Getting fit on schedule doesn’t necessarily require a regimental discipline and a bottomless budget. Helen Raine cooks up a DIY routine of her own.

Bootcamp has something of an image problem. The first time I heard a friend talking about it, I imagined a live-in institution, where burly corporals would yell at recruits as they worked out to the point of exhaustion. There’d be meagre rations, lukewarm communal showers, 5am wake-up calls and lights out at nine.

That’s in the past (mainly). Bootcamps might have started out as a correctional facility for wayward American teenagers or fresh-faced squaddies, but as I discovered after I finally caved in and went to a class, it’s no longer about getting a face full of soldier spittle. Today’s bootcamp is more about friends (men, women or both) getting together to raise their heartbeats above couch potato level a couple of times a week.

Where to go

• The venue is usually outdoors, which means that kids can come too and play while you sweat (they need to be over about two and a half before they’ll reliably leave you alone, but you can always slip an older child a few euros to keep the littler ones busy). That cuts out the trusty excuse that your other half is late at work and there’s no-one to look after the children. The philosophy is that only extreme weather should cancel a class, although you might need a shelter for the children if it rains (mine love toting umbrellas).

Who should call the shots?

• There’s no doubt that the best boot- camps I’ve attended have been with an instructor. They can plan the exercises in advance, meaning there’s no standing around wondering what to do next. They are also on hand to watch participants and ensure that they’re doing the moves correctly, to avoid injury. Many trainers will include competitive games that take your mind off the pain and keep you moving to win. And they can motivate you, pushing the group as a whole to finish the minute of squats or take one more run to the tree.

So your first port of call is probably to scout out a trainer. Be clear what you want out of the class and ask them to submit a sample session to make sure that you’re all on the same page.

But if finding the right person or finding enough cash to pay them is an issue, starting your own camp is easier than you think. You just need four or five friends (word will spread once you get going) and a location that you can use.

Today’s bootcamp is more about friends getting together to raise their heartbeats.

Bootcamp is just about improving strength and fitness and having fun while you’re doing it; with a bit of ingenuity, you can easily come up with a programme yourself. Rotate the responsibility of being the leader. The idea is that you end up pushing each other harder than you would alone in the gym. And you can chat (if you have any breath left) in-between.

What do I need?

• Your body is really the only equipment you need, but take a towel for exercises that require lying down and whatever other gym kit you have, such as weights (tins of beans will work just as well).

Session one

• First session is going to be tough, especially if you haven’t been working out, but the bootcamp message is simple; keep going, even if you have to slow to a walk, or reduce the intensity of your lunge and push-up.

Start off with a jog; agree a distance that everyone can handle, such as three laps around the field, even if that means running ten steps and walking twenty. Getting the heart rate up is the aim here. Don’t let anyone stop completely.

Then try a series of interval training exercises. You can all do them at the same time or rotate in circuits if you need to share equipment. Classics includes squats, press-ups, jumping jacks, burpees (a push-up followed by a squat jump), step-ups on a bench, sit-ups and bicep curls, but the variety of exercises is infinite and you can throw in weights, tubes and other equipment to shake things up a little. Encourage one another, especially if you see someone starting to give up or stop. Maintain the momentum, even if it’s slow or at a lower intensity. If you’re stuck for ideas, sites like www.boot-camp-fitness-guide.com will help.

They can motivate you, pushing the group as a whole to finish the minute of squats or take one more run to the tree

Now is a good time for team games such as the ‘mountains and valleys’ game with small cones. Lay out 20 cones, half of them upside down. If you don’t have cones, improvise with household items. One team aims to have all the cones upright, the other to have them upside down. As fast as you turn one over, someone will be behind you turning it back, prompting you to ever more frenzied activity. Teams have two minutes and the team with the most cones either up or down wins.

Or try playing games with forfeits; teams have to throw three balls into a bucket to win, but getting each ball requires the whole team to do ten push-ups ... and each time you miss the bucket, it’s six more burpees to get the ball back. Games which require players to steal balls from the opponents also work well to motivate people into working hard; to steal, you might need to do 20 sit-ups per ball. Prizes can be fruit from a participant’s garden, or a free pass on a hated exercise.

After a (brief) water break, keep the heart rate high with some more cardio. Set a distance of about 25m, and have each person invent a way to get there and back. You can jump, hurdle, sideways gallop, run backwards, step lunge, hop or leapfrog and if your group like the competition, you can do relays to see who wins. If the park has steps, run up and down them and add jumping jacks at the end of each flight.

The last five to ten minutes should be a cool-down. If you don’t have a professional leading you, google some good stretches or buy a magazine like Shape, which will give you pictures and an explanation.

Am I doing it right?

• If you’re working hard enough, the first session will push you to the max. And full disclosure; I was light-headed and felt nauseous halfway through my first time, even though I considered myself reasonably fit. But it was just so much fun that I managed to drag myself back every week until I wasn’t a gasping, puffing newbie anymore and could push myself harder and feel a little fitter each session.

I now do one session a week with an instructor and another session in the park with friends, rain or shine; the kids come too for a Lord of the Flies experience, climbing trees and poking one another with sticks, since the adults only have enough breath to intervene if there are tears. I like to think it’s character building.

I noticed results more quickly than I expected; swimming, my favourite exercise, got easier and my arms in particular got more muscle tone. And a year into the experience, I no longer hobble out of bed the day after a session ... That has to be progress, right?