I’ve been asked if fitness boot camps build muscle or burn fat. Actually, I’ve been
asked if they do anything at all. Well, besides the fact that sometimes you engage
in an activity simply because you enjoy the sensation of it, let’s see if there is a concrete
result that might get from it as well.
What causes muscles growth? That’s a tricky question. Some think it’s weight training.
In fact, weight training destroys muscle. When you place a stress on a muscle that it
has not encountered before or use it to it’s maximal capacity, muscle tissue is broken
down in that effort.
What causes muscle growth is the adaptation to that stress that you just exposed
the muscle to. The adaptation can be cellular volumization through holding more
energy components inside the muscle or increased size through muscle fibre repair.
It depends on the stress you put on the muscle and the adaption that is required so
the next time your body encounters the same stress, it is more efficiently set up to
deal with it. So in fact, training at a high intensity (comparative) is actually the START
of muscle growth. It is the stimulus and not the end point. Regardless however, it is
a necessary component to get to the desired outcome of muscle growth in the end.
So do boot camps build muscle? Not directly but if the stress is of sufficient magnitude,
then it will start off the process just like any other form of training.
So again. What builds muscle? You body builds muscle. Training is a stimulus. Food and
rest are the building supplies that make the remodelling, adaptation and replenishing possible.
Now for the second part. Do boot camps burn fat? Well, what causes one to burn fat?
Burning fat is called technically called Lipolysis. It is the chemical decomposition and
release of fat from adipose tissue or fat. This Lipolysis predominates over lipogenesis
(storing fat) when additional energy is required by the body. Body fat is basically just
like a bank. A bank that handles energy instead of money.
So if you get to the point where your body needs more energy than can be provided in
existing energy stores to perform the given task in boot camp, then you will burn fat.
Just like if you need more money than you have in your pocket, you go to the bank and
pull some out.
It is a complex series of mash ups and changes of the adipose tissue into a more usable
source of energy but the end result is that you mobilize your fat stores to create another
fuel source for the body.
So let’s get to the short of it without the lengthy explanations. Do fitness boot camps
build muscle? Yes. Do they burn fat? Yes. Do they do nothing at all? Try mine and find out 
Ray Burton
Calgary Fitness Boot Camps
Buildingbodies Fitness Training