Look Wedding Ready with These Tips

By Danielle Michels
VIDA Fitness Blogger

“Sweating for the wedding.” It’s a phrase that’s starting to crop up on Pinterest motivational boards and fitness gear, especially since we’re charging full-speed ahead in to wedding season.

And don’t get us wrong, we want you to look HOT for your big day, but don’t you want to look and feel great for your marriage too? In addition to these tips below VIDA Fitness offers a wide range of group fitness and personal training options to help you look your best on your big day. For more information please see your club manager.

Here are some tips for how to not only look rock solid and move with ease in your gown, but also how to make fitness a part of your life with results that last long after the big party and down the road to wedded bliss.

After all, even though your wedding may have been the kick in the butt you needed to get in to the gym, we’re training for life here, right? Right. Great, now that we’re on the same page, let’s go:

1) Lifting isn’t just for men – We may be preaching to the choir here, but you wouldn’t believe how many women still think that lifting weights is going to make them look like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s long-lost twin. It absolutely won’t, we promise. We understand that cardio helps you lose fat, but not spending time lifting weights is going to prevent you from toning up and creating that sleek and firm muscle definition.

Getting a rounded booty and nonexistent back and armpit rolls comes from a balanced routine of cardio and lifting weights. Now that’s something we can all say we want year-round. If you don’t know how to lift weights for a workout try a class like VIDA Rx or Conditioning where you’ll receive a total-body strength-training workout that’s fun and maximizes your time.

2) Don’t spot train –Spot training means focusing on training one area of the body with the idea that training one thing in particular will cause you to see results just in that area.

For example, you may be planning to wear a strapless gown with a more full skirt, so you focus all your time on sculpting your arms (you do bicep curls and tricep dips like it’s your full-time job), but you do nothing to build your lower body. If you’re really looking to tone up, slim down or build muscle, even if it’s in one particular area, it needs to be a total-body effort.

Movements that involve working the whole body will allow you see those results in the area that you want faster, and as an added bonus other areas will start to tone up as well.

3) Establish a routine – Between work, everyday responsibilities and trying to have a social life it’s hard to establish a routine even when wedding planning isn’t in the mix. Whether it’s getting a personal trainer, finding a workout buddy who will attend classes with you or sitting down to map out all your own workouts for the week, creating that routine will help you navigate how to prioritize exercise so that you’re reaching your goals at a moderate pace and not freaking out when it comes time to do the final fittings.

Not to mention, exercise will help ease that wedding planning stress (it’s inevitable no matter how long you have to plan) and set you up so that once you’ve reached your wedding, working out is something you look forward to as part of your everyday life, setting you up for many healthy and happy years with your other half.