Winter Shape Up Recap + finale giveaway
Hi friends! It’s about that time: we have 2 full days left of Winter Shape Up! Make sure to end it with a BANG, mmm k?
Before I share some of my thoughts on this year’s WSU, I want to announce the winner of the BodyMedia fit giveaway! I got over 200 entries -and am in the process of writing back to all of them- and in addition to being fun reads, they were so heartfelt and motivational. I especially loved your personal fitness stories and funny pictures- some had me cracking up, and others made me look for the ninja cutting onions in here.
I loved putting the program together, and you’re the ones who rocked it out 🙂
Congratulations to China, who will be getting a Bodymedia Fit to track her progress and goals from now on.
Here’s what she sent in:
I’ve been reading your blog for a few years now (discovered it in 2010, and quickly went through and read all the archives), but this is the first year I’ve participated in a shape-up (or any of your workouts, really). I have some autoimmune health issues and exercise-induced asthma, which can make it pretty challenging for me to exercise at times. I got used to feeling slow, heavy and sick, and over time, I convinced myself that I didn’t have the strength and stamina for “hard” workouts. Even though I’m a health enthusiast, I thought that I had extreme limitations. I thought my future was to be sick, overweight and strolling on the treadmill for the rest of my life.
However, I’m really trying to bring about positive change in 2013, so this year I decided to go for it. When you announced the WSU, I told myself to just try it and see what happened. To my surprise, I’ve been able to keep up (even though I had to take an extra day off in week 3 to recover from illness) and I’m showing definite signs of improvement. My weight hasn’t really changed, but I’ve gone down to the last notch on my belt, my abs look flatter, and lunges don’t hurt quite as much as they used to. Overall, I’m feeling a lot better. There’s even been a totally unexpected benefit: my skin looks clearer and more glowy than ever. I think it’s because of all the hardcore sweating!
So, thank you, Gina. Not only for creating this amazing plan, but for giving me the confidence to try it and prove to myself that I’m far more capable than I ever thought. I can’t wait to see what week 4 brings! 🙂
She also sent in a pic from each week of the challenge:
Congrats, China! Send me an email and we’ll get your prize on the way <3
HUGE thanks again to all of the companies who participated in the giveaways:
and thank you so very much to mah girl and trainer inspiration Lacey Stone for hooking us up with a killer week 3 workout. Be sure to check out her app on iTunes if you’d like to see more from her- she’ll make your muscles cry tears of happiness and sadness.
Some WSU thoughts:
-Your comments/tweets and Instragram pics were by far my favorite part of the challenge. I always love to see what you’re up to- please keep checking in even after the Shape Up is over! It will be a good habit when Summer Shape Up comes around and I’m just not ready for #eatlikeaPRO to die, mmm k? 😉
-I LOVED the giveaways. It was so much fun to post them for extra boosts of motivation and is definitely something I’ll plan for next time. Summer Shape Up will coincide with my 5 year blogiversay, so the giveaways will be pretty legendary. Buckle up!
-It’s always tricky for me to find the best method to post the workouts. Video, printable image, text image, form cues…it’s a lot of info to deliver in a concise and organized manner. I just wish we could all rent out a gym in cyberspace and work out each morning. They would have childcare and time would freeze for an hour while we got in our sweat session. Sound good? If you have any preferences or ideas for next time, I’d love to hear them!
[Yay or nay?]
-All in all, I think this WSU was a huge success because you all worked so hard, cheered each other along the way, and made WSU so amazing <3 It was an honor to watch and shake my pom-pons (and my bom-bom) from the sidelines. Keep up everything you’ve done and remember than a ball in motion stays in motion. You’ve already completed the most challenging part by getting started, so just keep going. I’ll keep the workouts, meal ideas and recipes going, too.
For our last giveaway, Champion generously offered 25 of their Show Off Bras:
Beautiful spring colors, with a comfy and supportive design.
25 lucky readers will each get a Show Off Bra in a size of their choice. I think we all know that an awesome sports bra can make or break a workout. I still cringe thinking about that one time (only time) I tried to run in underwire.
Here’s how to enter:
-Leave a comment with some Winter Shape Up feedback so I can make it even better next time around! What did you like/dislike? Any ideas or changes you’d like to see? If you didn’t follow along, what was your reason?
-Follow me on Pinterest for an extra entry – leave an extra comment to let me know
-Have a friend enter for you. If that entry is one of the random winners, you’ll both be included in the 25 prizes
I’m closing the computer for study time, so if your comment doesn’t show up right away, I’ll approve any first-time comments in the morning!
I hope you loved WSU as much as I did <3
xoxo
Gina
534 Comments
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I loved the WSU; initially, the workouts were a little intimidating to me, but luckily they got easier as the time went on! 🙂 Thanks!
Thanks again for WSU, it’s been fun! I love the printable image, it’s the perfect combo of seeing enough of the exercise to know what it is (or realize I don’t and go look it up) and getting all the pertinent info in a way that doesn’t disturb my co-workers 🙂
I loooooved your winter shape up! You definitely keep workouts interesting, challenging, and fun. The only thing I didn’t really like was I felt confused at times on which blog posts I needed to comment on to check back in on and be entered for prizes.
I didn’t follow along because I’m focusing on building a base for marathon training. This was the first Shape Up series I’ve been around for and will definitely participate the next time my fitness goals allow it. It looked like a lot of fun and super easy to follow along with.
Followed you on Pinterest!
I follow you on Pinterest
I loved the workouts! They were a great change to my normal routine. They challenged me and got me excited to try something new!
I love this. What I really liked is to be able to watch the videos when I don’t know some of the moves or aren’t sure if I’m doing them correctly.
I loved WSU! It’s the first time I participated, but it definitely helped keep me motivated. I have always done different classes and worked out consistently but this helped add some structure to my workouts and change it up for my body.
Thank you!
I like the pictures with the comments written beside it like you show in this post, that is the best!
And that small sequence you posted (exercises 4, 5, 6) is awesome, I did it for my workout this past Wednesday (along with other exercises too) and it is very good for the core!
Your blog is amazing Gina, it is complete in all senses, one of the best for sure! Love the winter shape-up, and all the exercise tips and ideas you always share with us!
Ana
I didn’t do the WSU because I thought I might be pregnant! Turns out I was wrong but I am still nervous about pushing myself to the extreme with HIIT training….
Thanks for hosting this giveaway!
I think you did a great job at putting this all together. I think more videos would definitely be helpful – especially in making sure our form is right. There have been times I’ve been in Pump that I don’t feel the burn like I know I should – so I feel like I’m doing the moves wrong and I don’t know how to “check” for proper form.
I really enjoy whenever you post workouts or a workout series; I always pick up a few new moves for the gym. I think everything was great (and frankly, you are providing an extremely useful and otherwise pricey service to people for free); the only thing that was confusing was the comments for giveaways and which post you should be leaving the comment on to enter.
Loved it! This was my first time doing WSU and I absolutely loved it. It was so much fun waiting for you to post the meal plans and workouts and looking at other readers comments. It was all so motivating and the giveaways and surprise guest made it extra motivating. I loved learning new strength moves as well as some new cardio options. You definitely kept it interesting. The workouts were hard work but we made it!
Thank you for posting meal plans and workouts ahead of time for us NE friends and those that wake up for an early gym workout like myself.
I liked both the videos and pics but if I had to pick one it would be the videos which helped make sure I understood the workout/form correctly. I love your WIAW posts and think it would be helpful to have included some of those with the meal plan ideas.
The one thing I found difficult was finding out where to check in on some days.
Overall I absolutely loved it an am so excited to follow your SSU plan! 🙂
A big thank you to you Gina for all the hard work that went into this for us and I would love to join you in the cyberspace gym…that would be awesome!
I follow you on Pinterest
Like you on Pinterest!
Loved WSU 2013!! The photo examples of the workouts were great and much needed. I also really liked when you put the text version of the moves, too. That way i could learn the moves with the pictures but print out the text to take to the gym. Thanks for everything!
Also, I follow you on Pinterest (and happily waste many hours looking at your pins!)
I loved following your Winter Shape Up! It was seriously awesome to get some extra motivation and support from everybody. I got to try some new moves, which my muscles hated (in the best way possible!). I also really enjoyed the videos you made and the visuals as well. I could tell that you put a lot of thought and effort into designing the series, and that made me want to participate even more! Thanks for all that you do.. love your blog so much, and I’m already looking forward to your Summer Shape Up!
I loved the workouts Gina! I think you did an amazing job in conveying how were the moves performed both in the images and the videos. I am following the WSU, I’m just a week behind u.u But I will finish it, because I can feel the improvements, my core definitely feels stronger, and I can actually do a pushup now! Something I never thought I would be able to do because of my chicken arms XD
So, thanks a lot for this initiative, I hope that you do a Summer Shape Up =D
I really like how you break everything down and explain things clearly!
I follow you on pinterest!
The WSU was great motivation for me to try something new. I didn’t always follow the exact plan, but it did make me step outside my comfort zone into a new weight routine. I love the videos for this reason as well– new information in a convenient format. Thanks, Gina!
And I follow you on Pinterest =)
I didnt join in this time since I only have a little time to workout and decided to work on running for the past few weeks. I still havent perfected incorporating strength training with cardio. It is going to happen one of these days!! I ran in a cotton sports bra and it was terrible. I realized I need to get rid of all the cotton ones and look for sweat wicking ones. This could be the first new addition!
I loved the versatility of it. Also, knowing how much time and effort you put into it made it hard for me to skip workouts. Even if I haven’t sent in any pictures (damn you, grad school!), I really enjoyed WSU. You did a wonderful job at putting everything together, and the Sat/Sun plans for the week were the best thing that could happen to my little scatterbrained self.
I was confused by the check-in, whether they were supposed to be on the intro to WSU post or each day’s post. It would be great if everything could be sent out via email, too!
I truly appreciate all time and effort you put into the WSU. I started out following the plan but then life got in the way. So, I did the best I could and added the work outs when time allowed. As a regular 5-6 day gym gal, I tend to get stuck in a rut. This really helped me shake it up some. I am planning to continue to choose at least one workout a week to incorporate one of the workouts. I like the printable text the best. I find the videos helpful, but not as easy to take with me to the gym.
I love the interval workouts. I have been doing the stairmaster interval and the hill interval. LOVE THESE! I would like to see more of these workouts. Once again, I get stuck doing the same cardio every week and these really helped me change it up.
Also, really like the meal plan suggestions. These are great to add variety to the weekly meals!
Thanks for all your hard work!
I follow you on Pinterest!
I love every time you do a shape up series! My work shedule usually keeps me extremely busy this time of year but not this year! I loved being able to follow the winter shape up to get my 2013 exercise goals off to a good start! the printable images with cues were the easiest to follow and great to be able to take to the gym. My only suggestion would be providing some alternatives to the various cardio exercises or daily workouts for completing them at home. The gym can be SO CRAZY FULL with people, it’s nice to know the workout can be completed at home if needed – I found most of these easy to adjust but some were a bit harder than others. But overall – AMAZING AND CHALLENGING series!
following you on pinterest!
I didn’t follow this year because everything looked to hard to me! I’m still trying to keep consistent with 3-4 days of exercise, so it seemed like if I tried to ramp up too fast and participate, I’d burn out. After reading China’s story, I realize this was probably mostly just due to fear, and that I just need to get the courage to go for it, even if it’s hard, even if I’m scared, even if it’s something I’ve never done before.
I don’t really have anything negative to say about WSU at all! This was very motivational and got me back into working out! I love that you post meal ideas and grocery ideas. You are a HUGE inspiration!! Thanks Gina!
I looooove the workouts! Pictures and videos help the most 🙂
I follow you on pinterest!
Also, following you on Pinterest!
I followed you on Pinterest! 🙂
I loved the meal plan ideas to go with the workouts!
Following you on Pinterest!
Loved all of the recipe options you provided!
Great program! I love how you break everything down and offer pics to explain the different views. Well done!! 🙂
I love the workouts. The videos and pictures were particularly helpful! The WSU was really great in getting me out of an exercise rut.
I follow you on Pinterest! (http://pinterest.com/nicolealexandra/)
Also, FYI, your Pinterest button on the right side of your site isn’t working! It goes to your RSS feed and not Pinterest.
good to know- we’ll fix it! thank you
I follow you on pinterest!
I LOVE your food/meal ideas as much as I love your workout plan Gina —- I don’t use everything, but every week I incorporate some of your meals & snacks into my meal plan!
Hi Gina,
I really really enjoyed the WSU. I was needing a way to get out of the everyday torture from the dreadmill and to challenge myself. I feel stronger already and I will continue to use strength training along with my cardio from now on. I liked when you included videos if there were some moves I was unsure of how to properly do. I liked being able to pin the photos of the workouts so for future reference I have them all together to choose from and sometimes it wouldn’t allow me to pin the picture I wanted from your “pin” button. Maybe it’s something I’m doing wrong though. I really appreciate you taking the time to plan this WSU for us! Thanks! See you next time.
And of course I follow you on Pinterest 🙂
Making the workouts printable is really helpful for me as well as your videos.
This was a great WSU!
Thanks so much Gina!!
now following you on pinterest!
i love the workouts you posted and appreciate all the time you put in to putting this together! personally, i like the way you posted the exercise as well as pictures showing how to do it. i also like when you do both that and then a simpler list with just the actual exercises (easier to print out sometimes). 🙂 cant wait for summer shape up!