WHY FITNESS BOOTCAMPS WORK

Sorry its been a while since my last blog... I have been busy helping lots of people get to their health & fitness goals!

So... Do Bootcamps really work? the simple and true answer is damn right they work! A proper fitness bootcamp is usually based on military methods used to keep soldiers at their peak fitness for whatever the job throws at them. As an ex British Army Physical Training Instructor i have forst hand experience of how severe a soldiers job can get and having a top level of fitness is absolutely essential to their survival.

Training methods in the military have progressed with the times but the basics still apply... there is no 'fat burning zone' or 'legs, bums & tums' sessions... there has never been an empty promise with a military bootcamp instructor, your there to work, it's as simple as that!

The phrases, 'thrashed & beasted' are commonly used in the military and for good reason, soldiers are pushed to their physical limits during a training session. Now, why should a civilian go through this?

Because it works. If it didn't, it wouldnt be used in the military... Although civilian bootcamps are toned down slightly and made a little more fun, the hard work still applies. As a bootcamp instructor for civilians (mainly women wanting to lose weight) i keep as close to military methods as i can get away with, pushing my bootcampers to their breaking point... and then some!

Bootcamps generally use body weight as resistance to train against - so you have classic press ups, squats, leg raises and more... the body can move freely using this form of exercise rather than fixed resistance machines you find in a smelly, sweaty gym that hold joints in fixed plains of movement.

Training outdoors is a challenge in itself for bootcampers as they have to deal with what weather is thrown at them and of course the terrain they are training on. I believe training outdoors is miles ahead of training in a gym for a number of reasons - being in the fresh air is definately up at the top of my list (yes, even if it's raining) because it's refreshing!

Bootcamp sessions are very fast paced too so clients don't have much time to think about what it is they are actually doing! Especially with an ex military instructor screaming in their shell to push themselves harder. Bootcamps also work because there is a group of bootcampers training together - this almost instantaneously builds cameraderie between them (whether thats because they all can't believe what the hell they are doing or not, i don't know), buut a certain bond with each other ensues and they get each other through whatever is thrown at them - another military trait... You never leave a man (or woman) behind.

I aim to vary each of my bootcamp sessions so no two are ever the same -i pride myself on being able to do this - there are only so many things you can do on a treadmill in a gym or the bicep curl machine but on a bootcamp, anything goes; from stretcher races to playing dodgeball & from press ups to firemans carry's. No gym can compete with a proper, well executed bootcamp. I guarantee it!

I have to add, there are some compaines out there that sell themselves as 'bootcamps' and have mats laid out to lie on & non of their instructors have seen the inside of a military base... I like to call these, 'pretend bootcamps'.. the wannabies who wish they could be a proper bootcamp but can't so they call it bootcamp anyway... But not a real one! Well not in my eyes anyway!

I'm not being shallow, or unfair in that last comment - i think these 'pretend bootcamps' have their place but shouldnt be called a bootcamp, a more in line name would be, 'outdoor fitness class'... there is a BIG DIFFERENCE between the two!

In summary, bootcampers can burn in excess of 500 kcal on a proper bootcamp session, they do work because i have seen the evidence... they work because of people like me, someone who thrives to do the very best for his clients on every single session. i don't do it for the money, i don't do it because i love making peoples lives a misery, i don't do it to make me look cool or hard...

I do it because it works.

stusarmy