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 am now following you on pinterest!
The shape up has been awesome. This was my first time participating. I’m not in the greatest shape so I wasn’t able to follow exactly, but the tips and workout routine have been great!
I feel like you probably know this, but have you seen this list? http://greatist.com/health/must-read-health-fitness-blogs/# I don’t remember seeing you post about it, but it’s possible I overlooked it. Pretty cool and well deserved!
yes, thank you for sending the link! i’m very honored to have been included <3
I LOVED this shape up and will totally be integrating the workouts into the next 4 weeks! I appreciate all the different formats – especially the photos of each move and the small printables.
I also follow on Pinterest 🙂
Really enjoyed your plank workouts in the Winter Shape up! Can’t wait for bikini season! Definitely would love to try out this new bra!
I follow you on pinterest.
This was my first winter shape up and loved the format, especially the photos with brief directions. I typically keep the workout open on my tablet so the pictures and short descriptions help at a quick glance when going from one move to the next. I am planning on repeating the 4 weeks. -L
I actually thought your picture/words to describe each move for the workouts was great! The pics definitely helped to check form and I liked that it was concise.
Following on pinterest!
I wasnt able to follow because I was coaching basketball. I had to attend practices at 6AM and at 415PM…I had zero energy at the end of the day. But I am super excited to participate in the next shape up!!
Im following you on Pinterest!!
I thought everything was helpful because I am new-Ish to the workout scene.
I am following you on Pinterest!
I love, love, love the meal ideas- so helpful in planning the weekly grocery trip.
now following on pinterest 🙂
i liked all the step-by-step instructions…the pictures help show what proper form looks like.
and i’m following you on pinterest!
I absolutely loved the different formats for the WOD’s. I could watch the video and the tale the printaböe version with me. Perfect! Thanks for everything!!
I am following you on Pinterest!
I just found your blog a few weeks ago, so I didn’t participate this time. I’m super excited about the next WSU!
I loved the different WOD’s and your weekly workout schedules. The pictures you posted were helpful but I liked having the videos to make sure I was doing everything right.
I also REALLY liked having the ability to do the workouts at home with handweights. As a busy working mom I could do them whenever I had a chance.
I loved the monster circuit and the pic/description combos were super helpful and easy to follow along! Thank you for posting so many great workouts!
I follow you on Pinterest! Love your style posts!
I already follow you on pinterest! I loved the shape up, but I noticed I really slowed down in the 4th week. For some reason I lost some momentum and it felt a lot tougher to motivate myself. Of course this isn’t the winter shape up’s fault! I’m starting over again with one of the previous shape ups to mix things up, so hopefully I won’t have the same 4th week slow-down. It’s a learning process 🙂
I absolutely loved WSU. The best thing was the video and print out pictures. It was so user friendly that even my mom would team up w me and do the workouts!
I’m following you on Pinterest.
While I didn’t follow WSU this go round, I did incorporate some of them throughout the week in my already created workouts and enjoyed reading what everyone is doing. I’m excited for the summer shape up because I’ll be ready for a change in my workout plans by then & probably not regularly working out with a trainer, so thank you for continuing to share! I like having the videos to look at before working out just to make sure I know proper form, but like the printables because that is easier for me to take to our busy gym 🙂
I’m following you on Pinterest!
I liked having the videos to follow along with (loved the warm up one). Seeing someone actually do the moves really helped me in doing them myself.
As for improvements, I’d love to get more explanations on the cardio parts (intervals, hill workouts, HIIT etc.) and especially how to do them if you don’t have a treadmill or elliptical around.
I’ve slacked on the WSU the last couple of weeks (a vacation and a family emergency got in the way) but I’m gonna start WSU again. I loved your strength workouts!
I love how your workouts don’t include fancy, expensive equipment. I’m a SAHM of two and I appreciate that. 😉
I really enjoyed the WSU workouts! The only request I have is to perhaps include some tabata in there next time 🙂 Thanks, Gina!
I’m following you on Pinterest 🙂
Really enjoyed WSU. It was such a great motivator on those days I may have skipped a workout. Since I stay at home with my son right now, I almost always work out at home so a workout video where we can follow along with you would be amazing!! It’s awesome to workout with someone especially so you know you are doing all the moves correctly.
I loved the workout lengths and moves! I hate long workouts
Being able to link the monthly calendar to its corresponding workouts would be great!
I haven’t commented a lot before, but i wanted to say that I LOVED WSU!! It makes it so much easier when I have a plan to follow. My only feedback would be to echo some of the above comments that linking to the weekly workouts was a bit difficult, so maybe put links on the daily posts or just at the top of the page (as opposed to just a link to the intro). Thanks for all you do!
Also following you on Pinterest!
I loved the example pics of you doing the exercises as I am a dork and would spend half my workout just trying to figure out what someone meant when they just describe and exercise.
Loved the workouts! I love how you make them easy to get done with little equipment.
great program Gina… thank you.
I would be great if we could click on the workout and it open to seperate blank page (for printing purposes).
thanks.
I love all your workouts! I would love it if you would talk more about nutrition, although i know it’s hard to target such a big group of people.
WSU was really well put together. The workouts and schedule were fantastic. Maybe focus a little bit more on the food as well though? I tend to be able to follow a workout schedule just fine, but if you get off track in the kitchen, results can very much so be hindered! For instance, what is your recommended strategy to deal with cravings, or how do you handle treats? All that jazz is always nice to hear.
I didn’t follow along because I am slowly easing into more exercise! I teach low impact Zumba and am now doing some light strength training as well. Healing a chronic shoulder injury, etc. I still have to pace myself. I’ve lost 55 lbs and have at least 50 more to lose, and am diabetic, and if I exercise too hard my blood sugar goes through the roof! So I have to keep it moderate most of the time for now, so that it lowers instead of raises–but I will get there eventually (and hopefully by Christmas!)
Following you on Pinterest!
While I didn’t follow the plan exactly, I really enjoyed the workouts and the schedule (LOVE the calendars you make for us!) I really appreciate the time you take to do pictures, videos, form cues, etc. Maybe I just missed it this time around, but I also loved in SSU ’12 the print option! Thanks again for all the work you put into this program and your blog overall. It’s amazing to have this kind of a resource for someone who is (seemingly perpetually) trying to get the hang of this healthy lifestyle thing 🙂
I cant say I followed 100% the winter shape up! I like workout dvd’s and following a long (instead of following a print out), but I did love the inspiration and the eats portion of the WSU. I also like taking pics of my food and tagging it on instagram:) Just like you on Pinterest!! 🙂
I would really love more food ideas! I need variety and always feel stuck in a rut. I also really need a new bra! 🙂
I love the workout graphics that are easy to pin and find later.
And I follow you on Pinterest – clairetherd 🙂