WESTBROOK – An exercise group in Westbrook is changing lives and making workouts fun by starting a so-called “planking war.”

The group, Train Your Inner Athlete, meets five days a week in various locations in Westbrook. When the class is held in the Fred C. Wescott Community Center gym, the room is often packed, despite the 5:30 a.m. start time.

The “war” started when two members of the group, Barbara Sawyer and Melissa Foye, were traveling a few weeks ago and took pictures of themselves working out to show their peers they hadn’t stopped while on vacation. In some of those pictures, the women were planking, a core exercise where people lay flat and hold themselves off the ground by their forearms. The women planked on the ground and they planked on top of a car.

In response, Maria Dorn, another member of the group and the director of community services at the community center, responded to their photos on the group’s Facebook site by posting a photo of herself planking poolside.

“Randomly, we decided we were going to plank our way through Texas and post on Facebook to our TYIA (Train Your Inner Athlete) friends. Then when we got back, we posted another picture from home and said, ‘Let the planking war begin.’ Then everyone started posting planking pictures,” Sawyer said last week.

Now, there are photographs posted on the Facebook page of people planking on boats, on horses and even 81-year-old Jane Noyes, mother of Westbrook Mayor Colleen Hilton, and Sawyer planking on Noyes’ porch.

“It’s just taken off. I don’t know how it took off but it just kind of did. We were just having fun with this,” said Sawyer, who has lost 32 pounds and said she is in “the best shape” of her life.

Dorn agreed it was all for fun, but the “planking war” is now motivating people to get up and exercise, even if it’s only holding a plank for a minute while someone else snaps a photo.

“I haven’t planked yet,” said Linda Enman, a Westbrook resident who just started the class two weeks ago.

Enman and her daughter, Rebecca Enman, 22, also of Westbrook, decided to join after Enman was talked into coming to the class by Melissa McGlinchey of Gorham.

McGlinchey has gone to the class three days a week for the past 10 weeks, and, with no change to her diet, has lost 22 pounds and 10 inches.

“I’m so much stronger, I have more energy,” McGlinchey said. “She [Lisa Petruccelli, class instructor] kicks our butt in the most positive, encouraging way. Somebody is always showing you a way to be successful. Maybe you’re not doing what the person next to you is doing but you’re moving.”

McGlinchey and Linda Enman both work with Sawyer, who along with Dorn, have really become the class cheerleaders.

Petruccelli, the University of Southern Maine soccer coach, used to teach another exercise class at the community center. Sawyer and Dorn wanted her back, but she only had time at 5:30 a.m.

On Oct. 4, the first day of the class, four people showed up, including Petruccelli’s brother.

The July 18 class had more than 35 people in attendance.

“She’s changed lives, she’s changed mine. I never exercised and I love it now. It’s a good addiction to have,” Sawyer said.

It started out with two classes a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Then Sawyer asked for a cardio class on Fridays, so that was added to the schedule. Next, a Wednesday class was added that meets on the Westbrook High School track – some in the group are training for a 5K, a first for many. Finally, a Monday morning class was added that meets in the pool for those who want the same type of cardio but need to take it easy on their joints.

“I called it ‘Train Your Inner Athlete’ because many of them didn’t know they were athletes. Maybe you can’t do everything, but if you can seal crawl [using only your hands to walk your body across the floor] you can be an athlete,” Petruccelli said. “For some of these ladies, it’s the only hour of the day they get for themselves.”

It’s not all ladies – there are a few men in the class, including Glenn Amico, a 58-year-old Westbrook resident who said he doesn’t notice that most of the people in the class are women.

“I’m just trying to keep up with all the people who are younger than me. I’ve been coming for about two months and I’ve noticed a difference, very much so. The biggest thing is getting up early and getting it out of the way. It’s very challenging, but I love it,” Amico said.

Besides seal crawls, the group uses a combination of weights and their body to do moves such as high kicks, side lunges, skips, chest flies and more. The class works the arms, legs and glutes and satisfies cardio needs, as well. Before the warm-up is even over, most of the class, which ranges in age, size and ability, is sweating.

But everyone is also having fun. During the easier sets, people next to each other are laughing and giving pointers. People are high-fiving one another as they run up and down the court.

“Who would have thought the gym would be packed? I never would have crossed paths with some of these people if it hadn’t been for this class,” said Sawyer. “Say what you want about Westbrook, but we’re a close community.”

“Physically and mentally, it’s a challenge but if I can do 27 burpees at 5:30 a.m. in a 90-degree gym, I can do anything,” Dorn said.

Instructor Lisa Petruccelli is framed by student Lisa Sawai of Westbrook during Tuesday’s early morning exercise class, called Train Your Inner Athlete, in the gym at the Westbrook Community Center.This photograph of Barb Sawyer, top, and Melissa Foye sparked the planking wars when Sawyer posted the pictures of the duo planking on vacation in Texas, with the caption, “Let the planking wars begin.”Nick Petruccelli, 8, the nephew of Train Your Inner Athlete instructor Lisa Petruccelli, planks on top of a row of plankers, part of the more than 30 people who took part in the 5:30 a.m. class last Thursday.Mary Jane Noyes, 81, planks on her front porch in Westbrook.