Workout Review: Muscle Burns Fat (MBF)

 

MBF is a three-week workout from BODI/BeachBody. It was released in the summer of 2020 during the height of the pandemic. Since it is a newer program, it is only available on the streaming app and not on DVD as BeachBody's early programs were.  Knowing that the programs take a while to film and edit, I am unsure if the format was because of the pandemic or just fortuitous, but the trainer, Megan Davies, leads the workout from a set, and the cast members work out at home and connect via Zoom. So, you see the cast members in small boxes around the main box that displays what Megan is doing. 

The program is a cardio and muscle endurance-based workout. Three days a week, you do a resistance-focused workout: Monday is a lower-body workout, Wednesday is a lower-body workout, and Friday is a total-body resistance workout. Tuesday and Thursday are core circuit workouts in which you alternate between cardio and abdominal work. Saturday is a hybrid workout in which you use dumbells for part of it and do bodyweight exercises for part of it. Sunday is a recovery routine with stretching and yoga exercises. So, you need a selection of dumbells and a cordless jump rope. Those are jump rope handles with about a foot of cord and a foam ball on the ends of the cords. So you can simulate jumping rope without worrying about tripping over the rope. 

As I said above, this workout is mostly about muscle endurance and cardio. Once the workouts start, there is no rest between sets or blocks of exercises (between blocks, you usually use the cordless jump rope to do a cardion recovery), aside from the time it takes to transition from exercise to exercise. So, on the resistance days, you will very likely use a lot lighter weight for many exercises than you are used to. The M, W, and F workouts follow a format in which you do two unbalanced blocks and two balanced blocks. In the unbalanced blocks, you do two exercises holding weight in one hand, then you do a combo of both exercises back to back, then switch to the other side. In the two balanced blocks, you hold weight in each hand. The T and Th workouts alternate between core and cardio. In the last four minutes of those workouts, you do as many rounds of four cardio exercises as possible. On Saturday, you do three every-minute-on-the-minute blocks. Two of them last five minutes, and one lasts ten minutes. The two five-minute blocks require you to do a certain number of reps of the same exercise. In the ten-minute block, you alternate between two exercises. How much rest you get between sets depends on how fast you do them, but Megan stops everyone at 40 seconds, so you get at least 20 seconds of rest before the next minute starts.

Overall, the program is good but challenging. Even if you are in good shape, this will be a challenging program. Because there are no built-in rest breaks, all the workouts are short (26-39 minutes, depending on the workout). It can be a bit hard to follow what is happening since there are multiple boxes on the screen, and it can be distracting to listen to all of the cast members talking over each other in the background. There is a modifier that does modified versions of the various exercises, and she is usually on a split screen with Megan at the beginning of each exercise so you can see the modified version of the moves without trying to find the box with the modifier in it on the screen as you are working out. I am not sure that it would be a workout program that I return to over and over, but it is definitely worth trying at least once because even if you are in good shape, it will give you body a shock, which will definitely help if you have plateaued. 

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 20

For day 20 I did 645 cardio in the morning and the final power ignite workout of MBF in the evening. I had zero energy for the evening workout, so I was half-assing it through a lot of the workout. The push-up block is still the bane of my existence since I still despise push-ups. But, I did what I could and did get two workouts in so I did not feel as bad about not going all out in the second one.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 19

Day 19 was 645 cardio in the morning and MBF's full-body burn workout in the evening. Full body burn was another challenging workout, even using light weight. The weights I used in this one ranged from 8 lbs to 12 lbs. After doing two rounds of MBF I think the best approach for increasing weight throughout the program is doing week 1 with an absurdly light weight, like 5 lbs, or every exercise. Then, in week two, bump up to 10 lbs and in week three, jump to 12 or 15 lbs. Because you get no breaks once the workout starts, it is damn near impossible to use 25+ lb weights because you do a lot of reps, and many times, the exercises are paired so that one exercise requires a much smaller weight than the other if you had time between sets to switch out your weights. But, because you go from one exercise to the next with no rest, you have to cater to the exercise that requires a smaller amount of weight.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 18

Day 18 was the last core circuit workout of MBF, and, of course, I did 645 cardio in the morning. In the AMRAP block of the MBF workout, I was able to complete almost three more rounds than I did last week, so I felt good about that. 

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 17

Day 17 was 645 cardio and upper body burn in MBF. The upper body burn workout was very challenging. The workouts definitely did not get any easier for me in this round.  I stuck with using 10-12 lbs for the entire workout, and that was plenty.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 16

 Day 16 was 645 cardio in the morning and core circuit in the evening. During the core circuit workout I was able to do the same amount of rounds in the AMRAP portion as I did last week, but could not make it to six full rounds. My energy level was not great during the workout, though, but I did get through it.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 15

Day 15 was the start of the final week of MBF. I did the 645 cardio workout in the morning, and the lower-body burn MBF workout in the evening. I again kept the weights I was using light. In block two I did try bumping the amount of weight up a bit, but did have to drop it back down after the first set of each exercise. So, it is still very hard using lighter weights.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 14

Day 14 was the dynamic recovery workout in MBF and the cardio workout from 645. This week I did the two of them back-to-back. I did the 645 workout first, immediately followed by the MBF workout. The MBF workout definitely challenges my range of motion, especially toward the end. It absolutely helps to use the 645 workout as a warmup.  

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 13

 On day 13, I did the power ignite workout from MBF but did not do 645 cardio. This one again has the three EMOM rounds, the first two being five minutes long and the third being ten minutes. In the ten-minute block, we do plank jacks as the cardio exercise and weighted chops as the resistance exercise. The second block with the push-ups is still the hardest block for me to get through.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 12

 Day 12 was 645 cardio in the morning and Full Body Burn from MBF in the evening. The full-body burn workout was a challenge, even using light weights. This is definitely not a workout that most people are going to be able to do using 25 lb-plus weights. 10-20 lbs is plenty for the vast majority of the exercises, and I even use 5 or 8 lbs for some exercises.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 11

Day 11 was 645 cardio in the morning and MBF's core circuit in the evening. I could do the same amount of rounds (6.5) in the four-minute AMRAP portion as I did in week 1, but I could not get the 7 rounds that I did in week 2 the first time I did MBF. 

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 10

On day 10, I did 645 cardio in the morning and the upper body burn workout in MBF in the evening. The MBF workout was hard, even using light weights. The combination of exercises was hard, as was the fact that there was no rest once the workout started.  So, even on the exercises that I would normally use a heavier weight on, like rows, I was using avery light weight and still struggling. 

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 9

Day 9 was 645 cardio in the morning and the core circuit workout from MBF in the evening. Both workouts went pretty well. Most of the core circuit workout repeats the same workout from last Tuesday. The biggest changes are to the core blocks in which mountain climbers are swapped out for plank jacks and you do exercises like flutter kicks and side planks. All of the exercises in the four-minute AMRAP block are the same, however. I was able to get a little over five rounds done in the AMRAP block, which is a little better than last week.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 8

Day 8 was the start of week 2 of MBF, which was the lower body burn workout. The format is the same as last week, with two unbalanced blocks and two blocks in which the weight is evenly distributed. I did increase in weight from week 1, going from 12 lbs to 15 lbs for all of the weighted exercises. In the morning I did the 645 cardio routine. In that one, I did exercises that were moderately difficult for me. 

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 7

On day 7, I did 645 cardio, followed immediately by the MBF dynamic recovery routine. I did harder exercises in the 645 workout today since the MBF workout is really more of a flexibility and mobility workout and does not get your heart rate up.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 6

Day 6 was the EMOM workout in MBF. Again, this workout has three blocks: two five-minute blocks and one 10-minute block. In the first block, you do weighted swings, the second block is push-ups, and the third block alternates between weighted chops and mountain climbers. The push-up block was the hardest for me. The other two blocks were challenging, but I was able to do all of the reps in those blocks. I did not do 645 cardio.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 5

On day 5, I did a full-body burn in MBF and 645 cardio. Again, I did the 645 workout in the morning and MBF in the evening. The full-body burn was challenging, but as with the other resistance workouts this week, I had a better idea of the proper weight to use. For me, that meant erroring on the side of using weights that was a bit lighter than what I would use in Lift 4, Chalean Extreme, or P90x for the same exercises. 

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 4

On day 4, I did 645 cardio in the morning and the core circuit workout from MBF in the evening. The core circuit was similar to Tuesday's workout but with different exercises. This time, I was able to complete 6.5 AMRAP rounds. In the 645 workout, I did harder exercises than I would have done on HIIT day in Lift 4, but not the exercises that were the hardest for me. 

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 3

On day 3, I did 645 cardio in the morning, and the MBF upper-body burn workout in the evening. Again, my weight selection was better this time in the MBF workout. I mostly used 10-15 lbs throughout the workout, which, because you are doing so many reps, quickly, with no rest between sets, is plenty. 

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 2

On Day 2, I did the 645 cardio routine in the morning and the core circuit workout in the evening. The core circuit workout was challenging, although easier than the first time I did it.  I was able to do 5 rounds of the AMRAP circuit at the end of the workout, which was better than Day 2 the first time I did MBF.