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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Checking in. Workout #3 completed! Why, lunges; I hate lunges! Lol
checking in: my workout for Tuesday was finishing the last of the snow shoveling in my driveway.
checking in again: my workout yesterday (Wednesday) was a barre class. hurts so good!
Still moving! Love it!
So sore from the barre burner yesterday. Ooph.
Thanks!
Checking in. Run today
Starting a vacation today- but taking ALL the stairs at the aiport. No escalators!
Ran for 25 min outside then did 2x HIIT from Tuesday
I did Les Mills Sprint today! yikes.
Today is a rest day for me! Just normal daily activity but no planned exercise
I did workout #1 today since I missed it on Monday. It definitely got my heart rate up!
Active rest day today!
Rest Day! Just planning to take the dogs for a short walk if the ice melts.
Checking in with a yoga class!!
So sore today! I can really feel it in my legs!
Check In: Strength training today!
BodyPump this morning!
3.5 mile run last night outside since it was *warm* in Minnesota at 39 degrees! 🙂
Enjoying my ‘off’ day by student teaching yoga tonight! Wish me luck! 😀
Power yoga class this morning. 🙂
Check in for yesterday – power intervals class. On Tuesday we focused on shoulders. Yesterday we focused on butt, hamstrings, and back. I’ll check in again later this evening for today. 🙂
Today was a crazy good cycle and strength class! Sweeaty
I had a killer workout today with my training group – all viper. Gina, you should do a post on using the viper at the gym – my arms are still buzzing! Also – how did you do your crockpot chicken? It looked amazing 🙂
Had an active rest day today with a 3.7 mile beach walk! And some yoga afterwards.
Woo rest day! Still stayed active by taking the pup on 2 two mile walks 🙂 Will do some abs and stretching tonight. Still feeling a little sore from the great work outs this week.
Another 3 rounds of Workout 1 today! Thanks again, Gina!
I took my off day yesterday. I am still feeling sore from Workout 1!
Today, I did the steady state workout. Getting myself ready for tomorrow’s Workout 1 repeat.
I took a fantastic spin class today. Lots of Beyonce. 😉
Thanks for promoting the benefits of physical therapy on your post ! Love my profession!
Hang in there! We need you healthy to keep US healthy;). Thanks for the passion you put in to leading us !!
thank you so much, kim! and thank you for what you do! i am so grateful to my PT friends, especially as i’m healing right now
ended up taking a total body toning class today because it’s free week at the gym! it’s a lot like bodypump!
did barre yesterday too! but i took a few breaks haha. i love barre, but it burrrrns.
Did a fairly easy run before yoga today. It was a great class!
Did my steady state yesterday on a long walk with my daughter and dogs! 🙂
Did the barre workout, and yoga, and did a massive 6 foot by 4 foot frame job so I got extra squats and upper arm workout for the day!
Enjoyed my day off today…I needed it! My legs are so sore! I did go for a two mile walk though. It felt good to move a little!
Barre workouts and a stretch session today
got in a run this morning before work, so glad because i don’t think it would happen after!
Happy Friday! workout 1 done for an early morning session!
Checking in! Just walking today, 5K tomorrow!
Forgot to check in yesterday … it was a rest day, with yoga, walking and a nice 4 km skate thrown into the mix.
Today – rocked those barre workouts. My legs were SCREAMING! Thanks, Gina!
My Thursday work out was The Dailey Method.
Just finished my second go at Workout #1!! Even better the second time around- I love it!
Did Workout #1 again this morning, 2x through for the sake of time (I need to not hit the snooze button haha). I felt stronger doing it this time than when I did it on Monday!
Completed the barre workouts today. Tough! Love that it was under an hour and still effective.
My legs were jelly after the Barre HIIT workout! AHHH! Hurts so good!
Checking in! Those decline pushups are serious! I can’t quite get to 15…yet…yet… 🙂
Wanted to follow along to some videos this morning, so I subbed in a Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred, some Blogilates PIIT and a stretching routine for a nice 35 minute workout.
I was able to do 3 rounds of Workout 1. Felt better, but was still hard!
Checking in for Workout 1 today. I busted out two rounds in 20 minutes and made time for yoga practice after. Feeling good!