Haven't worked out in a while? No worries! I have a list of hand picked Top Rated fat melting workouts for any level. Pair any of these workouts with your meal replacement shake and you will see the pounds begin to melt off!
Piyo - unlike a lot of intense workout programs, you do not need expensive weights for fitness equipment, there is no jumping up and down, and the stress on your joints and body is minimal.
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Unlike the claims of many fitness programs, PiYo really can work for you, no matter your physical situation. If you fall into one of the following categories, I can promise you that PiYo can improve your level of physical fitness.
- You want to exercise without jumping, or you are rehabilitating from an injury
- You love Yoga or Pilates and want to do both in a proven exercise program
- You don’t want to spend money on expensive fitness equipment
- You want the privacy of working out at home, because gyms and health clubs can be intimidating
- You travel a lot (You can do PiYo on a portable dvd player in your hotel room)
- You are overweight, out of shape and want a proven program where you can start off slowly
- You want something simple, but proven to be successful, to start your weight loss journey
- You want an easy to follow workout program
- You are tired of your current body, and you know you deserve better
- You want the type of body that turns heads for the right reasons, not the wrong ones
Cize - A fun, dance based workout that doesn't feel like exercise if you like to dance.
WHAT DO I LIKE ABOUT CIZE?
- Fun
- Easy to follow
- Easy to Learn
- Anyone can do this
- Step by Step instructions
- 30 day money-back guarantee. I feel like any company that is confident in their product will give you a guarantee like this.
- It was affordable. Many other programs I read on the Internet mention costly machines or devices. Who buys that stuff? CIZE was 3 payments a month of $19.95 and the shipping and handling. That’s it.
- Well choreographed dance routines. You honestly feel like you’re in a music video, which is really awesome.
- 6 courses that progress you through. This is a huge plus in my book. Step-by-step, you get each move, which means you never feel like you’re doing something you aren’t sure of. It starts out with “Crazy 8s” and Timbaland and moves on to Full out and Destiny’s Child, until finally, you’re on the 6th course, dancing all out to Sia’s Chandelier.
- A lot of awesome additional materials like a getting started guide that’s informative, a meal plan with easy recipes, and a calendar to keep up with your progress.
- 24/7 support online.
- Ordering from the website was quick and hassle-free.
- Shaun is clearly comfortable teaching people how to dance and get fit at the same time. He has a great personality and a long history in the dance community.
Cons
- Waiting for the next set of DVDs to come out. I’m looking forward to it, so I can learn some more moves.
- I’d like to see more of Shaun’s story included in the information that comes with the DVDs. He’s clearly a talented and motivational person with experience. It would be great to read more.
21 Day Fix
WHO THE 21 DAY FIX IS PERFECT FOR
The 21 Day Fix is a seven day-a-week, three-week workout program. It’s not only designed to get you looking as good as you can get in 21 days, it’s also about teaching you how to eat healthier and make exercise a part of your daily routine not just for the life of the program, but for life! It’s a really wonderful program for the beginner and/or for someone who struggles with less-than-healthy eating habits.
THE LOWDOWN
The 21 Day Fix workout program by Autumn Calabrese was created to help you lose up to 15 lbs in 21 days through simple fitness and simple eating. Its Portion Control eating system and seven, 30-minute workouts each week are designed to burn fat and get you looking better than ever in just 21 days. The special thing about this workout program is really how simple the eating plan is. If it doesn’t fit into the color coded container or isn’t listed in the eating plan, you can’t eat it!
Basically, your daily calorie intake will tell you how many of each color container you can eat per day. It’s better than calorie counting, because if it fits and it’s an approved food, you can eat it.
Will you really drop the amount of weight that is promised in just three weeks? It will depend on many factors, but if you have a lot of weight to lose and follow the included 3 Day Quick Fix, you could do very well. The most weight loss I’ve seen with this program in my challenge groups are a man who lost 14lbs in three weeks, and a woman who lost 11 in three weeks. Now both of these individuals stuck to the plan exactly, didn’t miss a workout, followed the doubles schedule for that week 3, and followed the 3 Day Quick Fix the last three days of their first round. It should also be noted that they had more than 30lbs to lose.
Here’s exactly what’s included:
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- The Workouts: The seven workouts are all around 30 minutes long, which really fit well into your schedule no matter how busy you are. No excuses! They are:
- Total Body Cardio Fix
- Upper Fix
- Lower Fix
- Pilates Fix
- Cardio Fix
- Yoga Fix
- Dirty 30 – Bonus workout
- The Portion Control System: This is the series of some really great, dishwasher-safe, BPA-free containers that are color coded for a foolproof diet plan. Whatever fits into the container from the specific food group the food is intended for is what you’re allowed to eat. Here’s the breakdown of containers you’ll receive and what they’re for:
- One Green—Vegetables
- One Purple—Fruit
- One Red—Protein
- One Yellow—Carbohydrates
- One Blue—Healthy Fats and Cheese
- 2 Orange—Seeds and Oils
- Shakeology Shaker Cup—Shakes/drinks (which was in the dishwasher when I took the photo – sorry!)
- 21 Day Fix Eating Plan: An easy-to-follow, portion-control diet plan with plain and simple recipes. Think make-your-own spices to put on top of chicken breast.
- 3 Day Quick Fix: To get you jump-started on your weight loss, this is a three day diet plan designed to maximize fat loss and get you well on your way to a leaner, sexier you.
- 24/7 Online Support: This is something useful that comes with any Beachbody product you purchase. It’s great for whenever you’re looking for support and/or motivation to keep you going when things get tough.
Focus T25
In a nutshell, Focus T25 is a high intensity cardio/strength training program that last 25 minutes giving you the same weight loss results as the old insanity program that was 45-60 minutes.
It was developed from the ground up by Shaun-T, a world-renowned personal trainer and fitness expert. You may have heard of Shaun-T for his extremely popular Insanity Program. Which has also received rave reviews across the board.
The Insanity Program was extremely hard and long. It was really affective if you stuck with and fought through the first few weeks. Most people struggled to find the time to get it in and generally just quit doing it.
Beachbody listened to its customers though and created Focus T25. After a significant amount of case studies and research they found out the first 30 minutes of a workout was where participants were having the best chances to lose weight and tone muscle.
So, they redesigned T25 to incorporate the best exercises and moves that will burn fat and tone muscle in a structured h 25-minute workout session. Each workout is followed by a brief 2-5 minute stretch period to cool down so it is a 30 minute total workout.
This is why it is perfect for busy people whose time for working out is at a premium.
The program still incorporates the best high-impact moves to engage all core areas as well as major muscle groups that insanity was so good at. These include the quads, calves, core, upper body and hamstrings. It also includes a total body workout DVD that thoroughly focuses on the upper body to give everyone options to do a full body workout.
What Does the “T25” Mean?
LogoThe Focus T25 got its name from Shaun-T’s desire to incorporate the most effective exercise combinations. Particularly those that build the most muscle while burning the most fat possible within an intensive 25 minute session. In fact, it’s so focused, you literally hit the ground running starting minute 1 of your first session, and literally do not stop until it’s over.
There have been several studies done over the past few years, which actually favor the short intense workouts vs. the longer ones. Especially when the goal is to burn fat. I believe that they both have their purposes and advantages.
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For example, if you’re seriously into endurance sports such as long-distance running or triathlons, then you definitely need those intensive 60-90 minute workouts. Short workouts, no matter how intense just won’t cut it.
This program’s goals are very clear: – Shred fat, get you eating right and get you either toned up, or ripped!
P90x Vs. Insanity: WHAT ARE THE P90X AND INSANITY WORKOUTS LIKE?
The INSANITY workout program is based on something known as “Max Interval Training”, which is long-bursts of full blown cardiovascular exercise followed by shorter and lower intensity intervals of cardiovascular exercise. All of the INSANITY workouts will get your heart rate up and leave you pretty much drenched in sweat.
P90X bases its workouts around a training principle known as “muscle confusion”. The theory behind this principle is that, when you change up exercise order, workout order and even your diet, you don’t allow the body enough time to adapt to the training. This keeps you always moving forward with your health and fitness and not plateauing.
HOW THE WORKOUTS ARE DIFFERENT
INSANITY workouts are high-intensity cardiovacular workouts that are not dance orienteted. You will be left in a puddle of sweat after these workouts from the plyometric moves that they incorporate with other physically demanding body weight only movements. Insanity workouts are done 6 times a week with no weights.
P90X workouts are also done six times a week. The program features three days of weight training, a plyometric workout, Kenpo(kickboxing) workout, and sweat inducing Yoga workout. The workouts are cycled in three week phases so you will not get bored with the workouts.
P90x Before and After
Insanity Before and After
HOW THE DIETS DIFFER
The INSANITY diet plan is an easy-to-follow diet where you eat 40% carbs, 40% protein, and 20% fat. This diet is well-balanced and easy to stick with. Everything is detailed in the INSANITY diet plan, which includes a step-by-step guide to calculating your calories and a bunch of easy-to-follow recipes that won’t keep you in the kitchen all day.
The P90X diet is more complicated than the INSANITY diet. The P90X diet plan is a 3 phase nutrition plan. In phase 1 of the P90X diet, which is called the Fat-Shredder phase, you eat a diet high in protein, low in fat, and low in carbohydrates. During the first phase of the P90X diet, people often notice significant loss of energy from the lower carbohydrates, but also significant weight loss. The second phase of the P90X diet is called the Energy Booster and is similar to the Insanity diet of 40% carbs, 40% protein, and 20% fat. The third phase of the P90X diet is called the Endurance Maximizer and is nicknamed an athletic diet for this reason: unless you have extremely low body-fat levels, you should avoid this phase of the diet entirely and stick to the Energy Booster phase or you’ll likely add unwanted body fat.
WHAT EQUIPMENT YOU NEED FOR P90X OR INSANITY
p90x-and-insanity-equipmentWhat I like most about the INSANITY workout program is the fact that it requires no workout equipment. This means I can just move my coffee table to the side, throw in a DVD, and start working out it minutes. You may want to add a heart-rate monitor to your workouts to make sure you stay in your target heart range.
On the other end of the spectrum, P90X requires lots of equipment if you want to get the most out of the program. While it is recommended you have at least resistance bands and a yoga mat to do P90X, you will really need a few more pieces of equipment. Pull-ups and chin-up variations are major exercises in P90X, which means you’ll need a chin-up bar, plus likely a chair to help give you a boost until you’re strong enough. You’ll also want dumbbells up to thirty pounds, push-up bars, a yoga block, and a heart rate monitor is always very handy to have. The only good thing is that weights up to thirty pounds, yoga mat and heart rate monitor are something you will always be able to use down the road, so think of them as more of an investment in your health overall.
P90X VS INSANITY – WHICH PROGRAM IS HARDER?
For one reason or another, people always want to know which program is harder when comparing Insanity to P9oX. I can tell you this: both programs are extremely difficult, and both programs if followed properly are extremely rewarding. They will whip you into shape in 60 or 90 days and start you on track to a new and healthier lifestyle. However after trying both programs, I believe INSANITY is the harder of the two programs if you were to go all out with either.