The Multi-Level Boot Camp Strategy

A Fitness Training Guest Post By Chris Lopez

A friend of mine opened a new gym here in Toronto.  It's a great spot with a lot of open space, minimal machinery and 3 or 4 power racks.

One of the more prominent pieces of equipment that you'll find at this place are kettlebells.

As I was warming up for my workout yesterday, a trainer running a bootcamp was just finishing up and having his clients go through some "finishing" exercises.

One of the finishers was a 2-arm kettlebell swing, which just happens to be one of my favorite exercises.

Of the 8 campers that were there training with him, 3 of them were "painfully" new at training and/or using kettlebells.

I say "painfully" because you could pick them out by their rounded backs, locked knees and shrugged shoulders.

The other 5 campers, had really great form – exploding from their hips and really keeping their torsos nice and stiff. It was great to see people really do things the right way.

Now you and I both know that kettlebells are one of the most versatile fitness tools available today and it seems like everyone and their brother is using them in their bootcamps.

But if you run a "single" level bootcamp (a bootcamp that doesn't separate the beginner, intermediate and advanced participants into different camps), then how do you introduce kettlebell training to the beginner campers but still challenge the advanced campers who have been paying you good money each and every month?

Just because you have a new camper who doesn't know the difference between a kettlebell and well, a kettle, I don't think that means you "dumb down" the entire camp to accommodate them.

But at the same time, you have a professional responsibility to make sure that your camp is safe and that everyone's needs get taken care of.

I run a couple of bootcamps twice per week and run into this problem often.

Sometimes my campers bring their friends along – who are usually new exercisers and have no clue what a kettlebell is.

You and I both know that the last thing we want is for anyone to get injured or hurt, so we need to make sure that the fundamentals are taken care of for the new campers.

Here are 3 options that can help us accommodate "new" campers without having to dumb down our camp for our more experienced clients…

1) Pair your campers up and have them work alternating sets.

This is probably the most logical way of making sure the newbies are getting stuff right. Make it so that you alternate work & rest periods and you pair someone with more experience with someone with less experience. That way, your more experienced camper can look out for little errors in form or technique when the "newbie" is doing his or her exercises during their rest period.

Then, during the "newbie"'s rest period, they can observe what great form and technique looks like while watching one of your camp veterans.

It's kind of like like a "big brother" approach where your vets can mentor the rookies.

2) Offer a free introductory/instructional session to new campers to teach them fundamentals.

I'm sure by now you know the importance of offering something of great value for free.  You see it in your online business – you get more people "in the door" by offering them a free report – but it's just as, if not more, applicable in your off-line business.

Having a "Fundamentals" class allows you to teach the basic techniques to some of your new campers and can literally help you cover your a$$.  It's difficult trying to hone in on one new camper when you have 10 or more that need your attention as well, so the opportunity to be able to teach that new camper how to arch their back, brace their abs, lift with their hips or use their glutes properly could save you a lot of headache later on.

Imagine someone getting injured because you didn't get the chance to show them how to do something correctly.  Offering a free Intro/Fundamentals class gives you a chance to teach technique in a more intimate setting (limit your intro classes to 4-8 participants) and allows you to go around and correct certain aspects of their technique that may need addressing.

Then, when your new campers feel confident and ready to join one of your regular bootcamps, they won't feel as intimidated or lost when you say something like "stay tight" or "arch your back like a porn star" (that queue is golden, by the way. You'd be amazed how many people know what I mean when I queue an arched back like that)

3) Offer Progressions.

When I have a larger group (10+ campers), this is the option that I use the most.

For example, a Turkish Get-Up is a relatively complex exercise.  So unless you have experienced and novice lifters, you'll be better off showing progressions in an exercise than trying to take up a lot of time trying to teach it to a mixed group.

So instead, I give my campers levels on how to progress in the exercise.  I'm not sure about most trainers, but for my groups, a Turkish Get-Up is almost always best learned from the upright position (standing with the KB overhead) and teaching my campers how to go from the top down (even though the name of the exercise is a "Get Up").

With that said, I'll get my new people to start by holding a light KB, DB or even a water bottle overhead and get them to lunge back onto one knee keeping their eyes on the bottle.  That would be a Level 1.

A Level 2 would be the reverse lunge down to a lateral flexion putting their free hand on the ground.

A Level 3, depending on their hip mobility would be either showing them how to "weave" their leg through into a bridge or how to sit down and switch their feet, etc…

So I'll tell Jim and Jane to do a full get up, but Sally and Sam – who are relatively new – can only go up to a "Level 2" or try a "Level 3".

Regardless of the level of campers you get, your responsibility is to make sure that you are giving as much possible value as you can so that your campers will keep coming back for more (and referring their friends to you in the process).

You can do this by making everyone feel like they're part of the group.

Keep everyone in mind, don't single anyone out and create a "team" atmosphere where the rookies feel supported and the veterans feel appreciated and your camps will fill up and you'll get the reputation of not only running a kick ass camp, but being a great coach as well!

I'd love to hear your comments below

-

Chris Lopez, CSCS, CTT

Author, TT Kettlebell Revolution

To learn more about how to use kettlebells and bodyweight exercises in your bootcamp, check out KettlebellWorkouts.com

Photos provided by Lisa Balash and Alicia Fong

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