Starting the ESP-XC Workout Program-Follow my Results

[BGBJJ32]

After seeing all of those workout videos from the guys over at ESP-XC were putting up on other websites, I became very curious as to what they were all about and decided to do an unbiased review of their product. Before I started I wanted to make sure I got my move out of the way and the recent holiday of eating bad out of the way. As you know when you move 99.9% of the time you eat terrible and I was no different and with the past Memorial Day Holiday right after my move I knew that I would put on some weight so what a better time to start fresh.

So here we are, its May 31st, and tonight I will start the Endurance Phase of the ESP-XC workout. The first workout will be legs, and I'm already dreading it. I dislike the feeling I get when working out my legs, but its something I will have to get past because I know its a must for me to get into the best shape and its a must for you to know if this workout program that they are selling works well or not. As for me personally at the moment, I'm not in terrible shape, but I'm not in competition shape either. So I will use this as a base to see if it can get to where I want/need to be. I have never been shredded either, what can I say I love food WAY too much, but during this 90 days I will have a clean diet in hopes of getting as lean as possible. I am a Purple belt under Professor Draculino at Gracie Barra Tx so I will still be training BJJ at least 3 times a week sometimes more. I will need to play with my caloric intake to see what works best for me. I plan on starting at about 2200 calories a day and seeing where that takes me. I didn't get an opportunity to weigh myself this morning but if I had to guess I would be about 220 lbs (6ft 4") which is a little heavier than I like to be when walking around. (I will post the numbers tonight and my starting pictures as well)

So here is what I plan to do:

1. Do their daily workouts and post my HONEST opinion of each of them and how I felt during the workout, after the workout, and the next morning.

2. Within that post I will give you the food that I ate, even if I cheat, so you know if my diet is clean or not. Today I have eaten breakfast- 2 whole eggs with ham and some turkey sausage, mid morning snack- banana, lunch- turkey burger on whole wheat bread, dinner- I plan on 6-8oz of chicken breast, cup of brown rice, and about 4 oz of mixed veggies and a after workout protein shake which I will post the nutritional content later.

3. I will have a weekly weight check and post it so you can see any progress that I have made this will include my body fat % as well.

4. I already drink plenty of water, about a gallon a day so I will continue with this.

If you are interested in this, by all means follow along and ask questions if you have any. If this stuff doesn't interest I understand you don't have to follow.

 

[BGBJJ32]

So I did the first workout last night of the ESP-XC Program. I did it after a very tough BJJ class last night, so needless to say I was running on empty after both of the workouts. The Endurance Leg workout was pretty tough. The way this particular workout is set up is you do 5 mins of different leg exercises and rest 1 min in between rounds. In total there were 6 rounds of working out. Now as stated before in my last post I dislike working out legs, I'm not talking about doing squats, leg presses, or something that you could do while at the gym, something that we've all done. I am talking about body weight exercises that you may have done in the past, but putting them together makes the time crawl and your legs buckle at times. Stuff like Isometric frog sits for 2 mins, just imagine sitting in the position of skier going downhill trying to pick up speed. Who prepares themselves for that? I don't, especially for 2 mins, and it was a long 2 mins at that. There were a few other exercises like this that required you hold a pose for about 2 mins and all of them were tough. One of the things that was different about this workout from any other leg workout I have personally done was that it incorporated some movements that are geared towards combat athletes, while still working out your legs. For example, split squats into a knee pound or your basic shot for a double leg, one leg step ups followed by a knee strike, and a forward lunge followed by checking a leg kick.

The workout itself was tough. During the workout I built up a good sweat and could really feel a burn in my legs. I didn't have trouble finishing the workout but I will tell you I had to stop and rest a couple of times during some of those Isometric holds. Those are the worst! One thing I did find myself doing during the workouts was looking for a timer... on the video it doesn't have a countdown or anything like that and I definitely like to know how much time I have left. Next timed workout I will have my stop watch handy. After the workout I felt my legs were pretty spent. I didn't have trouble walking around or anything but they did feel a bit tired.

Today I felt like I would be sore. I usually get second day soreness, so I wasn't shocked when I wasn't all that sore. The muscle with the most soreness this morning was my calves. Walking up a flight of stairs was no fun for them this morning. As the day progresses I'm sure I will start to feel a bit more sore in other areas of my legs. Tonight is the Endurance Phase Upper body workout, and I really look forward to that one. I will let you know how it goes.

Since I didn't weight myself yesterday I did it this morning so here it is.

Weight 6/1- 216 LBS

Body Fat %- 16%

This mornings breakfast consisted of 2 whole eggs, with ham, jalapenos, and 2 links of turkey sausage and 2 slices of whole wheat toast. I have brought to work for lunch about 8 oz of chicken breast, some mixed veggies, and my snacks I packed are a banana, some mixed nuts, and my gallon of water.

 

[calvus]

Welcome to the logs - good luck with the program.

 

[BGBJJ32]

Welcome to the logs - good luck with the program.

Thanks buddy!

 

[BGBJJ32]

So I said I would probably have second day soreness and it was true. The leg workout from Day 1 has left me sore glutes, hamstrings, and groin area! Not sore to the point that I can't walk but sitting down is a mother....The second day workout consisted of an upper body workout that focused on my shoulders, chest, and back. Again there was more of those darn Isometric holds that are pretty tough no matter how much weight you use. Keep in mind right now everything is done for time. The workout was set up just like the previous day 5 mins of exercising 1 min break for 6 rounds. Some exercises are done for 2 mins long, mostly which are the Isometric exercises and all are done with light weight. Last night I used dumbbells for a variety of shoulder exercises and some back exercises. Those bands for back work and good ole' fashioned body weight for chest and a little shoulders.

The workout was not easy. You know I'm not gonna lie, before I started these workouts I took a look at the videos just to see what I was getting myself into. When I watched them, I could see where I may have a little trouble but all in all I didn't think they would be that hard. I was wrong and last night I didn't train BJJ so there was no excuse. Some of the isometric shoulder holds were extremely difficult and after doing a certain amount of pushups, doesn't matter the type, they begin to get difficult. So during the workout my shoulders were on fire! My triceps and chest didn't like me very much, and I sweat like a mad man. My back wasn't too bad but it is sore today. After the workout I felt great! You know the feeling you get after a great workout, you feel refreshed. That is what I felt like. I just didn't want to do anymore pushups.

Food wise I did good until dinner. I ate some beef enchilada casserole and mexican rice that was left over from Sunday dinner at my parents house. The only positive that I could see in that dinner is the casserole was made with corn tortillas LOL! I know it was a terrible food choice but I only had one piece of chicken breast left and wanted to bring that for lunch today with a small salad. For dessert last night I had some watermelon.

So as promised here is a before pic, these were taken yesterday.

 

[MSeltz]

Hey man, congrats on starting this program. I've been looking at it for a while and definitely will be following your progress.

I know you're only on Day 2, but I was wondering what you thought of doing Starting Strength on top of this? My roommate and I were talking about starting esp-xc in August, but we are starting SS at the end of this month. How you feel now, could you do 3 strength workouts a week on top of it?

 

[BGBJJ32]

Hey man, congrats on starting this program. I've been looking at it for a while and definitely will be following your progress.

I know you're only on Day 2, but I was wondering what you thought of doing Starting Strength on top of this? My roommate and I were talking about starting esp-xc in August, but we are starting SS at the end of this month. How you feel now, could you do 3 strength workouts a week on top of it?[/QUOTE

MSeltz,

Man in my opinion I would stick to one program at a time and see what works best for you. I couldn't see myself doing Starting Strength on top of this. I'm still getting in my BJJ workouts along with the ESP-XC program at the end of the day my body is pretty tired. Plus my time is very limited. Right now I'm pretty sore from these workouts so throwing something in extra would make it very tough. Thanks for following and the questions. I hope this helps you.

 

[BGBJJ32]

MSeltz,

I should also mention I believe there is a strength portion of the ESP-XC workout. So that may help.

 

[BGBJJ32]

Last nights workout was from the Endurance Phase was called Core and Balance. The core stuff I can handle it was tough, but I can handle it. What I did find out last night is apparently my balance sucks! Doing alot of one legged exercises which engage your core muscles as well as others, I was falling all over the place. All the core exercises with the exception of a couple I had done before and knew what to expect with them. Doing One Leg Roman Dead lifts (I think thats what it was called) One legged squat and reaches, and something called Monk sit is not my cup of tea. I will agree that they were effective and the guy on the video kept saying "you can't have strength without good balance" so I guess I could see his point. The workout was set with the same time and number of rounds as the rest have been. One thing I have failed to mention previously that at the end of every workout there is something called a Finale. In the finale you do certain exercise for a certain amount of reps. They have been an exercise to an area that you have had been focusing on throughout the workout. Last night we finished with 100 regular situps, previously we finished with a push up pyramid doing sets of 10, 9, 8 all the way down to 1, and the first day I did 100 body weight squats. These finales are pretty tough when your muscles are already fatigued and you just want to be done. All in all last nights workout was done right after BJJ training and I felt good. I got a good burn in my abs, some in my legs with some of the balance stuff, and a great sweat.

Yesterdays meals included for breakfast I had 2 whole eggs, turkey sausage on a whole wheat bagel, watermelon for a mid morning snack, a small chicken breast with a medium salad sized salad, that had romaine lettuce, spinach, broccoli, carrots, egg whites, couple of pepperoni mixed in there, and low fat honey mustard dressing on it. My afternoon snack was a cliff bar, dinner included Meatloaf made with extra lean beef 96/4 and some green beans, and had a protein shake before I hit the sack. So day 3 is down the tubes, I'm feeling pretty good and It looks like I have 2 more workouts this week before I get a much needed 2 day break before starting week 2. My leg soreness is gone, I have a little soreness in my shoulders, back and my abs.

 

[BGBJJ32]

I posted this Saturday on my blog... I didn't have access to my Sherdog account that day.

Yesterday was the cardio day of the Endurance Phase. The video had alot of boxing combos involved in it. Not only that it had me doing a couple different types of jumping jacks that made my legs and calves have good burn. There was also some sprawls and burpees thrown in there. I was sweating really good, and my heart rate was up there throughout the video. I was able to finish the workout, it was tough and I did take a few breathers to make it through. I felt great during the workout, and the best thing about having a great cardio session is this morning I felt great. I didn't wake up exhausted and had a great BJJ training session this morning.

For dinner last night I had some brown rice with some chopped chicken and sliced steak, with mixed veggies all mixed together. It was good. For breakfast today I had a nutrigrain bar, and a protein shake cause I was running late to teach at the academy. Lunch today was turkey breast on whole wheat bread and a few whole grain tostitos chips. I don't have alot of time to sit in front of the computer during the weekend so this is a bit short. Tonight is another leg workout and hopefully I have time to post tomorrow about it. If not I will resume on Monday.

 

[BGBJJ32]

So Saturday was the second go around with the legs workout of the Endurance phase. I knew what to expect and got through it a little easier this time around. It still was no fun starting and ending the workout with the frog sits (speed skier position) for 2 mins, but everything else was good. I picked up a good sweat and felt my legs tiring throughout the workout. I really didn't break too much during the workout except for the frog sits and during the Finale which was 100 body weight squats. Sunday I didn't have any soreness and the same with today. If I am doing the workouts correctly I had yesterday off and today day as well. The workouts resume tomorrow as well as a morning weigh in, or is that Wednesday. I will check back and see which day equals 7 days and do it there.

I've had ups and downs this week with my diet. During the week I was pretty clean and for the most part as well this weekend except for a couple of slip ups because of family graduation parties. This morning I had 2 eggs with some sausage crumbles and ham with 2 pieces of whole wheat toast. For lunch I ate beef fajitas from Perfect Fit Meals which was great! Other than that I will update you again in a couple of days.

 

[BGBJJ32]

So this was the start of the second week of the Endurance phase. The first thing I noticed was the order of the workouts had changed so last night I did the Core/balance workout. I like the idea of changing up the order of the workouts. Yes you are still doing the same workouts, but its a bit different. I know it doesn't make that much of a difference, but I sure didn't want to be doing a leg workout again last night. Nothing much changed in the way my body responded to the workout. I was able to get through ab portion a little easier this time but still had to take a couple of breaks during some of the exercises. My balance still sucks! I was able to hold this position that they call "monk sit", where you stand on one leg cross your other leg over the top and rest it on your standing leg and hold a sitting position, for 30 seconds straight. Which was better than before, but your legs start shaking and you try to keep your core engaged to help steady your balance but again my balance sucks. One legged dumbbell dead lifts, are pretty tough as well! Not that I am using a big dumbbell, just because yep you guessed it my balance sucks! All in all, I felt good throughout the workout and completed all of the exercise including the finale, which was 100 situps. That may not sound like alot but when your core is already tired and burning these get tough. One exercise that sticks out in my mind is something that kind of simulates an armbar from side control/knee on belly. You use a med ball, place your hands on it and put your body into a pushup position. From there you jump to a knee on belly position one knee on top of the ball and back to push up position. You do this twice with both knees, then on the last one you fall back like securing an armbar, but instead of you finishing there you do 5 situps and start again. This goes on for 3 mins. Its not that its a hard exercise but it does simulate a technique that is used often in BJJ and some in MMA.

Keep in mind that I did this workout after training BJJ for about an 1 and half hours. Which we went over an arm drag to a double leg takedown and another escape from side control. Then live trained for 45 mins. I slept pretty well last night to say the least. One thing that I can say during this process of doing these workouts is, I haven't really been sore since the first couple of days. I don't know if the workouts are designed that way or what, but the first day I did legs I was sore for a couple of days. Same with the upper body stuff. I haven't been since. Not that the workouts are easy or anything because I feel like I do get a good workout while doing them, but just no soreness.

So today has been 7 days since I weighed myself last, this morning I got on the scale and it read 214 lbs. So I have lost 2 lbs since I started this workout. I didn't have enough time to check my body fat so I will do that tonight and see if there are any changes there. I know some of you guys are requesting a power threshold number and hopefully I can get that done this week. The number may be a bit skewed but after almost 2 weeks into the workout hopefully not too much. If you have any other ideas to use a metrics for the workout besides weight and body fat % I am all ears. I can do a bench max if you want, maybe number of pushups for 2 mins, I don't know at least its something to gauge off of.

Diet wise has been decent. I did attend a graduation party this past weekend and ate what they served. Yesterday I had 2 eggs on a whole wheat bagel and a sausage patty, lunch was a salad with lettuce, spinach, broccoli, carrots, chicken breast, a couple of pepperoni, and light honey mustard dressing, dinner was 8 oz of chicken breast, green beans, and whole wheat stuffing my only snack yesterday was some mixed nuts

 

[BGBJJ32]

These last few days have been crazy! Thursday night I was in the middle of my BJJ class, when I get a call from my wife, saying she thinks its time for the baby. So I get changed and head home. We get to the hospital at about 9:45 that night, do all the proper paperwork and get settled in a delivery room. My wife had been having contractions for about 3 hours straight so we figured it was just a matter of time before my second daughter was to arrive. To make a long story short, at about 7:30 the next morning nothing had happened. Apparently, either she "was not in labor enough" or just dehydrated a bit so we were sent home. So I wasn't able to get my workout in on Thursday night needless to say. After coming home and sleeping most of the day Friday, I found some time to catch up on my workout. Which was the Cardio/combo workout which I was able to do in the middle of the day in Houston Heat in my garage. I guess I had a bit of frustration to work off. Come saturday, I didn't go into the gym because I was thinking that the baby for sure would be coming this weekend at any time. So while waiting for this to happen, I got another workout in that afternoon which was the Upper Body workout. I felt great during this work out. Again I felt really motivated for some reason got a great sweat and put in some work. Sunday comes around and still no baby!!! So I get in my core/balance workout. I feel my core getting stronger and at times I have a little glimmer of hope with my balance. All in all my balance still sucks. I am getting better at some of the exercises, but others I can barely stay up. Its a work in progress.

So I just finished week 2 of the Endurance Phase of the ESP-XC workout program. Today I will rest and begin week 3 tomorrow.

 

[BGBJJ32]

So last night was the start of week 3 and it started with the Core/Balance workout. I am still in the Endurance Phase and I feel like I'm starting to get through these workouts a little easier. Yes even the balance part I think I'm getting better on. Except that dreaded "Monk Sit", I'm still terrible at that! Last night I still felt burn in my abs and the Finale still kicked my BUTT, but I'm feeling good and am excited to start the next phase in a couple of weeks.

This workout was done after training in my BJJ class. Last night we covered another take down off an arm drag that included an outside trip. After that we learned an armbar from the bottom in side control. We then did 2 five min rounds on specific training, which was done from side control top and bottom. Then it was live training. I don't know how long the rounds were last night. My guess was about 7 mins, and I rolled 2 rounds. All and all it was a great night. I rolled with 2 tough blues, one huge blue and one more my size. Both were really good rolls for me, I don't like to say I won or I submitted this person or that person. I just like to gauge it on if I gained anything out of the rolls. The first thing that pops out at me, is my cardio is good right now. I can go hard without the fear of running out of gas. Especially with bigger opponents who like to smash and really make breathing difficult for anyone. Both rounds I rolled were back to back so it was 14 mins straight of rolling and I went hard the entire 14 mins. Another thing I did notice, and its quite possible I have been doing this but it really stuck out last night was noticing someone's balance or base was off at that split second and capitalizing on it at the right time. I was able to sweep both opponents with some basic hip bumps after I had gotten both of them off base and caught them right in the middle of readjusting. Well that is all for today. I will blog about tonights workout tomorrow.

 

[BGBJJ32]

Ok so last night was the dreadful legs night! I have always despised doing leg workouts but like I said in previous posts that I know they are necessary and I make myself do them. A positive I took from last nights workout was I am starting to notice improvements. The Frog sits I'm holding for almost 2 mins without a break, well actually most of the ISO exercises I'm able to hold without a break or very close to the full 2 mins. Don't get me wrong, I'm still feeling the burn during those times, but I'm able to push through now. I am definitely getting stronger in my legs and its showing. My numbers in the 1 min of Sumo squats have gone up as well so to me that is another indication that this muscle endurance phase is working for me. For the next leg workouts I will attempt to add a little weight and see what that does for me. One of the best part of this workout was, during the workout my 2 year old daughter came out and was like "Daddy what are you doing?" I told her daddy is working out sweetie... she replied with "Can I watch you?" I said "sure baby" So she began watching me this was right about the time I was in the middle of doing the ISO Good Mornings, during the Over Head squats she became more intrigued and grabbed another broom and started doing them with me. As the workout went on, she tried a few of the exercises like the Deck squat which was hilarious! She was fascinated with the kick portion but for some reason she kept going back to the OH Squat! She even did the entire finale with me which was 100 squats, counting by 20's (because that is as high as she can go at this time) about midway through she grabbed her broom and went back to doing the OH squats hahaha. This brought a smile to my face, when the workout was complete she said "daddy common lets work out!" When I explained that the workout was over she got the good ole' pouty lip and said "lets do it again!" I told her that tomorrow we will do another workout and was proud that my little girl is getting started at an early age. Ahhhh the joys of parenthood!!!

 

[BGBJJ32]

So yesterday after a pretty intense BJJ training session, I had to get in the Cardio/Combo workout. The workout I like because it has a lot of punch combos in there, mixed with some different type of conditioning exercises. I wouldn't say the workout was easy last night because I was already spent from the training before it. I made it through and had to push myself through it. I had a little soreness these past couple of days in my legs and I guess I attribute that to a combination of the leg workouts and the cardio where your are bouncing around doing combinations just like you are shadow boxing (which I haven't done in well over a year), combined with the sprawls, half burpees, jack squats your legs take a pounding.

My BJJ was pretty good last night, we went over another takedown and a reverse arm bar from the bottom side control. We then did situational training based on weight from the side control for about 15 mins. Which can get tiring because you are always going with a fresh person. Then we did competition training for 30 mins basically since the class was so big we did first points wins and the winner stays. We did this with no weight classes so it was all absolute. I felt really tired last night during this training. I don't know if I didn't get enough water or enough calories in my system but I was dragging tail by the end of the night training.

I realized I didn't weigh myself this week, so this morning I weighed myself and the scale read 211 lbs. Which means in alittle over 2 weeks I have lost 5 lbs doing this workout, I started at 216. If you are wondering... I'm still waiting for my new baby girl to be born. Here due date was actually yesterday and still nothing! Tonight I will be doing another workout, after a little BJJ training. Nothing too stressful on the mat tonight, just some technique and some light rolling.

 

[BGBJJ32]

I have finally completed the Endurance phase of the workout program. I feel really good, with what I've been doing especially having to find time to get the workouts completed with little to no sleep. I feel this phase has helped me with some muscular endurance, but not only that I have lost weight and fat in the process. I am looking forward to moving forward to the strength phase of it as well as getting back to some normalcy on the mats and having my regular routine again. Its not going to be easy, having 2 jobs, a new born child, and a toddler, my life is crazy! I rest when I can, eat the best I can, and try to get the most out of every workout. I'm so ready to start the new phase that I will go on just one days rest and start the second phase tonight. I actually didn't look at the schedule this morning, but I think the first workout of the Strength phase is the upper body workout. I didn't get a chance to look at the video, so I am going in this blind tonight... I will post my thoughts tomorrow morning.

 

[BGBJJ32]

Last night was the beginning of the Strength phase for me. I really enjoy lifting weights and having something to follow. Not saying that when I do lift I don't have a plan, but doing someone else's plan is better for me. The workout is based on rounds just like the Endurance phase was, but with this phase everything is supersetted. Your super setting chest with back, or shoulders etc... Most of the exercises are based on a push/pull type format, and they are all exercises that almost everyone has done before utilizing dumbells. Some of the exercises were db bench, db incline, db lateral raises, db front shoulder raises, pull ups, db rows, and db flyes to name a few. One of the key components to this workout was utilizing a stability ball for almost everything. Any exercise that you would normally use a bench for was replaced with the ball. If you have done work with these before you know that these stability balls make you really engage your core to stay balanced. I thought this was a nice added feature to the workout.

Every exercise was done for 8-12 slow reps and you moved onto the next one. There was a total of 12 different exercises that involved, your chest, back and shoulders. Four exercises per round 1 min break in between each round and in total I did all the exercises 2 times each. During the workout I felt some muscle fatigue throughout. None of the exercises were new to me so I was able to get through the workout while completing at least 10 reps of every exercise. I did have really focus on maintaining my core tight to keep my balance on the ball throughout the workout which helped make for a tougher more tiring workout. Today, I do have some soreness, in the 3 muscle groups that were really focused on chest, shoulders, and back. I did get a chance for some mat time last night prior to the workout. I did some situational training from the side control position, and then I rolled three 5 min rounds.

If I remember correctly tonight I legs portion of the Strength phase for the first time. I will let you know just how much fun I have.

 

[BGBJJ32]

Oh man!!! As you know from the start of the program I am not a fan of working out legs! Today was the leg day and my first of the Strength Phase of the program. Every type of lunge imaginable was done with dumbbells! During the entire workout I was cussing out the guy on the video Ken, it usually was something like "I hate F$%^ing leg workouts" or "Leg workouts F@#%#$g suck!". Granted I was doing this workout by myself in my garage at about 9:30PM last night and I wasn't quite about voicing my displeasure of having to do the leg workouts so I'm sure my neighbors got a good laugh about it. I also see why all the balance stuff came into play during the Endurance phase because most of the exercises that I did was done one leg at a time! Yep you guessed it, my balance though it has gotten better I still consider it being very crappy! The worst exercise for me was the weighted step ups. These weren't done facing the bench/chair they were done standing next to it and yes without question they sucked. And of course the finale, my FAVORITE part of every workout (note the sarcasm) included weighted Frog sits for a minute and deck squats for a min holding a dumbbell. NOT FUN My legs were jello during and after the workout. I did atleast 10 reps on every exercise which I felt good about, but I HATED every min of it.

This morning, my glutes, hamstrings, and quads are in pain. Everyday activities like sitting down or walking suck! Hopefully the soreness will be gone by tonight when I have to hit the mats and train BJJ. I have another workout tonight, but I didn't look at the schedule again so I don't know what it is. Expect another post like this one tomorrow.

 

[BGBJJ32]

Sorry I haven't updated this thing in a few days. When I'm at home I don't get on the computer too much because my time is pretty limited with my 2 year old and my newborn child. On Saturday 07/2 I finished Week 1 of the Strength phase. I felt great throughout the week of course I struggled alittle bit with the leg portion of the workout, but really who wouldn't. I actually enjoyed every workout after that this past week and am looking forward to continue in this phase. Yesterday I began week 2 and it started with my favorite, Legs! Yesterday wasn't too bad though, I was motivated and pushed through the workout. I needed the sweat and the work after spending the past couple of days celebrating the July 4th holiday. I did get a chance to get on the mats Thursday night and Saturday morning which is always a good time!

All in all I am feeling great. I don't get too much soreness and having a great time trying to better myself through these workouts. I am still trying to do an honest product review but as of right now I really don't have anything negative to say. The workouts are challenging and I have been looking forward to them each day. Whether my performance on the mats improves or my strength increases or not that is yet to be determined and will have to wait until the end of the program.