Today’s SWEAT workout takes me back…

Back to a time around 8 years ago when BEFIT was called The Bootcamp Effect and we had 2 levels of workouts on a small whiteboard with wheels (which actually divided the gym for the 2 workouts).

Here’s a peak of Karen demonstrating the workout with that whiteboard on wheels!

We got so busy during that time that we needed to spare every inch of floor space, so we eventually took the whiteboard apart and put it on the wall (half of that whiteboard is still in the facility today – the other half got a skipping rope through it from double unders and was thrown away – oh memories…)

So these 2 workouts at the time were known as Bootcamp Effect and Bootcamp Elite.
For those of you that have been with us for awhile, this predates when we used to have our 3 levels of exercise:
Fundamentals | Fitness | Befit

The thing about the Elite workouts though, they were ridiculously hard and we’d only have a few people doing them..
Perhaps I did this by design though… because at the time we only had 2 rowers in the gym. Can you imagine that???

Try doing today’s workout and waiting for someone to finish on the rower… Not a great experience and a far cry from the 11 rowers and 1 ski erg we have in the gym today…

Anyhow, I remember doing this workout alongside Warren…

Hi Warren!

And it made such an impact, I thought it was a great opportunity 8 years later to bring it back and modernize it for our SWEAT setting today with plenty of progressions and regressions to fit everyone’s uniqueness…

With as many reps as you have on pushups, you need to do a level of pushup that is relatively easy for you. With 40 reps in your first set, you need to be able to do at least 20 pushups in a row in that first set (with a goal of really doing 40 in a row), so go easy on yourself and give yourself permission to make these reps easier!

Here’s a progression list for pushups:
– Elevated pushup would be easiest
– Knee pushup elevated on parallettes would be harder (parallette is lying flat on the ground)
– Knee pushup would be nexts
– Short range pushups would be next
– Standard pushup not touching the ground with your chest
– Chest to ground pushup would be the final level for this workout

When doing your pushups, you want to standardize your reps if you can.

If you do a pushup half range (which is ok), perhaps use a slam ball or kettlebell to touch your chest to, to keep things consistent.

When on the rower in this workout, just try to maintain a steady pace at around 20-25 strokes/minute. This will be most efficient use of your energy and help you recover between your pushup sets.

***Don’t forget to note your time at the end of part A so you can see your improvement throughout the month!***

And with workouts where you are trying to finish things as fast as you can, we’re always here to remind you of the most important principle in the gym: Never train through pain or discomfort!

You should never feel pain in your shoulders or elbows when performing these pushups (and this goes back to scaling the exercises back and making the reps easier if you need to).

As always we are committed to the evolution of your fitness in a way that builds your body up without breaking it down while making memories both old and new, because fitness can be fun, engaging, social, rehabilitative and effective all that same time!

Kind regards,
Josh Saunders, BS, CSCS
BEFIT