Burpee Madness! This is one of the workouts, and I think I speak for everyone at camp, that we all look forward to during the four months from one occurrence to the next. For example, there's Mike (5:30AM) to the left, already looking forward to the next time we do it.

There were many excellent performances throughout the day. We had a few firebreathers make it to 15 rounds before not completing all the burpees for that minute. The entire 5:30PM class did well, and G (who is hampered by a bad shoulder) got all 20 jump thrusts in the 20th minute. Not easy, even without the pushup.

This morning's parachute sprints (I reveal this because we all love them) were highlighted by the ATL (aka Greg, aka The Magoo) making child's play of an XL shoot, while in the 6:15AM class Mischa, Brynn and Joanna strapped on two chutes and laughed at the whipping wind.

As usual, I'm not going to reveal tomorrow's workout, but I can say that, if you're reading this, Eddie, it's right up your alley.

This morning's workout featured excellent efforts and the momentary return of The Magoo, which was exciting for all involved in the 5:30AM class. This blog will normally feature reviews of the previous day's workout, but we can't do that today because you all know how much I hate giving a heads-up to anyone when it comes to what we're doing at camp. Public props will begin tomorrow.

What I want to talk about are three things you can do today that will have a huge impact on your health, body composition, general hotness, etc. Let's begin with the most painful and work our way down.

1) Stop eating sugar and flour and other processed foods. You'll have more energy and lose body fat and weight. You may think  this will be difficult. However, when you replace sugar and flour with proteins and caloric replacements such as heavy cream (on berries, fresh or frozen, yum!) or butter, it won't be too difficult. Focus on fish, beef, birds, eggs, vegetables and fruits. You can find more detailed information on the paleo/primal concept here.

2) Exercise (at TFC, of course) at least four times per week. As I've mentioned many times, there is a big difference in results between people who attend three times per week and those who attend four or more. If you want the most from your exercising, make 4+ times per week your habit. TFC workouts are aimed at helping you realize your ideal body composition, which essentially puts you in the best place for health.

3) Get 7+ hours of sleep per night and streeeeetttccccchhhhh after working out. Stretching is an often overlooked aspect of fitness. It helps your muscles recover and develop. Sleeping also helps your body recover and develop. What more could you want from two passive activities? Nothing! They're perfect as is.

See you at camp.

As you all know, I’m a proponent of quick and vicious workouts. The faster they’re done, the better, so long as you’re on your mat at the end, fighting for air. Long workouts are, for most people’s goals, unnecessary and often counterproductive.

Though I’m not alone with this point of view, there are many out there who don’t respond to this kind of exercise, or aren’t sure how to apply it, or are challenged with pushing themselves to the level of effort necessary to reap the rewards of short, intense training.

Now, I realize The Fitness Camp is a bit of a dictatorship. :-) But I’m always looking to improve it. With that in mind, I’d like to offer you an excellent chance to get a word in edgewise, in the privacy of your own home. The below is a quick survey designed to let me know what you need, and how to improve the camp and future products so that everyone reaches their fitness goals.

Please take a few minutes to complete the survey. Thanks.

If you want to burn fat, the fastest way to do it is high intensity interval training (HIIT). Though you’ll find a lot of proponents for steady-state cardio, the nature of interval training allows you to maintain an intensity throughout the workout that will not only burn fat, but will enable body transformation.

And intensity is the key to body transformation.

To burn fat, your best friends are weight lifting and moving your body through space quickly (sprints, jumping rope, and bodyweight exercises such as burpees), performed at a rate you can only maintain for a short time. Think short bursts instead of long efforts. Nearly all of The Fitness Camp’s workouts are designed specifically to burn fat. You don’t see any single-joint weightlifting, and little running beyond a sprint distance.Read more...