Bootcamp equipment list
from the first purchase to a full group class

Start here: nothing

Every exercise in the beginner, HIIT, and outdoor programs uses bodyweight or, at most, a bench. Buying equipment before bodyweight versions of squats, push-ups, and lunges feel manageable is spending money to solve a problem you don't have yet.

First additions, once bodyweight gets easy

• Jump rope. Cheap, portable, and it adds a genuinely different cardio stimulus to a circuit without needing floor space beyond the rope's swing radius.
• A single resistance band. Adds load to push-ups, squats, and rows without the cost or storage problem of plates. Useful for both extra resistance and for assisting moves like pull-ups.
• One kettlebell. A single moderate-weight kettlebell covers swings, goblet squats, and presses, three moves that cover most of what a circuit needs from an added-weight tool.

For an experienced lifter building a home circuit setup

• A second, heavier kettlebell or a pair of dumbbells. Once single-kettlebell moves stop being challenging, having a heavier option, or a matched pair for two-handed moves, is the next real progression.
• A weighted vest. Adds load to every bodyweight move at once without changing the exercise pattern, which is the fastest way to keep bodyweight-style training challenging without switching to a barbell program.
• Battle ropes. Genuinely upper-body and core intensive in a way few other tools replicate, worth it specifically if a circuit is missing an upper-body cardio station.
• Agility cones. Only worth it for outdoor group sessions or if a circuit specifically needs lateral movement and change-of-direction drills; skip it for a solo indoor setup. What else holds up outdoors is in the outdoor equipment guide.

A starter kit, in the order to buy it

If you want a short list to work from, this is it. Each item fills a gap the one before it leaves, so stop when your sessions stop needing the next one.

That kit covers every station in a home circuit and fits in a cupboard.

Equipment for running a group bootcamp class

Coaches buying for a class face a different problem: not what one person needs, but how to keep ten or twenty people moving at once. The usual kit:

• Cones to mark stations and shuttle runs. Cheap, light, and the thing every outdoor class uses first.
• An agility ladder for footwork drills, and a station that needs no weights.
• Kettlebells or dumbbells in two or three weights, so people can scale without waiting for the one bell that suits them.
• Medicine balls or slam balls for throws and slams, which bodyweight work cannot replace.
• Bands, a set per station. They are cheap enough to buy in bulk and pack flat.
• Mats, if the floor is hard or the grass is wet.
• A loud timer or a speaker, because nobody hears a phone beep across a park.

Plan by station, not by head. A class that rotates through six stations needs one set of kit per station, not one per person, which is why the circuit format is cheap to run. The kit for three people at each of 28 stations, and four room layouts, are in bootcamp station ideas. Anything that lives outside needs to survive weather, and the outdoor equipment guide covers what rusts, what rots and what lasts.

Real numbers: kettlebell sizes and band tension

Kettlebells aren't sold in arbitrary weights. Competition kettlebells run in 4 kg increments, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, and 32 kg, each weight molded to a fixed size and color (pink at 8 kg through red at 32 kg) so the bell's dimensions stay the same as you go up and only the weight changes. A single moderate bell for most adults starting out falls in the 12 to 16 kg range for swings and goblet squats; the "second, heavier kettlebell" progression mentioned above usually means one or two increments up, to 20 or 24 kg, not doubling the weight. A full session for one bell, with the swing taught step by step, is in the kettlebell bootcamp workout.

Resistance bands aren't interchangeable by color across brands, but manufacturer spec sheets exist. TheraBand's published force chart, measured at 100% elongation (the band stretched to double its resting length), rates its color line at: Tan 2.4 lb, Yellow 3.0 lb, Red 3.7 lb, Green 4.6 lb, Blue 5.8 lb, Black 7.3 lb, Silver 10.2 lb, Gold 14.2 lb. A "medium" band for adding resistance to push-ups or rows is typically in the Blue-to-Black range, roughly 6 to 10 lb of added resistance at that stretch, but the color name alone doesn't tell you the tension without checking the specific brand's chart.

Frequently asked