Extreme Bodyweight Exercises for Bootcamp Breakthroughs!

Any trainer who has ever run a bootcamp before knows how grueling it can be. Not just from the physical standpoint, but the mental as well. Coming up with new exercises…lugging the equipment from place to place, watching each attendee to ensure proper form, then packing up and doing it all over again at the next one! There is no question that every trainer wants the best out of bootcamp attendees, but of course they wouldn’t mind it if their job were a little easier at the same time. This is where extreme bodyweight training comes into play…

Ok, so most of us have relied on bodyweight training at least to SOME degree during our workouts, but what if you took it to the next level? Forget about equipment of ANY kind and try a bootcamp that requires only a body and a piece of ground. The fact is, an individual can get as intense a workout as they could EVER get at a gym just by utilizing bodyweight training correctly. Run your attendees through the following circuits and they might just think twice about the need to EVER pick up a weight again…

Burpees-A Crossfit staple, burpees can provide a solid warm-up for any bootcamp or even provide a foundation for an entire workout which sees the attendees doing sets of burpees in and among other exercises. To perform, simply jump up in the air and upon landing, immediately going into a squat thrust, then repeat. It will gas folks quicker than you can say…BURPEE!

Jump Squats-Jump squats are just as they sound…the participant jumps of the ground from a squatting position and upon landing, squats, recoils and jumps again. These incredibly simple to perform jumps will burn serious calories and provide a hardcore workout for the entire lower body as well as the core.

Pistols-Pistols are incredible leg strength builders. To perform, simply stand up tall, hold one foot slightly off the ground, and then squat down on only one leg. Sounds simply…it ain’t. These are often performed holding a kettlebell or dumbbell in front of the body for stability but can be performed with no weight as well. As a trainer, you will certainly want to be cautious of form and make sure participants are keeping those knees behind their toes. This exercise is meant for intermediate trainers and beginners should stick to regular bodyweight squats.

By now, depending on how you set your rep count with the above exercises, your bootcamp attendees will be gassing…their lower bodies will be getting weak and they will KNOW they have been working out. But, what about the upper body?

Pushups w/clap-In keeping with the explosive plyometric moves above, we continue by getting our bodies off the ground with clap pushups. Again, a seemingly simply exercise, doing a pushup and coming off the ground and clapping requires significant power from your upper body and core. Performing multiple sets of multiple reps of this one will give your chest, shoulders, triceps and forearms all the muscular workout they need. In addition, because of the explosive intensity of the movement, your attendees will burn some serious calories on this one as well.

The above represent just SOME of the many varieties of bodyweight exercises you can incorporate into your regular bootcamps to keep things simple, but EXTREMELY effective. Varying reps and sets is often all that is required to keep folks training for weeks and months doing just the simplest of exercises using nothing but their own bodies.