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 was going to leave a comment with feedback anyway, but now the giveaway is just a double whammy. I am pretty much obsessed with Winter Shape Up. I think I mentioned this in a previous post but I started reading your blog just after Summer Shape Up ended in 2012, so this is the first time I’ve been around for a shape up. The workouts and tips and motivations (and prizes) were all awesome. So easy to understand and I am so grateful that they were free. I am a HUGE fan of the printables so I don’t have to scribble down all the moves and notes about form. I also really loved how you provided a schedule, rather than just throwing 4 workouts at us, it made everything seem so doable.
And I already follow you on Pinterest, hope that counts!
I didn’t rock the Winter Shape Up as much as I had hoped to, but I found that it did help me re-focus my eats, which was really helpful post-holiday.
Perhaps for a future shape-up, create an at-home workout? I was happy that I was able to do the workouts at home since I have hand weights, but I know Jamie Eason’s LiveFit has an “emergency” at-home workout, so maybe something like that? I’ve never actually looked at hers, so I’m not sure if it utilizes weights, or is strictly body weight, but it was just a thought 🙂
I honestly loved everything about the workouts! It was surprising to me that the first week of workouts didn’t take too long and and after completing day 1 I didn’t think I would be sore at all – boy was I wrong! I also loved the “strong superman” move in workout #2. The only thing that I didn’t “like” was that the picture of the 3rd workout couldn’t be expanded. 😀 I can’t wait for the summer shape up!
I am following you on Pinterest!
Congratulations to China. What a great story.
Also, I really loved Winter Shape Up. It got me to strengthen muscles I didn’t know I had. As someone who focuses primarily on running when working out, and overlooking weights/strength training, you helped me round out my workouts and I feel much stronger now.
The one thing I would recommend is explaining the supplemental exercises that go along with the WSU numbered workouts early on. For some of them I needed to be at the gym on an exercise machine vs. exercising in my living room, but I hadn’t really planned for that, so I sort of modified accordingly (which really wasn’t the end of the world). It’s entirely possible that I didn’t read it carefully, but it would have been easier to have it spelled out so that I could quickly glance at the workout schedule during a busy day and plan ahead. Thank you so much for putting this all together. At the risk of sounding cheesy, I feel like a better person. 🙂
I loved the winter shape up, it was great learning new exercises which I can incorporate into my every days workouts!
I follow you on Pinterest!
Hi Gina,
Love your blog and all the workouts. I liked your winter shape up. I absolutely loved your September HIIT for some reason. I like to bang out all the cardio via treadmill because its fast and the sucking is over with quick. So my only (and selfish) suggestion would be more treadmill stuff! Otherwise I thought it was great. I love all those bras, super cute.
I am already a big fan/follower via Pinterest.
Sarah
Following you now on Pinterest. Nice pins. Hehe.
I already follow you on Pinterest!
I have loved the WSU! (just like I’ve loved all of the other shape-ups haha!) Hmm anything to improve?? Gosh, i really don’t know- I’m so impressed you put all this together! How do you have the time?! I really like the printable image with text (the one you have pictured above). I don’t ever print workouts, just follow it on my phone and it’s SO MUCH EASIER than a video! 🙂 Although I do love to shake my booty with your zumba vids!! 🙂
I didn’t follow the WSU exercises because I crossfit 5-6 days a week and don’t have time for much else, however, I did Love your meal ideas!
I thought winter shape was perfect. The workouts were very easy to follow.
Hi Gina! I’m one of the “silent” participants in the WSU because I am a couple weeks behind! But I followed the Week 1 workout calendar last week, and Week 2 this week, and I have been loving. it. so. much. I’ll be honest, it’s a challenge for me! I’m a runner, and doing a lot of weights / intervals is just not my forte, but it has been amazing to see how much stronger I have gotten in just two weeks. I love your positive, encouraging, balanced approach to fitness on the blog.
What I usually do with your workout images is copy and paste them into a Word document with the form cues and workout calendar for the week – that works really well for me to just print and bring to the gym! So I am great with how you post as of now, unless maybe there is a way to attach a document with everything combined for those who want to do the same?
That sports bra looks amazing – I love VSX sports bras but am always on the lookout for something new!
Keep up the GREAT work on the blog; you are so appreciated and admired! Thanks 🙂
Loved the workouts and videos! They were killer and I lost about 4 pounds! Loved how different they were because I get bored easily….now i do jump rope HIIT all the time. Love doing it while I’m watching tv!
Follow you on pinterest!
I loved winter shape up! It is the first time I have participated and it really helped me to stay focused and push myself. I really liked the meal ideas you suggested and it also got me thinking more about adding protein to every meal and snack, which helped me to add a protein snack in the afternoon and eliminate the need for that afternoon coffee. Thanks!! I don’t really have any improvement suggestions…maybe giving a specific HIIT routine or ideas for different moves?
I’m following you on Pinterest!
I just followed you on Pinterest, too! Cute boards!
I loved the Winter Shape up. I especially loved during week 2 when you did the video showing the moves, but I also liked having the printable version with just some pictures of you doing the moves. I’d love if somehow your printable version had a line/space for me to write down #of reps I could do (sometimes I couldn’t do the whole amount) or pounds.
I loved the variety. I hated all the lower body stuff but definitely felt myself getting stronger 🙂 And an added benefit was that I noticed an increase in strength during some vinyasa flow classes this weekend. Thanks so much for putting it together!
I loosely followed winter shape-up–didn’t do all of the cardio workouts each week because life got busy and I have other cardio classes I like to take, but I am proud to say I did the strength workouts at least twice in their respective weeks, if not three! Strength training is always difficult for me because I am at a loss for what to do, so I loved having it all spelled out for me and that it changed each week.
I think my favorite way to receive the workouts is when you have the images along with the text (like the one in this post). It’s nice to have the images for form checks! Thanks so much for putting this all together! 🙂
I don’t think anything really needed to change this time around. I’ve followed you for a long time and actually participated for the first two weeks! Then my kids, husband, and I all got sick. I’m planning on starting week three once I can hit the gym again regularly. I modified moves or changed them if necessary for my particular needs.
I enjoyed working out and the only thing I couldn’t do was jumping lunges. I’m scared of them due to past knee issues…
If I made any kind of suggestion it’d be cool to have an accompanying diet challenge for each week (I.e. drink more water, focus on greens, etc.) you did more or less do that with the diet slogan for the WSU though. I enjoyed it! It’s an invaluable FREE resource which I appreciate. Thank you so much or that!
And I follow you on Pinterest!
I just started following all your pinterest boards!
I’ve been reading fitnessista for about a year and a half but this was the first time I’ve ever participated in the shape up workouts.
I think the only thing I would change is the videos. I’m very new to fitness so I need help with form cues, so sometimes I would do the circuit and a move wouldn’t hurt like I knew it should but I couldn’t figure out what I needed to do it properly. I loved when you did the video but wished that you had been talking and giving form cues on how to do the moves first. Other than that- wouldn’t change a thing! The plan definitely helped me get into the habit of working out– something I’ve had a ton of trouble with over the years. Thank you!
i did not follow along- only because I am already involved in a local gym that does really similar workouts to what you post (i do 2 HIIT classes a week, 2-3 weight lifting, and 1 easy cardio- jogging or walking on my own).
wsu was all good except I skipped some of the trickier ab exercises for lack of knowing how to do them.
also, I follow you on twitter.
i just followed you on pinterest!
I started following you after week 1 of the shape up. I saw a comment in the comment section on PBFingers and decided to check it out. Being new and a week behind I found everything confusing. The picture workouts I like though and I have printed out a few to keep with me when I go to the gym. Maybe next time I’ll get my stuff together and follow along.
Followed you on pinterest!
I need a new workout bra mine is all crazy looking after the color run!
Hey! I love your website and making your recipes and doing your work-outs! I have a question…I’ve been wanting to buy a juicer and wanted to know what brand you have and whether you like it?
Thanks!
I think Winter Shape Up is awesome as is and I love that you want your readers as involved as possible!
I follow you on Pinterest too 🙂
I think winter shape up was great! Suggestions for next time would be to maybe do a advanced workout and a beginner workout since everyone has different fitness levels. Other than that it’s great! I can’t wait until the next one!
I really liked the workouts and the picture format. I would’ve liked a little more clarity on the prize awarding at the beginning. I moved the WSU workouts around to fit my running schedule not knowing prizes were daily instead of weekly so I missed a couple of giveaways because I hadn’t gotten to that part of the schedule yet. I was super bummed about the watch.
Follow you on Pinterest!
I loved how there were no exercises/combos that haven’t been mentioned before. I also like the variety within the week!
Already follow on Pinterest!
Hi Gina! I did try some of the WSU workouts and meal ideas. I *loved* the Lacey Stone workout–I found it left me the right amount of sore all over the next day, so it was a really challenging, balanced workout. I also realllly loved the stairmaster workout. I will be using both of those to supplement my fitness regime for a long time! The reason why I didn’t follow your calendar specifically and do all the WSU workouts is just because I have several activities that I really love to do, and wasn’t willing to substitute them out (such as bikram and strength class at my gym). BUT I did use your calendar as a guide for how often to workout, and to help me be sure I wasn’t working the same muscle group two days in a row. I did love following your and other readers’ entries though! The only thing I felt was missing at times was a video demonstration of certain moves (specifically, I’m thinking of the plie-squat-deadlift, I think in week one or two). It would have been helpful to see how you maneuvered that one. You do a great job of providing modifications to make the workout moves more or less intense. 🙂 Anyway, I love your blog, I read it every day, and feel that thanks to this WSU, I will be fitter with the addition of the Lacey Stone and stairmaster workouts!
I loved the winter shape up! I would like to see more at home workouts that include just body weight next year!
Follow you on Pinterest
Also, I’m now following you on pinterest 🙂
I love having the different exercises (especially body weight) to remind me to really challenge my muscles with different exercises!
Thanks so much for creating such an amazing shape up this year, Gina! I had so much fun with it 🙂 My only suggestion would be to maybe go a little easier with the first week’s workout, as my legs were DYING having to do so many squats at once and it was hard for me to keep up with Workout 1 the rest of the week. Other than that, I had so much fun with the program!!! Excited to see what’s to come 🙂
I follow you on Pinterest 🙂
Hi Gina! I’m entering for/with my sister Ilene!
I didn’t participate this time because I was in the middle the New Rules of Lifting for Women program but I’m already lookin forward to the summer shape up and enjoyed reading the WSU posts!
Followed you on Pinterest!