Picture a 22 year old Mellissa; a recent college graduate, I had just started my new “corporate” job, and was fully immersed in my cardio workouts. As a dancer I had always done a ton of cardio but the thought of picking up a weight had never crossed my mind. In college I worked out at the rec center and had a membership at Bally’s my senior year (remember Bally’s!). I would go hop on the elliptical, treadmill, bike for 45 minutes to an hour or take the occasional group fitness class. The weight room seemed like an off limits area.
Walking into a small family owned gym changed all of that for me. As the Bally’s locations began to close I needed to find a new place to workout. This was before the explosion of gyms like Anytime, Snap, LA Fitness etc. I think I was paying around $40 a month and that first month came with a few complimentary personal training sessions. I had never worked with a trainer before and had no idea what to expect! Fate was intervening when I was paired with a woman a few years older than me who was in amazing shape. I wanted to look like her! Defined arms and strong legs? Yes please. After purchasing an additional half dozen sessions and really learning how to use the free weights and having a program to follow I was hooked. Since 2003 I have been lifting weights continuously. Have I “bulked up” or gotten too big. Heck no. I am the same clothing size that I was then but with definition and my clothes fit so much better. I’ve worked hard to see definition in my legs, arms, and shoulders.
Over the years I’ve done programs like New Rules of Lifting, New Rules of Lifting for Women, custom programs with a trainer, taken ideas out of magazines like Oxygen, done celebrity trainer programs and so many more. But for the past year I’ve alternated between three different programs and am seriously amazed with the results.
Girls Gone Strong. I’ve talked about this program a few times on the blog but if you are looking for a comprehensive program to teach you about lifting and give you set programs to do for 12+ weeks this is the program for that. It’s good for beginners all the way up to advanced lifters like myself. The gold package is $119 and worth every single penny.
The next program might surprise a few people. Body Beast. Yes, it is geared towards men but if you want to increase your strength and really see definition this is such a great program. It is a set of DVD’s and an app that you can use in the gym. I use the app and it’s a great way to track your workouts. It’s important to note that I don’t follow this to a T. I can’t lift 6 days a week. I go through each workout and each week of the program takes me about a week and a half. This is the program for you if you want to see strength gains and really learn basic moves and work your muscles to complete exhaustion.
And the program that I’ve been really immersing myself in the last month. Lean and Lovely. It’s all about kettlebells. I have a 10 and 15lb kettlebell and those work for now but I will need to add a few more in the near future. You can do these workouts at home (if you have the bells) or at a gym. I do a mix of both. When the gym is crazy busy I tend to do these at home since I can head down to our family room, move the coffee table and get right to work. I’ve even had Scott do a few of these with me and he was surprised how great of a workout these are. The combination of cardio and weights is an incredibly effective workout. Again, this is worth every single penny of the $97 dollar price tag. What you can do in 30 minutes with this is incredible.
I highly recommend all of these programs for men and women. But if you are a woman who is not lifting weights, please start. It will change your body in ways you could never imagine and it helps prevent scary things like osteoporosis. And NO ONE wants that.
Workouts this week:
Sunday: Cardio, Body Beast Chest Tri’s, Long walk with the dogs
Monday: Long walk with the dogs
Tuesday: Yoga Sculpt
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: 40 min kettlebell workout and 30 minutes yoga
Friday:
Saturday: Planning on heading to the gym for cardio and Body Beast Legs
