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08-08-03, 11:47 AM
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VF Supporter
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Toronto!
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The "Everything Beachbody.com" Thread
Here we go with yet another "Everything..." thread, by popular request...
Huge thanks to Nat and CJ5 for their work on the "Everything Slim Series" thread (http://69.93.245.62/forum/showthread...=&pagenumber=1), which this is meant to complement. They did a fabulous job. What I hope to do with this thread is condense the key details about the OTHER beachbody.com products as there have been a lot of questions lately. Ready? 1) What is beachbody.com? What programs does it offer? Beachbody.com is a direct marketing company specializing in fitness products which they sell through their website (www.beachbody.com) and via infomercial. By direct marketing, I mean they use these methods to sell directly to the consumer, as opposed to selling to stores who might carry the product for them. They offer a variety of programs which fall into the following categories: a) "Boot Camp" complete programs b) Companion programs intended for graduates of the above c) Specialty programs for seniors and kids d) Stand-alone workouts You can find rotations for all these programs here: http://69.93.245.62/forum/showthread...threadid=33543 2) Can you briefly break these down for me? Sure. The boot camp programs are meant to be done by themselves, meaning you do not need to supplement them with other workouts. Each comes with a booklet to track your progress, and a short diet guide. Beachbody.com also offers travel "cheat sheets" with complete breakdowns of the workouts, that are available here: http://www.beachbody.com/content/gen...owChanges=true There are two programs. Workout: Power 90 Instructor: Tony Horton Number of tapes: 6 tapes in two levels. Each level has Sculpt. Sweat and Abs Length of program: 90 days (12 weeks) Workout commitment: 30 minutes per day for level 1; 40 minutes for level 2 Workout: Slim in 6 Instructor: Debbie Siebers Number of tapes: 5. Do one tape at a time, every day Length of program:6 weeks Workout commitment: 1 hour The add-on "mix and match" programs are intended to follow one of these bootcamps. Power Half Hour is the official Power 90 companion, and Slim Series is the official Slim in 6 companion, but depending on your goals, you may vary these. The beachbody.com "Fitness Advisor" often suggests that those with less time to work out would enjoy Power Half Hour, while those wanting to really crank it up should go with Slim Series. (although the Power Half Hour booklet does come with a suggested "Slim Training" rotation that is an hour long). And if you have really followed Power 90 for the whole 90 days, you might be sick of Tony and ready for a new instructor. If so, Slim Series with Debbie is your best bet. Note also that all 5 Power Half Hour tapes come on one DVD while each Slim Series tape has its own disk. Some details: Workout: Power Half Hour Instructor: Tony Horton Number of tapes: 5 (available on one DVD); Arms, Abs, Buns, Thighs, Abs and stretch Length of program: Varies depending on chosen rotation Workout commitment: 30-60 minutes per day Workout: Slim Series Instructor: Debbie Siebers Number of tapes: 6 tapes each available separately on DVD Length of program: No more than 6 weeks Workout commitment: 60-75 minutes per day The two specialty programs are not sets but rather single tapes. "Tony and the Folks" is led by Tony Horton and is geared to seniors. "Tony and the Kids" is geared to kids. Other beachbody.com products include the "Great Body Guaranteed" series (10-minute Abs, Thighs, Stretch, Arms and Buns routines available seperately on VHS or on one DVD) and the stretch tape Ho' Ala Ke Kino. |
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08-08-03, 11:48 AM
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VF Supporter
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Toronto!
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3) Which workout should I choose?
Of the bootcamps, each has its pros and cons. Power 90 is a longer rotation (12 weeks to Slim in 6's 6). But each Slim in 6 workout is longer than each Power 90 workout (60 minutes to Power 90's 30-45). Power 90 uses a high-weight-low-rep approach whereas Slim in 6 uses a low-weight-high-rep approach. Power 90 segregates its cardio on a separate cardio tape while Slim in 6 intersperses it throughout. Many Vfers said that Power 90 was a good way to get their husbands into exercise videos because it features a male instructor. Many other Vfers said they preferred Slim in 6 because they knew they could not stick with one set of tapes for 3 entire months. Either way, both programs would be complete in themselves and offer a good workout. Of the add-ons, Slim Series and Power Half Hour both offer a variety (5-6 tapes) and they each include a separate cool-down or stretch tape and a booklet with numerous rotations. Both intersperse weight work with cardio, and feature proven instructors from the bootcamps. Either would be a good choice. Power Half Hour's tapes are significantly shorter, which may be a deciding factor for some people. Great Body Guaranteed is not your best bet for a beachbody workout. If you are really pressed for time it is better than nothing, but the workouts are simply not long enough to be anywhere near as challenging as the bootcamps. They were Tony's first videos. The stretch and abs sections might be nice add-ons, as might the two lower body sections put together. But this is not meant to be a complete program in itself and has no cardio element at all. 4) What equipment do I need? As noted in the Everything Slim Series thread, all Beachbody programs involve a strength component that uses bands or weights. You do not need barbells or a step (unless you want to use a step as your weight bench). You'll need a mat for some of the ab work and Power Yoga in the Power 90 tape. You can use either weights or bands---they show on-screen participants using both at all times. Beachbody.com sells its own bands, which several Vfers reported seemed longer than store-bought kinds. But any resistance tubing would do the trick. The Beachbody.com "Fitness Advisor" suggests that everyone try both, both for muscle confusion and variety, and so weight users will be comfortable with the bands in case they want to take the workout with them when they travel. Some people consider the "supplements" Beachbody.com pushes as "equipment" as well but these are by no means required, and may people have had fabulous results without using these. 5) What's this I hear about clocks and graphs? Each Beachbody features on-screen clocks and graphs to chart your progress. There is the main screen with the workout itself, then at the bottom there are two clocks that show the time left in the section you are in, and in the workout as a whole. The graphs up the side of the screen also chart your progress. In Power 90, each bar on the graph corresponds exactly to one set, for example in the first round there would be a bar for every exercise in the round. In other beachbody programs, they seem to correspond to looser "sections" of workout that are not as clearly delineated. Some people find the clocks and bars annoying. Others really like them. It depends on your workout personality. 6) Who is likely to enjoy these tapes? The Slim Series tapes seem to have a high enjoyment factor among many Vfers, who praise Debbie's personality and instruction. Power 90 is less highly regarded, but seems to have appeal among Vfers who enjoy athletic "gym style" workouts. People who enjoy highly choreographed routines probably won't like Beachbody programs that much because they are so methodical and well-organized. But people who have in the past enjoyed Joyce Vedral, Cory Everson, Gilad and other "athletic" gym-style programs might enjoy them. |
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08-08-03, 12:34 PM
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Community Manager
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Northern VA, USA
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thanks, Joanna
I will add this to the FAQ once it gets some more responses.
I would also like to note in this thread that every time you shop at BeachBody.com, please use the link in the Support VF pull down menu or the link below, and your purchases help support this site: BeachBody.com (VF link)
__________________
Wendy Niemi Kremer Community Manager DISCLOSURE: I have a professional relationship with a seller or producer of fitness videos or products. For details, please see my profile. |
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08-08-03, 02:09 PM
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VF Supporter
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: La Plata, MD
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I looked at some of the links
Hi,
Thanks very much Joanna. I've not read much about all of the Beachbody workouts, and this helped me a lot. One link in particular got my attention: "More Q&A by Tony". Tony answers a question about ab work: "You've seen my abs. I do ab work twice a week tops. When I first started working out I was doing them three times a week tops. YOU CAN'T GET FLAT RIPPED ABS FROM DOING AB WORK ALL THE TIME. Crunches are spot training exercises. They strengthen the abdominal muscles that hide beneath the layer of fat above. If someone asked me to pick between cardio, low fat diet and crunches for a lean tummy I'd pick crunches LAST! Doing extra ab work could do more harm than good. If you want to do something extra, go harder on cardio day and never stray from the top two rungs of Michi's ladder. That would work 5 times better than doing ab crunches all the time. Some people want to do the ab routines everyday. To me it's silly and unnecessary." I know this touches on a taboo subject (diet), but that's not why I'm pointing this answer out. It sounds like he is saying that you should increase or intensify your cardio instead of making sure you get ab work in every day. I've been adding even more traditional ab work to my Slim Series rotation, and it sounds like I don't need to; maybe only some core work or Pilates for my lower back, and of course, some cardio. The Slim Series has ab work of some type every day, but it felt like it wasn't enough...... I know that core work is very important for back health/posture, but I'm wondering what other VFers have experienced. Has your ab section improved from doing only Beachbody workouts? Do you add core work or cardio? Sandi M |
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08-08-03, 02:40 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Washington State
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Thanks for all of the info on Beachbody. I just had a question. I'm thinking about maybe getting PHH at some point, but how heavy do you have to go on the weights? I've looked at Beachbody's site and I haven't been able to find the answer to my question. Thanks!
Heather |
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08-08-03, 03:19 PM
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VF Supporter
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Toronto!
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Sandi- your question comes up a lot on the beachbody forum which btw might be a fun place for some of you to visit if the diet issue does interest you as we can't talk about that here. The reply people always get to it is do one of the bootcamps first because they are designed to be complete stand-alone programs that are properly balanced for results, so you shiuld not do extra. In Power 90, which I am doing right now, the ab work can be accessed separately, and also immediately follows the cardio work---so if you follow the P90 program exactly you will be doing ab work every other day, or 3 times a week (6 workout days (3 cardio and 3 strength) with the 7th day a rest day).
Heather- you can use whatever weights you can manage, I think. I would start one set lighter than what you would normally use in a familiar workout, and then adjust it next time if they feel too light to you. Joanna |
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08-08-03, 03:20 PM
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Join Date: May 2003
Location: GA
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Sandi I feel like you do- I feel like I need to add on extra abs so I use the ab work in the slim & 6 pack. When I'm doing p90 rotation I don't always want to use the ab ripper so I will substitute. I just like doing ab work- I don't care what tony says LOL.. he's a man- that might work for him but I'm just starting to see some real ab definition and it didn't come from 3 times a week!
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08-08-03, 06:23 PM
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VF Supporter
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Pennsylvania
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Latecomer on the BB bandwagon
I finally got on board last week and now I have 1 tape, 1 DVD and 3 more DVDs coming (via the Exchange and the Yayas) plus I think I will be using that VF BB link soon for more.
Thanks, Joanna (and Nat and all the rest of you who start these "Everything" threads). It is especially helpful to those of us who finally decide to embark on something that has been around for a while. It certainly helps to cut down on all that "where the heck do I start reading?" problems!
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peggy h vidiot/DVDiot |
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08-08-03, 08:57 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2003
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Thank you so much for putting this thread together! I'm currently waiting to get my Power 90 tapes and I can't wait!
I do have one minor question. Over the years I have read that one shouldn't do the same workout all the time because it increases the risk of injury and slows down progress. From what I have read, one is supposed to mix up workout routines for best results. I, personally, don't like the idea of mixing workouts because I'm the kind of person who likes to use the same videos, get comfortable with them and then change when I am tired of them. What do you guys think? I've seen the progress people have made with these videos so I do believe they are effective, but is it really a good idea to do the same workout on a regular basis (as you do with Power 90)? |
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