8 weeks of Bootcamp have come and gone in the blink of an eye. Best Body Bootcamp is an 8-week program put together by one of my favorite bloggers, Tina Reale. I’ve been reading Tina’s blog for a few years now, and I FINALLY took the plunge and signed up for the 4th round of Bootcamp.
For just $25, we had 8 weeks of workouts delivered to our e-mail. Tina divided the bootcamp into four 2-week phases. I was really happy to have all of the necessary exercise documents well before the next phase started.
Before each phase started, I wrote down the workouts on note cards so that I wouldn’t have the excuse of wasting time by having to look over the workouts. I made it to the gym quite a bit in the first 4 weeks, but an always-evolving nighttime schedule with the baby had me doing the majority of the workouts AT HOME during naptime.
So, here are my thoughts on doing Best Body Bootcamp primarily at home, and without a lot of focus on cardio.
I was really doubting the adaptability of the program to work for me without going to the gym. In reality, the only workouts where I felt like I NEEDED to go to the gym were for cardio. It is winter, after all, and I’m still not back to running a whole lot due to pelvic floor weakness. BUT- Tina ALWAYS gives alternatives for exercises such as using a stair for step-ups instead of a weight bench. She also gives suggestions on how to make an exercise harder or easier. I had to modify a LOT of the moves because my core is still pretty week (I started the program at 3 months postpartum). I do feel like even with all of the modifications and doing the workout at home, I still got in some REALLY good workouts.
The only equipment I have at home is: 1 baby (12-14lbs), a pair of 5lb dumbbells, an exercise ball, canned beans (darn shoulder rotations!) and 2 resistance bands (which I think I used once). I would have loved to have 8lb and 10lb dumbbells, and I may have put my 5lb weights inside of the ceramic insert of our crockpot for added weight for squats and lunges. Trust me, even with limited equipment, my butt was still whooped.
By looking over and writing down all of the workouts in advance, I tried to prioritize which ones would be better to do at the gym. I’d rather do a workout with lat pulldowns, cable rows and bench presses at the gym where I could use the proper equipment and heavier weights. Planning was key, and I’d “save” the core and body weight exercises for my at home workouts.
As I mentioned, I really didn’t do that much cardio. When Bootcamp started, it was still fairly mild outside, so I took a lot of walks with Adeline in the stroller. As winter rolled in, our walk outside shortened. I made a trip to the gym when I could, but I usually spent that precious time in the gym getting in a really good strength session. With the advice of mt pelvic floor physical therapist, I didn’t try any running until week 3 or 4. That’ another awesome aspect of Best Body Bootcamp- you don’t have to be a runner! Even the cardio portion of the program can be adapted to fit the elliptical, the bike or walking!
My fitness test results are a great numerical representation of my increased strength, but I just FEEL so much stronger. I KNOW I wouldn’t have gotten back to this level of fitness so quickly had I just worked out with no plan. I didn’t bother to do measurements specifically for bootcamp, but in my 6 month postpartum update, I plan on taking them again to compare to 3 months (when BBB started).
I am definitely signing up for Round 5, and you should too! Take it from me, you can definitely do the workouts at home with minimal equipment if that is all that you can do! In addition to great workouts, Tina is always available to answer questions, and you get to be a part of a Facebook group that provides an awesome sense of community!
Here is the Registration link for Best Body Bootcamp Round 5 (Price is $25 before March 29, $35 March 30 and beyond). Round 5 starts on April 1st! See you there!
The P90X Ab Ripper was way more “my style”- intense reps of exercises. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any mats, and the hardwood floor at the dance studio was unkind to our backs and hips. We ended up stripping off our shirts so that we could give ourselves a little bit of padding between our bodies and the floor. After the 30 minutes of dancing and after 15 minutes of P90X, we were drenched in sweat- what a perfect way to start a Saturday!
