I recently completed the GlowbodyPT Advanced 5K plan, and I am feeling more like myself than I have in quite a while.  I wanted to share my experience and results with you today because this plan is so effective, straight forward, and doable!  I’ve always been an athlete and enjoy working out, but as someone who needed to jumpstart her fitness after falling into a slump during the pandemic, I can’t say enough good things about this plan.  This plan (as well as a Beginner 5K Plan) are free bonus plans that come with the the purchase of the GlowbodyPT 10 Minute Plan (code WHIMSY10 is my Glowbody PT discount code that you can use to save $10 on all paid Glowbody PT plans- I promise it’ll be the best ~$100 you’ve ever spent!).  Last year I completed her 12 Week Post Pregnancy Plan and you can read my review of that plan here.  She also has a ton of free youtube videos and a free Prenatal Plan and a free 21 day 8 minute workout challenge.  I’ve highly recommend them all!

Ashley Keller is the owner of GlowbodyPT and she’s a fellow West Point grad (she was a year behind me at West Point and my late husband was her team leader when she was a Plebe (freshman), and ever since I first heard about her from him back in 2006 I was impressed).  She’s also an Army wife, the momma of 4 young children, a world class triathlete, and she inspires me daily.  She’s such a cheerleader and encourager in her videos and I’ve been a firm believer in her workouts since I first learned about them in 2018!  Even though I grew up as an athlete and I know my way around the weight room, I tend to do her videos 95% of the time when I do strength training because she takes the guess work out of all of it.  She’s the very best and I’m thankful to call her a friend!

My GlowbodyPT Results and a Review of the Advanced 5K Plan (Free Plan that Comes with 10 Minute Plan)

First off, the GlowbodyPT 10 Minute Plan is a 12 week plan that has you doing 3 10 minute videos 4 days a week.  The videos get progressively harder and the videos you do together on a given day change from week to week so that your body is always kept guessing and forced to adapt.  The Advanced 5K plan is an 8 week plan that uses the same videos and it’s a free plan that comes with the 10 Minute Plan, but you’re working out 5 days a week and running is thrown in as well.  I’d recommend doing the 10 Minute Plan first and then move on to the Beginner or Advanced 5K plan if you want to incorporate running into your workouts.  I’m a runner but have really struggled with motivation lately, so I thought the Advanced 5K plan would be a great way to help get my back on track.

My goals for the plan were:

• Comfortably fit back into my favorite jeans.  (I wore them last year at less than a year postpartum and they were easy to put on, but they got tight in 2021 and I wanted to be able to wear them and feel comfortable again.)
• Improve my 5K time (you test at the beginning and again at the end of the plan)
• Feel better after my weekly long run.  I typically run ~10 miles with a running group on Saturday mornings and the runs got harder to manage and recover from after the summer.  My plan was to do the GlowbodyPT Advanced 5K Plan but also do a longer run in lieu of the prescribed run on Saturdays.
• Be more mindful of my eating habits.
• Decrease belly fat.  In 2021 I started carrying a good bit of fat in my lower belly and it has been incredibly stubborn and hard to get rid of.  I wanted to feel more comfortable in my body and less weighed down by this belly fat.
• Feel stronger with lean and toned muscles.

The Stats:

• I’m 35 years old and had 3 children in 4 years (1 c-section and 2 VBACs) and my youngest was 21 months old when I started the plan.  I trained for and ran a marathon at about a year postpartum after my first 2 children but did not do that after my third child.
• My pre-3rd baby weight was 127 pounds (I was still in marathon shape) and I hit 178 pounds while pregnant (51 pound weight gain).
• I lost most of the baby weight quite easily after completing the GlowbodyPT 12 Week Post Pregnancy Plan (full review here), but then I slowly gained some weight back this past year.
• 5K time at the beginning of the plan: 25:05, which is an 8:04 pace (it was a perfect 69 degrees when I ran)
• 5K time at the end of the plan: 24:31, which is a 7:53 pace (it was 28 degrees when I ran and I didn’t warm up at all, but I still dropped 34 seconds!)
• Weight at the beginning of the plan: 131.6 pounds
• Weight at the end of the plan: 129.9 pounds (1.7 pounds lost in 10 weeks)  I may have lost less than 2 pounds but I know I gained muscle and shed some fat and I feel so much better than I did before completing the plan.

Before and After Photos (taken 9/13/21 and 11/21/21):

How It Went:

Truthfully, summer was really challenging for me.  3 little kids at home nonstop and a good bit of solo parenting made it hard for me to get my workouts in because I was not as intentional as I should have been.  I decided I’d start the Advanced 5K plan once all 3 kids were in school (full day Kindergarten for my oldest, and 3 hours a day for my younger 2).  Most of the time I’d wake up before the kids got up and would complete my workouts then.  Not only did this get my workouts out of the way, it also helped me start the day on my toes, rather than on my heels.  The days that I was able to workout early were much better days all around.  I was a more focused and happy mom and was able to pour myself into my children rather than being distracted or frustrated.  Waking up at 5:30AM is never fun or easy, but it makes such a big difference and it does get easier the more you do it.  On days I couldn’t get my workout in early I’d do it right after I took the girls to school.  I don’t have any fancy equipment, just a yoga mat and 5, 8.5, and 10 pound dumbbells.  I need to get an exercise ball but they take up so much space so I’ve just made due without one.  I just do the videos in my living room or kitchen while viewing them on my phone with bluetooth headphones on.  We did invest in a treadmill last year though, and that has been a game changer for me, being able to run while the kids are still asleep.  Here is a full tour I recorded of the treadmill that we have and all the reasons I love it!

This plan is supposed to be an 8 week plan, but it took me 10 weeks to complete, and thats ok!  I tried to be very intentional about not letting myself slack or shift days around, but at week 6 Tom went out of town for a while and my parents came to visit and I got a bit out of my routine.  I restarted week 6 twice but got back on track for weeks 7 and 8.  Life gets hectic for all of us, so don’t be discouraged if you have to adapt.  I love this plan because by being broken down in to 10 minute increments you’re able to fit them in around your schedule.  Ideally, I try to do all 3 videos (or 2 videos and the run, if it’s a day with the run) all at one time, but sometimes that’s just not feasible so I’ll do 1 video while the kids are eating breakfast and then the other videos later in the day.  The plan allows you real flexibility so as long as you’re intentional it’s easy to get it all in.

I tried to be mindful about snacking and portion size.  It’s easy for me to eat a lot of bread or crackers so I tried to focus on eating more fruits and vegetables.  I follow intuitive eating so I did not withhold anything or count calories.  I just tried to be mindful and intentional about it all.  I do love sweets too, and instead of dessert like ice cream most nights I’ll try to have a little piece of dark chocolate or a small handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips to satisfy my sweet tooth.

I may not have lost a lot of weight but I improved my run time, my cardio vascular fitness improved greatly (I didn’t need any rest or a nap after my 10 mile weekend runs), my clothes fit better, and I can feel that my muscles are more defined and much of the pesky belly fat has disappeared.  I gained 40, 45, and 51 pounds with my pregnancies so I have a lot of lower abdomen stretch marks and excess skin.  I may not ever have the tummy I used to have, and that’s ok.  I just try to focus on what I can and work hard to build lean muscles and shed fat while living a balanced life…and GlowbodyPT is the number one way that I’m able to do that!  My upper abs are stronger and more defined than they may have ever been, and I’m really proud of that!

What’s Next?

After completing the GlowbodyPT Advanced 5K plan I moved on to the free GlowbodyPT 21 Day 8 Minute Workout Challenge.  This plan is free and it has a calendar where you do either 2 or 3 8-minute videos 6 days a week.  I’m currently on week 3 and am still running a bit as well.  Once I finish this I’ll probably keep up some of the videos and my running until the holidays are over, and then I plan to start the GlowbodyPT Lean Fast Strong Capable plan in the New Year.  I’ve never done this plan before, and truthfully it intimidates me.  It’s Ashley’s most challenging plan but I finally feel like I’m ready to take it on and I can’t wait to get started!  It’s so important to step outside of your comfort zone sometimes and push yourself, so I figure this plan will be a great step forward to being the best that I can be.  WHIMSY10 will save you $10 on this plan as well, if you’d like to join me!

Katie Vail

Find me on: Web | Instagram | Facebook