Greenlake Bootcamp

Greenlake Bootcamp offers month long outdoor physical training courses. I took the course in November (meeting 1 hr, three times a week). The course is taught by two trainers, Jesse and Breanne. Both appeared to be very fit and in their mid-​thirties.
To provide some background, I am generally a fit person – hwp with a normal BMI. I run and do yoga frequently. But after a bout of couch potato lifestyle brought on by grad school depression I decided to take this course to get me back on track.
Pros:
1) Very rigorous exercise routine:
The classes are basically interval training and rigorous right away. You are tested on the first day for how many reps of burpies, squats, pushups and sit ups you can do and also running time is recorded. After this class ramps up fairly quickly.
2) Positive reinforcement: The trainers push you but are also very encouraging and positive. I liked that a lot.
3) Nutritional Advice from community: The class also includes an online component where other members post what they are eating. This was an interesting experience and also gave me pointers on what brands to shop for that are less processed.
3) Results: I lost 5 pounds. My legs and glutes were stronger. I also lowered my resting bpm. I was happy with these results.
Cons:
1) Outdoor only classes:
This was possibly the biggest deterrent for me. The classes can ONLY be held outdoors. If the weather gets really shitty there is no indoor option. Eventually by the end of the course I fell sick from running in the cold at 7AM three times a week.
2) Photos posted on social media without permission and spamming:
The first day of class students are asked to add both the trainers on fb so you can be connected to a community and get nutritional advice. This was helpful but what I did not expect was that they would take pictures of us during exercise routines and post them on their fb page. I did not sign any release forms to permit this! Additionally the fb community was a tad too active. It is not curated AT ALL so I would receive 10+ notifications a day. Sometimes just inane comments. This got irksome very quickly.
3) Dubious nutritional advice:
The trainers asked us to remove dairy, gluten and sugar from our diet completely. Being a scientist I am skeptical of any advice that is not accompanied with whether research has been done on the subject. I would have liked to know more scientific background of why they were recommending this diet. I am sure you would lose weight with an extremely restrictive diet but thats not a good long term plan. I am more in the camp of eating everything in moderation.
4) Unclear advice on footwear:
When I started the class, one of the trainers commented several times on the minimal running shoes I was wearing (Merrell brand). I have worn minimal shoes and ran in them for a while with no issues. The comments were always somewhat negative but unclear. Finally I asked him what his opinion was on my shoes and if he recommends them. The response was again, unclear. He said something on the lines of «they are not for me». I found these interactions awkward and confusing. If you don’t have expert advice to give then why comment on them in the first place.