Today, I finished Reach for the second time, so I thought I would share some thoughts with you, since Iâve seen a few people asking questions about this program recently. (If you're short on time, skip to the conclusion in the last paragraph, because I'm not good at writing short posts. :D)
First of all, it can be used in many different ways: It can be used as a beginner program, or as a way of getting back into exercise after a long break, it can be used to focus on flexibility and range of motion, either alone or combined with another program, without much risk of overtraining. If done at the same time as another program, it can be done at another time of the day as a second workout, without adding any high impact exercise, or as a burnout round and/or extended cool down and stretch after another workout. If you opt for that last option, donât forget you can skip the warm up in Reach and possibly the cool down of your other program, so that would make for slighter shorter sessions than you would expect when glancing at your calendar.
Reach was my first ever program back in January/February 2019. At first I added my own workouts to it when I felt like it and then I combined it with FB Low Impact from the third week on. This time around, I mixed all the approaches: at first, I had planned on doing it in the morning as a separate workout (before my evening main workout), but that didnât go quite as planned most of the time (couldnât wake up early enough :D)⌠I ended up adding it as a burnout round on some days (and it buuuuurned!), doing it separately on other days, and during the last week, I did Reach alone with light yoga, because I felt my body needed a break from intense exercise. And honestly, though it did not make me super sweaty or very sore, it wasnât easy just as it is alone. When you do it on its own, you have more motivation to really engage the muscles and focus on each movement, and well, pilates is no joke! :D
Now, because I followed the program a bit loosely, taking extra ârest daysâ from it and rescheduling when I didnât want to do anything else after my other workout, etc., I did not get a real sense of the structure of the program, so I went back and analysed it a bit. And as it turns out, I should have done that sooner, because the structure is very clear and easy to adjust if needed (note to self for the next time around). So here is the general rule: you have one workout each week dedicated to the lower body (pilates), one to the upper body (bodyweight moves or with very light weight), one to the core (pilates), and 1 or 2 stretching days (usually mixed with pilates and/or yoga) + the optional 6th day, which is usually a pilates/yoga/stretching combo too but shorter (around 15 min.). On top of that, most days that focus on a specific muscle group do also included a longer stretching video than what you can find in other programs. Itâs also important to note that thereâs quite a bit of hidden and not so hidden core work on most days. As you can see, itâs a varied program. I really liked the inclusion of the different kinds of stretching, sometimes focusing on one muscle group, sometimes on the whole body, active and passive stretching, etc.
Structure:
Week 1
Day 1: PFT
Day 2: Lower
Day 3: Core
Day 4: Upper
Day 5: Stretch
Week 2
Day 8: Lower (+ core)
Day 9: Stretch
Day 10: Core
Day 11: Stretch
Day 12: Upper
Realizing that this is the structure of the program is helpful for me, because I realize how easy it could be to switch days around to adjust to what muscle group youâre working in your other workout of the day (if youâre doing a combo). For example, most program weeks have upper body on day 4, so it would be very easy to switch days 11 and 12 in week 2, if you see what I mean. Okay I donât know if anyone else will care about this, but Iâm happy to have realized this. Took me quite some time. :D
There are four repeat videos in the program (outside of the short cool-downs and cardio warm-ups), but for most of them I could understand why (either because theyâre really perfect for the program, or because there was no other similar video available at the time the program was released): the workout for better posture, Danielâs lower back stretching routine, an abs/butt/thighs pilates routine (which could be replaced with another one if you want more variety), one 30-min. stretching, pilates and yoga blend (there have been new ones since then, so you could easily replace it too).
Okay, this is getting really long so Iâll just add that Reach is amazing, I plan on doing it many more times in the future, trying out different ways of approaching it.
The short version of everything above: I highly recommend this program if you enjoy doing some relaxing workouts, want to work on flexibility, range of motion and core strength, want to add a second non-taxing workout to your day, are just starting into your fitness journey and want something that youâll be able to stick to no matter what and that will help you build consistency, or want to ease back into exercise progressively after a long break.
I hope this will be useful to some of you, or motivate you to give Reach a try if you havenât yet.
Sharing some thoughts about FB Reach
Hi Blenders đ
Today, I finished Reach for the second time, so I thought I would share some thoughts with you, since Iâve seen a few people asking questions about this program recently. (If you're short on time, skip to the conclusion in the last paragraph, because I'm not good at writing short posts. :D)
First of all, it can be used in many different ways: It can be used as a beginner program, or as a way of getting back into exercise after a long break, it can be used to focus on flexibility and range of motion, either alone or combined with another program, without much risk of overtraining. If done at the same time as another program, it can be done at another time of the day as a second workout, without adding any high impact exercise, or as a burnout round and/or extended cool down and stretch after another workout. If you opt for that last option, donât forget you can skip the warm up in Reach and possibly the cool down of your other program, so that would make for slighter shorter sessions than you would expect when glancing at your calendar.
Reach was my first ever program back in January/February 2019. At first I added my own workouts to it when I felt like it and then I combined it with FB Low Impact from the third week on. This time around, I mixed all the approaches: at first, I had planned on doing it in the morning as a separate workout (before my evening main workout), but that didnât go quite as planned most of the time (couldnât wake up early enough :D)⌠I ended up adding it as a burnout round on some days (and it buuuuurned!), doing it separately on other days, and during the last week, I did Reach alone with light yoga, because I felt my body needed a break from intense exercise. And honestly, though it did not make me super sweaty or very sore, it wasnât easy just as it is alone. When you do it on its own, you have more motivation to really engage the muscles and focus on each movement, and well, pilates is no joke! :D
Now, because I followed the program a bit loosely, taking extra ârest daysâ from it and rescheduling when I didnât want to do anything else after my other workout, etc., I did not get a real sense of the structure of the program, so I went back and analysed it a bit. And as it turns out, I should have done that sooner, because the structure is very clear and easy to adjust if needed (note to self for the next time around). So here is the general rule: you have one workout each week dedicated to the lower body (pilates), one to the upper body (bodyweight moves or with very light weight), one to the core (pilates), and 1 or 2 stretching days (usually mixed with pilates and/or yoga) + the optional 6th day, which is usually a pilates/yoga/stretching combo too but shorter (around 15 min.). On top of that, most days that focus on a specific muscle group do also included a longer stretching video than what you can find in other programs. Itâs also important to note that thereâs quite a bit of hidden and not so hidden core work on most days. As you can see, itâs a varied program. I really liked the inclusion of the different kinds of stretching, sometimes focusing on one muscle group, sometimes on the whole body, active and passive stretching, etc.
Structure:
Week 1
Day 1: PFT
Day 2: Lower
Day 3: Core
Day 4: Upper
Day 5: Stretch
Week 2
Day 8: Lower (+ core)
Day 9: Stretch
Day 10: Core
Day 11: Stretch
Day 12: Upper
Realizing that this is the structure of the program is helpful for me, because I realize how easy it could be to switch days around to adjust to what muscle group youâre working in your other workout of the day (if youâre doing a combo). For example, most program weeks have upper body on day 4, so it would be very easy to switch days 11 and 12 in week 2, if you see what I mean. Okay I donât know if anyone else will care about this, but Iâm happy to have realized this. Took me quite some time. :D
There are four repeat videos in the program (outside of the short cool-downs and cardio warm-ups), but for most of them I could understand why (either because theyâre really perfect for the program, or because there was no other similar video available at the time the program was released): the workout for better posture, Danielâs lower back stretching routine, an abs/butt/thighs pilates routine (which could be replaced with another one if you want more variety), one 30-min. stretching, pilates and yoga blend (there have been new ones since then, so you could easily replace it too).
Okay, this is getting really long so Iâll just add that Reach is amazing, I plan on doing it many more times in the future, trying out different ways of approaching it.
The short version of everything above: I highly recommend this program if you enjoy doing some relaxing workouts, want to work on flexibility, range of motion and core strength, want to add a second non-taxing workout to your day, are just starting into your fitness journey and want something that youâll be able to stick to no matter what and that will help you build consistency, or want to ease back into exercise progressively after a long break.
I hope this will be useful to some of you, or motivate you to give Reach a try if you havenât yet.
Have a great day/evening/night!