I’m excited to share what I’ve been doing these past 2 months as my ‘pre-wedding workout routine’! I’m writing this post after receiving messages asking about my workout routine. I want to preface the post by saying one very important thing: you do NOT need to change your body for your wedding. Please hear me when I say that getting married does not mean you need to lose weight! I hate to see women putting pressure on themselves to fit societal expectations. Please know that your body is beautiful as is. Always. Full stop.
I want you to L O V E your body and my hope for anyone reading this is that if you’re reading this in order to embark upon a fitness journey you do so coming from a place of kindness. Kindness towards your body, love of your body, rather than a feeling that it isn’t good enough and needs to change. Your body is a good, no GREAT body. That belief does not also mean you can’t be looking to change it. It is okay to both love your body and want to lose weight or gain muscle. Be gentle with yourself (emotionally and physically) as you work to get the body you want to have.
Alright, emotional preface over lol. Let’s chat my pre-wedding fitness routine! I’ve never been someone who loves the gym. I do not understand people that enjoy running and 9 times out of 10 I will pick sitting on the couch watching Netflix over being active. So, I knew that leading up to my wedding I wanted to find a pre-wedding workout routine that helped me achieve the physical results I wanted, but that also felt fun and sustainable. Spoiler alert: I found that!
Maybe some of you can relate – my experience with working out has been an unsuccessful all-or-nothing experience. Throughout high school and university I was a competitive dancer and varsity cheerleader, and I think because of that in my mind any sort of working out had to be INTENSE. So, these past **few years** (shut up, we’re going with ‘few years’ since I graduated university :P) my workout routine has consisted of either A) me ‘taking a break’ and doing next to nothing for a few months, or B) Going to the gym for 1.5 – 2 hours pushing myself, then being SO sore the next day that I could barely walk let alone workout again for a while. I hated the workouts and hated how exhausted I felt the next day. It led to cycles of me working out like a maniac for weeks and then going months without working out at all. Not fun, not sustainable, and not healthy.
When I decided to come up with a pre-wedding workout routine, I knew I didn’t want to fall back into that pattern. I wanted something that was sustainable. I don’t know how or why but I had the sudden realization that maybe it wasn’t that I didn’t like working out, but that long workouts and the types of workouts I was doing were not for me. I tentatively started trying different shorter workouts and found what worked for me – 20-30 minute YouTube workouts most days, and one long workout each week.
Doing 20-30 minute workouts has been a G A M E C H A N G E R. I find the motivation necessary to get myself to do a 20 minute workout is so much lower (and therefore easier to find) and I find I’m not as sore after these workouts, such that I can do one again the next day – and most days I actually look forward to my workouts!
I tried a bunch of different ones before finding what I like best – because I love the diversity of the exercises and that they actually get results! I’ve been doing the Lilly Sabri workout videos and they are amazing.
As I mentioned, I also do still do one long workout each week. I hired a personal trainer, Mayhem, and we do a one hour session once a week. He changes up what we do each time, but at it’s heart it’s a HIIT workout. We usually do a 5 minute cardio warm up, HIIT exercises for butt and legs, rest, HIIT exercises for arms & back, rest, more cardio and a cool down.
Below is a one week example of my pre-wedding workout routine. I change week to week with what day I take as my rest day (based on my schedule) and I change up the Lilly Sabri workout videos week to week since she’s always adding new ones!
Monday: Lilly Sabri – Full body workout video (30 min) & Toned abs & waist (6 min)
Tuesday: Lilly Sabri – Abs video (5 min), Booty video (8 – 15 min), Arms video (5 – 10 min)
Wednesday: Lilly Sabri – Cardio vs. weights workout video (30 min)
Thursday: Lilly Sabri – Abs video (5 min), Booty video (8 – 15 min), Arms video (5 – 10 min)
Friday: Rest Day
Saturday: 1 hour personal training workout
Sunday: Lilly Sabri – Flat Stomach & Booty Burn video (20 min)
So awesome to put together a schedule! I’ve been loving Youtube workouts lately 🙂
Shauna
http://www.lipglossandlace.net
Thanks Shauna! and yes! There is so much good stuff on youtube and it’s so much easier to make time for a workout when you don’t have to loose time to commuting to get to it!
Your workout routine sounds great! I started home workouts since the pandemic, and I don’t think I will be going to the gym anytime soon. They are so convenient!
xoxo
Lovely
http://www.mynameislovely.com
Exactly how I feel! Such a time saver. The hardest part for me was motivation – It’s so tempting when the couch and netflix are right there haha – but once I got myself in the mindset of at=home workouts I find they work so well!
Oh I haven’t heard of her! Will have to check out her workouts!
Lizzie
http://www.lizzieinlace.com
I think you’ll really like her because of her personality! She’s really bubbly and encouraging.
You are seriously inspiring me with this routine, friend! I haven’t been active in far too long. Primarily because my health usually doesn’t allow it, but also just because it’s hard to stick with a routine. But these videos sound awesome and it’s amazing that you’re getting the results you hoped for! I’ll definitely need to try them for myself!
Thanks so much Steph! and yes, definitely check her videos out! They’re so great because if you’re not feeling up to much but just want to be a bit active she has 5 and 10 min videos!
I am the worst at staying consistent with a workout routine, but hoping you crush those goals! xoxo, Sarah
Thanks Sarah! and i feel your pain – it can be so hard to stick with it!
Lilly Sabri is the absolute best! she has completely changed my workout game and made me quite addicted to working out my abs. my number one body goal this year was to FINALLY get a six pack and she is making that goal a reality. very excited about her lean nutrition products and app – think they’ll both be game changers! so glad you found something that has worked for you and gotten you into being active daily!
xo Laura Leigh
https://louellareese.com
She really is! I love her positivity and the variety in her videos. You go girl! (re. the abs haha!) that’s amazing!!
It’s great you’ve found an exercise routine that works for you! I agree, you definitely don’t need to do anything special to get ready for your wedding – you partner loves you as you are! I didn’t even think of pre-wedding workouts, was having a lot of fun planning though!
Thanks for joining the Weekday Wear Link Up!
Hope you have a great weekend ahead of you! It’s a fun one here with kids birthday parties 🙂
Thanks Mica!!