This post is sponsored by BodyBoss. All opinions are my own.
When it comes to working out and eating healthy, I know I could be doing a lot better. Exercising in particular has been especially difficult for me these past few months – we’re nearing the end of winter in Pennsylvania, but most days are still far too cold for me to even consider going out for a jog or bike ride (my fingers, toes, and ears freeze up so quickly!). Meanwhile, I have a pile of fitness DVDs sitting in my room, YouTube videos bookmarked, and fitness apps saved on my phone, all which haven’t really been touched, except for maybe on that one random day of the week month when I get the sudden urge to start moving again.
One thing I’ve noticed is that I’ve been lacking a solid routine – one that I can easily jump into, and that minimizes the mental energy and effort required to get started. This, I’m finding, applies to really anything in life. When there are too many decisions or pre-steps involved before we even get started with the actual task, we’re simply less likely to follow through. For me, getting dressed and packed and then driving to trails, or even just deciding what exercise routine to do for the day, often leads me to put off my workouts all together. Fortunately that all changed when I discovered the BodyBoss Ultimate Body Fitness Guide & Superfood Nutrition Guides…
The BodyBoss Ultimate Body Fitness Guide
The BodyBoss Fitness Guide is a lifesaver for those of us who want to get healthier, stronger, and more fit, but who also want a routine that doesn’t involve a ton of planning, travel, time, equipment, fees, and gym memberships. Inside their guide you’ll find a 12-week fitness plan – all scheduled out for you. It’s filled with a variety of challenging and fun workouts that are fairly quick (~30-50 minutes) and that you can do pretty much anytime and anywhere. When you’re ready to workout, simply flip to the page in the guide that matches up with the week/day and start the exercises – it’s that easy! It helps that the guide is super portable too – they offer both a small spiral-bound book (like I have) and digital copies for your devices.
BodyBoss‘s entire fitness plan spans 12 weeks and kicks off with 4 weeks of optional pre-training, followed by 4 cycles (consisting of 3 weeks each) that gradually build in intensity as you gain strength and stamina. Each day presents a new routine that targets either the full body, or focused areas of the body – like abs, arms & core, or legs & booty. They’re all designed to burn fat and increase muscle tone – and in the shortest amount of time too through a series of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) circuits.
Now, I love HIIT for a several reasons. One, they fit a whole lot of intense cardio and strength training into one short time frame (typically 15-25 minutes). Two, you can do them literally anywhere and don’t need any fancy equipment – most of the exercises leverage your own body weight for the strength training, and then combine that with fast-paced cardio to do all the muscle building and fat burning. And finally, they’re just plain fun! I’ll throw on some music in the background, roll out my mat, and move from one exercise to the other until the circuit is done.
Two days a week, BodyBoss’s Fitness Guide will have you running through these HIIT circuits for roughly 24 minutes. Add in the 10 minutes of warm-up, 10 minutes of cool-down, and the 6 minutes of rest between those circuits, and that’s ~50 minutes for a full workout. Friday is another workout day, though it’s only ~30 minutes total time including the warm-up and cool-down. Tuesday and Thursday are the in-between recovery days where you can do any light cardio you choose for 30 minutes, just to get the body moving. This can be walking, swimming, biking, Pilates, or yoga. The weekend? You have both days off! Sounds pretty easy, right?! 😉
Of course when you’re doing these high intensity exercises, it’s just as important to be eating the right foods – ones that will help nourish and fuel your body, and also heal and repair it in order to build that lean muscle. Otherwise, you simply won’t get the best results for all your hard efforts. With this in mind, BodyBoss created a 12-Week Nutrition Program to pair up with the fitness guide.
The BodyBoss Superfood Nutrition Guide
I’ve simply been loving BodyBoss’s Superfood Nutrition Guide – it takes all the guesswork out of meal planning, breaking down what you’ll eat week-by-week over the full 12-week period. The Nutrition Guide also includes two bonuses – a Smoothie & Dessert recipes book (yum!), and a Discover Superfoods book that’s filled with healthy eating tips and a bunch of other extras!
To go along with each week of workouts, BodyBoss included a pre-planned shopping list that you can take with you to the grocery store the weekend before. You’ll spend a few hours on Sunday prepping some recipes for those convenient grab-and-go meals (so you can save yourself the fast food trip!). The remaining meals involve minimal prep, and can be whipped up rather quickly throughout the week.
In total, you’ll be set with 3 meals plus 2 snacks from Monday through Friday. Saturday and Sunday you’re on your own to eat whatever you like – hopefully taking into consideration some of the food swap suggestions in the Discover Superfoods booklet. 😉
There are over 150+ recipes total in the Nutrition Guide to give you plenty of variety over the 12-week period. They’re all created to make you feel full and fuel your body and brain with nutrient- dense superfoods like spinach and quinoa, lean proteins, and healthy fats and carbs. And boy is everything yummy – believe me, you’re not sacrificing anything by way of taste and even treats. I’ve loved everything I’ve made so far, and when I have a craving for something sweet, I’ll turn to the Smoothies and Desserts booklet and whip up something yummy and healthy in about 10 minutes time!
Between the two guides, BodyBoss simplifies two things that are tough for us busy gals to tackle: 1) a fun, challenging, and convenient workout routine that you can do literally anywhere, and 2) a healthy meal plan that actually tastes good and incorporates fresh superfoods and other nutrient-dense ingredients.
I’ve been following this plan for about three weeks now and am so thankful it has found its way into my life! I’ve been carrying around the BodyBoss fitness guide with me wherever I go – even in hotel rooms, I’ll simply pull it out, flip to the week/day, and get to exercising. In this digital age, I especially love my spiral-bound physical copy because it allows me to go phone-free and concentrate 100% on my workout for the full 30-50 minutes. Though it’s still fairly early on in the program for me, boy do my muscles feel the burn after every workout! As far as results, I’ve started to notice small differences here and there in my strength and stamina, along with a little extra definition on my arms and legs!
And when it comes to the meal planning (which was a first for me by the way), though there is definitely some prep involved on the weekends, it really helps simplify life throughout the week – especially when I’m at my busiest and don’t have time to cook. Now, my boyfriend has tried meal planning guides before, but honestly none of those compared to BodyBoss’s – their recipes are so much more delicious, healthier, and also easier to make. I mean come on, ‘Berry Me in Pancakes!’ – they even have cute names and mouth-watering photos too! 😛
Learn more about BodyBoss’s Fitness & Nutrition Bundle here!
Have you heard of BodyBoss, or tried out these guides? What are your thoughts on their program?
