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This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it • STAFF WRITER • January 9, 2010

POINT PLEASANT — Only aerobic-exercise masochists needed to apply Saturday morning.

For who else would be willing put themselves out of bed on a early winter Saturday in sub-freezing temperatures, pay between $20 and $50 and subject themselves to a virtually non-stop grueling 41-minute, heart-pumping aerobics workout of perpetual motion all in the name of charity?

That would be 37 fervent fitness fanatics to be exact, who were primed and ready to potentially be part of Guiness Book World Record history as one of 50 of the world's top "fitness boot camp" teams running simultaneously around the world.

Thirty-two women and five men lined up at the Nellie F. Bennett Elementary School gymnasium on Saturday to perform three sets of aerobics drills under the watchful eye of Matt Jennings, owner and operator of Brick-based Matt Jennings Boot Camps, whose day job calls for pushing aerobics athletes to their limit and then some.

"I'm proud of all of you," shouted Jennings as the band of exercisers fulfilled their routines. "Thanks for being here, too."

Besides a possible new Guiness Book World Record, the mini-aerobics marathon also raised roughly $1,500 in donations for the American Heart Association Saturday, said Cathy Jennings, Matt Jennings' wife.

Serving as master of ceremonies, motivational cheerleader and drill instructor all in one, Jennings, 44, led the spandex clad group through a whirlwind of three 12-minute routines, consisting of a sampler of 10 exercises with names such as "Step & Go Squat," "Lung & Twist" and "One Leg Slide."

"It's great; I love it," said Barbara Austin, 46, of Brick as she wiped the sweat off her brow. Austin said she became an aerobics devotee two years ago after joining Matt Jennings Boot Camps.

Jennings, a former body builder, has been an exercise advocate since age 19, Cathy Jennings said.

The couple, native New Jerseyans who migrated back from New York, opened up their aerobics boot camp in Brick two years ago.

Participants received 15-second "breathers" between each exercise and a 2-minute break between each of the three sets.

Jennings took it up a notch, increasing the pace for each aerobic round, turning the gym floor into a sea of swinging arms and legs attached to gyrating trunks and torsos.

Two official Guiness Book witnesses also were on hand to verify that the team correctly completed its workout.

Official results to whether the collective teams set a new world record should be determined by the end of the week, Jennings said.

As the end of third and final set arrived, the now slightly flush-faced aerobics team members offered up a mix of "wahoo" cheers and high-fives before heading off to the nearest water bottle..