Advertisement Health clubs are offering boot camp-style fitness classes and many boot-camp videos are on the market.
But do they provide a good fitness workout?
The American Council on Exercise wanted to know, and it asked University of Wisconsin-La Crosse researchers, who do much of the exercise research for the organization, to investigate the fitness benefits.
“Boot camp is becoming more and more popular in the health-club setting, so obviously people want to know if they’re really going to get something out of it and if it’s going to be worth their time,” said Kirsten Hendrickson, a UW-L graduate student in exercise and sports science.
Hendrickson was joined by John Porcari and Carl Foster, UW-L exercise and sports science professors, in conducting the research.
The study found the average subject burned 9.8 calories per minute during a typical boot-camp workout — about 400 calories during the 40-minute workout.
“If people are looking for something that’s fun and variable that will increase their adherence to an exercise program, and, most importantly, burn a lot of calories, boot camp would be a really great option,” Hendrickson said.
Porcari said the greatest benefit is people burn an average of 600 calories an hour.
“That’s obviously going to help with weight loss, but you’re also getting the muscle-building benefit from pushups, arm curls and squat thrusts that you wouldn’t get just from going out for a fast walk or jog,” Porcari said.
Six men and six women ages 19 to 29 volunteered for the study and watched a 40-minute recorded boot-camp exercise video.
Porcari said UW-L researchers reviewed a variety of videos and chose “The Method: Cardio Boot Camp with Tracey Mallett” because the DVD was a good blend of aerobic movements and strength moves one might see in military boot camp.
“Boot camp is a good form of interval training because you get periods of high intensity interspersed with moves that tend to be lower in aerobic intensity but they serve a whole different purpose — to build muscle strength,” he said.
Porcari said boot-camp workouts didn’t fare as well as cardio kickboxing, spinning and aerobic dance in aerobic capacity and burning calories, but it is more of a total body workout.
He said not all boot-camp workouts are the same. Some workouts are heavy on cardio, while others stress martial arts-inspired movements or basic strength-training exercises, Porcari said. For best results, he said, people should choose a well-balanced program that includes aerobic movements and calisthenics.
