The workout might be as a group, but its about you. At no time are you obligated to do a dangerous movement or exercise because an instructor told you to. The group classes I see are highly attended, but are misleading. My hope is to educate myself by learning as much as I can about the psychology and physiology behind fitness and movement, so that I can help others avoid the pitfalls of group training.
Most of what I see in my fitness center is coaches/trainers/whatever coming up with linear solutions to non-linear problems.
Compare to learning in our formal education. There’s learning, and there’s testing. If you test before you learn typically you’re results won’t be as good. Likewise you won’t be as successful if you have a test everyday. You have different ways of learning. You learn by listening, seeing, trying and doing. You need to learn first and test second. Restructure the learning so that you get the most benefit, then retest.
Group conditioning class is a just a test of your capacity. So if we’re comparing to school or life, you’re grade could be an amount of repetitions, a time that you were able to continue, or your feeling when class was over. The group class offers you an opportunity to test. But it also offers you an opportunity to practice.
But it’s up to you to know the difference. While small improvements may be seen by continuously testing, the big gains, and a-ha moments come in practice.
When I started lifting weights, I bench pressed 3x per week. Obviously to get a big chest this was the best way right? Reflecting now, that sure seems like putting 1000 dollar rims on a car that doesn’t start. That’s all well and good, if you want a nice looking ride in your driveway. I’d rather be able to drive it. Maybe learning how to squat correctly could’ve paid some dividends.
In summary, I dislike the Boot Camp classes that I witness. I think they could be way better with a little nudge. Something that might be fun and different and not simply moving because the instructor said so might look like this.
Boot Camp comes from the conditioning in the military, right?
But even those in the military, before they do boot camp they have PT tests. They then have their conditioning (aka a real boot camp), and then they test again. So they have a actual test. But the boot camp class is a test every day, that never give you the practice to get stronger, or get flexible – the studying. There’s a better way. You just gotta Move, Play, and Learn. See what I did there.
At the end of the day, if you’re not willing to give up boot camp class, and it makes you happy then at least don’t be dangerous, and don’t cheat.
An idea might be to sometimes don’t actually go as fast as you can. Instead make sure to do all clean reps. Use full range of motion. Go heavy and slower some days, or body weight and faster others always going through a full range of motion. Acknowledge your limitations. Scale yourself back. Don’t be too cool for school. You don’t have to be the strongest guy or girl in the class. Don’t wait for the negligent coach to help you or call you out. Take some ownership. Count your reps on at least one movement and see if you can get more the next time with the same conditions, aka same range of motion and same weight. Do 3 burpees where you go all the way down rather than 10 where you don’t. Next time try to get 4 in the same time limit. Last of all – Don’t cheat!! Use your time wisely, because it’s about you.