Attending a teen fitness boot camp is one of the best methods of developing the character of growing teenagers. Earlier teen boot camps were called juvenile boot camps and they were exclusively meant to reform delinquent adolescents with behavioral problems. Here they stayed under strict supervision for a prescribed period of time and were subjected to a military-style regimentation.

It was the standard practice to send first-time and non-violent offending teenagers to boot camps as a corrective measure. Things have changed since then and today, even parents trying to cope with difficult children send them to teen boot camps. Teen boot camps claim to reform the child by reinforcing discipline.

It is a fact that nowadays most teenagers are under great peer pressure and swayed by undesirable external influences and as a result, their self esteem is at its lowest. Teen Boot Camps have sprung up everywhere to help teenagers successfully pass through these growing pains by offering a challenging educational fitness program that enforces discipline and imparts values into their lifestyle and helps them overcome these vulnerabilities.

The teen fitness boot camp offers a wide range of fun-filled, challenging activities during the camp stay that is strikingly different from the repetitive, standard fitness programs. The teen boot camp training program includes nutritional guidance, team building, art of self defense, resistance training and boxing. The training program is designed to impact teens by increasing their self-esteem while improving their levels of physical fitness. By incurring a small expense now, the parents are making a massive future investment for their wards.

The teen boot camps are generally located away from cities and crowded places, usually within or at the edge of wooded areas. This is done to reduce distraction and avoid temptations that urban life provides. The aim is not only to make campers self-disciplined but also to increase their levels of self-confidence and improve their vitality. Treks, hike, rafting and rock-climbing activities are regularly organized so that trainees push themselves to the edge of their physical capacities.

The basic underlying principle in a teen boot camp is to subject a defiant teenager to heavy mental and physical subjugation to make him into a better person. Inmates at these boot camps face disciplinary orders from supervisors, who are just like military sergeants and punishments for the slightest disobedience of the rules. There is also an emphasis on physical exercise and mind control. Earlier, supervisors used corporal methods in such camps, but they are now banned by legislation.

Teenagers attending boot camps have to forgo their contacts with family and friends during their camp stay. They wear uniforms and some teen camps even tonsure kids' heads to create a feeling of subordination among them. In juvenile boot camps, teenagers are not addressed by their names, so that no one is given individual importance. The period that a teenager spends at a boot-camp is followed by a period of aftercare. During this period, some job-training skills are also taught.

According to psychologists and other experts, the effects of boot camps are highly temporary and forgotten as soon as the camp life is over. Also teenagers who live under stiff subjugation for a period of time become more rebellious and defiant in later life. Campers who are placed at teen boot camps may once more revert to their original behavior once they are out.