How to Create a Workout Plan

Hellooooooo 🙂 It’s me again 😉 Hope you’ve all had a wonderful day!

Thanks for all of the awesome feedback on the Vibrams– even from those of you who said they were goofy-looking 😀 (I totally agree that they’re funky-looking shoes!) You’ve convinced me to get a pair, but the only place to get them in Valdosta doesn’t have pink, so it looks like I’ll be picking some up in Hotlanta next week.

Tonight, I met up with some of the girls at Ichiban for sushi/hibachi.

I was still feeling kinda wonky, so I didn’t munch much.

Just a seaweed salad:

and cucumber salad:

If I feel *normal* again anytime soon, I’ll make an omelet or sumthin.

I had a blasty as usual hanging out with the girls and then came home to the crazy fur children.

So, many of ya’ll have asked me how to set up your own workout schedule now that the Summer Shape Up is over.

*Note: Yes, I am a certified personal trainer, but always check with a doc before making any changes to your fitness routine. Due to the overwhelming amount of beautiful emails I receive (which I’m still trying to catch up on- sorry, friends!), I’m unable to come up with individual training and nutrition plans, but am more than stoked to provide fitness events like the Summer Shape Up and Winter Shape Up.

Here are some tips on how to create a workout routine:

– Avoid doing the same thing two consecutive days in a row. If you’re going to do the same *mode* of workout, change something to make it different- for example, if you’re running steady state one day, do a tempo run the next. Exceptions: yoga and cardio can be done almost everyday, just try to change up what you’re doing.

–Intensities. Vary intensities from day-to-day. If you went balls to the wall yesterday, take it down a notch today. This way, you’ll be ready to go for a more intense workout tomorrow. Continuously working at a high intensity can lead to overtraining.

–Protect your legs from being overworked. Sometimes I’ll see people do a very intense long or speedy run, work their legs the next day, and then expect to run the day after that and tell me their legs are killing them. I’d do the weights on the same day as the first run, allow a day of leg rest and stretching (light yoga, pilates or swimming), then do another run the day after.

–Remember that muscles need 48-72 hours to repair and grow back leaner and stronger. If we continually tear down our muscles without allowing enough rest, they won’t get leaner. Try to weight train on non-consecutive days, or if you’re going to do weights two days in a row, avoid working the same muscle groups (Example: legs on one day, arms the next)

–Every effective workout program needs a combination of weight training, cardio and flexibility. You can do whatever you want for each type of training, but make sure to have a balance of the three to promote muscle growth and fat burning, while preventing injury.

Some examples:

*Sarah* runs three times a week, does yoga twice a week and strength trains twice a week

Sample training plan:

Su: OFF

Mon: Run + Strength training

Tues: Yoga

Wed: OFF

Thurs: Run + Strength training

Fri: Yoga

Sat: Run (long run/more challenging run)

*Jane* take BodyPump (or another weight lifting class 3x a week), spin three times a week, a 20-minute yoga podcast twice a week

Sun: Off

Mon: BodyPump

Tues: Spin

Wed: BodyPump + Yoga

Thurs: Spin

Fri: BodyPump

Sat: Spin + Yoga

*Michelle* does an at-home weightlifting/cardio DVD three times a week and walks her dogs everyday

Sun: Off

Mon: Walk dogs + DVD

Tues: Walk dogs

Wed: Walk dogs + DVD

Thurs: Walk dogs

Fri: Walk dogs + DVD

Sat: Walk dogs

Do you plan your workout schedule in advance or just go with the flow?? What’s this week looking like?

I hope this post was helpful for ya’ll! 😀

Have a lovely night <3
xoxo,

Gina

New almond butter coupon + vegan cookie winner! Was it you???? 😀

Upcoming: Yoga mat promo in the AM! Wahoo!