Kayla Itsines BBG Review

Happy Friday, folks! It’s the weekend before Thanksgiving, which means in this household, we have family coming to town, christmas decorations being set up, and grocery shopping galore. Oh, and exercising. Gotta squeeze in those last few workouts so I can beat my boyfriend in the Turkey Trot! (we have a little friendly competition every year). As I mentioned in my previous fitness post, I love exercising because I like to challenge my body and mind. One way I’ve been doing that is incorporating strength training into my (semi)-usual running routine. Since I can’t exactly afford boujee Orange Theory or an expensive gym membership, I’ve been working out at home & seeing some solid gains from the Kayla Itsines BBG workouts.

*disclosure – you will be extremely sore and probably won’t be able to walk normally after your first few leg workouts

**disclosure #2 – thanks to my brilliant photographer who made me hold these poses longer than necessary, I did, in fact, feel the burn

These workouts, in my opinion, are FANTASTIC. Yes, the all caps are totally necessary. I love these workouts for several reasons:

1. They’re only 28 minutes (~40 with recovery and stretching)
2. They require minimal equipment (mostly 10lb weights), which means they’re perfect to do literally anywhere (sorry mom and dad for stomping and jumping everywhere in the house!)
3. They are give you amazing results

For those of you who aren’t familiar with her program, it is a “Bikini Body Guide” 12 week program that consists of 3-4 HIIT strength workouts per week, and 2-3 sessions of LISS (low intensity steady state) per week. For my LISS days, I usually run, walk, hike, or sometimes do yoga. You alternate between HIIT and LISS everyday, so you don’t do the same type of workout two days in a row. The circuits mix abs and arms together, and legs and cardio together (some of the leg workouts include jump squats, jump lunges, skipping, etc. So it literally is cardio and strength training!). As you move through the weeks, the circuits shift to focusing on one area at a time. There’s workouts for just your arms, just your abs, and so on. A HIIT workout consists of two circuits with 4 exercises each, and your goal is to complete the each circuit as many times as you can in 7 minutes. Your workout might look something like this:

Circuit 1 (do continuously for 7 minutes, follow with 30-90 seconds rest)

-pushups

-sit ups

-ab bikes

-tricep dips

Circuit 2 (do continuously for 7 minutes, follow with 30-90 seconds rest)

-front plank

-mountain climbers

-lay down pushups

-burpees

Repeat circuit 1 & 2 again, making your total workout time = 28 minutes

My first experience with the BBG workouts was my junior year of college – I started them because I wanted to see what the hype was about. I did it for 6 weeks straight, saw results, rewarded myself, then fell off the wagon a little…Oops! We all have those moments though. If you visit Kayla’s Instagram, you can see all of the amazing transformations from other awesome ladies who’ve done the program. They really are incredible! It’s really motivating to read other people’s stories about how they accomplished their exercise goals.  My new years resolution for 2018 was to get through the whole 12 week program continuously. Aside from a terrible bout of the flu in March, I did it! I noticed gains mostly in upper body (I highly recommend taking progress pictures before, during, and after you complete the program- it’s the best way to see visible results & reminds you of how hard you’ve worked!).  I felt so motivated by this that I decided to do the program again – for another 12 weeks continuous. I’m currently on my third round of it, although I’ve slowed my pace a wee bit since I started coaching XC and have been running a lot more.

To summarize, I love these workouts and think they’re fantastic for anyone who wants to strength train without shelling out tons of money. There is a fee to gain access to these workouts, but I personally think it’s a bargain compared to gym memberships and the cost of group fitness classes. Plus, you can do these workouts at home, if you’re traveling, indoors, outdoors, etc., all on your own time! If you made it to the end of this long post, thank you so much for reading! Feel free to comment below with your experiences with the workouts if you’ve done them!

xoxo