The Rain Plan

The pitch is a pond and the class still happens — full bootcamp energy in any dry rectangle you can borrow

Bootcamp
All levels
45 min
Works for 8–24
1 instructor
Effort 4/5
Any dry rectangle — hall, garage gym, function room
indoor
wet-weather
minimal-kit
adaptable
circuit

The ClassPlans programming teamLevel 3 group-fitness qualified · 10+ yrs teaching

Kit: Whatever survived the boot of the car: mats, a few dumbbells, cones, a deck of playing cards. Every block below lists its zero-kit version, because the rain never checks your inventory first.

Warm-up6 min

In From the Rain

RPE 3–4

Setup: Send the venue change by group message the moment the pitch dies, with a pin and a parking line — half the battle of a rain plan is logistics, not programming. Inside: wet coats and bags along one wall, floor checked for slick patches where drips came in, cones marking any no-go spots. Your crowd arrives cold, damp and secretly delighted to be indoors — get heat into them fast.

How it works: No standing introductions — moving within 30 seconds of the start. Three minutes of building follow-along: marching that becomes quick feet, arm swings that become arm drives, half squats that become full ones. Then three minutes of cone-to-cone shuttling at walk-jog-stride pace to teach everyone the room's actual size, turning early and soft at each end. The room brief happens while they move: quiet feet if there are neighbours, watch the marked wet patch, and the pillar is nobody's finish line.

What to say

“Cold and damp burns off in three minutes — keep the arms driving and it's gone.”
“Learn the room with your feet now — where the walls are, where the wet patch is.”
“Turn early at the ends, land soft — halls are less forgiving than grass and twice as loud.”

Easier

March all shuttles; skip the stride pace.

Harder

Final shuttle at three-quarter pace with a soft-feet score out of ten, announced.

Workout12 min

The Hall Circuit

2 laps × 6 stations × [45s work / 15s move]RPE 7–8

Setup: Six stations around the edges of the room, built from whatever came in from the car: 1 squats (bell if you have one), 2 push-ups, 3 step-ups on the stage lip or low bench — or lunges if the hall has neither, 4 rows or supermans, 5 quiet fast feet, 6 plank shoulder taps. The rule of the rain plan said out loud: every station has a no-kit twin, so the circuit works in a hall that owns nothing but a floor.

How it works: Two laps at 45 seconds work, 15 to move. Lap one to learn, lap two to earn. In a tight room, the moving matters more than usual: rotate clockwise only, walk the walls not the middle, and nobody overtakes. Coach from the centre where every station can hear you, and keep the impact honest — this is the class where you prove bootcamp is an attitude, not a field.

What to say

“Same standards as the pitch — the rain changed the address, not the effort.”
“Clockwise, along the walls — the middle of the room is mine.”
“Quiet feet are strong feet — control is the loudest thing about you tonight.”
“Step-ups: whole foot on the stage lip, stand all the way up — half reps are for half showers.”

Easier

40/20 timing; wall push-ups; step-ups become low step-taps.

Harder

Lap two runs 50/10; bells appear at squats and rows for whoever claims them first.

Workout11 min

Pairs & Shuttles

4 × 90s you-go-I-go per pairRPE 7–8

Setup: Two cones per pair making a lane the length of the room — even a twelve-metre function room gives an honest shuttle if the turns are coached. Pairs of matched appetite, one working set of kit per lane at most.

How it works: You-go-I-go for the whole block: partner A shuttles the lane down and back while partner B holds or reps a station move — squat hold, push-up reps, plank — then they trade. Four rounds of 90 seconds continuous per pair, changing B's job each round. In week-one versions of this class, cap the shuttle pace at brisk; in a drilled group, let the last round race — pairs counting total lengths, winners announced with full ceremony and no prize.

Rounds: B's job rotates: hold, push-ups, plank, coach's choice

What to say

“Your partner is mid-squat-hold while you jog — that's the tax on dawdling.”
“Touch the cone, turn low and soft, push out of the turn — turns are free speed.”
“Trade jobs like a pit crew — the handover is part of the round.”
“Last round: count your lengths, mind the walls, and leave the pillar out of it.”

Easier

Walk-jog shuttles; the holding partner marches on the spot instead.

Harder

Shuttle carries a bell for its middle round; holds upgrade to wall sits with the bell hugged.

The rest of this class plan is free — along with 3 more this week.

ClassPlans programming team

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