How to Plan (and Stick to) Your Wedding Workout Routine

Whether you want to lose a bit of weight or tone up your muscles for stunning wedding photos, here’s how to plan — and stick to — your wedding workout routine.

 

Planning Your Wedding Workout Routine

Here are some tips to create a fail-safe workout plan you will enjoy.

 

1. Start 6 Months Before

You’ve probably heard the fitness saying — in two weeks, you’ll feel it. In four weeks, you’ll see it. In eight weeks, you’ll hear it. While it may take eight weeks for a noticeable difference in your fitness levels and your body, it’s important to give yourself enough time to figure out what works best for your body.

Aim to start at least six months before your wedding day to give yourself enough time to get into a routine. This period also gives you time to start small, maybe with a short full-body workout and 20 minutes of stretching to get your body used to regular exercise. Eventually, you’ll be able to go for 45 minutes to an hour.

 

2. Plan for at Least 45 Minutes of Activity Daily

In your first few weeks, working out long enough might be a challenge. This is why you want to start early so you can increase intensity as time goes on. Ideally, you should plan for 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise weekly and at least two days of strength training according to the CDC.

3. Explore Different Workouts

A great workout routine includes cardio and strength training. Cardio ranges from jogging or aerobics to indoor cycling or HIIT. While strength training is mostly about lifting weights, you can get similar benefits from bodyweight and resistance training to tone and strengthen your muscles.

It’s also a good idea to look at muscle groups you can target to achieve the wedding photo look you want. Strength exercises will give the bride and groom stronger, leaner muscles for a healthy figure and graceful look. Exercises like squats and lunges will strengthen your legs in preparation to dance all night while core exercises will sculpt your waist for a beautiful silhouette in your wedding gown.

Here is a starting point for creating a personal workout routine:

Workout Plan Example for the Groom

• Monday: Chest and Back
• Tuesday: Cardio and Legs
• Wednesday: Shoulders and Arms
• Thursday: Rest
• Friday: Chest and Triceps
• Saturday: Back and Biceps
• Sunday: Legs or Rest

Workout Plan Example for the Bride

• Monday: Cardio
• Tuesday: Legs
• Wednesday: Core and Upper Body
• Thursday: Rest with Stretching or a Walk
• Friday: Lower body glute focus
• Saturday: Arms and back
• Sunday: Rest

 

4. Use a Fitness App

A quick search on your smartphone’s app store will reveal hundreds of fitness apps that can support you in different ways. You can use them to find workouts you enjoy, join fitness challenges and keep track of your daily exercise on your way to the big day.

You can also find various fitness channels online, which allow you to work out in the comfort of your home if you want an alternative to the gym.

 

Sticking to Your Wedding Workout Routine

After curating the perfect workout routine, all that’s left to do is to put in the work and stick to it. How do you ensure you stay on track and overcome obstacles? The first thing you can do is to prioritize your exercise time and treat it like self-care. Make an appointment in your daily schedule and honor it like any other important meeting.

Here are other ways you can keep yourself motivated.

 

1. Go to Classes and Vary Your Workouts

When you vary your workouts, you give different muscle groups a chance to recover from previous workouts and prevent a fitness plateau or boredom. A great way to introduce variety is through exercise classes. You can find classes that vary from HIIT and aerobics to dance, kickboxing, pilates and yoga.

 

2. Workout With a Friend — or Your Fiance

It’s harder to skip a workout when you know there’s someone counting on you to show up at the gym or put on your running shoes for an early morning run. Ask a friend or family member to join you on your fitness journey. Bonus points if they’re already a fitness fanatic familiar with the lifestyle. It’ll be easier to keep on track and you can motivate each other when one of you is having an off day.

You can also start this journey with your fiance. It’s a great way to strengthen your bond and set a goal together that you can take into your future as a couple.

 

3. Listen to Music

There’s something about music that increases motivation. It’s like being the main character in a movie with your own soundtrack. Make a workout playlist with your favorite upbeat songs to keep you going through your workouts. Try some new music to keep yourself alert. Look for fast-paced songs with a heavy bass and timely beat drops.

 

4. Have Motivation Strategies in Place

While working out with a friend or partner will give you motivation, it’s also important to be accountable to yourself. On days when the thought of skipping a workout lingers in your mind, it helps to have strategies in place already that you can use to get you moving.

A few strategies you can try include:

• Count to three: Give yourself three seconds to get up and do something intentional related to working out. It could be filling up your water bottle, preparing your post-workout snack or getting changed.
• Just get yourself to the gym: By the time you set foot in the changing room, your mind will be in workout mode. The sights and sounds of others getting in the groove is an instant motivator.
• Be an early bird: Starting off your day with an energizing workout sets a strong precedent of motivation and instantly shaves down your to-do list. The body also benefits from morning workouts. They’ve been shown to reduce blood pressure when you intersperse prolonged periods of sitting with breaks.
• Change the day's workout: Pick something other than your plan. Maybe you have a favorite YouTube dance workout that always gets you going. Even if today was supposed to be a leg day, the fact that you put your gym shoes on makes a difference.

5. Plan Post-Wedding Workouts

While working out to fit into a dress or look good in your wedding pictures is good motivation, you may subconsciously associate fitness with a look instead of a lifestyle. It can also cause you to lose momentum if you focus on fitness as an event.

Make plans to work out even after your wedding. You can stay wedding-fit forever and cultivate healthy habits in your married life by making it a lifestyle goal.
 

 

Get Wedding Fit

While you finalize the photographer, choose your cake and make the last payment for the venue, add your workout to that list. Once you have a workout routine, the next step is to stick to it. You’ll thank yourself six months down the line when you feel healthier and look it, too!

 

Author Bio: Oscar Collins is the editor-in-chief at Modded, where he writes about a broad spectrum of topics. Follow him on Twitter @TModded for frequent updates on his work.

 

 

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