New Year, New You: Kayla Itsines

I’ve kind of neglected the fitness section of my blog, so why not kick it off around the New Year? Cliche I know, but I’m sure most of you have a similar New Years resolution. I also hate to think of this as a “New Years Resolution” because it’s not really a new goal in my life. I’m definitely not one of those girls that can eat whatever they want and drink on the weekends without seeing the result, so working out daily and eating clean for the most part (definitely guilty of a few vodka sodas and maybe some pizza on the weekends!) is a big part of my life.

I’ve seriously tried every generic workout plan out there so here’s a quick overview. If you’re only interested about reading my experience with Kayla Itsines’ Bikini Body Guide, skip to the bottom.

1. Cardio Junkie – This was me for the first couple years in college. I ran about 45 minutes a day and that was about it. I don’t have much to say about this other than I do not recommend it. Yes, you lose weight, but these days I feel like weight lifting is the way to go.

2. Get In Shape For Women  – Wow, I get embarrassed even saying the name of this place haha! They opened up a studio in my hometown so I signed up one summer during college for an absurd amount of money. It was essentially me and a bunch of 60 year old Marblehead women. Good times, good times. Really though, I must give this place credit for teaching me the importance of weight training. I lost a ton of weight that summer but I also didn’t have a sip of alcohol (shocker, I know!) and ate so healthy, it almost wasn’t heathy–you feel me? Haha.

3. Beach Body’s Insanity DVDs – Okay these videos are no joke. Seriously SO hard. It’s heavy on the cardio (tons of jumping and other weird moves I can’t even explain), but you also gain a ton of muscle. My issue with the Insanity DVDs is that I don’t necessarily think it’s tailored for a woman’s body/goals. My legs got so big and muscular from this program and let’s be honest, what girl wants that? Not me!

4. Tone It Up – These videos are so much fun to do with your friends + almost all of them are available online for free (see here). I think Tone It Up is great for someone just getting into fitness, but I didn’t feel like I got huge results from this program.

Now for what I think most of you probably want to hear about…

5. Kayla Itsines’ BBG – Last but definitely not least: Kayla Itsines’ Bikini Body Guide. This is hands down the only program I have tried that got me the results that I wanted- and quickly! Kayla, an Australian personal trainer, catered this plan to women’s bodies and their goals (AKA this program is not going to make you bulky like Insanity did for me). Most of you know about Kayla’s program because she has about 4.5 million followers on Instagram (nbd, right?). Check out her page here, because its full of transformation photos that are really inspiring.

What are the workouts like, you ask?  The guide consists of 3 circuit style workouts a week – each only 28 minutes long. Sounds like nothing, right?  Let me tell you, these are legitimately the hardest 28 minutes of your life. I think that BBG is harder than Insanity, and that says a lot.

The days you are not doing the circuit style workouts, you will be doing LISS (low intensity steady state) cardio for 40 minutes. The guide says you can simply go for a walk, but I typically went on the elliptical or walked on an incline on the treadmill. The second month, you incorporate HIIT (high intensity interval training) – essentially sprints – about 2 days per week.

Within the first 4 weeks of this guide, my body completely changed. You see results quickly which is really motivating. I’ve made a ton of my friends start it, and they’ve had the same experience. The most important thing is to be consistent – I didn’t skip a single circuit workout for 3 months!

Here’s an example of one of the workouts:

I know on paper this looks SO easy – but seriously, brace yourself haha. First you do circuit #1 as many times as you can in 7 minutes. I typically get through the circuit twice. Then move on to circuit #2, and do the same for 7 minutes. Then the hard part: repeat the entire thing again, totaling 28 minutes.

So, who wants to start this with me!? I’m going to be giving updates and my personal tips each Friday going forward (#FitnessFriday series!).

 Ps. Sorry for the super long post, but I hope some of you found this helpful. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below or on my Instagram.