Happy Wednesday! Hope you all are having a great week so far. We are back with another fitness post this week! We have had a lot of y’all asking recently about our workouts and fitness-related content, so we wanted to remind you all that you can find a ton of workouts under the main page under the big drop down at the top right-hand side that says FITNESS POSTS, or you can just search ‘fitness’ on our blog! Today, we will be covering two topics: a downloadable workout and our current workout must haves.
In case you missed they last one, you can check it out in this post. Each day (workout) is split into a muscle group with rep amounts, set amounts, and weight amounts. We also are giving a few tips as well. This workout schedule is available for download for $10. It is exactly what we will be doing this week, and you could always re-use this plan for other weeks, and mix and match them. To download the workout schedule, click below:
Note: you will be taken to PayPal to pay, and then should receive a link to the download shortly after that in your inbox. If you do not receive it, please email us!:)
Below, we are sharing our current fitness must haves from bags to fitness trackers to workout shorts!
Happy Friday! This week has been crazy busy for us, and with everyone heading back to school, especially college, we know all of y’all are busy, too! Since it is that time, and we are reminiscing our college days, we wanted to share some things we wish we had known when we started college. Of course, everyone is different when it comes to big life changes like that, but we remember being so excited, but also so nervous to start this new chapter in our lives! Before we get into that, we wanted to share this super cute (and COMFY) look with y’all! If any of you are from Texas, you know that in college, most girls wear a giant t-shirt and shorts that you can’t even see underneath the shirt, haha. SO attractive, right? These jogger pants are extremely comfy, and the best part is, they are socially acceptable to wear out! If we were still in college, we would most definitely wear these to class!
The color of them is great, and they go with everything! We love them paired with a comfy sneaker like these that are actually under $70! The pink and white bottom is so fun. The bra has the cutest strappy back, which are major suckers for. You can throw a cute tank over it, and you’re good to go!Speaking of class, here is what we wish we would have known when we started college:
DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU, NOT WHAT YOU’RE ‘SUPPOSED’ TO DO:
This is a topic we have talked about before a lot, and we know it is not easy to do at all. When you go to to college, you will feel like you have to join a sorority/fraternity, you have to be at every social event, you have to find a boyfriend, you have to drink, etc. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Just because everyone else is doing those things, doesn’t mean you have to do them, too. We were in a sorority for a little bit, and ended up getting out and joining another organization very similar to a sorority became that is what felt right to us at the time (nothing against Greek life at all. We loved the sorority we were in, but the point is, do what works for you!)
BRANCH OUT AND MEET NEW PEOPLE:
We know it can be easy, especially if you’re going to a bigger school to stick to what you know and hang out with the same people from high school. You can definitely still hang out with them, but it is so important to branch out and meet new people. You’re only in college once, so this is the time to make new friends and create new experiences for yourself!
DON’T PANIC IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOUR FUTURE HOLDS:
You may not know what you want to major in, or what you want your career to be, but you don’t have to have it all figured out. Also, even if you major in something, it doesn’t mean you have to pursue a career in that field, or even stay in it for a long time. We don’t do anything close to what we though we would be doing, or even what our corporate job out of college was.
BEING AWAY CAN BE HARD, AND THERE IS AN ADJUSTMENT PERIOD:
We are super close with our parents, so being 10 hours away initially was pretty tough for us. We had each other, of course, but it was hard knowing that your comfort zone that you no longer have is not close-by anymore. It can be easy to just drive home or fly home every free chance you get, but those are the times that you have to keep yourself busy, and create a life for yourself. Trust us, you will be so grateful for them later. When you have to move again to a new city, the adjustment period will be so much easier because you’ve already done it before.
GO TO OFFICE HOURS AND TAKE TIME TO STUDY:
This may sound silly, but really, you are in college to study and get a job after it is all said and done. Of course, it doesn’t need to be all work, and no play, but you do need to remember why you’re there spending so much money, haha. We were both the kind of people that had to study our butts off to do well, and it was important to us. We definitely had our fun, but we made sure we were always prepared. We are both not people who like to be at the front of the class, or people that would go talk to the professor after class, etc, but going to their office hours really is important, as much as we hated it! First off, they get to know you amongst all the other people in the class. Secondly, you can get more hands-on information about material you may not be understanding well, or just clarification. It makes all the difference, trust us!
We hope those tips were helpful! If y’all have any other questions, please reach out! We found all of these super cute pieces that you can wear from gym to lunch, class, or errands from Finish Line. We love shopping in their New Arrivals section because we can find the newest pieces that were just released! What we love about Finish Line is that they have so many different sneaker and workout apparel options and a lot of times, it is on sale, which is even better!
A lot of you all are always wondering what we do for our workouts, and more specifically, what we do for our workouts. To be honest, it is hard to answer that in one, easy answer, so we thought we would break it down for you all in a blog post! Before we get into how to get lean and toned, we want to talk about this workout outfit that is probably one of our go-to looks, especially for workout classes like yoga, or even just going to the gym on your own!
This is one of those outfits that you can wear straight to brunch or lunch after, or even to run errands, without looking frumpy! These leggings are seriously SO soft, you will want to live in them and never take them off. The sneakers (read more about our fave sneakers in yesterday’s post) are super comfy, and great for weight training workouts. The tank is lightweight, so it is great for sweaty workouts, and the color is so fun!To answer the question, “How do you get toned and lean,” can be kind of tricky, and a loaded question. There is not a one-word answer, and the things that we do will work for everyone, but how long it takes and the exact amounts of exercise, nutrition, etc is different for everyone.
First off, cardio is important. We do anywhere from 20-40 minutes a day. We will switch it up between a long walk outside, a run outside, or a machine in the gym like the stairmaster, elliptical, arc trainer, bike, etc. We wear our Apple watches, so we can monitor our heart rates. You want to make sure that your heart rate is elevated and that you’re keeping it up the whole time. You want to find some kind of cardio that your somewhat enjoy (you’re not going to love it every single day) because if you skip out on it, you won’t be in shape cardiovascular-wise, and also you won’t be able to see the muscle you’ve put on if you have a fat on top of it (you will just feel puffy and big, if that makes sense?) We shared our fave cardio workouts here and here.Nutrition is also key. If you don’t stick to unprocessed foods most of the time, you will not only feel well, but you will also not be able to see your hard-earned work in the gym. We have talked about what we eat in this post , but we stick to lean proteins (chicken, fish, eggs, etc) and fruits and veggies.
We lift weights anywhere from 5-6 days a week. We talked about how to lift weights in this post and how to get toned legs and arms.
In addition to all of those main things, we also take yoga at Exhale Spa in Dallas and have tried a few other workout classes that we will incorporate once in a while! Exhale Spa is offering a few promotions this month that we wanted to share:
Summer 3 packs (running now through the end of the month and good through the end of the year) get your choice of 60 minute true facial, 60 minute fusion massage, or 30 minute acupuncture for only $299.
Now through the end of the month, they are offering our month of exhale for $215 ( That’s a whole month of unlimited classes and 30 minute therapy for $215), which is a savings of $140)
They are also offering an acupuncture and chill workshop series that starts this Sat. August 26th from 3:00-4:30PM.
We are SO excited to cover one of our favorite topics: sneakers! It is probably one of our favorite items to shop for (besides ripped jeans)! We get asked a lot what our favorite shoes to wear for certain workouts, so we wanted to share them with y’all. We don’t own every single pair of these, so for the ones we don’t actually own, we have read good things about, or know people who do own them!
Not all shoes are made the same. For a while, we were working out in the wrong type of shoes for the specific workout we were doing. For more of a casual shoe (to wear running errands or when traveling with jeans, dresses, leggings, shorts, etc.), we recommend the shoes in the left column.
#1 and #2 are a must have shoe. We wear ours ALL of the time! You can wear them with literally everything and they come in a ton of colors! We even got our mom hooked on them.
#3 is a classic shoe and we have been wearing ours with dresses, ripped jeans, and shorts!
#4,#5, and #6 are just fun shoes to wear with leggings or jeans, without looking yuck.
For a training shoe (lifting weights, workout classes, etc), we recommend shoes in the middle column. You want a shoe that is more flat and will support you for these kinds of activities.
We own #7 in black and LOVE them. Super comfy and just a good-looking shoe.
#8 is another pair we own. These are super lightweight, so they’re great for traveling.
#10 is a top fave of ours! We love these for weight training because they are flatter and they are so cool-looking!
We don’t own #11 but LOVE the look of them and have heard great things!
As far as running goes, we are not pro-runners by any means, but have recently gotten more into it. For a while, we were running in the wrong type of shoes, so our knees and feet would hurt a mile or two into the run, aka not fun! You also need to have the right insoles, which we are still looking into, but will probably go with this one.
One of the questions we get a lot, especially when we are traveling, is how we stay motivated with working out. Trust us, we have our days when the last thing we want to do is workout or eat healthy. Since we have been living a healthier lifestyle for about 6 years now, it has become second nature to us. We usually wake up and want to workout and make healthier choices. Staying active and working out is just something we love doing, and it just makes us feel better overall. It could be going on a hike, a walk, a run, or going to the gym, but if we don’t do it, we feel just “off”.
Before we get into our tips, we wanted to share this super cute workout look that we live in! These crops are so fun, and the mesh and colors make it even better! This tank goes perfectly with them and it is great for working out and comes in a bunch of colors. These shoes are great for running and we love that they have a flyknit texture, which we love and they are SUPER comfy!
We wanted to share some tips on how we like to stay motivated to workout:
BRING A FRIEND
If you sign up for a class or make a workout “date” with one of your girlfriends, you will be held accountable, and less likely to miss it. We don’t always workout together, but if one of us is getting up really early to workout, the other one of us is more tempted to get up as well!
BUY NEW WORKOUT GEAR
For us, and even since we were younger, a new workout outfit would get us motivated and excited to workout. Our mom would entice us to do a sport like tennis or gymnastics solely based on the outfits, haha. Even to this day, a fun pair of shoes or a sports bra gets us motivated.
BRING YOUR WORKOUT CLOTHES, EVEN ON VACATION
If you don’t come prepared, you will not stay on track. We know when you’re on vacation, it can be difficult to get yourself to the gym, but once you start your day off with something active, you will feel so much better, and not feel like you fell off the wagon when you get home.
MAKE IT A LIFESTYLE
This is probably the most important thing. Once you make working out and eating healthy a lifestyle, it will become second nature to you. You will actually want to get up in the morning and workout. It sounds cliche, but it is so true!
DOWNLOAD WORKOUT GUIDES OR BROWSE PINTERST/YOUTUBE
When we first started working out, we used to browse pinterest, youtube, and instagram for workout ideas and healthy meals. We have shared a lot of workouts here, but you can also check out this post on the Fit Body Guide, which we highly recommend!
SET GOALS
Setting goals is super important, and may seem kind of silly at first, but once you reach a milestone you set, you will feel so much more accomplished, and want to continue! For example, setting a goal to workout 2 or 3 times a week, running 1 mile, doing 15 minutes of cardio a day, etc.
REWARD YOURSELF WITH MILESTONES
A great way to stay on track and keep going is to reward yourself with your milestones. For example, treating yourself to a mani/pedi, massage, or a new pair of tennis shoes. Here are some gift ideas. If you’re looking for running gear, you can read some reviews on products here.
Of course, y’all know we are definitely going to share our workout faves with you from the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. PS- in case you want more info on what this sale is, or want to shop pieces besides workout gear, you can check out this post!
Below, we rounded up our favorite workout pieces (most under $100), which is an incredible deal! Most of these items are at least $100, or close to it once the sale is over. So, basically, now is the best time to stock up before it all sells out!
These leggings from Beyond Yoga are SO soft. Every time we wear them, we just want to pet ourselves, haha.
These grey crops are a great everyday pair and they go with everything!
This water bottle keeps your drinks hot or cold, and we love the colors of it.
We have this tank and it is also SO soft, and the back has a really cute strappy design.
This rain jacket is a must and it’s on sale for under $70. We have had ours for years, and still wear it all of the time!