These days, boot camp classes are everywhere. Offering HIIT workouts with minimal equipment, they often bill themselves as the easy answer for people trying to figure out how to lose weight quickly and effectively.
There is one question on the lips of those who see adverts for this type of fitness class. Do they actually work as well as they claim to?
The quick answer is yes. Many people often over complicate matters when it comes to working out and boot camps are just the latest in a long line of gimmicks which are really just offering what's existed in gyms around the world for decades already.
The next time you workout at your local gym you should take a look around and see if you can spot somebody who is performing high intensity interval training or a circuit session. Essentially, this is exactly the same as a boot camp workout.
So if it's advice which has existed for years already, why are boot camps often billed as miracle weight loss solutions? Quite simply, it all comes down to marketing. By giving something a catchy name and making outrageous claims about the results you can achieve, you'll undoubtedly have something which appeals to a lot of people. This marketing tends to be misleading in a lot of cases, as it's often aimed at individuals who have never exercised before, with promises of instant results.
By exaggerating the truth, of course, these classes often make it tougher to succeed. Every class has to top it's rivals so you end up in a situation where everybody is claiming to be the best workout ever, even though all of them are essentially providing the same thing and if you stuck to any of them you'd see results.
The only negative about the boot camp gimmick is that it often gives off the impression that you are getting some kind of miracle formula. You're not. The exercises are very basic, often relying on classic body weight moves such as push-ups and pull-ups, and indeed you could perform this by yourself at home or at your local gym without splashing out hundreds of pounds or dollars on a membership to a 'training camp.'
It doesn't take long for serious fitness enthusiasts to realize they don't need to keep attending a boot camp class to get results. This is why the marketing is misleading and targeted at people looking for a quick fix, because once a person finds their feet they realize they can get just as good a workout by themselves for half the price in a gym or at home. This means the boot camp class needs to find new clients quickly in order to survive. The only area where they really have an advantage over conventional methods is the group atmosphere which some people place huge importance on.
While it is often unfairly billed as the latest health and fitness fad, the truth is the science behind the boot camp theory stacks up nicely. By performing regular HIIT sessions and incorporating the basic, classic strength moves you will indeed see results. If you've been trying to learn how to lose weight and have seen an advert for one of these type of classes, however, you should base your final decision on how much you think you need a group atmosphere in order to succeed, because there is nothing stopping you from performing a boot camp workout right now without spending any money.
There is one question on the lips of those who see adverts for this type of fitness class. Do they actually work as well as they claim to?
The quick answer is yes. Many people often over complicate matters when it comes to working out and boot camps are just the latest in a long line of gimmicks which are really just offering what's existed in gyms around the world for decades already.
The next time you workout at your local gym you should take a look around and see if you can spot somebody who is performing high intensity interval training or a circuit session. Essentially, this is exactly the same as a boot camp workout.
So if it's advice which has existed for years already, why are boot camps often billed as miracle weight loss solutions? Quite simply, it all comes down to marketing. By giving something a catchy name and making outrageous claims about the results you can achieve, you'll undoubtedly have something which appeals to a lot of people. This marketing tends to be misleading in a lot of cases, as it's often aimed at individuals who have never exercised before, with promises of instant results.
By exaggerating the truth, of course, these classes often make it tougher to succeed. Every class has to top it's rivals so you end up in a situation where everybody is claiming to be the best workout ever, even though all of them are essentially providing the same thing and if you stuck to any of them you'd see results.
The only negative about the boot camp gimmick is that it often gives off the impression that you are getting some kind of miracle formula. You're not. The exercises are very basic, often relying on classic body weight moves such as push-ups and pull-ups, and indeed you could perform this by yourself at home or at your local gym without splashing out hundreds of pounds or dollars on a membership to a 'training camp.'
It doesn't take long for serious fitness enthusiasts to realize they don't need to keep attending a boot camp class to get results. This is why the marketing is misleading and targeted at people looking for a quick fix, because once a person finds their feet they realize they can get just as good a workout by themselves for half the price in a gym or at home. This means the boot camp class needs to find new clients quickly in order to survive. The only area where they really have an advantage over conventional methods is the group atmosphere which some people place huge importance on.
See the top 5 types of hiit sessions and what they are designed for.
While it is often unfairly billed as the latest health and fitness fad, the truth is the science behind the boot camp theory stacks up nicely. By performing regular HIIT sessions and incorporating the basic, classic strength moves you will indeed see results. If you've been trying to learn how to lose weight and have seen an advert for one of these type of classes, however, you should base your final decision on how much you think you need a group atmosphere in order to succeed, because there is nothing stopping you from performing a boot camp workout right now without spending any money.
About the Author:
Author: Russ Howe PTI is England's most followed personal trainer. He reglarly teaches gym members how to lose weight and introduced many to hiit workouts on a daily basis.