The Warm Up with Kyle Wood - Bootcamp Ideas

kyle-wood_1_03-11-2025_120845:
Hello, welcome back to the Warmup.

I'm Kyle Wood.

This episode is for you.

If you deal with one of two problems,
which the first one is whenever you sit

down to plan a workout, your brain just,
you've got the blank page and you're

trying to come up with an idea, trying to
come up with something to do for tomorrow,

and you just can't quite get there.

Or it's for you if you maybe have a
set formula you use for your workouts.

But you feel like either you are getting
bored as a trainer running this, this

same solar workout all the time, or
you feel like your clients are getting

bored, maybe your nu numbers are
dwindling, maybe having trouble growing

your classes, getting some traction.

This is for you.

So this topic actually came in
from, a listener of the show.

She emailed me in and she said, Hey,
could you go through something like.

A six, how you'd plan out like
a six or 12 week boot camp.

Um, and I do want to do that
and I'm gonna, that's what

we're gonna talk about today.

But there is one other thing I wanted
to share, and that is that, uh, I'm

really tired and don't worry, this is
gonna get back to, to the point at hand.

Uh, I'm tired, I just did a workout.

My hair's, if you're watching the video,
my hair is in full humidity, curly mode.

Um, I am, I'm sweaty.

I haven't had a shower yet, um, but
I wanted to still do to this podcast.

The reason being this is all
happening is because my big one's

sick and she, um, you know, she's
keeping us up all night coughing.

Uh, and the poor thing, I mean, it's bad
for her, but you know, as parents with

young kids, it's also really challenging.

I find it really challenging.

And the, the reason I bring that
up is that, she's home today.

I'd normally record this podcast
with no one at the house.

I'm, I'm quickly getting it in while my
wife takes my daughter to the, um, to

the doctor, and it, it, how often do you
find as a trainer that you are looking

for these little moments in the day?

Where everything's kind of, especially
if you've got a young family,

everything's kind of exploding
and not going to plan each day.

And so you're just trying to find these
little moments you can scrounge to

plan your sessions for your clients.

Now, maybe that's worked for you up
until this point, but it's getting

to a point where doing this multiple
times a week, uh, it means you are

always on, you're always switched on.

You're always thinking about a workout.

You've always got that hanging over your
head that, oh, I need to plan something.

Um, and yeah, and like I
said at the start, maybe that

side impact your classes.

Maybe it's not.

Maybe you're listening to this
and you're like, no, Carl,

this is not an issue for me.

Well, you might enjoy just listening
along to this, but, uh, I know for me,

planning sessions constantly throughout
the week, um, just took up so much time

and I can't imagine doing it now that I
have a young family, like finding that.

Well, I see, see it in my wife
when she's planning sessions and.

She keeps saying she needs to do
what I rec, I'm gonna talk about

on this podcast because she's often
planning her sessions the day before.

Um, she needs to do 'em.

So, uh, yeah.

And then that means, you
know, she's gotta disappear.

She's gotta, you know, we might be having
like family time or something like that

and she's gotta duck out to do that.

And that's, that is what it is.

But it doesn't have to be, um, that way.

Now it's gonna sound like I'm recording
this podcast with my wife, which I'm not.

I love you and you do an amazing job.

Uh, but let's get into what
I'm gonna talk about today.

So we're gonna look at not just planning
an individual workout, but today I

want to zoom out and how do we think
about cons like structuring six weeks

or 12 weeks, um, of bootcamp classes.

Um, yeah, we've gone over that.

You want to avoid trying to go
week to week, uh, because, or even

like day to day, um, we've gone
over that, your clients and you

and or you can get bored if you're
doing the same thing all the time.

Um, and the other thing we should talk
about is that when we are doing stuff

week to week, it can be more difficult to.

Gauge clients', um,

ability, and by that I mean some
clients by, by planning out in in

advance, this is gonna make sense.

By planning out in advance, we can
make sure that clients of different

ability levels are progressing over.

To six weeks or 12 weeks
or however many it is.

But when we're just doing it week
to week, it becomes difficult

to track that, doesn't it?

Because it's like, oh,
what did we do last week?

Or what did we do three weeks before
when we zoom out, we can start plotting,

you know, we can see the whole map.

We can start seeing where we are going.

So, um, that's what I
wanted to talk about today.

I am just checking my notes to make sure
I haven't missed anything important.

Okay.

The other thing we can do is that not
just in challenging clients, is that we

can make sure that when we've got a big
group of people, everyone's goals, there's

some common goals, but there's some
different goals, so we can make sure that

different people's goals are being met.

Throughout that six weeks, uh,
depending on what style of workouts

they like and things like that.

Like some clients had loved
the team building workouts.

They live for 'em.

Other clients loath them.

They love the workouts where it was
more of an individual challenge.

So by looking over the six weeks, I could
make sure, oh, I've got some of those

workouts that the clients who love just
their own thing and, and doing their own

thing and not talking to anyone else.

They've got some great sessions
in there that they're gonna love.

Then the clients who love the team
building stuff, they've got some great

sessions in there that they're gonna love.

And that way at the end of the six
weeks, everyone's like, oh, there

was, you know, they've got some good
memories of workouts that they really

loved, and that is what is gonna
keep people coming back long term.

So when we talk about workouts,
we are thinking about how are we

getting our clients exercising?

But actually this ties into how well
our clients, our classes will grow.

How much people will talk about,
like the word of mouth will spread.

Our retention.

You know, if people aren't enjoying the
workouts, they're not, they're not gonna

come back as much as they might like you,
they're probably not gonna come back.

So let's start thinking about,
um, the first thing that I

do when I look at six weeks.

So we're gonna, I know
I said six or 12 weeks.

We're gonna go with six weeks.

Six weeks is a good amount of time.

First thing I'm gonna do is think about a
theme or a goal for that period of time.

Because otherwise we are just kind
of doing random stuff all the time.

And while most of our clients, their
goal is just to generally get healthier

and fitter and, um, kind of stave off
some of, depending on how old they are,

stave off some of the aspects of aging.

Uh, we still, for us, as a tool to help
us plan and program classes easier,

we wanna have a goal for our clients.

And it can, it's, you know, it's
seen as well that like if you really

want to improve your cardio fitness,
for example, you need to be doing a

certain amount of cardio work each
week to improve that same thing.

If you wanna improve your
strength, you need to be doing a

certain amount of strength work.

And when we kind of try and target
everything at once, we end up not really

moving the needle in any direction.

So it's much better to be like this
six weeks we're gonna focus on cardio.

Yes, includes, and of course strength
training is still a part of like

healthy joints and everything you
need for, um, doing the training you

need for cardio, but you're gonna
be skewing things more towards that.

So it's gonna affect how many times
you do a certain style of workout over

the six weeks by having the theme.

Then the other thing we want to think
about is each week we want to have a focus

for that week, so of our overall goal.

So if it's cardio that we're gonna
do, maybe our clients actually

need to learn how to run properly.

So maybe in the first week we're
doing workouts that include lots of

different, like how to run drills.

And you can look up, go on YouTube, you
can find like tons of, um, tutorials

and stuff like that with little drills.

Have a look at like what sporting
teams do and things like that.

Uh, but that might be the goal.

So the goal of that week isn't
you're gonna kick your client's butt.

It's actually working on the Yeah.

The technique of running and
find ways to still make that fun.

You know, you use games and things like
that so the workouts don't become too,

you know, your clients haven't signed up
for a run clinic, so, um, you still need

to make sure that they feel like they're
getting something outta the workout.

And then the second week you
might start off with doing.

Some, uh, some like fairly moderate
or low intensity type cardio works,

and maybe that, that second week is
still more strength training, but

there's like some cardio stuff built
into like finishes, warmups games.

You sort of sneakily, sneakily put
it in between the different tris.

Uh, I always love sneaking stuff in.

It's the, that thing of clients, um,
you know, you give them what they want.

Um, and then you sprinkle
in what they actually need.

'cause we know what they need.

Um, then yeah, then you'll, you might
work that way up, work your way up.

And the next, the third week
would be more moderate intensity.

Cardio fourth week is a higher
intensity cardio, maybe like

peaking with like the fifth week.

'cause you're doing a running thing.

You might be like, Hey, on Friday's
workout we're actually gonna meet here

and we're gonna do, we're gonna do
a trail run or something like that.

And make it a bit of fun.

Make it something different, not just.

Going to the studio again, not
just going to the same park again.

How can you, because you've now
picked a theme, you can think about

how are we gonna peak in this theme?

And then week six might just be
fun stuff, just fun workouts,

just, you know, bootcamp, monopoly,
all of that kind of stuff.

Just fun things to wrap up the six weeks.

And they'll be able to see from the
work they've done on the, the five

weeks before, they'll be able to see.

Wow, I'm, I'm so much fitter at
these, at these games and things like,

I'm not getting us out of breath.

I'm finding I have more
capacity to keep going.

So we don't need to do
fitness testing as much.

They, although you can, but you might
choose not to do that and instead

show them, Hey, you're actually fitter
because you came to all these workouts

and you showed up and you did the stuff.

So this is something, this is
something you can think about and

this is something you can do and
now cast your mind back to before.

When you were just planning your workouts
the night before, how on earth can you,

without having this map, you're never
going to be able to create this sort

of, excuse me, hit on the microphone.

You're never gonna be able
to create this, this arc.

You know, a quest.

A movie storyline.

Like a screenplay.

Like you're never gonna be able
to create that experience for

your clients with your bootcamp.

And that is what makes you stand out.

And that is what I see really
successful trainers doing.

And that is what I see a
lot of new trainers missing.

Um, because a lot of the big group
fitness classes out there don't offer

this, or because everything's programmed
at head office, you are not seeing

that someone's actually doing this
stuff behind, in, behind the scenes.

And that's the thing you
don't need to share with your

clients, Hey, we're doing a six.

Week thing on cardio clients
who hate cardio, they're gonna

be like, oh, you might not even
tell them, you just start it.

You just start doing the six week thing.

Uh, and then, and then see how they go.

Maybe you're like halfway through,
you're like, actually, you know,

we've been focusing on this and you
guys have already improved so much.

So yeah, again, it's that thing of
like, give your clients what they want.

I wanna work out, but you are gonna
actually throw in there what they need.

Uh, and the great thing about this is if
you finish this cardio round of six weeks.

Your clients are now prime for like
some, a different form of training,

like a strength training or like hip
training or, so they're ready to go

for that next, uh, six weeks to do
something d completely different.

Um, and in terms of workouts,
uh, I will touch on this.

So say you run your bootcamps Monday,
Wednesday, Friday, and you might be

like, okay, Kyle, well do I just,
do we, do I plan a Monday workout?

A Wednesday workout and a Friday
workout, and then we just make

it a bit harder each week.

I would say for a bootcamp, don't do that
if you're doing small group training, a

hundred percent because you can actually
gauge where everyone is each week.

Um, you can have them increase their
weights and things like that, whereas

in a bootcamp, you're probably not using
as many weights, so it makes it harder

to do that sort of incremental increase.

So what you want to do is look at what
you're doing over the week and make

that slightly more intense each week
instead of doing the same workout.

And this is the difference between
structured variety and chaotic variety.

What you're doing now,
planning workouts every week.

It's just a random one every week.

That's chaotic variety.

There's no.

There's nowhere in there for
clients really to get fitter.

You're just giving them a
hard workout every week.

You're just smashing them.

I just smash 'em every week.

But how many of your clients are at
the same level they were a year ago?

Um, by doing this more structured variety,
you can still give them that variety.

'cause people need, like most of the
population, they don't want to turn up

and do the same workout every single week.

This is why CrossFit exploded.

A part of it is.

Like lifting weights and things like that,
which is also interesting 'cause that's

something that clients didn't want to
do up until that point in group fitness.

They didn't want to lift weights.

And then suddenly you've go to
class where people are lifting

weights and it's popular.

But the other thing with
CrossFit is that the workouts

are different every single time.

So people will come six times a
week because they know they're doing

something different every week.

And the next week is gonna be different
and the next week is gonna be different.

But behind that, at a good CrossFit
gym, there's gonna be programming.

They, they're actually thinking about.

Hitting certain lifts,
hitting certain rep ranges.

So there is structure behind the scenes.

So that's what I wanna
encourage you to start doing.

And it might feel uncomfortable because
maybe in your own workouts you don't

really have any structure, maybe in your
own workouts, you just rock up and you

just do whatever you feel like that week.

Uh, and this idea of, of
creating like a program for

your clients feels, uh, unusual.

But I'd like to encourage
you to, to give it a go.

Uh, because it will make a different,
it'll make you look way more professional

because your clients will notice that
they're getting fitter and they're

constantly getting fitter because
you're working on different areas.

There's some aspect of their fitness
that they're always improving.

Uh, so yeah, that's a long way.

You can see I'm very
passionate about this.

This has been like my core message for
the last 10 years on bootcamp ideas.

And I can't believe, um, I have
done podcasts on the past, but I

can't believe I'm haven't done one.

To kick things off.

Uh, so thank you, um, to, oh,
did I write down her name?

I was gonna say thank you to the, I didn't
write down her name, but thank you to the

listener who, who sent in this request.

So that's how I would look at my six week.

Then obviously there's our
actual workouts, there's how do

we structure actual workouts,
and there's a whole other thing.

Around that as well.

Um, I recommend, just as an overview,
I recommend doing a week of workouts

at a time because then when your child
is sick and keeping you up coughing

all night and you just want to be
a hundred percent there for them,

you can be because you've already
planned your workouts for this week.

So this is the event.

If I had recorded a month's worth of
podcasts in one day, I could do the same

today, but as it is, it's gonna work out.

But I'm leaving things up
to a bit more up to chance.

So by planning a week of workout that way
as well, like you can swap things around.

You might be like, oh, the group's really
sore today and had this workout planned.

I don't think it's gonna be, you
know, it's maybe a bit intense if

everyone's really stiff and sore.

So actually, I'm gonna swap things
around, do the recovery workout I

had planned for Friday, and we'll
do the hard workout again later.

It just gives you so
much more flexibility.

It does take more organ
being more organized.

Uh, but again, to me this
is about being professional.

If you want to make a living in this
industry, um, you can't, you, you,

if you, so many of us learn and in
this industry influence now what

we're seeing on, uh, social media and
especially on Instagram and TikTok,

and we're seeing trainers sharing
about themselves and things like that.

Um, which is fantastic, but we need
to make sure we back that up with

professionalism on the back end.

So make sure you're still being a
professional trainer and you're still,

that means planning ahead, thinking
ahead, doing things like this.

So to wrap things up, if you nail
all this down, like I said, you'll

get, clients will get results,
so they'll stick around longer.

Um, you'll save time and you'll
be less stressed because you'll

have your sessions planned out,
uh, by picking your theme as well.

I didn't really talk about it
today, but that helps you brainstorm

ideas, it helps you come up, helps
you pick which workouts to do.

And it's not about just smashing
your clients every session.

There's actually like, you can still
train your clients hard, but there's

actually a method to the madness.

And so I hope I've convinced you
of why you should start looking at

your, your sessions in a bigger,
a bigger period of time than a

week or even session to session.

Start thinking about it.

Zoom it out, look at
it, you know, six weeks.

12 weeks.

Uh, it's also encourages members to
come more than once a week, which is

something, uh, that's for another,
a discussion for another day.

Uh, but you will see doing this,
you'll see improved retention

because it's like, oh, he does
something different every time.

But you'll also see
clients getting results.

So they're like, but I
still get any results.

I'm the fittest.

I had multiple clients say I'm the
fittest I've ever been in my life, and.

You sneakily do repeat workouts.

Other than that, the workouts
are changing quite regularly.

The other big thing that you'll get out
of planning ahead is less stress, won't

be thinking about workouts all the time.

You won't be waiting till people
leave the house or you, you know,

you're going to watch your kid do
their swimming lessons or something.

You're, you're trying to
quickly plan a workout out.

You can actually get yourself set up,
get it organized, do it once for the

week and be done, and then you can relax.

You can, you know, you're
a trainer, you work hard.

I know how hard trainers work.

I used to be a trainer and, um, I think,
you know, we all get to a point where

we don't wanna work as hard anymore.

We want to start working
smarter, and this is part of it.

And so if this is, if this is
interested you, then you might be

interested to know that I'm running
a two hour master class called How

to Plan Your Bootcamp Workouts Fast.

Without sacrificing the quality.

So it's not about just scrambling
something together, it's

actually about creating better
workouts and saving time in it.

I'll walk you through my
proven bootcamp system.

So what we did today, but I'll
go into a lot more detail.

I'll go into how to keep clients
engaged, how to plan an individual

workout, how to sort of, what that
system looks like, that you can follow.

Whether you decide to do things monthly
or by the school term, but to give you

an actual system, you can just follow
and do each each cycle of your bootcamp.

I'll also give you my planning templates,
so you can just use the templates,

just fill in the blanks pretty much.

And I'll give you some example workouts
as well so that you can see, oh, I

understand what Kyle's talking about.

It's always difficult
doing things like this.

Like I used to run this workshop as a
live face-to-face workshop, but I can't

be all around the world everywhere
at once, so it's always difficult.

So I'm gonna, I'm doing my best in
this masterclass to give you a taste

of what your workouts can be, and
then give you a really foolproof

system to planning your workouts
just so that you are less stressed.

It can save time and this just becomes a
part of your routine around your business.

And yeah, you can show up
and be more professional.

So I'd love for you to join me.

It's on the 27th of March, so if you're
listening after, then it's, it's gone.

Uh, but there might be a recording
available or there might be another

date available, but I don't know whether
I'm gonna run this again at this stage.

So, at the moment, 27th of March.

It's two hours.

So we're really diving in deep.

It's just not just like a,
oh hey, do this and do that.

It's, we're really getting into it.

Um, and yeah, you can find the
link in the show notes or you can

go to bootcampideas.com/workshop.

So bootcamp ideas.com,

my website slash workshop, and
that will automatically take

you to the page to enroll.

Yeah, I'd love to see you there.

I hope uh, you guys have a great
week and I'll chat to you then.

Bye.