Boot camp exercise is high-intensity interval training. We are talking about highly intensified full-body training that promotes functional fitness. Accept this challenge and set a time for the workout! Put together your own boot camp workouts by stringing together some of the best boot camp exercises into an intense circuit.
You will get an excellent shape as long as you work hard, but exercise is not all you need. Since nutrition is responsible for roughly 75% of your progress, it is better to control your food habits than to rely on exercise alone.
While you can practice BootCamp workouts at home, we do encourage joining a gym that offers group BootCamp classes. They will also typically offer additional classes such as kickboxing, weight lifting, and TRX circuits. The main benefits of group classes are:
structured workouts
community participation
accountability
Experts say boot camp exercises work like magic. Are you willing to learn how? Hold on; you need to know preliminary exercises and lifestyle habits before you get started. With no need to join a gym at first, you can just do this at your own pace. Spend an hour a day, five times a week, and prepare for your 3-month journey towards metamorphosis.
Here are 5 of the best boot camp exercises and variations you can use to begin your journey.
It’s not surprising that sitting long hours causes some problems for our bodies. The research found that excessive sitting has been linked to type 2 diabetes and heart disease. While this doesn’t guarantee you won’t get heart disease if you work at a desk, sitting is not good for your health.
On top of the medical issues linked to inactivity, people who sit all day and don’t add regular exercise into their lifestyle, tend to suffer from a weak core, high hip flexors, back pain, neck pain, and sometimes wrist pain for those who type excessively. In order to alleviate these problems, it is recommended to participate in 30 minutes of intense exercise at least three times a week along with warm-ups and cool-downs with stretching.
Here are some tips along with a few great exercises you can do at home with minimal weight to help keep your body healthy and functional. As you read this piece, keep in mind it is proven to be beneficial to exercise with others in a group setting to leverage the community for accountability and sometimes even friendly competition.
Boot camp workouts can be defined as a mixed bag of intense workouts, including power movements, speed elements, and strength training. There are different styles of boot camp workouts, which can focus on bodyweight exercises and military-style drills. Included in the best boot camp exercises, you can expect some calisthenics like pull-ups, squats, crunches, push-ups, and lunges.
While the lower back may be the easiest part of your back to acquire mass, it is also the easiest to injure. Think about all of the people with factory jobs spending all day picking up heavy boxes. These people will have very developed backs from doing this all day and they aren’t weightlifters or bodybuilders; they likely don’t do any of the best lower back exercises unless they are hitting the gym after a long, demanding workday.
The way people get injured isn’t necessarily the injured. I swear, you hear people all the time say all this shit about deadlifts being bad. This could not be further from the truth.
It is the way you perform the exercise. If you pick the bar off the ground with your back rounded like crazy, then yeah, of course, you are going to get injured.
How to Get a Muscular Lower Back
Like mentioned above, this may be the easiest muscle to get built up. Obviously, the deadlift will be the best exercise to utilize to achieve this goal.
Deadlifts can also be dangerous since a lot of people just never figure out how to use the correct form. Either that or they will try to go too heavy to inflate their ego and sacrifice form in doing so.
Here’s a hint: if you have to round your back in order to deadlift 500 lbs, then you should probably lower the weight. Drop the ego and use the right form, please.
The neck really is an important muscle. Think about it; unless you are wearing a turtle neck, everyone will see your neck. It can distinguish you from a bodybuilder to just a normal person. Furthermore, next to forearms and calf training in muscles being neglected, neck training is next in line. Actually, I would say that people neglect neck training more than anything else. Many people have never even heard of it or would even know what to do. This is why we are mandated to publish this list of the best neck exercises with guidance for how to build a tree trunk neck.
It doesn’t matter how big your chest and biceps are, if you have narrow shoulders you will appear to be weak and puny. Someone will surely kick sand on you at the beach, and Arnold would not approve of that.
For bodybuilders, powerlifters, athletes, and all other fitness buffs in between, wide shoulders will make you look tall, broad, and powerful so that you can be the one defending geeks from sand kicking bullies and they can help you throw the ball hard enough to win the game. Flabby or narrow shoulders lend absolutely nothing to your physique.
Everyone needs to train their shoulders.
Strong shoulders help with every other exercise from bench press to pull ups, and for all you boxers and MMA guys, well conditioned shoulders will help you to win a fight.
It is also very important to have a strong shoulder girdle, including the rotator cuff area, to prevent injuries from sports and heavy lifting.
How to Get Strong Shoulders
Firstly, chest and back are two muscle groups that are important to train, when training for stronger shoulders. As a unit, the chest, shoulders, and back form the core of your upper body strength. Once you’ve read this article you can move on to the top 5 best chest exercises and the top 5 best back exercises.
Secondly, no one developed great shoulders by focusing on dumbbell side raises or shoulder pressing on machines. The compound exercises that involve your whole body will be most effective at building big, strong shoulders. Isolation exercises will be necessary, but only for developing super strong rotator cuffs.
We should have a working knowledge of how the shoulder is put together, to better understand how to train them effectively.
Serious fitness enthusiasts and athletes want to be bigger, stronger, and leaner. The number one way to make that happen? Train your legs with complex free-weight exercises such as these best leg exercises.
Your legs are the largest group of muscles in your body. They are the foundation of your strength and power. Never will you be able to bench press 315 if you can’t squat 315 first. By training your legs hard, you will be setting yourself up to gain the most progress compared to every other muscle group.
Arnold loved squatting, and look what happened to him. If you want to be Mr. Olympia, a famous Hollywood actor, and the governor of California, you need to squat! This article will give you great direction on training the quad, while our best hamstring exercises will give you some great ideas for supersetting or dividing leg day into a push and pull split.
By training your legs, you will:
Lift the most weight of all muscle groups.
Burn the most calories of all muscle groups.
Form the foundation of your body’s strength chain.
Stimulate the highest growth hormone release through training.
Biceps. The ultimate show muscle. From age 10 on, every boy, teenager, and man wants to have huge bulging biceps. This is, apparently, a true sign of manliness and strength, and is also attainable if you incorporate these best biceps exercises into your routine.
Biceps are among the most famous muscles in the body. When somebody asks you to “make a muscle” or “flex”, they aren’t asking you to flex your hamstrings. They want to see your biceps!
This whole notion of flexing the biceps as a measure of anything is completely ludicrous to me, but it is a reality. When someone asks me to flex, I ask them if they’d much rather discuss max-effort PRs, perhaps dynamic powerlifting strategies, or better yet how to put together the most effective HIIT complexes. Most folks walk away thus.
Many people who hit the gym tend to concentrate more on the lower body exercises and the body parts with muscles that tend to bulge easily, and they can end up forgetting about the back and shoulder exercises.
You should know that working out your upper body is very important if you want to maintain an all-round fit body. Being well rounded and robust from your back, shoulders and the rest of your body gives you a good posture and an excellent body shape.
I don’t know about you, but when I first started working out I was confused as hell. The typical commercial gym has around 100 different machines. How on earth do you know which ones to use, which are more important than others and which are not as important? Or better put, not optimal for your personal goals.
If you are just starting to get your feet wet with exercising, that may be overwhelming. I know it definitely was for me. But worry no more, this article will go right down your alley. I am going to give you a list of just 7 exercises you need to do in order to get muscular.
Yes, you can do it with just 7 basic exercises. It is more efficient, it takes less time, and most importantly, it works.
But let’s start with the very beginning, shall we?(more…)
The spine is one of the most vital components of the entire body. Spinal problems can be incredibly serious. If something goes wrong and you wind up injured, you might be paralyzed. Strengthening the spine might not eliminate the risks, but it can definitely help to minimize them.
So, what can you do to strengthen your spine? The answers are plentiful. Within this guide, you will find tips for strengthening your spine.
Strength training is a popular, effective and growing form of exercise which aims to use different apparatus in order to strengthen and refine your muscles. Often relying on body weight and muscle control, one of the benefits of strength training is that it teaches users to get to know how their bodies and muscles work and to focus on how different muscles work together to initiate movement. One of the best bodyweight grip strength exercises, and arguably one of the best back exercises is hanging.
As with any form of exercise, different moves and sets develop popularity, based on their perceived efficacy. A form of strength training called ‘hanging’ is one such exercise. Below we’ll take a look at what hanging is, and why it’s a good thing to integrate into your routine.
When it comes to toning the upper body without limits, no exercise works better than push ups. Unlike lifting weights and performing plyometric workouts, they don’t require expensive fitness equipment, can be performed almost anywhere, and the best part, they’re easy! Relatively speaking, of course. Benefits of Performing Push-ups Regularly – Increases muscle density
As you age, your muscle density reduces and alters how your body converts fat into energy. Push ups work well to increase and maintain the muscles of your upper body. This exercise tones your shoulders, chest, triceps, abs, and to a smaller extent the back, biceps, and legs. – Enhances muscles stability and balance Doing push ups every day improve the reaction time of your muscle fibers. During push ups, the fibers consistently react to keep your body balanced. This reaction enables these fibers to react faster when stimulated increasing your speed and balance. (more…)
We all know the benefits of daily exercise, but many of us simply don’t have the time to go to the gym or go for long walks. However, the benefits of fitting in just a little exercise here and there can soon add up, making you feel so much better in the long term. When combined with a good diet, even a small amount of daily exercise has big benefits, and you’ll soon start to see the results. Even if you work behind a desk, here are a few things you can do between calls or whenever you get a coffee break.
Quick cardio
Cardio exercise gets your heart pumping and feels incredibly good to do, which is why it’s ideal in short bursts. If you need to wake up, try doing a 5 minute exercise at work such as getting up and power walking around the office, or simply doing a few jumping jacks. Swing your arms when you walk anywhere, or take a few flights of stairs each day. It all soon adds up.
Some of the benefits of cardio include:
Keeping your brain active
Helping keep your heart healthy
Releasing ‘feel good’ hormones that give you more energy
Burning excess calories
Next time you’ve got a lull in your work, think of some ways you can get your heart rate up a little. Just a bit of imagination can make cardio at work fun.
Upper body
If you want to tone your arms and chest, then there are a few quick exercises you can do anywhere that use your body’s own weight as resistance. Instead of lifting weights, try desk chair shrugs and other pilates style moves in your office chair. There are many videos online that show you how to do simple moves with your desk and chair that can help you get more toned arms.
Here’s a video to help give you more ideas.
Lower body
As you age, your mobility declines, and building strength in your lower body helps to slow down this process. Lots of walking is good, as is taking the stairs, but you should combine this with a bit of strength training too. Find a wall in the break room and do some squats, or try the office wall chair pose. This will work both large and small muscles in your legs, and after a while you’ll find that you can hold the poses for longer, and that they’re easier to achieve.
While you may think you’re too busy to exercise, there are plenty of ways to get your body moving when you have a five minute break. You don’t need workout clothing or equipment, simply get in short bursts of cardio and strength exercises whenever you can. You’ll soon see an improvement in how much you can do and the intensity of your exercise, so you can slowly work towards your fitness targets. Whether you’re young and healthy, or are haven’t exercised for years, there’s something everyone can do to stay fitter.
I don’t HATE endurance cardio. I’m trying to give it a chance, albeit a slim chance.
It has its purpose in workout routines, especially for those who are untrained, obese, or have health complications that make high intensity training dangerous. But I can’t just blow off the continually mounting evidence (for the past 15 years) that high intensity interval training is optimal for fat loss and for developing speed, power, muscle, and even endurance!
For many years now, hardcore trainers have been touting the superior effectiveness of high intensity intervals for fat loss. But still, trainers, athletes, housewives, couch potatoes, televangelists, martial arts instructors, teachers, doctors, and pretty much anyone outside of the ‘hardcore trainer’ group suggests that if you want to lose weight you have to either walk everyday or jog for at least an hour a day 4-5 times a week. Wake up people!
When most women picture their ideal physique, there are a few body parts that are always the main focus in many ladies mind. A tight and toned mid-section, arms, legs and last but not least; their derriere. Female Fitness competitors such as Larissa Reis and pop stars such as Shakira have a back side that is desired by many women. Many a women also have the desire to have beautiful built glutes to show off in their bikinis, dresses, underwear or just about anything to show off their physique.
If you have a million and one questions and just simply feel lost amongst all the information or simply don’t know where to start, then hopefully this article will be perfect for you. With good research combined with personal experience this article shall be the saving grace you have needed.
Anatomy of The Glues:
To achieve a well-shaped and curved butt it is important to know basic information on the anatomy of the glutes. The glutes are made up of three muscles, which all need to be targeted.
Gluteus Minimum: The gluteus minimus is the smallest and deeper of all the muscles.
Glueteus Medius: This covers the outer surface of the pelvis.
Gluteus Maximus: The biggest muscle of the gluteus muscle group, which contributes to the main muscle mass of the glutes.
Everyone knows that to have visible abs, a good clean diet is absolutely essential to get rid of the fat covering them. However, this article is about creating bullet proof abs, not flimsy beach abs. The type of abs that are useful in sports, taking punches to the stomach, and that make for a strong core.
Having a strong core helps prevent back pain, so don’t skimp on regular abdominal work!
Static Holds
Having the strength to hold your body in a certain position is key in several ways. There are examples of static hold training being useful for every day situations, and for athletic endeavors.
When you’re driving, activating your core to support your spine will release stress on your back, and bring your shoulders into better alignment. When you are rock climbing and stabilizing your body to keep it from moving, or trying not to move your upper torso back and forth while running… static holds are everywhere.
Some key exercises to perform are planks, both on your hands in the push up position, on your elbows, and on your sides using one hand. An even more advanced position is raising one leg on your side – known as the starfish pose (right) – which causes a lot of imbalance and seriously engages your core.
Still too easy? Try adding a weight vest or holding a dumbbell or kettlebell overhead with your free arm.
OK, so the triceps kickbacks are not the king of all triceps exercises, but in a recent study performed by the American Council of Exercise (ACE), triceps kickbacks are ranked 2nd, tied with dips. The very best triceps exercise is the diamond push up.
Don’t underestimate this study just because I grabbed your attention by starting with kickbacks. The study also used legit exercises like close grip bench, dips, and various push downs and extensions. See the table below, and then I’ll explain.
Table 1 Average EMG of the Entire Movement (Concentric and Eccentric)
Triceps Exercise
Combined Means
Long Head
Lateral Head
Triangle Push-up
100
100
100
Kickbacks
87 ± 26.58
88 ± 33.0
87 ± 23.7
Dips
87 ± 19.87
87 ± 21.3
88 ± 20.0
Overhead Triceps Extensions
76 ± 16.09 *
81 ± 21.4 *
72 ± 16.5 *
Rope Pushdowns
74 ± 22.64 *
81 ± 32.3 *
67 ± 15.7 *†
Bar Pushdowns
67 ± 20.48 *
75 ± 29.3 *
59 ± 14.3 *†
Lying Barbell Triceps Extensions
62 ± 16.25 *
70 ± 20.9 *
55 ± 14.1 *†
Close Grip Bench Press
62 ± 15.88 *
61 ± 16.9 *
63 ± 15.5 *
* Significantly lower than the Triangle Push-up (p < 0.05) † Significantly lower than the Long Head (p < 0.05)
Why Should I Add Push Ups to My Workout?
