Focus On: Bodyrock
Bodyrock is another one of my major workout loves. It’s an extremely effective low-cost workout solution –the videos are posted for free and you need minimal equipment- and I think it’s what helped me bust through my own workout plateau.
Before I got pregnant, I felt STRONG and my bodyfat was the lowest it’s been in a while. I totally attribute this to a balance of my favorite workouts: Zumba, Turbofire and Bodyrock.
I first stumbled upon Bodyrock quite a while ago (maybe last year?) when I Googled for a HIIT workout. Zuzuna came up on the screen, and I thought that there was no way she worked out for a few minutes –I had no idea you needed to repeat the moves and time yourself on your own- and look the way she did.
[When I was explaining Bodyrock to the Pilot, I was like, “This girl doesn’t look real. She looks like a video game character. And the workouts are HARD. It’s crazy”]
She actually does do the workouts, offers fantastic clean eating advice and is so refreshingly *real*. She has a totally down-to-earth and laid back personality (not mean or judge-y in the least).
What is it:
A home workout program, utilizing interval training, your own body weight and plyometric moves. In each video, Zuzana will go over each exercise for the set (along with modifications), and below the video is a breakdown on how to split the workout up. Usually you’ll repeat it, or go over certain parts more than once, and time yourself using an interval timer.
What to expect:
-To be a little confused at first. Definitely watch the entire video before giving the workout a whirl, because it will help you understand the order and breakdown. Write down the exercise order on a small piece of paper, along with the times or rounds you’re supposed to complete to have close by.
-To SWEAT. The workouts are short, but extremely effective. If you’re pushing yourself, you’ll get an awesome workout. I’m not sure what the calorie burn is, since I never wore my heart rate monitor during a workout, but I was maxed out and the afterburn for interval training is much higher, too.
What to wear:
-Whatever the heck you want- it’s your house 😉 I prefer shorts, a tank and supportive sneakers for jumping.
Pros:
-The workouts are SHORT. 20 minutes-ish and that’s it. It’s perfect if you don’t have a lot of time to workout or for transportation to and from the gym.
-Minimal equipment. All you need for the workouts is your own body + a few extras: interval timer (can use the one on your computer for free), jump rope, dip station (I never bought this and would just do a modified exercise instead), sandbag (can make your own with a duffel bag filled with bags of rice) and a pull-up bar (I would use the assisted pull-up machine or lat pulldown at the gym instead). For this reason, you can do the workouts pretty much anywhere. I’ve busted out quite a few hotel Bodyrock workouts 🙂
-Bonus nutritional information + community atmosphere. Zuzana often posts eating goal videos and the site is filled with enthusiastic “Bodyrockers” cheering each other on and posting recipes. It’s fun to go through and read the comments.
Cons:
-You have to motivate yourself. No one is there to watch you, push you or correct form (another bummer). It’s important to pay attention to your form to prevent injury- go for quality over quantity. The best ways for me to motivate myself for Bodyrock is to blast a Pandora station at home (like “Muse” or “30 Seconds to Mars”) and git it, or to do the workouts at the gym. People will stare, but they get over it. Bonus: you feel hardcore 🙂
-Almost all of the workouts I’ve tried are set up a similar way: interval training and heart rate sky high. For this reason, I don’t recommend doing Bodyrock everyday. Your heart is a very important muscle and needs rest, just like our other muscle groups. There’s no reason to work it to its limit every.single.day. I prefer alternating Bodyrock days with steady state cardio.
Have you tried Bodyrock or any online workout videos before? What’s your fave?
Here’s some more info for ya, if you’re interested:
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I LOVE Bodyrock! I mention it a lot and some of my readers are curious as to what it is– I’m absolutely linking back to this post!
Look at your arm muscles! Amazing.
aww thanks girl!
Gina- did your doctors say anything about HIIT during pregnancy? I know you’re in amazing shape so it probably isn’t a big deal for you, but I was reading that pregnant women should watch their heart rates and avoid high intensity intervals. I wonder if this is just an old school or overprotective theory. Just wondering if you heard differently? I miss intervals!
my doctors all told me to keep doing what i’ve been doing, but i didn’t feel comfortable doing bodyrock workouts during my pregnancy. i still do the turbofire hiit dvds since the modifications are obviously given, but other than that, no hiit for me. i just think it’s too intense for right now and it’s not worth it.
I had no idea that the videos are free. That’s awesome! I’m definitely going to check it out.
What I love about Bodyrock is that Zuzana is sexing up fitness and making it fun. The production of the photo’s and vids is really good quality, but the camera angles are quite porno – I’m not sure if I like that or not, but my partner seems to think it’s ok ;). I think she has deliberately gone for a really sexy look – it sells. It’s not the workouts that make you look at that site more than once.
The workouts are basic HIIT, like Turbulence Training but with an interval timer. I would like to see her take a bit more time to explain how to do them properly and they are not for everyone. Anyone with body imbalances could do themselves an injury. The diet advice seems a bit OTT to me – five x protein and veges, with some low GI carbs six days a week, then one blow out free day. It made me a bit nervous, remembering how when I was doing that style of eating it quickly kicked in to binge eating on the one day of indulgence.
I think Zuzana is quite amazing and has a great mind for business. She is/was a major Czech porn superstar. Googling her original name delivers several million pages, none of which you want to open at work. I like that she is using her past and her present to deliver empowering messages about taking control of your life and speaks out against exploitation of young women. I still have mixed feelings about the delivery of her vids, with all those boobie and butt shots and what that says about women as an object. Or maybe I’m just jealous.
Disclaimer: I know about her porn history because I used to work as a buyer for a large chain of DVD rental stores. I had to choose which DVD’s would go in those stores and that included the ‘blue’ section.
i totally agree with you. we can have mixed opinions about it, but she’s definitely laughing her way to the bank- she definitely knows what she’s doing 🙂
i definitely like the word definitely 😉
😀 At least you spell it correctly.
What a great and helpful post! i have seen Bodyrock pop up on blogs, and have been wanting to try it, but I was unsure what I needed to get started. Great tip on using your computer to time intervals!
Whenever I hear the word Bodyrock I start singing the Party Rock Anthem in my head, but Say Body Rock instead. lol such a nerd. I want to incorporate Bodyrock into my routine to help lose baby weight once I have the baby!
omg, i thought i was the only person who did that!
I do that too!!! hahaha. I am obsessed with BodyRock. Love Zuzana.
Bahaha, I totally do it too.
how do i measure my bodyfat?
most gyms offer body composition testing- check into it 🙂
Thanks for the post girl! I have always been interested in body rock but a little confused by it…..this definitely clears things up!
WHOA, you’re right- her body is crazy. I would love to be more toned.. I don’t need/want to lose any weight, I just want to be a bit more solid, if that makes sense. The problem for me with at-home workouts, though, is that I can never motivate myself to do them, unlike when I’m at the gym.
Hello! I’m new to your blog and am really enjoying it so far! Your very positive and upbeat 🙂 I am a personal trainer an manage two gym and try to balance work outs and clean eating. It so nice to see so many others out there who have such similar lives and interests. Some of the folks around my “neck of the woods” think I am an alien from some strange fitness galaxy :p That being said I too love,love, love bodyrock!!! Zuzana is a true inspiration. I’ve always loved HIIT and she provides a plethora of great routines.
Thanks for sharing your passion with all of us! 🙂 Look forward to keeping up with your blog.
hi sarah! welcome to the little blog 🙂 and you’re totally right, it’s nice to have a community of other people who like to fuel themselves with healthy food and workout. thanks for reading! xoxo
I’m glad that you did a post on this. I’ve seen it you mention it on your blog and I looked it up and I really confused as to how these were to supposed to be done. I’ll have to go back and give it a try.
Thanks for these helpful posts, Gina! I actually first heard about BodyRock from you and have been doing 3-4 workouts/week since March. I cannot say enough great things about it and have gotten so much stronger. I used to do push-ups on my knees and can do them fully now. I recently redid the 10-min Burpee one and went from 55 burpees my first time to 80 this last time. Love her and the site!
Gina this is a great post! I freakin’ LOVE Bodyrock!!! I was introduced to it about 11 weeks ago through the lovely Lori and Michelle and we have been running a free fitness challenge with 3-4 Bodyrock workouts per week. I am continuing to run it now and if you want to let readers know about it please feel free.
http://www.caseylorraine.com/strong-sexy/
I also include daily self love affirmations. I’ve had wonderful feedback about this part :).
I was a TOTAL beginner 8 weeks ago and have selected workouts which require no equipment (other than timing your intervals through computer, iphone gymboss app or an actual timer) and already I feel such amazing strength gains. I also include some cool short yoga videos and cardio suggestions in the free challenge and encourage poeple to go at their own pace and approach it smartly. I agree that every day for bodyrock is not ideal.
Let me know what you think about the challenge :).
In fact, do you have a particular one of your workouts you love that I could include for next week’s workouts? I’m planning on continuing with this as an ongoing thing.
thanks for covering bodyrock 🙂
I LOVE bodyrock workouts and zuzana! She truly is awesome – have you ever read her interview where she really opened up and talked about where she came from, her past, and how she’s taught herself to love herself and take care of herself? In addition to the sidenote of Zuzana being a genuine person with a phenomenal physique year round, the Bodyrock workouts are TOUGH!!!! They’re amazing to include in your workout routine and in addition to other workouts as well. I do them at home, outside, in the gym, when I’m out of town, In hotels, etc. I love the versatility of them!
So glad you love them too, and you’re right – their bodyrocking community is super strong and very supportive!
LOVE your blog!! 🙂
I have been meaning to try Bodyrock for awhile but just haven’t for whatever reason…thanks for doing this post! It definitely motivated me to want to give it a try even more.
I have a problem with feeling like short workouts are not enough. Even though I KNOW this isn’t true (and these workouts look super intense), just wondering if you normally do anything else on the days you do the videos or just stick with that 20 minute-ish workout? I’m sure I’ll probably be laughing at myself after doing one and thinking it wasn’t enough, but just figured I would ask 🙂
I just did my first bodyrock workout! Whew it really kicked my butt. I love that they are so short and you don’t have to leave the house! So convenient.
Great post! What do you think about pairing Bodyrock with Physique 57? Thanks 🙂
i think it’s a great idea 🙂
Okay so I am really interested in doing these workouts! However, I can’t jump rope. I know it sounds silly and I am totally embarrassed about it but it’s true! My husband has tried to teach me to do it multiple times and I simply do not have the coordination for it. Are these workouts possible if I don’t jump rope? What can I do instead?
i used to not be able to jump rope, either. practice makes perfect. or better, at least for me 🙂
I was so excited to see that you love bodyrock too! I found Zuzana about a year and half ago and found that her workouts rocked it – I was the most in shape of my life when I was doing them regularly! I don’t usually follow her diet, because I have my own ‘philosophy’ about food. I also stopped doing her workouts since I got pregnant, but part of me has been missing them!