If you’re looking for a 30-day fitness plan that builds muscle, burns hella amounts of fat and keeps you motivated, look no further than Hannah Eden’s FYR on Bodybuilding.com.
At the end of the 30-day FYR program, you’ll be a ripped badass and likely will want to start the whole thing over again, as I did. The best part? You can technically get the whole plan for free. Technically. But honestly, you might just shell out the cash. It’s only $7, after all.
Who is Hannah Eden?
Hannah Eden is hard to miss. She’s a trainer, sure, but she’s more accurately described as a “fitness entrepreneur,” which makes sense; she’s a trainer, a business owner (Hannah Eden Fitness), a club owner (PumpFit in Fort Lauderdale), a fitness model and influencer. Despite her Amazonian bod and delightfully foul-mouthed London accent, it’s her personality that makes her stand out: energetic, full of motivation, beauty, strength, humor and insight.
She’s a powerhouse.
In other words, probably my dream trainer—and obviously, I’m not alone.
What is the FYR fitness program?
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my full disclosure here.
“FYR?”
Before I get into what FYR, the 30-day fitness plan is, let’s explain the “FYR” bit.
(And no, it’s not “fyre” as in the Fyre Festival, so don’t worry.)
“FYR” is “Find Your Reason,” which is the tagline of the program and of Hannah’s website. In other words, work out for whatever reason makes you feel good. Do it for you, not for anyone else, and let that motivation guide you. And furthermore, let it guide you to finding who you are and becoming what you want to be, in fitness or otherwise.
At least, that’s how I understand her message. And I couldn’t agree more.
The 30-day fitness program in a nutshell.
The fitness program is 30 days, with 20 unique workouts over the course of four weeks. That means you’re working out five times a week, and each workout is fairly compact, lasting 20-30 minutes each.
There are real-time videos guiding you through the entire workout, with modifications for beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. And yeah, you need equipment. The workouts are mostly HIIT, or high intensity interval training, using a combination of weight lifting, bodyweight and calisthenics, animal flow and cardio. So while I often added a little tiny finisher (five to 10 minutes) to lengthen the workouts a bit, each workout is fairly intense, and builds muscle and burns fat at the same time.
Why should you follow Eden’s 30-day workout plan?
Why? First and foremost, Hannah will motivate you to work out. Period.
Having a trainer is awesome, even if it’s on video. There’s no substitute for a living, breathing person showing you the moves and getting you pumped up.
And throw me off a bridge if Hannah Eden doesn’t get you motivated about your fitness.
She’s not your prim and perfect over-the-top cheerleader. While she’s got the same positivity, it’s texturized with some colorful language (which I love) and some good ol’ badass superhero energy. You won’t hear her talk as much about “slimming” or “flattening” as you will about “crushing your goals” or “unlimited potential.”
Plus, of course, she has an amazing body, which is an inspiration on its own.
Motivation will get you at least halfway there on your fitness goals. The other half is the quality of the program, and Hannah has you more than covered. By the end of the 30 days, it’s guaranteed (by me, anyway) that you’ll graduate in fitness level, strength and cardiovascular capacity.
Why I did FYR.
I came across Hannah Eden’s FYR: 30-day fitness plan because I had hit a rut with my own self-made fitness plan. For several years, I’ve been doing well and staying motivated by making my own workouts. Many were bodyweight, but I always switched in kettlebells, sandbags and other pieces.
The problem with having your own fitness plan, though, is that you keep working with the same blind spots. It’s great to be motivated by what your body is telling you to do, but that also means you’re avoiding some things you don’t like doing, even if you’re doing it subconsciously. The result is a lack of variety in your workouts, which leads to stagnation, both in motivation and in fat loss. Boooooo. Thumbs down.
The nuts ‘n bolts of Hannah Eden’s 30-day FYR fitness plan.
“Okay,” you’re thinking, “She’s amazing and motivating, blah blah blah. But what do the workouts look like? What do I need to do them?”
In other words, what are you getting yourself into, exactly?
Almost every workout is some form of HIIT.
First of all, you should like HIIT, or learn to like it really fast. This program is a lot of HIIT.
That can be problematic sometimes, but Hannah knows what she’s doing so your system doesn’t get too taxed.
HIIT is amazing, yes, and it burns fat like crazy and gets your endorphins releasing so hard that you will be a blissful, pumped-up sober idiot. Unfortunately, though, you can have too much of a good thing. If you do too much HIIT, you will stress your nervous system and end up cranky and achy. You’ll also run the risk of injuring yourself if you’re not paying close attention to form in the effort to get the maximum amount of reps in during the interval. It happens.
The wonderful thing about FYR: Hannah Eden’s 30-Day Fitness Plan, is that she chooses the correct kinds of exercises for the correct intervals. And sometimes she even uses a little AMRAP in the interval. For instance, she’ll have you alternate between 8 kettlebell swings and 8 high pulls in one 90-second interval. This is a fantastic solution that doesn’t exhaust the muscles too fast by using a variety of exercises to keep the volume high and the body moving, while still allowing you to focus on your form and build muscle.
Five workouts a week, five different workout structures.
The workouts are pretty varied, though there is a theme on each day of the week. It’s five workouts per week, but they’re all between 20 and 30 minutes, not including a warmup or cooldown.
Monday is Monster Mondays, usually with a 30/60/90 protocol. She uses this format a lot, and I like it. It’s 10 seconds rest, 30 seconds of work, followed by 20 seconds of rest and 60 seconds of rest, followed by 30 seconds of rest and 90 seconds of work. Then it repeats for a total of 3 rounds.
Tuesdays are Tabata Tuesdays, with three different Tabata sets that you cycle through for a total of about 20 minutes. Tabata sets, by the way, are four-minute workouts that are ten seconds of rest and 20 seconds of work for eight rounds. They were originally created to be one entire workout in that time, pushing yourself to extreme intensity but only for those four minutes. These are not so intense as that, but with two Tabata sets that you cycle through twice, with another on the end, usually for abs, you get a full workout.
Wednesdays are usually a typical HIIT, with 15 seconds of rest and 45 seconds of rest for 20 rounds. Sometimes, she has another part that’s another HIIT or AMRAP to go a little further. Thursdays are off, Fridays are Open Format Fridays, meaning they are all different HIIT or AMRAP formats. Then come the Mash-Up Saturdays, which are my favorite, because they borrow a bit from each of the other days’ formats, making a nice, varied melange. Sundays are off.
Do you need equipment for Eden’s FYR?
Okay, so you do need equipment, or at least access to it. You’ll need dumbbells and kettlebells, ideally in various weights, plus medicine balls, a balance ball, jump rope, and resistance bands.
If you were wanting to do this workout at home, and you currently have zero equipment, I would suggest getting adjustable kettlebells and/or adjustable dumbbells, plus resistance bands and a jump rope (a basic adjustable jump rope will do). The medicine ball you can usually sub in with a 10lbs dumbbell. The balance ball is not used too often, so you could modify around that.
If you belong to a gym that has all of this equipment, that’s even better. I still had to buy the resistance bands, but they’re only $10. Your gym might have them behind the counter. Same with the jump rope.
I also suggest either buying an interval timer or downloading an app on your phone. This is the one I currently use (which has a better interface but is limited in the free version) and this one (which I use for the 30/60/90 workouts).
What I loved—and didn’t love—about FYR by Hannah Eden.
What I loved.
All in all, the workouts left me feeling pleasantly exhausted. The cardio factor is high throughout the program since all the workouts are high intensity and full-body, so you feel worked out and your endorphins kick in making you feel even better.
Hannah’s energy will motivate you, even if you don’t watch it in real time. And her modifications seem pretty reasonable and helpful, so while this is really an intermediate-level program, you could do it as a beginner that’s well along.
I was wary about the high volume of more traditional moves, especially the isolated ones (curls, presses, high pulls) possibly stopping the nice cardiovascular momentum going from the rest of the workout. However, for the most part, she adds them in at the appropriate point in the workout, and for just a long enough interval. The result is a lot of full-body moves, which get your heart pumping, with some weighted, more stationary moves that allow a bit of cooldown while focusing on strength training. It’s balanced really well.
She also incorporates a lot of Animal Flow moves (I’m assuming that’s what they are) that I can’t get enough of. Step-throughs, breakdancers, southpaw sprawls, and frog kicks have all found their way very comfortably into my own arsenal.
What I didn’t love.
If you’re looking for something that will guide you specifically through exercises, or focus very intently on one body part, this wouldn’t be the program for you. All the workouts are full-body workouts, though some do focus a little more on the upper or lower body.
For me, that was perfect at this time. I’d say this program definitely builds muscle and loses fat at the same time, but if you’re completely new to strength training, you’ll need a more focused approach before starting this. She goes very quickly through the movements, and if you’re not used to any of them, your muscles might not be properly activated and your form might be off. So, if you’re a complete beginner, steer clear of HIIT that includes weighted exercises.
Is this enough?
As someone that loves to go all-out on my workouts, I did add to most of them. I usually added five to ten minutes of an AMRAP afterward to get a little more in there.
However, I don’t think you need to do this. At all. Part of it also is that Hannah got me so excited to work out that I actually wanted to do a little more, rather than feeling like I needed it.
I also tweak the workouts when I redo them, including decreasing the rest times on the 30/60/90 HIIT workouts to 10 or 15 seconds every round. However, I do suggest following the program as she shows it, as we all respond differently, and what’s hard for me might be easy for you, and vice versa.
What I change on a redo of Hannah Eden’s FYR fitness plan.
When I redo her workouts now (I redo them all the time, by the way), I have subbed out most of the stationary exercises, such as bear crawl side steps and similar exercises, for something a bit more dynamic. She does do a bear crawl hold with a medicine ball, though, that I leave in. It doesn’t look it, but it’s a killer exercise for 45 seconds.
I also find that she veers a little bit more towards the upper-body than the lower body. There are some intervals that call for bodyweight squats, and I add a 35lbs kettlebell. For the thigh killas exercise, I either hold a 15lbs dumbbell or I add a resistance band around my calves.
The cost of Hannah Eden’s FYR: 30-day fitness plan, plus how to get it for free.
FYR technically costs money. But there’s a workaround.
The paid subscription: Hannah Eden’s FYR, FYR 2.0 and dozens of other fitness programs.
Access to FYR is available as part of Bodybuilding.com’s All-Access subscription, which gives you not just FYR, but their whole arsenal of over 50 fitness programs.
You may have come across Bodybuilding.com on your fitness journey. I know I have. At first glance, they might seem… er… bro-ey. Definitely masculine. But once you look a little deeper, you’ll see that they have a really well-rounded offering of fitness programs. They even have some postpartum, nutrition and wellness programs.
But you know what? There’s nothing stopping you from following one of the bro-ey-er programs, either. With some room for modifications, the same basic strength training principles apply no matter what sex or body type you are.
That being said, Hannah’s program is like none other that I’ve seen on Bodybuilding.com. It uses Metabolic Resistance Training (MRT) as the basis for the entire program, rather than as an occasional tool for cardio. And it isn’t a “ladies’ program,” either, if you know what I mean. It doesn’t market to one sex, and it isn’t about making yourself “small and cute” like… ahem… some people do.
The All-Access subscription is $7 $13 a month if you go month-to-month. So for only $7, you get access to Hannah Eden’s FYR 30-Day Fitness Plan, FYR 2.0 (yes, there’s another one! More below), plus all those other great programs if you want to try something else. But yeah, it’s per month, and most of these programs are at least 30 days, if not more.
In case you’re wondering, there are no hidden fees, and you cancel and resubscribe any time, according to which plan to commit to.
If you want to get Hannah Eden’s FYR for FREE.
Yeah, you can get FYR for free. But it’s only free for one week.
You can still do the entire program for free, though.
What I did is I signed up for a week and I watched all the videos for all the workouts. I wrote down what they were, including modifications I might need, equipment, and special notes.
It took a while, though, and I started to realize how insanely valuable a resource the subscription was. So, when the week was up I said, “Meh, eff it,” and just paid the monthly fee.
I will say that having the videos to watch takes your motivation to a whole new level. You can follow the videos as you work out if you like, but I prefer to write it down and go at my own pace. Then, I have them for future workouts.
While you do get a free week, I highly suggest signing up and trying it out for a month. You have nothing to lose (except $7).
Free sample of Hannah Eden’s FYR 30-day fitness plan (if you’re still on the fence).
If you’re still not ready to sign over, check out a free sample workout of Hannah Eden’s FYR: 30-Day Fitness Plan on YouTube above. This is the first—and the last!—workout of the series, and it’s fantastic. It also uses minimal weights, so you can easily follow along at home.
If you don’t have the weights used, sub in another exercise for that one interval. Try dive bombers!
There’s another FYR, too: FYR 2.0.
(Pun intended.)
So, it’s obvious I love Hannah’s FYR. And listen—I am not one who usually goes for these things. I like trying new things, but it’s rare I go in for a whole program. This one I finished and I turned right around and did it for a whole ‘nother 30 days. I loved everything about it: the variety, the energy, not having to think about making my own plan, the positivity, the results, and my motivation as a result of all that.
So when Hannah said she was coming out with an FYR 2.0, I flipped. It came out a few years ago and is bigger and badder where it needs to be, but true to FYR form where it matters. I loved this program as well, and you can read my review of Hannah Eden’s FYR 2.0 here.
Related Hannah Eden FYR Posts:
- This HIIT Workout Plan Will Kick Your Butt (And You’ll Love It)
- The Ultimate Postpartum Workout Plan You Can Do at Home
- Stuck in the GD House? Try These Home Workout Videos!
- What Is HIIT and Why You Should Be Doing It