Brooklyn's Progress
August/September 2006

BY MEREDITH GRINGER

It is difficult to imagine that Darren Taylor and Jeffrey Sidnez were once a Burger King employee and an overweight salesman, respectively.  However, the co-founders of Brooklyn’s Boot Camp Fitness, were once just that.  Mr. Taylor, 36, and Mr. Sidnez, 30, have both come a long way.  Together they have created what Mr. Sidnez describes as “reality fitness.”  Though the workout they offer is certainly not typical gym fare, exercising muscles through natural movements and using the body as a means of resistance, what truly distinguishes Boot Camp Fitness is how much the co-founders seem to care about their members.
 
Above each treadmill at their indoor facility on Flatbush Avenue are the words “Life is not about finding yourself, it’s about creating the person that you want to be!!! I am who I decide to be!!!”  And that is certainly the Boot Camp Fitness motto.  Mr. Taylor and Mr. Sidnez refuse to give up on their members, or to let their members give up on themselves.  This extends to calling people up and reminding them to come down even if they want to take a day off.  When asked if they really call people, Mr. Sidnez nods and says, “Our phone bill is crazy.”

It was while working at a gym in Park Slope that Mr. Taylor launched a pilot the Boot Camp Fitness program.  In 2001, there was such demand for it that Taylor left the gym to go out on his own.
 
Mr. Taylor says he had always wanted his own indoor facility, but getting a space proved difficult. However, in Aug. 2005, he and Mr. Sidnez joined the Brooklyn Chamber.  They pooled their money, and with the help of the Brooklyn Chamber’s Business Solutions Center, they got a loan from HSBC to finally buy their own place.  Currently, they offer classes in three parks as well as in the new indoor space, and they have seven trainers on staff in addition to themselves.
 
When Mr. Sidnez says if one person can do it, everyone can do it, it is easy to see that he truly believes it.  At age 22, he weighed 275 pounds.  He was in and out of hospitals, and a doctor told him he could not expect to live for more than six weeks.  However, after six months of eating differently and being more active, he dropped down to 190 pounds.
 
“When you leave here, we want you to leave with the mentality of a trainer, knowing right from wrong and why.  That’s when we feel accomplished,” says Mr. Sidnez.  It is clear that he and Mr. Taylor have not just started a fitness program, they’ve created a community.  They both agree that as fitness professionals they are supposed to educate people, not just physically, but spiritually, and in that, they seem to have been particularly successful.

Boot Camp Fitness Brooklyn N.Y.C. is located at 172 Flatbush Avenue in Park Slope.  You may reach them by visiting their Web site at http://www.bootcampfitnessnyc.com/, or by calling them at 877-FIT-LOOK (348-5665).