BodyBoss Method Review – I Tried & Here’s Why I Don’t Recommend

It’s strange how life throws a curve ball at you when you least expect it.

For me, it happened last December when I came this close to a heart attack.

Oh, wait. I almost forgot the pleasantries.

My name is Shannon. I am a 32-year-old mother of three rambunctious boys and wife to a workaholic husband who’s buried his face in his iPad as I write this.

I am a quintessential Philadelphia girl at heart. Grew up all my life in Wyncote and moved to Sunnyvale, CA with my partner when I was 23.

Life in California was amazing. Great weather. The sunny outdoors. I landed a job at a booming startup.

The years just went by in a blur….

Working in an extremely taxing Silicon Valley job certainly has its perks.

A huge house – Check

Luxury car – Check

Happy family – Check

Health – hmmm! What’s that?

Realization Dawns

It had been six years since I visited my sister in Philly.

When I think of it now, I wonder what I did for those six years. It seems like a murky cloud that I have no clear memories of.

Nevertheless, finally, last holiday season, Philly happened. And we were setting the town on fire.

One day, as is the norm with all our holidays in Philly, we visited the Museum of Art.

Suddenly, the kids decided to do their version of the Rocky run. Yo Adrian!

And in the spur of the moment, my sister (she can gallop like a horse) joined the kids and started to race up the steps.

Not one to be left behind, I joined in jumping two steps at a time.

I remember clearly, by the time I reached the 30th step or so, I felt dizzy. At first, I attributed it to the sun and continued to charge up.

But after climbing about 10 steps more, my heart rate just skyrocketed. I could hear the damn thing pumping like it was on speakers.

Before I realized, I blacked out for a few seconds. This was followed by extreme breathlessness and discomfort in the chest. I just stopped still not knowing what to do.

I just wanted some air which seemed to be stuck midway in my throat not reaching my lungs.

I would have collapsed if not for the elderly couple behind me who were calmly climbing up the stairs cheering us on. The next few minutes are a blur to me even today.

After a quick visit to the ER, I was told that I had nearly suffered a heart attack.

Heart attack? Me? How? Why? It all seemed like a dream where everything happens at a distance from you.

Later that day, I went into the restroom, stripped down, stepped on the weighing scale and took a good look at myself.

I was obese. And I didn’t like it one bit.

How did I go from a petite girl of 110 lbs. to weighing 188 pounds?

What was I thinking? How did I not notice this?

How I Found Bodyboss

After I got back home, I knew I had two choices.

1. I could pop pills, cut calories, restrict myself and make each meal an ordeal

2. I could step into the gym or even better, start to workout at home and take control of my own health.

I chose the latter. After a few days researching workout programs for women, I found Bodyboss.

They are everywhere, aren’t they?

Social media, User forums, Advertorials, testimonials (the authenticity of which, I highly doubt now), transformation photos and articles, citing how you can completely transform your body within 12 weeks.

Even the remotest possibility that I could transform my body before my eldest son’s birthday which was four months away, seemed so exciting and motivating, that I signed up instantly for their ‘Fitness and Nutrition bundle’ (Online edition) for $69.90

With just 3 x 24 minute exercises per week, it fit my busy schedule perfectly.

It didn’t require fancy equipment or going to a gym.

It promised me access to a 12-week step by step instructional guide and a 12-week step by step nutrition guide.

I was stoked and ready to transform.

But, murphy’s law came into effect.

Bodyboss Review: My Experience

Week 1

The first day of HIIT exercise went pretty smoothly. In fact, I was surprised at how easily I could pull it off.

It was supposed to push my body into the anaerobic zone to maximize my metabolism.

But apart from a slightly elevated breath, I finished the exercise easily, much to my satisfaction at that time.

The only thing which I hated and found surprising was that the exercise took nearly an hour to complete.

Apart from the 24 minutes of active time (HIIT), there’s almost 20 minutes of stretching before and after the workout and approximately 5-6 minutes of rest.

That’s shady marketing folks!

The nutrition plan was pretty drab to be honest. It was advertised as delicious recipes that one could make easily. I couldn’t make any in the stipulated time. I thought that maybe I’d slowed down courtesy all that junk that I had stuffed into my body for years.

This continued for a week. I measured myself again on the weekend.

There was no change in my bodyweight much to my disappointment.

Week 2

Week two started on a slightly somber note.

The same Yoga-based stretching routine, followed by HIIT on Mondays and Wednesdays. Three exercise circuits each lasting for 7 minutes with approximately, a minute of rest between the sets.

A 6 minute Tabata workout on Friday. The same boring meals all day.

I was beginning to rue my decision already. But I desperately wanted to continue. I just wanted it to work.

So, I logged on to the community and spoke to a few members who urged me that the magic would happen by week three.

I decided to continue.

Measured myself again on the weekend. Had lost 1 pound so far. Pfff!

Week 3

Week 3 was crazy.

The progressions were not really comfortable. So, the exercise went from being boring to being unrealistic in just 7 days.

One of the drills required me to perform 25 pushups. I could use my knees mind you.

But for someone who hasn’t completed even ten pushups, 25 is a stretch in all fairness.

By the end of this week, I had lost a few inches off my waist and over 3 lbs.

So, the results were coming. But they were just too slow and too taxing on my psyche for me to continue.

I quit!

Bodyboss Didn’t Work For Me

As disappointed as I am, I have no qualms to accept that Bodyboss didn’t work for me.

And today, after losing 75 pounds (will tell you how I managed to pull off that feat in a bit), when I look back at it, I can clearly see why it didn’t work for me.

• It’s a one-hour workout thrice a week. I bought it thinking that its 24 minutes only. If you are a busy woman, do not fall for the 24-min gimmick.

• The exercises were nothing special. When you advertise yourself as one of the best HIIT programs in the world, you need to back it up with something good. Bodyboss gives you workouts which are available on YouTube for free. Yes. Just YouTube HIIT workouts and you might find better videos.

• Some of the progressions are just too hard to adjust to. This might be dependent on your bodyweight and your fitness levels. I personally found them very hard to adjust to.

• The nutritional plan is downright boring. I don’t think anyone can down five meals like that for seven days of a week without getting bored.

My final thoughts about Bodyboss is that while it might (or might not) help you lose weight, it’s just not worth the $70 they charge for it.

And it’s gimmicky as hell. Take a quick peep at their Instagram feed and all that you’ll see are skinny white models flashing their toned abs and legs.

Sorry Bodyboss! How I wish I could get a refund.

How I Managed To Lose 75 lbs & Regain My Confidence

It was during a rant on Reddit a week later, about the ineffectiveness of the Bodyboss routine that I first heard about the Bikini Body Guide Workout Routine.

No, let me correct that. I had heard about a similar workout routine by Kayla Itsines a few years ago.

But this one was different. This was by Jen Ferrugia.

My first reaction was that this was another sham.

Once bitten, twice shy I guess.

But reluctantly, I decided to check out Jen Ferrugia’s Facebook profile and I was dazed.

You want to know the most noticeable difference in her and the rest of the fitness models who are hired to promote fitness programs?

Jen Ferrugia has muscle. She has muscular arms, tree trunk thick thighs and a booty to die for. That’s a Bikini body that I’d take any day over the skinny ones that are so commonly advertised.

And a lot of Redditers had only good stuff to say about her. She has a BS in Exercise Movement by the way.

So, I took the bait. Hopefully for the last time. The workout program was only $29.99 but I got it more cheap by using one of the coupons mentioned by the reddit user. I have mentioned below in the coupon section.

Bikini Body Workout: Sweat, sweat and more sweat!

To be honest, I expected a mundane HIIT program with some random exercise progressions, like BodyBoss.

Instead, the Jen Ferrugia Bikini Body Workout routine is a boot camp styled workout that focuses on multiple body parts per day (synergistic workouts), peppering it with just enough cardio to keep your cardiac strength at its optimum.

The schedule is like this.

• Monday: Chest, Shoulders and Triceps

• Tuesday: Quads and Glutes

• Wednesday: Ab workouts with HIIT (Optional)

• Thursday: Back and Biceps

• Friday: Hams and Calves

• Saturday: 10 minute Intense HIIT and Abs

• Sunday: Rest

All the weight bearing workouts require dumbbells. But you can also perform them with resistance bands.

If you look at that routine closely, you will notice that it clubs one major muscle group, like chest or back with a smaller muscle group like triceps or biceps.

That’s old school, tried and tested bodybuilding that works.

And that’s not all. There’s very little rest time between these sets. As a result, you sweat like never before.

After the first day, my entire upper body was so sore that I could barely type using the laptop.

Somehow, I mustered enough courage to go at it for the next five days.

Trust me folks, I was yearning for Sunday.

At the end of week 1, I had lost 4 lbs.

4 whopping pounds of weight. That was more than what I had lost in all three weeks of doing Bodyboss.

In the next three weeks, I lost a total of 11 pounds.

What’s more important is that I was gaining muscle. Lots of it. My arms were looking toned.

There was a hint of a bicep popping out for the first time ever. My legs were looking shapely.

And I could feel the ab muscles under the layer of fat, which had thinned down considerably.

Strong Is The New Skinny!

What Do You Get With The Bikini Body Guide

The Bikini Body guide workout routine is divided into Five parts.

The Bikini Body Workout Guide:

This is an illustrated PDF that shows you what exercises to perform, the time duration for each exercise and the rest between the exercises. But it’s not limited to a PDF.

There are instructional videos for each workout which guide you on the right form and intensity. If you ever feel demotivated, play the workouts. They will supercharge you right back.

The Bikini Body Nutrition Guide:

For the first time, it’s not just salad popping and eating tasteless lumps of chicken breast. The Bikini Body guide introduced me to carb cycling.

And within the first few days, I lost tons of water weight. In the weeks that followed, I started to lose the stubborn layers of fat revealing muscle for the first time in years.

All this time, I was eating what I wanted to. Pasta, Noodles, Rice, all the carb sources that you were asked to trash are included in the nutrition guide here, albeit in small portions.

Supplement List:

Supplements are an irreplaceable part of a workout routine. Only, most of them don’t work. Bikini Body Guide shows you which ones do and which ones to steer clear off. By adding something as simple as Zinc to my workout, I was able to improve my recovery and immunity.

Shopping List:

If it weren’t good enough already, Jen takes you hand and guides you through the supermarket. You know what foods to buy. You know how to spot potentially harmful, hidden ingredients in product labels. Jen shows you how to eat clean without depriving yourself.

Instructional Videos:

There’s nothing better than watching videos while exercising. It is so much easier to follow than reading mundane documents. Jen is a beast and watching her perform these exercises is just amazing.

The Bonus – A Taut Booty

Also included along with the Bikini Body Guide is a special program called the 21-day Booty camp. What’s great about this is that you can easily integrate this into the main bikini body workouts.

You don’t have to wait until you finish this to be able to get started with the other.

The Booty Camp combines fast movements with exercises that crush the glute muscles.

At the end of just two weeks, my jeans were revealing a curve and fitting better on the booty.

Something that had disappeared since I was in my teens.

Why the Bikini Body Guide by Jen is a much superior workout than Bodyboss

As I mentioned earlier, it’s been six months since I got started on my weight loss journey. I am 75 lbs. lighter.

I can climb stairs, swim ten laps, fit into my old clothes, race with my kids. I am fitter, more confident than ever.

I recently participated in an endurance Triathlon and while I didn’t win it, I didn’t fail midway.

Bikini Body Guide Is Far Superior Than Bodyboss Method

Bikini Body Guide has been a life changer and it is a far superior workout than Bodyboss method. Here’s why.

• It clubs weight lifting with HIIT. Most of the weight lifting exercises focus on major muscle groups and are free lifts as opposed to schmancy machines. You will be performing squats, Romanian deadlifts and shoulder presses. The good thing is that you can tailor this according to your expertise and fitness levels.

• There are variations of each exercise to suit women of different fitness levels. So, if you cannot perform the extreme version of an exercise, just do the easier one until you are ready to progress to the next level.

• There are no ad-hoc progressions. Every time you level up, you are physically and mentally prepared to advance. It’s like a seamless transition to the next set of exercises.

• It’s not overly cardio oriented. The focus is on building muscle. And more muscle = less fat.

• You gain a better body. It’s never about losing belly fat or eliminating cellulite. It’s about making you a better version of yourself.

• There are no gimmicks. It’s advertised as a 45-minute program. And that’s precisely the amount of time that you will be spending. It’s good to know this in advance and you can plan your schedule around it.

• The nutrition plan is amazing. For the first time, you get access to tasty food that helps you pack on muscle and lose fat.

• It costs less than $30.

My Results

Here’s is my transformation.

Great, isn’t it!

Closing Thoughts

After my experience with the Bikini Body Guide and Bodyboss, I can safely say that when it comes to fitness programs, do not fall for hype or gimmicks.

Jen Ferrugia’s Bikini Body Guide will change your life for good. It will make fitness a lifestyle changes for you rather than a 12-week goal.

It certainly did for me. However, the choice is yours whether you want to go for bodyboss workout or bikini body workout. If you have any questions then feel free to ask me in the comments below.

Btw, I am headed to Philly next month and Rocky, you better be prepared. For I am coming up those steps faster than you did!