Is anyone else freaking out a liiitle bit about it being October? This year has really flown by, and now we’re entering (it’s true!) the pre-holiday season. 

No worries! You still have a full month left to prep for the holidays and knock your 2011 body-shaping game out of the park. I always say if you want a different output you have to create different input.

What have you been meaning to do with your health and fitness all year but haven’t quite gotten around to? Now is your time. And a boot camp could be just the ticket.

Boot Camps are a traditional and esteemed fitness tool that will:

• deepen your skill level of any exercise technique – and contribute to your physical confidence and mastery
• push the body more intensely – beyond its previous reach (meaning a better-sculpted body for you)
• rattle the cage of a fitness plateau, such as strength gain, body sculpting or weight loss

And just plain give you a smokin’ new attitude for Fall.

With the Body Transformation Booty Camp group coaching program approaching fast on my calendar, Boot Camp has been on my mind for obvious reasons. And If you’re joining me for this October extravaganza, then you’re all set.

Yet if this opportunity didn’t work out for you this time, don’t worry. There’s no reason you can’t devise a Boot Camp to do on your own or with a buddy.

It’s a fantastic way to get your body in gear for the holiday season ahead. And a great way to get your mind in gear about getting your body in gear.

Hnnh? Somehow I think you followed that.

Ready to ramp up the results of your fitness program? Shake off the doldrums and extra lbs from the dog days of August…and September, or maybe even, dare we say, October? Thrilled with what you’ve been doing and ready to challenge yourself at a new level?

Then do it! You can take just about any exercise technique, workout, or fitness routine and create a Boot Camp style fitness intensive all your own. Toss in a solid good-body food plan and you’re there. In the fitness studio, in the gym, with a buddy, or solo at home.

Go for a 4 to 7 Day Plan. Or 21.

One of the strongest values of a Boot Camp lies in the strengthening of the nerve transmission pathway from brain to body that occurs during the intensified practice of workout skills during the period of time that you select. This can take place when the neuromuscular pathway is continually reinforced and practiced in a telescoped period of time.

And running neck-and-neck with this big plus is the advantage of building new habits of practice. Particularly when it comes to cleaning up your food act or getting more accomplished at that desired skill of being active every day.

Give it a week and you’ll inspire yourself.

Give it 3 weeks and you’ll find it hard to turn back.

Really, it’s like practicing anything. Repeated focus without lots of time away from the task in between reinforces proficiency. And that delivers results.

During the course of a Boot Camp, you can feel this sense of mastery and the body developing proficiency more each day.

Personally? My experience with Boot Camp has been that each time I emerge with a more defined shape to my body, a great sense of well being, a renewed commitment to my workouts and body transformation food plan, and more spring in my step.

In Boot Camp, the brain is asked to push beyond a complacency. Past previously attained proficiency.

6 rules for making  your own Boot Camp

When you put together your own Boot Camp, develop your point of focus. What is it you want to achieve with your Boot Camp? What are your desired outcomes?  Here are 6 rules to help you plan and execute a boot camp of your own:

1) Be specific with your goals.  The gold standard for success with goal setting lies in S.M.A.R.T. strategies and protocol. With the SMART system,goals should be

• specific
• measurable
• attainable (I also like to have this stand for ‘ambitious’)
• realistic, and
• timed

Remember, your goals can be results oriented as well as process oriented.  For example, a results-oriented goal would be to lose 5 lbs or an inch off your waist, which are typical and average outcomes for my 21-day Booty Camps.  Process-oriented goals would be to go 3 weeks without sugar, processed food, or expelled oils.

2)  Set clear guidelines:  What are the rules of play?  You are more than welcome to borrow from mine: The Body Transformation Booty Camp for October 2011 is a combination of  total body challenge workouts, targeted body sculpting sequences, and a health-building, slimming food plan. Oh, and wrapping your head around it all. Very important to address mindset.

3) Accent accountability by hooking up with a buddy or a group. This can be enormously beneficial to you and make all the difference with your success, which is why I recommend teaming up with one or more others with your Boot Camp plan.

4) Establish a start and end date. This gives you the extra incentive to plan ahead with your schedule and to prepare your kitchen for best success as well.  And it helps you bring the mind along by tempering the ‘forever’ aspect of change which, let’s face it, can make the mind fly its rebel flag.

5) Create incentives momentum. What’s on the calendar for the Fall and holiday season ahead that can give extra oomph to your Boot Camp Mission?

6) Let go of negative self-talk and grow the success mindset within.  Research on exercise motivation shows that the more people think they can do exercise, the more likely they are to adhere to an exercise program. (Huberty et al, 2008).  This is where vision and imagination come in.  Don’t make the mistake of dismissing this one as to ‘woo-woo’.  It’s a biggy.

There you have it!  To your health, body shaping, and Booty(y) Camp success!  And don’t forget to tell me about your plans in comments below!

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