With new types of workouts and fitness classes popping up what seems like every other night, we’re often spoiled for choice on the types of exercise we can do. Sometimes, going with the old-fashioned outdoor boot camp is the way to go!
Originally designed to train soldiers in the military, boot camps are undoubtedly an effective way to build strength and fitness, and whip yourself into shape. Besides being a great workout, there are plenty of other benefits of outdoor boot camps.
Read on to learn more about the plethora of benefits that outdoor boot camps have to offer from personal trainer and bootcamp trainer, Lex Chan.
1. Effective for all-round fitness
Usually, the motivation to start a new exercise program comes from the desire to get fitter, stronger, leaner and/or to lose weight. Boot camps can help you do all of the above with sessions that can focus on a variety of different fitness objectives including strength, movement, and cardiovascular health. All-round fitness is achieved in boot camps through resistance, high-intensity interval training (HIIT), plyometrics, calisthenics, and even plain locomotion training.
An average a single boot camp session can burn about 10 calories per minute. That can add up to a grand whopping 500 to 600 calories per one-hour session!
2. Exercising with a group can take your motivation up a notch
You may or may not have heard of the Köhler effect. It’s the idea that nobody wants to be the weakest link in a group setting. You know how it is… You’re working out with a group and you’ve reached a point where your legs are burning and you’re out of breath. You want to give up. Perhaps if you were working out on your own, you would have already stopped at that point, but seeing everyone around you power through their squat jumps, you carry on and push through too. People are generally competitive by nature. Working out in a group and with a coach can keep you accountable and motivate you to push yourself to new limits.
A study found that 95 percent of those who started a weight-loss program with friends managed to complete the program. This is in comparison to a 76 percent completion rate for those who went about the program on their own. This study is a clear indicator that having a certain group of people along for the ride with you is a booster of motivation and accountability to be both consistent and successful.
3. Presents opportunities for social interaction
Human beings are social animals. We enjoy being in the company of friends and family and communicating with them. Besides just motivating you to work to your the best of your ability, working out with a crowd offers a variety of other intertwined benefits including enhanced consistency, conversation, and inspiration. Working out in a group is also an opportunity for you to meet new people and develop your social interaction skills.
4. Helps to build strong bones
Bone-weakening osteoporosis is common among older people, so it’s best to do what we can to avoid this disease from as young as possible. Experts say that increasing Vitamin D can help prevent osteoporosis, and that a small amount of sun exposure can help your body manufacture its own Vitamin D. It’s suggested that 5 to 30 minutes of sunlight, twice a week will enable you to make enough of the vitamin, so there’s a reason for you to soak up some sun through a boot camp!
Sunlight isn’t the only way to improve bone health. As previously mentioned, boot camps are often incorporate resistance training. A study has shown that physical activity, resistance training, in particular, is thought to provide the stimuli required for both the maintenance and improvement of bone health. Additionally, over the past 10 years, nearly two dozen studies have shown a direct and positive relationship between the effects of resistance training and bone density.
5. Lower price point compared to personal training
There’s no doubt that personal training is a great way to achieve your fitness goals efficiently. The price tag (that typically range between $80 to $200 per session) that comes along with this highly personalised experience, however, is not always within reach for everyone.
Bootcamps are an equally effective way for you to reach those fitness goals with the cost barrier aside. Through boot camps, you’re able to split the cost of an effective workout between a group of people, so a session working with a professional coach will only set you back around $30 to $50.
6. Suitable for all levels of fitness
An experienced coach will be able to accommodate to every level of fitness with both regression and progression options to accommodate to each individual based on their level of fitness and strength.
It’s a coach’s role to design sessions and provide modifications of exercises to challenge participants and get them fitter and stronger in a very holistic manner.
Ready to reap all the benefits of outdoor boot camps for yourself? Join us for a boot camp session at Core Collective Dempsey with Lex!
Click here to see the class schedule and book a session!
Contributor:
Lex Chan focuses on helping high performers stay healthy, move well and resolve chronic pain. By making consistent and progressives changes for their lifestyle and fitness goals.
Being fit and healthy to Lex means being able to move without pain, and being able to enjoy life to the fullest. His training methodology for all his clients is focused on being able to move well, lift heavy, be powerful, and have pain free movement for the rest of their life.
