The Boot camp Workout has become very popular in recent years, and with very good reason. Some of the most impressive benefits of the Boot camp Workout may include burning calories, increasing strength, boosting confidence, improving aerobic endurance, aid coordination, increasing balance, changing lifestyle outlook, and motivating long-term health.
What is Boot Camp Workout?
The term “boot camp” is most commonly associated with the military, namely a period of time before active service that new recruits are shaped and molded into ideal soldiers through encouraging physical fitness and mental toughness to a desired standard. Similarly, boot camp workouts are the name given to a group of highly disciplined fitness programs, typically one hour in length, that use high-intensity interval training to lose weight and increase strength. The workouts are typically run by personal trainers, specialized gyms, or even military personnel, and while the techniques began in the United States, they have since spread to the UK and beyond, due to their popularity and proven results. [1]
Beginning with stretching, the boot camp workouts typically include weight lifting, interval training, pushups/sit-ups, resistance straps, and other high-intensity workouts, and usually, conclude with yoga or additional stretching. The workout regimen is intended to promote regular workouts, nutritional awareness, mental toughness, and cardiovascular improvement through the use of team-based accountability and competition. By promoting a social atmosphere and a “group effort”, boot camp workouts are meant to be taken at an individual’s own pace, with the goal of rapid improvement and discipline. Some boot camp workouts are held outside, and the instructors can be intense, dedicated to driving improvement through motivation. There are many varieties of boot camp workouts – including those with a focus on mental toughness, nutrition, and even other sports, such as boxing or powerlifting. The benefits are undeniable, however, and have made boot camp workouts widely praised and popular. [2]
Working out becomes a consistent and fun activity when you do it with your partner, family member or a friend. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
Benefits of the Boot Camp Workout
Let’s dig in a bit deeper to the many benefits of the boot camp workout.
May Help Improve Mental Health
One of the unique aspects of the boot camp workout is the instructor’s role in driving practitioners to achieve challenging goals and keeping them accountable to themselves. The instructors may not be as brutal as drill sergeants in the military, but they are also not going to let people off the hook with a half-effort in the workout. While people aren’t pushed beyond their physical capabilities, the intensity of the instructors and the underlying goal of rapid improvement help people truly believe they can change and improve, making them tougher and more self-confident as they see measurable results. [3]
May Lead To Long-term Fitness
Many people have commented on the addictive quality of boot camp workouts, and the comprehensive nature of these workouts also drives long-term change and lifestyle adaptation. By including nutritional elements with regular, intense workouts, boot camp workouts represent not only a full-body workout, but also a whole-life attitude shift, which helps to make fitness and wellness a permanent part of the practitioner’s worldview. [4]
May Help in Muscle Toning
The high-intensity interval training of boot camp workouts means that your entire body is being pushed to its limits, not just one muscle group. The goal of boot camp workouts is not an improvement in one area, but a full-body reformation. If you only participate in cardio or only choose weights, you are doing a disservice to yourself. However, the combination of intense resistance training and weight training helps you tone and grow your muscles, while also providing the endurance to maximize your workouts. [5]
Agent of Social Engagement
Exercising can take a great deal of self-motivation, and the reason so many people stop going to the gym after a month or two or fall off their diet is that no one is keeping them accountable. On the other hand, boot camp workouts are large group workouts, and interaction and engagement are promoted, even though dividing people into 2-3 person teams and encouraging competition against others in the class to achieve daily goals. This social aspect keeps individuals accountable, and also promotes friendships with like-minded people who want to get healthy together! [6]
May Improve Aerobic Endurance
The cardiovascular elements of boot camp workouts, which may often come in the form of treadmills or outdoor sprints and high-intensity cardio activities, go a long way towards improving your aerobic endurance and cardiovascular strength. When this is combined with the strength training elements of boot camp workouts, it results in a full-body boost of energy and confidence. [7]
May Aid in Weight Loss
Losing weight is what many people go to the gym for, and the conditions in boot camp workouts promote that calorie burning and weight loss. For example, some indoor boot camp classes are indoors, with the heat cranked up, increasing calorie burning and sweating. Also, the switching between strength and cardiovascular elements keeps your metabolism highly responsive and engaged long after the workout is over, helping you burn calories even hours after you leave the gym. [8]
May Aid in Keeping A Nutrient-rich Diet
As mentioned, boot camp workouts are comprehensive approaches to health and fitness and thus include nutritional aspects, such as printed guides or consistent nutritional advice from the instructors. You can optimize your diet to make the workouts even more effective and efficient, and use those dietary guidelines on your days outside the gym to keep your body from backsliding or undoing all the good work you’ve already accomplished.
May Help Improve Mood
As with any workout, the release of endorphins can be a true energy booster. After you finish an intense hour-long workout, covered in sweat, with your blood pumping hard through every inch of your body, those endorphins will improve mood and dispel stress hormones from your body, leaving you energized, ready to face the day, and excited for your next workout. This sort of mental clarity and elevated mood comes as a result of many workout programs, but the intensity of boot camp workouts makes this effect even stronger! [9]
