As I've been using the program for a couple of weeks now, I have obviously watched all of the 'how to' videos that show the workouts you are supposed to do and how to make them progressively harder.
When I imagined what they would be like, my imagination borrowed images from the commercials of Greg doing one armed pull-ups with great lighting and perfect flow. I assumed the gym used in the video would be well laid out, Greg's lines perfectly crafted, memorized and delivered, and the editing impeccable, making the production easy to follow and understand.
Well, you don't write a lead up paragraph like that unless what you experienced did not meet your expectations. The videos seemed very low budget, like, maybe the tripod held the camcorder while he worked out with whatever was lying around in his home gym and the editing was done over a couple of hours and a few beers.
I am fairly certain it was done in his home gym, as the yard outside the windows did have a similar look to the yard of "The Mansion" that is in the commercials and the ceiling was not very high. The way he explained exercises and went from one to another reminded me of that time when you were twelve and you wend over to your buddy's house who had been working out for a month on the weight set his dad just bought. The explanations were haphazard and when he went to do some of the exercises he seemed to be looking around for equipment that would "work", but that he didn't really intend on using for the particular exercise until that moment. Probably the most disappointing part of all of this was when he went to do the "One-armed pull-up" that, in my opinion, seems to be the signature piece of the bodyweight program. He says in the video that he just worked out the day before, so he probably wouldn't be able to do it. And, true to his word, he pulled himself up some, but couldn't complete it. Again, it's my twelve year old friend saying that he can do it, but that he's just really sore that day.
Now, before anyone gets the wrong impression, Greg can do a one-armed pull-pull up. I've seen him do it in other videos. My issue: You're a professional here, man. Take a day off of lifting, so you can perform everything you need to when it comes to making the video we'll actually be watching. Don't just give us the "This is sort of what it looks like. You get the idea." because we didn't pay for sort-of, we paid for the whole shebang.
Speaking of she-bang, there was another part of the production that made me cock my head and squint my eyes. There were two specific times when he explained a part of an exercise where you would need to thrust your hips forward... just like you were thrusting into a girl. I'm not making this up, I wouldn't make this up, he actually felt the need to put that in when explaining how to perform an exercise. Now, maybe I'm being a prude, or overly sensitive, but I don't really want to mix sex into my workout. I'm just working out, I don't need to think about a sexual act... just sayin'.
While the production was a little low budget, I must give it some positives though. Each exercise and its progression is its own track. Meaning that if I forget what comes after regular push-ups in the progression, I only have to watch three minutes of movie to find out, rather than trying to scroll through an hour and a half of film. It's also nice that the program is digital and fully accessible to me for the rest of my life.
Overall, I'm disappointed in the production, but I think it's a good system. I still feel sore and feel like I am gaining strength slowly, but surely, I just wish they would have spent a little more time making a polished set of videos... where sexual references weren't made.
As for my progression: This last Saturday I weighed 188.2 pounds (85.36 kg), which is a total weight loss of 45.6 pounds (20.68 kg). It was a pound lost at the end of a week where I did pretty well at staying within my calorie goals. I'm doing well.
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