Workout Wednesday: The Betty Rocker 30-Day Bodyweight Shred Challenge Review

Last week, I talked about my experience following the Blogilates July workout calendar. For this week's workout Wednesday, I wanted to give you a brief look at my other monthly commitment, The Betty Rocker 30-Day Bodyweight Shred Challenge. 

The Betty Rocker 30-Day Bodyweight Shred Challenge 

When I was figuring out my workout plan for July, I was really focused on weight loss and winning my DietBet (only 13 days left! wish me luck!). After deciding to commit to the Blogilates July workout calendar, I was worried about meeting my goals with only two cardio days a week. I am also a BIG fan of high intensity interval training (hiit) and so when I came across the 30-Day challenge on Instagram, I signed right up thinking it would be a great addition to my month's schedule.

The challenge consists of four weeks of total body circuit workouts consisting of 7 exercises that you perform for 1 minute each, with 15-30 seconds of rest between moves. Each exercise engages multiple muscle groups, all while using no equipment other than your own body. The circuit is repeated 2-5 times with 1 minute of rest between circuits, 3-5 times per week. The core workout moves are introduced in week 1, with each following week modifying and building on the core moves to increase the difficulty level. 

To be honest, when I committed to do this challenge, I didn't realize how long and difficult even the non-cardio intense Blogilates workout days would be, or factor in any rest days. I've only been able to do this circuit about 2 times a week, so I am definitely not getting a full effect. I might repeat a few weeks after the month is over, but here is my take so far.

Pros:

Instruction quality: The instruction in both the video and the PDFs are clear and easy to follow. I really like that the video includes both an instructor and a model, and the flexibility of having the PDF to take with you.

Ease of use: I love that there is no equipment required for any of the moves, which means I can do this workout from the comfort of my living room. The moves are all pretty easy to pick up with the quality instruction, and having the PDFs makes it easy to do this workout anywhere.

Time commitment: Going through the circuit 3 times only takes a little over 30 minutes, depending on rest time. Adding this to the hour plus Blogilates workouts has been challenging, but on its own I think the time commitment would be perfect for me.

Communications: Bree, aka The Betty Rocker sends out fantastic emails each week with motivational exercises, helpful tips and recipes. She also has a great social media presence with several hashtags you can use to follow along on Instagram and Twitter.  

Cons:

Intensity: Weeks 1 and 2 were a little low intensity for me, making it hard for me to burn the amount of calories I am used to in a hiit workout without going through the circuit 4 or 5 times. The intensity really picked up in Weeks 2 and 4 though, so this wasn't a real issue for me.

Variety: Although the moves all work multiple muscle groups, after doing the Blogilates calendar I think I would miss doing other forms of cardio, pilates, and weighted strength training if this was the only workout I was doing.

Bottom Line:

Completing this challenge has been hard for me because I am following the Blogilates calendar (and playing in doubles tournaments on weekends, playing in a volleyball rec league, and taking swim classes. But who's counting?). I also felt like the first weeks were a little low intensity for me since I had done a lot of hiit, and while you can up the intensity with less rest and more reps, this took more time than I was able to invest. However, I loved the Weeks 3 and 4 workouts and will probably continue to incorporate them after the challenge is over. I would highly recommend signing up for the next challenge to any hiit newbies, or to people who are more experienced and want to combine the challenge with other workouts.

Q: What workouts have you been loving lately? Are you a monthly challenge type of person or do you like to do your own thing?