One Year

Its hard to believe that one year ago I looked like this:

And as of today (nearly 295 workouts later) I look like this:

I pretty much owe all of this to barre workouts and consistency (along with a fairly clean diet – can you believe I didn’t have any sweets for like 2 months straight?! Egads!).  My goal this year was 250 workouts and when I hit that, I obviously just kept going and was hoping to hit 300.  I ended up getting struck down by sickness in October and November and had to take a week off.  So there went my 300!  Oh well! Next year, right?

My latest love in my barre obsession is the new Physique 57 Volume 2 set.  It just came out this month and already I’m obsessed with it, much like I was when I first got the Volume 1 set.  I did the first set religiously for a few months before I moved on to other barre work and am coming full circle now to end this year.  I couldn’t be happier with the results this type of training has given me.  I lost nearly 30 pounds, many, many inches, 4 clothing sizes and gained incredible lower and upper body strength.  I was a dancer growing up and I don’t think my legs were ever as strong then as they are now.  And I think my abs are the best they’ve ever looked! (Please ignore the stretch marks, obviously I have given birth to 2 children! )

  I know I’m going to be barraged with questions on which workouts I did.  I reviewed a few on this blog (click on the “Fitness Friday” link) but for the most part, the workouts that came up again and again on my fitness log are: Physique 57, Bar Method (Change Your Body, Accelerated and the new (and their most awesome-est!) Dancer’s Body, Ellen Barrett’s Studio Series, Ballet Body by Leah Sarago (LOVE) and some Pure Barre.  I think my favorite one from this year is a tie between the new Physique 57 set and Ballet Body by Leah Sarago downloads.  Both are definitely advanced barre workouts and just what I love in terms of intensity and also variety.  For a beginner just starting barre, I would recommend any of the Bar Method’s DVDs.  And for those who live in a big city, look to see if there is a Bar Method near you.  I went to 2 classes at the Bar Method Portland and they were phenomenal!  Hard, but phenomenal!  And for the one lucky friend of mine who lives in NYC – if you don’t go to Physique 57 and humor me – we can’t be friends anymore!   I also have a friend in Los Angeles (Physique 57’s other studio), so you are being summoned to go as well!   I must live vicariously through those who CAN go until I am lucky enough to visit one of the studios in person myself!

 

As for 2011, I hope to reach 300 workouts and continue to inspire and motivate you all to get your fitness on and be as healthy as you can be!  I also plan to revive my Shuttercal with 365 days of food.  Not every photo will be of something fancy or healthy, but I figured since I DO cook nearly every day and also take a picture of the food I make almost everyday – that this would be the perfect time to resurrect our Shuttercal calendar.  And don’t worry, Grandparents – the photos CAN be of the little people eating said food.  So there will be pics of the kids too! 

 

That’s all for now.  For those who were like, “Crap! Another Fitness post!” – I will probably do a fun “best of 2010” post sometime in the next couple of days.  Be excited!