Beachbody On Demand

 

What is Beachbody on Demand?

In short, it’s a way of getting unlimited, convenient online access to all of Beachbody’s extensive library of exercise programmes.

How much does it cost?

Its best value to sign up for a year in advance, which cost £99 or £160 with a month’s supply of Shakeology and a set of portion fix containers.

Alternatively, you can sign up for shorter periods of time, with or without the extras, at the rates below.

How can I sign up?

Just click one of the links below:

For the Challenge Pack: https://www.teambeachbody.com/shop/gb/d/annual-all-access-bod-shakeology-challenge-pack-BODChallengePack?referringRepID=1547320

just for the Membership: https://www.beachbodyondemand.com/plans/offers_bod?referringRepID=1547320

The benefits 

• The cost

I’ve mentioned here how even the most expensive individual Beachbody programmes are great value compared to gym memberships or classes. But On Demand takes this to a whole other level. Some of the flagship programmes like P90X3 are £120 by themselves. With On Demand, you get access to 48 programmes (at the time of writing – this is only going to rise) plus lots of extras.

• The convenience

No need to have loads of DVDs taking up space or to root through your collection looking for the right disc on the right day. Just load up the website, and you’re good to go. It’s particularly convenient when you’re travelling. I always take my laptop on work trips, but it’s unlikely I’d remember to pack a couple of DVDs. You can also access the workouts through a phone app, including downloading up to three for offline use. It really is like the Netflix of exercise.

• Research and try before you commit to a programme

It can be tricky to decide which programme to start with or to take up next. I’ve written a whole article about that here and my reviews should hopefully be helpful too. Always feel free to reach out to me for advice on the best programme for you based on your goals, experience and preferences.

Ultimately though, nothing beats trying things out for yourself. Access to On Demand means you can easily try a workout or two from any given programme and decide whether or not it’s for you before committing to it. You can also look at all the calendars and workout breakdowns on the website, which can be helpful in giving you a better sense of what you’re letting yourself in for.

• Hybrids

To reduce boredom and tailor your workout regime to your needs, it can be helpful to do a hybrid programme ie. do exercises from two or more programmes each week. For example, you might spend half your week doing Body Beast for strength and the other half doing Insanity for cardio. Buying both programmes outright would be a pricey approach, but On Demand makes it easy and affordable.

• Dabble with programmes you’d never buy

I talk at length in my article on picking a programme about how the best workouts are the ones that fit your personality, schedule and ability level. And one of the best things about Beachbody is that cater for a wide range of demographics. There are some programmes that, while I’m confident they have great production values and effective workouts and a likeable trainer, I just wouldn’t spent money on personally because they’re just not aimed at me. Perhaps they’re very much targeted at beginnings, perhaps they’re just not really my style.

But one of the nice things about On Demand is that you can play around with those programmes. A few months ago, I spent a couple of weeks doing Country Heat. Now, being English, I’m really not into country music. And being a fairly experienced exerciser, I wasn’t really looking for a relatively gentle option. But I couldn’t resist trying it, and it turned out to be super fun. It was a nice temporary break from more intense workouts and it definitely improved my dancing skills. I wouldn’t have bought it as a standalone ( which isn’t to say I don’t recommend it to others – it would be a perfect workout for lots of people) but there’s once you’ve got On Demand, you can explore things like that at no extra cost.

• Mix and match stretching, abs etc

A lot of the big, total body programmes have an ab workout and a stretching workout, to complement all the strength and cardio work. These are a really important component of any fitness regime, but where there are usually loads of “main” workouts in any given programme, there’s usually only one – or at best two – of these. If you’ve got On Demand though, while otherwise sticking rigorously to one specific programme, you make use of core and yoga workouts from other programmes in order to keep things interesting.

• Exclusive workouts

This one is pretty straightforward, but pretty cool. Some workouts and programmes only exist on BOD. In some cases, it’s a couple of extra workouts to add a bit of variety to existing programmes, such as Remix the Fix, a set of extra 21 Day Fix sessions. In other cases, it’s a mini standalone programme, like Shaun Week or A Week of Hard Labour (with Body Beast’s Sagi). There’s a whole, huge set of yoga classes only available on BOD. And most notably, there’s now 80 Day Obsession, a huge, flagship programme on a level with Insanity or P90X.

• Other content

As well as the extra programmes and workouts, there are some other fun bits and pieces that can only be found on BOD. Fixate is Autumn Calabrese’s cooking show, which is great for giving a bit of inspiration on what to put in your portion fix boxes.

There’s The 20s, which is a fun reality show about a group of personal trainers competing to be the face of Beachbody’s next programme. And there are some interesting interviews with the super trainers. I was equally fascinated by Sagi’s dark tales of life in the Israeli army as by his tips and tricks for succeeding in bodybuilding competitions.