Posted in: Workouts / Workout Programs

FB Sweat complete! (beware - a very long review by yours truly)

Oh boy, where do I start? I loved this program so much that I could talk about it for days! And you know I will :P

Let’s start with the structure. It took some getting used to. They do say in the description that you get to customize the length each day. And I did read the description, as well as countless user comments saying the same thing, so I knew what to expect and can’t explain why it took me by surprise :D I guess I had to experience it before I could grasp it. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Sweat has extra credits each day (except on the first and last day where the ec is supposed to be PFT), but they are pretty lengthy for extra credits, at least how I used to think of them (as occasional short additions that don’t make a significant difference to the type of program you are doing), and here you choose each day whether you are doing a program similar to FB30 series or a program similar to FBFit series. What I personally needed to immerse myself fully and stop being “confused” by the structure, was to choose just once instead of repeatedly. So I chose with extra credits, longer program, and was very happy with it. Might try without ec sometime in the future too. So you really get two programs for the price of one. Or even more combinations if you’re not weird like me :)

Personal experience week by week

In the first week I struggled a lot with catching breath or even getting dizzy, much sooner than muscles getting tired. I expected that and it was one of the main reasons I chose Sweat in the first place, to improve cardio endurance. The program doesn’t ease you in at all, starts off with quite a bang (monstrous 45sec HIIT intervals! :D) so I’m not sure I’d recommend it to beginners (unless they’re good with modifying). I certainly did modify the entire first week. But still enjoyed it, each day had either an old favorite or a video becoming a new favorite (I got 6 new favorites in the entire program, 3 of them in first week).

The second week was something else!! Most interesting, unusual (compared to the traditional FB weekly structure), most challenging and probably my favorite program week. Packed with HIIT, lots of core and cardio, total body strength routines instead of the usual split focus, it was tough! I sweated buckets but somehow stopped having the same trouble as in week 1 (with endurance). In the middle of the week there is one of the toughest workouts I’ve ever done and I think that was the moment when Sweat became my favorite program (alongside Abs2). Because it prepared me for it perfectly. Not only did I survive it but I needed less modifications than ever! Literally taking stock of improvements right in the middle of a dreaded workout and baffled by it :) What a blissful feeling of accomplishment! I’m rarely able to do this on my own. Not sure why exactly, either I get scared and don’t place the bar high enough or when I get the occasional spur of confidence, I go overboard and kill the potential progress? In any case, Sweat provided just the right amount of challenge to get stronger and not broken. I’m constantly amazed by that fact about FB programs. Like they predict better than myself how I will feel and what I can do.

The third week felt more strength training based (and I was relieved because I didn’t think I could handle so much HIIT for more than a week). But I now see that was the week I started adding my own burnout rounds on lower body days so I guess I could handle more after all. Btw, this was the closest I ever got to doing a program exactly as scheduled. I finished in 4 weeks (usually takes me 5-6), and didn’t skip a single video. I really liked how sticking to schedule feels and it will remain my goal with programs.

The last week went by the fastest, probably because it has just 3 “proper” workout days, then a recovery level 2 day before the PFT on the last day.

Which brings me to… results!

I don’t run and I have to go easy on the push-ups so instead of the usual PFT, I chose this video https://www.fitnessblender.com/videos/freeze-and-squeeze-bodyweight-boot-camp-active-and-static-interval-workout-challenge (not from the program) to track progress on certain holds. I just followed the video until either of these came along and then held as long as I could instead of the limited interval.

Back Bow Hold: 1min 13sec --> 1min 16sec

Toe Touch Crunch Hold: 44sec --> 2min 3sec

Static Squat: 30sec --> 55sec

High Plank: 58sec --> 1min 20sec

Lateral Arm Raise Hold: 1min --> 59sec

My sit and reach “after” is +26cm but I forgot to measure before Sweat so I don’t know if that’s an improvement :D (it is since October 2018, when I last measured, but I did a lot of other programs in between).

And I now officially proclaim these afters as befores for the next program! Haha, actually, I don’t know if I’ll keep tracking. The way I feel tells me more about progress than numbers. And I feel fantastic. I wish they would make a Sweat round 2.

Okay, that was my subjective take on it, but you know I like to get all nerdy playing with stats and stuff that I also like to share with you. So here go some more random facts about the program.

Trainer

I have to say I like to see Daniel at least once a week :) (missed him in the Booty programs!) – Sweat has 8 videos with Daniel, 31 with Kelli and 2 with both.

Difficulty & Duration

Average difficulty when counting only main workouts is 3.6. With extra credits it’s 3.5 lol! Makes sense you can’t tell the true feel of a day with multiple videos by their individual levels. Because when you add for example a level 3 video to a level 3 video, the average will still be 3, but pasted together they are going to feel harder, right? So we have to go back to subjective – the program with all ec to me felt like a solid 4 throughout, and on some days above that.

Average duration without extra credits is 33 minutes, the longest being 38 minutes and the shortest 26. With extra credits the average is 51 minutes, the longest 61 and the shortest 43. In both cases the second week has the longest days and the last week has the shortest. Average length of extra credits is 17 minutes! The shortest ec is 10 minutes and the longest 26. They are usually longer than half of the main workout (53% average). Third week has the longest extra credits, first week the shortest.

Body Focus - nice and even split. 6 lower body days, 5 upper, 4 core, and 5 total body.

Training type, structure

Or the eternal question – is it more cardio (HIIT) or strength training? To me it felt a perfect half-and-half, but let’s talk numbers.

Out of 20 workout days, you can use dumbbells on 16! Not that they are pure strength days of course, but there’s always at least a little bit in the mix (that’s counting the extra credits). I thought it was worth mentioning for those fearing that Sweat is too cardio oriented. The 4 days with no equipment are 3 core/cardio days and 1 recovery cardio day.

A more detailed split of Cardio and Strength Training per main and extra credit videos (of 17 representative days that have both) looks like this:

main C, ec C - 0

main C, ec ST - 4

main ST, ec ST - 2

main ST, ec C - 3

main both, ec both - 0

main both, ec C - 2

main both, ec ST - 6

So most of the time the main video is a strenght/cardio mix. If you don’t do any extra credits you’d have 11 mixed days, 4 cardio days and 5 strength days. With extra credits you have all mixes and 2 strength days. I’m not getting into the ratio of c/st in a mixed day though :)

There is generally very little pilates here, I wished there was more. And just one kickboxing video.

There are 5 Bored Easily videos, 7 more that also have just one set per exercise but are not called “bored easily” (most of them too short for repetitive structure anyway), plus 6 if you want to count those level 1-2 recovery videos.

Otherwise, the structure is most often ABAB for strength training and mostly 3 sets for HIIT (just once 2 sets, and once 4 sets). HIIT intervals were always 20 seconds except in the very first video of the program (45secs). This was the first time I kept note of the structure of intervals because I was hoping for longish intervals to challenge my endurance (for steady cardio, core, strength with or without weights, so basically everything but HIIT). But I haven’t yet figured out how to sort it into meaningful data or how it compares to other programs. I can only say overall they did feel long enough, I rarely felt I could go longer (in fact lots of times cut it shorter) and there were no non-plyo 20-second intervals except once for core (which I didn’t like, it felt too rushed), and once for kickboxing (which I did like). Strength training is mostly timed intervals (between 40 and 50 secs), just four videos are by reps. No descending reps videos (or ladder or pyramid HIIT structure for that matter).

There were 3 videos that alternate strength and cardio intervals (rather than doing each group separately) – I love those! And one active/static video (also a huge fan :))

The weekly structure kept me guessing. They don’t follow the same formula for building each week and I loved it.

And that’s all I have to say about that!! (in a Forrest Gump voice :P)

I know I have trouble keeping it short, sorry, and I know you didn’t need to hear all of this but I hope at least some parts covered what interested you about Sweat (and that you stayed long enough to get to them ;))

To sum up, FB Sweat exceeded my expectations, made me look forward to each day, helped me improve endurance and become more confident about my fitness, and was a huge joy to do! I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Thanks for reading and have a good day!