Review of LIIFT4

Keeping up with some cross-training goals, I decided to try out another Beachbody fitness program. Oh and by “goal”, I mean incorporating cross-training into my running workouts. I think that I decided on LIIFT4 because I have been enjoying 10 Rounds, which is led by Joel Freeman.

Image courtesy of Beachbody

The Premise:

LIIFT4 is an 8-week weightlifting and cardio program, where folks work out four times a week. The schedule of the program is as follows: two days on, one rest day, two days on, and two rest days. Each workout is about 30 – 40 minutes long and is pretty straightforward. During each week, folks will do two days of workouts focusing on a specific muscle group with HIIT (50/50); one day of circuit training without HIIT; and one day of an interval workout (cycling between lifting and HIIT for three rounds).

Random thought: I do not really get the acronym for LIIFT4 – it’s supposed to stand for Lift, HIIT, Rest, Repeat. Maybe I’m missing something.

Image courtesy of Beachbody

Materials:

Dumbells (light, medium, and heavy), resistance bands, and a mat.

Things that I like about LIIFT4:

• Easy access. Pretty much anyone at any fitness level can do LIIFT4.
• The workouts are pretty straight to the point without a whole lot of chatter between Joel and his employees workout buddies.
• Joel is nice eye candy. Just had to throw that in there. I don’t know, but there is something about dudes with oblong-shaped heads/faces that does it for me.
• Joel does a decent job explaining the upcoming workouts during the transition breaks.
• Although anyone who has weight lifted before has done all of the exercises, the program mixes them up to keep them somewhat fresh.

Things that I dislike about LIIFT4:

• While the workouts have a short warmup, I wish there was some time dedicated to cooling down/stretching. I’ve noticed that this is pretty common with many Beachbody programs. I guess the cooldowns are ignored as a means to keep the workouts between 30 and 40 minutes.
• (More of my thing and not the program’s): Unfortunately, I think I might have made a mistake in purchasing NordicTrack 55 lbs. Adjustable Dumbbells because I have to rush to change the weights instead of just picking up another pair of dumbbells. To work around this, I try my hardest to pause the workout before moving on to the next exercise. However, it becomes annoying going through this process: exercise A, 30 lbs -> put the dumbells back on the loading dock to change the weights -> exercise B, 10 lbs -> put the dumbells back on the loading dock to change the weights -> exercise C, 30 lbs. Like I said, this is more of my issue than LIFT4’s.

Since I have only two negatives of LIFT4 (well, technically one negative), I guess that I like the program.

10 Rounds Update:

Now that I’m more than halfway through 10 Rounds, I wanted to give a quick update (earlier post about 10 Rounds, ***). I have to say that I absolutely love 10 Rounds. I really love it because I’ve finally gotten used to all of the combos. In my previous post, I mentioned that we have to do things like: 1, 3, side step 2, 5, side step, 1, 3, side step, 3, 4. FYI: That would be left jab, left hook, side step, right jab, left uppercut, side step, left jab, left cross, side step, left hook, right hook. Since my earlier post about 10 Rounds, we have added more things to the general list of moves (eg low version of all the punches, rolls, slips, and punching in multiple directions). I think splitting the program into ten, three-minute blocks makes the 45 minutes go by really fast. Also, I enjoy (maybe the wrong word) that every workout’s 10th round focuses on the core. Actually (for me), the core work is really impactful because I often feel the burn the next day.

But what about the results?

Unfortunately, I have not lost a lot of weight through these programs. However, that’s more my issue because I will admit that my diet over the past few weeks (errr, months . . . err years) has been pretty much crap. That said, I have been actively working on my diet (primarily through intermittent fasting and portion control) for the last week, and I hope to continue focusing on my diet over the next few months. Late-night snacking always has been (and will be) a major barrier on my fitness journey.

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