So I have just completed week 6 of the Kayla Itsines BBG Guide and week 6 was tough! I feel like this week the guide took things up a notch in terms of difficulty and some of the exercised felt way more advanced (drop push ups and split squats…ouch!) For this reason I have decided to repeat this week again. As I have mentioned before I am not following the guides format exactly. I do the three resistance workouts per week, and LISS in the form of walks but I also add in my own workouts. For example last week I did the three week 6 resistance workouts and then I also did a workout from my Kettlercise DVD one day and a 35 minute lower body workout that I made up myself on another. I didn’t complete as much LISS as I would have liked as I usually go on lots of walks and the weather wasn’t great for that. But I still got a workout in five days of the week which I am happy about.
As mentioned before I am not following the guides eating plan and just use my own knowledge to make good choices when it comes to my meals. I have to admit that since I started the guide my eating has not been very clean and I haven’t been overly strict with myself. Despite this I still feel like I have made some good progress. For my individual results so far I feel like the main changes can be seen in my arms and abs. I definitely have more muscle definition in these areas and I feel like my upper body strength has improved as I am now able to do full press ups rather than ones on the knee…although they do take me ages and I do them in groups of five reps and then have to have a little rest! Also having completed a workout from my Kettlercise DVD for the first time in a while last week I found that I could use a heavier kettlebell for some of the moves on there. My lower body is the area I consider to be my weakest and I am keen to build some muscle and curves in that area in particular. For that reason I add in my own lower body resistance workout during the week to try and make more progress there.
Because I am not really following the guide in the way it should be done I don’t feel like I can really review it in the same way as others, who stick to the guides format strictly, can. I have tailored it to meet my fitness goals and also my lifestyle. I do feel like I can confidently say that the resistance workouts in the guide are really good. They are seriously challenging, they keep getting progressively harder to ensure the body keeps having to work more and differently and therefore ensuring it keeps changing. The breakdown of them being in four seven minute sections makes them more manageable and the fact the whole resistance workout can be done in around half an hour makes them super easy to fit into your day. I personally really enjoy doing them and although sometimes I am unsure whether I will survive the circuit and find myself cursing Kayla Itsines, they are definitely incredibly effective. This week the circuits have sometimes taken me longer than seven minutes. I like to ensure that I complete all the different exercises and not give up until I have completed all the reps for that exercise. This means the moves that I find more challenging (such as drop, full, push ups) takes me quite a while. So by the timer goes off I am usually still halfway through! For this reason I just carry on until they are all done and I have completed all four moves of the seven minute circuit at least twice. I am also guilty of occasionally having to pause the timer…sometimes to complete mum duties (I have a seven month old) and other times just to catch my breath!
In this post I wanted to include some progress pictures. I am TERRIBLE at taking progress pictures (hello giant hand in the one above!!) and I find it incredible embarrassing doing so. BUT I was pleasantly surprised when I took these. Firstly I look better than I thought that I did (not in a vain way, I know I have a lot of work to do) but I am pretty happy with the results so far. It just goes to show that taking pictures of your body is a far better way to judge your progress than just by looking in the mirror, and I would definitely encourage anybody else on a fitness journey to do so. Even if you don’t show anybody them. I also find it really motivating. The fact I can see that the hard work is starting to pay off make me want to keep going and work harder.
Although BBG 1.0 is twelve weeks long I will be doing it for longer as I choose to complete the weeks that I find difficult twice, so I may not be halfway through yet! I will probably do it all the way through again before I complete BBG 2.0 aswell but we will see. As I mentioned before I am not really following the guides format and more doing my own thing but despite this from doing the workouts alone I would definitely recommend it so far.
Jess xox
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