Okay, having now battled my way through it twice, I can categorically say that in a tough field, Phase 3 Total Body Core is the toughest of all the 80 Day Obsession workouts. And I say that as someone who is definitely better at strength workouts than cardio ones and who loves a good total body workout.
Throughout Phase 2 – and even more so in Phase 3 – Autumn has been really quite cunning in the way she’s created both full-blown compound moves and little add-ons to isolation exercises to really work you all over. As well as in the way all the strength workouts are structured to both keep your heart rate up and burn out your muscles. All of these things are taken to extreme here, and they meet their absolute high point in the glorious horror of, wait for it, Half Turkish Get-Ups to Push-Ups, either half of which would be enough to challenge me. Just that one move, repeated a few times, feels like it would give you a fairly solid full body workout. And then there are things like Triceps Push-Ups with Knee Tucks on Sliders or Surrenders to Shoulder Press. That’s before you get onto the core moves, which were also very challenging, particularly on top of the core getting hit quite hard in moves predominantly focused on another body part.
Honestly, on my first run-through, I was struggling to keep up with the choreography, never mind the physical challenge, and I got a bit frustrated. This time, I’d got the hang of it a bit more, so though I was still screaming at the screen at times, I could at least appreciate its cleverness. And it’s one of those workouts where, once you get through, you feel very pleased with yourself and like every inch of your body has been worked and you’ve burnt a million calories, so that’s nice!
Other than the ever more complex and compound moves, the structure is the same as in previous phases: 5 rounds, focused on the shoulders, back, chest, biceps, and triceps respectively. Each round involves two moves focused on the specified body part, then one core move. As with all the strength workouts, the rep pattern changes week to week: today involved 10 reps of each move, with each series completed 3 times back to back before moving onto the next.
MOVES LIST
Series 1: Shoulders
- Surrender to Shoulder Press
- Quad Ped Crawl
- Burpee Sliders (actually a lot more fun than they sound!)
Series 2: Back
- Bent Over Row Tap Back
- Squat Tabletop Row (ie. holding a squat and with a band on the wrists, pulling the arms back to the chest)
- Saw on Sliders (sliding back and forth on the sliders. Never did such a small movement cause so much core work!)
Series 3: Chest
- Half Turkish Row to Push Up (I would attempt to explain this but I’m trying to block out the memory!)
- Side Reach Push-Up
- V crunch to Scissor Crunch
Series 4: Biceps
- Runners Lunge Curl (using a band for the curl)
- Static Sumo Hammer Curl
- Slider Crawl Outs
Series 5: Triceps
- Triceps Push-Up, Knee Tuck
- Squat Hold Kick Backs
- Weighted Windmills (one weight in each hand, one arm in the air, one by your side, bend to the side)
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If you don’t currently have access to BOD, you can get a year’s subscription, a month’s supply of Shakeology, and all the accessories you need for 80 Day Obsession for just £180 here
If you’re already a Beachbody on Demand customer, you can get everything you need for 80 Day Obsession (workout calendar, resistance bands, strength sliders, portion fix containers) with Shakeology here, with performance supplements here, or with both here.
There are a variety of different combinations of BOD access, 80 Day Obsession accessories, Shakeology and performance supplements available. Do drop me a line if you’re not sure which is right for you or if you’d like more information about this programme or anything else.
Munday Morning Fitness 