“Bootcamp” style classes and training are becoming more and more popular every day. The idea of a bootcamp style class is to train a group of people together, having them build a general base of strength, speed, power, endurance, and conditioning. Bootcamps are effective for many reasons, such as the utilization of high intensity interval training (HIIT) as an extremely effective method for fat loss. Unfortunately as ideas like these become more and more popular, some cracker-jack trainers begin to use them, and turn otherwise effective training protocols into a gigantic waste of time. In this article I will clear up some mistakes regarding this type of training, and provide some examples of highly effective bootcamp training.
The mistake I see most often is the lack variety and program design. There are a lot of trainers out there that have been teaching the same exact class for years. I have seen bootcamp classes that are exactly the same week in and week out. The same people show up for the class every week and do the same exercises every week. This may lead to initial results, but will soon turn your body into a fat storage machine. There is a reason that most of the population that trains in this manner puts weight on even faster than they lose it; doing the same exact routine with no progressions or variety will lead to unwanted stress being placed on the body. Your body becomes efficient at doing the movements, and not at burning fat and getting stronger. In turn this unwanted stress can lead to elevated levels of the hormone cortisol, which is going to keep nice round tire of fat around your mid-section. An effective bootcamp class should have varieties of exercises that change or advance from week to week and month to month. These exercises should also have some built-in progressions that increase intensity, such as adding more weight, doing more sets and reps in a certain amount of time, or achieving a more advanced form of an exercise. These varieties and progressions in the program will make the body continue adapting and moving forward.
This leads me to the second mistake I see. Even with a group of people of all different levels of training together, there should still be a reasonable method to the bootcamp program. Exercises should be carefully chosen and performed in the right order to ensure the lowest level of risk and highest level of results. Make sure exercises of the highest skill and intensity such as deadlift variations are performed before less skilled movements like sled pushes. Speaking of intensity, this is the single most important concept in regards to effective fat loss. For some reason a lot of bootcamp style classes out there seem to be based on the idea of long duration, low intensity training. Just because you’re not taking rest, and sweating as you move from one poor excuse for a movement to another, this does not mean you are effectively losing fat. Dropping fat for the long haul is all about building lean mass and creating oxygen debt. In order to do this, you need to pick compound movements that involve multiple muscle groups. Variations of Squats, Lunges, Deadlifts, Pushups, Pullups and HIIT like sprints and prowler pushes should be utilized for real results. Notice I use the word “variation” as well. These are all extremely basic movement patterns, and just because I say Deadlift, you don’t have to lift 500 lbs. If you have a good trainer they should be able to offer you a variation on these movements that you are capable of doing, and then you can move forward from there. This way, individual needs can still be addressed even though you are in a group setting.
When performing these movements, challenge yourself. Push yourself into doing more work every week. If you are truly pushing yourself while doing the movements it is perfectly fine to take a little bit of rest between sets or exercises. If you need the rest because you are sucking air and your legs are jello, you deserve that rest. That’s what intensity is all about.
Finally, if you are putting all these concepts together, very quickly your body is going to be in fat burning mode and on its way to positive transformation. To successfully end a bootcamp session, kick it up a notch. By the end of the session your body should be a fat burning machine, so utilize a finisher that lets you lay it all on the line and finish strong. These “finishers” can include sled pushes, sprints, farmer’s carries, or anything else that doesn’t involve a whole lot of technique, is low risk, and will push you to the limit. Finish strong, use variety and progressions, train with intensity, and you will be well on your way to a shredded physique.
