Jeff at the gym

As promised I’ve got the full scoop and review of Rob Poulos’ Fat Burning Furnace program for you today.

In my previous post, I told you how this is going to be the workout program I am going to use to get myself back into my pre-baby shape.  (If you missed that post you can access it here: Fat Burning Workout).

Now, after 10 weeks of following the program, my test subject Jeff (also my business partner and good friend) is ready to disclose his thoughts and experience with Rob’s program.

Just to give you a little background info on Jeff, he’s been hitting the weights regularly for over 10 years now (I remember bumping into him a lot at the gym when we were in college) and he’s not messing around when he’s there either.  He can bench press well over 300 lbs and he’s tried and followed many different workout programs.  His goal has always been to achieve and maintain that lean and muscular look, not the bulky meathead look.

How did this strong and avid exerciser do on Rob’s program?  Here are his answers to a few questions I emailed him.

Jeff, what have been the top 3 things you have enjoyed the most about the Fat Burning Furnace program?

First and foremost, the fact that I am in and out of the gym in 30 minutes is awesome (sometimes 40 if I squeeze a few extra exercises in there).  It’s so much easier for me to schedule my gym time knowing that it’s not going to be an hour or longer experience.

Secondly, I love the full body workouts.  It allows for more variety of exercises and makes sure there are no lagging parts.  As someone who is guilty of skipping the body parts I don’t enjoy (somehow I tend to leave out leg day, and sometimes core…which is really bad news), the full body workouts have really helped me to bring my body into balance.

I also love the schedule.  Only going to the gym every other day instead of multiple days in a row is the better way to go when you work your whole body intensely.

That’s 3, but I have one more.  I love that my heart rate is elevated throughout the duration of the program without having to do any cardio.  I’m huffing and puffing by the end, as if I had gone for an intense interval workout.

Jeff, I remember you telling me before you started that you were scared you were going to lose some of your muscle mass using a full body workout routine instead of a body split routine.  Has that been the case?

No, not at all and good thing, otherwise I’d be really mad at you.  All kidding aside, I’ve had no signs of muscle loss or strength loss whatsoever.  Actually, quite the opposite.  I think the fact that I’m working all of my muscles (even the ones I may have ignored in the past) has really helped my strength and my muscle retention.  I actually did 8 reps with 255 lbs the other day (with a hurt shoulder) using the controlled weight lifting method Rob teaches.

Jeff, what have been some of the downsides to the program?

As a guy who’s been exercising for a long time and someone who knows many exercises, the ones in Rob’s book were a bit on the basic side for me.  However, this is probably a good thing for most people and you can substitute and make adjustments if you want to, just like I have.

Another downside is that since I know a bunch of people at my fancy gym (mostly all the trainers) I have to tell them I’ll catch up with them at the end of the workout because I want to keep the intensity up (It’s also a lot harder to talk to the girls, but there’s no need to go into my personal life here).

Thanks for sparing us the details of your personal life.  Anything else you want to let us know about Rob’s program so far?

I really like that Rob has included a complete bodyweight workout in the book if you need it.  I’ve even used a bunch of the exercises during a few of the out of town conferences I recently attended. It’s definitely not the same as going to the gym, but it certainly is a good holdover when you have no other options.

I have to admit, I was really pretty surprised at how effective this workout really is.  You have total control of the intensity and you will sweat and get fatigued just as if you had done a much longer workout.  The way Rob structures it is a lot more enjoyable without the boring repetition that everyone else teaches.  In fact, I was visiting my folks a few weeks ago and did these workouts with my dad (he just turned 66) and he’s been loving it. We even designed a bunch of workouts together for him to do going forward.   Hey, if you can get your folks into it, that definitely says a lot about the program.

You can take a look at Rob’s program for yourself here:

Fat Burning Furnace

Stay tuned…in my next post, I’m going to share with you exactly how I’m going to implement Rob’s program into my own hectic and busy life.

For now, take a look at what’s been keeping Jeff going:

Fat Burning Furnace