Fitness Blender's 5 Day Challenge Review - Burn Fat and Build Lean Muscle

Fitness Blender's Burn Fat and Build Lean Muscle in Depth Review

This is my review of Fitness Blender's 5 day challenge. Fitness Blender is easily accessible with nearly 800 videos and more than 3 million subscribers on their YouTube channel.

The workouts lasted no longer than an hour so could be easily incorporated into anyone's routine. Exercises' also had easy and hard versions so when you're huffing and puffing with those squat jumps, there was always a challenging yet slightly easier variation to fall back on.

In this review I will be reflecting on the workouts, who they are for and how it went for me. 

What was the 5 day challenge like?

Each workout had its own little twist, be that a bit of kickboxing or weightlifting incorporated into each workout. Some were certainly more challenging than others with day 1 and day 3 being the most difficult. But the fact that no two workouts were the same spiced things up a little and I was always looking forward to the next day.

Reflecting on it, the most important aspect of what kept me going and wanting to continue the full 5 days was the fact that I knew I had something good scheduled for tomorrow after each workout. The psychological aspect of trying something new and enjoying it really kept me motivated to go through with it. This was a great change as exercising regularly is something that I have been trying to achieve and the past 5 days showed that it was something that was well within my capabilities.

On average I burned 507 calories per workout which is a good reflection in the effort that I put into each day. A graph of calories burned can be seen below.

Who is this challenge for?

Anyone and everyone who wants to get into fitness or just looking for a little challenge. The meme above was genuinely my way of thinking not to long ago. I consider myself to be a beginner as it is only recently that I have made my health and wellbeing a priority. So if I can do it anyone can really.

Pros and Cons

+ Not time consuming
+ Great workouts to help improve fitness
+ Good balance between intensity and duration
+ Sense of accomplishment for finishing the challenge

- Not all of the exercises are easy to do for complete beginners

Summary

This was a fantastic 5 day challenge which was fun throughout and had me sweating the whole time. I would absolutely recommend it to anyone and look forward to trying out the other challenges in the near future.

Fitness Blender Day 5 - Challenge Complete

Fitness Blender Day 5 Burn Fat & Build Lean Muscle - Review

Day 5 complete. It feels good to have come through this challenge and to do it consistently for the 5 days. Thankfully the workout wasn't insanely difficult as I thought it would be and was a good way to end the challenge.

The workout followed the usual format of a warm up followed by the main section of the workout and a cool down. It was very reminiscent of Day 1 in that it started with cardio and was followed by weight training, which is my favourite way to train.

The Numbers

• Duration - 38min 

• Calories - 398

• Average Heart Rate - 151 (75%)

• Max Heart Rate - 170 (85%)

• Fat Burn % of Calories - 28%

These numbers were crunched using the Polar Flow app. This has been a trying last 5 days in that I have had to dedicate about an hour a day into working out (which I hope to make a habit of) from usually doing next to nothing.

I will be posting a review of the whole 5 day challenge and reflecting on how I have done and what the experience was like. But day 5 of the challenge has been super. Really happy I decided to do this and look forward to trying to maintain what I've done.

Fitness Blender Day 4

Fitness Blender Day 4 Burn Fat & Build Lean Muscle - Review

Day 4 complete. My prediction of the workout being weight training orientated turned out to be wrong, but there were a lot of body weight exercises incorporated into the session.

The workout consisted of a warm up followed by the main body of the workout which was split into two parts. The first of which consisted of kickboxing to work on cardio and upper body exercises in 45 sec on and 15 sec off intervals. Following this were some yoga/pilates stretching based exercises. There was also a nice cool down to finish.

I enjoyed the kickboxing aspect of this as it added something a little different to what I have been doing so far. I did struggle with the yoga part of the workout as I am about as flexible as a toothpick so couldn't really keep up with the pace. The workout was enjoyable and was a nice change from the usual with a slightly slower pace.

  

The Numbers

• Duration - 48 min 30 sec

• Calories - 538

• Average Heart Rate - 142 (71%)

• Max Heart Rate - 166 (83%)

• Fat Burn % of Calories - 37%

These numbers were crunched using the Polar Flow app. Overall I am happy with the workout and how I is going so far. I have been keeping track of my weight and have started preparing for the full 5 days in review. Final day tomorrow and will probably be the toughest one yet!

Fitness Blender Day 3

Fitness Blender Day 3 Burn Fat & Build Lean Muscle - Review

Day 3 complete. This workout was focused on HIIT training and certainly was a challenge, probably the most difficult so far due to the high intensity and various core exercises. The workout started with the warm up as usual and was split into 2 sections for the main part of the workout. The sections consisted of 1 HIIT exercise and 1 core exercise which were 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off. There was a burnout round at the end followed by a cool down.

The workout was more like that of Day 1 than Day 2, that being more cardio focused and generally more intense. Because of this I tried to do all the harder variants of each exercise and was doing great until the heel tap and jump where I started to slow down a little. The workout was slightly longer than any of the previous ones in the challenge and the calories I burned definitely reflects that.

The Numbers

• Duration - 51 min 20 sec

• Calories - 578

• Average Heart Rate - 155 (78%)

• Max Heart Rate - 178 (89%)

• Fat Burn % of Calories - 26%

These numbers were crunched using the Polar Flow app. Overall this workout was the toughest one yet, probably due to it being so high intensity and still feeling a little sore from the previous two days. With that said I am more than half way through this challenge an that's further than I have gotten on any other Fitness Blender 5 day challenge to date. I guess this new found drive comes from my healthier eating (weekly update coming soon) and writing this blog as a track of how I'm doing. Hopefully day 4 will be a good one, I predict it will have a lot more weights incorporated given the pattern I am seeing with the workouts. But I will wait and see.  

Fitness Blender Day 2

Fitness Blender Day 2 Burn Fat & Build Lean Muscle - Review

Day 2 complete. Compared to the first day it was a lower intensity workout with a greater focus on upper body and weight training. The workout was challenging and well put together, complementing day 1 well by focusing on the upper body a bit more. The lower intensity I felt was due to the time spent with the weights (which was nice as I was sore after yesterday) and it was reflected in the calories burned.

The workout started with a warm up followed by weight training and cardio sandwiched between. There were 2 sections which were split by a water break, they consisted of weights, cardio, weights, repeat. There was a burnout round in the end which was tough and it all ended with a cool down.

The Numbers

• Duration - 44 min 3 sec

• Calories - 554

• Average Heart Rate - 141 (69%)

• Max Heart Rate - 159 (80%)

• Fat Burn % of Calories - 32%

These numbers were crunched using the Polar Flow app. Overall this workout was not as challenging a day 1 but the increased use of weights made it a lot more fun than day 1, because of this I am expecting day 3 will be a lot more challenging and can't wait for it!

Fitness Blender Day 1

Fitness Blender Day 1  Burn Fat & Build Lean Muscle - Review

So this was quite the experience. The First Day of Fitness Blender's 5 Day Workout Challenge To Burn Fat & Build Lean Muscle has been amazing. The workout starts with a solid warm up which isn't slow to start or overkill for a warm up. It was followed by high intensity interval training which consisted of 8 exercises which were done in 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off intervals.  Each exercise was repeated 4 times with a (well needed) water break half way through the 8 exercises. Following this there was a weight training which was really well incorporated into the workout. The only equipment that was needed was dumbbells, which I had. To end the workout there was a cool down/stretch which was a great way to finish. 

The Numbers

• Duration - 46 min 40 sec

• Calories - 554

• Average Heart Rate - 150 (75%)

• Max Heart Rate - 174 (87%)

• Fat Burn % of Calories - 25%

These numbers were crunched using the Polar Flow app. Overall this workout was a good start on what should be a great week if I can get through the rest of the challenge. I will be posting tomorrow after I complete day 2 and a post on what I ate this week and a weekly review of progress.

Can't wait for tomorrow!!

Fitness Blender 5 Day Challenge and Update

Fitness Blender 5 Day Challenge

So it's been a while since my last update and things have not been going according to plan. Being busy with exams and coursework usually leaves little time for me to manage my diet and exercise and that is reflected in my current results.

Below is a graph of my weight over the last 44 days. As you can see its been on the up fairly consistently for the last month. The weight measured is in Kg and I have been recording my weight every morning for the last 40+ days and the trend....Is obvious.

So in order to make a positive change and break through from this unhealthy cycle I will start with Fitness Blender's 5 day challenge. The one in particular is called 'Fitness Blender's 5 Day Workout Challenge To Burn Fat & Build Lean Muscle'. I will be tracking the calories I burn through Polar Beat (a heart rate monitor combined with the phone app) and post the daily results from this.

In terms of diet I will track everything I eat through MyFitnessPal and post on what I ate and how much water I drank during each day, as I believe in slacking a lot when it comes to keeping up with the water count. As per usual, an summarising update below.

Day 44

Weight is currently at 227.7lb (103.3 kg) (16.3 st).

Target weight for 17/07/2016 is 226.2 (-1.7 lb).

One Week In

One Week In

So after one week of trying to lose weight things went well, but could have defiantly been a lot better. My diet wasn't great as I overate most days which alone would have resulted in no progress for me. But in doing so and recording what I eat on MyFitnessPal I've realised that I'm not drinking enough water. I was drinking 3-4 cups per day which is well below the daily recommendation of 8 cups. The main reason I was successful in losing weight was because of the daily exercise I was doing. Weight training for 90 minutes a day every other day went really well. 

For next week I want to improve my diet and increase water consumption. I will also post what I eat and the exercise I do as a record and for motivation. 

Day 8

Weight is currently at 226.2 lb (102.6 kg) (16.3 st).

Target weight for 1/07/2016 is 224.5 (-1.7 lb).

The First Steps

The First Steps 

Today (Thursday 16th June 2016) marks a new beginning for me. After a constant struggle with my weight and stagnant progress in achieving my goals in life, I have decided to mark today as a start of something new for myself. This blog will primarily be based on my diet, exercise and progress through this journey. I will keep this as a record to track my progress as well as share my achievements to inspire and improve.  

Day 1

Weight is currently at 228.2 lb (103.5 kg) (16.3 st).

Target weight for 23/06/2016 is 226.5 (-1.7 lb).