9 Week Control Freak: Total Body Fitness

Enter my latest total body fitness program!

Super Trainer Autumn Calabrese did it again when she created 9 Week Control Freak to help you get game-changing results — just like she always does! This totally unique fat-burning program will truly whip every area of your body into shape and you’ll get stronger with every workout! The comprehensive goal is to take control of all the things that truly dictate your quality of life, like your strength, stamina, nutrition, and even your sleep. In addition to the fitness portion, you’ll dive deep into getting control of what you eat with one of our two full nutrition plans. You’ll also learn how to help relax and reframe your mind before you ease into sleep, so you’re refreshed and ready for the next day’s workout. Now, it’s up to you—are you ready to become a control freak?

Who is Autumn Calabrese?

Beachbody Super Trainer and nutrition expert Autumn Calabrese is the creator of 9 Week Control Freak, 21 Day Fix®, 80 Day Obsession®, and others, and the breakthrough portion-control weight-loss system Ultimate Portion Fix, which has helped hundreds of thousands of people (including me and plenty of my friends!) gain control of their food. She’s also the author of the bestselling FIXATE® cookbooks, and her latest book Lose Weight Like Crazy, Even If You Have a Crazy Life! , as well as the host of the FIXATE healthy cooking show with her brother, Bobby Calabrese, on Beachbody On Demand®. Autumn is a certified holistic health coach through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition and has held certifications from the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), as well as the American Fitness Professionals & Associates (AFPA).

What makes it unique?

9 Week Control Freak packs an incredibly effective and intense workout into just 18 to 30 minutes, 5 days a week. You won’t waste a second to get sweating, because you’re working out smarter and harder, not longer.

Three innovative methods — Density Training, Strength Complexes, and Tabata—in 3 of the 5 weekly workouts will target major muscle groups with a combination of resistance training and cardio to help build strength, increase stamina, and boost your cardiovascular system.

So, to go a little deeper into what these methods are and why they are so effective:

Density

If you’re a regular exerciser, you’re familiar with terms like “sets,” “reps,” and “load” — all of which you can adjust to make a workout more challenging or easier. Featured in 9 Week Control Freak, “density” is another such variable.

“Essentially, density refers to the amount of work you perform per unit of time,” says Angelo Poli, ISSN, creator of the MetPro workout and nutrition app. So, the faster you complete a workout, the higher your workout density.

Increasing the density of a workout places a higher demand on your muscles, forcing them to adapt and grow. It also puts a higher demand on your metabolism, driving your heart rate up and burning more calories per minute. Autumn will take you through all of this, changing it up in the most effective ways to keep your body guessing so you can challenge yourself with every single workout.

Density training usually consists of circuits of several different exercises, often combining strength, calisthenics, cardio, and plyometric moves in a pre-set duration of time. In 9 Week Control Freak, we try to fit as many rounds of the circuit that Autumn gives us into the allotted time frame as possible, then we keep track of how many rounds we did on our Brag Board (more about that later).

Strength Complexes

Autumn stacks moves together in a way that maximizes your time and results by efficiently targeting multiple muscle groups to build greater strength. You’ll only need one pair of dumbbells or the Control Track for each complex, but you won’t put them down until you’ve completed every set of every exercise. Minimal rest equals more time under tension—a key growth stimulus!

Tabata

Tabata is a four-minute form of high intensity interval training (HIIT) that follows a cadence of 20 seconds of exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest or low-intensity recovery. This cycle is repeated eight times.

Tabata training allows you to swap in a myriad of different exercises that target large muscle groups — push-ups, burpees, jump squats, kettlebell swings, etc. — not only increasing cardiovascular capacity (VO₂ max), but also stimulating muscle growth. The inclusion of muscle growth is where Tabata stands out from your typical aerobic training — win!!

In four minutes, you can crush calories and burn fat as you help chisel your body and increase endurance by challenging your speed, strength, and staying power!

As I always say, hakuna Tabata!

Equipment

You’ll use the Control Track, a revolutionary new piece of essential equipment that hits your muscles from multiple angles and heights to increase time under tension, a key muscle-growth driver.

It’s unique because, unlike typical resistance bands, the Control Track is portable and gives you the ability to push and pull at various heights with the bands. Resistance bands can present a challenge in finding at-home friendly attachment points, and rotating through multiple anchor points in a single workout can be a major time suck and source of frustration. But the Control Track functions as an any-height resistance band attachment point that you can slip over a door or anchor to the wall, and it has a movable buckle that you can position at any height from floor to ceiling. Autumn uses it to perform upper-body, lower-body, core, and cardio-based exercises in every workout so you can get in full-body workout in 30 minutes or less!

The Core Ball is used in every workout to target and engage your core. By totally integrating nutrition and a proactive approach to rest into the program, Autumn wants you to have EVERY tool you need to succeed, reach your goals, and feel great.

Included in many of the tabata moves as well as leg exercises in the density sequences,  the aerobic step gives you an extra sweaty, high-intensity workout that helps build muscle, shed fat, boost endurance, and increase definition. Here is an article listing 5 Reasons to Add an Exercise Step to Your Workout if you need more information on why it takes these workouts to the next level!

Controlled Stretch

Our bodies take on a lot day in and day out — whether you’re at a desk from 9 to 5, on your feet all day, or working up a sweat with a Beachbody program. That’s why it’s essential to loosen up and unwind every night!

With Controlled Stretch, Autumn walks you through rest and recovery techniques that can help you enter deep relaxation mode and achieve a good night’s sleep. Because the more you stretch, the better you sleep!

Controlled Stretch combines restorative, light stretching with breathing exercises to help you prepare for better sleep and recovery overnight. You’ll boost blood flow, ease muscle tension, and enhance your body’s natural repair and recovery processes, all so you can optimize your results and hit the next day or workout at your peak!

Who 9 Week Control Freak is For

• People whose workout progress is stalled or hit a plateau — upping your density training is a whole new level of progression!
• People who are ready to put in the effort to gain some CONTROL of every aspect of their overall well-being — this program will bring together fitness, nutrition, and a proactive approach to rest which will set you up for lasting, meaningful success!
• People who want a fast-paced, effective workout that can be done in 30 minutes or less — Work out smarter and not harder in 18-30 minutes a day!
• People who have done another Autumn Calabrese program like 80 Day Obsession, 21 Day Fix, or others — with 3 phases, 3 weeks each, Autumn has designed the program to continually ramp up the intensity and moves so you’re constantly challenging your body for max results! This one is next level y’all!
• People who love fitness and want to try something totally new!
• Anyone who gets bored easily and needs constant variety and challenges
• Everybody in every body, at any age, who is ready to TAKE CONTROL! The entire cast is aged 40 and above and, they are MAJOR #goals! I literally just try to keep up with them. Follow Kat, the modifier, if you need to take any of the moves down a notch at any point in time.

What’s Included with 9 Week Control Freak?

Nutrition

As Autumn always says, “You can’t out-train a bad diet.” That’s why the proven nutrition program Ultimate Portion Fix, created by Autumn, and your daily Shakeology® are highly recommended for 9 Week Control Freak to see the best results. Ultimate Portion Fix gives you control over food with color-coded containers to help you create delicious, perfectly portioned meals aligned to your goals. Autumn developed this program after advising numerous clients and observing how they were often eating the right foods, but eating the wrong amounts. People say it finally makes them feel like they’re in control of their food instead of it controlling them—while still getting to enjoy their favorite foods. Beachbody® also offers 2B Mindset as an alternate comprehensive nutrition program.

As your coach, I can help guide you through either of one these programs so you can transform the way you view food (a major goal of mine!) into something to fuel your body with while fully enjoying every bite rather than something to be restricted. Food is truly my love language!

What’s it doing for people?

Off the Wall

Based on customer feedback, it was recognized that there are many people who are really excited by the concept “taking back control” with 9 Week Control Freak – but are unable to participate because of the equipment. While the Control Track, Core Ball and step are fundamental to the effectiveness and efficiency of the program, our program producers partnered with Autumn to create 9 Week Control Freak: Off the Wall, a dumbbells-only option that gives more people an opportunity to try the program. This alternate path to the program will include five routines that represent each phase of the program (15 total workouts).

Anyone who has previously purchased 9 Week Control Freak will receive access to this content as a free bonus!

And if you try Off the Wall and decide you’re ready for the full program? All Off the Wall purchasers will be able to get the 9 Week Control Freak Accessories Bundle (includes Control Track and Core Ball) at 50% off! How cool is that?!

My review

Okay SO, I am currently on week 4 (so I’m in the first week of phase 2) and I. am. loving. it!!!

I can confidently say I am enjoying it more than any other program I’ve ever done. I mean that 1000%. There is not one part of it that I dread (okay, except for burpees in tabata haha) but no really. I get hype for every single workout and I honestly look forward to pushing play.

Here’s what I love about it so far:

• The length. These workouts are typically 30-35 mins (I thought you said 18-30 though?!) — yes, but because there is new equipment and complex moves, Autumn spends an appropriate amount of time focusing on form and teaching us the ins and outs of the moves. The burn you can get in this short amount of time is incredible and I have no doubt after every single workout that I worked most of the muscles in my whole body!
• The trial reps. Because the moves in the density sequence are typically compound (it’s kind of Autumn’s thing and I love it knowing that I worked a lot of different muscles just doing one move), we do 4 trial reps of each one before we go into the timed circuit. This really gives you a chance to get a feel for the move, your form, and also the appropriate weight to use on each one. I can’t tell you how many times I underestimated an exercise and after 4 trial reps I realized I needed something lighter! This saves time and frustration later on and you can better remember the sequence.
• The mindset motivation. If you’ve ever worked out with Autumn before, then you know — she delivers the pep talk you didn’t know you needed every single day! I am serious, I have a list going on my phone of “Autumnisms”, those little golden nuggets of ass kicking that SPARK something in me during these workouts. I used to talk about these when I did 80 Day Obsession for the first time a few years ago (changed my life, not joking in the least) and I just love the positivity and go gettum attitude that she delivers!
• The format. 3 out of 5 days have the Density, Complex & Tabata (DCT) training format, so it’s broken up into “sections”. The Density keeps my body guessing, the complex is a chance right in the middle of the workout to really slow down, BREATHE, and focus on specific muscles, and then the tabata at the end is where you finish 4 minutes with everything you’ve got! There is also a tabata cardio day, and a total body tone workout and the remaining two days are rest days.
• The variety. Nearly all the workouts are different. Even if the moves are similar, the reps are different week to week, and she builds upon the week prior. Each week has a focus word (Intensity, Concentration, for a couple examples) that you bring into each workout. Each workout changes between so many different moves that you couldn’t POSSIBLY get tired of it. This is a HUGE perk for me!!
• The complexity. I understand it’s not for everyone, but as a seasoned fitness nut, I fully appreciate moves that work you all over because again, I can’t get bored with all that movement! I don’t personally think it’s hard to follow. I nearly always lag behind the cast but THAT IS TOTALLY A-OKAY, this is about going at the pace that is the right challenge for YOU. And if you need to relax it a bit, there is Kat who modifies the moves if you need to bring it down a level.
• The cardio. Yep, you read it right. I am one of those weirdos who seriously loves cardio and I’d take it over a straight lifting day anytime, so the fact that every single workout has a dedicated section for cardio in the 4 minute tabata at the end, but also the Density sequences will get that heart rate up too, makes me really happy!
• The equipment. I’m a nerd about this stuff and I love building onto my home gym! You can do so much with the Control Track and the step especially, and the core ball forces your body to engage in ways it wouldn’t without the ball. They are great additions to my collection! “Look at this stuff, isn’t it neat?” 😉

That being said about the equipment, it’s still surprisingly versatile. I traveled to West Virginia on a ski trip during week 2 of the program and I brought my Control Track with me and strung it up on a door in my hotel room. I did bring some weights with me too, but I didn’t have my step. Because Off the Wall had just come out, I just followed along where I needed for the step-less tabata (it was those damn burpees again…) but still, I was totally able to make do where needed. I could have brought it to a gym to use their weights if I needed to on travel, and there is also a “Remote Control” calendar I could have followed if needed too.

I’ve seen people on my team getting EPIC results with this program. I honestly have no complaints (do burpees count?) because it’s just THAT dang good! Reading up on the nerdy stuff about what density and tabatas are and why they work has also enlightened me about why this is so effective, and I realize how smart and badass of a workout program this really is.

Don’t just take my word for it — try a sample tabata workout and see for yourself! Autumn thought of it all 🙂

How to get Accountability & Work with me!

Fill out this form to let me know you’re interested in this program! I will reach out to you with the next steps as soon as I can.

If you know me, you probably know that I don’t really do anything halfway. I WANT you to succeed, I want US to have a great partnership, and I want you to feel at the end of the day like you are moving in the RIGHT direction. I will do anything in my power to make this happen for us both, and here are some of the things I’ve got in place to help us along:

— An ongoing Facebook group and another right on Beachbody on Demand where we share daily content and check ins, challenges and exercises to work on mindset, weekly meal plans, healthy recipes, occasional spirit weeks and giveaways, monthly family fun calendars, lots of love and more!

— Monthly newsletters with inspiration, check-in/feedback, my favorite recipes and a couple for kids, and all the news I don’t want you to miss!

— Support and in-depth conversations with encouragement and suggestions about what will be the best fit for you

— I’m one of those people who others naturally open up to and I love to use these conversations to help you see the silver linings and a positive way forward that will EXCITE you and make fitness fun!

Now, who’s ready to become a CONTROL FREAK?! I can’t wait to hear from you!