Marika’s bootcamp story in Canada Water
Marika Johnston joined Bootcamp SE16 after running the London Marathon in 2014, and calls it one of the best things she has done. Her story is a useful one, because she came to us already fit, which is not the version of a bootcamp story people expect.
She grew up in Canada and Switzerland in a family where sport was simply what you did. Skiing, running, whatever was in season. Fitness was never the problem.
What she was actually missing
The marathon was the end of a training block, and the end of a training block leaves a hole. No plan, no reason to be up early, and nobody expecting you. Marika went looking for a new fitness community rather than a new workout, and found the group training at Stave Hill Ecological Park.
The physical side delivered. Bootcamp sessions are full body work, so she got noticeably stronger and fitter than running alone had made her. Marathon training builds one kind of engine. Kettlebells, tyres, bands and hill work build a different one, and most runners feel the difference within a few weeks.
The part she did not expect
The bigger change was social. Marika describes making close friends among the other bootcampers, taking on events and challenges together, including Mudderella, and finding that a real community had formed around Canada Water. She also mentions something people rarely put in a fitness review, which is that it gave her better time with her husband Scott.
That is what happens when your training happens outdoors, at a fixed time, with the same neighbours every week. You stop having a gym membership and start having a Tuesday.
On Steph
Marika is direct about who holds it together, describing Steph as:
The founder, heart & soul of Bootcamp SE16.
And on the decision to join at all:
One of the best things I've done in my life.
If you are already fit
Plenty of people assume a bootcamp is for beginners only. It is not. Sessions at Stave Hill run mixed ability by design, so the harder version of every exercise is there if you want it, and the group includes runners, cyclists and people training for events alongside people in their first month.
If you are between goals, or you finished something big and have not trained properly since, this is the gap a group fills. Marika's summary of why it works is that sweating through the same thing together makes genuine friends of people who would otherwise just be faces in a park.