Who is it for?
Anybody who likes lifting weight, no matter your fitness background. While it’s often considered an advanced program, it’s actually a beginner, intermediate, or advanced program because the amount of weight you use will dictate the difficulty.
What equipment does it require?
Weights. How much weight depends on you. Someone who has never weight trained likely won’t need a lot, but Sagi would use a ton (maybe literally). For the most flexibility in your weight selection, we recommend a 50-lb. adjustable set to start. If you want a low-cost place to start, we recommend getting a set of each range of dumbbells: light (3 lb.–5 lb.), medium (10 lb.–20 lb.), and heavy (25 lb.+). Then adjust your weight assortment based on your ability and progression in the program. You will also need a bench or stability ball and a pull-up bar or resistance bands with a door attachment. An EZ Curl Bar is highly recommended. Optional are PowerStands, jump mat, Chin-Up Max, and fitness gloves.
What weights should I start with?
You want to use enough that you fail, or come close on every single set that you do. This will likely slow down your first few workouts (just hit pause) as you figure it out but it will come quickly. Just remember this is fine. If the set you did was easy, you weren’t doing Beast. Beast Up!
Is this a good program for women? Will it make me bulky?
It’s an excellent program for women. Women aren’t as genetically predisposed to bulk, so it takes much more effort to get bulky than you think. Just ask any man you know who is genetically predisposed and still can’t grow as fast as he’d like. Of course, much of this comes down to nutrition. Don’t follow the bulking diet and you won’t bulk, period. Do eat enough to recover from exercise because added muscle raises your metabolism and burns fat.
Is this a good program if I just want to lose weight?
Yes, absolutely! We’ve received hundreds of amazing weight-loss story submissions from people who lost between 10–15 lbs. up to over 70 lbs.! Just be sure to follow the appropriate eating plan in the guide and the Lean Beast workout calendar if that is your goal.
How does this program compare to P90X?
P90X is an overall fitness program focused on muscle growth as well as weight loss, depending on your goals, but also cardiovascular training, flexibility, functional movements, and athleticism. Body Beast is similarly focused on muscle growth, weight loss, fat burning, and includes cardiovascular training without high-impact movements (although the cardio training is not as extensive as P90X). Body Beast uses more weights with some bodyweight resistance moves, while P90X is more inverse, using more bodyweight resistance moves with some weights. Essentially it depends on your goals and preference for type of workout as to which program you’d rather use, but either program is a great choice.
Is there any cardio in this program or is it all lifting weights?
Yes. You’ll only do cardio during certain phases of the program but it’s kick-ass cardio like you’ve never seen before. It’s also worth noting that Dynamic Set Training (all of the workouts) will have you training constantly, often with your heart rate pegged at its max, so “extra” cardio work is simply not necessary.
I missed a week due to vacation/work travel/sickness. Where do I start from today?
Missing a few days is no big deal. Just jump back into your program where you left off. If you’ve missed more than five days, start slow on your first day back, maybe doing a third to half of your normal workout and ramp up little by little, taking about a week to get back to where you left off. After taking about five or six days off from working out, your body is fully recovered and very strong, and you actually have the ability to hurt yourself by breaking down your fast-twitch muscle fibers. This can make you too sore to work out for over a week.
Can I do the 21 Day Fix Eating Plan with Body Beast?
Given the unique nature of the Body Beast Eating Plan, we recommend sticking to that. However, the 21 Day Fix Eating Plan will still work. Just follow the calorie levels given to you in the nutrition guide that came with your program with one of the Fix Calorie Charts. If you find yourself feeling hungry most days, try adding an extra red container to your Fix plan.
What’s the perfect next step?
You are fit and ready for most anything. If you’re looking for more weight training, try another round of Body Beast and/or weave in some of Sagi’s additional workouts from Body Beast: Tempo workouts, Body Beast: Beast Up workouts, or Sagi’s Equipment Room workouts found in Sagi’s BOD Exclusive section on BeachbodyOnDemand.com. If you’re a Beachbody On Demand member you have access to so many more workouts to keep your regimen fresh week after week. No matter what you decide, you’ll want to take a short break of maintenance workouts, especially if you did a cutting phase. This will give your muscles a chance to heal before you hit it hard again.
What is maintenance work?
It’s much harder to get into shape than it is to maintain that shape once you get there. You can generally maintain a level pretty close to peak fitness with about half the volume of your program. To maintain, you can utilize many different forms of training but the easiest is often 3–4 days per week of the program you just finished. It will decline slowly over time, but you’ll probably start another program or activity to pick up the slack after awhile.