Just finished up T25 Alpha. Nothing original here, but I thought I'd share a few thoughts:
First, a picture to show before and after
As you can see, there have not been huge changes but the difference is there, especially if you squint a little. In terms of raw numbers I've only lost a pound or so, fluctuating down to as many as two on a good day. That is in line with my expectations, but a couple more would still have been nice.
I felt the first week was, unsurprisingly, the hardest and that is where I got my best results. After that things have plateaued leading to a couple of conclusions.
* Focus T25 Alpha is too long. It really only needs to be 3 weeks, 4 would be pushing it. If you don't want to work out for the heck of it? I'd do the first week, skip the next two and then complete the final weeks of the program. It really does feel like you are running on the same spot (especially the bits where you are running on the same spot...) and if you are in any sort of shape you'll move on quickly.
* Having said that, the programs are very well put together and feel more "complete" than something like Insanity.
* Whilst the weight hasn't been flying off me, I feel I am a lot fitter.
There are negatives. Whilst the progression each week feels good, the "double up" on Friday where you do two workouts feels forced and just thrown together. The first week especially asks you to do Cardio and then Lower Focus, which will have your leg muscles screaming and possibly getting injured. I'd suggest taking it easy through this.
The big advantage is that whilst the 25 minute workouts are a little short, they do push you hard enough whilst giving you enough scope to play a sport or do something else. Insanity or P90X took up all the time and energy I had for exercise which isn't the case here. On the other hand, this means you may not be getting quite enough in "Alpha" so the recommendation to shorten it still stands.
Workout Thoughts
* Cardio: Gives you a good taste of all the different workouts and really gets you sweating. Well balanced and just the right difficulty for the first few tries. You will find it a little easy by the end.
* Speed 1.0: Gets a bad rap as the "easy program". However I actually enjoyed it because even though it is easy, there is more scope to "push yourself" than some other routines. Just watch out the first time for the 9 minute stretch at the end with no breaks. You'll want to save a bit of energy to get through that.
* Ab Intervals: I thought the insanity ab workouts were a waste of time, so I was pleasantly surprised to see how difficult this workout is. Not only does it really work your abs, but there is enough cardio work to push you too. A really solid workout and probably my favourite of the Alpha round.
* Lower Focus: The star here is a progression in the middle of lunges, pulses and holds. There is no getting around it, that progression hurts. The overall workout is easy outside of this in cardio terms, but you'll probably hate going through it, especially in a "double up" context.
* Total Body Circuit: You'll hit this three times in the last week and they do this because it is the hardest workout. However it isn't hard in a good way, it is hard in the "I'm going to stop" way which I don't enjoy. The reason for this is it has long progressions of push-ups where you are either doing it or you are not. It is hard to modify and still be active in any meaningful way. An easy fix would have been to breakup the pushup sections more, rather than having them back to back (so you can only choose one sequence to push yourself).
* Stretch: Too easy and short and doesn't really feel like it is worth doing. I do wish there was more neck/shoulder stretches, as these are the areas where I tend to feel it the most.
Conclusion
I enjoyed my time with Focus T25 Alpha, even if the results were a little hard to make out. You can feel assured that it does what it says on the box. It will make you fitter, it will only take 28 minutes a day (they sneak in a couple of minutes of cooldown... so ok not exactly like the box). However the Alpha round does stretch on for too long and you'll be more than ready to progress before it ends.
For now, on to Focus T25 Beta...
