I've officially hit the half way mark of the ValSlides program, the new strength training routine I started, and I wanted to share how things are going so far. (Numbers are at the bottom if you want to cheat and skip ahead.)

The program has six workouts each week. Three days are cardio sessions, meant to be short and higher in intensity (though my 17 mile run on Monday hardly falls in either of those categories) and three days are Val's strength routines.


Val's strength programs are intense. I talked about my first workout using the program and how I was literally dripping in sweat and laying on the gym floor exhausted after I finished, and that hasn't changed with the other workouts.

They literally kick my butt. Val loves lunges and holy goodness my butt is getting a workout on this program.

But so are my arms, shoulders, chest, back and abs.

Val's program also comes with a food plan, which I'm sort of kind of following. I really, really suck at "diets" or any program that tells you to eat certain foods and not eat others. I love food, and if you tell me I can't eat something, it's pretty much the only thing I want to eat.

That said, I would say I'm following Val's plan about 90 percent of the time.


Her plans calls for lots of fresh produce (easy in the summer!) and lean protein while completely eliminating bread, flour, alcohol and all processed food for three weeks.

I've certainly reduced the amount of the prohibited foods, but I haven't gone completely cold turkey on any of them.

So to track progress Val has you record measurements at the start, mid-way point and end of the program.

I'm not doing this specifically to lose weight, and since I'm not following the diet super closely, my results probably won't be as awesome as someone who was.

But hey, I've got my friend's huge pool party coming up in a few weeks and if I'm going to be running around in swimsuit all day long, I'm not complaining if one of the added benefits of this program is that I slim down a smidge.


Half way through here's where things stand. I'm not sharing real numbers because I don't really feel like putting that out on the Interwebz. If you're dying to know, shoot me an email and I'm happy to share.


Weight: - 3.5 lbs
Bust: - 1/2 inch
Waist: -1/4 inch
Hips: no change
Right Thigh: - 1/2 inch
Left Thigh: - 1/2 inch
Right Bicep: + 1/4 inch (whooo getting gunz!)
Left Bicep: + 1/4 inch