Boot Camp Exercises

For those without access to a gym or high priced equipment, one of the most effective paths to physical fitness is taking advantage of proven boot camp exercises. Designed to whip you into shape using little else than your own body weight and will power, boot camp-style workouts are tough, no matter how fit you are. So throw on that old t-shirt, lace up the tennis shoes, and get to work with these muscle tearing, heart pumping boot camp exercises.

What You Need:

• A large, flat area to work out in.
• A box or elevated surface.
• Cones or distance markers.
• Plenty of motivation.

1. Military Style Push-Ups. Like a standard push up, the military style push up works your chest, deltoids, and core stabilization muscles. For a full body exercise, they’re hard to top. To perform them, get in standard push up position with your palms and toes the only points of contact between yourself and the floor. Move your palms in so that they are the same width as your shoulders, and move up and down for as many reps as you can continue. Proper form is essential to make this boot camp exercise effective, so keep those elbows in as close to your sides as possible.
2. Suicide Runs. This boot camp exercise is great for improving your explosive fast-twitch muscle fibers and really gets the cardiovascular system working. It requires four distance markers and a relatively open space to run in. Start by setting your markers about fifteen yards apart. Now, go back to the first marker, and sprint to the first one. Touch the ground, and sprint back to the marker you started from. On each sprint, run to the next farthest distance marker until you’ve reached the farthest one. Take a short break, and repeat the exercise as many times as you can.
3. Push Up Burpees. Because they incorporate both muscle and cardiovascular training, push up burpees are a favorite boot camp exercise among fitness fanatics. To perform them, start in standing position, move into a squat with your palms on the ground, and kick your legs back into a push up position. Now, do a push up, jump back into squat position, and jump in the air to return to standing position. This whole process is one rep. As you can see, it doesn’t take very many to get you sweating.
4. Box Jumps. Though the word box is right in the name, all this boot camp exercise really requires is a low surface and a slightly higher surface. All it entails is jumping back and forth from the low surface to the high surface and back down for as many repetitions as you can. Within just a few, your legs will be burning and you’ll likely start be winded. Box jumps are one of those intense exercises in which you can really push yourself to see what you’re made of.