By Dolly Banks-Stokes, Director of Education,
FiTOURŪ
Owner, DollyBFitness, LLC, Fairhope, AL www.dollybfitness.com
ACE, AFAA, FiTOURŪ Certified Professional
Fitness Trainer
Boot Camps are a hot trend on the fitness
scene. A first of the year Boot Camp is an
excellent tool to use to increase revenue and
client base.
When Boot Camps originally hit the fitness
scene, they were primarily based on
military-style training. Now you can find
Boot Camps which are based on many different
methods of training specific to a target
population. Surf the web, pick up a fitness
magazine or watch a health and fitness
television show and you will see that
trainers are cashing in on the "boot camp"
concept by offering training that is based
more on fitness training than military-style
training.
With creativity and innovative thinking, the
sky is the limit as far as the types of Boot
Camps that can be offered. For instance, a
mind-body trainer could consider offering a
Boot Camp based on the principles of Power
Yoga. A mind-body Boot Camp might be more
centered on low impact cardio such as Power
Walking combined with Power Yoga and guidance
to nutrition using a "yoga-style" approach to
diet.
In order to have a successful Boot Camp, you
should develop the program around your
strengths and weaknesses, training techniques
and knowledge base. If you have never
participated in sports that require running
and athletic drills, you may not be
comfortable demonstrating and performing
athletic drills. So, rather than attempting
to train using techniques and exercises with
which you have no familiarity, choose a mode
of exercise with which you feel comfortable
and base the program on your knowledge and
research on that subject. By choosing a mode
of exercise with which you are most familiar,
you will be better able to motivate your
participants to success.
One reason Boot Camps are so popular is
because training sessions can be held
anywhere and are quite often held outdoors.
City parks and recreational venues are
excellent sites. Before scheduling and
marketing a Boot Camp Program, take the time
to contact the appropriate authority to
ascertain if special licensing is necessary.
Oftentimes, a small fee for rental of the
space may be required. The small investment
of time spent in obtaining this information
will be invaluable. There is nothing worse
than having successful registration for a
Boot Camp only to have to cancel the program
and refund fees because you are not in
compliance with the rules of the facility or
site.
One reason Boot Camps are so popular is
because training sessions can be held
anywhere and are quite often held outdoors.
City parks and recreational venues are
excellent sites. Before scheduling and
marketing a Boot Camp Program, take the time
to contact the appropriate authority to
ascertain if special licensing is necessary.
Oftentimes, a small fee for rental of the
space may be required. The small investment
of time spent in obtaining this information
will be invaluable. There is nothing worse
than having successful registration for a
Boot Camp only to have to cancel the program
and refund fees because you are not in
compliance with the rules of the facility or
site.
Equipment is a factor to consider when
setting up your Boot Camp business. Although
equipment is not necessary, it is excellent
for providing exercise variety to prevent
boredom. Equipment can also be used to
manipulate training techniques which will
elicit a better training response. For
instance, push-ups performed on a park bench
will elicit a different type of muscle
response than push-ups performed with hands
on a medicine ball. While the push-ups on
the park bench will engage the muscles of the
core, push-ups on a medicine ball will create
an overload on the muscles of the core
because the medicine ball will increase
instability which will result in a greater
contraction of the core musculature.
Keep in mind that the equipment you use will
need to be transported to and from the
outdoor site and will also have to be stored
after the session is over. Choose equipment
that will easily fit in storage bins and will
also easily fit into your vehicle. For
example, while dumbbells are excellent for
performing muscle conditioning exercises,
they may not be the best choice due to the
fact that transporting dumbbells can prove
quite difficult. Below is a list of
equipment that is relatively inexpensive,
versatile, lightweight and easily transportable.
To learn more about Boot Camp training
techniques and how to set up your own Boot
Camp business, join FiTOURŪ in 2010 at a Boot
Camp Certification. Contact FiTOURŪ to learn
how your facility can host a Boot Camp
Certification or other fitness certification
workshop. To learn more about convenient,
affordable, quality fitness education & to
receive a special discount for FitBALLŪ
customers, click
here. Dolly Banks-Stokes is
Director of Education for FiTOURŪ and is the
owner of DollyBFitness, LLC
www.dollybfitness.com
. More than 250
participants have successfully reached their
goals with DollyBFitness Boot Camps since 2005.
Welcome to the December issue
of the
HealthBounce. This month, we focus on the
year ahead and opportunities to increase your
personal training business in
January... traditionally one of the most
motivated times of the year for people
wanting to get in shape. We'd also like to
take a moment and thank each and every one of
you for subscribing to the HealthBounce and
supporting Ball Dynamics International.
Happy Holidays from our entire team!
