I’ve had a lot of questions lately on my experiences with Kayla Itsines’ BBG (Bikini Body Guide) program, so I thought I would share my experiences thus far here with you all! Working out is something I really enjoy doing, so I am excited to continue with this program and track progress!
When competing for Miss Texas I had the most amazing trainer, shout out John Lee, and learned so much about fitness and health from him! Before I go any further, if you are someone that has specific fitness goals for a competition, an upcoming wedding or vacation, or you just need a wonderful trainer in general… John Lee is your man! I worked with him several years of competing and he is the best trainer I ever had! I still use workouts he’s given me in addition to starting this new program!
Since my competition swimsuit days are now over, I wanted to find a program for everyday life, and something I can continue to do when I return to Tyler and am back to teaching. 2 things were really important to me when looking for a program:
I needed something specific that I could follow each day that would be consistent, not just me going to the gym and making it up as I went along.
And something that could be done on the go! Although I have an incredible gym sponsor at Cowboys Fit in Frisco (most amazing gym ever), since I am traveling so much I often work out in hotel gyms and occasionally at home when I’m not able to get to Cowboys Fit.
I started Kayla’s BBG program at the beginning of this year in January. I am currently on Week 4 of the BBG 1.0 program. When you start BBG there is a 4-week beginner program you complete, prior to 1.0. The beginner workouts are just like the 1.0 program, same types of circuits and duration of the circuits, but are meant to ease you into the program.
So what exactly is bbg?
I am by no means an expert, but I will try to explain it to the best of my ability! The program basically is made up of 2 components, cardio and resistance training. Here is a breakdown of what that looks like:
Cardio
Kayla includes 2 types of cardio into each week, LISS & HIIT.
LISS is Low Intensity Steady State Cardio. For this type of cardio you can choose what you want to do! I.e. walking on a treadmill, elliptical, biking, jogging, etc. I typically choose to either do the elliptical or walk at a fast pace on the treadmill or outside! Kayla recommends some sort of LISS cardio for at least 35 minutes. The idea behind low intensity cardio is to increase your heart rate to a level that is above your normal rate, and maintain this rate for a relatively long period of time.
HIIT is High Intensity Interval Training, aka sprints! HIIT cardio is done by sprinting on a treadmill. I sprint for 30 seconds (usually on an 8.5 or 9.0 speed) and then jump onto the rails for 30 seconds of rest. This is repeated for 15 minutes. The idea behind high intensity cardio is to raise your heart rate for a short amount of time before a brief rest period and then repeating the cycle.
I LOVE HIIT training. 1. Because it goes by so quickly and doesn’t take long at all since it’s only 15 minutes.2. Even though it’s only 15 minutes, these cardio workouts always feel so effective.
Right now my program recommends 3 days LISS cardio and 1 day of HIIT cardio a week! I enjoy cardio most, so I typically will do more each week if time and schedule allows! #MissTexasLife
Resistance Training
There are 3 different days of resistance training in Kayla’s program:
Arms & Abs
Legs
Full Body
Resistance training is broken up into circuits. There are 2 circuits that you complete twice. Each circuit is composed of 4 different exercises that you complete within a 7-minute period. Each exercise tells you how many reps to complete before moving to the next. Once the 7 minutes are, up you rest for 1 minute before starting circuit number 2. Once that is over, you rest once again for a minute and then return to circuit 1 and complete it again, followed by circuit 2 one more time. So all-in-all there are 4 circuits total (2 circuits, 2 times), 7 minutes per circuit, 4 exercises in each circuit, completed as many times as you can within that 7 minutes. Once the circuits are complete, Kayla also walks your through stretching the muscles you just used, which I love! The training, rest period and stretching all together usually takes about 34 minutes total for me.
The app shares videos of each exercise, the number of reps to be completed with each exercise, and a timer at the top to keep track of time—making it very easy to use!
Here is what an ideal week looks like for me with the bbg app:
Monday: Leg Resistance Training (approx. 35 mins)
Tuesday: LISS Cardio (35 mins)
Wednesday: Arms & Abs Resistance Training (approx. 35 mins)
Thursday: LISS Cardio (35 mins)
Friday: Full-Body Resistance Training (approx. 35 mins), HIIT Cardio (15 mins)
Saturday: LISS Cardio (35 mins)
Sunday: Rest
This would be an ideal week, however a crazy schedule that is continually changing doesn’t always allow for the perfect workout schedule. More often than not I will do resistance training and LISS cardio on the same days. I try really hard to listen to my body. if I am sore in one part of my body then I don’t want to overwork it 2 days back to back. So I stay away from doing things like arms & abs and then the full body resistance workouts 2 days in a row. I’ll try and break them up with a day of just cardio in between.
Here are some things I love about the bbg app:
It is easy to follow the workouts in the app.
The resistance workouts slightly change week to week—I get bored easily with workouts so I love this!
The workouts don’t require very much gym equipment—I usually only need a yoga mat, a bench (for tricep dips, step ups, etc.) and occasionally a medicine ball or dumbbells.
The workouts are HARD, but you want them to be, right?! If it’s a breeze then it’s probably not very effective. BBG is hard, but absolutely doable!
Last and probably the most asked question I’ve gotten… Is BBG worth paying for?
YES! So there are two ways of paying for the program. You can pay $19.99 per month (which is quite a steal when you compare it to other programs) OR you can pay up front for a full year for $120.00, which comes out to be only $10.00 a month, this is what I did! Not only does it save you half the price per month, but also this has kept me really accountable and determined to stick with it since I already paid for a full year! Kayla does have a free 7 day trial that you can try out to see what you think of the set-up before buying, click here!
I hope this helps answer some questions! To summarize, so far I have loved using BBG, I feel like I’ve gotten stronger since starting, I have seen some small physical changes (it takes time!), and I absolutely recommend it to anyone who needs a consistent, but effective and easy program to follow! If you have more questions, I’m always happy to answer!
xx,
Madison
