MY CONCLUSION ON KAYLA

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past year, you've heard of Kayla Itsines. I'm usually bad at motivating myself to follow online or video workouts, which is why I end up dropping so much money on group fitness classes. However, now that I'm back at school my schedule is more unpredictable, and I am hesitant to commit to regular exercise classes. I struggle when I have to choose between socializing (which can become rather limited during the busier parts of the semester) and working out. Kayla's workouts are designed to be done in around 40 minutes, with limited equipment, but still seem pretty intense. If you follow Kayla you'll see bits of her daily workouts that she records and 'grams. When she does them they look easy. They're not. Kayla's "Bikini Body Guide" suggests doing four sets, each seven minute long, with a one minute break inbetween. Each set is composed of four different exercise with a specified number of reps. You repeat the four exercises as many times as possible in the seven minute set, which adds a cardio aspect to the workout.

In the guide I mentioned Kayla presents a 12 week plan. She specifies three to four "resistance" workouts (the repetitive sets I explained earlier) that you should complete each week. They tend to focus on arms, abs or legs, and the level of difficulty increases throughout the 12 weeks. While I need some structure to my workout regimen, Kayla's specified daily workouts don't allow enough flexibility with my school schedule. Instead of completing each resistance workout on the day Kayla specifies, I choose one leg, one arm, one ab, and one wild card set each week. In addition, as Kayla suggests, I have been completing two 15-minute interval sprints and three longer cardio workouts per week. The interval sprints are done in a 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off style. I choose to use a spinner for this, but a treadmill would also work.

Following Kayla's guide in this modified way has been fantastic. Unlike most at-home resistance workouts, I am always sore the next day. I generally do these excercises at the gym, but completing these workouts at home would be very doable. If you're willing to push yourself a bit, Kayla might be your new favorite workout buddy.