How To Design Bootcamp Workout Program

by Nancy
(Columbus, Ohio)

I am a personal trainer and boot camp instructor as well. I have my own business. I am use to doing an outdoor boot camp in the park but in a couple of weeks I am launching a Bridal Boot Camp at an indoor facility for the winter because I live in Columbus, Ohio.

It's a small neighborhood gym so I will have access to free weights, balls, bands, etc. We will be using the aerobic space which is fairly decent size.
I will have brides-to-be and others enrolled in the class.

How should I best proceed in terms of training them. Most of them will be at a level 3 or 4 in terms of how they rate their fitness level (10 being an athlete) and a couple will be more advanced.

Should I stay away from weights at first or do you think I should introduce them class 2 or 3 once I see they have the basic form down? I want the boot camp to be really fun, challenging, yet doable so they don't want to drop out after the first or second class.

Thanks
Nancy




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How To Design Bootcamp Workout Program

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by: Monica

Hi Nancy

Great question! It's definitely something I struggled to figure out when I first started teaching bootcamp classes 6 years ago. Most important thing I've learned is keep it simple.

What I do is work on a couple of areas of fitness each week. I use one workout per week keep the warm-up the same and use 10-12 exercises per workout and about 4 stretches at the end. I choose the equipment based on each week's goal and try to keep it to 2-3 pieces of equipment at most (never use machines).

Week 1 we work on cardiovascular and muscular endurance as well posture correction and core stability so lots of basic bodyweight exercises (planks, pushups, trx rows, squats, lunges, jumping jacks, running in place) plus dynamic mobility for improved performance.

Week 2 & 3 we work on strength, lean muscle, and coordination so lots of multi-joint movements with and without weights i.e. med ball lunges, deck squats, burpees, renegade rows, pushups with rotations, squats with presses, etc. I prefer sandbells and medicine balls but I do use dumbbells or kettlebells sometimes.

Week 4 we work on increased fatloss, agility and total body toning so lots of dynamic full body exercises with bands and gliding discs, plus plyometric exercises (jumps, jump rope drills, bounding, sprints, step hopovers, etc).

Definitely come up with a weekly goal and include exercises that you feel will help them reach the goal. Your weekly workout is a blueprint that can be changed if something isn't working and it should be flexible so you can adapt it to participants of all levels (I teach 3 versions of every exercise so everybody feels challenged at their level).

Each week should be a progression of the last week so it will feel familiar but be a bit different and more challenging.

The TT Bootcamp Workout is a great example of a great bootcamp workout structure.

You should also check out the TT Bootcamp 2.0 System. It includes tons of done for you workouts as well as killer guides to help you make more money running bootcamps.

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