How to Find an Affordable Fitness Program

Today, we talk about finding the right affordable fitness program. Sometimes the low upfront cost can be appealing, but a lot of these programs deliver poor results. We talk about what programs to avoid, the nuts and bolts that make good low-cost programs, and give our advice on how you can find a program that works!

In this episode, we discuss: 

• The Problem With Most “Affordable” Fitness Programs
• What Actually Makes a Fitness Program Effective
• Who is a Good Candidate for Online Fitness Programs vs Hiring a Coach
• Why a 4 Day Workout Split Is Enough for Most People
• How to Find an Affordable Fitness Program That Fits YOU
• When to Upgrade From Affordable to Personalized Coaching

Want to sign-up for a program that actually works? Try Build.

Build: The 4 Day Hypertrophy Program for $21/month

• Workouts programmed in the Truecoach app.
• 4 days/week, hypertrophy focused
• Demo videos included.
• Follow along and ask questions in the facebook group.
• Monthly programming at $21/month
• Cancel anytime

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Welcome to the Stronger Than Your Boyfriend Podcast. Podcast for anyone into fitness.

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Especially for those of you looking for a good cheap ass program.

SPEAKER_00 0:14

We are Heather and Katie, owners of Bar Pass Fitness, here to help you sip through the bullshit and toxic misinformation that permeates the fitness industry. Today we're talking about how to find an affordable and good fitness program.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Yes. Well, we have one. Spoiler alert. We do. Yes. I feel like this is where people are going now as far as you know. I think it's shifting. I think when COVID was happening, it was like online coaching was the thing. Yep. But I think people want that in-person connection or they want something really cheap online. So we're giving it to you.

unknown 0:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Exactly. Yeah. I think, you know, most cheap programs they look appealing up front, but you know, if you're paying a very small amount of money for a program, they can cost you in wasted time and poor results.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

You know, or burnout if it's not going to be working for your recovery. So we're going to break down some things about cheap or inexpensive fitness programs, how to make sure they work, um, cost, um, who makes them, what they look like, all that stuff. Um and yeah, we have we have one for you because we think we have always been adamant that individualized programming is important. But the reality is that that's not accessible for everyone, right? And so if you're someone who, you know, we try to leave a lot of education on this podcast, in our blogs, in our videos we do, just to help you build your own program. But at the end of the day, if you just like, ain't nobody got time for that, we got one for you. And it's solid.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Yeah, it's like with anything in life. The cheaper you go, you know, it's not all it's not always the best.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

You get what you pay for, and we're not saying all these programs are shitty, but obviously the most effective program is one that is individualized for you and your current goals. But doing some program is better than nothing. So at least there's an option for a good, cheaper program.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

Exactly. Exactly. So let's talk a little bit about kind of what makes a fitness program effective if you're looking online, like what to look for, maybe. Um I know we've talked about what not to look for a lot. Like we've talked about not looking for, you know, HIT exhaustion type programs and stuff like that. And I get it. When I travel sometimes, I will turn on the Roku and go to the little exercise YouTubes. Yeah. And I will do a little, I usually actually look for calisthenics workout versus hit because hit is just a bunch of jumping around and calisthenics. I'm actually like, ooh, I'm doing like push-ups and like cool things. Um, but I do that stuff sometimes. So I get it. But for the regular, what do we look for in a fitness program?

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Yes. I I still think it's good to touch on what not to look for because you know, it you we we want to put out red flags, right? Like that's always a good indicator of like, okay, if there's a couple red flags, get out of there. So if it's a bunch of amraps and hit and shit and burpees, and you know what? It's fine. Like if you're on vacation and you just want to do that, cool. But we're talking like you're following this program for consistently for your workout routine. So don't do that. Just don't. Yeah, just don't do that. Okay, so what to look for is it's not even necessarily the cost first, okay? I understand that in this needs to fit into but people's budgets, but you still, if you're gonna pay for something, pay for something good, okay? So it the program needs to have progressive overload, okay? You know, and and that's just that is a solid fundamental principle of any good workout program. Is there progressive overload? Are you progressing each mesocycle or phase? Are you trying to progress yourself within each mesocycle or phase? Another, I guess, thing you can look for slash, you know, find a potential red flag is is if the workout changes every week, that's a red flag because you're not allowing for that progressive overload. And is there proper volume, right? And I don't expect everyone to sit down and be like, okay, is there 10 to 30 sets per every single muscle group and calculate it? But generally you'll you'll be able to tell by you know just reading the program, are there compound movements for lower body, are there compound movements for upper body? And are there some excess is there some accessory work in between, right? And is the program allowing you for enough recovery? Like is it seven days a week? I would say that's a red flag. So I, you know, I think I think a lot of these, I don't even know if you want to call them coaches, people who create programs online are just giving people what they want. You know, it's workout seven days a week, we're gonna sweat, we're gonna do strength, and we're gonna do cardio, and we're gonna do all this shit. And then you probably won't follow it because you're probably gonna miss a day, you're gonna get frustrated, or you're just gonna be like, wow, this is too much. So generally a good program, three to maybe five days per week with the volume spread out, but you still have to know what to look for with that too. So again, principles, compound movements, accessory work, not a shit ton of volume, but enough volume. Not one set, but not seven sets. Right.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

And if you're not sure about compound movements or what movements to look for, go back and read or listen to our foundational movement patterns blog or podcast. There are about eight, I would say, that you kind of want to look for. I mean, you may or may not have a couple of those like hanging and carrying and all that, but you do want, you know, the squat, the hinge, pushes, pulls, rotation, um, and unilateral work. I think that's a big one. I feel like I just know that most people have some sort of muscular imbalance from side to side. And I made the mistake in the beginning of my powerlifting career when I was starting to power lift of like following these programs that were so bilateral. Yeah. And I am convinced that's why I have so many issues. Like I really should have focused on unilateral sooner, but I was a newbie. So I was just like, oh, squat and deadlift all the time. So, you know, in any program, just make sure there's some single leg and single arm work somewhere in there, at least once, right? Um, I like for the majority of my program to be that now, but yeah, at least some.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

Also, another red flag is a bunch of machine work, which isn't inherently bad. It can be good for the right person, but for most people, it's just they're probably just filling slots for exercises and just you know, allowing you to feel the burn and the pump. Yeah. So foundational movements, moving freely, using free weights mostly, maybe a machine or two at the end of a workout, but yeah, that really.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

It's also, you know, if you have access to a gym, every gym is different with what machines they have. So it's kind of sucks when you find a program that's really based on things like maybe there's like belt squats, which I love belt squats, you know, and but things that you don't have access to. So it's great to have, you know, barbell and dumbbell movements because almost every gym is gonna have those.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

Yes. Okay. So who is a good candidate for these programs versus hiring a coach? Yes. I think that uh we talk about this a lot, how obviously if it's a financial thing, we would rather you do something than nothing, right? Like so. Yep, do this option, right? But if you are a beginner, if you basically, if you're on either side of the bell curve, in my opinion, if you're a beginner or if you're very advanced, both of those people, usually coaching is really good for them, right? Yeah. Because if you're a beginner, you need some feedback on your forum. You need someone there watching you move. Like that in person is best, but we also we do online coaching. Plenty of people, you know, you can get online coaching, get some feedback on your movements so you know you're not gonna hurt yourself and you're doing everything right. Yeah. Um, and then when you get to the more like when you're in the middle and you're feeling pretty confident, I feel like that's who this program is best for. You've been training for a while, you understand your body, you someone you've you've worked with someone in the past that's shown you how to do the movements correctly, so you're confident with that, you know. And so you and you have discipline to show up. But if you are an advanced person or you've been training a long time, maybe you need some individuality because you've tried everything and you you know you're only gonna stick to the things you like, you know, or you're disciplined, but you don't know what to do next. Like that's when you pretty much need individualized coaching at some point. Um yeah. But those are those are my thoughts on that. What do you have to do?

SPEAKER_01 9:05

Yeah, I have really nothing else to add. That's exactly what I would say. Okay, it's like if you're just finding something that you want to follow and you have experience and you're pretty confident with your form with most of the foundational movement patterns, then yeah, do a program like this. This is great. This will get you results. You don't have to pay an arm and a leg. You're consistent, you're gonna show up and do it. Great. Yeah. But, you know, I I think it even so, I still think even having a coach for a short period of time or a trainer can be really beneficial just to have, you know, an individualized plan or have eyes on form. You know, you could get pretty stagnant with your routine and stagnant with how you're feeling about it. And having an outside perspective is really helpful. But again, if you're just trying to do it and have something consistently keep you accountable, you're this is this is the option that you should follow.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

I would also say if you have a an injury, a serious injury or chronic issue, that would be that would be hard to follow a cookie cutter kind of online program, right? You're gonna need some individuality there. Hopefully, you've worked with a physical therapist and you know how to change things a little bit if you're trying to do this on your own. But if not, I would I would work with a coach if you have anything serious. Yeah, for sure. Okay. So four days. I we've talked about this a lot. Um there are a lot of different ways to build your split. I love a four-day split if you're not working with someone in person. I think it's a really good balance between consistency and recovery for most people. Yes. I think above that you're getting into for a lot of people, not recovery zone. Also, it's hard to commit beyond that if you're not, you know, showing up and meeting someone five days a week. That would be hard. Right. Um, so I I like a four-day program. That's why we chose four days for our hypertrophy program. Stronger is also, it's kind of like four days. It's got some optional mobility, but upper lower split. So both of our programs really, I think, are four days. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

And I I think four days, especially for the person that we just talked about, who this program is right for. Like you're consistent, you like going to the gym. Four days seem it seems to be like a good enough point to for them to feel like they're going enough, you know, like they're not resting too much. And it allows you to miss a day, and then you have more a few days during the week to make it up, right? So you don't feel like you're falling too far behind. And I think it's a good way to incorporate enough volume for each muscle group while adding in accessory movements. And obviously, this is not an individualized program, but there are, you know, there are general accessory movements that we kind of incorporate into this. And that's exactly how our build program is. It's a four-day split. Two upper body focus days, two lower body focus days, some core work sprinkled in the mix, you know, between all of those. So I again, I think it's like, you know, for the intermediate person, it's enough time to recover in between. And it's, you know, their body has built up the the consistency to handle that amount of training too. And people like four-day splits. I think people like more it's not even necessarily a body part focus, but it's like a it's a body area focus. I think people, I think people like that. Yeah. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

Yeah. Okay. So when to upgrade from affordable to personalized coaching, I would say keep if you're gonna do the build program or any online fitness program that's like inexpensive follow-along sort of thing, like we said, make sure you have some experience first. You've yes worked with someone in the past and you know what you're doing. Um and then again, once you get to the other side of that bell curve, or you get an injury, or you have any particular situation that that kind of four-day a week, whatever we're doing, just isn't working for you. That's when reaching out for individualized support probably makes sense. And that's when I would switch to either online coaching or personal training.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Yes. And I think that I know I personally would probably get there eventually if I bought a program like this and I was just following it. I would want something more tailored to me. And like, okay, this is what I have access to and this is what I want to do. You can't really tell anyone, oh, well, you want to work on your pull-ups and you want a little bit more volume directed towards that. So that's when you should think about hiring a coach because they can tailor the your, you know, and correctly put the volume towards whatever goal that you have. Yep. But again, if you don't care and you want to do this forever, great. That's great too. Because yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

Let's talk a little bit about build. Um so it the build program is a four-day hypertrophy focus program, which means muscle building is what we're focused on. Whereas our flagship program, Stronger, is about strength, right? And it's also about mobility. So that one is about um getting stronger. There's a lot of big main compound lifts in it. Um, it's focused on the it actually does have progressive overload, um, kind of like a linear progression, I believe. Yeah. Um, and then it's got mobility days in too. Yes. Whereas, and that's a you can buy it once and do it as many times as you want, and it's kind of like runs like a course. You have access forever. Yeah, you have access forever. Yep. And you get a PDF with all the videos, etc. Build is a four-day hypertrophy program, and the workouts are programmed in an app. So that's the difference. Stronger is gonna be, again, strength and mobility, and it's not in an app. You can follow along in your own app. Some people use heavy. Uh Build, we're gonna put you right into the True Coach app once you go and purchase it. And it's four days a week. You'll get your program focused on hypertrophy. You're just gonna jump in whenever we are. That's the other thing. With stronger, you start at the beginning. With build, you jump in because we're all doing it together, right? Um, there's demo videos on there, so you can watch all the exercise, you can ask questions in the Facebook group. Um, and it's$21 a month, and you can also cancel anytime. So that's kind of the difference. If you want to understand the difference, obviously the goals are different. One is focused on strength, and one is focused on kind of building muscle and my more hypertrophy focus. Um, and also one is in an app and one is kind of a do-it-yourself. So both are great. Both are great. We just want to give you lots of options.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

The thing with build, obviously, it's a cheaper option. You do not get lifetime access to the workouts. If you decide to cancel, then you then you no mass. No moss, you'll we'll take you out of the app and then you won't get access anymore. So, but I mean, you know, you could always go back as you're following build to see your progress prior as you continue to do it. So that's kind of cool. The cool thing about being in the app, so you know, both great options. We obviously want to get as many people into strength training consistently as possible. So we want all of the options, all of the financial options for people, even though we both know that individualized programming is the best. Yes. So yeah, and you can throw up some, you know, if you want some form feedback, you can throw up a video in the in our Facebook group, strongly boyfriend, and we'll comment on it. So that's the cool part about it. We don't get feedback in the app like we do for our individualized coaching clients, but again, throw up a video here and there, and we're happy to help people. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

So if you'd like to learn more, it's barpathitness.com slash build. Uh, we'll put the link in the show notes, but it has more information there. There's some FAQs there, and that is where you can sign up and get started with that$21 a month. Sweet. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

All right.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

East to the out.