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Author: Jono Petrohilos
Use this structure, you’ll never run out of workout ideas and your participants will love you 🙂
- 45min Session
- 5mins: General Warm Up
- 5mins: Fitness Game
- 5mins: Workout Explanation
- 20-25mins: Workout
- 5mins: Finisher
- 2mins: Cool Down / Stretches
Part 1: General Warm Up (5mins): things like light jogging, walking lunges, inchworms, hip rotations, toro rotations, shoulder rotations etc etc
Note: I pretty much use the same general warm up every time. I know there’s always going to be participants who are coming in a few mins late and I know if I run the same warm up every time it’s easy for them just to join in.
Note: If you’d like to see my “perfect” warm up – simply post in the Fitness Education Online Community Facebook Group, tag me @jono petrohilos and ask to see my ‘perfect general warm up’
Part 2: Fitness Game (5mins): something fun and interactive to get your participants having fun and getting to know each other
Note: This is important to play at the start because it set the tone for the rest of your session! It’s also important to play it AFTER the general warm up because it’s going to take you a few mins to explain and you want to make sure all your participants are present before you start explaining.
I pick a different game and play that game every day for a week. And then the next week i’ll pick a different game and play that every day. The reasons I do this
a) The game is only 5mins and should be fun, so my participants don’t mind if they play it every day
b) I run 2 boxing sessions a week and I don’t do Fitness Games before my Boxing Session (because that’s already a partner activity) so i’m only running playing the same game 4 x a week
c) Most of my participants usually attend 3 sessions a week (2 x bootcamp and 1 x boxing) so they are only really playing the same game 2 x a week
d) I make little changes as the week goes on… e.g. Monday / Tuesday – most basic version off the game… Wednesday / Saturday – more advanced version off the game… (Thursday / Friday – Boxing sessions)
e) After you’ve played these games 2-3 times during the week… you won’t play them again for 12 weeks…
I have 12 “PERFECT GAMES” up my sleeve… So I play one a week for 12 weeks… and then I start from the top again… Because 12 weeks later… Most of my participants have forgotten the game or are happy to play it again!
And I have the PERFECT 10-15games! If you’d like them simply post in the Fitness Education Online Community Facebook Group, tag me @jono petrohilos and ask to see my perfect “Fitness Games for Bootcamp”
Part 4: Workout Explanation (5mins)
After 10mins of playing around warming up – my participants are warm and excited. I’ll then explain the workout to them on a whiteboard while they are sipping some water. I’m a huge fan of writing the workout on a whiteboard / blackboard as it’s so much easier to explain and easier for participants!
Note this 5mins also includes my participants getting set up, practising a few reps of the exercises involved in the warm up – me setting up my timer on etc etc
Part 4: The Actual Workout (20-25mins)
The key here is to make the actual style of workout different. For example, I have 24 different workouts styles e.g. (AMRAP, Accumulator, Circuit, Chipper, EMOM, Upper Body Day, Lower Body Day, Beach Session, Stair Session, Hill Session, 12 Cones, Matrix, 100 Club, Phone Number Workout, Beyonce Workout, Games Day, 54321, Interval Session, 3×3,2×2,1×1, Tabata, 60 40 20, Partner Session… Just to name a few)
All these sessions are a completely different format… So even if I used the exact same exercises every time (which I don’t)… The workout would still ‘feel different’…. Because an “AMRAP” is different to an “Accumulator”!
So my suggestion – come up with 24 different workout styles… which if you’re running 4 x bootcamp sessions a week… Will give you 6 weeks worth of workouts…
And then after 6 weeks repeat… And if you’re worried that’s too repetitive – it’s not… because
a) In 6 weeks time – most of your participants will have forgotten what they did 6 weeks ago
b) The few people that remember may even like doing it again because they can see if they can perform better than they did 6 weeks ago
c) You’ll probably have new participants that haven’t done the workout before
d) Do the workout on a different day… e.g if you did it on a Monday morning 6 weeks ago… Do it on a Tuesday night 6 weeks later – chances are you’ll have different people in there!
e) Change a few of the exercises up next time you run the workout… so even though it’s the same format – it’s still different… e.g. instead of it being a 20min Kettlebell AMRAP… it’s now a 25min Bodyweight AMRAP… instead of using skipping ropes as one of your intervals or circuit stations… use agility ladders etc etc
f) Technically it’s not the exact same workout… because even if this part is exactly the same… The “game” at the start is different and the “finisher” at the end is different!
And I have the PERFECT 24 Bootcamp Workouts! If you’d like them simply post in the Fitness Education Online Community Facebook Group, tag me @jono petrohilos and ask to see my perfect “Bootcamp Workouts”
Part 5 Finisher (5mins)
This is usually something fun – a drill to music, a partner drill etc etc… or it could be a core strengthening finisher… or even a posterior chain finisher! It really depends on what you did during your workout… If you didn’t much posterior chain – do posterior chain! If you’re workout was already a lot of fun / parter workout – you might finish with some ‘hardcore abs’! But i’m a huge fan of drills to music… e.g. Bring Sally Up Squats, Nutbush Plank, Who Let The Dogs Out Workout etc etc…
I treat this like I do the Fitness Games… 12 Fun Finishers… I do the same finisher every day for a week… and then next week – something different! After 12 weeks – repeat!
And I have the PERFECT 12 Bootcamp Finisher! If you’d like them simply post in the Fitness Education Online Community Facebook Group, tag me @jono petrohilos and ask to see my perfect “Bootcamp Finishers”
Note: If you’re running a 60min session, it will look something like this
- 60min Session
- 5mins: General Warm Up
- 5mins: Fitness Game
- 5mins: Workout Explanation
- 25mins: Workout
- 5mins: Finisher
- 5mins: Core Strengthening
- 5mins Cool Down / Stretches
I do prefer a 45min session to a 60min session… but if I have to run a 60min session… All I really do is
a) Start 1-2mins late and finish 3-4mins early so it’s actually a 55min workout
b) Make your main workout 5mins longer so it’s 25mins
c) Add 5mins of ‘core’
d) Your 2min stretch / cool down turns into a 5min stretch / cool down
Jono Petrohilos
Online Course Creator I 2020 Fitness Australia Educator of the Year
Jono is the co-founder and director at Fitness Education Online.
Fitness Education Online is one of the leading providers in the world when it comes to delivering online education to Fitness Professionals, providing over 30 registered CEC courses.
Fitness Education Online is also the admins of the largest Facebook Group in Australia / New Zealand for Fitness Professionals (Fitness Education Online Community Facebook Group)
Jono is also a qualified Exercise Physiologist, best selling author (The Bootcamp Blueprint), and the host of the successful podcast “Fitness Education Online Podcast”.
Jono is the current 2020 Fitness Educator of the Year (awarded by Fitness Australia)
Follow Jono:
Website: https://fitnesseducationonline.com/
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