Bootcamp, a word that fills many with fear. An hour of hard core training enforced by ultra-fit personal trainers.
Intimidating? Yes. Hard work? Yes. Effective? YES. I went along to see for myself what the hype is all about…
The Basics:
• Essentially bootcamp is a group physical training class run by ex-military and personal trainers. Sessions consist of an hour of training in a variety of intensity levels to build both strength and fitness.
• The sessions run all year round, rain or shine and are a very popular method of getting fit, losing weight and toning up.
• There are different boot camps all over the country and we have one right on our doorstep that trains on Nottingham campus 3 days a week
My Bootcamp Experience:
On arrival I was told that every session was different and today was ‘leg day’. The class started with everyone warming up together in a circle, with a mixture of jogging and stretches to get us ready for our session. After the warm up we were separated into two groups and within these two groups we were assigned different colour bibs indicating how many reps you were to do, depending on your current fitness and ability. I was assigned into the higher group and given the orange bib. After having a look at my fellow higher group members, I sneakily attempted to join the lower orange bib group. As I quietly sneaked off into the lower group, I was informed that I was to re-join the higher group immediately and that we all had to do 4 more step ups for me missing them during my attempted escape…opps.
Once separated, we spent the best of part of an hour completing a mixture of cardio and strength training, which included a lot of partner work. For example Partner A would run around the field, while Partner B did jump squats and vies versa. Working with a partner worked as a motivation – I didn’t want to put my partner through any more jump squats than absolutely necessary! Similarly when we were doing whole group exercise – such as holding the squat position for 20 seconds – the timer wouldn’t start until everyone was in the correct position. That definitely encouraged an “all for one, one for all” mentality. Then, as we had at the start, we finished with some group stretches to warm us back down.
Thumbs up or Thumbs down from me?
One thing I have to mention firstly is that it was not as intimidating as I imagined it to be. Once I got over the instruction demanding and re-joined the higher level group, I found the trainer to be hard working but fun. He made us all push ourselves and wouldn’t let any of us slack, but in a way that encouraged you to want to try even harder. The other bootcampers all motivated one another and kept the group in good spirits.
The hour also went by incredibly quickly. Sometimes at the gym I find myself repeatedly gazing at the clock waiting for my minutes on the bike to be over. With no clock, I lost a sense of time, meaning the session flew by.
Above everything else, I found I did more in that hour than I ever would have by myself in the gym. Having someone to push you too your limits, while in a fun environment with like-minded people is fantastic motivation and the perfect recipe for a great work out.
Overall? A massive thumbs up from me. I will be returning.
Want to try it out yourself? Find out more on Ultimate Park Fitness’ website.
Edited by Mackenzie Orrock
Image sources:
Sources:
http://makeameme.org/meme/THIS-IS-BOOTCAMP
http://diylol.com/meme-generator/double-facepalm-nc/memes/its-leg-day