Review of The Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide: Phase One, Preparation

As the summer season is around the corner and I have a vacation planned, I’d like to tone a few of my body parts better, if you know what I mean 😉

I heard good things about the Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide, so I decided to try it. I’m going to take it step by step.

Phase one is going to be preparation of equipment and plan.
Phase two is going to be starting the workout and nutrition.
Phase three will be assessing results and figuring out how to maintain or improve.

Let’s start with Phase one: Preparation

Equipment needed:

The exercises can be done from a gym, outside or at home. If you’re not going to be exercising at the gym, then just get all the equipment, it will save you time and hustle. Which will increase your motivation and success rate.

Resistance training

The exercises are a mix of:
Plyometric (jump). Intended to burn high amounts of fat.
Body weight and hypertrophy (muscle and strength building) training. Helps increase strength, power, hypertrophy and anaerobic endurance.

The resistance training requires to follow a circuit format. Which consists of two rounds of two different circuits, each lasting seven minutes.

In each circuit, four exercises need to be completed as many times as possible in seven minutes.
Will be exercising for the entire seven minutes
Only rest when the timer goes off

In between each circuit, I’ll take 60 seconds to rest. Drink water between rounds as necessary, but not too much to not feel sick.

Note: Prior to beginning the resistance training, I’ll warm up with a 5 minute jog. Being warm helps to lubricate joints, keep muscles safe for exercise and decrease injury risk.

Cardio training 

Two different styles of cardio:

LISS (low intensity steady state) for example:
35-45 minutes of walking or jogging
35-45 minutes of low resistance cycling
35-45 minutes on the cross-trainer at the same speed as a fast-paced walk

HIIT (high intensity interval training) consists of two periods, typically called the ‘rest’ and ‘work’ periods. The intervals 30:30 set up. This means sprint at 90-100% capacity (12-17 kmph/7.5-10.5 mph) for 30 seconds and then be at a stand still (or slow walk) for 30 seconds, and repeat.
This is typically done on a treadmill or bike in a gym over a period of 10-15 minutes.

Rehabilitation (stretching) 

Stretching plays a big role in recovery, injury prevention, and flexibility.
In addition to stretching at the end of each workout, Kayla recommend that you complete at least one rehabilitation session every week: a session that is entirely dedicated to stretching and/or foam rolling.

Structuring Weekly Workouts

The workouts are divided into training blocks: Weeks 1-4, Weeks 5-8, and Weeks 9-12.
Also, four weeks of ‘pre-training’ for individuals who are beginners (I will need that since I haven’t had time to exercise lately while working on my startup VoxSnap).