Beach Boot Camp had every muscle working

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 23: When I was asked to take part in an eight-week beach boot camp for a review in the newspaper I thought, what better time than the New Year?

I had already been looking for a good fitness regime that would help build my strength, stamina and tone up my muscles which this course is designed to do.

Run by the Sun’s new fitness columnist Colin Ayliffe from the Court House Gym, the course focuses on the primal patterns that were essential to our survival from as far back as Paleolithic times.

Primal pattern training improves co-ordination, strength, balance, speed and power — it’s a classic case of survival of the fittest, which appealed to the Ray Mears in me.

The classes take place at Elbow Beach every Saturday from 9am to 10am. I must admit I was reluctant to give up my Saturday mornings to exercise — weekends are my play time and the 9am start pretty much means Friday night partying is wiped out.

In the end I concluded a healthier lifestyle would be boosted by cutting down on the usual Friday night antics.

Standing on the beach on a beautiful fresh morning looking out on to the ocean I felt positive about my decision to join. To warm up we walked barefoot in the sand in a big circle gradually increasing speed until we were running. It’s harder in the sand as you sink into it and have to launch yourself out. Once our hearts were beating fast we then had to run up and down the steps at the entrance to Elbow Beach a couple of times and then continue the circuits which made this quite a challenging warm up — especially for those who have not had regular exercise for some time — including myself. 

Next up, Colin introduced us to the metabolic circuit exercises we would be doing to follow.

A number of stations had been placed around the perimeter of the circle and we were told to work out in pairs for a minute at each station. The exercises included body weight, kettle bells and resistance bands which are fun and designed to blast fat.

The variety means that every muscle in your body is challenged whether by the single leg deadlifts and the upright kettle bell lifts or the sideways planking etc — each focuses on different muscle groups. The circuit was definitely challenging and I did begin to flag towards the end but Colin is all-seeing — if you slack off he knows it and encourages you to push yourself but not in an aggressive way.

I loved that after the session, every muscle in my body ached — my whole body had benefitted which makes you feel you are getting a lot out of it.

Colin explained that as the course goes on the exercises will progressively get tougher — these initial classes are designed to focus on core stability and postural strength. Later we will focus on strength and conditioning and in the final weeks the emphasis is on power and speed work.

I will be writing about my experience with the beach boot camp in the fourth and final weeks of the course.

For information about primal pattern training contact Colin at [email protected]. There are still places for this group - the next begins in May.