Supportive Bootcamp: Extreme Fitness Centers Growing in Popularity in Cedar Falls

Lauri Lumm-Usher lost more than 30 percent of her lung capacity to cancer seven years ago, but that doesn't stop her from keeping fit.

Really, really fit.

Lumm-Usher, 38, co-owns with her husband Chris Usher. Together they run a gym that does just what it's name implies - it builds muscles, sheds pounds and shapes bodies during an intensive 10-week workout program.

Farrell's is just one of a number of such intensive workout centers that have sprung up in Cedar Falls within the last five years. Besides Farrell's, which opened in May 2009, there is , which opened in Jan. 2011, and Roc Fit, which has been in Waterloo for years but recently opened a Cedar Falls location. Another similar business, Kosama Complete Body Transformation, is slated to open soon.

Ryan Downs, 22, founded and owns Next Level. He said he's been surprised and pleased with the demand; the center's first session had 110 participants; the latest had 530.

"I almost felt overwhelmed," he said. "It speaks a lot about our community that you have that many people wanting to work out."

Both Farrell's and Next Level take before-and-after pictures of participants, and Next Level's Facebook page is papered with images of men and women standing in their underwear, showing off newly bulging muscles and trim waists. Juxtaposed next to the "before" images, they often look Photoshopped, but Downs said the transformations are due to the relentless hard work of the participants.

"Anybody is capable of doing this type of program," he said. "It's an intense and very gratifying atmosphere.

Conventional gym, meet boot camp. Well, supportive boot camp.

Both Downs and Lumm-Usher said they want people of all levels of fitness to feel welcome.

"I really make sure we do things that don't exclude people from taking part in this process," Lumm-Usher said. "Because I've been there. I know what it's like to struggle, both with my weight and the physicality of exercise."

The people who attend these programs are often passionate about them, as Patch discovered during a Readers' Choice poll for Best Place to Workout in Cedar Falls. for Farrell's, which won the contest, and Next Level, and more than 1000 cast votes, nearly all for the two extreme workout centers.

"It's not only physical, but mental as well. There are days I cannot believe what I can push myself to do!" Courtney Fauver wrote in a review for Next Level.

The programs don't come cheap. Farrell's, at 4507 Algonquin Dr., charges $350 for individuals enrolling in their first ten week session. Next Level, at 5911 University Ave. (Blackhawk Village), charges $325 for the first ten weeks. Both offer group discounts and payment plans.

Lumm-Usher and Downs both said the secret to the success of their programs was accountability and support.

"So much of it is surrounding yourself with the right people," Lumm-Usher said. "You want to be with people who build you up and believe you can succeed."