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| The Hiit Max Workout Books |
I asked them if they could mail me a physical copy. They said no they won't and in their defense, mentioned that it keeps costs down to not have to print and ship their products. They told me to print my own copy.
Like I said, this is annoying to me. But I opted in to this training program at a considerable discount so I'll stop my rant there.
Now I'll go through and try to review each of the products I got with my purchase.
BMR Calculator:
This 6-page PDF file tells you how to calculate your BMR. Apparently no explanation is needed about what and why you should calculate your BMR because there isn't one included in this booklet.
Step 1 and 2 are easy as long as you know your weight in pounds already. I got stuck on step 3 where it says you have to know your body fat percentage to determine your "lean factor multiplier." How would I know my body fat percentage already? The booklet offers no additional explanation about how you would calculate this. So far my impression of this $17 booklet is very poor.
I ended up going to a free online calculator to figure out my body fat percentage. The rest of the steps to follow were more or less self-explanatory and I was able to get to the calculated end result.
Conclusion: 3/5 star rating. This booklet focuses on the equations and less on explanations which are in my option, greatly needed. $17 is over priced for a 6-page PDF guide that did not give the impression that it was well though out for the end user.
Food and Training Journal:
It would have been very beneficial to have been sent a physical copy of this for obvious reasons.
Basically, this is a 4-page journal pamphlet with the first and last pages being cover photos. So the supposed $17 price tag covers two actual pages of useful journal page layouts - one page for your "training log" and one page for your "food log." I would have paid $17 for a physical book - not two digital pages.
Conclusion: 2/5 star rating. If you're going to send me something digital I would have preferred something interactive. Like an interactive graph or chart of my progress. I can't even type directly into this PDF document to record my progress. MyFitnessPal is alternative app I found works great for recording your progress digitally - and it's free.
Hiit Max Nutrition Prescription:
First impressions are starting out better then the previous products only for the fact that this booklet has an actual introduction section.
Reading through this booklet, I'm already learning new things. I'd say this is rather good reading material to help inform you about your eating choices.
This 16-page booklet finishes with a nice little personalized conclusion and provides links to online communities like the Hiit Max blog and Instagram which I think is a nice touch.
Conclusion: 4/5 star rating. I could recommend this booklet as it was very informative and well put together. The only reason I would not give it full stars is because I also consider the price a factor. $47 is a steep price for a 16-page digital booklet.
Macro List and Grocery Guide:
The first thing included in this guide is an invitation to join the "Custom Mean Planning Service." Unfortunately, this wasn't included in the Introductory Offer bundle I bought, which is a shame. It's an extra ninety-nine bucks if you want in. No thanks.
After that ad is a nice little introduction - thanks for that! The rest of the 14-page guide is made up of a full list of foods and a quick breakdown of their nutritional values (cal., fat, carb., and protein.) At the end there is a grocery list with check-boxes for the approved foods.
The check-boxes are not interactive so I would need to print a copy out to use it.
Conclusion: 3.5/5 star rating. I can see this being very useful when I go shopping. I would have liked a physical copy of this sent to me so I don't have to print it myself. Or, perhaps it would have been great if this worked as a interactive checklist on my smartphone.
Alright - now it's time to get down to the real reason I opted into this workout bundle - the training guides and videos. I will now review the guides and then go on to the videos.
Hiit Max Training Guide:
This 17-page guide starts out by explaining the logistics behind how and why the Hiit Max workout program works, which is great. I'm excited to get started and expecting to get the results they brag about.
Fun Fact: The “HIIT” in HIIT MAX stands for High-Intensity Interval Training.
It covers principle tips to keep in-mind while doing their workout program along with other routines you may or may not combine with this program.
It also has an Exercise Library with the training schedule laid out in weeks/ phases. At the end, there's an Exercise Index which provides a short written summary of each exercises mentioned in the library.
Conclusion: 4.5/5 star rating. This core product is almost exactly what I expected from this training program. I really like how they've broken the training program down into a timetable/schedule. They then took it a step further by providing written instructions for each exercises. I didn't give it a perfect score only because I would have liked to see illustrations showing what each exercise should look.
Hiit Max ABS:
I was wondering when this extra ab-targeting guide would come into play since I already have the main Training Guide. They explain that you can add this into your 15 min. routine every other day in order to see better results.
It offers six sets of exercise bundles that you can choose from - mixing it up every other day. Like the Training Guide, this also includes an Exercise Index for more details.
Conclusion: 4.5/5 star rating. I'm a little disappointed that the core training program does not do enough to target your abs but I'll take it. Overall this is a good guide and makes a lot of sense to me. This could be improved by including illustrations showing how the exercises should look.
*Just a little side note for the editors of this book... AB exercise #2 says to Plank for "fail" amount of reps/time. :P
Now to do the videos - time to get my workout on!
When I made the purchase I was emailed the download links so I could access all the PDFs, videos, and music that came with the Introductory Bundle. When I click on the link I'm taken to a webpage that looks very similar to their main sales page. Despite the amount of ads encouraging you to purchase more products from them, but I was able to make my way down to the actual stuff I paid for.
Hiit Max Videos:
Now that I've read the Training Guide booklet I know what order I'm supposed to do these exercises in. When I first looked over these videos - before I read the material - I was afraid I would have no direction. It would have been nice to see a reference to the Training Guide on the site next to the videos somewhere - but that's minor.
The videos are short segments showing you how to do the specific exercises rather than a full workout routine. I'm not sure if I was expecting the works - music, back-up trainees, and encouragement from the trainer counting down how many sets you have left. (You know, like those 80's workout videos.)
So I'm discovering that this is more of a database for you to construct your own workout based on their reading material rather than a take-you-by-the-hand approach.
Conclusion: 4.5/5 star rating. The video and sound quality are professional. The files are clearly labeled so you can easily follow along with the Training Guide. I am able to watch and/or download the files without a problem. The demonstrations of the individual exercises are clear and concise.
As a suggested improvement: they could have included a welcome video, perhaps introducing the each of the reading materials as well as a short explanation about how the whole training program works. Just add a little more guidance and encouragement for people like me who are new to training programs.
Well that's all I got. I hope this review helps anyone shopping around for online training programs. If you have the choice, stick with the HiitMax Training Guide, the AB Guide, and the videos as they are really all you need to get a good workout. The other stuff is just extra.
If this review was helpful to you, please check the "helpful" reaction and feel free to leave a comment :) Thanks!!
