It’s 6 a.m. on a Wednesday. While many Kellogg students are sleeping the previous night off, a group of several dozen weary–eyed MBA students have convened on the Northwestern soccer field to show you the money – the muscle-building, fat-burning, gut-busting kind.
They will spend the next hour and a half doing push-ups, sit-ups and crunches. They will resistance train using the force of their partner’s body. During the final half of this workout session, they will run almost non-stop back and forth across the field playing fitball.
Early morning fitball on Northwestern's soccer field.
They asked for it. No, really, they did.
They’re under the command 31-year-old former Army Ranger and classmate, Kyle Barden. For his second year at Kellogg, Barden has accepted the call to lead his peers and their significant others in 90-minute boot camps three days a week outside – rain, snow or shine. Barden trains them without getting anything in return – not monetarily, anyway.
“If you have gifts, you’re supposed to share them,” Barden said. “A lot of people at Kellogg give back in different ways. This is my way of giving back.”
Boot camp trainer and Kellogg 2nd year, Kyle Barden
It all started during the winter of 2010, during Barden’s first winter at business school. Barden, who is now in his second and final year at Kellogg, had already been training five classmates individually when the sixth and seventh classmates approached him to also help them. Realizing he didn’t have enough time to work with everyone, Barden said he would continue training them together on one condition: they had to round up 20 people to work out.
He never thought that would happen.
During the first year, between 30 and 50 people attended Barden’s boot camp. This year, upwards of 80 people have shown up.
“I kind of got myself stuck,” Barden said, with a smile.
To prepare for every workout, Barden relies on his military and college wrestling experience, as well as the knowledge he’s acquired through reading health magazines and books. He strives for each session to be different. If on Monday he leads the troops through a tough cardio workout such as sprints, they’ll spend Wednesday doing resistance training. They may end the week running stairs, sometimes with their classmates on their backs, literally.
Students of every fitness level are welcome. The group includes people who hadn’t previously worked out regularly, ex-military, lacrosse and soccer players, and distance runners. Regardless of their aptitude, everyone is encouraged and supported. Negativity isn’t allowed.
What differentiates boot camp this year is that Barden spends more time talking. He begins or ends almost every session discussinggoal setting and eating healthy. People sometimes lack the ability to set goals and stick to them, he said. He emphasizes writing goals down and creating an action plan.
“I want to reinforce it and reinforce it and reinforce it,” he said.
Rarely does training end without Barden yelling in his North Carolina drawl not to give into the “little man or woman.” He defines it as, “…the voice inside everyone’s head preventing him or her from doing their best.” The mind often sells the body short.
Congratulating the troops after a tough workout
“I feel a certain self-confidence in my ability to be disciplined and mentally tough. As Kyle puts it, ‘Your mind quits before your body,’” said Harpreet Singh, a second-year student. “It’s been uplifting to see myself (and my classmates) push to the point of really improving, instead of giving up and letting themselves slide.”
Barden walks the talk. He leads and participates in every exercise. “If I was out there and didn’t participate, it’d be totally different,” Barden said. “The troops like it when you share their pain.”
His leadership doesn’t go unnoticed.
“Kyle is a master at motivating people to believe in themselves and to make sacrifices to achieve their goals,” said Charles Falzon, who started attending training this year. “His willingness to invest his time and energy into Kellogg life outside of the classroom has made us stronger as a community.”
This is so amazing! Love it!
very cool. I def need this for my post-MBA fatness