Popular culture has always depicted boot camp exercises in television shows and movies as the hard, arduous type that pushes an individual to its limits, stretching the body to its breaking point as sweat trickles from a contorted face, a croaking voice trying hard to be at pace with the day's accompanying exercise cadence.
Truth is not far from fiction, and boot camp exercises are indeed hard and physically demanding because the purpose of these physical trainings and exercises is to hone the body to its optimum level and reach the highest peak of performance, endurance, stamina and strength because the body is considered the primary weapon of soldiers especially when doing both their peacetime and wartime duties.
Included in the list of regular boot camp training and exercise are squat-thrusts, walking lunges, jumping jacks, side lunges with windmill arms, chest squeeze, ski jumps and high jog. Squat-thrusts is standing with feet together followed by a brisk motion to squat facing the floor and hands positioned on the floor as well to stabilize the body before letting the feet jump backward before getting back up again. Walking lunges is walking around an area through a lunging stance and motion. Jumping jacks is done by simultaneous jumping and clapping by having both arms meets at the top of the head. Side lunge with windmill arms is moving in a lunging motion with arms extended sideways. Chest squeeze is done by pressing a ball on your chest and holding that position for at least eight counts. Ski jumps is jumping and landing with knees bent in a squat position. High jogs are similar to regular jogging style, only with knees moving up higher. Other regular forms of exercises are also integrated in the exercise program like push ups, crunches and pull ups.
As a mandatory rule, recruits and drill officers who are about to do a set of boot camp exercises undergo warm up sessions like walking, stretching and marching in place, ranging from five to ten minutes before the exercise to tune the body and avoid injuries caused by sudden undertaking of strenuous activities like boot camp exercise. A cool down session for everyone who participated in the exercise is also a must to avoid injuries as well.
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