Boot camps have become a popular exercise program in the fitness industry. Gyms, YMCAs and sports clubs offer one or more boot camp exercise options to their members. Boot camps offer fun, full-body group exercises using little or no exercise equipment. They also can be done outdoors or in any open space. Whether your goal is to increase your strength or improve your cardiovascular conditioning, a variety of boot camp exercises can help you achieve your fitness goals.
Cardiovascular Exercise
Jogging and running are two common boot camp cardiovascular exercises. Jogging as part of your overall warm-up and running a variety of distances and speeds challenges your cardiovascular system. Sprint intervals interspersed with short walks or jogs allow you to raise your heart rate, burn more calories and improve your cardiovascular conditioning beyond traditional long, steady-state jogging. The American Council on Exercise reported that in a research project conducted at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, the research team found that the average boot camp exerciser burned about 400 calories in a 40-minute workout. Jump rope and ladder drills are other types of fun cardiovascular exercises.
Body-Weight Exercises
Perhaps the most versatile piece of "equipment" you own is your body. This is one reason that body-weight exercises are a staple in boot camp programs. Body-weight exercises challenge your upper-body and lower-body strength and conditioning. Squats--which, according to the American College of Sports Medicine, are crucial for many athletes--push-ups, lunges and crunches are just a few examples. It might seem that you are limited when using body-weight exercise, but by varying the number of repetitions, the number of sets, the speed of exercise, the order of exercise and body positioning, you can vary the intensity of any of these exercises for an intense workout.
Small-Equipment Exercises
In addition to jumping rope and using ladder drills for fun cardiovascular work and agility training, medicine balls, cones, resistance bands and tubes, hand weights, and sandbags add variety to your boot camp exercise program. Medicine-ball exercises can be as simple as lifting or pressing these weighted balls, or something more complicated, such as tossing and catching them. As with most boot camp exercises, you're limited only by your imagination. Cones can be set up in a variety of patterns to challenge your ability to change direction while running or your lower-body power in such activities as jumping. Resistance bands and tubes are easily transportable and can be used for upper-body and lower-body exercises, such as biceps curls, shoulder presses and squats. Hand weights and sandbags help you overload your muscles with external weight. They can be used in much the same ways as resistance bands and tubes, or body-weight exercises, and you can add intensity to those and other exercises. Bench step-ups, triceps extensions and chest presses while lying on the ground are just a few exercises you can do using hand weights and sandbags.
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