5 Best Fitness Bootcamp Workout Methods
Boot camp exercises and boot camp workouts are quickly being recognized as the quickest way to burn fat and get in shape. I’ve been spending a good amount of time reviewing Craig Ballantyne’s Turbulence Training Boot Camp Workout Program. Craig sent me a copy of his new Boot Camp Workout system to review. It includes an entire plan to start your own fitness boot camps as well as 21 already made boot camp workouts that you can use.
Craig brings a lot of experience and I’ll be featuring several of his articles and videos here. In this article Craig talks about the some of the basics and as always is right on target bringing great information without the fluff. Keep reading to learn more about quick boot camp workout methods.
5 Best Fitness Bootcamp Workout Methods
Craig Ballantyne,
Author Turbulence Training Boot Camp
Men’s Health Contributor
The key to a great fitness boot camps is to “bring the energy”.
Your clients are there for a fun workout and to escape the stress of the real world. They don’t care about equipment – they only care about results and having a great experience!
Here are the 5 essential components to the best NO-equipment, body weight exercise fitness bootcamp workouts!
1. You’ll start with a total body warm-up and a series of multi-muscle exercises to specifically prepare the muscles and joints for the following exercises.
2. The strength exercises follow the warm-up and are done at this time when the muscles are not fatigued.
3. After the strength exercises comes the circuits focusing on moderately difficult exercises. Three circuit methods have been included, however not all fitness bootcamp workouts contain all three methods. Most workouts only use 1-2 different circuit methods.
Circuit 1:
The first circuit is the classic Big 5 Circuit method. The order of this circuit is squat, push, pull, single-leg, and total body ab exercise. Due to a lack of equipment, the “pull” exercise is often replaced with a squat that also trains the upper back (i.e. Prisoner Squat or Y-Squat) or the Stick-up exercise. If you have equipment such as a kettlebell, dumbbell, or resistance bands, you can use traditional pulling exercises such as rows.
Circuit 2:
The second circuit method is the new Depletion Workout template. The order of this circuit is jump, push, squat, push, single leg, total body ab exercise, and finishes with some type of sprint or explosive exercise (i.e. run in place, jumping jacks, etc.).
Circuit 3:
The third circuit method is the Tabata protocol using bodyweight exercises such as squats, pushups, planks, lunges, etc. Each “Tabata” is done for 20 seconds with 10 seconds of recovery. To add difficulty, we can do the 10 seconds of recovery by holding the exercise in a difficult position.
4. After the circuits comes ab training using total body ab exercises. There are no crunches in the NO-equipment Fitness Bootcamp Workouts. In two of the workouts below, extra abdominal work has been added for variety. Your clients will love those workouts!
5. Finally, you have the option of using the Fun’n’Games to finish off the program. In my experience, clients love the “follow the leader” game as well as the chance to lead the group for a few moments. Once in a while you can insert the Fun’n’Games after a warm-up, if your clients really love this routine.
You can use bodyweight exercises only, or you can use equipment as well. Kettlebells, medicine balls, dumbbells, and even stability balls are great tools you can use with little to no cost. Heck, you can even use sandbags or resistance bands.
So to recap, start with a total body warm-up, then strength, then circuits (both the Big 5 and the Depletion), and then even Tabata intervals. Then get into some ab circuits and stretching to finish off.
So that’s it. Cover these 5 aspects in your fitness bootcamp workouts and bring the energy and you’ll have a lot of raving fans and happy campers!
Click here to learn more about Turbulence Training Boot Camp Workouts
