Picking the Right Fitness Boot Camps

While you could reach your health and fitness goals though other less-direct means, a weight loss boot camp would likely be your best bet for quick results. Weight loss and fitness boot camps get their name from their resemblance to basic military training camps, with the goal being better health rather than proficiency in military skills.

As in basic military training courses, a fitness boot camp will normally have emphasis on traditional calisthenics and strength training. While the physical fitness goals of a weight loss boot camp can normally be achieved on an individual basis, this can be far more difficult due to the lack of a positive group dynamic. As a result, fitness and weight loss camps are a popular way for people all over the world to lose weight.

Despite the military origins of weight loss boot camps, instructors in these camps now tend to rely on encouragement rather than intimidation. Indeed, the same holds true even in basic training courses in modern armed forces the world over. While there are still drill instructors that do their best to terrorize camp enrollees for their own benefit, this archetype is now quite obsolete and is more of the exception rather than the rule.

Weight loss camps have great diversity when it comes to the specific kinds of programs that they offer. Fitness boot camps may often have themes. For instance, some programs espouse old-fashioned strength training while others may emphasize approaches based on yoga, or other more novel philosophies. Most programs today offer a mix of approaches designed to help the most number of students.

It can be a challenge learning which programs are actually helpful and which ones are purely marketing, as many of the more gimmicky programs may even have actual benefits to go with their claims. As a rule of thumb, traditional programs are your best bets. The more radical the claims, the more skeptical you should be.

Another factor to consider when choosing a weight loss program would be class sizes. While standards for what constitutes a “big” class may change depending on where you are, it’s generally agreed that classes with less than 15 students are often the best for maximizing results. Classes with too many students per instructor are often unable to give sufficient attention to all participants.

The type of experience instructors have in a weight loss program is particularly crucial. In most jurisdictions there are no licenses required to become a fitness instructor, so the principle of caveat emptor readily applies when you’re in the process of selecting a fitness program to suit your needs. Lastly, while much easier than going it alone, you shouldn't expect to breeze through a fitness boot camp like without getting a few lumps or getting a bit under the weather.

Fitness boot camps do require a lot of commitment and a fair degree of discipline from their participants, so getting results from these programs still lies in how willing you are to do the distance.