6 Weeks of the Work Review: Amoila Cesar’s Functional at Home Workout

Welcome to my review of 6 Weeks of the Work created by pro-athlete and celebrity trainer, Amoila Cesar, and produced by Beachbody.

You probably have seen lots of reviews for workout programs that are written by people who never do the workout programs. I only write about programs I’ve actually completed or am in the process of doing. This way I am able to bring you some actual user experience to let you know the ins and outs of the program.

A lot of the recent Beachbody workout programs have been good/okay but very general. Three days of cardio, three days of weights and a recovery day.

6 Weeks of the Work is much, much different…

Train Like/Be a Better Athlete with Functional Fitness

First I have to get this out of the way. I’m not a huge fan of how this program was marketed. I actually found it kind of intimidating and scary – not sure if I’d be able to even do it or whether or not I wanted to do it. If you watched the teaser video for 6 Weeks of the Work, you might think there is a lot of sweating, agonizing, screaming, and swearing going on.

After doing a couple workouts, it’s really not like that all. There is what I guess you could call an explicit language version (more cussing in some workouts than in others). BUT, there is also the clean language version where you won’t even notice the explicit language is cut out.

Are the program workouts intense? Yes, they sure are, but in my opinion, this is also hands-down the best designed and most well-structured home workout program Beachbody has ever produced. With how the program is laid out, you get plenty of time to recover and recharge between workouts, you can train harder and not have to worry about soft tissue injuries as much as some of the other extreme programs out there.

Now, I want to talk about what really sets this program apart from any other at-home workout programs – it’s highly functional fitness-orientated.

What is functional fitness?

Functional fitness is training that will help you out in the real world no matter what your age. Training that will help you move better, feel better and as a side benefit, look a whole lot better. You”ll be a person that not only looks fit, but you will actually be fit. Think of training like an athlete, and you got the idea.

This is a huge step in the right direction when it comes to working out and comes from someone who’s been transforming professional athlete’s physiques in a very short period of time.

Meet Super Trainer Amoila Cesar

You can probably tell with just a quick look that Amoila means business. I don’t think he’d have such an impressive physique without practicing what he preaches.

What’s that? Dedication, motivation, and a 100% percent commitment to be the best at what you do with Amoila Cesar.

Amoila is very motivational as any good trainer should be. When trying out the first “Push” workout, I decided I was going to just do half the workout to get a feel for the program. But halfway through, I had to continue. I had to give it my all until the end

How Amoila Rose to be a Beachbody Super Trainer

Amoila got people results and shared them on social media. Most notably, Julius Randle, a 1st round NBA selection. NBA players have a very short off season (only 2 months), so they need to get results more quickly than most other sports. With Amolia’s help, NBA players, celebrities, athletes, and ordinary people have been getting amazing results with his programs in very short periods of time.

And, don’t be intimidated. Amoila knows how to get the best out of you and me, average people. He is an NASM and NCCPT certified personal trainer with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science and minor in psychology. It is his minor that he credits with being his way to get the most our of people he trains. A lot of pushing yourself has to do with mentality.

He also trains non-athletes, too. Celebrity clientele includes Jack Osbourne. Check Amoila out on Instagram to see a glimpse of his motivating personality and the people he trains.

Who 6 Weeks of the Work is For

This program is not designed for everyone. There is no dedicated modifier like you might find in other Beachbody programs, but Amoila does sometimes show modifications. The workouts are intense, no-nonsense, push your body and mind to the limits type of workouts.

If you are going to do this program, then you’ll be looking to:

• Achieve another level of fitness.
• Lose weight and feel better in a safe, effective manner.
• Be challenged with heart pumping, muscle burning workouts.
• Follow a unique functional fitness training regimen to build strength, power, and mobility.

After each workout, you’ll likely find yourself dripping in a puddle of sweat. You’ll feel great knowing that you’ve made it through an intense, tough workout that will help you reach your goals.

The 6 Weeks of the Work Fit Test:

Now as the program suggests, you should try the Fit Test first. I share the prerequisite 6 Weeks of the Work “fit test” below. And I will say that with how this program is put together, if you have ever been able to reach the numbers in the fit test, you should be fine doing the program. Sure you may not always be able to keep up with them, but you’ll be able to modify and go at your own pace. As always, please consult with your doctor before beginning this or any other exercise program.

Between each exercise, take take a 2-minute rest period to fully recover before beginning the next exercise. For detailed explanations of each exercise, you can refer to the 6 Weeks of the Work Fit Test pdf.

As you’ll find out the 6 Weeks of the Work fit test is a workout in itself. After you’re done, it is recommended to take a few minutes to stretch out with a few static stretches.

With all that said, I 100% believe if you can”t reach all of the numbers in the “fit test” you can still do this program and get great results. You might be better off trying the sample workout to see if you are able to keep up and enjoy the workouts.

What Equipment You Need for 6 Weeks of the Work

From an at-home workout program perceptive, there is a little bit more equipment needed for 6 Weeks of the Work than others. Your going to hit muscles from different angles, including a lot of the the little stabilizer muscles that ere not normally activated with traditional weight only training.

Required Equipment:

• Dumbbells (light, medium, and heavy)
• Resistance loops
• Strength slides

Optional Equipment:

• Chin-up bar
• Chin-up max
• Mat

Nothing really fancy on the equipment side. If you’ve done an at-home workout program before, you probably have most if not all of the required equipment

If you need to purchase strength slides, I would definitely recommend sticking with the Beachbody version. I purchased some flat ones without the lip on Amazon and find them very difficult to use as they slide out from under my feet.

Tip: If you do not have strength slides, it is possible to use hand cloth towels if you are on hardwood floor or paper plates if doing the workouts on carpet until you get strength slides.

6 Weeks of the Work Program Schedule & Workouts Reviewed

36 Unique Workouts: Each workout is individually recorded. There are absolutely no duplicates used in this program. It is 6 days/week (which includes 1 active recovery workout) for 6 weeks. Workouts are designed to improve your functional fitness with a mix of strength training, hypertrophy work, power moves, improved agility and increased mobility. These types of workouts can be defined as High-Intensity Functional Training (HIFT) by varying the functional exercises with lower intensity exercises and/or periods of rest to recovery.

There are 10 main workouts and a mobility workout. The workout schedule is 5 workouts a week plus 1 active recovery workout and 1 off day.

The structure is great, you don’t repeat a workout for two weeks, it never gets repetitive or boring. Even when you repeat the workouts eventually, the moves progressively get harder and more intense each time.

In general, 6 Weeks of the Work workouts follow a similar outline:

• Warm up/stretching
• Structured rounds of exercise done in succession followed by a short break then repeated
  • Example: Exercise A, Exercise B, Exercise C, Exercise D, Short Break Cycle repeats
• Light stretching cool down

Mini Review of the 6 Weeks of the Work Individual Workouts:

PUSH
Primarily a strength-based workout that focuses on pushing exercises. These are moves where you push resistance away from your body. The muscles targeted in this workout are chest, triceps and a fair amount of quad work.

LEGS
This workout defines “leg workout”. Weights and agility based moves are brought together to develop strength, build power, and create defined legs.

ENDURANCE AND AGILITY
If you thought the ‘legs” workout was hard this is an intense pulse pounding, muscle burner. Surprisingly I went into this workout pretty sore but came out feeling better after getting the blood flowing.

PULL
Mainly a back a back and bicep workout with a good amount of core and stability work in this one. I really felt this one in my upper middle back a spot I don’t think I’d ever been sore before.

FULLY BODY TEMPO
This was the most difficult workout of the first 8. It is the same style of training but you varying tempo, basically sometimes you move a little faster on some rounds(always in control). Train at the speed of your sport.

TOTAL BODY PUSH PULL
This is a little bit of both the Pull workouts and Push workouts combined. There is more focus on the major muscles groups of the upper body and legs with less emphasis on the smaller muscle groups.

STRENGTH & POWER
Likely my favorite workout in the program, You do a lot of work on building reaction and controlling of the weights. How to go down slow feel, the tension and explode up. It’s a mixture of Olympic lifts couple with some variations of swings and presses.

CARDIO & CORE
Like the title says this is a mixture of cardio based sports movements and core workouts. It is a little bit longer of a workout, but goes by fast. All have to say is you will be dripping in sweat and your lower abs will likely be sore the next day.

ISOMETRICS
This is a strength training based workout in which you test your muscles with timed holds and other fixed positions. Amoila says this workout is to help protect you from joint and I would also ligament injury.

THE CRUCIBLE
At the end of each two week phase you get tested in “The Crucible” workout. Full body routine in which you do eight exercise with a core move between(first two workouts only). The amount of reps per workout starts at 50, then 75, then 100. All of the moves remain the same from workout to workout, Amoila wants you to use the same weight each time.

RANGE & REPAIR
These are stretching and mobility workouts that you do weekly. Each day has a different focus. Two of my favorite workouts were the hips and t spine. Seriously don’t skip these workouts they will help you feel a while lot better overall. You might even be a little sore the next day after hitting some of the stabilizer muscles that are typically not targeted in typical workouts.

Calorie burn. Since the workouts include a a fair amount of strength training I’m not sure how accurate my fitbit was for calculating calories burned. I was typically in the 400-550 calories burned for each workout.

6 Weeks of the Work Modifications

Amoila is great trainer, he explains the exercise moves quickly, to the point, and how to perform them correctly. He also lets the cast and us at home know how to modify when you struggle and corrects common technique problems. There is no dedicated modifier in 6 Weeks of the Work, but you can and should modify when you need to.

If you do not have a chin up bar, Amoila shows you a completely different move using a dumbbell.

From my experience with the 6 Weeks of the Work workouts. You can do them if you are in decent shape. The “fit test” and frankly the teaser trailer video make it seem like you need to be a fine tuned athlete to do the workouts. I kind of disagree.

Don’t get me wrong the workouts are intense, you’ll hit muscles from different angles and feel sore in spots you probably never have before.

An Overview of the Nutrition Plan

The 6 Weeks of the Work diet plan is simple and straight forward. It is balanced nutrition of 30% proteins, 40% carbohydrates, and 30% fats.

The plan is basically the 21 Day Fix portion control diet plan. You get 6 categories of food, you match your weight and gender to the calorie chart. This lets you know your daily amount of portions from each food category. You can use the Beachbody portion colored containers or use the suggested serving sizes in the guide.

• Green: Vegetables
• Purple: Fruits
• Red: Protein
• Yellow: Complex Carbohydrates
• Blue: Healthy Fats and Cheese
• Orange: Seeds and Oils
• Free Foods: Spices, Etc.

Beachbody has also incorporated a bunch of other guides in case you are following a diet plan like 2B Mindset or the Ultimate Portion Fix as seen below.

Guides included:

1. Beachbody Guide to Nutrition: This is a simple and effective eating plan. It is based around the 21 Day Fix portion control containers(servings are listed too). Lists foods that you can enjoy from different categories and includes samples meal plans and recipes.
2. 6 Weeks of the Work and The Beachbody Guide to Nutrition: A simple guide to calculating your portions from different food categories. Both men and woman category levels are gone over.
3. 6 Weeks of the Work and 2B Mindset: If you are following the eating guidelines from the 2B Mindset program this goes over how you may need to adjust your eating because the workout program is intense.
4. 6 Weeks of the Work and Ultimate Portion Fix: If you are following the more strict guidelines from the Ultimate Portion Fix the program also comes with a short guide to maximize your results.

There is not a whole lot to say about the 6 Weeks of the Work diet plan. Keep it simple, eat unprocessed foods in balanced amounts and you will be fine.

How 6 Weeks of the Work Compares to Other Home Workouts

A lot has been said about how difficult this program is going to be. I wanted to give a comparison to other at home workouts that I’ve tried.

P90X vs 6 Weeks of the Work

How does 6 Weeks of the Work compare to P90X is a question I have been receiving a lot. P90X to me was a soft tissue injury a waiting to happen. To many sets of exercises targeting the same muscle group, sloppy form. Tony H while entertaining was not motivating for me.

I would almost guarantee someone who followed 6 Weeks of the Work program for 90 days would see equal or better results in terms of body composition, functional fitness, and cardiovascular endurance.

INSANITY vs 6 Weeks of the Work

If I had to compare 6 Weeks of the Work to any of the Insanity workout collections, I would say it compares most to Insanity: The Asylum.

There is much more resistance training, explosive moves, movements that target the core in 6 Weeks of the Work. Insanity the Asylum workouts are more of a collection of different exercises you would see in different sport training(kind of a mish mash). 6 Weeks of the Work is going to make you be a better athlete.

How to Get Started with 6 Weeks of the Work

Here is my lease favorite part of writing a workout program review – How to order. Mainly because it is a little confusing with all the options, but I will try my best. Just know that you get everything above, 36 unique workouts, get started right guide, workout calendar, nutrition guide and lots of support.

To start: 6 Weeks of the Work workouts are only available on Beachbody On Demand. BOD is an online streaming and digital only platform for Beachbody workouts available by membership only.

With that said, if you are already a BOD member 6 Weeks of the Work is available with early VIP order September 30, 2019. Program will become available to all members April 21, 2020.

Current Beachbody On Demand Member Options

1. 6 Weeks of the Work Early Access Digital Only: The lowest priced option is $49.95. There are other package options that include equipment and/or to have the physical materials sent to your house.
2. 6 Weeks of the Work Completion Pack: Again there are many options to choose. This is best for people who are looking for Beachbody Performance Supplements or Shakeology at lower cost than ordering separately.

For Non Beachbody On Demand Members

If you’re not yet a BOD member. You could sign up for a yearly or quarterly membership of Beachbody On Demand and then order the Early Access Digital Only program separate. The downside here is that it would cost more than if you ordered a 6 Week of the Work Challenge Pack or Performance Pack which I’ll go over below.

1. 6 Weeks of the Work Shakeology Challenge Pack: This option gives you a yearly membership to Beachbody On Demand with the your flavor choice of Shakeology on HD(cancel anytime).
2. 6 Weeks of the Work Performance Pack: Again you get a yearly membership to Beachbody On Demand but instead of Shakeology you get two Beachbody Performance line supplements. Beachbody Energize (pre-workout) and Beachbody Recover (post-workout) workout supplements on HD(cancel anytime).

For any of the package option there are also add ons for different equipment that you may need or performance supplements that you might be interested in.

No matter which option you choose, Team Beachbody is standing behind this program. If you are not satisfied there is a 30-day money back(minus shipping if applicable) guarantee period.

Questions about 6 Weeks of the Work? Please leave a comment below.