How To Run Successful Fitness Bootcamps

You don’t have to spend a lot of money on equipment in order to offer your bootcamp trainees a great workout.  Indeed, you can do a lot of bodyweight exercises or other no-equipment exercises.   But to add variety to your bootcamps – which keeps trainees interested and excited about remaining a member — you can bring occasionally bring exercise equipment to class.  

However, that doesn’t mean you need to max out your credit card to get equipment. Just scour your garage and scope out your workout area (such as a playground) – you’ll likely find all the equipment you need.

Here then is a seven-exercise circuit using minimal or low-cost equipment…

TIP: Be sure to begin and end each session with five minutes of light exercise, so that your trainees properly warm up and cool down.

Exercise 1: Pull ups.  You don’t have to be in a gym to have your trainees do pull ups.  Get creative.  If you’re working out in a park, look for a tree with a low, sturdy branch.  Or if you’re working out near a playground, there’s probably plenty of equipment there that can double for a chin-up bar.

Exercise 2: Jump rope.  To make this circuit station more interesting, you might have your trainees race against the clock. For example, challenge them to get a specific number of jumps completed before the interval is up.

Exercise 3: Weighted squats.  Instead of doing bodyweight squats, you can make the exercise more intense by adding weights.  Typically the trainee would have a barbell resting on his shoulders or he’d have a set of dumb bells in his hands.  If you don’t have these items handy, then you can improvise by using rocks, jugs full of sand or liquid, small pails full of concrete or other heavy items.

Exercise 4: Farmer’s carry.  In this exercise, the trainee develops his grip strength by carrying something heavy for as long as possible.  It’s called a “farmer’s carry” because people often use big pails full of water, sand or rocks. But you can use most any type of weight (including things like rocks).

Exercise 5: Box jumps.  For this exercise you’ll need a sturdy platform that trainees can jump on and off repeatedly for the duration of the interval.  (Note: Have trainees lace their fingers behind their heads while jumping.)

If you’re near a park with a baseball field, look at locations like the dugout or even the stadium seating area to see if there are stairs or chairs (bolted down) that can be used for this purpose. 

Exercise 6: Elevated push ups.  Here your trainees will perform push ups. The only difference is that their feet will be elevated to make it more challenging.  You can elevate their feet using a box, a stepping stool, a stair or even something unusual like a fallen tree or a boulder.

Exercise 7: Power medicine-ball drop.  For this exercise you’ll need a medicine ball or a similar piece of equipment, and your trainees will need a partner. 

One person lies on the floor, face up, arms extended towards the sky/ceiling. The other person holds the ball and stands on a box or other elevated platform at his partner’s head.  The person with the ball drops it. The person on the floor catches it, brings it to his chest and then launches it back to the standing person with as much power as possible.

Rinse and repeat.  If you don’t have assistants to act as partners for your trainees, then your trainees will need to partner up with one another for the circuit and switch positions midway through the allotted time.

As owner of NutriFitness Bootcamps in Pa. and creator of the Sure Victory Fitness Bootcamp Kit , I am revealing my top 10  bootcamp exercises. Some variation of these 10 exercises should be included in every bootcamp workout program.

Exercise 1. Squats- (bodyweight squats,squat and press, squat and hold,etc), Exercise 2. Lunges all variations( walking lunges, Lunge combinations,etc), Exercise 3. Push up all variations, Exercise 4. Pull up variations(suspension TRX rows, inverted rows, chins,etc), Exercise 5  Swing-kettlebelle /dumbbell swings, Exercise 6  Med Ball Chops, Exercise 7 Single leg Hip extension or single leg Deadlifts, Exercise 8 Burpees, Mountain climbers, Exercise 9. Plank all variations, Exercise 10 Tabata or metabolic finishers(bodyweight circuits,hill sprints, jump rope, boxing drills)

I absolutely love total body exercises and total body workouts, tabata circuits,partner drills and my top 10 bootcamp exercises because these give bootcamp our clients RESULTS!

the joys of training a boot camp class, Hearts thumping.  People sweating.  And all of your trainees giving you “I hate you looks” because their muscles are burning and they feel like their lungs are going to explode.  But you just smile back because you know your trainees are getting the one thing they really want: RESULTS!

But you also want to make sure your trainees don’t get bored. That’s why you need to introduce new exercises and drills to keep your boot camp fresh. Plus, new exercises keep your trainees’ bodies guessing – and again, that means results!

To that end, here are five boot camp drills for group workouts you can start incorporating immediately into your classes…

TIP: Be sure to have your class both warm up and cool down before doing these drills.  Light jogging for 5-10 minutes should do the trick, followed by light stretching.

1. Pack Runs.  Here’s how it works: Have your trainees line up (single file) and start jogging.  When you call out a signal word or blow a whistle, the person at the back of the pack needs to sprint to the front of the line and become the new leader.

This one works great if you had a medium to large size class, because the person doing the sprinting has to sprint longer. If you have a small class, you can achieve the same thing by spreading your runners out a bit.

2. Suicide Bear Crawls. You’ve heard of suicide lines (AKA ego makers and lots of other names). This is where your trainees run from the starting point to a line that’s maybe 25 feet away, then back to the starting point, then out to a line that’s 40 feet away, then back to the starting point… and so on until they’ve run and touched every line.

And you’ve also heard of bear crawls, where trainees walk around on all fours (hands and feet) like a bear.

This drill combines these two great exercises.  Instead of sprinting to the lines, your trainees will alternate sprinting and bear crawling. For example, you can have them bear crawl OUT to the lines, and then sprint back.

3. Shadow Runs. This one is great for developing agility.  Have your trainees partner up.  One partner is the leader and takes off jogging. The other partner “shadows” the leader as closely as possible. So if the leader zigs to the right and then hops on one foot, the second person needs to do the same moves. 

Every two minutes you can blow the whistle to signal the leaders and followers to switch positions. You can also create a signal for “double time,” where each pairing needs to at least double their pace for 30-60 seconds (until you blow the whistle again).

4. Drag Runs. Here’s a good drill to develop speed and strength.  Plus, you can use it as a team-building exercise.

Here’s how it works…

Create a heavy drag (such as a tire on a chain) with an easy on, easy off harness.  Now have one person drag the tire while everyone else jogs behind.  When you blow your whistle, the next person in line must quickly take control of the tire and start dragging. That means all team members get at least one turn dragging the tire.

The goal is for the team to reach a certain destination within a certain amount of time. 

TIP: There are plenty of heart-pumping variations you can do. For example, you can have everyone else running suicide lines or pack runs until you blow the whistle, at which point someone else needs to take control of the tire. That way one person is dragging the tire and everyone else is sprinting – which means it’s a great workout for all!

5. Slalom Runs. Here’s a drill that helps develop both speed and agility.  Simply set up a series of cones or other markers for as far as you want your trainees to run. Then have them run through the cones slalom style – meaning they have to weave back and forth.

For a fun variation, blow the whistle and call out an exercise – such as burpees or push ups.  Trainees should do that exercise until you blow the whistle again, at which point they continue sprinting through the slalom.