Anyone tried Alwyn Cosgrove's Afterburn program?

hotdogsaregross

hotdogsaregross

Cathlete
Has anyone read or heard anything good about Alwyn Cosgrove's Afterburn?
It is a book/program that focuses on HIIT and fat loss via increasing your metabolism.

It sounds good but I want some more information.

How does it compare to Precision Nutrition?

Thanks in advance,
Mary :D
 
I've read a lot about it on the internet from people who tried it, and even found some examples of a few of the workouts, which I tried. I loved what I found, and the workouts were intense, especially the complexes. However, I found so many posts that gave examples of so many workouts I wasn't sure which ones were really from the Afterburn program. I thought about buying the book also, so hopefully you'll get some responses to this post. :)
 
I haven't but I know AC is The Man: The Guru's guru... top trainer, former European Tae Kwon Do champ... really knows his stuff... two-time cancer survivor... deeply respected by everyone in the fitness industry, and for good reason.

The only thing preventing me from checking it out is the thing that prevents me from following any of the excellent training plans I read about over at FigureAthlete.com (including his): no access to the specialized equipment only a gym membership (or a fat bank account) provides. I have neither. But I'll be checking it out once I can afford that membership.

If you have time and can understand him through his accent (Scottish), there's a 5-part interview with Cosgrove on YouTube (the guy who runs Elite Fitness is asking the questions).

If you get this book/program, let us know what you think.
 
Alwyn and his wife are super people, he knows his bodybuilding stuff, and has overcome cancer twice,he is a superman for sure and seems to be a kind,generous man.......I've kno,including me who 6did his program a couple years ago ....I dropped out after 2 weeks due to dread factor and final nail in the coffin of my shoulders....2 more were stress injured as well...all 6 had intense dread factor to the point of really wanting to avoid the gym,....having said THAT, it worked -especially for the 2 guys in their 20s/30s....3 of us over 40,consistent exercisers for decades were hurt or just didn't feel like dealing with it...Everyone said, it worked,but was it necessary to get the results...and consensus was no...but everyone else might feel differently!
It WORKS - because its intense and spartan on diet....but I'd rather do Cathe,or Chalean, or something, and not hate getting up in the morning!!!But that was me..
 
icumom,
Was the dread factor due to the HIIT workouts or just that the program was so intense and the diet so strict?

I as well as you, have exercise for years. I still need to drop about 5lbs of body fat though so that is why I was looking into Afterburn.
I didn't realize it was out for a few years, I thought for some reason it was new.
So basically if I follow a nutrition plan like Precision Nutrition and do HIIT more often along with not doing the same cardio or weight routine two days in a row, I SHOULD be able to lose my last 5lbs?

Thanks for the imput :)
Mary
 
I think alot of it could be modified to do at home, but for the 6 of us, someone at somepoint was doing the program,we needed the heavy gym equipment.

I dreaded it because the HIIT was excessively severe in length - up to 30 minutes, and there's debate if taking your hr to 90-100 is even that beneficial, when 60-85 percent will do....it just was over the top, and spartan..of COURSE you would get results...but VERY hard to maintain it for 4months....and no one went on to do the program again...I'm at the age where life is too short to dread working out!Now, in my 30's I might've really gotten into it...
The diet - well, all that animal food, is for me, not healthy...I have been in medicine too long...that old "has to grow from the ground or have a mother" when grains are not evil, is just foolish to me....whole grains,legumes,etc, in portion control, don't hamper weight loss (though I admit, they will hold on to some water that makes the scale edge up)..I found - and again this is just me, that the diet was improbable for most people to keep up....and thats knowing hundreds over the years in fitness and gyms....
Skwigg gave it a rave, but admitted the dread factor on her blog, and truly, for hating your workouts for 4 months, although she got results, her results from her other challenges that were friendlier were no worse!
 
Thank you for the info Icumom. It sounds like Afterburn is intended for someone interested in becoming a figure competitor. My ambitions are a lot more modest, like getting my bodyfat down from 32% to 25% for now. I don't want to have to trek off to some gym somewhere. I also don't seem to be inclined to follow an extreme diet.

I am following Cosgrove's workout in The New Rules of Lifting for Women and like that for a change of pace. Then it will be back to Cathe. I should be able get my body fat down to a reasonable level by being consistent in my eating and workouts.
 
catr said:
Thank you for the info Icumom. It sounds like Afterburn is intended for someone interested in becoming a figure competitor. My ambitions are a lot more modest, like getting my bodyfat down from 32% to 25% for now. I don't want to have to trek off to some gym somewhere. I also don't seem to be inclined to follow an extreme diet.

I am following Cosgrove's workout in The New Rules of Lifting for Women and like that for a change of pace. Then it will be back to Cathe. I should be able get my body fat down to a reasonable level by being consistent in my eating and workouts.
Click to expand...

I don't know about his workouts being geared towards figure competitors. I've never read that he even works with them. He has stated that Results Fitness (the gym he and wife Rachel run) started out just helping the fit get fitter but they got so many clinically obese clients that nearly their whole focus now is on helping clients drop fat. I think their clients are mostly normal people.
 
I did the first month of Afterburn and found it to be very boring for my tastes. There are 2 workouts to alternate 3x a week for 4 weeks of each phase plus HIIT (there are 4 phases total I believe). By the time I got to week 3 I was already very bored. I was starting to dread the idea of working out like that for the next 3+ months, so I decided to go back to Turbulance Training which is what I had been doing prior to trying Afterburn. For me, this is a much better fit - much more variety. I'm sure Afterburn is a good program and would achieve good results, it just wasn't a fit for me. Hope that helps :)
 
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