21 Day Fix Plyo

Autumn Calabrese
Year Released: 2014

Categories: Floor Aerobics/Hi-Lo/Dance



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The 21 Day Fix system is a series of seven workouts (plus several optional routines) plus a nutrition plan designed to change your body when followed as specified for 21 days. The workouts are led by Autumn Calabrese, who teaches each routine live with a group of approximately six background exercisers. In general, Calabrese sets up each move and then walks around the room, offering words of encouragement and pushing the class members to perform.

Plyo Fix is one of the "bonus" workouts in the set. I subbed it for Cardio Fix in Weeks 2 & 3 (Day 5 of the rotation). The theme (each workout has a theme) is "You Can Do Anything." As the name implies, this is a plyometrics workout that includes jumping, but the workout is easily modified by going at your own pace, plus there is a modifier, Cat, who keeps the impact low.

Plyo Fix is performed in six rounds, with each round consisting of two exercises. You will perform each exercise for 30 seconds, then go back and repeat the round once before moving on to the next round. There is a short (30 seconds) rest between exercises/rounds. The Warm-Up is EXACTLY the same on ALL 21 Day Fix workouts: Calabrese starts with a light jog and then moves through jumping jacks, side reaches, "windmills" (large alternating arm circles front and back), overhead reaches to either side, and alternating toe touches (about 3 minutes total).

The rounds for Plyo Fix are as follows:

ROUND ONE
*Squat Jumps
*One-legged Squat Jumps

ROUND TWO
*Tuck Jumps
*Frog Jumps

ROUND THREE
*Burpee with Push-Up
*Plyo Push-Up

ROUND FOUR
*Skiers
*Skater Jumps

ROUND FIVE
*Jumping Lunges
*Twisting Jump Lunges

ROUND SIX
Full Body Hops (in push-up position, side-to-side)
Sumo Jumps

The 2 1/2 minute cool-down was all-standing and was a bit different than the other 21 Day Fix workouts. Oddly, it focused mainly on the upper body, starting with a shoulder stretch (arm across chest), moving on to stretching the triceps, chest, quads, and finishing with a standing Figure 4 stretch, bringing in the full workout time over 30 minutes (32:20). Adding in my own modifications, I enjoyed this workout much more than Cardio Fix.

Instructor Comments:
I find Autumn's instructor to be just okay. She does mirror cue, which is nice, and she offers decent form pointers at times. But I'm not a fan of the walk around the room style of instructing, which comes across more like a drill sergeant to me; I find it much more motivating when the instructor does the workout right along with me the entire time. Also, I don't like the ways in which Autumn says things that could unnecessarily lead you to push yourself to injury, such as "you can do anything for 60 seconds!" (no, sometimes you can't!).

Beth C (aka toaster)

04/03/2015

The 21 Day Fix is a program from Beachbody which combines portion control, color-coded containers with a series of 30 minute workouts. The program and workouts were developed by Autumn Calabrese, a personal trainer and bikini competitor. The review below is for 21 Day Fix Plyo Fix. This workout is not part of the original 8 workouts. I received it as a gift when I ordered from a Beachbody coach. It is also available to purchase separately.

Plyo Fix is a HIIT style cardio workout that lasts 30 minutes. You won’t need any equipment for this workout, just about a 4X4 foot area of space. Water and a towel are recommended.

Autumn leads 6 background exercisers (2 men, 4 women) in the workout, one of whom modifies throughout. Autumn is wearing an athletic bra top and fitness shorts. The other backgrounders are also wearing athletic tops and bottoms.

The set is reminiscent of a brightly lit fitness studio or gym cardio room. The music is all instrumental and I found it neither enhanced nor detracted from the workout. There is an option from the menu to turn the music off.
The workout consists of a warm up, the main body of the workout which is 6 rounds of 2 exercises, and a cool down of about 2:30 minutes.

Warm Up: jogging in place, jumping jacks, windmill arms (forward & back), side reaches (left & right), and toe touches. The moves in warm up a repeated.

Below are the exercises for each round. The work to rest ratio is 30 seconds on/30 seconds off. Rounds are repeated twice before moving on to the next round.

Round 1: squat jumps, single leg squat jumps (right, then left).
Round 2: tuck jumps, frog jumps.
Round 3: burpees w/a push up, plyo push-ups.
Round 4: moguls, skater jumps.
Round 5: jumping lunges, twisting jumping lunges.
Round 6: side to side plank hops, sumo jumps.

Cool down: shoulder stretch, triceps stretch, chest stretch, standing quad stretch, standing figure 4 stretch, and standing forward fold to a roll up.

As demonstrated by Autumn and the crew I’d say this workout is high intermediate to low advanced. You can make this workout more challenging by increasing the speed of the moves, jumping higher, squatting lower, etc. The modifier does show easier options that would make this suitable for a high beginner/low intermediate exerciser. There is a lot of jumping moves that someone with knee issues would not enjoy and should therefore, follow the modifier. This workout is pretty basic and gets to the point, which is to deliver a solid cardio workout. I enjoyed it quite a bit and would give it an A.

Instructor Comments:
Autumn is a very pleasant instructor. Quite a bit of her talk during the workout focuses on pushing yourself because you only have 21 days to get results. I do like that she points out when other participants are doing the modified moves when they’re feeling gassed, as I had to do this at one point too. There is also some talk about body image, but because this workout is pretty intense, most of the time Autumn was encouraging everyone to take it one exercise at a time and make it through the best way you can.

Sabine Reuter

01/14/2015