Spring is officially here, which for most women is a sign that summer is coming, which means bikini season. Oh boy! Not to mention, the weather is finally warming up, rosé season is upon us, and there’s nothing better than sitting on a rooftop with an adult beverage (or three) in hand. Ok, wait, let me back up and tell you who I am. My name is Justin Gelband—I’m the guy who created ModelFit—and now I have my own fitness studio in NYC. But I’ve spent the past 15 years training the world’s top models and A-list actors with my workout method (obviously called the JG method), so I guess that’s why Betches asked me to give you my tips on how to get summer body ready without giving up alcohol.
Most of my clients want have to maintain their bodies, whether it’s for a new role, or for walking in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. They work hard and dedicate themselves to being the best they can be. But guess what—with hard work, comes reward! For the purposes of this article, that reward would be alcohol, right?! Now, I’m not telling you to slug a cocktail after every workout, but you also don’t have to give up a drink at Sunday brunch or a champagne toast at your best friend’s wedding altogether. With my method, I want to help women build the connection between their minds and bodies so they can not only look their best on the outside, but feel their best too—and I promise, a little alcohol won’t kill you with my method of functional movement based on Movement, Motivation, and Moderation!
Movement
Movement speeds up your body’s metabolism so you can burn the calories that come with alcohol! Dancing or simply moving around during your night out can help burn the calories you’re putting in your body. I would also suggest holding off on food an hour or two before drinking, and not eating at all after party time is over—I know drunk munchies are real, but you’re strong-willed, I believe in you! If you crack under tipsy pressure, and you HAVE to eat, stick to fruits, vegetables, or anything light. This way, you are balancing the toxicity of the alcohol with foods that won’t add to it. Especially since heavy amounts of sugar and salt are huge contributors to holding water and water weight!
Motivation
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broke a sweat getting my sports bra on so now i’m going to bed | @jessiejolles
This might seem like a small piece of the puzzle, but motivation is a big key to success in getting ready for the summer (and life in general). If you’re motivated to look fantastic, you will put your energy towards treating your body with respect—that not only means working out smart, but drinking smart as well. You don’t need to drink til you drop, no matter how stressful your work week was. Put yourself towards the mindset that you are drinking to enjoy yourself, not drinking just for the sake of getting wasted. Then, your hangover days will (hopefully) be behind you and you can wake up in the morning feeling motivated to work out and sweat out the alcohol from the night before, so one equalizes the other.
Moderation
Drinking is going to cause you to gain water weight and can cause other body image problems, so please moderate your drinking! So, if you’re used to drinking three drinks in a night, drink two. If you’re drinking (even one drink) every day, cut that down to three days per week. If you find these simple ways to cut some corners, you will still be able to get summer body ready without giving up alcohol. Drink red wine instead of white, and keep in mind a glass or two doesn’t mean a bottle! We’ve all been there. Look at the calories in the hard alcohol you’re drinking and go with whichever has the least number of calories and sugar. And try to steer away from mixers—it’s the sugars in mixed drinks that really get you. If you can’t drink something straight, then add a mixer (sip, no slugging) and have one or two less drinks. This will cut down on the body holding water or gaining weight.
A common misconception in today’s age puts being “skinny” in the same category as being “healthy.” This is not the case, trust me. Sure, you can give up alcohol and maybe see some weight loss, but does this improve your overall health? Have a drink or two, but discipline yourself and commit to exercising, and you’ll be summer ready… but start NOW! Don’t wait until May and say, “Okay JG—I need to transform my body by Memorial Day—help!!” You have 2 months to get your sh*t together, so zombie walk over to my studio with some betches, and I’ll be there to whip your butt in shape.
Images: Elevate / Unsplash; Justin Gelband (2); dietstartstomorrow, justingelband / Instagram
So you might think the hardest part of working out is getting your ass to the gym, but once you get there, it suddenly occurs to you that you’re ready to bounce after five minutes. For some reason, gym time is just slow-mo. It’s boring AF. Like, if you’ve ever held a plank for one minute straight and wondered if you had somehow broken through the space-time continuum and stopped time completely, you’re not alone. I mean, it’s impossible to get in a solid workout if you spend the whole time staring at the clock and hoping you’ll get a phone call about some family emergency. We’ve compiled seven amazing tricks that will help you get through your sweat session without bailing as soon as you get bored, so give these a try.
1. Try Tabata Intervals
Time goes by so damn slow when you’re working out, so one major way to make you forget about the time is by doing short, 20-second sprints at your maximum intensity. High intensity training experts often use Tabata Intervals during their workouts, which sound like the name of some stripper in a run-down strip club in the midwest, but is actually a technique that’s been scientifically proven to help you burn calories after your workout’s already over. The idea is to pick an exercise and work as hard as you can for 20 seconds, and then rest for 10 seconds. By doing eight rounds, you’ll be dead AF by the end, but the actual sprints are so fast that you won’t even realize how hard your body is working. There are a million Tabata timer apps out there, so download one now because it’ll change your (gym) life.
2. Use A Ladder Format
Another popular training strategy is the ladder format. Basically, you pick an exercise, do one repetition, then two, then three, etc. Work up to 10 or 20 reps, and then make your way back down the ladder until you get to one again. You can even start at the highest number of reps and work downward if you’d rather start with the most reps. Either way, you’re basically tricking yourself into doing like, 100 burpees without counting one by one.
3. Do The Hardest Shit First
This trick sounds pretty intuitive, but a lot of people get to the gym and do the stuff they enjoy doing first. But that’s a trap because by the time you’re already tired and getting bored, there’s no way you’ll get around to doing the hard stuff at the end. By reversing that order, you’ll just end up finishing up your full workout because the easier/more enjoyable stuff is at the end. So, for example, if you hate sprints but love doing ab workouts (you psycho), get your sprints out of the way at the beginning and do your abs at the end. Works like a charm.
4. Be Smart About Your Playlist
We’ve already talked about the importance of a dope playlist when you’re working out, but sometimes it even helps to make your playlist strategically to make sure you’ll finish up your workout. When making your playlist, make sure the playlist is around the same length as you want your workout to be. If your playlist ends after 20 minutes, you’ll obviously want to bounce right after that, so don’t set yourself up for failure. Also, play your favorite songs LAST, so you’ll want to stick around to actually hear them. I mean, at that point you might be too sweaty and nauseous to appreciate “I’m The One”, but at least you stuck it out, right?
5. Do EMOMs
If you’ve never heard of an EMOM before, it’s not as technical as it sounds, and it might be a game-changer for your workouts. EMOM stands for “Every Minute On The Minute,” and it’s low-key the holy grail of exercise intervals. The idea is to set a timer, pick 2-3 exercises, and do a certain amount of reps in one minute. If you finish before the minute is up, you can spend the remaining time resting. Then, when the second minute starts, you start again. Most people choose anywhere between 5-10 minute EMOMs, so it just depends how hard you wanna go. Whatever you choose, you’ll want to finish each interval as fast as you can to get more rest time, so you don’t even realize how many minutes are passing.
6. Work Out With Someone
Having someone force you to finish your workout is obviously the most efficient strategy. I mean, do you think anyone would actually get through a Barry’s Bootcamp class without some jacked guy in spandex yelling at you to sprint at a 12.5? No, the answer is a hard no. There’s a reason celebs are in such good shape, and it’s not because of some Skinny Tea they bought on Instagram. It’s because they have expensive trainers making them finish their workouts, so if you can hire a trainer, that’s ideal. If you’re a regular person, take a workout class or bring a friend with you to make you stay till the end.
7. Bribe Yourself
We all know the best way to power through anything in life is through bribery. I mean, there’s a reason you did so well on your middle school finals, and it’s because your parents promised you peace sign Juicy Couture earrings if you got straight A’s. The same mindset applies to working out. If you tell yourself that you’ll get your favorite froyo if you get through your workout, or like, the new Bandier crop top you’ve been wanting, you’ll have more motivation to actually get the workout done, and get it done FAST. People might think bribery is an unhealthy tactic, but like, if it does the trick, who cares? If it worked on the bouncer when you got your fake ID taken away in high school, it’ll work now, too.
