How Much Walking Is There on a Dating Bootcamp?

A fair amount, because a Cold Approach Bootcamp happens in the field and not in a room. Each training day is two four-hour blocks, and you spend much of that time on your feet, moving between streets, cafes and bars with a coach beside you. We do not publish a distance, since it changes with the city, the day and the mix of daygame and night game. What we can say is that it is an active program, and it is easy to plan for.

Walking is not the point of the day. It is how you get from one conversation to the next. Still, a man who has sat at a desk for ten years should expect to feel it.

The Bootcamp is in person and fully in the field. You approach real women in real places, so the day follows where the women are. That means a street, then a cafe, then another street, or a bar, then a lounge.

Daygame is the more mobile of the two. You walk through a neighborhood, spot someone, approach, talk, then move on. Night game is more settled, since you spend longer inside a venue, but you still stand, circulate and move between rooms.

The mix is arranged to suit each student, so the amount of walking is too. If you want a day weighted toward venues, say so. If you want to build up your daytime confidence, expect more time outside.

Being on your feet for a block of four hours is closer to a long day of sightseeing than to a workout. The effort is mostly low, with a lot of standing and talking in between. The harder tiredness is mental. You are doing something that makes most men nervous, repeatedly, for eight hours.

a dating coach often points out that the physical act of an approach is small. It is putting one foot in front of the other and saying something that gets someone's attention. Walking over is the easy part of the day for your body and the hard part for your head.

You do not need to train for a Bootcamp. A few ordinary things help.

• Wear comfortable shoes you have already broken in. New dress shoes are the most common way to make a day miserable.
• Eat and drink properly before each block, the way you would for a long day out.
• Dress for the weather in the city you chose. Miami and New York feel very different depending on the season.
• Carry little. A phone, wallet and keys are enough. Heavy bags get tiresome.
• Sleep well the night before. Your attention gets you through the day more than your legs do.

Nothing here is a rule from the program. It is the sort of preparation anyone would do for a day spent outdoors.

Tell your coach. If you have a bad knee, a back that does not like long stretches of standing or a condition that limits how far you can go, mention it at the start so the day is built around it. The goal is the approaches and not the distance covered, so your coach can shape the day around what your body does well.

If you want the pace set entirely by you, choose Private. Private is one, two or three days, fully 1-on-1, and longer programs are quoted on request. Group runs at no more than three students per coach, so the group moves together.

For most men, no. The hard part is the moment before you walk over. It is deciding to leave your spot and cross the gap to someone you have not met.

a dating coach puts it bluntly: most men lose the girl because they hesitated, not because they did something wrong. A day with a lot of walking gives you a lot of chances to practice that decision. Each time you cross the gap it gets a little shorter, until it does not feel like a decision at all.

That is why the days are structured around constant movement and repetition. Nothing about the exercise is meant to wear you out. It is meant to put you in front of enough women that the hesitation wears down.

Men in their 40s, 50s and 60s ask about this most. The program does not assume a young body, and nothing in it is built only for younger men. If this is your worry, see Can a Man in His 50s or 60s Do a Dating Bootcamp? and Is a Dating Bootcamp Too Late for a Man Over 40?.

Expect a day that is active, outdoors and social, with a coach beside you the entire time. Pack comfortable shoes, tell your coach about any limits, and treat the walking as part of the training. You will not be asked to hike.

Miami and New York are the only two.