Last week, I completed the Fé Fit 90 day workout program that I started in April.
I’m not saying this to brag because trust me, everybody could care less that I completed it.
I’m sharing my journey with you becauuuuuse I believe that any day is a good day to start or continue exercising. For you. For your wellbeing. Not for some event in which you need to “show off” your body.
Most importantly, exercise isn’t meant to be a punishment for all the times you didn’t exercise or didn’t eat well the whole year. Exercise isn’t a genie either. It’s not going to instantly and magically grant you a bibiddibobiddiboom vavavoom bikini body.
Our bodies are not Play Doh and we can’t just roll our bodies back and forth under pressure and get longer and leaner.
Exercise is meant to take you closer to your emotional heath goals and your physical health goals. They go hand-in-hand.
Why I Love Fé Fit
- Fé Fit is a workout created by and geared toward moms. As their slogan says, “Created by women, for women.” They also say, it’s “Created by moms. For moms.” And it’s not just for new moms, but for moms of all ages that want to get in better shape.
- And before you feel excluded because you’re not a mom… don’t worry about it!! It helps all ladies.
- It targets ladies’ problem areas. You know…. the booty, the flab, the bulge.
- Instead of bulking you up, Fé Fit workouts tone you.
- Fé Fit is fun!
- If you’re wondering what Fé means… it’s actually the periodic chart symbol for iron, an element that is both strong and flexible.
- Other than Tae Bo and Gilad Janklowicz (which have been my two favorite workouts prior to Fe Fit… and yes, while I may be aging myself, let me clarify (not that I have to) that I actually started exercising quite young)… But before Fe Fit, I had never committed to ANY exercise routine. Like ever. Meaning, I had never ever done any of the exercise videos for a full month… or two or three. Evah! But, I’ve been consistent with the Fe Fit videos, to the point that I actually completed the program.
- Granted, the traditional Fé Fit routine is only 3 times a week, and but they also invite you to keep active on the rest of the days and the program even gives you the option of taking a day to rest (gasp!) I know! It’s unheard of that an exercise program encourages you to rest, right?
- There are different workout schedules.
- I don’t know if the Fé Fit creators or design team did research on color-therapy or what, but the brand colors that the packaging, the building, the exercise equipment use are SUPER agreeable to eye. (Even the workout clothing and the way the ladies layer it is so pretty and interesting).
- You can see and feel a difference in the way your body is sculpting and slimming in the first two workouts. I’m not kidding! And you continue to see and feel the results with every workout. Are you guaranteed a Barbie figure? No. But no program can make that guarantee because that standard is unattainable. But as long as youuuu think you’re looking better and you’re feeling better then you’re on the right path.
- There are workout moves that I had never tried, which probably explains why I felt that there were muscles that had never experienced a workout in their lives! (Well, maybe I’m exaggerating). But really, when you do these different workout moves, it’s as though you can feel that THIS time, the results will be different.
- The countdown bar! It’s sooooo useful! I don’t know about you, but being a person who prefers to work out at home instead of the gym, throughout the years, I have often found myself squinting at the countdown indicator on a VHS player or a DVD player trying to calculate how much longer I have to keep working out for.
- Apparently, I’m not the only one who’s been wondering about this mid-workout BECAUSE, Fé Fit has a big, can’t-miss-this countdown bar along the bottom of the screen that tells you how much time you have left AND how much time you have been working out for.
- Usually, though, the video is so entertaining that I usually notice the bar when I have already finished 33% of the video or even 50% of the video.
- The barre: I had never done barre. I’ve done yoga, Zumba, pilates, etc., etc., but never barre. And it’s fun! It has a pep to it, and from the looks of it, it’s really effective. Anything sane exercise to help shape this body of mine into a longer and learner look is worth trying.
- The variety. There are actually 7 different types of exercises in Fé Fit:
- Barre
- Cardio Circuit
- Core
- Lower Body
- Stretch Flow
- Total Body Toning and
- Upper Body
- The pace: the video is done at an agreeable pace. It doesn’t make you feel like you’re killing yourself doing the exercises. That’s totally appreciated. And that’s what I mean by sane exercise.
- The difficulty: While I can do the vast majority of the exercises at the same pace as the ladies and the videos, the instructor is totally fine if you follow the modified versions of the exercises presented by one of the ladies there. The instructor doesn’t shame you. On the contrary, she encourages you to listen to your body.
- The breaks: Oh Lordy!!! Oh LORDY! You have no idea how beneficial it is to have breaks between the workout days. (There are usually two days off per week). The reason this excites me so much Is not because I DON’T WANT to exercise that day, but rather, because on off days or active relaxation days I realize how much I miss and how much I enjoy actually exercising with the videos. CRAZY!!!!
- Really, I’m not someone who enjoys the notion of working out. I’m NOT! But they must be doing something right to have converted me from someone who could go days (weeks or months) without working out, to someone who looks forward to them.
- The stickers. Need I say more? Who doesn’t love stickers? And they’re used to mark off the days that you’ve worked out on your 90 Day Calendar, which is included, so that you feel the satisfaction of “checking off” that exercise routine. Did you know that checking off items triggers dopamine? That’s why you and I usually write things after the fact on our calendars just to check them off. Don’t tell me I’m the only one! ? Checking off items is so rewarding that you’ll do almost anything to make that workout happen. If you weren’t able to work out before the kids got up, before you went to work, or whenever it is that you work out, you WILL find another moment in your day to work out. Way to keep up the forward momentum!
- You’re encouraged to gauge your fitness on day 30, 60 and 90.
- The overall feeling. This is a workout program that makes me feel sexy, feminine, alive, strong, beautiful, and capable. When have you felt that way about a home workout? Any workout? Or about anybody else who’s not your husband (boyfriend or spouse)? 😉
- Fé Fit is unique. It’s graceful. It’s inviting. It’s compassionate. It’s warm.
- Perhaps, if I had to bundle all of this information into one little nugget that explains why I love Fé Fit so much it would be because this workout allows me to embrace my femininity instead of pushing myself extremely hard in a futile attempt to acquire masculine strength. I’m not saying that I can’t attain masculine strength. What I’m saying is that I don’t desire it. Through exercise, I want to become me, not devote HOURS of my week trying to transform myself into someone whom I’m not.
- Having a workout resource like this, taught by people who understand the uniqueness of women and what they need from a workout program, is liberating and empowering because now I can say that I’ve completed a 90-day workout program.
What Fé Fit Helps Me Treasure
Fé Fit helps me treasure my body.
- It helps me prioritize “me time.”
- It gives me strength and energy.
- It gives me mental clarity.
- I do something that helps me feel good. And when I feel good, everything else is more likely to fall into place.
- To top it off, my toddler joins in on these exercises next to me. And when this happens, I know that I’m setting an example that exercise is important and worthy of being a life-long habit.
What I Wish Was Different About Fé Fit
- That all the videos were actually all different.
The following “areas of improvement” are probably applicable to most, if not all, workout videos…. but since I was doing these videos so often, halfway through the entire program, meaning at around day 45 or so, these things started bothering me more and more.
I wish that Hilary, the fitness instructor (who is otherwise great, pleasant and motivating) had:
- Communicated towards the audience. Even though she can’t see us, we can see her. It would be great if she said we were also doing a good job much more often and talked to us more directly (Gilad is a master at this) instead of repeating the same phrases that are motivating at first, but soon start to lose their meaning. (Especially because of the repeated videos).
- High-fived or congratulated the audience more often at the end of the videos. SPOILER ALERT: This was espeeeecially important during the last workout. I’m sad to say that other than a written “You did it!” message before the last video (which I believe was repeated), there won’t be much else. Just a generic thank you for joining them for 30 minutes to do the videos. I wasn’t expecting fireworks, but a congratulations for finishing the program would have gone a lonnnnng way. I realize that the people who edited the program have a lot to do with the end result of the product and that Hilary wouldn’t have minded congratulating us if she was told to.
- Done the harder workouts like the burpies, push-ups, planks along with everybody else. She “checked” to see how the other ladies were doing way to often during hard moves. But the ladies don’t need much checking on. Even though they’re also moms, they were hired to appear on the videos because they’re already great at working out. Plus, if one of the was doing an exercise wrong, would Hilary correct them on the video for everybody to see? I don’t think she would. As a matter of fact she never corrected anybody… Why? Because to my point, there was no need to (and it would have looked good on camera).
- Not stopped to check on easy movements such as moving your leg from side to side. How hard can that be? I mean, come on!
- Used the workout room’s mirror more often if she wanted to check to see how the rest of the ladies were doing. Is it just me? Or does anybody else question why instructors need to stop and check someone’s form if they have the mirrors to watch? Gilad, who primarily worked out in the beach didn’t have mirrors so when he went to someone it was usually for truuuue encouragement or to use someone else as a model to make a point to the person working out at home that was important. With Hilary, I hate to say this, but it looked like she wanted a break (although I’m sure by far she was one o the fittest people in the room, along with Danielle). And while I understand that she must work out more than all of the ladies combined to be as fit and as knowledgeable as she did, when you’re hugging and puffing as you’re exercising you want an instructor (at least I know I do) that’s right there by your side doing the work with you.
- Considered that iffff she’s gonna take a break that she fully models the workout before getting up or stopping the movement. There were times when I had to resort to learning from the ladies’ movements instead of Hilary because she did a set or two and she was done and on her way to check on others.
- Refrained from using jumping jacks as her go-to exercise which feels more like her “I don’t know what movement to go next” move. I’m pretty sure that the workouts aren’t just find on the fly because the last what they’re meant to last. Little secret: I hate jumping jacks.
- Taken into account (along with the people doing the final edits where you are when the workout ends (whether you’re standing or on the floor) is important. If it ends on the floor, the editing needs to be done in such a way that there’s a clip saying that we should stand up, if the cool-down exercises will be standing up. And, there are situations in which she gets up or says to get up, and the cool down is on the floor.
- I understand that some workouts repeat, but there is a DVD with two exact workouts.
Suggestions for the crew:
- On balance exercises like the tree pose the last thing that you want is for the camera to move so much. Why? Because during balance videos you have to find a point of reference, stare at it and then do the balance stand on one foot for some time. If we as the viewers were trying to focus on Hilary’s face to listen to her and use her as our point of reference, and all of a sudden the cameraperson is taking video of too many angles, holding the position is very difficult. Try it. 🙂
- Because the videos were repeated, what inadvertently ended up happening is that some moves, such as the lunging ladder, were a little frustrating because you would have to listen to the explanation for how to do them again and again even though you already knew how they worked.
- As I said before, the colors are so pretty on the videos that I wish that the colors on the website and even some of the video materials were more cohesive. It would just be the cherry on the cake.
What Do I Think About Fé Fit?
I love it, despite these minor flaws.
Would I Recommend It?
Yes, absolutely! I would recommend it. As a matter of fact, I have recommended it to others. And if you’ve been turned off by exercise in the past, try this. I have a strong inkling you’ll like it.
Ohh, and by the way, you can try out several Fé Fit workout clips for free by searching for Fé Fit on YouTube. Here’s one clip for you to try out.
Will I Continue To Use Fé Fit?
Of course. It’s the exercise program that I have “tolerated” the most. Meaning I’ve done it for theeeee longest time and liked it enough to do it for this long.
I’ll up the game on how many days I do the program per week gradually so that my metabolism increases and I become used to the fact that I’ll be working out more now.
But Wait, What Are The Results Like With This Program?
I feel fitter mentally and physically than I ever have.
Want proof?
Well, my sister gifted me a Zumba event experience for my birthday. She started going to Zumba twice a week after I started Fé Fit. Aaaaand when we went to the event… which was Zumba dancing for 3 hours… I did very well and danced to every song non-stop.
Am I the smallest I have ever been in my life?
No.
But then again, when you’re a mom, you’re not necessarily being kind to yourself when you compare your current body to your 21-year old body. Maybe I’ll get that body back… maybe I won’t.
But as I said… feeling physically and mentally fit is sooo cool that I don’t care that people notice it or don’t. I notice improvements, and if you’re anything like me, I’m my worst critic.
Do I have room to do?
Of course! Who doesn’t?
But in the meantime, I’m proud of myself.
How About You?
- What’s been your favorite workout program?
- Why do you like it so much?
Share with us below.
