Twelve hours a day or more, Richard M. Lombardo is executive vice president of Harkins Builders, giving out orders and making the decisions that help to run a multimillion-dollar construction company in Marriottsville.

But when he wakes in the hours before dawn and makes his way to Quest Fitness Center in Ellicott City for boot camp, he joins other executives in getting pushed around.

"Are we fired up?" the "sergeant" barks to his troops.

"Sir, yes, sir!" they yell, while jogging in place.

"Are we fired up?" he asks louder.

"Sir, yes, sir!" their chorus overpowers the room.

There, three days a week, Lombardo and his classmates are sweat-drenched rookies in uniform, being put through their paces by a man in fatigues. In the course of an hour, they grimace over push-ups, gasp for air and wail during sit-ups, as if tortured.

Military-style fitness classes are becoming a popular option in gyms across the country, but the 5:45 a.m. boot camp course at Quest - a bit earlier than some of the others offered in the area - is more than just a sweat session for early risers.

With as many as 75 percent of the "troops" being owners, chief executive officers or executive-level managers of companies, this class has become the executive workout in Howard County. In the most recent six-week course, of which Lombardo was a part, half of the two dozen participants were executives.

And although taking orders like a soldier is the exact opposite of what many of them do the rest of the day, these health-conscious business leaders have found boot camp a way to stay on top of their health and their jobs.

"We walk out of there by 7:30, we're showered, dressed and ready to go. We haven't missed a thing for the day," Lombardo said. "I think that's what attracts a lot of us. If you're going to get some exercise and not have it bite into the rest of your day, this is a way to do it."

Said David Bennett, who wears a level-brimmed campaign hat when he leads the course: "It works really well for a CEO's hours. It gives people that gung-ho feeling."

The crack-of-dawn, hourlong class has everything necessary to turn an executive into a trooper.

Participants wear a uniform of fatigue pants or shorts and a Quest boot camp T-shirt bearing the class motto: "No whining, No crying, No quitting." They speak only when spoken to, and they count together as they make their way through the exercises. At the end of each session, they spend time marching together and being punished with more sit-ups or push-ups for each mistake.

In between is the workout they attend for - stretching, jogging, deep knee bends, sit-ups, chin-ups, push-ups, weight lifting, squat thrusts.

"These are just your average, run-of-the-mill things you know how to do but haven't done since high school," Bennett, who is also a postal employee, said. "The class is set up to really beat your body down because that's what it takes to move you forward."

Diane Hubata, owner of The Dugout baseball card store in Ellicott City, agreed.

"It pushed you where you didn't think you could go," she said.

Boot camp was first offered at Quest last May, years after local centers such as those owned by the Columbia Association were offering military-style basic training fitness courses.

The first sessions attracted mostly gym members, but the program got its first executive when a manager from Harkins took a fitness challenge to work. The company, which has done team-building exercises and sponsored fitness programs in the past, offered to reimburse employees for the course if they attended each session.

"When they got into it, it really blew up," Bennett said. "I had about 36 people at a time."

Harkins has since withdrawn its offer to its employees, but a few such as Lombardo still go. During the course of a year, more entrepreneurs and managers from other companies have joined him. The class has never consisted of less than 20 percent executives, Bennett said.

"These 5:30 [a.m.] classes are set up for people in any level of business," said David A. Borkowski, vice president of construction at Harkins Builders. "There's not many conflicts at 5:30."

Columbia Association gyms offer military-style fitness classes in the morning, and several other gyms, such as Synergy - the Future of Fitness for Women, have courses during the day or in the evening. Those, like Quest's boot camp, have been popular, the gym managers said.

The level of difficulty in the course might give the class added appeal, according to Liz Neporent, principal of Plus One, a corporate fitness consultant company in New York.

"I think the whole boot camp mentality probably appeals to the CEO, type-A work ethic. Why just go in and pedal the bike lightly when you can take that same hour and work harder and get the best workout that you can?" she said.

In her work as a trainer to corporate executives, she has seen the drive they undoubtedly put into their work.

"My most dedicated clients are the top-level people in the company," she said. "They are typically the ones who push themselves, or who I can push the hardest. One way or the other, they're going to be pushed. I think these guys just like to work hard. It's almost like another pressure situation."

The pressure motivates Blair Smith, an Ellicott City resident who owns the manufacturing sales company Rubin Associates.

"It's everything I didn't want to do," he said. "I'm forcing myself to break my habits and do what I don't want to do. In its own sick way, it is a good time. It's quite a challenge."

The pressure is certainly high during the class, as the band of healthy, muscular and belly-over-the-belt troops squat during deep knee bends, their arms are extended, holding free weights while gravity bears down. Though the sweat that pours down their spines seems to answer the rhetorical question on the back of their T-shirts - Can you handle it? - they hold their positions, waiting for Bennett to tell them it's OK to stand.

"Not only do we take the orders, we pay for the privilege," said Greg Birmingham, who owns Bristol Sounds Inc., a Columbia company that provides disc jockeys and sound system rentals. I think everyone has bought into the concept that we're here to get the workout, so we just do what he says."