Well, I just finished up my first round of the 21 Day Fix Extreme and it was AWESOME! I really enjoyed it! Overall I lost 9.8 lb, 8 inches, and 2.4% body fat. Let me tell you, I was a little skeptical of the program at first, but the 21 Day Fix Extreme is definitely not a women’s-only workout. I had previously done P90X, P90X3, and Body Beast, and I had watched Kathi do the 21 Day Fix, and I originally assumed it was going to be a high cardio workout not really appropriate for guys, but I was completely wrong! It was intense and I got awesome results. Especially after Body Beast, this helped me to “cut” and get my body fat % to the lowest it has ever been, around 14%.
The Diet
First off, let me say I was NOT perfect on the diet. During the three weeks, I cheated with a total of (3) glasses of wine, (7) french fries, and (1) slice of pizza. None the less, I was able to drop weight and see great results. I stuck with the Extreme Eating Plan the entire three weeks. Kathi did the Countdown to Competition (C2C) plan, which is even more intense, but I wanted simple and easy.
We ate many of the recipes on the program, including the Beef & Butternut Squash Stew, Egg Cups, and more. I never felt full; but it was tough coming onto the diet for the first few days after getting into a bad routine in the new year of drinking & eating without too much accountability. It was just what I needed to kickstart my weight loss. As a matter of fact, of the 9.8 pounds I lost, 6.5 came off in the first week! The next two weeks were more moderated.
The Workouts
Wow, if I could sum up 21 Day Fix Extreme in a sentence, it would be “5 days of legs and an upper body routine”. There is no denying the 21 Day Fix extreme heavily focuses on leg workouts. Autumn Calabrese says this is because the legs torch the most calories because of their size and I don’t deny it. This would be the perfect program to do ahead of ski season. I mean, it is a never ending quadburner.
Overall, I really liked that all the workouts, even the Cardio Fix extreme, incorporate weights. This makes it adjustable so as you get stronger you can scale the workout difficulty with it. I was up 5 – 10 pounds on most of the workouts by the time three weeks was over.
Here is a 2 sentence summary of each workout –
- Plyo Fix Extreme. Let’s just say it took almost 5 days for my legs to recover the first time I did this workout. 30 second moves with minimal breaks in between. Hardest move – lunge jumps. Holy cow.
- Upper Fix Extreme – I loved this workout! 4 rounds, each one focuses on different areas -but by the end of it you have burned your shoulders, back, chest, biceps, and triceps. Hardest move – post delt fly with the band. That last 30 seconds of holding the band – burrrnnnn
- Pilates Fix Extreme – I have honestly never spent too much time with resistance bands but this entire workout was based on resistance band training. the first 15 – 20 minutes are a variety of ab-burning moves, and the last 15 – 20 minutes are legs and arm workouts. This day was “easier” than some of the other ones, but definitely still challenging.
- Lower Fix Extreme – More legs! There are also definitely cardio components to this as well with lots of jumping. I was still in pain from Plyo fix so I was not excited when I got to more legs 🙂
- Cardio Fix Extreme – umm… more legs?? Yup! This DVD consists of minute long exercises followed by a 30 second cardio move. Soaked by the end of it.
- Dirty 30 Extreme – Yep – more legs. This adds in some major shoulder, core and arm work as well to really get you sweating by the end of it.
- Yoga Fix Extreme – I found this pretty similar to P90X3 yoga. Oh and by the way – this is your “off day”. There are no off days on 21 day fix extreme. It’s a 7 day a week program. Autumn calls this an “active recovery” day.
Overall, I really enjoyed this program. Kathi and I are now doing Round #2 ahead of the upcoming Cancun Success Club trip, which is in less than three weeks from now. I can see myself cycling between Body Beast (bulking) and 21DFX (cutting) on a regular basis for really great results.
If you have questions or comments on the program, post ’em below!
