100 No-Equipment Workouts Vol. 1: Darebee Fitness Routines you can do anywhere, Any Time

Gives a breakdown of each workout with picture examples which for me is perfect and also informs which muscles you are working out with each exercise. Highly recommend.

I can't give this a high enough recommendation. As the title says, we are provided with 100 varying sets of workouts that require no equipment whatsoever, just our own body. Each of the workout sets is labeled by its primary intent: High Burn (fat burning), Strength & Toning (which typically target upper or lower body), Focus (which is entirely focused on one muscle group, such as Abs). Each workout set (or "poster" as the author calls them because of the easy-to-follow diagrams) comes with a brief description of its purpose or focus and an accompanying "poster" which is a series of pictures showing which exercises are included in that particular "set". These are read left to right and come in three levels of intensity depending on our individual fitness level. With 100 different "posters" included in this manual, we can very easily customize our workouts from day to day and week to week without it getting routine or boring. As someone who struggles to make it to the gym and feels self-conscious whilst there, this manual is *exactly* what I needed. I will absolutely be ordering the other three manuals in the series. The only criticism I can give is that I wish the Table of Contents (which lists the various "posters" by name from 1 to 100, with poster names such as 15. Bacon, 48. Fremen, and 94. Shieldmaiden) also included what that particular poster focused on, such as High Burn, Strength & Toning: Upper Body, etc., just so we could see at a glance instead of flipping back and forth through the book to find a particular workout. But that is a very minor criticism and I have no doubt that once I get into it, I'll naturally kind of memorize what each "poster" focuses on. The book does kind of assume that we are at least passingly familiar with different bodyweight exercises as there are no in-depth explanations of how to perform a pushup, lunge, plank, etc., but even if you're an absolute newbie, the pictures on the "posters" are clear and pretty self-explanatory, and if there's one that you're not immediately familiar with, it's a small issue to take 2 minutes to look it up on the internet and then get after it. As a final note, each "poster" can be done with very minimal space. I'm pretty confident that even someone confined to a prison cell would have no issues performing these workouts, so there's no reason any of us can't do them too, especially those of us, like myself, who have body issues and don't feel comfortable working out in front of others in gyms. Very, very highly recommended.

This book is incredible. I’ve been an active person all my life. In the past, I’ve done T25 and P90x. I used the Alo Moves app for a while too. This book is better than other work out programs as long as you are self motivated. I have been using this book 3-5 times per week since I got it in February. I absolutely love it. It’s applicable to all fitness levels. The work outs are quick and effective. I do something different all the time, so less likely to injure myself. My body feels incredible. I highly recommend if you’re motivated and not interested in buying all kinds of equipment.

I really, really like Darebee on principal alone, they are a not for profit organization that has an awesome website that supports making fitness accessible, to quote their website "on a budget". I love that. A lot. That being said, I have a couple of caveats on this book, and the kindle edition, specifically. There is an oft quoted section of Alice in Wonderland where the Cheshire Cat is asking Alice where she wants to go, and she says she doesn't know, and he says that if she doesn't know where she wants to go then it doesn't really matter which path you take. When it comes to getting a specific look out of your workouts, the way this book is set up, unless you know how to get to where you want to go aesthetically (as in which muscle groups you're needing to target and how frequently, etc.), just randomly working through the workouts may not get you there. Granted, I don't think it will get you to a bad place, because I think even randomly working these would dramatically improve someone's fitness if they haven't worked out in a while, or pretty much ever. But most people I've met have some sort of appearance related goals they pair with their fitness goals. So if you have a very specific look or some very specific functionality goals you're after, my advice would be to find some reading to figure out how to best distribute these throughout your workout schedule. My next thing is that the kindle edition really, really needs a table of contents with links. If you want to get to a specific one of their workouts, you have to flip through all of the pages preceding it to get there, which is kind of a pain if you're on a time crunch, and I pretty much always am. I have to get my strength training and HIIT done before my son gets up for the day, because it is in no way shape or form safe for either of us to do it with him present. I did test out a few of these, for me personally, some singly, some paired up as finishers for or HIIT after my regular strength training, and I can hit their level III, otherwise known as "Freakin' Murder" on their website, and still be quite alive without too much trouble. So if you have a higher level of fitness, you may have to double up on these, make modifications like elevating feet, whatever to increase the difficulty to make them useful to you. I have read some of the criticisms on this book, about the posters not being so easy to figure out the proper technique on. And that is reason number one you need to visit their website, because they have an excellent video library demonstrating how to do the moves you might be uncertain of. Reason number two, is they have a whole lot of other programs, available for free, that you can download and use. My only caveat on that one is that for some of the ones I tested out, I had moves I ended up wanting to add to target some specific muscles more, but I have some more specialized needs as the mom of an amazing but very intense kiddo that will most likely be different from your goals, and I gear all of my workouts to getting me where I need to be to do what I need to. So you may be less concerned about that than I am. Also, their website has excellent, and in some cases totally humorous, rundowns on what happens to your body with the different types of exercises. Their explanation of the muscle fibers and how the would relate to outrunning zombies was awesome, I haven't smiled so much in a while. And they have a general nutrition section, I've skimmed through it only, so I can't say I endorse everything they say, but what I've looked at seems to be sound. Even though the website has everything in this book on it for free, I think this is still a good resource to have if you want or need something compact that can travel with you wherever if you are interested in body weight training, and despite my commentary, I have no regrets buying it, I think it was worth it.

If you're like me and workout at home, and don't have a lot of workout equipment while you are away from the gym, this book provides 100 set workouts composed of varying exercises with clever names (like the Batman workout 2.0 or the Storm Trooper) and humor thrown in. Each workout has instructions that vary by how many sets or the length of time. It gives a recommended interval for levels of intensity I, II, and III. That's not to say you can't change things up and make it more difficult or easier on yourself. In the beginning of the book it has different goals you may want to reach such as build muscle and tone up, or build abs and strengthen midsection/ get rid of the belly. It gives you an overview of what types of workouts you should be looking to focus on and gives you other suggestions and background info for the plan. The individual workouts range from high burn, HIIT (high- intensity interval training), strength, and abs/core. Each workout it gives you a little blip about the workout (often humorous), the muscles focused on and some tips. All you need is yourself and the drive to want to be more fit. Some workouts can be more challenging than others, but I have not gotten through them all. I often do several per week and try to switch up the muscle groups I am working. This book is great for beginners who are looking to get into working out and can be a fun and easy way to start!

ABSOLUTELY EXCELLENT....!!!! Easy to read, well organized and detailed.

I got what I paid for.

This is a really fun book. I like that they named the routines, who doesn't want to try Gladiator or Amazon, or Boxer or Gollum? You could pick 4 or 5 favorites and do 2 or 3 times a week. You could do one a day, or just throw one in to go with that days workout. Set numbers can be varied for your level.