Fit Friday #16: Spotlight on BBG

Welcome to a new series on the blog: Fit Friday! We’ll explore topics in fitness and wellness together. Have something you want me to answer or cover? Email me at fitwithaundra@gmail.com. Here’s a collection of all the Fit Friday posts.

For the past few months, I’ve been sharing a new workout on my instagram page. Three times a week, I complete resistance workouts posted in the Sweat App, which follows Bikini Body Guide, or BBG.

I tag all of my photos Sweat with Kayla (Kayla Itsines, program founder), or SWEAT and have a received a few questions about this mysterious workout that has captured my attention. But it wasn’t until I posted this super awesome progress update that the questions started rolling!

WHAT IS BBG?

Bikini Body Guide – there’s a book and also an app that you can purchase. I personally love the app because you can follow the workouts step-by-step. Both the book and the app showcase the workouts – two sets of 4 moves that you can repeat once (14 minutes) or twice (28 minutes). The app has you set up to follow the 28-minute workout.

You choose the intensity! The movements are defined, but you can always choose a variation. Some days, I’m all about jumping from burpees, and doing double-under jump ropes, and some days I’m all about incline push-ups vs. on the ground push-ups. The biggest thing is listening to your body and staying consistent.

Right now, Kayla is hosting a special 4-week look at her program! You get one workout a week. This week focuses on legs. It’s a pretty typical BBG set!

BBG Stronger incorporates more weights – free weights and weight machines. It’s an awesome way to get out of your comfort zone inside the gym. It took me a couple of years, but now? I walk into the gym without thinking twice about ‘being in someone’s way’ or ‘not looking like I know what I’m doing.’ You have every right to be there! I think this program is going to help so many women push past gym insecurities and GO for their workouts.

With this program (which I started in January 2017), I’ve been able to redefine my personal workouts. With being a fitness instructor, it’s super easy to let my workout time slip into the abyss. I mean, I was always moving and on-the-go with classes, so I thought that would be enough. But truthfully, it’s not. It’s a HUGE misconception that a fitness instructor only needs the classes they teach. Ok, to be fair, that probably worked when I was 24, but does not work now. I’m more worried about what people are doing in class vs. me getting my 100% workout. And, when I would teach 9-12 classes/week, I didn’t leave myself much time to get a solid workout (on top of a 40+ hr/week full-time job).

For me to be successful, I have to strength train. I can run cardio circles for days, my endurance is top-notch, but I don’t notice a difference until I lift those weights. And with Kayla’s app, I was able to have a solid 28-minute lifting/strength session three times a week.

Sure, I’ve created my own programs to follow (I had a really awesome lifting routine right before my wedding, ha ha), but after creating new and fabulous choreo for Zumba, finding the right choreo and moves for the other three formats I teach, I didn’t leave a lot of creativity for my own workouts. Kayla’s workouts really helped fill that gap.

I noticed changes pretty quickly when I started BBG. I actually followed Kayla on instagram a couple of months before I worked up the courage to download the app. Then, in January, she announced a 12-week BBG challenge, and you know I love challenges. I hopped on board and haven’t looked back since!

I completed 20 weeks of BBG workouts, and then, three new workouts were debuted on the app: BBG Stronger, Post-pregnancy, and Yoga. I started following BBG Stronger, which incorporates heavier weights and reduced reps, and will completed week 4 with today’s workout. I LOVE this new format. I’m so excited to keep going.