Winter Shape Up 2016
Hi friends! Happy Monday, and happy WSU!
Welcome to Winter Shape Up 2016: a perfect chance to 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. I’m so happy Anne has joined in the fun to share her expertise as a Registered Dietitian. She’s my WSU partner in crime, and we love being able to put together these plans for you all.
Each week, for the next 4 weeks, Anne and I will be posting free full workout schedules, meal plans, videos, printables and grocery lists.
While you can follow these exactly as suggested, remember that these are just suggestions; they can be 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 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 it 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 implement 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. Anne has a variety of delicious, healthy and satisfying recipes in the meal plan with vegan and gluten-free options.
-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 @fannetasticfood.
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 25 to Sunday, February 21, 2015. Here are links to all the content (this page will be updated as the new pages are published).
More details and FAQs are below!
How do I enter the giveaways?
We’ll have two giveaways running each week. Check in on each weekly post for your chance to enter! (For week 1, you’ll check in for your workouts below in the comments, and check in with your eats on Anne’s week 1 page.)
How do I keep track of all of the deliverables and info? It seems like a lot!
This page that you’re currently reading (the Intro post) will be your home base 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 this page at the top of the blog (on the upper right side bar).
A special thanks to our Winter Shape Up sponsors, who will be providing amazing giveaways along the way:
Cabot | Sabra | Sizzlefish | Pure Canadian Maple Syrup | Daily Harvest | Gluten Free Chex | Crunch Live (use code WSU30 to get a free 30-day trial. After 30 days it will roll over to a membership at $9.99, but can be canceled at any time)
This week’s featured sponsor is Daily Harvest! I’ve been obsessed with their smoothies for a while now, and am so excited to share them with two lucky winners.
A little bit about Daily Harvest:
Each blend contains a mixture of fruit, healthy fats and superfoods. Add you do is add liquid in a blender, blend it up, and enjoy! The combos are soooo delicious, and I especially love that they don’t use any added sugars or preservatives; just whole, REAL foods. You can add protein powder to the smoothies, but I find that I almost never want to do that. They taste amazing on their own, and have a great mix of greens, fruit, and energizing super foods. Everything is picked at the peak of freshness and flash frozen, and the ingredients are non-GMO and organic whenever possible. One of my favorite things about Daily Harvest is the convenience and accessibility. For example, I love maca, but it isn’t really worth it for me to have a giant bag in the pantry to sprinkle into oats and smoothies. Also, when I make a smoothie, it’s fast and furious. This makes it so much easier to put the container in the blender, add almond milk or coconut water, and blend. If the container is two servings worth, it usually works out well because my tiny smoothie bandit (Liv) will claim it as her own.
Some of the other ingredients that they use: kale, avocado, cashew butter, pink Himalayan sea salt, ginger, cacao nibs, and wheatgrass.
2 lucky Shape Up participants will each receive a 6-pack of Daily Harvest smoothies, and can choose which flavors they’d like to try.
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.
Bonus entry: Instagram a sweaty workout pic, and be sure to tag us (@fitnessista @fannetasticfood #wintershapeup)
Let’s get this party started! Are you joining in the fun?
xoxo
Gina
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I completed Workout #1 yesterday and after the first round it felt like it might be too easy. Boy was I wrong! After 3 rounds I could feel all my muscles shaking.
Instead of the steady state cardio today I plan on going to a faster paced yoga class.
Thanks for the awesome workout!
rest day for me today, back at it tomorrow!
Outdoor power walk early this morning. It’s a good day when it’s 40 degrees in January in Michigan.
Two days in a row! Made it to a Fusion class – 20 minutes cardio, 40 minutes strength/barre.
I did workout #1 3x this morning, along with 10 minutes on the stairclimber & 15 minutes on the treadmill.
Did Total Body Hammer from Hammer and Chisel this morning! I always feel better when I get it done!
I took a Body Pump class last night.
I’m recovering from a crazy weekend, so I walked for 5 miles. Looking forward to the gym and some lower body strength training with my guy tonight though!
I had a awesome power run this morning before I had to go to work!!
I did 35 minutes on my bike stand at home this morning and I think my sitz bones and hopefully other areas are going to be a little sore tomorrow!
I did workout 1 yesterday, and it was a great level of challenge for me. Today I’m going to check out crunch live
I did workout #1 today doing all three rounds!! I cranked up the tunes and got to sweating. It was great!
Steady state complete! I had to break it up into 2 sessions to accommodate nap time, but I got it in!
Completed workout#1 last night and after some time off from strength, it was great! Pumped for today’s gym time.
No time for the gym today, but busted out a 20 minute bodyweight workout in my office between meetings. 3 rounds of:
10 pushups
30 sec plank
30 squats
30 alternating lunges
50 jumping jacks
30 tricep dips
60 sec wallsit
Workout 1 this morning! LOVE this workout!
Monday I did work out #1 and sweat my face off! It was great.
Tuesday: no steady state for me, but taught an early morning body pump class! Love my 7am crew.
I ended up doing steady state yesterday and completed 3 rounds of workout 1 today – yay!
Monday, I did a strength workout from a power lifting program I’m following. Boom got down with dem squats! Today, for cardio, I took a Hip Hop Step Fitness class. So much sweaty fun!
I loved workout one! It was a great blend of strength and HIIT to make me feel really accomplished during my lunch break!
I did workout #1 x3 yesterday. I was out of town, but had my 40 oz. Hydroflask as a weight – better than nothing!
I did a 45-minute Ballet Cardio workout on YouTube. 2 for 2 so far!
Switched the week around, did Barre this morning…. I’m sore!
Completed workout #1 yesterday and today I did a 45 minute BOSU cardio workout 🙂
45 spin!! Plus some barre and core work 🙂
Steady state day – Turbofire’s Fire 45 for me today! I was toast by the end of it.
Did workout 1 after work yesterday. Looked through it and thought, this should be okay. I was sweating off of my forehead and into my nose. Loved every second.
Got today taken care of with a walk and 40 flights of stairs over lunch! Feels so good to get a mid-day refresher in. Tonight is a bonus with Bodyworks with a friend!
lunchtime zumba and walk to and from the gym
I just finished Day 2!! Yay!!
T25 alpha cardio done! Again, I’m a sweaty mess with jello legs. woohoo!!
Yesterday was thirty minutes of moderate yoga, and today will be some steady cardio and then a Body Pump class. Can’t wait to try WO#1. It’s getting some good reviews in these comments.
Completed today’s 45 minute steady state cardio with a run on the beach! Also did a 60-minute barre class after plus stretching!!
Did my 45 minutes of steady state cardio – 2 miles on the treadmill and then the exercise bike.
Yesterday I did workout #1 with a few modifications since I am 8.5 months pregnant but still got in a good workout!
I did a crossfit wod last night!
Yep – I’m sore from workout 1 yesterday! Ran 5 miles at an easy pace for steady state cardio today. Busy day tomorrow but hoping to fit the barre workouts in!
I’m running a day behind! Finished Workout #1 and HIIT! Second workout since having my sweet baby. Phew was it rough! 🙂
Even with the snow I was able to pump out a workout for the steady state. I did a cardio dance video (20 min) and a kickboxing video (30 min) and sweated a whole bunch.
I had to shuffle my schedule a bit, so I had my appointment with my personal trainer today (strength) and tonight I am taking a zumba class for my steady state!
I did a kickboxing workout and total body weights today…felt good to punch things!
Cardio day!
Steady state today was a two mile run + a 15 minute walk. This was my first run after a month long break–felt great to get back into it!!
Got in the workout today!
I did an upper body strength set today!
Completed workout 1 today in 28 min. Great effective workout for busy working moms. I like Nikki’s suggestion for an office workout below, too. Just discovered your blog about a month ago and am really enjoying your tips!
Did 45 minutes of steady state dancin’ today!!
Today was Bodypump! I am loving the new release!
Got in two rounds of each barre workout! Loved those muscle shakes!