Athlean-X AX1 Workout Program Review (Worth the Price?)

We all have goals of getting fit and making strides toward our ideal physiques.

That’s precisely why we scour the internet for the “perfect” muscle-building program, cut fast food and empty calories, and load up our diets with insane amounts of protein.

And this usually leads you to the bulk/cut cycle camp.

But does anybody really like the constant bouncing between bulking and cutting, rapid switching between being lean and being big, and crazy diets that are impossible to maintain?

Absolutely not!

After you read this, you might be ready to push the “norms” aside and work to shred fat and build muscle all at once. Maybe the Athlean-X AX1 Workout Program is your solution for body recomposition.

Let’s find out if this Athlean-X program is worth the investment.

About the Creator – Athlean-X & Jeff Cavaliere

To truly understand the Athlean-X brand and all it has to offer, you need to look at the guy currently at the helm of this global fitness giant.

Jeff Cavaliere isn’t just the brains behind Athlean-X.

He’s also a certified strength and conditioning specialist through the NSCA, spent time as a trainer and strength coach for the New York Mets, and has his Master’s in physical therapy.

But he’s also not your average trainer.

Jeff Cavaliere emphasizes the importance of science, biomechanics, and injury prevention when working with clients and crafting workout programs like Total Beast and Ultimate Arms.

Today, Cavaliere has nearly 11 million loyal YouTube subscribers who rely on his frequent videos for tips and strategies for building strength, sculpting muscles, and shredding fat.

His company, Athlean-X, is a reliable reflection of years of success in the fitness industry.

Athlean-X now offers more than a dozen workout programs for any fitness goal you could imagine and even sells supplements and stacks to take your gains one step further.

What is the Athlean-X AX1 Workout Program?

The Athlean-X AX1 Workout Program is a body recomposition workout and meal plan combo. Sometimes it’s even referred to as a “training camp”.

If you adhere to all guidelines of both, you should end the comprehensive 90-day program with more muscle mass, less body fat, and an overall “shredded” physique.

No more cutting and bulking cycles that leave you tired and feeling lousy.

Many lifters notice gains within a week of trying this program, likely due to the strategic combo of conditioning workouts, compound and isolation exercises, and a clearly laid out meal plan.

And you don’t have to be a gym rat already to achieve these results!

Program Details & Features

The Athlean-X AX1 Workout Program, which infuses over 120 different exercises and offers unlimited ab workouts, sure sounds like it’s worth the price from an outsider’s perspective.

But is it really?

Let’s take a closer look at this program’s unique details and features to find out!

A General Look at the Program

This Jeff Cavaliere program will have you in the gym (or at home, depending on your equipment availability) five days a week for up to 45 minutes at a time.

The program is broken into three unique four-week phases, each of which gradually increases in intensity and shifts fitness priorities between conditioning, core, and strength training.

Equipment You’ll Need

One of the most versatile pieces of equipment you’ll need for this is a pair of adjustable dumbbells. Athlean-X used to sell their own Blox style dumbbells, but any reliable set of adjustable dumbbells should work.

Second, you’ll need a set of resistance bands. Our pick is the 5-band set by Fitness Dreamer since it doesn’t require anchors and serves multiple difficulty levels.

Third, you’ll need an adjustable bench for a variety of exercises like bench presses and chest-supported rows. The Fitness Reality 1000 Super Max Weight Bench offers a very high weight capacity and transports easily.

Finally, for all the pull-ups and chin-ups you’ll be doing, consider the ProsourceFit Trainer Pull-Up Bar.

Phase 1 – Push/Pull Performance

Phase one is undoubtedly strength-heavy, consisting of three strength workouts (I, II, & III) and two conditioning workouts (I & II) for the first three weeks of the program.

Let’s be honest: the first phase is a real monster maker and you need to step through this fire before you can move on to more advanced training.

The strength days are essentially a push/pull/legs (PPL) split.

• Push: Chest, triceps, shoulders
• Pull: Back, biceps, abs
• Legs: Quads, hamstrings, glutes, abs

For the majority of exercises, you’ll be doing sets to failure (10-12 RM).

It’s also worth noting that these aren’t your run-of-the-mill exercises from standard routines. You’ll add unique exercises like renegade rows, starfish crunches, and fielder curls.

Your conditioning workouts are about getting active and burning calories. Expect to do several rounds of sprints, agility line drills, cone activities, and punching (shadow boxing) workouts.

Week four introduces a brand new workout style: Hard core training.

You’ll crank through 10+ sets of a handful of ab exercises that go several steps further than the typical crunch-heavy ab workout.

Phase 2 – Max Metabolic Overdrive

After phase 1, the routine takes on a brand new fitness goal: Burning body fat.

With this phase, you’ll swap out that PPL routine from phase one and opt for two total-body strength training workouts each week instead.

These strength training workouts consist of:

• Compound exercises (like inverted rows, hip bucks, and chest presses)
• Short rest periods (30-45 seconds)
• Various rep ranges (to failure or 10-20 reps)

Given the goal of burning fat during this phase, Jeff Cavaliere will push you through conditioning workouts twice per week—jogging, box jumps, burpees, and timed bodyweight workouts.

Nestled between your conditioning workouts each week is a hard core training session.

During these hard core workouts, you’ll practice several variations of planks, crunches, and other ab exercises at high rep ranges for max fat burning and endurance.

Phase 3 – Athlean Super 2’s

Phase three is your final encounter with this program. In this phase, your focus is now on heavy supersets and an emphasis on endurance and strength training.

We’re back to three strength training exercises per week and two conditioning workouts. The only difference is that your strength days are upper/lower splits (and one total-body “confusion”).

The conditioning days are now either once or twice a week.

Instead of single laps around the track and short-term endurance exercises, you’ll now be doing things like HIIT sprints, ten rounds of footwork or 100 jumps on the jump rope.

Hard core training sessions re-emerge by the final week of the program.

Challenges

If you’re in the camp that loves challenges, then you’re in luck.

These challenges will either have you timing how long it takes to complete multiple rounds or 400 reps spread across several bodyweight exercises.

Total up your score, add it to the leaderboard, and see how you do against other users. These challenges can also help you know how you’re progressing from phase to phase!

4 Benefits of the Athlean-X Training System

Fast-Track Your Goals With Meal Swaps

Your diet can make or break your journey toward your fitness goals.

This AX1 program comes with a meal plan (detailed enough to include ingredients), so you can be sure your calories and macros are up to par.

While you won’t find any progressive diet protocols like intermittent fasting in this program, size and shred swaps are also available if one goal is more important to you than the other.

New Goals For Each Phase (Avoid Plateaus)

In addition to unique workouts, you’ll also adjust course after each phase of this routine.

That means switching from PPL training to full-body workouts, adding in a bit more cardio, and focusing on your abs.

This great variation from one phase to the next virtually ensures plateau avoidance.

Granted, you could just opt for a new program like Wolverine or Inferno Max Shred to switch up your training, but AX1 does a decent job of finding new ways to stimulate your muscles on its own.

Realistic Routine Regardless Of Experience

What’s great about this program is that it’s not reserved for the trained folks.

During strength training workouts, you’ll choose a weight based on your 10-12 RM usually, and on cardio days, you can proceed at your own pace.

Beginner, intermediate, or advanced, this program has it all!

Achieve Multiple Goals At Once

There’s no need to bounce back and forth between cutting and bulking with a routine like this.

Not only are you targeting conditioning (fat loss) and strength training (muscle building), but you’ll also face workouts that target power and agility.

So your “before and after” photo should look impressive.

You may not zero in on a specific muscle group like Core 4, but you’re more likely to leave this program bigger, leaner, and a far better athlete than before.

2 Negatives of the Program

No Refund Policy

When the charge for this program hits your card, don’t expect to get it back if, for any reason, you’re unhappy with the routine and what it offers.

There’s no refund policy whatsoever.

Though there’s a very slim chance you won’t be satisfied with this program, it may make you second guess handing your money over to Cavaliere.

Athlean AX1 Equipment Confusion

To put it directly: The Athlean AX1 equipment requirements on the website and within the online module don’t line up all that well.

You don’t just need dumbbells, a bench, and a resistance band.

You also need a barbell (for exercises like inverted rows), cones, ladders, and other equipment the site doesn’t exactly mention.

In essence, you may buy this program only to realize you don’t have the right gear.

AX1 Results & Testimonials Vary

While it’s easy to get carried away in the slick marketing and high-quality videos created by any brand, whether that’s Athlean-X or V Shred…

There’s a lot of inconsistency in the results that AX1 appears to produce.

Like most fitness program creators, the best before and after transformations are front and center to sing the praises of the program, but if you click through to the second or third page of testimonials, you’ll find a few lackluster results that leave you uninspired.

Sure, there’s no arguing that AX1’s fitness plan COULD produce good results in beginners, but this does make you wonder if the plan is maybe TOO MUCH for the average guy who’s never stepped in the gym to finish?

FAQ

Is Athlean X AX1 Good? Does It Really Work?

Overall, AX1 by Athlean-X is a good program if you want to ignite your gains as a beginner, but be prepared to work for it. Jeff Cavaliere designs all of his programs following the same mantra, “to look like an athlete, you need to train like one” and AX1 uses a multi-phase approach to make it happen.

How Much Does Athlean-X’s AX1 Cost?

At the time of writing this, AX1 costs $77 to rent the program. Yes, you read that correctly. If you pay $77 you only get 120 day access to AX1, but if you pay $97, you get lifetime access to the program.

Is This the Best Athlean-X Program?

It’s difficult to say which of the Athlean-X programs is “the best” out of the whole catalog presented on the website, but AX1 appears to be the most accessible and have the most sound strategy for beginners as opposed to Total Beaxst or Wolverine.

AX1 vs AX2

Athlean-X considers AX1 to be the best program for beginners to start getting fit. AX2 (appropriately-named) is an intermediate program and the next logical step in the process. AX2 actually recaps the lessons in AX1 during the first week and then expands into new strategies and routines.

AX1 vs Max Shred

If your primary goal is to lose body fat, is the Max Shred program a better alternative? Here are the similarities between the two:

• Made For Beginners: While AX1 is the textbook beginner program in the Athlean-X collection, Inferno Max Shred can also serve noobs since workouts can be scaled down by experience level.
• Equipment: Both programs require basically the same equipment to complete the workouts (i.e., dumbbells, adjustable bench, resistance band, pull-up bar, and a barbell)

Here’s where the programs differ:

• Meal Plan: AX1 follows the standard “Athlean Axioms” like “don’t count calories” and “don’t eat sugar”, but it also includes “shred swaps” and “size swaps” to compensate your immediate goal. Max Shred on the other hand, only presents shred swap options to stimulate continued fat loss.
• Conditioning: Both programs use cardio and conditioning throughout, but Inferno Max Shred lays it on thick. Be prepared to sweat.
• Goal: Obviously, these programs don’t focus on the same goals. AX1 is a foundation program aimed at building beginner strength whereas Max Shred is designed to burn body fat while maintaining as much muscle as possible.

Our recommendation? If you’re a complete beginner, start with AX1 since that’s its primary design. Move on to Max Shred once you have a firm grip of strength training and conditioning.

AX1 vs Max Size

Want to focus your training on getting bigger? Is Max Size the better choice than AX1? First of all, here’s what’s similar between both programs:

• Beginner Friendly: AX1 is designed for beginners, but Max Size can also be scaled down so noobs can make progress too.
• 5 Workouts Per Week: While it may be intimidating for someone who’s never trained before, you’ll have 5 workout days and 2 rest days.
• Pretty Much the Same Equipment: You’ll need dumbbells, an adjustable bench, a barbell, a pull-up bar, and a resistance band. Max Size also recommends a jump rope.

Now let’s talk about where they differ:

• Goal: AX1’s primary focus is building a strength foundation with good form and attention to the basics. The main purpose of Max Size is for you to grow, Grow, GROW!
• Workout Volume: Since AX1 is tailored for beginners, the workouts ease you into training at a reasonable rate. Max Size on the other hand basically blasts you with volume. How does 10 sets of 10 reps on major compound exercises sound?
• Meal Plan: Both programs follow the Athlean Axioms, but AX1 allows for both shred swaps and size swaps for minor customization towards your goal. Max Size only offers size swap options since you shouldn’t be focused on anything but gains.

The verdict? Similar to our opinion on Max Shred, if you’re completely new, you need to create a strength foundation and AX1 is a solid choice.

If you have 6-12 months of training under your belt and want to focus on getting bigger, consider Max Size instead.

AX1 vs Xero

If you’re a noob that wants to train without the gym, you’re probably considering the Athlean Xero program, but how does it differ from AX1?

First, here’s what these two programs have in common:

• Training Frequency: Like most of Athlean-X’s programs, you’ll be training 5 days per week. These workouts include strength, conditioning, and challenge-type sessions.
• Good for Beginners: AX1 is the model beginner program for the brand and thanks to the “degree” modifications, Xero works for noobs too.
• Training in Less Than an Hour: Both programs promise to have you in and out of each session in about 45 minutes.

Now, here’s where they branch off:

• Price: AX1 costs $97 for lifetime access. Xero is $79.95. It’s not a huge difference, but it’s something.
• Equipment: The great thing about Athlean Xero is you don’t need any equipment! Oppositely, AX1 requires a typical gym setup (i.e., dumbbells, adjustable bench, resistance band, pull-up bar, and a barbell)
• No Meal Plan “Swaps”: Meal plan swaps allow you to switch out food items based on your preferred goal. You get both shred swaps and size swaps with AX1, but Xero doesn’t offer any customizations.

As you can see there are a few things to weigh when choosing between AX1 or Xero. But the real deciding factor is your access to the gym.

If you want a full-fledged program that you can do almost anywhere, go for Xero. Otherwise, stick to AX1.

Athlean X Review: Conclusion

To wrap up our review of Athlean-X, AX1 program is undoubtedly a decent workout program to stimulate muscle hypertrophy and decrease body fat. If it weren’t, this program wouldn’t be a best-seller among the dozen or more Athlean-X programs created by Jeff Cavaliere.

It’s a great program to start your Athlean-X venture with.

There’s a meal plan to maximize your results (fat loss or muscle building), weaves through several distinctive phases, is a great program for everyone, and fast-tracks your ideal physique.

But there are negatives worth noting.

Not only is your purchase final (no refunds allowed!), but you might also need additional pieces of equipment that the Athlean-X website isn’t forthright about.

Rating: 8.8/10