This past Saturday was 19 weeks post-partum for me. I don’t do regular post-baby body updates because I felt like it would be pretty boring. I lost the baby weight pretty quickly just from eating decently and I didn’t think there would be a point to them. I was more concerned with building my strength when the time was right, rather than focusing on pounds coming off. (I haven’t been on a scale since my 40 week pregnancy appointment.)
Fast forward to me getting the doctor’s okay to resume working out. When I started working out again I started VERY conservatively. I hadn’t run since 35 or 36 weeks pregnant and there was no way I was jumping into it.I started with 1 minute intervals on the treadmill at 6 weeks post partum after I got the OK from my doctor. Slowly I increased my running distance and am still working on adding distance in. Right now, the longest I’ve run is 4 miles and that was just this past weekend.
8 weeks ago, I decided to sign up for Tina’s Best Body Bootcamp. I was always interested in doing it post pregnancy. I signed up when she announced round 4. I had seen so many good reviews of it, that I was sure it would be worth while and CLEARLY worth $25.00.
Before Best Body Bootcamp, I had started strength training with Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30. When I picked up hand weights again I was using 5 pound weights and that was a challenge. At the end of my pregnancy (after 35 weeks) I didn’t really focus too much on strength training. I dropped down to 3 & 5 pound weights and then the last couple of weeks I didn’t really do any type of strength training. So at 6 weeks post partum I was basically starting from scratch. 5 and 8 pound weights felt HARD.
I figured, I may have to modify the workouts, but I knew I could get through them. I found out I had a pretty good base of fitness, even though I lost a lot of my strength. When I got the first email from Tina for phase 1 (there are 4 phases, a new one every two weeks) I was blown away by how organized she was (but not surprised, after all she used to be a teacher!) Every workout is clearly layed out. 3 strength workouts a week and atleast 2 cardio. There are also links to EVERY exercise so you can familiarize yourself with what you are supposed to be doing.
Let me tell you that every workout was a challenge. Obviously, some I liked more than others, but I can tell you I didn’t hate any (except if you mean “love/hate” then that was many of them..) Each phase built on each other and focused on different types of workouts. Phase 4 was definitly the hardest, but they all made me feel challenged and SWEATY.
In just 8 weeks I was back to curling 15 pound weights and using 8, 10, 15 and even 20# weights for some exercises. I honestly can’t believe how fast I regained my strength because of Tina’s workouts. I will give myself credit and say I did push myself and follow along with Tina’s workouts basically to the T. There were some modifications I had to make for a couple exercises, but really not many.
In addition to the challenging workouts, at the beginning of the bootcamp I made a promise to myself that I would do the prescribed cardio and nothing more on non-run days. If the workout was a 20 minute workout then that’s what I would stick to. I am a self proclaimed cardio queen and I would mostly rather do cardio than weights, but I felt so challenged with Tina’s workouts that I STUCK to my promise. On strength training days I would do whatever Tina called for, being 25 minutes or under. 80% of the time I would do these 20-25 minute workouts walking because I don’t typically run on back to back days. I always knew in my head that I don’t need to do an hour of cardio everyday and this bootcamp helped me stick to it.
Best parts of Best Body Bootcamp:
- Every workout is laid out for you clearly with youtube links.
- If you have a question or need support you can post in facebook group or email Tina directly.
- New workouts every 2 weeks
- Challenging and done in an hour or less.
- Community support from facebook, instagram and twitter using #bestbodybootcamp
- Opporotunity to win prizes weekly from check-ins.
- Only $25.00
Come to bootcamp with me and we can cheer each other on! The link is here. Sign up! If you have any questions, leave me a comment or email me!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Glad to hear you had such a positive experience. I signed up for Round 5 last night and am super excited. And a little intimidated. Should be a good challenge for me though! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Thanks for such a wonderful review and all the detail you put into it. Truly appreciated!!
Such a great review Nicole! I did Round 3 (I think?) of BBB and it was so great. Tina is so super organized and the workouts definitely were challenging. Regaining strength and fitness post-partum can be hard and frustrating but sounds like you are doing a great job.