Is the Body Beast program right for me?

Ryguy08

Hi,
I lost close to 40 lbs. last year at home with P90X, but wanted to try something different to gain more muscle. So I started the Body Beast program last month and I've discovered that I really love lifting. For those of you that don't know, Body Beast is a lifting program on DVD that you do at home. The main focus of the program is hypertrophy, but there is a lean schedule for people like myself that want to lose some fat too. It's basically just one day a week of cardio, vs. no cardio for the regular schedule. It's a 90 day program, but of course you can do as much of it as you want. There is the Build phase, where you build a foundation, the Bulk phase where you increase your calories and do more intense workouts, and the Beast phase where you cut for the final month and decrease calories.

Anyway, I love the program and I'm entering into the Bulk phase on Monday. But my concern is that even after losing all the weight I have, my BF% is apparently still 20%. So with that said, will I see the results that I want to see, or is my BF% too high to see optimal results. I've heard that you want to get your BF% down to at least 15 before doing any bulking. Like I said though, I love lifting and cardio bores me for the most part. I just hope that I'm doing the right thing!

By the way, feel free to add me. I need more lifting friends!

s2konstantine

A few people I know have gotten good results on BB. If you love it, do it!

I personally think there is no substitute for heavy compound movements which BB does not have. Decent results will come from BB. If you want the best results, I would do a strength program.

ndj1979

I would say cut down to 15% BF and then do the bulk ..most say that you should get to sub 15%....

I agree with s2K that there compounds would be better but if you like the program..go for it...

jwdieter

Don't need to cardio to cut. Can lift while cutting.

I wouldn't bulk at 20%, but for a month, I don't think it really matters. Do the program if you want to.

Ryguy08

A few people I know have gotten good results on BB. If you love it, do it!

I personally think there is no substitute for heavy compound movements which BB does not have. Decent results will come from BB. If you want the best results, I would do a strength program.

I agree with you on that. I just feel that BB is great for a beginner like myself, since I can do it at home and would be a bit intimidated at the gym. In the future I plan to join a gym and do Stronglifts or an Arnold program maybe...something along those lines.

ryanwood935

Just wanted to mention that I was in an eerily similar spot a month ago. I'm 29, down 43 pounds and was looking scrawny. I was a serious runner in high school and college, so I never really lifted at the gym aside from squats and deadlifts. I really just wanted to say that the intimidation factor at the gym goes away REALLY fast. I chose Shortcut to Size from bodybuilder.com for my routine. The first week was all about getting to know all the lifts. Just finished week four, and I feel exactly the same as you. I LOVE lifting!

Anyway, after losing just over 2lbs a week for about four months, I'm now dropping about 1/2 to a pound per week, and I'm very happy with the results I'm seeing. Probably just over 15% body fat right now. I really feel like cutting slower was the right choice for me.

vms4evr

I'm doing Beast now. Had done the first month before, Build. Then skipped over and did P90X2.
This time I'm going right to Beast - Bulk. Did Back yesterday to get started.

I'm hacking up P90X3 and Beast together to make a hybrid program.

shinkalork

Don't Bulk if you have 20% BF....that won't help.
Go under at least 15-12% before trying bulking out.

You can still do BB lean program. and eat good protein ...you will gain muscles but won't Bulk on fats etc

I've completed Body Beast twice and completed a lot of other BeachBody programs too..it's not new to me.

vms4evr

On Body Beast. I've done the Build phase before and it wasn't bad but caused me some problems with knees, hips, and shoulders. Not just muscle pain, overload pain. I'm trying it again and doing Bulk phase. What I'm finding is that I like his program as an all around body enhancer. I don't think anyone is getting "beastly" like his size doing it. He's got to be in the gym doing the mega lifts with the basic 5 moves to get like that.

That said I'm getting some pain again from trying to do a 6 day/week on cycle with 1 day rest. The balance is wrong to me. You do Legs and that is fine. Back I would almost count as separate too. Then you do Arms, Shoulders, Chest. Depending on the calendar you could hit those last 3 back to back to back. That is too much for me. It's all upper body and works my arms and shoulders pretty hard 3 days in a row. Then right after that you could get Legs and Back. You still have to lift and secure the weights to do that. You're still causing work on your arms and shoulders. So you get no real rest on upper.

I've decided to rewrite Beast Build to something my body can tolerate with an lower then upper then rest then repeat. Rest maybe 1 or 2 days depending on how sore I am. I'm coming to the conclusion, and have help from others verifying it, that all I do is constantly tear muscle down and never let it properly rebuild. I need to be less OCD about working out every day and more OCD about letting my body recover.

Just another opinion.

likitisplit

A few people I know have gotten good results on BB. If you love it, do it!

I personally think there is no substitute for heavy compound movements which BB does not have. Decent results will come from BB. If you want the best results, I would do a strength program.

I agree with you on that. I just feel that BB is great for a beginner like myself, since I can do it at home and would be a bit intimidated at the gym. In the future I plan to join a gym and do Stronglifts or an Arnold program maybe...something along those lines.

I do the calisthenics progression program outlined in the book "Convict Conditioning." I'm not an expert, but it really seems like Stronglifts, except using bodyweight exercises.