9WCF - Program Review

 9 Week Control Freak is a workout program from Beachbody On Demand.  For detailed product information, please visit my affiliate link HERE.

I'll preface this post by saying that it will be long - 9WCF is the mother of all complicated workouts.  From the format to the equipment to the nutrition plan...just get ready to have your mind blown by purposefully confusing content.

This program does not follow any format that I have ever seen. It seems like every day is cardo day and most every day is full body strength training day. There are five workouts per week with a run time of 25 - 35 minutes.  Three are called DCT-T, one is a Total Body Tone and one is Tabata Cardio.  There are also 45 individual stretching workouts - 5-9 minutes each - designed to be done in the evenings.

The bonus workouts are as follows:

- 18 Tabata bonus workouts (5-9 minutes)

- 9 add on workouts with varying focus (8-11 minutes)

- 2 recovery workouts (11-22 minutes)

- 2 warm up workouts (11-13 minutes)

- 5 full-length workouts that don't use the step or the dumb bells that are designed for when you travel. 

Equipment.  Oh boy.  There is a LOT of equipment involved in this program.  If you already have a step and a set of dumb bells, you're ahead of the game.  There is also a small stability style ball called a Core Ball and a new piece of equipment called the Control Track, in addition to a set of bands to use with it.  All of this stuff is available on Amazon for WAY cheaper than you can buy it on Beachbody - and will work just the same.  

Let's unpack the format a little.  Some of the terms are new to me, so I'll explain a little as we go along.

DCT-T - Density Complex Tabata - Training - Density is 12 minutes of racing the clock.  The instructor shows you the five strength training moves, you do the assigned reps of each and repeat them until the time is up.  Complex training is essentially two or three strength training moves in one, following the instructor.  Instead of just doing curls, you would curl in to a shoulder press for example. Tabata training is basically HIIT.  These workouts end up being pretty short and are just about 30 minutes with the warm up and cool down.

Total Body Tone - More strength training...though the moves are always so damn complicated.  It's like she's trying to make them so crazy that nobody will duplicate them.

Tabata Cardio - We hates this.  Tabata is like HIIT training.  You perform a cardio move for 20 seconds, have a 10 second break and then do it all over again.  This workout was short...like 22 minutes with the warm up and cool down...but I wanted to puke and cuss and die.

Controlled Stretches - I really liked that these were included.  They were specific to the muscles that were worked each day.  My only beef was that they were only 5-7 minutes long.  It didn't seem like enough time to really do much good.

Music.  There is no music playing during these workouts.  Nope.  Just the instructor preaching to you about healthy life choices and an annoying side-chick that won't stop talking.  There's a playlist available that you can cue up on Spotify - but the instructor yammers on and on and it just made both the music and the instruction annoying.  Sorry - obviously it got to me.

The Cast.  There are two women other than the instructor and one gentleman waaay in the back.  The woman to the instructors right is the modifier - and with a click of a setting button, you can see her on the screen all the time.  The other woman serves as the intensifier and the poor dude in the back isn't even listened to when he speaks, half the time.

This program would be considered an advanced program, in my opinion.  By following the modifier, it could get away with being classed as intermediate - but it is in no way a beginner program.  You would injure yourself without some prior knowledge of terminology or equipment use.  I very rarely deter people from trying a workout program - but please - do something in a beginner category before taking this on.  The movements are complex and the instruction on form is limited, so it is really not for beginners.

Results.  Increased flexibility and strength, for sure.  I followed this particular instructors nutrition program called The Ultimate Portion Fix - and as a vegetarian, I think I was getting way to many carbohydrates.  I didn't lose on single pound in 9 weeks.  Not kidding.  I went up and down a pound or two here and there, but in total - zip, zilch, zero.  I did lose an inch from my waist.  But, when you have 50 pounds to lose, it's pretty discouraging.

If you like a challenge and need to blow some cash on a bunch of equipment, then this program is for YOU.