Winter Shape Up 2018
It’s the most wonderful time of the year: Winter Shape Up is HERE!
Welcome to Winter Shape Up 2018: a perfect chance to find some new motivation and consistency, revamp your fitness routine, thrive from healthy eats, and revitalize your love for healthy living. Whether you’re looking to achieve a fitness, fat loss, lifestyle, or energy goal, hopefully this plan will provide you with steps, ideas and inspiration along the way.
For the friends who are new to Winter Shape Up, here’s how it works:
– I’ve been doing the Shape Up plans on my blog for years as a way to share free fitness and meal plans with my readers. My friend Anne will often join hop in to share her expertise as an RD, but since she has a brand-new baby, she’s not able to join us this year. I’m sharing some of my favorite healthy meal ideas for the 4 weeks, and my good friend Katie (we taught together in Tucson and she’s a powerhouse Pilates instructor!) filmed the workout videos with me.
For the next 4 weeks, you’ll get workout plans, meal ideas, and group motivation through our Facebook group. All totally free, just for you. 🙂
While you can follow these exactly as suggested, remember that these are just suggestions; they can always be adjusted or modified to suit your personal needs and schedule. If you have a class that you like to do each week at the gym, by all means keep it in, but just remember not to do the same type of workout on consecutive days. For example, I wouldn’t take a hardcore bootcamp class the day after Workout 1, and avoid strength training the same muscle group two days in a row. If you need help shuffling things around, please hit me up in the comments, message me on Instagram, or tweet me @fitnessista
Your 4 week focus:
-Visualize a goal. What’s your intention behind Winter Shape Up? Looking to shake up your routine? Burn fat? Get stronger? Write down what you’d like to accomplish and remind yourself daily for the next 4 weeks. If you made an inspiration board, this is a great time to update it and check it regularly! If you’re looking for fat loss/muscle gain, I highly recommend a body fat assessment towards the beginning of the Shape Up, or take some pics and measurements so you can gauge progress. Keep in mind: this isn’t a weight loss plan. While weight loss may be the result of changing up your routine and implementing new diet or fitness strategies, remember that weight is a poor indication of overall health and body composition. Focus on foods and habits that will encourage fat loss and encourage lean muscle retention/building if that’s your overall goal. All in all, use strength, energy levels, and confidence as some mental success meters. <3
-Nutrition. Eat like a PRO: meaning you’re going to emphasize PROtein and PROduce. We have a variety of delicious, healthy and satisfying recipes in the meal plan with vegan and gluten-free options. Mix and match to suit your unique needs.
-Consistency. The greatest way to achieve a new fitness or health goal is consistency. Stick with it and remember that the little things definitely add up! Be gentle with yourself throughout the challenge, and endeavor to be consistent in your actions to achieve your personal goal for the 4 weeks.
-Be a cheerleader for yourself and other Winter Shape Up participants. Make sure to check in each morning with your workout, pics of your healthy eats and to cheer each other on! The comments are a great option (which is how you’ll enter the giveaways), or if you’d like to tweet/Instagram, use the hashtag #wintershapeup and tag us @fitnessista @katiesurridgepilates
We also have a private Facebook group with lovely supportive, active members. Check it out here!
The Winter Shape Up will run from Monday, January 15 to Sunday, February 11, 2018.
Your home page will be HERE with everything as I add it this week (workouts, meal ideas, etc). You have 7 all-new workouts and those will be posted on the blog this week. They will also show up on the homepage. It’s going to RAIN DOWN fitness posts for the next 7 days.
More details and FAQs are below!
How do I enter the giveaways?
We’ll have one giveaway running each week. For the first one from Sunbasket, head to the bottom of this post!
How do I keep track of all of the info?
THIS PAGE is your home base (<— click here) for ALL things Winter Shape Up-related. Each week’s meal ideas and workouts, plus any giveaways will all be linked here. If you’re joining in, keep this page in a safe place (bookmark it, Pin it, keep it in your pocket) so that you can easily access all of the info. I’ll also add a widget to the top of the blog (on the upper right side bar) so you can easily click and access the info.
A printable PDF with all of the meal ideas + full workout calendar can be found here
Links to all of your meal ideas are here
For your steady state workouts, you’ll do anything you enjoy that will keep your heart rate up. This can be dancing, running, walking, Stairclimbing, rowing, kickboxing, spinning, etc. For your HIIT workouts, you can do 30 seconds rest and 30 seconds of work (intense effort: plyometrics or sprinting/incline walking). For more ideas, check out the fitness page.
A special thanks to our Winter Shape Up sponsors, who will be providing amazing giveaways along the way:
Sun Basket // Lorissa’s Kitchen // Primo Water
This week’s featured sponsor is Sun Basket! This link gets you 50% off their Family Plan and this one gets you $35 off your first order.
We have been using Sun Basket for over a year, and I’ve always been blown away by how fresh and healthy everything tastes. They use a lot of bright citrus and aromatics, and even though the meals are “clean,” they’re never boring. I feel like I’ve learned a lot of cooking strategies from using Sun Basket (like how to make BOMB healthy sauces and flavor cauliflower rice) and the girls go crazy for the meals, too. Their serving sizes are very generous, and we switch between the Classic and Family plan.
A little bit about Sun Basket:
– You can customize your meals to fit your dietary and serving size needs. The recipes are healthy and totally delicious. You can choose between Paleo, Lean & Clean, Gluten-free, Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Mediterranean and Family. We usually roll with the Paleo and Gluten-free options. Everything we’ve tried has tasted like something *special* and encourages us to get a lot of fresh produce and protein at dinner. You can choose any of the recipes you like regardless of your meal plan. (The Classic Plan has 18 to choose from, and the Family Plan has 6 each week.)
– You receive all of the ingredients to make your meals, pre-measured and portioned, It cuts down on waste since you’re not buying unnecessary ingredients, and all of the packaging is recyclable. The ingredients are sourced from sustainable farms all over the US.
– I love that the meals are FAST. They almost never take longer than 30 minutes to put together.
1 lucky winner will receive 2 free weeks of Sunbasket meals! (1 box consisting of 3 recipes for 2 people/week)
Here’s how to enter:
Leave a comment below EACH TIME you complete a workout this week! That’s right, you have multiple chances to win and today counts as a freebie since the plan doesn’t officially begin until tomorrow. It doesn’t have to be a WSU workout! Anything you did to get in a sweat that day works.
Bonus entry: Comment on this Instagram video and tag a friend to join in
Bonus entry: Instagram a sweaty workout pic, and be sure to tag me (@fitnessista #wintershapeup)
Let’s get this party started! Are you joining in the fun?
xoxo
Gina
A huge “thank you” to the talented team who helped me put this year’s WSU together:
Laura, who works with me on behind-the-scenes blog tasks. She helped with a lot of the prep for WSU!
Katy, for helping me keep everything organized with our landing page
Katie: my partner in sweat for the videos. She leads an incredible Pilates video just for you!
Julia at Luminous Lines for the gorgeous designs
Grant Hunker for filming and editing and being a video wizard
Location: BreakOut Studios Tucson
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Did workout 3 and 4, and holy burning arms! Twice through was enough for me!
Seem to have cleared the bug that had me down for the count yesterday (103 fever and all!!!) Workout #3 and 4 done, only had enough juice to get through 1 round of #4 (all the while dodging my golden retriever who loves to share the yoga mat, and little miss who wanted mama’s face!!)
The modifications were awesome, definitely felt some burning in my C section scar area before I started modifying. 🙂
I did workout #1 and ten minutes of incline walking yesterday. After the treadmill workout the day before, I was not about to do 15 minutes of HIIT haha! I’ll get after it this afternoon!
I took a rest day earlier in the week due to my schedule but today I’m doing a little cardio with workout 4!
did some intervals on the elliptical last night 🙂
Thursday’s workout in the books!
Since yesterday was a rest day I did workout #3 & 4 this morning. Then I tried to wash my hair… arms were burning in the shower!
just did some light 20 min cardio at the beginning of nap time…now some lunch and quick cleaning spree before my oldest gets out of school 🙂
Woo workouts 4 and 3, what a combo! And great I could do them at home because the gym is closed after about 8inches of snow yesterday here in NC
Did workout #5 on the treadmill after work today. Phew that was tough! Those 1 minute recoveries felt sooo good.
Monday was a yoga class and jogging on my lunch break
Workout #1 went down this morning and was a doozy! I definitely couldn’t keep up with you and Katie but hung out for the full 27 minutes! I’m about 3.5 months post partum and today was my first HIIT since the babe arrived!
Did 3 rounds of workout 4 followed by 30 minutes of the elliptical. Loved the killer arm workout!!
Did an easy 2.5 mile jog today. Felt good to take it slow and easy and now to get back at it tomorrow!
All nice a jiggly, thanks to workout 2 and 4! My legs are still SUPER sore from workout 1, so I’m heading straight for the epsom salt bath now!!!! 🙂 Hurts so gooooood
30 min steady state done!
Workout 3 and 4 were awesome – great stretch then arm burnout!
I loved workout 6! It was a nice change up for me.
Friday’s workout complete! Upper body strength and HIIT today.
Workout 6 in the books…going to do steadybstate at nap time
Workout #3 yesterday for “gentle.” Ready to get back at it with weights and/or cardio today!
Workout 6 and a little cardio feels good today
Thursday check in – barre class that was full (23 people – hello, January fitness)!
Friday yoga class after work…great way to transition from work to weekend.
Did workout #6 this morning! Hoping to get out for a 20 minute walk during work today.
Rushed to get workout #4 done on the treadmill at work before heading home for the day. I really love variety on the treadmill to keep it interesting and this workout was great!
did workout 6 I think it was last night 🙂
Did workout 1 again today I love it! I have done it twice now and it is a great workout! Doing workout 3 and 4 tomorrrow
Went to boot camp at my gym today, and finished with an ab burner from your youtube channel! Exhausted!
2 rounds of workout #6 done. 17k steps at work last night- yeesh!! Hope tonight is less frisky!
Rest day today! Forced rest day because it’s my long day at work… back at it tomorrow!
Workout #2 for me today!
I just finished workout #6 (two rounds of each circuit) and 20 minutes of dance cardio. Glad that’s done for today!
I’m a member at Life Time Fitness and did a Barbell extreme class. To warm up before I did 20 min of the stair mill.
Attempted to do a hiit and steady today at home, but a sweet sick baby inturupted me about 15 min in. Oh well, better than nothing right?!
A day late and a dollar short, but got workout 6 done! I like the plie squats alternating with the squat jumps. I feel like it helps me not to cheat out of a full squat.
I didn’t think a workout was going to happen but got a quick 2 miles in
Saturday is my off day. Enjoyed the sunny weather today by taking a nice, long walk with my husband. Obviously with a stop for coffee and frittata!
I truly pushed to go as fast as I could for the 30-second intervals on my seated elliptical/stepper. So my end-of-workout Steady State was a bit slower than is typical for me. I was kind of dragging after having done the HIIT.
But today’s workout is in the books. It is a workout I will return to in the future to try to improve my end-of-workout pace.
The weather here is absolutely gorgeous, atypically warm for winter. I’ll be heading out for a walk later this afternoon. I think some gentle walking will help both my mind and my body with recovery.
This has been a super souped up week of workouts. YAY for all of us! We’re working hard and getting it done.
Today I did a 20 minute HIIT-inspired yoga workout video (I liked it!) and then took about a 30 minute neighborhood walk – felt great to get some sunshine and fresh air while we can. Looking forward to a barre workout tomorrow!
Did a super hard leg workout this morning and then walked my dog for an hour!
Workout 3 went down yesterday! I can barely sit from workout 1!!!!
Got a bit delayed doing some in-home chores but I did get out for that 2nd workout — my walk outside for ~40 minutes. I went out just as the sun was setting and it was getting dark out. The walk gave me a boost of energy.
I also tried to do some HIIT during the walk but going faster and faster before slowing up and repeating….
I’m working out parts of my body that I haven’t connected with in a long while. That’s what this WSU is all about for me…re-connecting with my body, especially since my two joint surgeries. Feeling good?
Workout 6 followed by a loooong walk with my daughter who demanded she needed to pull her dolls in the wagon
Yesterday I did a PopSugar Fitness workout on youtube–I didn’t have the weights to do the upper arm burner at home!
Today I did workout #4 3x and 15 minutes of HIIT.
Did 40 minutes of HIIT and steady state at an icky hotel gym today!
Did a barre workout Friday at my studio and then workout #3 today!
Orangetheory today-it was a power day. Lots of upper body, which I love!
I worked out at the gym and carried around my 3day old nephew!