Combining Bootcamp and Yoga: Ideas for Full Body Yoga Bootcamp!

Yoga Bootcamp:

Yoga is known for its calming nature, flowing poses, and supportive fitness benefits. According to the International Journal of Yoga (IJOY), participation rates in mind-body fitness programs, such as yoga, continue to increase. Many wonder if there is room to add yoga to there everyday regimen. Furthermore, can it be combined with other fitness programs, such as bootcamp classes? In this post, we’ll be discussing how you can combine bootcamp with your yoga routine quite efficiently. Yoga bootcamp, really?

By now, it’s no secrete, yoga’s many heath benefits. From helping improve and increase concentration, to self-esteem & confidence, even combining with practices such as meditation to get better mind-body control, and relaxation.  

Additionally the IJOY provides findings from various studies linking yoga to helping to reduce physiological, emotional, and spiritual pain. Simulatensouly, studies have found evidence supportive of yoga and ties to improved respiratory and cardiovascular functioning. 

Yoga and boo camp might seem incompatible at first glance. Specifically, bootcamp is thought of as a rigorous intense workout. While imagining yoga as calming, a relatively slow, mild routine. In some sense and styles this may be accurate. However, there are ways for you to combine these two practices seamlessly, in a cohesive or fusion-like manner.

Isn’t this what the world is today? It’s about change, adaptation, and new ways of thinking outside the box. Fitness is often about modifying past or present styles to suit a need.

More On Yoga:

Yoga is an ancient practice with over five-thousand years of history. It combines physical postures, breathing exercises (pranayama), and even meditation. It can be practiced in a variety of ways to help enhance your spiritual, mental, and bodily health. You can practice yoga at home, at work, in a park, and use it to help with clarity and even for better sleep quality. 

It’s a practice that does all the above, while also cultivating a sense of calmness and overall well-being.
It can be perfect for beginner yogis, young yogis, men, women, seniors, you name it, yoga is amazing! 
Despite what many people think, yoga is not merely a set of postures that help bring alignment and balance in the physical self. Yoga is about achieving overall wellness, health in all aspects of life, and bringing balance by opposing that stress fight or flight response.

This is what sets it apart from other types of practices. You’re not trying to just get fit, you are also attempting to change the way you live and think about your life!

What is Bootcamp?

 Bootcamp on the other hand, is mostly focused on the physical aspect of your health. In most bootcamp classes, you’re trying to push your physical limitations to achieve optimal levels of fitness, strength, and endurance. In some respects, you might also try to push the limits of your mind to take your body to its highest level of performance.

Bootcamps today are great because people have integrated them in many ways to fit their own lives. According to TIME, boot camps have been integrated into bridal style boot camps, even prison-style workouts. 

Bootcamp involves all kinds of exercises and physical movements, making it a very comprehensive type of workout routine. Consequently, involving both your upper and lower body. In short, you can create a boot camp routine for yourself in any way you want. So, as long as the goal is to increase your physical capabilities and endurance, you could consider a form of bootcamp.

Bootcamps not only prepare your body for the everyday rigors of life, (unlike traditional machines that focus more on just building muscles), boot camp routines can help with everyday activities. Thus, allowing you to perform them better. This could be simply getting in and out of your car, or walking up and down your stairs.

A study in the International Journal of Exercise Science 2015 looked at a 12-week exercise program that had exercises regularly seen in bootcamps of a specific faculty and of staff members. Concluded in the study was a statistical significant decrease in body mass and improvement in all exercises. 

Another study found that individuals who part-take in bootcamp, lose a fairly significant amount of calories per minute of exercise. 10 calories to be exact. So a 30-minute workout may burn around 300 calories or more and so on. 

Not bad for 30-minutes of fun with friends, right? 

How Can You Combine Yoga and Bootcamp?

 Having said all of the above, bootcamp and yoga might seem incompatible to some people. However, there’re multiple ways of combining these workouts/practices. Oftentimes, it’s about getting creative. In this way you still get the benefits of both disciplines and see an overall shift in your health, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. 

Certainly, bootcamp has more of a physical emphasis than yoga in most cases. Although routines such Vinyasa Flow, hot yoga or Ashtanga, can get pretty intense. We’d probably get a little push-back on that from some practitioners! 

Weight loss is often a big goal associated with bootcamp. However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t feel spiritually and mentally connected to yourself while you are doing intense bootcamp-like classes or exercises.

In fact, adding the principles of yoga to more intense workouts can actually enhance your yoga practice. Thus making you stronger in both mind and body. In particular, staying mindful and aware of your physical self and your goals can help you successfully combine bootcamp and yoga. 

We’re not the only one’s who have come to this conclusion either. Yoga studios across the country have already started combining these two unlikely activities. Even some celebrities have started to try bootcamp style yoga for themselves.

Ideas For Bootcamp Yoga:

Certainly there are more ways then one to combine the styles of yoga and bootcamp. Someone who tells you otherwise, is most likely being slightly close-minded. Even simply adding yoga before and after a bootcamp class, can be a way to combine the styles to work off one another.

Get creative, use your imagination. The sky is the limit! Below we’ll speak about some of the basics of trying these two styles. Seemingly, making it easier to integrate them together in a fusion-type fashion.

Create a Consistent and Intense Routine and Stick With it:

 Bootcamp is about consistency and routine. You want to stick to a regimented schedule in order to see results in both your body and mind. These results should happen within a set amount of time. Yoga involves some goal planning, but maybe not to the same extent as bootcamp. 

In addition, most bootcamps have a workout plan and meet at least 4-5 times a week. So, you want to follow suit and plan your own workouts, this way you get the most out of your time and effort. 
You may already have space carved out in your day for yoga. However, bootcamp is usually more intensive and time-consuming. Consequently, you’ll want to make sure that you have enough time to commit to this endeavor.

In addition, you’ll want to commit to your workout plan, no matter how intense it may be. We’re not saying that you should push yourself to injury, but boot camp is all about surpassing limits. In short, to combine yoga and boot camp, you’ll want to prepare to work harder and longer as well as having some tangible goals.

This can include weight loss, being able to run faster or further, or gaining strength in certain areas of your body. Having a goal will make it easier to follow through on your routine.

Up the Intensity of Your Yoga With Longer And More Challenging  Poses:

Planning for boot camp is not just about finding the time to get your heart pumping. You’ll also want to figure out what level of intensity to maintain over the course of that yoga bootcamp routine.

One way to do this is by choosing the right yoga poses. Yoga can be intense all on its own, but this may also depend on the types of postures you use (or style). In order to ramp up your yoga bootcamp to the right intensity, we suggest doing more challenging poses. Don’t be afraid to feel the burn, and try and hold poses longer. This way you can build up endurance as well.

Yoga postures that involve full body strength or core strength are preferred for boot camp. However, whatever poses get your heart pumping and body sweating will work just fine! Thus, helping to burn calories faster, and build more lean muscle.

Try Hot Yoga:

 Hot yoga is another great way to up the intensity of your yoga bootcamp routine. If you can find a local hot yoga class, we highly recommend trying this style, asap. It is gaining a lot of popularity for its intensity and stress reduction capabilities. 

If you’re looking for a harder workout, this may just be the perfect solution. With the upped levels of temperature, combined with (sometimes) challenging yoga poses, your heart will have to work harder, to keep you going. As a result, you will see more impressive results in terms of flexibility, endurance, and both mind-body strength. 

Again, bootcamp is about challenging yourself. Consequently, hot yoga definitely qualifies as a more intense and challenging style of yoga!

Add other Types of Exercise to Your Yoga Routine:

Yoga can be used for strength training purposes. However, it doesn’t hurt to add cardio to your routine as well. In particular, you can even go for a light jog or run before your yoga session. This may help you get your heart in that healthy fat or cardio burn zone. Furthermore, helping to warm-up muscles, allowing for more flexibility in your yoga routine.

Not everyone is into running. Try doing other forms of cardio or aerobic exercises. In addition, don’t be afraid to add other types of exercise to your yoga bootcamp. Bootcamp is also about variety, challenges, and getting the most optimal fitness results possible. 

You don’t need tons of specialized equipment to change-up your routine, either! Bodyweight exercises like kicks, lunges, push-ups, pull-ups, and sit-ups are the perfect addition to a yoga bootcamp session! Additional exercises can make bootcamp more exciting and interesting.  

Watch This Awesome Video Series On Yoga Bootcamp

Final Thoughts on Yoga Bootcamp!

If you want to ramp your fitness game up, but also stay in-tune with your mind-body processes then a yoga bootcamp fusion, might be just the answer. 

We’d love to here feedback for people who have tried fusion-type yoga routines like this one. Please share your comments below!

Resources:

• https://www.gaiam.com/blogs/discover/create-your-own-outdoor-bootcamp
• https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/nyregion/boot-camp-yoga-at-pure-yoga-and-circuit-of-change.html
• https://www.yogabasics.com/connect/yoga-blog/amp-up-your-yoga-practice/
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3193654/
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21829284/
• https://acewebcontent.azureedge.net/cp/pdfs/FitnessMatters/Sept08.pdf?utm_source=Rakuten&utm_medium=10&ranMID=42334&ranEAID=TnL5HPStwNw&ranSiteID=TnL5HPStwNw-D8_mieadp7jY473P_LGWXw
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4831855/
• https://time.com/5221282/bootcamp-workouts/