here!
From the moment of arrival, there was no organisation, dubious weighin, cold dirty single rooms with extra beds crammed in and freezing cold shower, on top of dirty, insufficient equipment. Same boring 20 min run each day with 2 circuits in a cold, damp dirty marquee and a Bimble equals less than 6 hours a day, not the full action-packed 12 they advertise. 1 x 1 hour nutrition talk all week, rest of the time in your dirty, cold room with no tv. Only 1 PT on site not the 4 they promise.
At least 60% of clients weren’t happy, no 90% returning as advertised. Grabbing my money was the only thing they showed
any interest in.
By: DisappointedFitFan on February 6, 2011
at 8:49 am
What a joke… NO 1?? Obviously not an officially awarded status just a smoke screen to draw in the punters, and believe me that is all that they are trying to do. There is no sense of customer care nor is there any willingness to listen to feedback and accept that if the same negative feedback is given over and over again, by not 1, not two but by about 10 out of 20 people on a bootcamp then, maybe… just maybe there is something that needs looking into.
Admittedly when I first booked I too was sucker punched by the No 1 name and the amount of celebs that had been there and the success stories, but within minutes of being there I knew there was something not quite right. There were stories of drunken nights out, encouraged by the owners and staff and some quite offensive and scary accounts of illicit goings on during the camps which to be honest shocked me and I’m not that easily shocked. To me a boot camp should be a place that encourages and guides individuals on how to achieve a lifestyle change and should include carefully considered rules.
Based on my experience, I would definitely NOT recommend No 1 Bootcamp not even to my worst enemy. I arrived and they didn’t know where I was supposed to be staying. The “manager” (I say that loosely as one would assume that a manager knows what is going on) didn’t have a list of who was and wasn’t arriving. There was no timetable of activities. The weigh in was a joke, the PT didn’t know what he needed to do as it was his first day, so no measurements were taken. There was only one PT for a group of 20 (originally there were 2 PTs but one mysteriously disappeared – rumor was he’d got fired) My dietary requirements were ignored by Deena, by Karen, by the manager (her name escapes me as she was only really there for a couple of hours) and by Pete. Believe me I got fed up of repeating myself. As the Guru says, Pete is a great chef and very capable, but variation PLEASE and listen to people don’t ignore them you might realize how much your skills are appreciated.
The actual bootcamp activities were ok… but it was blatantly obvious that nothing had been planned nor had there been any thought put into it and unlike other bootcamps where some science or theory is explained to back up the ethos of the camp, there was nothing, not one mention of what benefits the activities would give nor why they were being done, it was laughable. And the facilities OMG… the grounds were unsafe, there were bits of broken glass (wine and beer bottles) in and around the areas where the outdoor circuits were done. The marquee was a joke it was a shell that was falling to bits and what can I say about the dilapidated conservatory where the equipment was piled up, well it was filthy, wet and cold and none of the equipment looked as though it had been checked to make sure it was safe to use. It was just all piled in with no proper storage nor regard for health and safety. The sessions were monotonous, and each day we’d be told we were doing something the following day and then that would change for one reason or another. I could go on, but suffice to say DO NOT GET SUCKERED IN… NO1 IT AINT!!! I am definitely not going back and I am very sure that non of the others who attended the bootcamp at the same time would either.
By: BootCampAddict on April 14, 2011
at 3:16 pm
HI
Went to No1 bootcamp last week and really wished I had listened to the reviews here.
‘Awful’ is an understatement. The weigh-in was very quick and they didnt tell you your weight
and they don’t even measure, you unless you beg them to.
The camp was full of thin girls moaning about their weight, yet eating mars bars and other junk
in the house. Such lax discipline wasn’t great for those who really wanted to lose a few pounds.
All they seem to care about here is who is tweeting their camp and which d list celeb they can get
through the door. For those who paid good money it was a real waste.
The only people who knew what they were doing were Pete with some great food and Kate, kate who
did what she could to help people at the house. Both trainers were both good but did not have enough
passion. At the final weigh-in the trainers were counting everyone” losses with their fingers and ,well lets
just say, they didnt get all their figures right – and some were way out.
This place is so not worth the money and I really wish there is a some type of governing board,so complaints
can go that way. Maybe Watchdog would like to hear about it all.
By: sad30 on June 15, 2011
at 3:03 pm
Hi, I’ve read your “review” several times now and no offense, but I keep on finding more and more faults with it. The so called force 10 swearing was nowhere to be seen. Also, in my mind having a laugh as well as losing weight and getting fitter IS top priority in a bootcamp! Also Pete the chef kept a varied menu even for the snacks which you felt were woefully inadequate.. Also when I was there (I feel I should mention I was there 2 weeks) there were two main trainers, Ricky Parcell and Dave Kelly who did a super job of keeping us motivated AND entertained in the evenings. I lost 9 pounds in two weeks and put on muscle in places I’d forgotten. In short Mr Bootcamp Guru, I beg to differ!
By: Johan on August 31, 2011
at 3:05 am
Bit of a worry that you’ve read the review several times – as I never mentioned anything about ‘force 10 swearing’ at their camp nowadays.
That observation was true in 2008. Still, I agree with you that ‘having a laugh’ is a good thing at boot camps – just not perhaps as a main
reason for setting one up. Well done on the weight loss anyway.
By: graemeharwood on September 1, 2011
at 2:15 pm
I have just returned from a week at No1 boot camp and thought the whole experience was fantastic, ok I don’t have anything to compare it to but you just have to take it for what it was. I was very fortunate to be part of a great team (the largest number that had been on camp at one time) and that made the experience all the more enjoyable. Our group was mainly female and came from all social backgrounds and it was wonderful to listen to all the conversations floating around the camp.
The accommodation was basic which was fine, after all I was on boot camp not on holiday, though there were a few issues with the hot water which wasn’t great after just having had an ice bath.
The food that Pete prepared was wonderful, the snacks were tasty and varied and when I was having trouble with my chewing and swallowing of solid food I was given protein drinks to keep up my energy levels which was much appreciated.
As for the trainers I couldn’t fault their enthusiasm and drive to keep you going when you were down to your last ounce of strength. We had Richie, Ricky and Danny all of whom varied the training and motivated each person to work to the best of their abilities. I thought that the training was well programmed with all the the high impact intense circuit and boxing etc in the morning and then long speed walking/jogging sessions in the afternoon, finishing with a half hour blast of exercise and then an ice bath. This was perfect for me as I’m sure that I couldn’t have kept up the morning pace up all day long.
As camp manager Kate did a great job looking after us all and was always avilable if required
In conclusion, it just needs some money spent on the bathroom facillities (install more showers and less baths) and is a wonderful place to exercise with great trainers who will push you as far as you can go, and then a little bit further.
By: Jon on October 30, 2011
at 10:06 am
Dear Jon,
Please don’t think that I’m picking on you personally – because I’m not – but in replying to what you say, I am also replying to the many other clients of No.1 Boot Camp who, like you, have been urged to send in to me letters of recommendation, to counteract all the negative comments here about their boot camp.
Your key phrase for me – and what links you to most of the others trilling in with high praise – is ” ok, I don’t have anything else to compare it to”. Well, if you did – and actually you can do by reading other boot camp reviews on this site – you’d see what you were missing out on.
Did you go cycling, like every other boot camp does? Canoeing? How often did you even go off site? Was there a van in No.1 livery,or indeed any minibus hired in? Didn’t have to go in your own cars,did you? Where was the swimming pool/sauna/jacuzzi/hot tub? Did you use scruffy, old equipment? Did Drew mention to you the 80/20 principle of eating – ‘cos no-one on my course seemed to know what it was? Wouldn’t you have benefited from some more help on the psychological side? Didn’t you get fed up with the same old snacks? Did you know that other boot camps have turned their snacks almost into an art form, constantly changing, eternally interesting? I could go on and on. But you get the point, I’m sure.
Well done on the weight loss anyway – and perhaps just look around a bit more at what else is on the market before splashing your cash next time. If there is to be a next time.
All best,
Graeme
By: graemeharwood on December 13, 2011
at 8:00 pm