As a trainer and fitness instructor, I usually love to create workouts for myself and others. However, there are times when I just don’t want to think about it or I need a little inspiration to get me going. So, I decided to check out Beachbody’s workout #MBF (muscle burns fat). It’s a full 3 week strength training program.
If you’re thinking about trying it, but aren’t sure what it’s all about and if it’s worth your time, read on to find out what I thought about it.
What I liked about MBF
First of all, I love that none of the workouts are more than 35 minutes long. As a busy mom trying to run a business on my own, I need a workout that is effective and doesn’t consume too much of my time. I was able to stream it on my TV as soon as my last kid gets on the bus and be done in time to get plenty of other things done in the morning. Saves time not having to create a plan or drive to and from the gym. You don’t have to go to the gym to get fit.
The workout is lead by an instructor presenting to a class of participants in their own homes, Zoom style. So, you can see her and the rest of the class in little boxes on your screen as well as hear them interact with each other. Kind of makes you feel like you’re part of a class. If you enjoy the class environment, you’ll probably consider that a plus.
This workout is all about blocks, sets, and intervals. Each workout is broken up into manageable blocks. I think anyone could participate, no matter what their fitness level or experience. The instructor gives very detailed descriptions of how to perform the exercises and provides modifications for different levels.
If you’re used to lifting already, you’ll probably discover some new ways to change up your lifting routine. She does a lot of asymmetrical exercises (holding weight on one side of the body). I don’t generally do much of that and found it to be challenging, but in a good. If you’re not used to lifting, you could just start off with light weights and work your way up to heavier ones as you go. There’s nothing too crazy or complicated, although some of the exercises might challenge your balance at times. We could all stand to improve our balance though, right?
Besides the weight lifting, there’s also a lot of cardio intervals mixed in with the resistance exercises. I like the short bursts of cardio mixed in to increase metabolism and fat burn. It’s also a nice break between weight sets. Breaking the workouts into blocks of weighted exercises and cardio makes the time seem to pass more quickly, too. Feeling like the workout isn’t dragging on and on is definitely a plus.
There’s a clear structure to the MBF program. You use weights most days, but some days are more cardio based than others. Different days focus on different areas of the body as well. It was a little concerning at first when I saw that there was a workout 7 days of the week. I usually take a day or two as my recovery days and do something light, like walking or yoga.
When I discovered that the last day of the workout each week was an active recovery day, lots of stretching and mobility exercises, I felt much better about it. I could always use more stretching and mobility work. Who couldn’t? As we get older, we need this even more. Staying flexible will help us stay injury free.
If you’re not good at keeping track of weights you should use, or need a reminder of your progress to keep you motivated during the MBF program, they make it easy. They include downloadable tracking sheets to go along with each workout. It can be encouraging to see where you started and what you are doing by week three. It also saves you time in having to remember what weight you should be using based on the previous days.
What I Didn’t Love
I’m a big fan of getting a proper warm-up and cool-down with plenty of stretching. MBF included all of this, but just wasn’t what I would consider ideal. If you need a little more time to warm-up before or stretch afterwards, you’ll need to allow extra time and a plan for that. I usually added about 8-10 minutes of my own stretching afterwards.
We all have our favorite music that helps motivate us and get us through our workouts. I wasn’t a big fan of the music that played in the background. It was upbeat, which was good. It just wasn’t something that I would have picked out. Everyone has different tastes and you might like it. I found that I generally just tuned it out.
I found myself having to modify some of the ab exercises. After having four kids and dealing with diastasis recti (separation of the abdominal muscles), I knew there were some exercises that weren’t right for me. Again, everyone is different, the ab exercises might be perfectly fine for you. If you’re like me and need to modify, it’s not too difficult to do that. If you’re not sure how to do that and you’re interested in finding out, let me know in the comments.
MBF Overall
Overall, I found MBF to be just the right amount of challenging and effective. I always looked forward to the next day, knowing it would be a little different than the day before. It had me working out in ways that I don’t normally and I was feeling the difference. I would recommend it to just about anyone that is thinking about starting a resistance based workout or just looking for something new. It’s only three weeks. I think that’s long enough to see if you really like it and if you’re getting anything out of it. If you want to continue after the three weeks they have an advanced program as well that you can try.
Try it out, see what you think, and let me know!
