Basement Beast Review: Is the 12-Week Program Worth It?

Basement Beast is a 12-week resistance-band workout program built around quick 20-minute daily sessions, and after buying it and sticking with the full plan, here are my genuine thoughts. For transparency: I wasn't gifted anything or paid by anyone to write this. These are my honest experiences after purchasing the Basement Beast workout and seeing the 12 weeks through.

What is Basement Beast?

Basement Beast is a 12-week workout program designed by Fabian Petrina, a successful fitness instructor from Germany.

You've probably seen or heard of similar online fitness programs that "guarantee" results in a short space of time. Most of them require at least a set of dumbbells and 60 minutes a day to work through the prescribed sets and reps.

Basement Beast is a variation on those programs, but it doesn't require dumbbells or any large pieces of equipment, and it doesn't ask for 60 minutes a day either. It's been designed for people with busy schedules who still want to get in shape, built around intense 20-minute daily workouts using nothing but a set of resistance bands.

Signing up: here's what happened

Basement Beast has been getting a lot of attention lately, with dozens of five-star reviews pouring in from all over the world. Once I heard about it, I thought I'd give it a go.

After signing up, I received two emails:

• The first had links to downloadable PDFs that supplement the standard 12-week program, such as an arms and abs workout. It also explained how to access the nutritional blueprint (which you're meant to follow alongside the program, more on that later) and the progress log.
• The second contained a link to the online portal, where I could watch the first week's workout videos.

Logging in is simple enough, and the site is well designed and easy to navigate. Everything is laid out clearly, and the workout videos are of excellent quality.

The Basement Beast program

The program consists of 20-minute workouts, four days a week, with a fifth day of yoga (I probably did about half of the yoga sessions).

Before starting, you'll need to buy some resistance bands. You have two options:

• Source and buy them yourself, or
• Buy the resistance bands directly from Basement Beast

I'd recommend the latter. You can end up with some pretty shoddy resistance bands from places like Amazon, whereas the Basement Beast bands are higher quality.

You may be wondering, why resistance bands? Surely a set of dumbbells would give better results?

I wondered the same. While the website lists a decent set of reasons why bands are preferred over dumbbells or a barbell, the one that stood out to me was affordability and ease of use.

I already own dumbbells, but I can understand why Fabian and his team went the band route. With minimal equipment, the program is far more marketable and likely results in more sign-ups than if members had to buy bulky items like dumbbells.

Bands do have a genuine benefit, though: they offer a better resistance arc than other equipment, keeping tension on the muscle throughout the movement instead of dropping off at the top or bottom, which is exactly what happens with dumbbells.

For weight loss, resistance bands are a great option. If you're serious about building genuine muscle, though, I'd personally look at swapping the bands for dumbbells.

The workout structure

The home workout program mostly targets a single muscle group each day. Week one, for instance, consists of a Leg Day, a Chest Day, a Back Day and an Abs Day, with the optional fifth day of yoga if you're so inclined.

I'm not going to write up the entire program here, as that would be unfair (and against copyright), but a simplified example of a workout day looks like this:

Workout 1: Legs

• Squat
• Split Squat
• Other Side
• Side Squat
• Other Side
• Hip Thrust
• Calf Raises

This is similar to one of the earlier workouts in the program, and they get progressively harder as the weeks go on.

Density stacking: does it hold up?

Density what, I hear you ask? I'd never heard the phrase either, until Basement Beast.

The website doesn't give much away. It describes density stacking as a method where you "adjust rest periods and intensity levels to trigger the body to burn fat and build muscle," then claims it "hacks your biology at a cellular level, which makes gaining muscle and burning fat easier than ever."

To me, this reads as hokum.

There's no denying that stimulating your muscles with high-resistance anaerobic exercise will cause you to gain muscle, so I'm not entirely sure what's different between that and "density stacking."

A quick Google search for density stacking doesn't bring up much, other than results for density training, a workout method built around getting as much work done as possible in a session (AMRAP style).

Who knows, maybe Fabian is onto something. For me, though, there's no single trick to "hacking" your biology. It comes down to being consistent, working hard each session, progressively overloading, eating well and resting.

How much does Basement Beast cost?

The 12-week transformation plan currently costs anywhere between $67 and $139, depending on the offers available at the time.

There's also a money-back guarantee. I'm not exactly sure how it works in practice, as I never needed to use it, but from what I've read you have to prove you stuck to the program and gave it a real go before they'll issue a refund.

Is Basement Beast the best program to buy?

No. That's not to say it's bad. It's just not the best fitness program out there.

Will you get ripped and build 20lbs of muscle in 12 weeks? Definitely not. But if you stick with it, and follow the nutritional guidance, you will lose weight and feel stronger.

If you're after something more focused on building muscle, look for a program that uses dumbbells or barbells and centres on compound movements such as the squat, row, bench press, deadlift and overhead press.