NutraCast: Beachbody’s Joel Freeman on virtual workouts and supplementation

01-Nov-2021 - Last updated on 01-Nov-2021 at 15:52 GMT

When gyms closed at the height of the pandemic, we were forced to give up our fitness routine and explore other options. For many of us, that meant virtual workouts in our living rooms.

Even though things have largely settled down, nine out of 10 Americans who exercise regularly still say they plan to continue with at-home workouts, according to a survey from Beachbody, who has built an extensive library of live and on demand digital fitness content.

Beachbody super trainer Joel Freeman joined the NutraCast to discuss how the pandemic shifted routines and mindsets.

“What was interesting about all that was when everything shut down I had just wrapped filming 10 Rounds and we filmed that program on the road, which is such a crazy thought now. At the time it was just another shoot, but we were on the road for six weeks. We filmed in six different cities across the country and we wrapped it in Philly. We wrapped on a Thursday and everything shut down that next Tuesday, which was just crazy timing,” said Freeman. “Beachbody has been doing home fitness for 23 years, so it wasn't a pivot on our part. It was interesting to watch those first couple of months of stay at home orders. I have never seen so many live Instagrams in my entire life—every trainer, every fitness anybody was going live and doing free home workouts on Instagram. And I was sitting here going, ‘Huh...we've been doing this.’ So it was something that we had been preparing for unknowingly.”

Freeman said Beachbody is evolving and staying innovative by introducing Beachbody on Demand Interactive (BODi) program.

“They brought in millions of dollars worth of equipment to make it fully interactive. We call it the Bodcast, the Beachbody on Demand Cast, where the stage itself is made up of LED screens that play real time. People are streaming and doing the workouts with me, so I can just look over my shoulder and see hundreds of people doing the workout at the exact same with me and talk to them and give them real time feedback and motivation, versus just seeing a name,” said Freeman. “20 years in this and I've never seen anything like it."

To hear more about BODi, new research on strength training, and what supplements Freeman takes and listen to the NutraCast.

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NutraCast is a podcast that focuses on insights from inside the nutrition industry. It is a production by NutraIngredients-USA. Music by Kevin Macleod.