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Review! Alexia Clark Fitness Program & Update On My Shoulder Injury

 


A couple of people have asked about my fitness routine and I thought now would be a good time to write about it since it's Frugal February and I finally have an update on my shoulder injury that's been bothering me since November of last year. I went to the doctor in January and was supposed to get an ultrasound on my left shoulder, but for some reason, they entered in an X-ray instead. Which to no ones surprise, it didn't show anything. I went through a bunch of range of motion/mobility testing and the doctor said it's very likely I have a shoulder impingement. Apparently, it's a pretty common injury where tendons along my shoulder are getting caught between bone when I'm lifting my arm up above my shoulder. My physical therapist says the muscles were probably overworked which then weakened some other muscles. I honestly couldn't follow all of it, but the doctor recommended four to six weeks of physical therapy and I have to do exercises 3 times a week on my own. I'm currently just starting on week two. It's hard to say if it's helping just yet, but I will see this through to the end. With all that, I'm not allowed to do any upper body exercises that require me to lift above my shoulder. So no shoulder presses for me! 

Before my shoulder injury I was doing a mix of Alexia Clark workouts for strength and Peloton workouts for cardio, yoga, and stretching. I am currently using the treadmill a lot. I'm not able to do too much yoga at the moment (I found out I can't even do a child's pose without awful pain in the left shoulder). 

I started Alexia Clark home workouts in 2018. Here's a picture of me when I first started.

2018

Honestly I wasn't in terrible shape, I was definitely leaner back then. I was following Kayla Itsines at that point but there was a lot of jumping and it was getting hard on my knees (I also have a left knee problem). 😣 It's an old injury from when I was in high school. I tore something in my left knee and just never went to the doctor because I was 17 and you know all teenagers are idiots. 😅

Me- 2019 - After one year of Alexia Clark.


Both photos are from 2021.


I definitely got stronger and I do feel Alexia Clark's workouts are great for improving your strength. My shoulders and chest muscles grew and I even grew a booty. 😆 I am not someone that easily puts on muscle. It takes a lot for me to add any kind of muscle so I was pretty impressed with my progress. Each week there would be five new workouts on her website or app. A typical week would have one upper body workout, one lower body, two full body and one challenge which are always reserved for Fridays. Every four weeks or so she would throw in a shark week, which consists of four full body workouts in a row and for Friday there would be a challenge. Challenges are workouts that test your strength and endurance. They are hard, physically and mentally. After shark week she always follows it up with a split week. Which means, two upper body days, two lower body days and a challenge. This is the week where you really focus on strength. I started her program using 8 to 10 pound dumbbells and found myself growing stronger and increasing my weights every 6 months. The best part? There's very minimal jumping!

These photos were taken in 2022.

There are two options for her workouts, 20-30 minutes or 50-60 minutes. I would always choose the 50-60 minutes and just try and get as far as I could. There are four circuits and each circuit had 3 to 4 exercises. The 5th circuit is optional and it's usually focused on a specific challenge for the month. Alexia also let's you know in advance what's coming. For the month of March she's focusing on biceps and triceps. Here's a screen shot of one circuit as an example from a full body workouts. There's a clip of the exercise (you can also enlarge the screen.) There's also an alternate exercise, sometimes it's a modification, other times it's an even more challenging version than the one she suggests.



Equipment




The equipment I normally use are a full set of weights. My weights range from 3 pounds to 30 pound weights. I have kettlebells ranging from 18 pounds to 44 pounds. I use resistance bands, a bench, and a yoga mat. I much prefer working out at home versus going to the gym. However there is a gym at my office that I do take advantage of and when I need the treadmill I head downstairs to the gym in my complex. I do like using some machines especially for pull downs and rows. My collection of weights started back in 2012. I began with 6 pounds and just slowly kept adding heavier weights as I grew stronger. I don't think I'll go past what I'm currently have, at least not for a while!

If you made it this far in my review and want to try Alexia Clark's program, I have a referral link that will give you $5 off from your monthly subscription for every month you're subscribed. It's only available if you sign up through Alexia-clark.com. Currently her program costs $29.99 a month, with the $5 off it comes out to $24.99. I do think it's quite worth it. Alexia Clark will make you stronger. I absolutely cannot wait to get back to her upper body workouts. That's it for me and I hope you all have a productive week!




Comments

  1. Thanks for sharing your workout routine! I, on the other hand, love working out at the gym. It made me so focused on my exercises. No distractions on the most part!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Blueberries! It's always interesting to me how there's always some that love the gym and others that prefer working out at home. The one benefit of working out at home is there's no excuse not to! I just have to walk five feet. lol

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  2. Thank for the review. I signed up after you mentioned it previously, wish I had waited for your link, haha. I was doing Booty by Bret workouts before Alexia Clark, which is also an at-home strength subscription workout. I am liking Alexia much better because of the variety - Bret's laid out a week's worth of workouts, and you would repeat them for the month, increasing weights each week. It got boring. But so far I can only make it through 3 of Alexia's circuits without dying, lol. I haven't tried Alexia's food plan yet, have you?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice! I'm glad you're liking her workouts! Three circuits is amazing. I'm usually exhausted by then and I try to go through the 4th one but I'm just so tired it takes me forever. Have not tried her food plan, mainly because I don't cook and cooking is left to my husband. I did show him her food plan a few times but he didn't seem very interested in it. LOL. But I'm sure if you combined her food plan with her workout plan the changes to your body would be insane.

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  3. You looked great then and now! I haven't done any fitness program workout since college. I should do some weights again though. I didn't know about your shoulder injury or I must have forgotten. I'm glad you've done PT and have gotten stronger!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Janessa! Thanks so much. I'm still doing PT for my shoulder but I think it is starting to feel a little better. Hoping to get back to my routine in a couple of months.

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  4. I was looking for a review of Alexia Clark's program and stumbled upon your blog and then I was shocked to see you are also struggling with shoulder impingement! I have had that since July of this year. I am on my 5th week of physical therapy and it's helping but definitely not 100%. I injured mine while weightlifting too and I am dying to get back to upper body workouts. Just wanted to check in and see how your shoulder is now?

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    Replies
    1. Hi there! I went through 2 sessions of physical therapy about 12 weeks total, it helped a little bit with some of the other aches I was getting but in the end I had to go through shoulder manipulation under anesthesia. Basically surgery but not surgery. They put my under and then pushed through my frozen shoulder (inflamation and scar tissue). So I had about another month of physical therapy and now I'm almost back to normal. Surgery was about 2 months ago. I can start lifting again, but I am back to scratch, light weights. But I'm happy I have full range of motion again. I still have to stretch it everyday. I just have to watch my form and make sure I can handle the weight I'm using.

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    2. Wow that's crazy! I have a follow up with my orthopedic doctor next week so I am hoping to get a little more help to push through without manipulation. Sorry you had to go through that! Glad you're back!

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    3. Thanks!! Glad to be back at it too. Best of luck with your shoulder. I hope the PT helps you more than it did for me.

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