FITNESS ZONE
Beachbody is Dead. Long Live BODi
In an age where being offended has become a dysfunctional virtue, I suppose it was only a matter of time before a name like “Beachbody” was going to attract the attention of the blue-haired executioner. Well, that day has come. Over the next 12 months, Beachbody will undertake a major rebranding to their new name, BODi.
If any of you have found your way onto a Beachbody’s mailing list, then you probably got the news when I did. I honestly can’t say I gave the old name a second thought. I live in northern Alberta, Canada…so there’s about 3 months a year where a beach-body is even in view. The rest of the time we chew on whale blubber and take care of recurring frostbite.
The concern over at BB HQ was that a name like Beachbody might work against one’s self-esteem. Ugh…that’s where we’re at I guess. That excuse bugs me, as NOBODY should esteem themselves. Have self-confidence in leaned skills and abilities. But if you’re a fat, useless twit who has made no effort to better yourself, then your self-ESTEEM should reflect that. I see too many trying to help people with self-esteem when they would have far better returns helping that person become productive and confident.
But I digress.
There was of course, one portion of the announcement that had me rolling my eyes:
“But part of this shift is also acknowledging the possibility that for some, we played a role in projecting the notion that fitness and nutrition is about chasing an ideal, and for that I apologize.”
Grrr. Enough with the apologies. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Besides, it’s a stupid thing to apologize for. Fitness and nutrition is about chasing an ideal. Look, at 51 years old I’m never going to have a body like Shaun T and that’s ok. I get it. But I can chase that ideal. Maybe today I can do something better than yesterday. It’s called growth. And it’s a good thing.
It’s why I go hunting with my son in blowing snow and sub-zero temperatures for an elusive white-tail. It’s why when my body says it can’t do another rep, I struggle to ask it to give me more. It’s why I play an electric guitar and know I’ll never be the next Van Halen. Chasing an ideal is actually rather healthy. Chasing mediocrity is mental cancer, quickly becoming a societal pandemic.
The name change also reflects a certain…shall we say…change in the fitness of cast members. In the past, a universally physically fit cast was the norm. A typical California “beachbody”, if you will. Now its quite common to see one, or even a few cast members who are sporting an extra 30 pounds. And I guess that makes sense, as let’s be perfectly honest…the vast majority of us doing fitness videos are closer to that participant than the ripped commando we aspire to be. Still, I want to pursue the ideal, not remain “happy with who I am” and settle for less.
But again, I digress.
Considering Beachbody is a California company, the name change was inevitable. But complaining aside, I’m certain it will work out perfectly fine for them. Think about it…BODi flows off the tongue more naturally anyway. BODi on Demand…yeah, it works. Just enjoy it while you can. Eventually the notion that humans have “bodies” will become offensive to some Twitter-troll and every company will concede, only to have a hieroglyphic for a name.
Personally, I’m just grateful they went with BODi instead of iBOD.
Emerson
May 24, 2023 at
Congratulations Mr Parrot for saying the truth once more, you just can’t achieve results without effort and sacrifice. This generation and the ones to come will be doomed if they keep this crystal and fragile mindset. X gen guys like me thinks just like you about pursuing the ideals. Please keep up the good work and thanks for being that voice over the internet.
B-rad
March 3, 2023 at
If I understand their recent e-mail correctly, a regular Beachbody membership is being done away with, and they’ll only offer the more-expensive BODi option when it comes time to renew. That irks me. The only two reasons I can think of for the company to do that is because they’re hungry for more money and not enough people (in the company’s view) were signing up for the Cadillac plan, so the solution was to force people into it. It looks to me like the main difference is that with BODi you can participate in live training sessions. Big deal. Who cares? To me, that’s a drawback, not a bonus. I want a finished, polished product, not one where the bugs are still being worked out.
They’ve started revamping the website, and it looks like they’re positioning themselves to cater to chubby moms pumping three-pound dumbbells. It may be only a matter of time before they go completely woke and not only discontinue their more hardcore stuff like Body Beast but also apologize for damaging people’s self esteem by putting it out in the first place. They’ve already recently said “I’m sorry” for unintentionally hurting people’s feelings in the past.
Remember, this company’s HQ is in California, the US’s leftist/woke idea factory. As Carin said, it may be a good idea to start acquiring DVD copies of your favorite programs. I wonder if Tony Horton, being a BB insider, saw early on where the company was headed, and that’s what made him decide to go his own way.
Brett Thompson
May 10, 2023 at
This is the truth! I am so tired of this mentality today! AT 59 and always motivated by the transformation story… no one ever achieves anything great and becomes above average without hard work,sacrifice and dedication and commitment that is motivated by a vision and a goal. BB target audience is young …. what is wrong with these people! Thank you for great post.
John McLean
December 9, 2022 at
My wife destroyed her health pursuing an ideal body. I did the same thing but improved my health by being more prudent.
I listen to Carl Daikler’s ads on the radio and they make sense to me. Pursue a goal and we’ll help you do it. Don’t beat yourself up.
I always thought Tony Horton made this clear. I’ll stick with the old stuff because of my age but I’m sure the new stuff would help me improve.
Carin
December 5, 2022 at
I am working on collecting all my favorite dvd collections from Beachbody so I don’t have to even consider renewing my subscription. I knew I was out once they merged with their other company and brought in all the other trainers. That was the writing on the wall for me.
Leonard
November 14, 2022 at
Seriously. Check out Athlean-X. Jeff Cavalier is amazing (I actually suspect that BB started allowing profanity to compete with Athlean-X), and puts Beachbody’s post – Steve Edwards to shame; I have no idea who is running Beach body now, but a company that used to be on the cutting edge is now a pandering machine. I stopped personally with Beach Body after Max 30. I agree with the Parrot; Max 30 was almost a work of art – but the whole point of P90X and Insanity or Asylum (all excellent programs) way back when is that they were extreme and sensible simultaneously, and achievable without a full gym.
That said, they BB have had nothing to offer anyone that is serious about fitness since they converted to streaming and try to sell you shakeology every ten seconds. There are much better options than Beach body these days – they blew it. P90X was revolutionary; even Tony Horton, who likely drew you to them in the first place, left them, though Tony’s efforts since are certainly solid. Go with tony’s new venture, go with Jeff, and stop giving your money to thsi company that is a caricature of its former self. It’s been nearly a decade since BB offered up something useful to the serious.
elchupinazo
November 10, 2022 at
Did you do anything beyond a cursory reading into why they are changing the name? Beyond the part you’ve fixated on, BODi is the name of their live-streaming product that is currently available as an add-on subscription. It’s where they do the bike workouts and other bootcamp type classes. But as of March 2023, BOD and BODi are merging into one product. The library will remain, and they’ll continue to churn out two traditional programs per year. But the bulk of the new content will be monthly mini-programs with tiers for beginners, advanced, people who have a bike, and anyone dumb enough to spend money to follow the same workouts led by the “super trainers.” THAT is most of the reason behind the name change. The other stuff is just lip service.
I can abide a fair amount of crankery as I myself can be a crank sometimes. But this is bigtime “old man yells at cloud” stuff. Body image issues and eating disorders have a clinical element, whereas nobody gets medically adicted to playing the guitar. Silly to conflate the two.
Raj
November 14, 2022 at
That’s a good point about eating disorders. As more research comes out, the ideal BMI from a health perspective is like between 22 and 27. Being slightly overweight is healthier than being thin, even with a “normal” BMI between 18.5 and 22, and certainly below 18.5 which is the cultural ideal for many. Even physician activity independent of BMI can cause harm at extremes—marathon runners are less healthy than people who run 5k, because of stress fractures and rare cases of sudden cardiac death. And of course, using hormones to bulk up has significant risks for those pursuing that ideal. Bottom line—moderate changes to diet and exercise are awesome, but obsessing over ideals does indeed have risks.
Gelo A.
November 8, 2022 at
Hahahaha! iBOD had me laughing. Gone are the days of good ol’ Beachbody. It mostly targets women, nowadays.
Peter
November 4, 2022 at
When does the old catalog get removed/censored or has it been already?
Anything with Tony or Sagi will have to be edited or removed. Maybe they can just put some tape over it like Tony did on his aging is for idiots shirt in the power of four so he wouldn’t be cancelled. I’m glad I have the old programs hardcopy and backed up.
John Paul Parrot
November 7, 2022 at
I’m certain the old stuff will remain. The branding logo will be swapped at intros for sure, but the rest will remain. As for censoring…probably not worth it. Censor-loving dolts aside…money still talks. Hardly worth putting in the big bucks to edit Brazil Butt Lift!
Also, didn’t know about Tony’s shirt. He’s still selling them though, so I guess he can’t be too worried.
Raj
November 13, 2022 at
I mean, why would he wear the shirt if it was an issue? Seems like more of an inside joke. Seems like a “kitty litter in school restrooms” situation.