If you’re unfamiliar with the beautiful, amazing, perfect Kayla Itsines, she’s all of the above and then a tanned fitness goddess. Luckily for the rest of society, Kayla created the Bikini Body Guide (BBG) so that girls like me can (try to) achieve a body like hers.

I’ve followed Kayla Itsines on various social media accounts for about a year and I have always been intrigued by her workouts, but I was never able to muster up the courage to actually buy and complete the guide. However, this past winter a friend of mine started the guide and inspired me to do the same (Molly, you rock).

Kayla Itsines’ BBG is composed of 12 weeks of workouts. Three days a week are circuit training days, with a different muscle group targeted during each workout. The workouts are composed of two circuits with four exercises each. You set a timer for 7 minutes and complete the reps instructed. You then complete each circuit twice, with the total workout being roughly 30 minutes with added rests in between sets. On days that you’re not completing circuits, you’re advised to complete LISS cardio (low intensity) and eventually HIIT cardio (high intensity intervals).

I went into this with very high expectations. Kayla Itsines always posts pictures of girls’ transformations from her guides and they are more times than not shocking and massively impressive. I was ready to lose ten pounds and have rock hard abs. Come week one, I was motivated, inspired, and ready to go. However, halfway through the workout (leg day, yikes!), I actually thought I was going to throw up.

Thoughts running through my mind included:

People do this for fun?

How does Kayla make it look so easy?

I didn’t even know it was possible to sweat this much...

I woke up the next day and I honestly have never been more sore in my entire life. I didn’t think pain like that was worth it, but somehow I dragged myself to the gym the rest of that week and completed week one. Only 11 more to go!

Somehow I managed to stick with it. Sure, I had a few bad days, and I had to repeat one of the weeks, but I did it!

Upon the completion of the guide, here’s what happened: I didn’t have rock hard abs (shocker). In fact, I hardly had abs at all. I also didn’t lose a lot of weight, but when you factor in the muscle I probably gained, that evens out. Kayla actually doesn’t encourage weighing yourself or relying on a scale, but rather focusing on progress pictures and based on those, I was satisfied.

Overall, I really enjoyed BBG. It was a great (rough) experience. My favorite part was the fact that I always knew what I would be doing when I got to the gym. I didn’t have to walk around and try to find things to occupy my time, I knew exactly what to do and how long to do it for. Also, I loved the fact that it didn’t require a lot of equipment.

If you’re looking for a kick butt workout program, this is it. I recommend talking a friend into starting it with you, because it definitely requires a lot of motivation to get through. I’m taking the summer off from BBG and trying to get into weightlifting on my own, but I’m looking forward to restarting the guides when I get back to school in the fall. Maybe this next time I’ll gain the abs I want.