Riddle me this: What three words do you absolutely NOT want to hear while shooting outside in Las Vegas in May? Record. Breaking. Heatwave.

Yes, kids and campers … last week while I was shooting in Sin City, daytime temperatures hovered at nearly 110 degrees for two days. Had I been shooting in a lovely indoor climate-controlled setting, things would have been fine. Instead I was reduced to periodically dumping gallons of water on my head to stave off heat stroke.

Typically, I shoot indoors … but at Professional Fitness Institute’s Boot Camp, we followed students from all over the country who participated in a weeklong fitness regime. Um, outdoors. Alongside celebrity fitness professionals. In 109 degree heat.

The best part of the story? Imagine my surprise when a local news crew pulled up to do a piece on the Boot Camp participants. Seems they couldn’t find anyone else outside willing to brave the blazing sun. Go figure.

But the kids (under the watchful eye of Sports Endurance Specialist Tommy Boyer-Kendrick) seemed undaunted. In fact, once the news crew showed up … the kids snapped back to life like wilted flowers doused with water.

They lept. They jumped. They did speed drills. And they pushed each other to their limits. I, meanwhile, stood back and fanned myself with a tree branch from an evergreen and nursed a Mint Julip.

I have to admit I was genuinely surprised more students didn’t keel over. Or demand a fan and dry ice like I did. But 20-something personal training students are resilient and aggressive … and it was fun to see them work together to accomplish extreme things in extreme heat.

The next day I asked them if they ventured out to the Vegas strip to see the sights. Seems half of them went to bed before 7pm. The other half were so sore they feigned polio. But they all had a smile on their face and were ready for DAY III.

Which was at the pool.