Whipping yourself in shape is no laughing matter. The psychological process of convincing yourself to get in shape is a major factor to overcome if you are serious in your quest to lose the fat. Then there's the matter of the workout and the routine themselves. The gym, while undoubtedly equipped with the best trainers and the latest state-of-the-art fitness equipment, can be very daunting for beginners. It seems more of a place to develop a complex than it is to workout. Repetitive and slow-paced routines can make workouts boring, long and tedious, increasing the chances of individuals giving up on their programs long before they've seen tangible results.

If this describes how you feel about your current exercise program, then going to a fitness boot camp is the answer. In recent years, fitness boot camps have become all the rage inasmuch as they provide what traditional workouts don't: fun, team-effort and camaraderie for like-minded individuals who are on the same boat as you are.

What exactly is a fitness boot camp? These are 4-6 week outdoor training programs that combine running, interval training and bodyweight training to achieve weight loss, increase cardiovascular efficiency, improve muscle strength and flexibility as it encourages in participants to get into the habit of exercise. While there may be fitness instructors who run boot camps the way military drill sergeants do, majority of boot camp trainers encourage rather than intimidate.

Because of the diverse fitness needs of individuals, those who run boot camps have found it more effective to offer specialized programs to various groups. Thus, you can find fitness boot camps for women, kids, brides-to-be and those seeking general fitness. Boot camps are usually composed of a small group of people who pay a fitness instructor to run their program, thus making it an effective but affordable (because you share the cost of paying the trainer) way of whipping yourself back in shape.

The first session of a typical fitness boot camp involves orientation on the basic guidelines and safety as well as conducting a basic fitness assessment test. At the end of the program, a fitness retesting will also be conducted to compare the progress you've made from the time you first started. The boot camp sessions themselves start with a warm-up, followed by 30-40 minute workouts and end with cool down and stretching exercises. You can expect to do squats, lunges, push ups, sprints and interval training exercises which are made more exciting by competitive games and obstacle courses.

With fitness boot camps, participants are challenged to push themselves to the limits, to test their endurance and strength beyond what they ever thought possible. The group effort and camaraderie also serves as a means of emotional and moral support for the boot camp participants.

So if you don't want to go through tedious and boring workouts that are no fun at all, then go for a fitness boot camp to jumpstart your way to physical fitness. It's the fun way to exercise!