I’ve followed fitness star Anna Victoria on Instagram and Snapchat for the past three years. She has 12-week meal plans and fitness guides and this past year she released an app called the Fit Body App (originally the Body Love App). Around November, Anna had been telling her following that she was really excited about the new updates she was working on for the app. I had been wanting to try it for a long time and I knew living on campus so close to the gym was the perfect opportunity to start going more frequently (up until this point I had been going twice a week). Membership for the app does cost money; however, there is a 7-day free trial for anyone looking to try it out.
In the app there is a meal plan section that offers a grocery list as well as cooking instructions for each meal/snack. This section comes with a macro counting section that is calculated according to your personal requirements. It gives the percentages of protein, carbs, and fat that you should be eating everyday. During the two months, I did not follow the meal plan because I have a meal plan at the university. There is a section called Rehabilitation that goes over stretching and foam-rolling with videos for a visual explanation. Another feature offered on the app is the Body Love section where Anna Victoria has video talking about topics such as: positive self-talk, managing expectations, and friends + family support.
One of the main components of your fitness journey is the accountability photos. You take them at the beginning of your journey and then every 4 weeks thereafter. Anna frequently posts people’s progress photos on her account and as well as her own. One of the things I love most about the Fit Body Girl’s community is how supportive everyone is and how a lot of the time, whether there is noticeable difference or not in the photos, the caption is about how amazing the girls feel mentally and physically after following the guide.
The workout section of the app offers three different workout plans depending on what your fitness goals are. There is Shred which is more cardio based, Sculpt which is weights based, and Tone which is a mix of cardio and body weight exercises. Shred and Tone can be done at home if you have dumbbells while Sculpt requires gym equipment.
For the two months that I followed the plan, my workout buddy and I did Tone. All the workouts take around 30 minutes. There is one day of legs + glutes, one day of back + arms, one day of full body, three days of cardio + abs and one rest day. Arm day very quickly became my favourite day and any cardio day I dreaded. I love running outside but hitting the treadmill is not something I look forward to doing. The first workout I did was legs + glutes and I was very sore the next day, but I found that as time went on I was less sore after every workout despite the increasing weights.
The workouts are great but, they only change every four weeks, so it can get a little boring doing the same workout routine every week. That being said, I only did the Tone work outs, so an option would be to do Tone one week, Sculpt the next and then Shred the following week.
I didn’t follow the meal plan so over the eight weeks there were not any huge physical changes; however, I am definitely a lot stronger than I was at the beginning. The weights that I am doing now have all increased by 10 pounds or more since November.
At the start, I loved the app and couldn’t wait to get to the gym, but as the weeks went on they became something that I just had to grind out instead of enjoying them. I like having a bit more freedom in my workout to focus on specific areas. I was worried that I was going to lose leg muscle following the app because I was never sore after any of the workouts (excluding the first one). But, now that I’m back at my old routine, I can safely say that didn’t happen.
Overall, I would only recommend getting a membership for a couple of months because I think that if the food plan was added in on top of the workouts the lack of variation would be frustrating. The app did help me get into a routine of going to the gym six times a week which I would say I’m doing a fairly good job of maintaining. It does a great job of motivating you by showing you the workout checked off in the weekly schedule. Along with the app comes monthly newsletters from Anna Victoria that are very motivating and an amazing community of women who are also Fit Body Girls. The app would be great for people just starting out at the gym or for people who aren’t quite sure yet what kind of exercise or circuits they want to do. If you are a more experienced gym-goer, then this workout guide probably isn’t for you. Even if you don’t try the app, I would highly recommend following Anna Victoria. She is very inspirational and isn’t afraid to get real.