Fitness Camps are a growing trend in the fitness industry today for good reason. They typically are much more affordable than personal training. They also offer social support, group encouragement, accountability, are much more exciting, and have many more convenient time slots than personal training while still providing expert supervision.



Unfortunately, there is a downside to fitness camps. Many fitness instructors want to jump on the money train without having the skills, experience or knowledge base to design custom workouts for the wide variety of people and fitness levels typical in large group training. Here are 9 tips on how to select a boot camp that will get you results and keep you safe at the same time:

The Top 9 Boot Camp Safety Checklist

1.) The Instructor(s) Must Be Certified With Nationally Recognized Institutions such as the National Strength and Conditioning Association or the National Academy of Sports Medicine. There are many online pay-for-certifications where people can get a certificate with little or no knowledge of proper training methods. This is a big part of what gets people hurt and gives fitness a bad name!

2.) The Instructor(s) must talk the talk and walk the walk. If the trainer takes physical fitness seriously and is on the cutting edge of new training methodologies, they will be fit themselves, plain and simple. After all, who wants to take advice from someone who is in worse shape than they are!

3.) The Instructor(s) Must Be Experts With Exercise Progressions. Every exercise has an appropriate progression and regression based on your current fitness level. Overweight, de-conditioned beginners SHOULD NOT perform the exact same exercises as their more fit counterparts. If you ask your trainer if he/she can show an exercise modification that better suits your particular situation and you receive a blank stare, leave the class on the spot!

4.) The Instructor(s) Must Make Themselves Available 10-15 Minutes Before or After Every Session. Although a good trainer can effectively train the group as a whole and still give that personal touch, he/she must be willing to speak with clients before or after every workout to address any personal issues that might arise within the scope of your training or in related to other issues such as nutrition, rest and recovery.

5.) The Program Must Emphasize Body Weight Before External Resistance. There should be no added weight to any movements until you have mastered the key foundational body weight exercises in full ranges of motion like push-ups, squats, lunges, etc. A red flag should be raised if you are being instructed to add weight to a movement that you have yet to master with your body weight alone. This one's important because it's not a matter of if you will get hurt... it's a matter of when!

6.) The Training System Must Focus on Body Weight Circuit Training and Cardio Interval Training. High-Intensity Interval Training is scientifically proven to burn 9x more fat than the aerobic training alternative, so it is critical that both the resistance training AND cardio programs provided incorporate intervals since the goal of 99% of fitness enthusiasts is fat loss.

7.) The Program Must Provide Nutritional Information. Nutrition is 80% of the weight loss battle. Without it, you are joining an incomplete program and wasting your money since there is no amount of exercise that can compensate for poor dietary habits. There is an old saying that says, "You can't outwork a bad diet." People are too busy, and frankly too lazy, so the nutrition program needs to be clearly outlined and easy to follow. It should provide both Quick-Start Nutrition Guides for Males and Females respectively that will have you eating to support your fat loss goals in 5 minutes or less. Plus, a cookbook with a bunch of tasty and healthy done-for-you recipes should be provided to keep you on track!

8.) The Program Must Have A Website AND An Interactive Web 2.0 Social Network. Bottom line, if the boot camp program in question does not have a website in this day in age it is not worth your time and money. Personal training is not just about "training," it is a business and it needs to be approached that way. Furthermore, social support must extend outside of the boot camp workout. There are several web 2.0 interactive social networks like facebook and Myspace that enable clients and trainers to offer interact outside of the the class setting. The more support, the more success.

9.) The Program Must Offer A FREE Trial or Satisfaction Guarantee. If the program is confident about what they have to offer, then they will let you come in and try it for free or they will guarantee your satisfaction or your money back to completely eliminate the risk on your end. If an instructor is confident in their ability and the program, a satisfaction guarantee and FREE trial is a no-brainer.

Copyright (c) 2008 Kirk Ream