Today in Bootcamp, newcomer Kathy asked, after we had completed a pretty tiring 20-minute workout, if that 20 minutes was “enough time” to get fit. I realized that it was time to re-explain why bootcamp style training is so successful in getting participants into the best shape they’ve every been in without spending hours in the gym.
Traditional fitness training separates strength training, consisting of isolated movements for each body part, from cardio sessions, sessions that are often long and tedious.
However, nature has no regard for this distinction. In life, we may need to run up the stairs with a bag of groceries, chase a child learning how to ride a bike, climb up a ladder and wield a tree trimmer, or move the dresser across the room. You need total body training for the realities of life and for optimum health. In fact, to be most effective in the physical world, you need power. Power is strength combined with speed or “the time rate of doing work.”
Therefore, in Fitness Defined’s Bootcamp, as well as with my personal training clients, I use full body, multi-joint, high power movements that you blast through for time without rest. All muscle types and energy systems are challenged at once.
With blood flow moving from lower to upper body and the central nervous system coordinating a variety of moves, you experience a psychological challenge that elicits hormonal and neurological responses. This is different from circuit training where one stops at a station that exercises a single muscle, then rests and moves on.
So here’s what you will achieve with this type of training:
1. You will use more efficient compound movements calling on many muscle groups at once, for a full body, more efficient workout
2 You will train in more functional movements that can apply to daily life
3 You will become particularly effective with any sport you enjoy with increased speed and power
4 You will be able to shorten long, boring aerobic sessions with shorter, higher intensity bootcamp sessions that are more effective at eliciting an improved cardio response, and in burning fat and calories. Additionally, it’s not boring.
5 You will improve blood pressure, cholesterol, lower heartrate, lose fat, increase muscle mass, elicit a hormonal response, and improve your central nervous system
6 You will become more coordinated at everything with improved balance, accuracy and coordination.
This method of fitness training can be modified to
accommodate newcomers at any level. But with patience and consistency, great results are insured. Plus, it’s anything but boring!