Dig Deeper is a 12-week BODi program featuring Shaun T, released in December 2023. Unlike his famous cardio routines, this program focuses entirely on traditional weightlifting and body recomposition.
The format breaks down into three distinct, four-week phases. Phase 1 is the Steady State phase, which relies on high-repetition endurance sets of up to 20 reps. Phase 2 shifts into a traditional Hypertrophy split designed to isolate specific muscle groups. Phase 3 concludes with heavy strength pyramids, where you adjust your rep counts (sometimes doing 12, 10, 8, and 6-rep sets, sometimes doing 6, 8, 10, and 12-rep sets, and sometimes doing three sets of 12). Shaun says you can use the same weight, or go up or down with each set change, depending on how you feel. I mostly tried to use the same weight for every set, but occasionally went up from one set to the next and sometimes had to drop-set. Each phase features five primary workouts repeated weekly for a month straight, targeting different upper and lower-body combinations alongside regular core blocks.
The cast is small for this program. In Phase 1, the workouts include Shaun T, his trainer, a woman named Kristen, who looks like she could be the sister of the late pro-wrestler, Chyna, and a third guy named Chris. In Phase 2, it is just Shaun T and Kristen, and in Phase 3, it is just Shaun T himself. Shaun does all of the exercises during the workouts and only takes a few breaks, and he is lifting 60-85 pounds on some exercises, so he is not holding back.
Shaun T has stated that this is his hardest program to date. As someone who completed the original Insanity workout years ago, I have to disagree. Insanity was much harder in terms of raw cardiovascular exhaustion, and was hard to get through even for people who were ultra-fit. Still, if you execute the lifting in this program correctly and pick weights that genuinely challenge you, you will have to push yourself hard to survive the final blocks.
The Pros
The program delivers on its structural promises. You will thoroughly work every single muscle group across your frame. If you stick with the tracking, you will definitely get stronger from week to week. Your body will transform.
Shaun T will show you how to "get stuck" on some exercises, which is basically performing the exercise through a smaller range of motion, which allows you to use heavier weight without risking hurting yourself or losing your form. That helps a lot, especially on exercises like shoulder flys and presses.
On that last point, you have to be realistic. If you are overweight on day 1, you will not look like a professional bodybuilder after a single 12-week round. However, you will get noticeably leaner, your muscle density will increase, and your muscles will get significantly harder.
The Cons
The schedule can get highly repetitive. Doing the exact same five workouts for four consecutive weeks can get a bit boring. However, you move to the next phase just as it starts getting really tedious. The high-volume sets in Phase 1 are particularly brutal. The overall pacing of the workouts, especially during those opening weeks, moves incredibly fast. It can be a real struggle to change your weight pins and keep up with the screen. And, of course, because it is a Shaun T workout, you will get that workout's buzz phrase or keyword, which for this one is "mind-muscle connection". He does not say it as often as he said "Max Out" during Insanity Max 30, but he said it enough that it got a little old.
You need a lot of equipment. You need a selection of dumbbells and a good workout bench. If your workout area has a low ceiling and/or you do not feel comfortable stepping up on a workout bench, you may also want to get an aerobic step bench (there is one called "The Step" that is a bench with stackable square "feet" that you can use to make it higher. That will allow you to do the exercises that require stepping up on the bench but on a lower (and safer) platform. You can use adjustable dumbbells like SelectTechs or PowerBlocks, but the pace of the workouts (especially in the first two Phases) will make it hard to adjust the weight between exercises. So it is best to have at least some free weights. This is not a program you can do with bands, and while you can modify some exercises, you need free weights and a bench.
The main drawback lies in the program materials. Years ago, back when the company was called Team Beachbody and workouts were released on physical DVDs, the accompanying materials were excellent. They included detailed guidebooks illustrating every single exercise, along with comprehensive, easy-to-use tracking sheets. Now that everything has transitioned to digital streaming via the BODi app and website, the materials are bare-bones and available only in PDF format. Sometimes you only receive a basic calendar, and sometimes you get tracking sheets. While Dig Deeper does include workout sheets, they are poorly formatted, hard to read, and fail to list every single exercise performed on camera. If you want proper tracking templates, you have to build your own from scratch and manually add the missing movements as you discover them during the workout.
My Results
I completed this entire 12-week program while eating in a strict caloric deficit. Running on lower fuel makes the process significantly harder, especially when trying to push your heaviest loads during the Phase 3 pyramids.
Despite the deficit, my consistency paid off. I lost a total of 13 pounds. I dropped a combined 8.8 inches across my entire body. My most significant change occurred right around my waistline, shrinking from 44 inches at the start down to 40 inches at the final check-in. It was a demanding program, but it absolutely worked. If you like lifting, this is definitely a good program to try.
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