A subreddit for people following the Athlean-X fitness programs, or are thinking of starting a program. This is also a place to discuss & ask about the Athlean-X YouTube channel. We're here to better ourselves, motivate each other and help in any way possible.
Just wondering if anyone has ranked Jeff’s programs from best to worst? If not I wouldn’t mind making one now using your help because I don’t own all of them.
My rank (edit 2, the ones without comments I have not personally completed):
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Max shred
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Beaxst
completely strength focused, newest so it has the best presentation (very shiny), moderately fun definitely not boring, I actually reckon this is worth its price would I wouldn’t buy it for someone else, substituting exercises based off difficulty but it would be hard if you were missing equipment.
3. Xero
No equipment as stated, intermediates would be able to build some muscle, advanced probably won’t build that much with this program. Pretty old but presentation holds up, very few instructional videos compared to most other. I would buy this for someone else only during a sale though. I really like it even though it’s 6 weeks. Substituting exercises is easy if you have more equipment.
4. Monster Maker
5. AX 1
I wasn’t a beginner when I did this so I didn’t like it at all. This is 100% a beginners program and will increase athleticism if you’re new. The videos are old, Jeff’s trying to build his brand which kinda makes it hard to watch. If you’re not a beginner it’s not worth your money (haven’t tried it with tnt though). Low amount of equipment required so substituting is easy not as easy as Xero though.
6. Special tactix
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Obviously best to worst is very hard to do because each program is different so I’ll put down a criteria and if you could rank the programs you own and maybe some comments as to why if you feel like typing more.
Criteria (in decreasing priority):
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Does it perform as advertised e.g. did beaxst help you build strength or inferno shred help you lose weight. Obviously there’s a lot of variables here so just go of personal experience.
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Presentation. Do the videos still hold up? Are the instructions easy to follow? Is there enough guidance?
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Did you enjoy it, was it hard to complete
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Was it worth the price? Would you buy it for someone else?
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Accessibility, if you needed to substitute exercises was it easy to do so?
Please rank your programs, add comments if you want to and I’ll edit my list up the top as more come through.
P.S. someone recently made a spreadsheet with a list if equipment required for each program I can’t seem to find it and it’s doing my head in. Can someone send me the link to that please?
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This may be an unpopular opinion, but my personal favorite so far has been MM. I was running it on legs focus before COVID but saw both increases in size and strength, including areas that are not the chosen MM. I loved the whole thing, and many say that it's boring because it's the same thing month to month; I say that's okay since this is almost entirely a hypertrophy program. Totally worth it, got the extra program too, and I would buy it for someone else, as long as it lined up with their goals and skill. I really liked the presentation, but it's definitely assuming you have immediate access to the equipment you need, luckily I didn't have that problem.
Outside of that, I would have to go with Beaxst, Old School Iron, and Train like Bane in descending order. All of these programs were amazing, with Bane being the most difficult personally.
I only have a few things to say about Bane: one- That1legmonster has the program to those who are curious about it, two- Expect some serious forearm gains, three- buy some hand cream, the Tues. calf and carries and Prison breaks were brutal.
A lot of his size building focused programs seem to be really popular.
I think it caters to those coming off Ax1 since it's more like an introduction for his training style. The programs, if done correctly, allow you to literally see growth or change within a week or two, which makes people attached to the program.
How did you get “old school iron”?
When MM first came out, it had Old school iron included as a bonus program, I'm not entirely sure if you would still get it in the bonus section.
doubt
https://www.reddit.com/r/Athleanx/comments/g4o6j7/athleanx_equipment_requirement/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Thank you
it be great if the mods sticky it or add reopen the stickied thread and post the link there.
Have only done max size completely, two weeks of beaxst before my gym closed and I’m at the end of xero. So far xero is pretty good, I gained a bit of muscle with it although I sometimes think that only two strength days is a bit little for building muscle, but sometimes the burst days have a lot of pushup variations and such, so they help as well. It does have some really messy things and the presentation isn’t as good as I liked. My biggest problem was that Jeff’s vision for the program was much greater than what it ended up being, and it lacks in many of its promises and it drowns in its inconsistencies. Things like how he only incorporated fingertip pushups in one day in the whole program and acted like they’re going to “help you build intrinsic hand strength” was quite ridiculous, nothing built you up to do them and they’re just there, there’s no point of them being there relative to the program, but Jeff wanted to include them somehow.
Max size is pretty great, gained a lot of muscle with it and it’s extremely intense. Some of the things were a bit too advanced for me like doing 50 heavy deadlifts with a 5 second concentric, however mostly the program was doable (barely). It’s pretty fun the first time but the third month is just terribly boring to me, it was the first time that I stopped enjoying going to the gym and, although it was very beneficial and unique, once the novelty quickly faded I was left with the feeling of immense boredom and disappointment. Second month however was brilliant, it was so much fun and, although very difficult, I was always excited to go the gym with it. First month is okay but it’s not that fun to repeat.
Hopefully beaxst will be good, I don’t think it will build much strength due to its structure but I will try my hardest with it, it seems really fun.
Jeff definitely tries to please everyone with a program which, like you said, has everything but lacks in depth. Which is a shame because he has so many mediocre programs designed to fit everyone. It would be acceptable for some of his earlier programs but now that he’s got a huge following he needs to be more specific but he’s starting to do that.
Yeah definitely, hopefully xero 2 will be better and more clear in its vision. Although Jeff still does do a few bad decisions like monster maker, his content has improved a lot over the years.
Is Xero 2 gonna come out in time? Australia’s already flattened the curve it’s almost time to reopen
I really don’t know man, Jeff recently said it was coming out soon but who knows, also Australia might be good to go in a month or two but the rest of the world is mostly in this for a while.
Nice post, was conflicted between Max and Beaxst for when the gyms open back up. Definitely leaning towards Beaxst now. Did Ax1 prior and only recently caved and bought zero. (Don't have an opinion on it just yet)
I didn’t have any equipment when I did Xero and it was a godsend
I was hoping to do. AX1 with TNTs next after finishing MaxShred maybe I'll skip it and do something else now....
I think one of the reasons I dislike ax 1 is that to make it better you have to put another program over it. Like you’re putting a sticker over a dent in your car. From a consumers point of view it’s a bad investment. Jeff’s actually a really good marketer and he’s been able to make tnt look like an “enhancement”.
I've done 5 and here's my ranking accordingly.
Max Shred
Beaxst
Xero
AX-1
Special Tactix
Just wondering, I've heard people say they got the Train like Bane program as a bonus with Beaxst? Where do I find it?
When beasxt first came out and in last black Friday. It’s a bonus program.
Updating
I was thinking about getting special tactix before beasxt but I didn’t, whats your verdict on it?
I actually liked it, it had some cool features other programs don't have. Strength workouts are Day 1/5 each week. Basically one of the days you're doing heavy legs ( 3 exercises 5-6 RM, 4 sets) and then light upper body (bodyweight exercises, 3 sets 15-20 reps). At the beginning of each workout you have a "gut check" .. so can you perform a specified number of reps of a certain exercise in a given amount of time? Example; say you have to do 85 cheek to ground pushups in 2 minutes for the gut check. If you miss that goal by 15 reps or LESS (say you complete 72 reps), you have a punishment at the very end of your whole workout which is to do TWICE the amount of pushups you completed in the gut check. So you have to do 144 at the end of the workout if you did 72 first time around. And you do it in grinder style, meaning you don't let your knees touch the floor. It's basically impossible man haha it's so so tough.
Your second strength workout (day 5) would then be flipped and you're doing light lower body and heavy upper body with a different gut check each time. And there's also conditioning thrown in there but it's not a lot.
The other days you have core workouts, and different types of burst training like HIIT running one week, air raid next week (jumping), etc etc. Only downside is the strength workouts are the same weeks 1 and 3 and weeks 2 and 4 (as far as I remember) but still great! It's a 4 week program.
Great review! Thanks mate
here are the ones I own and in the order I prefer:
Max Shred
Great full range program with a focus on conditioning and really pushing yourself through those mental barriers.
Beaxst
Excellent program for building that strength and power
AX2
my only gripe being that the phases change evry week and you should do each for 2-3 weeks to really feel the benefits from each
AX1
excellent begginer program and also good to come back to as a way to take time away from the heaver training through the year of the other programs.
Also have TNT's, Bane, and Core4 but not sure I would count them as complete programs as I feel they are there to compiment other programs.
TNT's used along side AX1 have been pretty good for me, I can do so much more (E.g. Pull ups) with the dedicated muscle group workouts.
Bane is like an extra month of Beaxst and adds to it well.
Core4 is just a great program to go alongside any other program. not necassary for everyone but the structure helps me a lot.
Awesome! Great review. Is core4abs 6 week program?
It's a 12 week program. But what it adds to another program is instead of saying at the bottom to go to the ab shuffle it says core4 and takes you to whatever day you are up to with the core4 program.
From my personal experience, the following would be my ranking:
All American Muscle (gold standard for those interested in athleticism and overall fitness: strength, hypertrophy, endurance, mobility and agility).
Max Shred (a specialised program for those looking to cut maximum fat or weight without sacrificing muscle loss; excellent for improving endurance).
Xero and Xero2 (tied): To be considered a fitness expert, one needs to master the art of working out without any equipment.
Jacked and Elastx (tied): Sometimes in life you have to travel and situation demands you to workout without a gym near by. In such a scenario, it becomes imperative you learn to workout with just a pair of elastic bands or a pair of dumbbells which you can carry along with you wherever you may go.
Core4abs: your core is at the core of everything that you do. Hence, it is a must to train your core almost everyday if you are to have a well-rounded athletic physique that not only makes you look like a beast but moves like a beast - as Jeff would say.
As you mentioned in your AX-1 critique of how you weren’t a beginner, do you think Xero will prepare me enough to go straight to beast? I’m not new to lifting and have a general idea of all the equipment the gym has to offer.
If you’ve only done Xero in your career of working out and somehow performed well in it then no. Beaxst has a lot of heavy lifts and you need to know how to do them. Watching technique and actually feeling your body lifting a heavy load is different.
Now if you’ve been doing weightlifting long enough to get you to be able to perform in Xero then yes. Doing well in Xero is a great benchmark to determine your strength requirements to do beaxst
Maybe not beast but i was a casual before jumping into Max size.
Only background i had was semi competitive in volleyball and taekwondo and i managed to get like 21 pounds in 4-5 months. (have a comparison somewhere from when i went to the nutritionist at the timr but i would need to look).
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https://youtu.be/8Wd-NODD-ik
Take this bullshit somewhere else
Ian fuck with jeff shitaliere
Hey fuck you bro I'ma knock you ass out just like I knocked out Emilio brahfucka
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