Posts Tagged ‘ben’s boot camps’

Killer Tabata Workouts

Friday, August 7th, 2009

Killer Tabata Workouts

By Ben Warstler of Vermont Fitness Boot Camps

Our bootcampers love tabatas…well I love it at least.  When our clients walk into the door and see the word Tabata on the board, they know they are in for a doozy of a workout.

Personally I think Tabatas are one of my favorite workouts because it blends the intensity of an effective fat loss workout with the the abbreviated time it takes to perform without compromising results.

In our camps we often do Tabata workouts within the camp as well as at the beginning and end of each session.  We will use it as a right of passage for new campers and a method of evaluating performance (endurance) progress over the course of a camp.  This workout below we did as a finisher to a session and we checked progress from the first day of camp.

Here is the Ultimate Tabatas workout we did using Ultimate Tabatas Interval Training Music powered by Workout Muse:

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Ultimate Tabatas Boot Camp Interval Training Workout Music

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

Running a business can be very stressful and very busy.  As a fitness professional running my own business, there is no excuse for not exercising, so there has to be a compromise sometimes.  When I’m very short on time and am not willing to take the time and put in a ton of thought with what my workout will be, I throw in a Workout Muse interval workout music soundtrack and set up stations around my studio, in my backyard, or at home and blast through a workout in 20 minutes or less.

In fact, here is some footage of a workout I did today.  I used a 20/10 tabata interval training music soundtrack from Ultimate Tabatas; 20 seconds of work 10 second rest for 20 minutes.  As you will see in the video, I moved from station to station during each 1-minute rest period.  I love the rock track and use it the most for my workouts.

Here is the exercises I performed:
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Workout Muse Interval Training Music is the Missing Link for Fitness Boot Camps

Monday, July 13th, 2009

I have been running successful fitness bootcamps for over three years, but it wasnít until the last four months I have really hit hyperdrive with taking my business to the next level.  Clients loved the workouts and loved the atmosphere we provided not to mention the results.  But I felt there was still some room for improvement within our format.

I was first introduced to Workout Muse soundtracks over a year ago and I must admit my first thought was that this wasnít something that was going to work for anyone let alone for my bootcamps.  So I would continue to try and find a cd in my own collection or take time out of my busy schedule to make a cd that had a lot of songs I liked.  The response was always mixed by my clients; some liked it some didnít.  And over time that cd would get old and we would have to find or make another cd with more variety.

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I knew something had to change, but I was still very resistant to Workout Muse.  I used the tracks in my own workouts for my interval training but found it very difficult to infuse it into the workouts I had set for my bootcamps.  The timing was off or I just couldnít get it to work with some of the workouts.  Well, who am I kidding, I didnít want to put the work into formatting my workouts to the tracks, that was the real reason.

I think it was after the tenth or eleventh time BJ talked about Workout Muse and demonstrated it in action, that the light bulb finally went off.  I was at a conference with BJ and quickly jotted down some notes for later reference.  I was going to make these tracks work.

The automation these tracks provide are priceless.  No more making cdís that people arenít going to like anyway, and I have variety with the soundtrack genres.  I also have some workouts I donít use Workout Muse and that creates even more variety with our music selection.

Here’s a recent video of one of our classes using Workout Muse’s Boot Camp Dynamite.  Check out the automation it does for you as an instructor; no watching a stopwatch, no counting reps, no keeping track of rounds completed.  Just focused on coaching your clients.  Here’s Bootcamp Dynamite in action:

Here is the workout we did:

The 50-10 Five-Exercise Circuit (50 seconds of work 10 seconds) using The Boot Camp Dynamite Soundtracks

Station 1: Rows
Station 2: Push ups
Station 3: Kettlebell Swings
Station 4: Burpees
Station 5: Goblet Squats

We did three rounds, resting for one minute after each round.

If you aren’t using Workout Muse in any capacity, take it from a stubborn trainer, the sooner you implement it, the sooner your business will grow, because you will be able to focus your precious time on activities that are going to build your business not have you running in circles.

Ben Warstler
www.bensbootcamps.com

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Ben Warstler is the owner of Groundbreaking Fitness, LLC in northeast Vermont and runs Ben’s Bootcamps, a six figure bootcamp business in two towns both smaller than 4,000 people.  Ben is a coach with the Boot Camp Blueprint, a program designed to help other fitness professionals grow their fitness bootcamp business to the next level.  Be sure to follow Ben on Facebook and Twitter.