For all the skeptics out there, yes, I am Bryleigh’s boyfriend. You might assume that would bias my opinion. If that’s the case, I’ll lead with this… 

I didn’t always believe in this Burner style workout. 

About a year ago, she would tell me about these “pumpy” workouts she started doing when she had a little time between classes or at the end of other workouts. They didn’t sound like my cup of tea at all. BUT, because I am a good boyfriend I started to partake in them (sometimes with an eye roll) when she would invite me. After doing months of them at this point, here is my experience with them:

My main form of fitness these days is based on CrossFit. Prior to my CrossFit days, I was doing a back and bi, chest and tri type routine/schedule at a globo gym. If you can relate, you probably (at least sometimes) finished a set or a session with a drop set or two at a really low weight to get that “muscle exhaustion”. 

Well Bryleigh’s Burners feel like that… times 10. 

The thing about how they are structured is that your limitation is MOSTLY mental. Meaning you can always do a rep or two more… or stay in a hold just a little longer. If you do them right, you are blowing past the first point your mind is telling you to stop. It burns bad, and you are really pushing it in almost every set. 

This leads to two things for me:

1. No matter when I do one, whether paired with another workout or just the 10 minutes by itself, I feel as though I really got a great workout in and accomplished something significant. I put in real work. It feels like a win.
2. It fatigues my muscles in a way they are not used to. That jelly feeling I usually only get when I do murph or something like that. I’m a big believer in constant variation so I really like that aspect.

The other big value I see for me is the movement selection. The use of static holds and uncommon movements that hit underused stabilizer muscles or require a different motor pattern or even form of balance than are NOT typical in my day to day workout are extremely valuable for me. 

After years of beating myself up I am focused more and more on pre-hab and keeping maintained rather than always focusing on max gains. The movement selection in Bryleigh’s Burners really speaks to that. 

The final aspect I love about them is the convenience factor. Fitness is important to me, but it’s not my primary purpose on earth. Because of this, I always find myself trying to fit it in or cutting things short. 

So, if I know I need to get a workout in, but only have a little time… a BB it is. Another good example is if I do a CF workout, but it wasn’t quite what I hoped, or feel like I should hit a specific muscle group a bit harder, I just throw in a Burner to cap off a session and BOOM… it feels that much more successful. 

In a similar vein, I believe a lot in hitting the core often… like most days I work out. BB core workouts are PERFECT for throwing in at the end of a workout to get some core work in if the other part of my workout lacked it.

So now you have an idea, philosophically, why I encouraged Bryleigh to get these workouts out there. They turned me from a non-believer into a lover. I think so many people out there can benefit from them.

Since the quarantine has started, we’ve been doing more and more BBs since we’re at home with limited equipment anyway. I’m sure there are a blend of factors involved, but while most of my friends are talking about putting on quarantine weight, I got my abs back from when the 2019 holidays stole them from me. Bryleigh somehow got noticeably even more shredded than she already was… all while working out with less equipment and at home! The BBs definitely played a big role in that.

I’ll end my review with my two favorite Bryleigh’s Burners. One upper body, one lower body.

Scap Whap – 

This one is so deceiving. There isn’t even a ton of motion in it… but it somehow gets my heart rate up, gets me sweating, and I feel it all over. It looks very arm/chest focused, and it is, but I actually got sore in my ABS from it the first time I did it. To top it off, all of the movements in this are perfect for shoulder pre-hab and I believe everyone should be doing them consistently for resilient and injury-free shoulders. I LOVE this workout.

Quad Crusher – 

This is the only bodyweight workout I’ve done in less than 20 minutes (it takes less than 10) where afterward I wanted to lay on the floor and stay there… for a long time. It is ALL mental. If you really push yourself you can go to a place that basically no other workout can take you. It’s one where you can really learn about how much farther you can really go AFTER your mind tells you “you’re done”. I’m a big believer in the mentality of everything so I like the ability to learn more about that relationship of mental and physical limits in myself.

So there you go. Like I said, I think people can benefit from these workouts no matter what form of fitness they partake in on a daily basis. They are an amazing supplement to another program, but they have a ton of benefits for someone looking to make a change from feeling sedentary or needing to start fitness somewhere.

I’m so proud of her and can’t wait to see all the positive benefits these Burners bring people!