Fast 10

I purchased the Fast 10 kit for husband for Christmas. He completed the P90X program and loved it (and got really cut in the process and lost 12 lbs of fat and gained 5 lbs of muscle!). But he travels a lot so knew this program would be good for him.

I ordered it in November with a 15% discount and use ebates. I finally got around to doing all the workouts this week.

The Package

The basic package comes with one maroon b-line band, the door attachment and safety strap, and a strop for putting around your waist or leg for some of the moves. The b-line band was the perfect resistance for me. My husband lifts much heavier so I got him a set of the heaviest b-line bands I could. The 2 DVDS (I got the extended package) each have several workouts on them.

The basic DVD has Total Body, Focus: Chest and Back, Focus: Bicep, Triceps, Shoulder, and Flexibility. The second DVD has Fat Burner, Sports Cardio, and Focus: Butt, Thigh, Abs.

Each workout has 10 moves. The focus workouts and Total Body are all a little over 10 minutes. The Sports Cardio is 20 minutes and the Fat Burner is 12 minutes. The package also comes with a book and cards explaining all the exercises.

The B-Line Bands

Just wanted to mention a word on these - I love the b-line bands. I think the quality is excellent and the handles make the normal wrist issues I have with bands go away. Other bands aren’t nearly as versatile. They are pricey but IMHO worth it. I am one that likes band resistance because I think it gives a different type of training than weights. I someday would like to try to do P90X with bands.

The Cons

I wanted to start with the cons because one of them is big. The Flexibility workout DVD freezes in the middle and from other VFer’s experience, Beach Body has done nothing to fix it. They will send you a new DVD but it will have the same problem on it (has anyone gotten one that works?). My freezes as well and I haven’t even called BB because I don’t want to bother. The only thing I was able to do was to fast forward to the next second (I did that section using the cards that come with the workouts).

The next con: the price - these are very expensive for what you get. Even with the discount, I paid around $90 for the set and the extra b-line bands (which are expensive). And given the defects, the price is way too high!

The Pros

As someone who used to work and train in a gym, there is very little I miss. However, I do miss the pulley system the large machines provided and I have not been able to duplicate that system. The Fast 10 system does duplicate the pulley system!

I found the attachments easy to use and would work well in a hotel room but also at home. The moves done in all the workouts are classic BB - simple yet effective. No choreography here. Just simple effective moves -

The moves are tough too. I was sweating each time. And the resistance from the bands is enough to give a training effect.

The workouts can be repeated for more of a workout or combined which I liked.

I travel a lot and I will start using these workouts. My husband goes to Japan where there are very few gyms and he works long hours. These workouts are perfect to maintain your fitness during busy times in your life.

The butt/hip workout is very much like using pulleys at the gym as is some of the chest and back work. The cardio moves use a belt attached to the band attached to the door so you have resistance. It is very tough!

Michael George is a solid instructor and shows/teaches good form from what I saw.

As you can tell - I love these workouts and I love the b-line bands but the cons will probably rule out this set for many VFers. If they fix the DVD freezing, I would recommend this workout if you need something quick like this. I could almost justify the price because the band system with the door attachments are very useful and simulate a gym pulley system.

On Sunday, I decided to do ALL the Fast 10 workouts. I have the two DVDS, so that is seven workouts.

The plan ran into a couple glitches. I didn't do the "Focus: Butt/Thigh/Abs" one because it was too annoying to wrap the thingie around my leg. And, I wasn't able to complete the whole "Flexibility" workout as there was a freeze up in the middle of the DVD.

All together it took about 75 minutes. I skipped a few exercises and modified a few. I'd do 12 reps of each move and the skip to the next exercise. We have a power rack in our workout room, so I can hook up the bands to that and not have to mess with the door attachment.

Overall, Fast 10 is just OK. I feel like BeachBody took a huge leap backward as far as production values and ambience. (Think Power 90!) In at least one workout, the sound is out of sync. The volume is so low that you have to turn it way up. The set and music are bare bones. Perhaps they are testing the waters to see if Michael George will be a sensation.

Michael George is competent. I didn't find his personality very engaging or motivating. Let's just say, he made me miss Tony!

The upper body workouts were somewhat boring. The flexibility one was pretty good, I'd like to have finished it.

Here comes the funny part. I did the cardio ones on my rebounder with the waist belt attached to our power rack. I was able to modify the moves. This was fun!

Running on the rebounder with the resistance from the belt seemed to engage my core muscles more than sans belt. I'd consider doing that with other rebounding workouts. (And, yes, I did look really goofy!)

These workouts are not a "must have". Unless you travel a lot. Which I don't.