Wednesday, November 5, 2014

More from Sweat Factor, Free ZRopes Downloads, ZWow's 1-70, Zuzka is REPEATING workouts, BR Day 34

I contacted Sweat Factor again today and asked about how the workouts are given to us if we have a membership through them. They responded with this:

Hi Gina, we will be putting out a weekly schedule for you to follow.  In the weekly schedule, you'll get new workouts from our trainers Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  For the remaining days, we'll release workouts from our library of fitness DVDs.  If you would like to do two workouts in one day, you can choose workouts that we released previously.

So some days you might get Zuzka and other days not. It might be worth it for some of you to pay for a month of Sweat Factor IMO because of 3 reasons:
1. you'll have access to Zuzka's older ZGym workouts that have been taken down
2. you'll get access to new workouts from other trainers that you've never seen before
3. Since Zuzka is only charging $1 for the first month, you'll get the best of both worlds for $11

You can always cancel at the end of the month, or who knows, you might want to keep both. An $11 experiment if you will. :)

Sweat Factor also has 6 ZRopes workout breakdowns that you can download for free: http://www.sweatfactor.com/download/
You can also get the same jump rope Zuzka uses here.

I also know there is a site called http://warriorz.us/ that has ZWOW's 1-70. You can no longer see the videos, but you at least get the workout breakdown.

One of my readers (thanks Suri!) mentioned that Zuzka might be and has been repeating workouts. How did I not notice that! I've been too caught up in the chaos I guess. Zuzka has been offering the ZGym for free this week, but all of the workouts have been repeated. There has not been any new ones. Even the 5 minute workout today was a repeat. She is probably filming a lot this week to get caught up, But again, I think Zuzka should go above and beyond with her service and offer NEW FREE workouts for a whole week.
I have to say, BR's customer service and organization of HIIT Maxx has been dead on. I don't know who they hired over there that got it all together, but they need a raise. :)
It was also mentioned that since her older ZGym workouts have been taken down she will be recycling those with some added punches and kicks (UGH - my least favorite kind of exercises!)
I guess she already did that with Body Crush #5. It was a re-do of ZWow #87.
Some of you might not care, but I wonder if she is waiting to do entirely new workouts after the $1 deal is over. I am speculating, but I'm not liking the whole demeanor of this. We can only wait and see.

For those of you who might not want any membership at all, don't forget Zuzka has DVD's available.
I don't have all of them, but I do have her 2 yoga ones and I LOVE them!

BR's Day #34 is posted. Lisa once again did the cardio instead of the strength. Lisa also commented on why she uses fingers tips instead of flat palms when she does burpees - which is ironic because I just made a comment a few days ago asking why she does that. She said it is because she has long legs and the finger tips gives her extra length, and she's right - it does. It is easier with finger tips to hop farther forward. She was also talking about her lack of flexibility - which I notice when she gets tired. Her back rounds a lot and she leans way too far forward when she squats. I can empathize because I have a super short torso and super long legs, so when I squat it is A LOT of work to keep an upright torso. I wish she would emphasize form more on her squats and her back length in burpees and jump back stuff. But I'm also a yogi so I probably am more anal about this stuff than most. ;)
The 8 jump squats and 8 jump tucks would KILL ME. I liked the combo of legs, arms, abs, cardio, but once again no pulling - no bicep or back work. Sigh....
The cardio was a burpee variation and the strength was swings. Swings are CARDIO! I prefer swings with a Kettlebell as opposed to a sandbag, but I still love sandbag work.
I was practicing some KB work at the gym this morning and I got myself a new client. She said - I want to be able to do that! :)
I can't wait for the BR strength week next week. I am SO very curious as to what it will be like.
I think I need to do a Do it From Home Strength Series for Women and charge 99 cents a month. LOL.

18 comments:

  1. Thanks but no thanks to WIN. It was hard enough canceling my subscription with them. I don't feel comfortable giving them any more of my time, views, or money.

    I feel as a company that WIN could have handled the separation between Z and their brand a whole lot better. Z does take some of the blame but as a business, I am sure WIN has gone through a client separation before.

    Redirecting Zuzka's site to Sweat Factor with NO explanation from WIN was an extremely bad move. I first thought Zuzka's site was hacked and that I had a virus on my computer. When that wasn't the case, I assumed Sweat Factor was Zuzka's new site until she came out and said otherwise. Why couldn't WIN do this from the very beginning and allowed customers to choose whether they wanted to stay with WIN, follow Zuzka, or do both? Sweat Factor treated customers like children who didn't know how to choose so Sweat Factor chosen for us.

    Furthermore, not being on hand to give customers an early explanation on how to cancel the subscription was unprofessional. WIN basically left customers blowing in the wind. Now they expect us to sign up with their site? To view old videos of Z and new ones of other trainers?

    PUH-LEASE....Thanks for the apology, if there ever was a public one.Wish your company much success.

    ---signed a user who will not view, buy, etc. anything under the WIN brand.

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    1. CJ - did you have a hard time cancelling? I know others have had a hard time getting money back with their longer subscriptions (you need to contact your cc card company in those instances), but once people actually knew WHO to contact, they got their money back fairly quickly. WIN certainly does need to take some of the blame here too. I can only ponder that Zuzka did not like her contract, she breached her contract, and then WIN switched everything to Sweat Factor. I don't blame WIN for doing that if there was a breach, BUT they should have had SOME kind of notification on their home page that was once Zuzka's. Something! Anything! Like you said, I'm sure this was not their first break up with a client. They did let Zuzka take all the fall out - and she handled it poorly IMO. Who knows - maybe WIN deserved the breach of contract, maybe they didn't. But at the end of the day we are Z's followers, her customers, and I feel like she should have been more forthcoming and provided better service during this switch. I just hope she continues with excellent workouts and upscale her service so I can adore her the way I have in the past. I am curious as to why WIN has been so silent through all of this.

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  2. RE: BR HittMax Day 34 -- this week is still far from my favorite but for some reason I've been liking tuck jumps more, so the 8x8 exercise will do me fine. One time through, at least! I hate burpees so maybe trying the fingertips will help some.

    You know what I noticed... well, maybe it's just me, but I've mentioned before how much more solid and attainable Lisa has been looking lately. This may be reaching, but maybe she's trying to lean out? I personally LOVE her look (absolutely LOVE it; she looks phenomenal especially in comparison to, say, a year ago) and hope that's not the case. Perhaps her smaller (but more fitting) implants have made her body look more balanced. Anyway, I only bring up the ~speculation~ because it is interesting that there's only been a few times during this challenge that she's done the strength component to the workout. (I also agree that swings are cardio; I did a few rounds this morning and totally started sweating buckets.)

    Congratulations on your new client!

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    1. Tx Lindsey! I like tuck jumps too - I meant they would kill me in a good way. Though after having a couple of kids you gotta make sure you pee before doing those - EACH round. LOL. I also love burpees- crazy right? I really like Lisa's look too. Her boobs fit her body now, her abs are fantastic and love her long lean legs. Her arms are a bit skinny - more shoulder work on her would go a long way. I am curious as to why she does the cardio moves - I thought it was perhaps because I would BET that most BR-ers do the cardio instead of the strength. I also love Zuzka's body - especially her arms.

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  3. I haven't seen any comments about LM being an owner of BR now. What do you guys think?

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    1. I did see one posted by Freddy saying Lisa is an owner!

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    2. I think it's great for her; she really puts a lot of effort into the direction of Bodyrock --- these days, she essentially IS Bodyrock to a lot of people. I remember haivng said (during the first installment of the 5-week HiitMax challenge) that she is BR's most valuable asset. I was really thinking about it this morning when doing the four days of this weeks challenge, lol, that she really re-ignited BR with the RTC, and I think that was the platform where she went from whatever many-steps-above-contributor is to owner.

      I also think it is interesting, interesting being a loaded word. I hope for her sake that history doesn't repeat itself. I am not speculating as I don't know anyone from BR, but there were times where it felt she was distanced and needed to take care of things, but she was always involved... whether that was on a personal or professional basis, I don't know but it definitely felt like both. From a professional standpoint, I think it's a really good thing for her. What a success story, from someone who works out to being an owner of a company.

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  4. I'm also excited for strength week. I *hope* it will be REAL strength exercises with challenging weights. And by that I mean Lisa using challenging weights. I truly think she's strong enough to go heavier than what she's using. I'm holding off on their workouts for now, until next week. Too many push-ups and I'm already doing lots of calisthenics-based work with my current program... :/
    The only time i have used kettlebell swings as more of an explosive strength exercise, was going double kettlebell swings, 5x5, with a very challenging weight. Other than that, it's pure cardio!
    ... I would pay 0.99 for a strength program, by the way.. Haha!

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    1. I remember Lisa using 40 lb weights for step ups and overhead exercises before, and she does seem to have put on a lot more muscle in recent months, so I'm pretty sure she can lift heavier weights. Me on the other hand.... lol. Still working on it.

      I agree that there have been too many push ups this challenge so far (I wonder why that is?), but I've been substituting them with targeted moves towards my personal goal.

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    2. Laura - I hope they are real strength moves too. There's been no weighted best this time around too and I wonder why that is?
      Lindsey- I think it is smart to use BR or Zuzka's workouts as an outline and tweak them where needed.

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  5. i have the bodyrock membership and i love it!! i think it was totally worth 5 dollars. im always so curious about the new workouts and i really like having the whole workout (all 5 days come in one download. plus the burnouts) i actually usually gt an email from Sean light saying hey here your new workout plus whatever new e-book they have. right now they have sent we all the e-books old and new as well as the old and new burnouts. plus i get the see the whole strength week in one download on sat. i just really like it its very convenient when my sons napping i just press play and go. before id waste like 30 min on YouTube just browsing new videos now i get my whole workout done everyday and am seeing alot of changes. idk i trust Lisa and i find her very motivating so i just do whatever she does as best i can. i also really enjoy this blog i read it everyday. i can tell you put alot of work in it. i noticed that you post once a day sometimes twice and you always respond to people . your aesome

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    1. Yes, Gina, thank you for posting so much! This blog is actually the first page I read in the morning :D
      (I live in a different time zone, so you usually post when it's nighttime here.)

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    2. Hey Zusie! Thanks! I typically post at night when my hubby is giving the kids their bath and getting them ready for bed. It is my time to decompress and writing this blog helps. Then it is back to being a mom and trying to get the kids to STAY in bed for the night. LOL.

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    1. Thanks Ciara for the kind words! glad you like the blog. :)
      And that's great about BR Plus. I've been very curious. And all the guides too!
      Do you know what they are offering for BR plus after HIIT Maxx Season 2 is over?

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  7. i actually don't. i saw they were making a season 3!!! in between 1 and 2 they sent me like 3 dif e-books as well as the rtc and the burnouts to go w it. i actually redid the whole season one while i waited for season 2. did anyone see that pic of lisa wearing her leggings high waisted kinda like rita. the look on her face lol

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  8. im so excited i just got an email from sean light (whose on top of things this week) and my hiit plus updated!!!!! i get to see week 8 5 days early yeah!!!!! it only takes 6 min to download on my comp. plus the burnouts.

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    1. Wow! That's great. Seems like you really get your money's worth. :) I'm verrrrry interested in week 8 to see if it is real strength training or not.

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