IMPACT Body Plan Book – First Look

I got my TRX suspension bands two weeks and ago and just finished 6th week on the IMPACT Body Plan program.

Download here the only ready to print worksheet on the Net [XLS] [PDF].

This is a great looking book; nice hardcover, glossy pages, textbook like layout. You’ll get hooked immediately with Chapter 1, starting with an easy read about Todd Durkin’s personal story. The next few chapters concentrate on commitment, getting your mind focused and revealing secrets to a pain-free body. You’ll be totally into it!

Chapters 5 is titled `Enter the Matrix’ and, believe me, you literally enter the plot of THE MATRIX! Here, after an fair attempt to explain the science and method behind the workout design, you get a nugget of wisdom with a great dynamic warm-up sequence.

So I do the fit test, read about nutrition, review the equipment required and (blah, blah, blah) all the other stuff you find in every similar book.

Here’s my review of the book and this training program overall:

COMPLEX SETUP SYNDROME
First, this is not a cheap training program for home users. You need a fair amount of high end equipment for a home gym. Besides the obvious Bosu ball and dumbbells, you need a squat rack, barbell set, hyperextension bench, dip bar, TRX band and more.

Yes, I can almost hear all the trolls arguing that you can find substitutes. However, I disagree since the program outline already account for variations on movements, which makes it difficult to find adequate home equivalents to achieve the same results.

Now let’s say that you go to your typical park district gym during rush hour. In order to make sure that you maintain your target heart rate, you will need to secure several pieces of equipment at the gym to perform the circuit training as outlined in the book and make sure that other users do not screw up your setup. Yeah, like that’s ever gonna happen in a crowded gym!! Obviously, you need to have a pretty exclusive setup to make sure that you can follow this program well.

MOVEMENT OVERLOAD
Any personal trainer or fitness enthusiast will tell you that over half the people at the gym are not performing the exercises with proper form. Typically, the general workout averages about 10 exercises. This book does a brilliant job following the fundamental kinesiology principles of periodization, progression and programming. And as you’d expect, each workout has an average of 25 different exercises. You will burn in excess of 800 calories on each session. Imagine if everyone in the gym was doing this workout; there would be total chaos and confusion. We need coaches and personal trainer “Gods” to come down from heaven and help the entire human race convert to this religion.

VIOLATION OF THE SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM
In Todd Durkin’s world, time does not exist. In early chapters, the book establishes the importance of a time efficient workout for all the right reasons. I get that. However, if you are doing this program for the first time, the book offers no guidance on the time it takes to complete each workout. So if you need to stay on schedule or you workout early morning before going to work, forget it! There is no way to anticipate the time it takes to complete each workout. What’s worse is that there is NO way that you can complete the workout in less than one hour, especially after week four in the program. Monday workouts take about One hour and 20 minutes including warmup and cardio conditioning and I was going all out, nonstop! If you need to catch a train by a certain time, then this workout may not be for you. If you have the discipline and commitment to get in shape, no matter what, then welcome aboard. Just beware.

SPECIALIZE COMPLEXITY DILEMMA
In life there are 80/20 people and there are 110/0 people. Everyone knows that in order to reach 110% you need to specialize and without a doubt you encounter complexity. Before embracing this book, make sure that your personality fits the 110/0 quadrant. For each workout, you’ll need to deconstruct several pages. You will not find here an way a reference grid or one pager on what you need to do just today. Even movement attributes such as “dropsets”, “in the box”, “u call it”, and simple set/repetition sequences are not easy to consume. You’ll have to spend considerable time studying today’s lesson to avoid long pauses in your workout. I have several friends who have done this program and upon asking them how they follow certain sequences, each provided a different answer. I suppose this is Todd’s way to personalize the book for everyone. lol

Is the content and fitness program itself great? After reading through the whole thing, I’m convinced that it is likely one of the best fitness programs ever created based on my programming experience. It’s clearly geared towards top fitness enthusiast. It’s somewhat light on cardio and core training which is a bias of so many do-it-yourself programs. So program potential notwithstanding, Todd and his crew missed a great opportunity to ensure that this book could be consumed a heck of a lot easier by the masses. Only then, he could dethrone numerous other gimmicky exercise programs and let this book shine above the rest. It’s no surprise that the book is supported by a broad community and his tireless personality continues to drive the value of this great product.