What is FIERCE?

Chontel Duncan's personal mission is to educate her Community on how to be active for life through fitness, with a focus on performance, power and strength.

Through a combination of both Strength and High-Intensity training, FIERCE aims to decrease body fat and increase strength and lean muscle across the whole body!

What type of training does FIERCE involve?

Chontel focuses on bringing you a variety of different training techniques from her own personal style of training and HIIT classes, in her program, FIERCE!

Through Strength training, you will complete Supersets and Circuits, where the goal is to lift heavy weights and focus on building muscular strength. The High-Intensity training will focus on increasing your fitness, while helping you to reduce body fat through a number of different styles of training. 

How does FIERCE work? 

FIERCE is a 36 week training program that includes an additional 4 weeks of Beginner training, for anyone who might not be familiar with Strength and High-Intensity workouts.

In FIERCE, you will have goals you will be required to complete each week. These will include 2-3 Cardio sessions (High-Intensity and Low-Intensity), keeping in mind that High-Intensity cardio (HIIT) is not officially introduced until Week 5 of the program. You will also have 2 Recovery sessions (Active Recovery and Rest) to complete each week.

As you progress through the program, your Resistance sessions (Strength and High-Intensity), will increase from 3 to 4 sessions per week, with an optional extra session after Week 5, for more experienced members. Each workout will be around 30-45 minutes, and will get you sweating and working hard. You can be sure that no workout week will be the same!

What do the workouts involve?  

Strength Workouts

Supersets (10-15 mins) - These exercises are lap-based and need to be completed 3 times over. Here, you will complete 2 exercises followed by a rest break. Your goal will be to focus on lifting HEAVY!

Circuit (10 mins) - Your aim here will be to complete 4 exercises consecutively, followed by a rest break. The goal is to complete this process as many times as you can until the timer goes off!

FOCUS AREAS: Full Body, Upper Body, Lower Body

High-Intensity

AMRAP: 'As Many Reps As Possible' (25-30 mins) - A form of interval training, repeated typically for 3 laps, that alternates between 'work' and 'rest' time. AMRAP has no set structure, however the intensity will increase throughout the program to allow for progression. The goal here will be to complete as many repetitions as you can during each work phase.

FOCUS AREA: Full Body

Tabata - This is another form of interval training, where you will be working hard for 20 seconds, with a 10 second rest. You will need to complete four sets of the same exercise, for eight rounds.

FOCUS AREA: Full Body

Circuit Training - Similar to the structure of High Intensity with Kayla, you will need to complete between two and four exercises, as many times as you can within the set timeframe.

FOCUS AREA: Full Body

Resistance

In FIERCE 1.0 (Weeks 9-12), the Resistance workout goal increases from three to four workouts per week. This goal is carried over into FIERCE 2.0. The only difference you will notice is that an additional workout has been added, providing a total of 6 workouts (two optional), to complete each week. This is divided into:

• 3 x Strength
  • 1 x Upper Body
  • 1 x Lower Body
  • 1 x Full Body

• 3 x High-Intensity
  • 1 x AMRAP
  • 1 x Circuit Training
  • 1 x Tabata  

 Workout Changes

AMRAP - FIERCE 2.0 will feature slightly different work-to-rest ratios that will increase in intensity as you progress through the program. Prepare to be challenged with more work time and less rest!

Circuit Training - FIERCE 2.0 will feature several circuit timings and structures, between 2 and 4 exercises.

Tabata - FIERCE 2.0 will maintain 4x8 (four sets of eights exercises) in most weeks. Based on your feedback, Chontel has also reduced the rest break from 60 to 40 seconds!

What Equipment Do I Need? 

As FIERCE by Chontel Duncan is a gym-based program, you will need access to the equipment listed below to successfully complete the workouts:

• Assisted Chin/Dip Machine
• Barbell
• Battle Rope
• Bench
• Bench Press
• Boxing Shield
• Cable Machine
• Deadball
• Dual Cable
• Dumbbells
• Fitball
• Hack Squat
• Incline Bench
• Kettlebell
• Lat Pulldown
• Leg Extension
• Leg Press
• Long Resistance Band
• Olympic Barbell
• Plyometric Soft Box
• Prone Leg Curl
• Resistance Band
• Seated Row
• Skipping Rope
• Sled
• Smith Machine
• Squat Rack
• Weight Plate
• Yoga Mat

How do I choose a weight that's right for me?

RPE: RPE stands for "Rate of Perceived Exertion”, or how hard an exercise feels.

To begin with, we recommend choosing a weight that's a 7/10 RPE. 

However, for high-intensity days that involve time-based exercises, the weight should slightly decrease to allow you to complete the entire workout comfortably.

If you are new to training, we encourage you to begin with FIERCE's Beginner program. Like with any program, we recommend starting on a lighter weight range until you feel ready to challenge yourself and increase the weights from there!

Always listen to your body, and ensure that you choose a weight that is challenging, but not impossible!

How Do I Schedule my week with FIERCE? 

In Chontel's FIERCE program you will be provided with weekly goals to work towards each week.

Each 4 week cycle within the initial 12 week program is summarised below, as well as recommendations of how you could arrange your days:

FIERCE 1.0

Beginner and Weeks 1-4

• 3 Resistance sessions per week (Monday/Wednesday/Friday)
• 3 Low-Intensity Cardio (LISS) sessions (Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday)
• 1 Active Recovery and 1 Rest day (Sunday)

Weeks 5-8

• 4 Resistance sessions per week (Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday)
• 1 Low-Intensity Cardio (LISS) and 1 High-Intensity Cardio (HIIT) (LISS on Wednesday and HIIT on Saturday)
• 1 Active Recovery and 1 Rest day (Sunday)

Weeks 9-12

• 4 Resistance sessions per week (Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday)
• 1 optional Resistance session
• 1 Low-Intensity Cardio (LISS) and 1 High-Intensity Cardio (HIIT) (LISS on Wednesday and HIIT on Saturday)
• 1 Active Recovery and 1 Rest day (Sunday)

FIERCE 2.0

Weeks 13-24

• 4 Resistance sessions per week (2 x Strength and 2 x High-Intensity)
• 2 optional Resistance sessions (1 x Strength and 1 x High Intensity)
• 1 Low-Intensity Cardio (LISS) and 1 High-Intensity Cardio (HIIT)
• 1 Active Recovery and 1 Rest day

Will FIERCE be suitable for me? 

FIERCE has been created for those looking for variety when working towards their fitness goals, through a hybrid style of training. In this program, you will aim to decrease body fat and increase strength and lean muscle.