You may live in Florida for its abundant beaches, the seasonably warm weather and relatively mild winters, or maybe even for the state’s numerous theme parks. Bill Bennett, however, relocated to Orlando a year and a half ago because statistics make it the number one city in the country for people getting hit by cars!
A shocking reason, indeed, for many, but if you’re working as a trauma nurse in Detroit, and offered an opportunity to move here for a Masters in Nursing program specializing in critical care at Orlando Regional Medical Center, it makes much more sense.
And though he’s no longer enrolled in that program, Bennett has taken everything he’s learned throughout his varied careers, which include 12 years as a critical care nurse, 13 years in the physical fitness industry, and over three decades spent in the music industry as a DJ/remixer/producer, and developed Orlando’s most-buzzed-about workout regime. Bill Bennett Boot Camps has created an extremely dedicated and loyal group of enthusiasts who’ve safely reached, and often surpassed their fitness goals. And like his clients who’ve found obstacles and setbacks en route to achieving their physical fitness goals, Bennett has also endured a variety of struggles and challenges on his new career path.
“When I came here from Detroit I thought I knew everything, because I was from Detroit, but I found out I knew nothing,” Bennett says, laughing at his self-inflated ego. “Detroit is gunshots and stabs. Here you get some really crazy shit.”
Bennett calls Colonial Drive one of the five top roads in North America for cars hitting pedestrians, which results in a wide variety of medical challenges, and learning opportunities for a nurse looking to continue his education.
But a rotating door of one over-the-top injury after another, in addition to an increased amount of administrative bureaucracy, led to Bennett wondering if he’d made the right decision in coming to Orlando.
Preventative rather than reactionary
Bennett struggled with many of the decisions hospital management would make, and that meeting budgetary numbers far outweighed actual patient care. He also felt that most medical care was reactionary instead of preventative; of fixing a problem rather than taking proactive measures to prevent issues from developing.
“Most insurance companies would rather pay for an open heart surgery than a gym membership,” Bennett says.
Among that “crazy shit” Bennett was seeing in the ER was a growing number of injuries sustained at gyms, boot camp classes, and personal training sessions.
“I saw a lot of fractured ankles, herniated discs. There were a lot of injuries that could have been avoided.”
Previously focused solely on his and his workout alone when at the gym, Bennett now kept eyes wide open while doing cardio or lifting weights, gauging what fitness instructors and trainers were doing both right and wrong in matters of effectiveness, safety, and even motivation. It wasn’t long before Bennett realized he could combine bits and pieces from his varied backgrounds into one, and “Bill Bennett’s Boot Camps” was born.
“I put together a program that is more medically-science based than other workouts, and safer,” says Bennett. “Some of the things I saw other boot camps doing, I was shocked. For example, none of us need to be flipping tires. There’s no reason to flip a tire. You can really injure yourself.”
Everyone attending Bennett’s classes starts with a personal consultation that includes blood pressure and fat density measurements and a look at their health history. For those who’ve suffered significant injuries, their doctors are invited into the discussion as well.
“While some personal trainers and fitness instructors have good intentions, many don’t have the experience necessary to adequately work with someone who’s been sedentary for years, who have a significant weight loss they need to achieve. Many people don’t understand the science of it.”
In designing his programs, Bennett has incorporated a holistic approach, a method that takes the complete person into consideration, both physically and psychologically. Each day’s session takes a different focus, such as legs or chest. Bennett discovered yoga while attempting to find inner peace during the height of disillusionment with his health care career; he now dedicates Wednesday classes to the ancient practice.
“Not only is it recovering your body and stretching your muscles. It’s meditation.”
Fridays are dedicated to fat burning, with students encouraged to socialize as they see fit over the weekend.
“The program is intense enough that you can live your life and see progress, but you still have to live in moderation,” he says.
Finding that beat
The idea of living a life of moderation hits home for the 44-year-old Bennett, who has struggled with substance abuse in the past. But what has also made Bennett especially successful is his ability to personally relate to his clients, most of which are gay men.
Realizing he was gay at an early age, Bennett even claims to have come out of the womb dancing. And when his farmer father discovered his high-school-age son dressed in hot shorts, a tank top, and a sailor’s hat performing a self-choreographed routine to a Dead or Alive song, the performance was not met with applause. (Bennett critiques his moves that day as “not the most masculine.” Instead, Bennett was quickly saddled with an abundance of farm chores with hopes that the testosterone-heavy farm work might make him “a man.”
Midwestern farming community high schools are not necessarily known for their all-accepting arts programs, despite what Glee might have you believe. With few opportunities for creative expression, Bennett discovered group fitness classes at his local gym. Step aerobics was quickly gaining in popularity, and Bennett quickly rose through the ranks, even participating on a national Reebok Step demonstration team. It was through teaching that Bennett also discovered DJ-ing, creating workout-friendly remixes for his classes.
Despite the obvious health benefits that teaching aerobics provided, Bennett says the job came with an even greater perk.
“Looking back I think I was just looking for an outlet for freedom. That’s one reason why I really enjoyed aerobics, because it was the first time I could move the way I wanted to without being criticized. I could express myself with my body language and not be ashamed of that. People embraced that.”
With thoughts of exploring exercise science, and encouragement from his ER nurse boyfriend, Bennett also began to take college nursing classes.
Despite his success with teaching aerobics and, he says, thanks to being a Leo, Bennett needed to find a bigger limelight, especially one that didn’t predominantly attract women as his audience. He found that brighter spotlight through DJ-ing at a new gay club in Detroit. Using his high-energy aerobic mixes to audition, Bennett was hired as the club’s DJ, and soon saw long lines of people waiting to enter.
“Being at that age, 25, 26, and that developmental level, my head became extremely large,” Bennett says. “And then the drugs came in.”
Getting introduced to illegal substances while having a very addictive personality can quickly make a person an addict, which is what happened to Bennett.
“When it started, it was fun,” he says, “But I was never the type to stop.”
Using drugs and alcohol to hide the skeletons in each of their closets, rather than maturely talk about them and work on them together, caused Bill and the love of his life to break up. But when he wasn’t working hard to eventually obtain his nursing degree, Bennett was partying harder, by now fully immersed in the gay circuit party scene. At least until he overdosed.
“I didn’t want to kill myself, that wasn’t in my head, but I was hurting so badly inside from losing my ex, I had so much pain I just wanted to stop hurting,” Bennett says.
Passed out and discovered “blue” by a roommate, Bennett was rushed to the hospital emergency room, which, oddly enough, was staffed by his ex. Bennett remained unconscious for three days, and unaware of just how long he had been without oxygen, doctors weren’t sure if he’d awake with brain damage or not.
“Luckily, I guess, teaching aerobics for 12 years saved my ass,” Bennett says. Doctors credit Bennett’s “tons” of oxygen cell reserves, which allowed him to be without oxygen for a longer amount of time than most patients.
Dealing with body image
Deciding he needed to “get the fuck out of town,” Bennett quit DJ-ing, took a nursing job in Seattle. And instead of dealing with his addiction issues; the weight gain only led to an even deeper depression.
“And if you’re already depressed, don’t move to Seattle,” Bennett says, laughing. He returned home to Michigan, where his sister encouraged him to re-discover physical fitness and working out. He recalls several trips to the gym where he’d sit in the car crying, feeling so unfit and fearing rejection. Eventually finding a renewed self-confidence, Bennett also re-explored his music. And though he soon found success when Sony Music bought the rights to his first single, “Breakaway” with Inaya Day, a reality-check from the label’s marketing reps threatened to throw Bennett’s progress off track.
“After they gave me the check for the song, they said, “You’re not obese, but you’re too heavy to be marketable.’ They didn’t sugar-coat it all.” The label told Bennett that he would not be appearing in the song’s music video, nor would he appear on any album art.
Another “ass-kicker” moment, as Bennett likes to call them, happened at a circuit party. When he took his shirt off, as one does at such events, two guys came up and asked him to put his clothes back on, claiming that the sight of Bennett shirtless was “ruining their night.”
“Our society, our gay culture, can be very judgmental and very cruel,” Bennett says. “Unfortunately we’re not going to fix that, I’m not going to fix that. But what I can do is help people like themselves better and accept themselves more.”
It’s about motivation
Bennett’s clients say that while the BBBC physical workouts have gotten them in to shape, it’s Bennett’s motivational skills that have truly allowed them to meet their fitness goals.
“There’s such a sense of camaraderie that develops during Bill’s classes,” says Jay Lovell, 42, of the boot camp sessions that currently average about a dozen people. “It helps with accountability, and it’s all incredibly encouraging, with everyone truly wanting everyone else to succeed. Bill is the one who fosters that atmosphere.”
Lovell’s partner Scott Stowell agrees.
“Bill has an uncanny knack for knowing what motivates people, plus he can individualize and customize his approach from person to person,” says Stowell. He admits that Bennett’s classes are the first time he and Lovell have ever worked out together in the 12 years they’ve been a couple.
The couple agrees that when Bennett shares stories from his past, especially those concerning fear and rejection, issues that many gay men experience, they and the other class members become less intimidated to work out and are more encouraged to succeed in reaching their fitness goals.
Where Bennett was once renting space at local gyms to hold his classes, he’s recently moved into more permanent digs at 1035 N. Mills Avenue. While renovations are underway for the building’s interior, the room that will eventually be the center’s dedicated space for yoga is currently being used for the majority of Bennett’s group and one-on-one training. Design plans include suspension training, a military-style obstacle course, and the installation of a 65 disco ball. (Bennett’s also renovating his DJ career with the release of a new album Feb. 9; a national tour will see Bennett’s manager in tow, helping Bennett steer clear of the trappings that have only served to derail him in the past.)
Though Bennett’s current clients have already achieved physical renovations of their own, they’ve also found success in other areas. Lovell says his overall attitude towards life is “so much more positive.” Meanwhile, Stowell was able to reduce his cholesterol levels enough to no longer need medication from his doctor, and that was after working only four months with Bennett.
“My doctor couldn’t believe I’d made that much headway in that amount of time,” says Stowell, 46. “He also said my blood work was now that of a 25-year-old.”
And though working out has been a relatively consistent part of Stowell’s life, he says that training with Bennett allows him to feel like he’s accomplishing something at the gym and that’s a feeling he’s never felt before.
And though it’s not intentional, it stands to reason that the walls inside Bennett’s Mills Avenue facility are decorated with pop art portraits of superheroes; the art perfectly complements the BBBC approach, which encourages clients to discover and embrace their inner Superman or Wonder Woman.
TO ENROLL:
The first winter session of Bill Bennett Boot Camps starts Monday, Jan. 7, and runs through Friday, Feb. 1. There are beginner, intermediate, and advance class options, and the four week session costs $99. Register online at BillBennettBootCamps.com.
You may live in Florida for its abundant beaches, the seasonably warm weather and relatively mild winters, or maybe even for the state’s numerous theme parks. Bill Bennett, however, relocated to Orlando a year and a half ago because statistics make it the number one city in the country for people getting hit by cars!
A shocking reason, indeed, for many, but if you’re working as a trauma nurse in Detroit, and offered an opportunity to move here for a Masters in Nursing program specializing in critical care at Orlando Regional Medical Center, it makes much more sense.
And though he’s no longer enrolled in that program, Bennett has taken everything he’s learned throughout his varied careersâ┚¬â€ which include 12 years as a critical care nurse, 13 years in the physical fitness industry, and over three decades spent in the music industry as a DJ/remixer/producerâ┚¬â€Âand developed Orlando’s most-buzzed-about workout regime. Bill Bennett Boot Camps has created an extremely dedicated and loyal group of enthusiasts who’ve safely reachedâ┚¬â€Âand often surpassedâ┚¬â€Âtheir fitness goals.
And like his clients who’ve found obstacles and setbacks en route to achieving their physical fitness goals, Bennett has also endured a variety of struggles and challenges on his new career path.
â┚¬Å”When I came here from Detroit I thought I knew everything, because I was from Detroit, but I found out I knew nothing,â┚¬Â Bennett says, laughing at his self-inflated ego. â┚¬Å”Detroit is gunshots and stabs. Here you get some really crazy shit.â┚¬ÂÂ
Bennett calls Colonial Drive one of the five top roads in North America for cars hitting pedestrians, which results in a wide variety of medical challengesâ┚¬â€Âand learning opportunitiesâ┚¬â€ for a nurse looking to continue his education.
But a rotating door of one over-the-top fatal injury after another, in addition to an increased amount of administrative bureaucracy, led to Bennett wondering if he’d made the right decision in coming to Orlando.
Preventative rather than reactionary
Bennett struggled with many of the decisions hospital management would make, and that meeting budgetary numbers far outweighed actual patient care. He also felt that most medical care was reactionary instead of preventative; of fixing a problem rather than taking proactive measures to prevent issues from developing.
â┚¬Å”Most insurance companies would rather pay for an open heart surgery than a gym membership,â┚¬Â Bennett says.
Among that â┚¬Å”crazy shitâ┚¬Â Bennett was seeing in the ER was a growing number of injuries sustained at gyms, boot camp classes, and personal training sessions.
â┚¬Å”I saw a lot of fractured ankles, herniated discs. There were a lot of injuries that could have been avoided.â┚¬ÂÂ
Previously focused solely on his and his workout alone when at the gym, Bennett now kept eyes wide open while doing cardio or lifting weights, gauging what fitness instructors and trainers were doing both right and wrong in matters of effectiveness, safety, and even motivation. It wasn’t long before Bennett realized he could combine bits and pieces from his varied backgrounds into one, and â┚¬Å”Bill Bennett’s Boot Campsâ┚¬Â was born.
â┚¬Å”I put together a program that is more medically-science based than other workouts, and safer,â┚¬Â says Bennett. â┚¬Å”Some of the things I saw other boot camps doing, I was shocked. For example, none of us need to be flipping tires. There’s no reason to flip a tire. You can really injure yourself.â┚¬ÂÂ
Everyone attending Bennett’s classes starts with a personal consultation that includes blood pressure and fat density measurements and a look at their health history. For those who’ve suffered significant injuries, their doctors are invited into the discussion as well.
â┚¬Å”While some personal trainers and fitness instructors have good intentions, many don’t have the experience necessary to adequately work with someone who’s been sedentary for years, who have a significant weight loss they need to achieve. Many people don’t understand the science of it.â┚¬ÂÂ
In designing his programs, Bennett has incorporated a holistic approach, a method that takes the complete person into consideration, both physically and psychologically. Each day’s session takes a different focus, such as legs or chest. Bennett discovered yoga while attempting to find inner peace during the height of disillusionment with his health care career; he now dedicates Wednesday classes to the ancient practice.
â┚¬Å”Not only is it recovering your body and stretching your muscles. It’s meditation.â┚¬ÂÂ
Fridays are dedicated to fat burning, with students encouraged to socialize as they see fit over the weekend.
â┚¬Å”The program is intense enough that you can live your life and see progress, but you still have to live in moderation,â┚¬Â he says.
Finding that beat
The idea of living a life of moderation hits home for the 44-year-old Bennett, who has struggled with substance abuse in the past. But what has also made Bennett especially successful is his ability to personally relate to his clients, most of which are gay men.
Realizing he was gay at an early age, Bennett even claims to have come out of the womb dancing. And when his farmer father discovered his high-school-age son dressed in hot shorts, a tank top, and a sailor’s hat performing a self-choreographed routine to a Dead or Alive song, the performance was not met with applause. (Bennett critiques his moves that day as â┚¬Å”not the most masculine.â┚¬ÂÂ) Instead, Bennett was quickly saddled with an abundance of farm chores with hopes that the testosterone-heavy farm work might make him â┚¬Å”a man.â┚¬ÂÂ
Midwestern farming community high schools are not necessarily known for their all-accepting arts programs, despite what Glee might have you believe. With few opportunities for creative expression, Bennett discovered group fitness classes at his local gym. Step aerobics was quickly gaining in popularity, and Bennett quickly rose through the ranks, even participating on a national Reebok Step demonstration team. It was through teaching that Bennett also discovered DJ-ing, creating workout-friendly remixes for his classes. Despite the obvious health benefits that teaching aerobics provided, Bennett says the job came with an even greater perk.
â┚¬Å”Looking back I think I was just looking for an outlet for freedom. That’s one reason why I really enjoyed aerobics, because it was the first time I could move the way I wanted to without being criticized. I could express myself with my body language and not be ashamed of that. People embraced that.â┚¬ÂÂ
With thoughts of exploring exercise science, and encouragement from his ER nurse boyfriend, Bennett also began to take college nursing classes.
Despite his success with teaching aerobicsâ┚¬â€Âand, he says, thanks to being a Leoâ┚¬â€ÂBennett needed to find a bigger limelightâ┚¬Â¦especially one that didn’t predominantly attract women as his audience. He found that brighter spotlight through DJ-ing at a new gay club in Detroit. Using his high-energy aerobic mixes to audition, Bennett was hired as the club’s DJ, and soon saw long lines of people waiting to enter.
â┚¬Å”Being at that ageâ┚¬â€ 25, 26â┚¬â€ and that developmental level, my head became extremely large,â┚¬Â Bennett says. â┚¬Å”And then the drugs came in.â┚¬ÂÂ
Getting introduced to illegal substances while having a very addictive personality can quickly make a person an addict, which is what happened to Bennett.
â┚¬Å”When it started, it was fun,â┚¬Â he says, â┚¬Å”But I was never the type to stop.â┚¬ÂÂ
drugs and alcohol to hide the skeletons in each of their closetsâ┚¬â€Ârather than maturely talk about them and work on them togetherâ┚¬â€Âcaused Bill and the love of his life to break up. But when he wasn’t working hard to eventually obtain his nursing degree, Bennett was partying harder, by now fully immersed in the gay circuit party scene. At least until he overdosed.
â┚¬Å”I didn’t want to kill myself, that wasn’t in my head, but I was hurting so badly inside from losing my exâ┚¬Â¦I had so much pain I just wanted to stop hurting,â┚¬Â Bennett says.
Passed out and discovered â┚¬Å”blueâ┚¬Â by a roommate, Bennett was rushed to the hospital emergency room, which, oddly enough, was staffed by his ex. Bennett remained unconscious for three days, and unaware of just how long he had been without oxygen, doctors weren’t sure if he’d awake with brain damage or not.
â┚¬Å”Luckily, I guess, teaching aerobics for 12 years saved my ass,â┚¬Â Bennett says. Doctors credit Bennett’s â┚¬Å”tonsâ┚¬Â of oxygen cell reserves, which allowed him to be without oxygen for a longer amount of time than most patients.
Dealing with body image
Deciding he needed to â┚¬Å”get the fuck out of town,â┚¬Â Bennett quit DJ-ing, took a nursing job in Seattle. And instead of dealing with his addiction issues; the weight gain only led to an even deeper depression.
â┚¬Å”And if you’re already depressed, don’t move to Seattle,â┚¬Â Bennett says, laughing. He returned home to Michigan, where his sister encouraged him to re-discover physical fitness and working out. He recalls several trips to the gym where he’d sit in the car crying, feeling so unfit and fearing rejection. Eventually finding a renewed self-confidence, Bennett also re-explored his music. And though he soon found success when Sony Music bought the rights to his first single, â┚¬Å”Breakaway,â┚¬Â with Inaya Day, a reality-check from the label’s marketing reps threatened to throw Bennett’s progress off track.
â┚¬Å”After they gave me the check for the song, they said, â┚¬ËœYou’re not obese, but you’re too heavy to be marketable.’ They didn’t sugar-coat it all.â┚¬Â The label told Bennett that he would not be appearing in the song’s music video, nor would he appear on any album art.
Another â┚¬Å”ass-kickerâ┚¬Â moment, as Bennett likes to call them, happened at a circuit party. When he took his shirt off, as one does at such events, two guys came up and asked him to put his clothes back on, claiming that the sight of Bennett shirtless was â┚¬Å”ruining their night.â┚¬ÂÂ
â┚¬Å”Our society, our gay culture, can be very judgmental and very cruel,â┚¬Â Bennett says. â┚¬Å”Unfortunately we’re not going to fix that, I’m not going to fix that. But what I can do is help people like themselves better and accept themselves more.â┚¬ÂÂ
It’s about motivation
Bennett’s clients say that while the BBBC physical workouts have gotten them in to shape, it’s Bennett’s motivational skills that have truly allowed them to meet their fitness goals.
â┚¬Å”There’s such a sense of camaraderie that develops during Bill’s classes,â┚¬Â says Jay Lovell, 42, of the boot camp sessions that currently average about a dozen people. â┚¬Å”It helps with accountability, and it’s all incredibly encouraging, with everyone truly wanting everyone else to succeed. Bill is the one who fosters that atmosphere.â┚¬ÂÂ
Lovell’s partner Scott Stowell agrees.
â┚¬Å”Bill has an uncanny knack for knowing what motivates people, plus he can individualize and customize his approach from person to person,â┚¬Â says Stowell. He admits that Bennett’s classes are the first time he and Lovell have ever worked out together in the 12 years they’ve been a couple.
The couple agrees that when Bennett shares stories from his past, especially those concerning fear and rejectionâ┚¬â€Âissues that many gay men experienceâ┚¬â€Âthey and the other class members become less intimidated to work out and are more encouraged to succeed in reaching their fitness goals.
Where Bennett was once renting space at local gyms to hold his classes, he’s recently moved into more permanent digs at 1035 N. Mills Avenue. While renovations are underway for the building’s interior, the room that will eventually be the center’s dedicated space for yoga is currently being used for the majority of Bennett’s group and one-on-one training. Design plans include suspension training, a military-style obstacle courseâ┚¬Â¦ and the installation of a 65â┚¬Â disco ball. (Bennett’s also renovating his DJ career with the release of a new album Feb. 9; a national tour will see Bennett’s manager in tow, helping Bennett steer clear of the trappings that have only served to derail him in the past.)
Though Bennett’s current clients have already achieved physical renovations of their own, they’ve also found success in other areas. Lovell says his overall attitude towards life is â┚¬Å”so much more positive.â┚¬Â Meanwhile, Stowell was able to reduce his cholesterol levels enough to no longer need medication from his doctor, and that was after working only four months with Bennett.
â┚¬Å”My doctor couldn’t believe I’d made that much headway in that amount of time,â┚¬Â says Stowell, 46. â┚¬Å”He also said my blood work was now that of a 25-year-old.â┚¬ÂÂ
And though working out has been a relatively consistent part of Stowell’s life, he says that training with Bennett allows him to feel like he’s accomplishing something at the gym and that’s a feeling he’s never felt before.
And though it’s not intentional, it stands to reason that the walls inside Bennett’s Mills Avenue facility are decorated with pop art portraits of superheroes; the art perfectly complements the BBBC approach, which encourages clients to discover and embrace their inner Superman or Wonder Woman.
The first winter session of Bill Bennett Boot Camps starts Monday, Jan. 7, and runs through Friday, Feb. 1. There are beginner, intermediate, and advance class options, and the four week session costs $99. Register online at BillBennettBootCamps.com.
