Starting a bootcamp - help!

[Bananarama100]

I've been gifted a voucher for a 10 week fitness bootcamp, which has been on hold since the start of the year, but I've just had a call to say it's beginning on 3rd April

I'm not very fit, I've never done any group exercise like this and in my mind it's taking me right back to 90s high school PE lesson torture!!

What can I expect? Is it a drill sergeant barking 'give me 20 burpees'?! Will everyone else be keeping up with everything thrown at them, or does everyone go at their own pace?

It's all a complete unknown for me and as much as I'm looking forward to it, I'm dreading it in equal measure haha!

It really depends, i've seen some of them operating and the instructor definitely thinks they're a drill sergeant which would totally put me off. Some also seem to focus on quantity rather than quality as i've seen some horrendous technique for the sake of bashing out reps in my local park!
I went to one at the gym run by a guy who is just the opposite but still very encouraging and motivating and the focus was always very much on working to your level of ability and quality over quantity. We had a large range of fitness levels but he gave options to make things easier or harder and we tended to work to time intervals rather than number of reps.

Thanks. Yes, I'm really hoping the instructor is like the one you describe at your gym - I want to be pushed obviously, but I'm not up for ritual humiliation!

It might feel like you are back at school - but no one is going to give you detention if you stop and have a rest!

If they start with the ritual humiliation schtick, hoist up your big girl pants and tell them to chuff off, you'll be taking it at your own pace.

Hopefully you'll have a decent professional PT who won't be like that though and will give you a range of options. They won't want you injured on the first day - the power of online feedback etc etc!

Do they have social media? Might be worth having a look and seeing if they have any reviews or videos up that you can watch

Given a year's lockdown, I think you'll find most people will struggle if it's pitched too hard. But the good news is, you will see super quick progress, especially if you supplement with other stuff in between sessions. I can't believe I'm saying it, but I'm missing my weekly circuits class. It's my PT who runs it, and I've been able to do PT sessions for some of the year, but he hasn't managed the group circuits sessions. Haven't missed the PT training though!!