I'm sure most people who have Facebook, Pinterest, and/or Twitter have already heard about the high intensity, circuit training program called Body Boss. It's been voraciously circulated on multiple social media websites and, in a particular moment of either extreme self-loathing or self-confidence, I'm still not sure which, I decided to purchase the program and give it a whirl. I'll be posting three articles on my progress through the program, week 1, week 7 and week 16 (the final week) because I've heard nothing by hype about this program. Let's see if it's all it's cracked up to be, shall we?

For starters, the Body Boss marketing team gets an A+ for their efforts. They have strategically marketed the program to target hard-working woman of all ages and demographics. The workouts are all done at home and require no outside equipment. They stress a high-intensity workout that only takes 24 minutes, three times a week. Sounds doable right? I figured so.

After working up the nerve to actually buy the program, I saw that there are several different options. For example, they have a strictly online guide, a strictly paper booklet, or both. Due to my curiosity, I purchased both, which was handy as a bundle deal!

Once purchasing the program, I was immediately able to set up my account online and view the online booklet, which is a carbon copy of the tangible one sent to me by mail. It was pretty awesome I'll have to admit. I'm sure everyone who wants to workout at home is acquainted with the stress of designing, testing and implementing your own workout. Well, the Body Boss team does it for you.

Each workout obviously has specified exercises, repetitions, etc but the thing I liked most was how structured it is. It made it pretty hard for me not to do the workout because it's laid out so nicely.

The Body Boss creators were smart to create a four-week "pre-training" program before hitting the ground running with the hard workouts. I, in particular, was very thankful for this. I was an athlete throughout high school and active all throughout college but have been out of the game for a while now and the pre-training seasons were exactly what I needed to meld myself back into the mode of working out.

After my first week of the Body Boss program, I came to several conclusions, most of them positive!

Firstly, the workouts were wonderfully designed to target different muscle groups in one workout. Keep in mind, I was still in the pre-training part of the workout but I was still sore the days after the workouts! It felt fantastic though. I knew I was doing my body some good. It was very easy for me to keep track of reps, cycles, and exercise because the guide was very easy to use.

Secondly, I loved the convenience of working out at home. No gym membership or expensive workout gear required. All I needed was a yoga mat and a chair for my first week. Easy right? Not to mention, my husband had a heck of a time watching me do high-knees and butt-kicks, I guess Body Boss isn't just for us ladies after all.

Thirdly, the creators did a wonderful job of giving easy-to-do tasks for days off i.e. Tuesday, Thursday and weekends. They recommended different activities to keep yourself moving, albeit much less intensely than Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Lastly, and the only issue I had thus far, was the amount of time it takes to do each workout. The advertisements tout the fact that their workouts are only 24 minutes long and that was a leading reason for my interest. However, it was that dastardly little asterisk beside the number 24 that proved my undoing. In the fine print, the program specifies that some workouts may be longer than the glorified 24-minute mark.

In the first week, the workouts on Monday and Wednesday were 37 minutes long (including warm up and cool down) and Friday's workout was 26 minutes long (including warm up and cool down). If I hadn't enjoyed the workouts as much as I had, I may have been irked at this advertising ploy, but the truth is I did enjoy myself.

In conclusion, I'm ecstatic that I purchased the Body Boss workout plan after completing my first week. I missed the familiar soreness of developing muscles and the feel of my heart threatening to pump out of my chest. I have 15 weeks to go and feel nothing but ready to tackle the challenge. See ya'll in week 7! (So long as I can lift my arms to write!)