Beachbody Coaching is Not a Pyramid Scheme

A lot of people are interested in becoming a Beachbody Coach, but are concerned about the possibility that it is a pyramid scheme. People should be concerned about a business that they are thinking of getting into, and as this question comes up frequently, they have a right to get an honest, detailed, and knowledgeable answer before making a decision that can affect their lives.

What is a Pyramid Scheme?

A pyramid scheme, sometimes referred to as a Ponzi Scheme, is a situation where people give a lot of money to buy into a supposed business opportunity, in the hope that when other people buy into it, you get money from them. Supposedly, you recruit 2 people, who each recruit 2 others, and then they each recruit 2 people, and the money is fed into the initial person who recruited them. Once the person on top gets their money back and the profits, the people below them can then get their money back.

Essentially, a high investment is paid directly to some person above them. That is the essence of a pyramid scheme.

How Beachbody Works

Let me make it clear that Beachbody Coaching is a relationship marketing business. Relationship marketing is frequently referred to as direct marketing, network marketing, and multi-level marketing. Unless you are a member of the military or a non-profit organization, you do have to pay a $39 sign up fee, which includes a $14 monthly fee and a $25 fee for your starter kit. Consider this your franchise fee. You are essentially buying a business franchise that you can do with what you want. For your fees, you get 4 websites as well as customer service, product fulfillment, etc.

Nobody makes a profit from the fees paid. Even Beachbody might not break even from those fees given the cost of customer service, website maintenance, etc.

There are no product purchases required. However I want to be clear that if you do want to be successful in the Beachbody business, you probably want to invest in making sure that you own a do a product as well as buy and use Shakeology and have some to give away as samples. This can cost about $200, but is again optional. You should also understand that by becoming a Beachbody Coach, you are essentially a small business owner, and even $200 is a minimal investment to start any business. Again though, you can just start by paying your $39 fee (or $0 if you are a military family or non-profit organization) and leave it at that.

Nobody Makes Money Unless You Make Money

Unlike a pyramid scheme, the only way a Beachbody Coach who sponsors you can make money from you is for you to make money. Without going into full details on the compensation plan, your recruiting coaches only make money when you are successful. This is the opposite of a pyramid scheme.

Frankly, when a coach is not successful in the business, it costs me as the person who recruited them. I am willing to invest hundreds of hours of my time in a coach to help get them started and continue their success. If they don’t make money, not only do I not make any money from them, I lose what I consider my most valuable resource: My time. I am happy to invest my time with someone who is willing to work, as it is a cost of doing business. However nobody should think that once a person becomes a coach, a lot of other people get rich from them. Again, nobody gets rich from another person in a legitimate relationship marketing business, unless that person makes money themselves.

Is it Too Late to Be Successful?

While it is true that the earlier you get in, the more money you have the potential to make at a given point in time, with Beachbody it is still very early in the business lifecycle. As of this writing, Beachbody has 65,000 coaches and is only in the United States. Based on my own experience, I personally estimate that at least 30,000 of those coaches are coaches only for the discounts on Shakeology, and are not actively pursuing the business.

However, even if you assume that all 65,000 coaches are in active in the business, that is tiny compared to similar companies. For example, Amway had approximately 3,000,000 distributors in 2008. Herbalife had 1,900,000 distributors at that time. Beachbody has had a relationship marketing program in place for 4 years, while Amway and Herbalife have been in business for more than 50 and 30 years respectively. The people who became involved in either of those programs within even the first 10 years, and remain active, are extremely happy people.

Your Job Makes You a Living. Part Time Makes You a Fortune

The above quote is from business guru, Jim Rohn. He is a big believer in relationship marketing. The quote comes from his belief that if you don’t do pursue a part time business, you are doomed to continue your same standard of living. Pursuing a part time business, like a relationship marketing business, provides for potential exponential growth in income.

I want to be very clear that there is no guarantee that you will be successful with Beachbody Coaching. Frankly, I have been very surprised when I saw people, who I was positive would be successful, turn out not to be successful, and people I was sure would fade away turn out to be very successful. As long as people are willing to work, work consistently, and don’t have grossly unrealistic expectations, they have the ability to succeed. Beachbody is not a “get rich quick” business, but a get rich steady business. How fast is determined by the individual. Beachbody Coaching is however very inexpensive to start.

Even if you spend $200 to get started, that is small compared to buying a business franchise, which costs tens of thousands of dollars. Beachbody allows you to start increasing your income, without having to quit your current job and risk everything.

If another Beachbody Coach sent you to this page, please contact them. Otherwise, please feel free to contact me by clicking here.

My P90X/Asylum Hybrid

For my current exercise routine, I decided that I needed a program that was as effective in all aspects of physical condition as possible. In my opinion, you are never going to get a more comprehensive program than P90X. P90X’s downside is that it is relatively weak on leg work. For that reason, I wanted to combine it with Asylum, which possibly has the most effective leg work and endurance training that you can find.

The Asylum workouts also have the advantage that they are significantly shorter than P90X workouts, while definitely being more effective. For example, Plyo X is about 58 minutes, while Vertical Plyo is only 38 minutes and few people would argue that Vertical Plyo is significantly better than Plyo X.

So I was asked to share my program, which I believe is not only more effective, but frequently has shorter workouts. I also include some P90X One on Ones, which adds some variety and is also potentially shorter and more effective.

My Schedule

Weeks 1-3, 9 and 11

Day 1 – P90X Chest & Back and Ab Ripper X
Day 2 – Asylum Vertical Plyo
Day 3 – P90X One on One Shoulders & Arms 2 and Ab Ripper X
Day 4 – P90X One on One Fountain of Youth
Day 5 – P90X One on One Back & Base and Ab Ripper X
Day 6 – Asylum Speed & Agility
Day 7 – P90X X Stretch

Week 4, 8 and 13

Day 1 – P90X One on One Fountain of Youth
Day 2 – P90X+ Total Body +
Day 3 – P90X+ Kenpo/Cardio +
Day 4 – P90X X Stretch
Day 5 – P90X+ Total Body +
Day 6 – P90X One on One Fountain of Youth
Day 7 – Rest

Weeks 5-7, 10 and 12

Day 1 – P90X Back & Biceps and Ab Ripper X
Day 2 – Asylum Vertical Plyo
Day 3 – P90X Chest, Shoulders and Tris and Ab Ripper X
Day 4 – P90X One on One Fountain of Youth
Day 5 – P90X One on One Back & Base and Ab Ripper X
Day 6 – Asylum Speed & Agility
Day 7 – P90X X Stretch

Alternative Workouts

As you can see, I make use of various One on Ones as well as P90X+ workouts. If you don’t have Fountain of Youth, you can use Yoga X or the One on One Yoga:MC2. If you don’t have Base & Back, use Legs & Back. If you don’t have Shoulders & Arms 2, use Shoulders & Arms. If you don’t have Total Body +, you can use Asylum Strength or continue to use Core Synergistics. If you want to add more One on Ones, you can V-Sculpt is a replacement for Back & Biceps and Upper Body X is a replacement for Chest, Shoulders & Tris.

Getting the Most Out of Your Workouts

So this is the hybrid I currently settled into so that I get the most out of what I consider the best Beachbody programs to get extreme results, while saving some time as well, specifically P90X and Asylum. Adding variety to your workouts is also important. It can get tiring to do the same routine for years, no matter how much you love it. You can potentially integrate in other programs, but if you want something that you can do for long periods of time, I would recommend that you generally follow the P90X schedule.

Weight Watchers Points for Shakeology

A lot of people who do Beachbody programs, like P90X, Insanity, Hip Hop Abs, etc., follow the Weight Watchers nutrition program. While Beachbody provides a nutrition plan with all programs tailored to the program, many people choose to use the Weight Watchers program as they like it and are familiar with it. As long as they adjust the points that they need to account for the increased level of activity, Weight Watchers Point system can provide great results. In response, I wrote this article about how to estimate the points to add to their daily intake.

Many people doing Beachbody programs use Shakeology as well. Therefore, it would be helpful for the many people who use the Weight Watchers’ system to know the point value of Shakeology. So to simply provide that information, here is the point value for Shakeology, both Chocolate and Greenberry.

Weight Watchers Winning Points: 2
Weight Watchers PointsPlus:     3

Remember to add the points for any other ingredients for any ingredients that you mix with the Shakeology, such as milk, fruit, nuts, etc.

If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me at ira@xcompanionguide.com.