Do you hear wedding bells? Wedding season is still a few months away, but for brides-to-be at the studio, the time for hard work is now — those bells are already ringing loud and clear!
To help our brides-to-be make sure they look their very best on their big day, we’re thrilled to announce the launch of our #MDRBrideTribe series. This is also a great opportunity for anyone looking to prepare for ANY big event where you want to make sure you look fantastic — a birthday, bikini season, The Oscars— the sky’s the limit.
What’s more, we’re excited to share that our very own founder, Lisa Hirsch, is getting married next month, so the timing for #MDRBrideTribe couldn’t be better!
To kick it off, here are some tips and tricks to help you fit perfectly into your wedding dress:
• Build a schedule and stick to it — consistency is key for killer results. If you’re 6 months away from your big day, our instructors recommend to start hitting the studio a minimum of 3 times a week for best results. 3 months out? Up the ante to 4 times a week. Also, keep in mind, in addition to your time at the studio, our instructors recommend that you add cardio into your routine at least 2-3x per week. This can be at least 30 minutes of spinning, running, hiking, rowing, swimming…anything that gets your heart rate up and you enjoy doing!
• Keep your dress style in mind and pick workout moves that target the areas you want to show off. Good news is since our workout is a total body workout, tone and functional strength come from most moves that we do. For instance, we are working our arms when we simply hold a plank or in our other essential moves like wheelbarrow and bear!
However, you can certainly bring your A game to the moves that matter most depending on your dress. Do you have a strapless dress? Put some extra effort into making sure your back and arms are toned and sculpted. According to Studio MDR trainer Dana Sands, who used The Studio (MDR) to tone up for her own wedding, ‘Kneeling Lateral Pulls’ will help to sculpt your shoulders and back. Mermaid style? Slim and trim those thighs and hips to make sure your dress hugs your curves by crushing the move ‘Standing Outer Thighs’. Have other problem areas like dreaded love handles? We’ve got you covered — ‘French Twist’ will help to whittle your waist. Talk to your instructor and tell them what areas you want to target – they’ll tell you the moves you should work to perfect
• Set a concrete, specific goal and have a timeline. Is it to lose 5 pounds? An inch off your waist? Think about where you want to be on your special day, and create a concrete, specific goal. From there, you can work backwards to create a plan that starts today and be able to track your progress towards your goal. It’s often helpful to visualize your goal by creating a physical timeline and putting it up on your wall to make sure you stay on track.
• Abs were built in the kitchen — clean up your nutrition! We get it, anxiety over wedding planning might make you want to stress eat your weight in dark chocolate. But put down the chocolate bar, and you’ll thank yourself in a few months when your dress zips up without a hitch. In conjunction with your workout, cleaning up your diet is absolutely crucial. Substitute salty snacks like chips for nuts. Have a sweet tooth? Sub out cookies for some fruit to kick your sugar craving. Keep healthy snacks with you so you don’t slack while you’re on the go, and either trash any junk food lying around, or keep it out of sight so you’re not tempted to cheat.
You don’t have to do this all at once either. Take more strides to eat cleaner as the date gets closer. Instructor Dana went cold turkey and cut sugars and carbs 3 months before her wedding date. Her diet focused on lean meats, veggies, drinking tons of water and she snacked on things like hard boiled eggs, seaweed, carrots and hummus. She also made smoothies every morning packed with veggies and superfoods like chia, flax, almond milk, Sun Warrior protein and almond or cashew butter. Another tip she swears by is to make sure you have your last meal before 7pm every night.
We want to hear from you! What’s working best for you? What are you struggling with? Share posts on Instagram/ Facebook/ Twitter and tag us @thestudiomdr and hashtag #MDRBrideTribe. Share what your goals are, comment on other bride’s posts to see how they’re doing, and offer support and tips on what’s worked well for you.
We know that it can be really tough to stay accountable to yourself — to help with this, there’s a sign-up sheet at the front desk to sign up for a #MDRBrideTribe “Accountability Buddy” program. The idea is to connect amazing community members to one another to help you keep each other accountable as you go. This can be as flexible as you want it to be — you can send each other text messages at the beginning and end of each week checking in to share small wins and struggles. If you do choose to participate, be on the lookout for an email from us on who your accountability is so you can connect — exciting!
A quick word on what’s coming up: stay tuned in the coming weeks for an exclusive interview with our founder Lisa to learn what she’s doing to prepare in the final moments before her big day. We’ll also share some nutrition tips to help you prepare for yours!