CAN you stay healthy if you don’t exercise? Can your body look good and feel good if you don’t exercise?

The answer to these questions, except in some cases, has to be NO. But how we exercise is a massively complex morass from a couple of push-ups on the floor to seven-day-a-week gym work, power walking, cycling, lifting weights, running, swimming, playing sports et al.

In other words, you name it or any part of your body and there are exercises to fit, with get-fit courses everywhere you look.

But of course it is becoming big business, huge business, multi-billion dollar business and, like weight-loss programs, they go in and out of vogue. There's always a fad, and while Pilates have ruled one of the roosts for many years, its star is waning and its usurper is  . . . the Boot Camp.

Yes, it sounds military, and it is, (well, in its concept and structure, at least) and it is catching on world wide both through gyms, courses and special programs and even the stay-at-home version of getting in shape from the high-intensity exercises.

It’s big in nearby Australia, and the American College of Sports Medicine has announced the boot-camp workout is the top fitness trend for 2011.

The basic high-intensity exercise system, modelled on military-style training, features cardiovascular, strength, endurance and flexibility exercises, and because the workout requires minimal space and little equipment you can start keeping up with the latest trend in fitness in your own home.

There is increasing awareness that a top workout not only does wonders for your health but also your body and devotees say when you are looking to lose weight or just keep fit then doing a good boot camp workout is your best option because it is made up of much more rigorous and powerful exercises than normal.

It is said that anyone who continues to perform boot camp workout exercises will soon begin to see their muscles becoming much firmer and more toned, and at the same time experience a much more exacting cardiovascular workout.

So what are the advantages of performing a boot camp workout compared to other exercise regimes you have tried before?  These are a few.

When you do a boot camp workout you are required to perform exercises such as jumping, weight lifting, crunches as well as aerobic ones. Although they may look similar to other exercises you have done during other workouts they differ dramatically in one way in that these exercises are lot more intense and strenuous.

Another thing to know is that these types of exercises have been designed to burn extreme amounts of calories at one time as you are exercising not just your lower but also the muscles in the upper part of your body at the same time.

Also you will find that you burn more calories doing a boot camp workout as you don’t have any time to rest between exercises you perform.

With this type of workout you are required to move straight from one exercise to another, but by doing so you are burning between 400 and 600 calories during one workout.  If you are looking to lose weight quickly then this is the workout that will enable you to do this

As you are only required to do the exercises in your boot camp workout for short periods of time you will start to feel and see the effects of doing these exercises more quickly.

And you can easily fit a boot-camp routine in with your normal daily routine, with 45 to 60 minutes spent burning off those calories.

So, if you want to start your own in-home boot camp, first weigh yourself, measure your body fat and do a fitness assessment so you can both find the right workouts and exercises and gauge how you are progressing later. Set some specific short term fitness goals that you can accomplish and see how you are progressing in four to six weeks.

The internet has many sites that tell you about boot camp workouts how to start with the basic exercises, modify them, equipment-free workouts such as squats and push-ups, the best bodyweight exercises and what fitness gear you can buy to challenge every muscle in your body.