Summer Shape Up 2014 Intro Post + Week 1
Summer Shape Up is finally here!
I’ve been doing Summer Shape Up since the early blog days, and it’s been so much fun to watch it evolve and grow each year. I’m so excited that you’ll be joining in with Anne and myself for the next 4 weeks to shake up your routine, share motivation with some seriously awesome ladies (and dudes!), enter fantastic giveaways, and potentially enjoy fantastic results from your hard work.
What is Summer Shape Up?
Summer Shape Up is 4 weeks of workouts and meal plans, provided for you for free from myself (a certified personal trainer and weight loss specialist) and Anne (a Registered Dietitian). The workouts are designed to be completed anywhere at any time with your own body weight and a pair of dumbbells. They contain a variety of high intensity intervals, steady state, strength training, rest and flexibility. The meal plans include whole, healthy ingredients, are easy to make ahead to enjoy during the week and are totally delicious 🙂
Here’s what Summer Shape Up is NOT: a weight loss plan.
As many of you may know, weight is not a sufficient indication of body composition. As muscle as more dense than fat, you could essentially gain weight and shrink at the same time! This is another reason why you should throw your scale in the trash can. Instead of focusing on weight, Summer Shape Up is a plan to increase strength, fitness performance, promote lean muscle growth and fat loss, and increase energy levels. The best part about a new routine and the satisfaction of achieving your goals cannot be calibrated by any scale.
Some ways to measure change:
-Photos. Take some “before” pictures. Bonus points for bad lighting and a grumbly look on your face 🙂
-Measurements. Take some measurements before getting started and take them again at the end of the challenge. (That’s right; you need to wait 4 whole weeks to do it again! There’s no point in doing it more than that.)
-Energy levels throughout the day. Hopefully you feel invigorated from your new workout routine and healthy eats! I’ve found that when I make an effort to get daily exercise and balanced eats, I tend to evade the afternoon slump.
How do you get each week’s workouts and meal plans?
The workouts will be posted here on the blog each week, and the meal plans will be on Anne’s blog. We’ll also have at least one giveaway running on each of our sites for the weeks during the challenge.
How to enter giveaways:
Make sure to check in EVERY day with your workout and meals. Check in on my blog for your fitness and on Anne’s blog for clean eats to be entered in each weekly giveaway. The more you check in, the higher your chances of winning a sweet prize! You can also check in on our Facebook group, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (#summershapeup @fitnessista @fannetasticfood)
Speaking of giveaways, let’s send some love to the amazing sponsors of Summer Shape Up:
Sabra (makers of my favorite hummus ever!)
Cherry Marketing Institute (the fruit staple of the summer)
Chex Gluten-free Oatmeal (a hearty and healthy breakfast option)
Reebok (my fave fitness apparel)
White Plum (gorgeous and affordable fashion for women + kids)
Sizzlefish (sustainable fish already portioned and delivered to your door, so you can easily cook and enjoy)
Thank you to all of our sponsors for their support with this challenge, and for supplying the amazing prizes you’ll be entered to win along to way 🙂
Time to get started!
-Get your tools together: a notebook (jot down your eats, workout, water intake and how you feel each day), a large water bottle (to tote around with your for the next four weeks), get yourself access to a pair of dumbbells and cardio of choice (running, jump rope, spinning, rowing, stairs, your choice) and join our Facebook group
-Snap some “before” pics or take measurements (right bicep, chest, narrowest part of waist, widest part of waist, right thigh, right calf)
–Join our Facebook group! It’s a great place to ask questions, share motivation, and overall, a very fun place to be 😉
-Here’s a badge to share on your blog if you’d like, too.
Summer Shape Up
Keep this post in a safe spot because it will be your home page for everything Summer Shape Up-related. I’ll update it each week with the weekly workout and meal plans. Pin in or bookmark it so you can easily check back.
Check out your Week 1 workout here. I hope you love it! The meal plan is up on Anne’s page, too!
Stay tuned for the details on our first fitness giveaway from Reebok. It will be up in the am 🙂
Are you joining in the Shape Up?
Have you done a Shape Up on the blog before or is it the first one?
What is your goal? Shout it out in the comments!
Sending lots of love and wishes for a successful 4 weeks. I’m cheering for you <3
xoxo
Gina
292 Comments
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This is my first time doing the shape up…I’m excited! As far as goals, I just want to become stronger. I lost quite a bit of weight last year & have plateau’d. I’m ready to mix it up & become more fit! 🙂
How fun! I can’t wait to follow along 🙂 It’s always fun to switch it up.
I love all of your workouts! I can’t wait to get started.
I love all your Shape Ups Gina! Looking forward to this one too!
This is my first time as well! Looking to tone up and be stronger! Can’t wait to get started!
This will be my second shape up and I am so excited to get started! Thank you for putting this all together 🙂
first time shape-uper!! I’m excited!!
I’ve signed up! Can’t wait to try some new ways to keep in shape!
keep getting stronger!!! now that we have a pup that’s a BALL of energy. i’ve been taking her running every morning. and long walks in the late evenings. my husband runs her after he gets home from work. so my cardio is taken care of! gotta keep on the weights! and this first round of workout was awesome!
I joined. I have never done this before. My goal is to get stronger! Get into something different not just what i have always done.
I’m looking to drop body fat and gain muscle!
I am looking to tone up a bit more, I am at a great point with my bulking but would like to shred it for summer! Great plan Gina keep it up! xo C
I’m excited about participating in Summer Shape Up 2014!!!
SO excited! I did WSU for the first time and loved it so much I ran through it again when we finished! Unfortunately (or fortunately haha) I am taking off to Italy for 12 days with my husband on Thursday of this week, so I won’t be participating real time, but I am looking forward to having my workout planned once I return from gelato face stuffing 🙂
Mondays are my day-before-the-rest-day, so I’m ready to kill it with Workout 1! I’ll check back in a bit with some encouragement and thoughts.
I think this is my 4th shape up? It’s always a fun way to energize my routine and add some new circuits in the mix!
I’m in!
Will be doing WO #1 tonight. Cant wait! (Although I’m pretty sure that I will be grumbling and cursing by the end lik during WSU. haha)
So excited for this Summer Shape-Up! Already started the morning with a green smoothie and a run and looking forward to Workout 1 tomorrow!
Just did the week one workout and it was killer. Bathed in sweat. Feeling so energized. This is my First SU challange as well , trying to get back in shape after having a baby
Woohoo! Looking forward to your workouts–I always love them! Now to figure out how to get them in along with my Pilates teaching schedule.
Can’t wait to try this!
went ahead and did Workout #1 today with some cardio on the rowing machine. It felt good.
This is so fun! I’ve already made Anne’s Oatmeal bars this morning and they were FABULOUS! All 3 of my kiddos loved them to boot. Thanks guys 🙂 This is going to be so much fun!!
I love all the workout ideas! Changing up my workout is something I like to do, but often lack inspiration. Your ideas help 🙂
I’m doing the summer shape up for the first time! I am excited to try some new workouts and change up my normal workout routine! I’m also looking for some healthy new food ideas! So excited!!
Tried Shape Up before , but didn’t finish! My goal this time is to get through all four weeks. Starting today 🙂
So excited! Already rocked it out this morning with a 5:30 Orangetheory LA class! What a great (albeit crazy) way to start the day 🙂 can’t wait to test out Workout 1 this week.
Yay! This is my first time! I’m excited!!!
So excited for this! Question about entering giveaways – what do you mean check in on blog each day? Leave a comment? Thanks!
yep! leave a comment 🙂
Yay! I’m so excited to participate in my THIRD Shape Up in a row! I am definitely needing it this summer.
Yay! So excited to start!!! The hubs and I just finished a 24 day challenge and were looking for something to keep us going, but not take 3 months!!!! So excited!
Just getting my head above water after having twins……need to get my fitness on!
i coach xc so i ran easy with my kids today, ready to complete the workout after practice tomorrow!!!
I always enjoy the ‘shape ups’, summer or winter. My goal is to stay strong and healthy for this growing baby inside. That means listening to my body when it needs rest, staying active, and eating as healthy as I can. 🙂
YEAH!!! day 1 workout is complete! Needed to get in some work after an indulgent weekend.
Looking forward to the next four weeks.
Can’t wait to see the roundup of workouts. I need to spice things up!
I am SO SO excited about SSU 14. Today, I completed 45 minutes of steady state cardio and SO looking forward to tomorrow’s workout. Thanks for all the hard work you and Anne put in to it.
I took a rest day yesterday, so I jumped right in with workout 1 and 25 minutes of turbofire Hiit. It was a fun sweaty time.
I love Winter Shape Up and Summer Shape Up, and can’t wait to get going! Thanks for all you do to put it together!
I’m so excited, I started this morning! I have an 8-mo old so it’s tough to get to the gym so this is perfect for me. I have also been craving sugar a lot since sleep is minimal and so I’m excited to start the food plan too. I can already feel the workout in my legs – thanks for sharing!!!
CAN NOT WAIT to do Workout #1!! I loved WSU this year, and I’m excited to do SSU :). I was in desperate need of some new workouts! YAY
I just finished Workout #1 and 20 mins of Hills, SWEATY SWEATY!
I love doing your shape ups!! I look forward to them every time. I can’t remember how many I’ve done?! At least 6 or 7. Always great…thanks a bunch for planning them for all of us 🙂
So excited today is the day. Thank you so much for planning and making these available for free – incredible! Excited to be your client 🙂 Resting up and doing some light grocery shopping today, excited for tomorrow’s workout. Hope that being home in SD is feeling great for you. Thanks again and yay!
I LOVE your shape-ups. And I love your workouts for their time efficiency and heart thumping ability…and the fact that I can easily do them in my home. Thanks for all of your work. This morning I started my week with a 6am outdoor bootcamp I’m participating in for 3 more weeks. it was about 1 hour (including warm up and cool down) of cardio and strength training intervals.
This is my first time doing a shape up challenge with you. I convinced two of my coworkers to join in as well. I’m looking forward to the next four weeks! Thank you for putting this together and keeping it free! 🙂
I did Workout #1! Felt nice and famished! Lol
I did SSU last year and it was awesome!
I’d like to shed just a few lbs.. I don’t actually weight myself, just going by how my clothes fit. I’m almost back to where I want to be, so close, and hopefully this 4 weeks will be just the push to get there!!! 🙂
First workout will be tonight before my cardio bootcamp class 🙂
So excited! I’ll be following along with the workouts as best I can. Hopefully this takes us to the end and I finish cooking baby girl nice and strong. 🙂 As always, amazing work and thanks for putting this together!
Can’t wait to do the workout tomorrow, was planning on doing it today but haven’t gotten to it yet but I’ve done all my prep work!
Just finished WO #1 followed by 20 minutes of Insanity for the hiit portion. KILLER!!! Idk if it’s just me, but this seems a million times harder than WSU. Thanks, Gina!