It’s finally here: 3rd year of Summer Shape Up!! 
I’m really excited about this one and hope you’ll join in the fun 
Summer is a great time to shake up your workout routine and find extra motivation to fuel your body the best way possible. Little changes add up and can make a huge difference — not only in how we look, but most importantly, how we FEEL <3 Feeling good, energized and healthy is #1.
So, how does it work?
-For the next 4 weeks, I’ll post a sample grocery list along with meal ideas that can be created based on this list.
-Along with the grocery list will be a weekly workout plan, featuring a weights workout, cardio components and flexibility training suggestions
-Keep track of your progress, cheer each other on (in the comments section and on Twitter: #summershapeup) and have fun! <3
Think of this as a chance to spice up your workout routine and clean up your eats, if you would like. This is by no means a “challenge” and I don’t want any of ya’ll to feel pressured to participate. Just look here for info purposes and motivation (healthy eats and exercise is a GOOD thing and we can root for each other!) if you’d like to join. Just imagine your favorite gym is offering 24-7 fitness classes for the next 4 weeks and you can jump in whenever you’d like.
Disclaimer: As always, please alter the workouts and eating plan to suit your personal needs and preferences. Check with a doctor before making any fitness or nutrition changes.
The Eats!
Grains and breads:
-Brown rice
-oatmeal
-brown rice farina
-quinoa
-1 type of pasta: I love mung bean fettuccini and black bean spaghetti the best, but whole-grain or 100% whole wheat is fab too
-whole grain bread of choice (or brown rice bread) + one “fun” bread (like whole wheat wraps, 100% whole grain pitas, brown rice tortillas, gluten-free or whole wheat English muffins or gluten-free or whole-grain bagels)
Dairy:
-organic butter or ghee
-organic eggs
-goat cheese
-goat cream cheese
-milk of choice (organic 1% or skim, coconut milk, almond milk, hemp milk, oat milk)
Meat/fish
-frozen Wild-caught salmon (fresh is better, but since I live in Arizona, frozen is the same thing as the “fresh” stuff at the deli)
-frozen organic chicken breasts
-canned albacore tuna
-Deli meat or tofu is a great option, but there more occasional treats
Beans/legumes and canned food
-organic chickpeas
-organic kidney beans
-organic lentils
-raw cashews
-diced tomatoes
-pasta sauce
-artichoke hearts
-kalamata olives
-sundried tomatoes
-tomato paste
-tomato sauce
Condiments
-Almond butter
-Dijon mustard
-One salad dressing (Goddess dressing and balsamic are my faves)
-hummus
-Nama Shoyu or Tamari
Produce (all organic)
-salad greens- I switch it up every week. If I got romaine last week, I’ll get spinach this week, arugula the next and so on
-green apples
-grape tomatoes
-bell peppers
-baby carrots
-cucumber
-lemons
-zucchini, squash, asparagus or eggplant- whatever looks fresh and in season
-onions
-berries (fresh and frozen for smoothies)
-baby bananas- I pick the smallest ones, since a large banana is usually two servings
Snacks
-Seaweed snacks
-Dark chocolate
Extras
-Extra virgin olive oil
-Coconut oil
-Sun Warrior protein powder
-Decaf espresso powder
-cacao powder
-Spices
-Almond milk, or milk of choice
Meal ideas:
(Check out the *food* page for recipes)
Breakfasts:
-Breakfast cookie dough cereal
-Breakfast cookie
-Egg white burrito with cream cheese and salsa
-2 slices of toast with 1/2 sliced banana and 1 T almond butter, cinnamon
-Mocha Berry Smoothie (1 C almond milk, 1/2 frozen banana, 1 scoop protein powder, 1/2-1 T cacao powder, 1 t espresso powder, 1/2 C frozen organic berries)
-Perfect protein pancakes
-Omelet with 1 egg, 2 egg whites, cheese, veggies and salad
Lunches:
-Baked pizza: top a brown-rice or whole-grain tortilla with pasta sauce, veggies of choice, 1 serving of cheese and bake in the oven 10 min, or until crispy. Serve with salad
-Broccoli slaw with spicy almond butter sauce and chickpeas
-Quiche with vegetables
-Salad beast
-Turkey or tofu wrap, fresh berries
-Sweet potato with goat cheese and chives, salad
-Greenacolada smoothie
Snacks:
-Hummus and crudités
-1 banana with 1 T almond butter
-1 serving tortilla chips (homemade or store-bought with salsa)
-Amazeball
-Pack of seaweed snacks + small smoothie (1 C almond milk + 1 scoop protein powder, ice)
-Fruit bowl with fresh chopped fruit of choice
Dinner
-Mung bean pasta with wilted arugula, pasta sauce, roasted veggies
-Baked salmon with lemon and garlic, baked sweet potato and salad
-Snobby Joes on bread of choice, or atop greens
-Quinoa with roasted veggies, chickpeas, seasoned with lemon juice and thyme, and topped with salad dressing of choice
-Salad beast- make sure to have a quality source of protein in there
Eating goals:
-Protein with every meal/snack
-8 glasses of water (at least!)
-Lots of fruits and veggies
-Whole foods, the way nature made them, not man
-Enough sufficient fuel to support activity levels and flourish
The workout plan:
Each Monday, I’ll post a sample workout plan to follow if you’d like. As the weeks go on, the main workout will be more challenging and the order will change- Sunday is always active rest day
Here’s the first week:
Workout #1:
This workout is meant to be completed circuit style, by doing all of the moves in the circuit without rest in between each exercise. After completing each exercise once, rest for 30 seconds to 1 minute, and repeat the entire circuit again 1-2 more times for a total of 2-3 times. The cardio blast in between each circuit is optional and meant to be done once to get your heart rate up in between circuits. As far as weights go, choose a weight that is challenging for you without being too much- if you can easily do more than 15 reps with a certain weight, time to bump it up.
Circuit 1 (Repeat 2-3 times total)
-Stability ball hamstring curl (12-15 reps)
-Stability ball overhead pass (10-12 reps)
-Stability ball back extension (10-12 reps)
CARDIO BLAST: 1 minute of burpees
Circuit 2 (Repeat 2-3 times total)
-Bench push-up- with hands on the bench or feet on the bench (12-15 reps)
-Bench split squat <—take a larger step than the guy in the video; you want to make sure your front knee doesn’t go past your toes –if these are too challenging, regular lunges are great (10-12 on each side; hold weights to make it more challenging)
-Bench tricep dip (12-15 reps; bent legs is easier, straight legs is more challenging)
CARDIO BLAST: 1 minute of mountain climbers
Circuit 3: (Repeat 2-3 times total)
-Assisted pull-ups (12-15; at home? Try lat pulldowns with a resistance band)
-Lateral raises (12-15)
-Bicep curl plie squat combo (12-15)
CARDIO BLAST: I minute of squat jumps
Ab burner (1 time through- that’s it!)
-50 sit ups
-50 crunches
-25 reverse crunches
-25 bicycle crunches
This week’s other workouts
-For cardio, it’s your choice. The HIIT options, hills and steady state are there as options but feel free to switch it up as you like. My favorite HIIT intervals are 1 min 30 seconds easy, 30 seconds balls to the wall (sprinting, elliptical or bike), and you don’t need to do HIIT for more than 20 minutes total. Make sure to include a warm-up and cool-down with your cardio sessions.
-For yoga, feel free to check out a class in your area with lots of juicy stretching, or try a YogaDownload.com podcast- the 20 minute ones are free
Each time you finish a workout, please leave a comment on this post and let me know how it went and what you think! <3
Happy training
xoxo
Gina
Are you joining in the fun? If not, how are your summer fitness goals going? I love hearing what you’re up to
See ya later today with Vegas adventures, and tomorrow with the exciting news I’ve been waiting to share with ya <3
Hi, I'm Gina. Welcome to The Fitnessista! I love blogging about my adventures as a new mom, military wife and fitness instructor, as well as sharing new workouts and recipes. Check out the About page for more info - thanks for stopping by!
[...] spin, when I was too sweaty to care any more, I did 30 mins of the Fitnessista’s circuits that I did yesterday. It included a total of 36 incline pushups, and I almost died. ‘Twas [...]
[...] In other news, I am happy to announce that I am joining The Fitnessista’s Summer Shape Up Program! [...]
Hey Gina, I am loving the summer shape up! I work out often but was definitely in need of something different and so far this plan is it. Thank you so much for sharing! And congrats on the baby news
. I can’t wait to have kids but my husband wants to wait of few more years 
. I’ll keep working on him though!
Your first Summer Shape Up paired with my 10k training schedule got me in the best shape of my life! I’m totally in! Thanks as always for taking the time to set this up for all your fans
whoo hoo!
i love putting these together
Oo, and how long would recommend all the steady-state, hill cardio, and easy cardio to be?
30 minutes is great- if you want to do more, awesome, less is cool too
I just found your blog and am so excited to give this a try! I am a runner and love to list, so this circuit is going to be a great addition to my routine!
[...] Up Constantly on the lookout for new workouts, I was psyched when the Fitnessista posted her new summer shape up routine. It’s a great combination of weight lifting and cardio [...]
I love all these meal planning ideas, I’ve been looking for some fresh new ones and all-natural meal plans are surprisingly hard to find!
Just finished my modified version of the weights workout
followed by some stretching. My sweeet baby kicks a lot after working out, I love it 
pretty soon you’ll feel yours too 
congrats again girly
I just finished the workout! I’m def. gonna hurt tomorrow, but it felt great
I was wondering why tofu is an occasional treat and what you would recommend for vegans in both the protein and dairy sections? Would peanut butter and soy milk be okay in place of almond butter and milk? I have an almond intolerance (I think, I’m in the process of finding out if that is actually what’s wrong with me) and am trying to avoid almond for the time being. Thanks (:
yes totally fine! just use the substitutions that you would usually eat
I love this… I may not do all of this now but I’ll definitely be incorporating a lot of these exercises into my current routine! At the end of summer I want to switch it up and will look to this post for guidance
[...] trying to somewhat follow the Summer Shape-Up plan over at The Fitnessista, so I did the strength training workout that she has listed. As I [...]
I found this working from Caitlin’s link on Healthy Tipping Point and I have to say I can’t wait to jump on this bandwagon! I’m going to be a week behind since my week 1 will just start on Sunday, but I am very excited! I’m doing my 2nd triathlon (first Olympic length one) on Labour Day so I really need some exciting strengthening workouts to add to my cardio training.
LOVED workout #1!!!! With work it’s hard for me to make it to the strength training classes at my gym and I get bored pretty easily when making up my own routines. This workout was fabulous! The 1 minute cardior blasts were awesome! Keep the workouts coming!!
I just did my second circuit work out for the week. My vinyasa yoga class on Wed was on the strenuous side so I decided to push Thursday’s workout to today. I did three circuits today with none of the cardio bumps. I was able to do more reps on some of the exercises today over what I did Monday. I also did 15 min of HIIT on one of the spin bikes.
are.you.kidddding. I almost just DIED doing the abs. !!! those hurt soo gooood! love em
hahah!! YES
Did workout 1 for the second time yesterday! Loved it! Headed out for some cardio today and will do the third set of circuits for the week tomorrow morning.
wahoo!
[...] biked home and nearly died pushing through the Workout #1 Circuit in my basement (those cardio blasts are [...]
[...] I had BIG plans of doing Workout 1 of the summer shape up! [...]
Did the workout again today…. hamstring curls = amazing
my fave move
[...] I AM SO SORE FROM THE SUMMER SHAPE UP WORKOUT YESTERDAY!!! What was I thinking starting a strength routine 2 days before a race.. HA! [...]
Great workout! I’m going to be sore tomorrow! Question.. should the circuits be repeated in a row or shoudl you do Circuit 1, 2, 3 and then repeat? Thanks!
all of one (2-3 times total), cardio blast, all of 2, blast, all of 3
I did circuit one today, along with 30 minutes of interval cardio. The ball exercises were great, they left my muscles tingly and they got my heart rate up. Thanks!
[...] I somehow found the energy to do The Fitnessista’s Summer Shape-Up workout after I got out of work. I’m finally trying to learn more about strength training, [...]
I have been seeing such great reviews of “Summer Shape Up” on twitter. I didn’t know what it was all about until now…what a great program
So glad I found it!
let me know if you give it a whirl
Just started and did workout #1. The hamstring curls were really hard for me because the ball I had needs air, so I just did the best I could. I definitely still feel it in my legs. I’m so excited to do this because I’ve been in such an exercise slump. Thanks for creating these workouts!
[...] this morning, I partook in one of the Fitnessista’s Summer Shape Up workouts (workout #1 to be more specific). Oh my gosh, I got my booty handed to me! I’ve [...]
THANK YOU for making yoga a part of this year’s Summer Shape Up routine. I just did mine yesterday and it had been so long I wanted to cry (both in a good way and in a bad way) but I felt so fantastic afterwards! I don’t know why I’m so lazy to do yoga on my own even though I KNOW how good it makes me feel… You’ve definitely pumped me to keep at it cuz though I’m a stretching nut, they’re just not the same!
you’re inspiring me over here, too- i haven’t practiced yoga in a few weeks and miss it like crazy!
Finished my third circuit workout for the week! Was able to use more weight than the first time which is really inspiring!
way to go!!
Yay I’ve been reading your blog & saw the old Summer shape ups and was anxiously awaiting this one! I’m starting this week
I already workout & eat relatively clean but I really wanna step it up!
Best of luck with your baby adventures as well!
Did Workout #1 (yes I’m a week behind
) but it was so nice to mix it up!
To be honest, I do feel like a bit of a goon doing a minute of blasts in the tiny weight section of our gym, but I’m so beyond caring, it was great to get the heart rate up throughout the whole workout.
Keep ‘em coming lady!!
glad you had a great workout!
people are so worried about their own workouts that they don’t notice anyway
I just finished this workout. I’m a week late because of vacation but It kicked my butt! Love it. Thanks.
awesome!
[...] Workout 1 of the summer shape up which took about 35 minuts! and then 2o minutes of HIIT ( high intensity interval training) I did 1.5 minutes east, .5 minute as fast as possible. [...]
Hi Gina!
I completed this workout (killer!) and did the circuits twice with the abs and it took me about 30 min. Does this sound about right? I want to make sure I’m not rushing
Thank you for taking the time to put this together for your readers. You are the best!
Danielle
that sounds about right
Hi Gina!
Do you still have the green quiche recipe somewhere on your blog? I searched and found a link for the “quiche to your heart” but it didn’t work…I remember seeing it a WHILE back and wanted to try making it!
here ya go!
http://fitnessista.com/2009/04/sweat-out-the-pizza/ [for that one i made for other people, so i used a crust but when i make it at hom, i do crustless]
Thank you!!
Just started summer shape up yesterday. One week late, but LOVING it! I just found your blog this past weekend and can’t believe it has taken me so long! Wowzers, I have been missing out! I am a wee bit addicted already!
Congrats on the exciting news!
[...] did workout #1 from Summer shape up followed by 20 minutes of walkimg at 3.5 mph on a 10% [...]
I haven’t lifted weights in about 2 months (school ending, moving back home, too many vacations…). Still in pain 2 days after workout 1…thank goodness for yoga today!! This is just what I need to kick my butt back into gear!!!!
i did my first week one workout
i am starting late. i had high hopes that i was in shape but i could only do two sets of each circuit, and i didn’t do any cardio bursts. hoping i see some improvements in my fitness over the next few weeks. thanks for putting this up!
question: i’m awful at push ups. i couldn’t even do them on my knees for the second set, so i did them against the wall. (like, standing up at an incline, and doing a push up against the wall.) is that an okay modification? any tips for moving up to the bench push up?
that’s perfect as a modification- just stick with it until you feel ready to add in a few on the bench
Ab “Burner” is an understatement! lol, Apparently I needed that, though! Thanks Gina!
[...] Monday 6/20: Workout #1 of The Fitnessista’s 2011 Summer Shape Up, found here. [...]
[...] but i just want to really focus on it for the rest of the summer. i think i might use gina’s summer shape up plan as a guide for meals. everything she makes looks delicious & she eats mostly vegan and gluten [...]
[...] The Fitnessista Summer Shape-up Week 1 [...]
[...] 20 minute HIIT Routine of your choice + Week #1′s workout was on tap, but a cloudless, summer sky compelled me to ditch the gym for the open road and instead [...]
[...] turned out to be a great day. and that would be an understatement. i did workout #1 from gina’s summer shape up plan which seriously kicked my butt. i started off by doing each [...]
[...] got my (holi)day started with a kick-butt workout! I’m repeating Gina’s 4-Week Summer Shape Up series this month, because I love it so, and today called for a reedick series of weight circuits [...]
Hey there,
Broken link alert: bench split squat one doesn’t work.
I’m late starting, but will. Looks awesome!!!
So I just found your blog a few days ago and even though I am not on the right timeline for these workouts I wanted to start it anyways. I did workout 1 today thinking I was in ok shape but this workout proved me wrong! While I was able to complete 3 sets of each circuit I found myself modifying several exercises. After attempting the burpee cardio blast I gave up on the blasts. Any suggestions on another move I could do instead of burpees? I am awful at them (terrible form, very few reps) Or maybe a move to work up toward being able to do a proper burpee?
welcome to the little blog!
here’s a video with different burpee options:
http://fitnessista.com/2010/12/wmow-burpees/
duh! thanks – should have noticed that in the workout list. Cardio was good today – very sore from yesterday so looking forward to yoga tomorrow
[...] bulb” of inspiration and have decided that I’m going to do Fitnessista’s 2011 summer shape up. I know I’m a little behind on the times, but I figure…why not? There has to be some [...]