I wrote up another blog post not long long ago about the concept of ambivalence. The idea that you can hold contradictory desires in your head at the same time. If you are overweight, I'm guessing this is the conversation in your head. It would be nice to lose some weight and fit into some old clothes but... I just don't have the time or energy to tackle something new right now. My job is busy, the kids are crazy with activities and life, and I just love french fries way too much. Plus I'm not that out shape.
You've maybe tried a diet or exercise program or gym membership but as soon as you start going with that, you look in the rearview mirror and you think how comfortable you were before, and how hard this is now. The change doesn't seem as sexy anymore and you revert back. Then things get bad enough again where changing some things seems like a good idea... and.... Am I close???
That was my thinking at the time of my before picture. I had those voices inside my head. I didn't think I was that out of shape, and to be honest, compared to some I wasn't. I thought I was doing a decent job of working out eating. I didn't wake up one morning and all of a sudden I weighed 25 lbs more than I should. NO... those pounds crept on slowly through all of those little decisions I was making or not making. I had already set the cruise control on the way to Diabetesville in the land of Obesedom.
Does any of that sound like where you are at with your health journey? Do you struggle with those same doubts and hesitations? It's ok, those are natural. Here's the awesome thing, you can change! For me I finally said enough was enough I surrendered myself to a process to get healthier and fit. It was hard! I didn't like it! That process pushed me to get uncomfortable. It taught me to relearn a lot of things when it came to diet and exercise.
It's been a 3 year journey since that before photo! I'm proud to say I haven't put the weight back on like so many statistics say should have happened. The only thing I can give credit to for that is being held accountable for my decisions. Yeah I not only coach people how to make changes, I'm doing the work too. I'm constantly learning and growing in this journey. That's what makes it fun for me.
3 Tips to Get Control of the Voices in Your Head
With that I would love to extend a couple invitations to you if you want to start moving through these steps. First off, if you are ready to surrender your current lifestyle and habits and start rebuilding some new ones, Laura and I have an online accountability group that starts on Monday, November 30th. Being a part of one of these groups was the process that started my transformation. This will be a 5 week group on Facebook where you will get nutritional advice, daily motivation, a community that will support you, and a chance to win some prizes. Serious what do you have to lose? Why not hit the New Year running? Secondly, if you know that you won't stay committed by just wading into this fitness and health thing. Or maybe you've done a couple groups with us but just haven't quite felt that real motivation to change. If you know it will take the pressure of people looking up to you to truly commit. Why not jump in the deep end and give this coaching thing a try? Oh and don't worry the deep end isn't that deep. We make sure to help you get started right so that you can be successful with your weight loss and your business. That's the best of both worlds right, get healthy and make some money! If you would like to know more about coaching, shoot us an email, we would love to chat.
Hey there friends and followers. I just wanted share this video message with you to let you know a little bit more about myself, my journey, and what I get to do everyday as a coach.
I sincerely appreciate you following our page and our blog. I would love to hear from you and get to know you a little bit better. What are your dreams? What is your passion? What is your purpose? I love helping people answer those questions and really dig deep down to find the answers.
Here's the thing friends. Health doesn't necessarily come easy in the society we live in today. We are constantly bombarded with temptations of food that will make you sick and fat. You likely go to a job that encourages you to sit in a chair for 8+ hours a day on top of sitting in a car both ways. You come home exhausted from poor food choices and lack of movement and that leads to more poor food choices, then it's taking care of the kids, then you are really wiped out, so you settle in front of the TV for the night. Then you get to do all that again the next day.
When it comes to health, YOU HAVE TO PAY!!! You have to do some tough things at some point. If you are under 50, those things might be:
So ask yourself how much sacrifice are you willing to make today so you don't have to deal with those things later in life? If you've already made some of these sacrifices, we would love to hear what they were and how you created healthy habits around them. Your ideas will help others out, so we encourage you to share. Thanks friends!
Did your parents ever tease you with presents when you were younger? This wasn't the norm in our house but it did happen a few times. Or vacation??? Your parents tell you that in 6 months you will be heading to Disney World. That next 6 months is now torture. As a kid you get so excited and just can't wait.
Well... Beachbody dropped a similar bomb on us this past week. We found out about a few new programs and products that are coming out. I guess one of them is available right away but the other two we have to wait until next year. So if we have to wait in anticipation, we want you to suffer too!! Here are the three new programs and products that are or will be available. Active Maternity
This series of workouts is available exclusively to Beachbody Club Members. As a club member one of the benefits is Beachbody On Demand which is the online streaming platform that Beachbdy recently released.
There are 4 total workouts:
All of these workouts do require dumbbells. If you would like more info on these workouts or to try them for free for 30 days, reach out via EMAIL, or comment below. 22 Minute Hard Corps
If you're willing to step up and commit to spending 8 weeks with Tony Horton and 22 Minute Hard Corps™, you'll walk away Boot Camp Fit—even in the best shape of your life. It won't just give you a mission-ready physique—you're going to have to earn it—but Tony supplies you with all the tools and motivation you need to blow past the limits of what you thought you could do.
GET "BOOT CAMP FIT" FROM HEAD TO TOE WITH THE QUICK, MILITARY-INSPIRED, NO-NONSENSE WORKOUT.
Fitness doesn't get much simpler than this. 22 Minute Hard Corpsis a quick, no-nonsense, boot camp workout program. You just show up…keep up…and you will get in great shape. The training is basic, but the results are absolutely epic.
We would love to keep you up to date on the launch of this program. If it looks like you would want to try you can simply click on the link below. Also the first 15 people to respond will have first access to our Test Group that will start when the program comes out.
Cafè Latte Shakeology
Café Latte flavor Shakeology is the newest flavor in the Shakeology family. It has an exclusive ingredient, Whole Coffee Fruit, which is the cherry-like fruit surrounding the coffee bean. Coffee fruit is used in Café Latte Shakeology because it not only adds great taste, it's a superfood. Café Latte Shakeology has the same protein blend and superfood profile as Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry, and Greenberry and the same superfood ingredients as all the other formulas as well.
We wanted to respond to the video that got massive attention last week. We don't even want to link to it but if you are so inclined to watch it you can find it by typing "Dear Fat People" into a Google search. The person that created the video is a comedian so you should take everything she says with a grain of salt. That said her basic premise was if we shame "fat people" enough that they will feel so bad that they decide to change. Makes perfect sense, right??? If someone is in enough pain, they will clearly choose to do something different. The problem with her argument lies in the physiological component to being overweight. She clearly has no training in anything and she just thinks that if people eat less and exercise more, presto change-o they become skinny.
Just to be clear, we should probably just blatantly say it out front, shaming people is an absolutely horrible way of treating people and it does NOT get results. This video also brings up the the topic that goes viral every other month or so of #loveyourself and "body positive" blogs that are out there. This is always a tricky subject to us especially since we are in the business of helping people get healthy and lose weight. This is where we want to dive in a little deeper...along with giving you a strategy to navigate your own health and weight loss. Within the "body positive" movement there is a theme of loving yourself for who you are whether you are fat or skinny. No matter your shape or size you should be ok with that and embrace who you are, #loveyourself. We totally agree with this...but what if we asked ourselves this: "Can you love yourself for who you are, and still try to improve yourself?"
The question itself is contradictory in nature. Why do you need to change if you love who you are? This is where some people in the "body positive" movement lose us. They take that thought and solely stick to the love yourself side of it. Thinking "I'm good enough the way I am and I don't need to improve". (For a little more reading on change and being "good enough" you can check out another post of ours where we talk about that exact topic, The "Good Enough" Principle - Ambivalence!) There are some in that movement that are certainly trying to improve their body composition and health. There are also people tucked away in a shack in Mississippi that are oblivious to all of this, they are "fat" and just don't care. I safely say that because those people probably don't have the internet and will never read this!
The graphic below is really helpful in helping distinguish where you might fall in your own personal health. We know that these categories aren't perfect and you may find some overlap in your current situation. We believe that everyone should be on an active journey to improve themselves AND that you can and should love where you are at currently. In fact we think in order to move forward in your health and fitness it has to be done out of love for yourself and wanting the best for yourself. In order to do that you need to take a good assessment of where you currently are though. Ask anyone that has navigated using a map and compass, the most important thing to know is to know your current location. That means getting honest with yourself and asking some tough questions...
This graphic and our descriptions might also help you understand that not all "skinny" and "fat" people will be in the same categories. Often times skinny healthy people just assume all overweight people are lazy and uneducated. Also skinny people are often thought to be healthy solely based on their body size, which we know isn't true. We breakdown these categories a little more below to bring clarity to these stereotypes.
So before we dive into each of these descriptions you should know why we chose Aware and Willing as the category headings and what they mean. By saying aware, we mean that people that fall into this category are knowledgeable with what it takes to be healthy. The science of what it takes to be healthy is constantly changing and there is new information coming out all the time. People in this category follow that information and know what it takes to improve their health and/or lose weight. By saying willing, we refer to the people that make an effort to do what they think or know is right.
Aware & Willing
They are "aware" of what it actually takes to be healthy and are "willing" to prioritize the things it takes to improve their health. It is because of this that this section of people are generally in good physical shape and generally healthy. This group doesn't have to be physically fit, but more importantly actively working towards improving their current situation. They actively seek out the latest in health trends and science to see what works best for them. They have made a commitment to their health and may even work in the industry.
Aware & Unwilling
This group is "aware" of what they need to do to improve their current health situation but have yet to make it a priority in their daily habits. There is a sense of ambivalence. They know why they should change and the benefits. They even know what they need to do in order to create a change. However they have a pull to keep things as they are. Change is hard. They may not have the support system in place that will support them if they start making changes. They may have a stubborn husband that enjoys his pizza and pasta, or coworkers that frequently go out for happy hour. They may feel they will be outcast by these people if they start making different decisions.
This group will likely not make a change until their health begins to affect something that they currently find a bigger priority. An example would be a mother with a toddler or young children that values time with her family above all else. Her kids are constantly wearing her out with all of their activities to the point where she can't keep up anymore. That may be the breaking point for her where she decides she needs to get in better shape. Unaware & Willing
This group makes up the biggest group of people from my experience. They all want to be healthy and even go to the effort of eating what they think is healthy food and working out in a way they think will improve their health but may or may not be seeing results. This group reminds us of the saying, "Work smarter, not harder!" This group hasn't quite figured that out yet.
Common things we hear from people that would fall into this category are;
This group of people, as stated in the chart, will likely cook a lot of homemade meals..but those meals will likely be comprised of packaged goods and will be heavy on the starches and unhealthy fats and low in protein. If we could sum this group up in one thought it would be... We eat "healthy" cereal for breakfast group. How do people move out of this group? It mainly comes through education from credible and current sources to formulate a plan that's going to work for them. The key there is individualized plan because what works for one doesn't work for all. One of the most common things we see here is with running. Often times runners are inherently skinny. We can say that because we both were former runners and both were skinny prior to starting our running careers. People from this group see skinny runners and think that running must have made them skinny, therefore they should run to get skinny. This would be like saying playing basketball makes you tall. Yes, running will work for some but it isn't the best way to lose weight in a healthy way for a majority of people. If you fall into this group and are curious about some resources that we have used to learn more about nutrition and exercise, we would love to share some of those with you. Just comment below or send us an email. Unaware & Unwilling
This group unfortunately makes up a decent percentage of our population. People in this group tend to have never done any research into health or nutrition other than what a doctor or the media may have told them. They may know that certain things like sugar and fast food are bad for them but fail to connect what they are eating to how they FEEL and their overall health. They may know exercise is important but their knowledge of what to do might be rooted in what they did in junior high gym class 30 years ago. The fate of people in this group usually tends to be more grim than positive. These people will likely battle chronic disease throughout their lifetime and will likely struggle with being overweight.
Thankfully people in this group can reverse the course they are on. It usually takes a friend or family member to intervene. Unfortunately it might take a health issue to force people to change. If you know someone in this group, reach out to them let them know you care and love them for who they are right now as they are! Where Are You Right Now?
The reason we wanted to write this post was because we want to share a BETTER strategy for losing weight than shaming someone. With that, we also want to put the focus on HEALTH because skinny doesn't mean healthy and carrying a little extra weight doesn't mean unhealthy. We do believe that we should all love, yet acknowledge where we are with our health, and actively be trying to improve upon it.
This world is going to bombard us with toxic things that harm our body and deteriorate our health. We will also face toxic things mentally that will try to break our will, lessen our belief in ourselves, and crush our dreams. That is why we need to constantly be working to improve our current situation because we just don't know what might try to trip us up next. If this post inspired you to make a change we would love to hear from you. If you need someone to just talk with about your current situation we are here for you!!
Here's the quick version of my Body Beast review: I have fallen in love with heavy lifting because it's transformed my body. Plain and simple.
Ladies, do NOT be afraid to lift heavy weights. Those 2 and 5 lb weights won't really get you the body you want. Stop letting your fear of "bulking" stop you from trying out this amazing program or even just lifting in general!! There is something to be said about this program though: there's no guesswork. That was the problem for me at the gym. I didn't want to pay for a personal trainer because I was cheap and I kind of knew the basics of lifting but I really didn't know what to do and in what combination to get the best results. Before this program, I had no idea what a super set or a giant set was and I had actually never done some of the lifts before. Even though I knew this program would be good, I was still hesitant to start it. Fear of the unknown I guess! This program is heavy lifting 5 days a week, cardio 1 day a week and 1 rest day. I was hesitant to only do 1 day of cardio even though I KNEW in my head cardio is not the key to fat loss...I still knew I would miss being drenched in sweat and completely out of breath...but I followed the plan and I'm SO glad I did. There are two different approaches you can take, you can follow the Lean Beast calendar or the Huge Beast calendar. I followed the Lean Beast calendar because huge beast just doesn't sound ladylike. Haha! There are 3 phases that you go through with either calendar; Build, Bulk, and Beast Phases. You will start "building" a base of strength in the first phase and these workouts are the longest (38-50 min). Followed by the "bulking" phase where you change up your lifts a bit. I liked this phase because the workouts weren't as long (29-40 min). If you follow the meal plan that comes with the program you would eat more calories in this section to bulk up, but I decided to just stick with my 2000 -2400 calories a day and not follow their meal plan. I still focused on getting lots of protein, veggies, fruit, fats and healthy carbs though. The goal here is you will add muscle but you will also add some fat. Then in the final phase, you trim the fat and keep the muscle by doing one more day of cardio each week and mixing up the Build and Bulk workouts a little bit. One minor downside: it requires more equipment than some of our other programs. By the end of the program I was using all of our dumbbells (8 lbs up to 35 lbs), a barbell, and a stability ball (a bench works as well but we didn't have one). Although, you can actually stream this workout from a phone or tablet and do it at the gym and use all of their equipment if you're not interested in buying equipment. Becoming a Team Beachbody Club Member allows you to stream this workout and 33 other workouts as well...it's amazing! Ok so now for my results: I actually didn't lose any weight or inches. Yep. I was kinda disappointed at first BUT then I decided to actually look at my pictures and think more about how I FEEL now. Plus, I'm still breastfeeding Eli and I know that is causing my body to hang onto a little extra fat which I'm MORE THAN ok with because getting him nutrients (even though he did just turn 1) is still really important to me!! I feel so much stronger after 90 days of Body Beast. I'm able to do a lot of moves in other workouts that I struggled with before (crow in p90x3 yoga, elevator pushups in p90x3 The Warrior, all the pushups/plank walks in T25 Total Body Circuit). My legs, back and shoulders are definitely stronger and more defined and I love that!! I was afraid that because there wasn't much cardio, I would lose a lot of my endurance but I actually haven't. I'm still able to do as much as I could before. All in all, I hope you'll consider adding some heavy weight training to your routine. It definitely takes time to build up the strength, so don't start out curling 30 lb dumbbells or squatting a ton of weight :) There are SO many benefits though...and they last a lifetime!!
Definition of Ambivalence: The coexistence within an individual of positive and negative feelings towards the same action, person or object drawing him or her in opposite directions.
Or as I like to think of it... The "Good Enough" Principle! "I could change the way I eat...but I'm not as overweight as some people I see, and my health is OK for now." "I know I should exercise more but I'm in pretty good shape. I never really see any changes when I start doing it anyway, plus I just don't have the time." Ever have thoughts like that? Yep, I did too at one point and still do to some degree. Let's be honest, change is hard. It introduces unknowns into our world and we aren't sure how we will manage them or how exactly they will change our lives. We know that eating healthier and exercising regularly will improve our health and make us feel better, so why don't more people do it??? I definitely think it's because people are ambivalent or the idea that we are "good enough." In the fitness world or at least the blogofitnesssphere, yeah I just made that up, you hear people say all the time: don't compare yourself to the magazine cover models or the actresses you see on TV. Since I live in the blogofitnesssphere, I completely agree with that statement. You shouldn't compare your day 1 with someone else's day 365. What about comparing yourself though on day 1 to someone who is on day negative 365? What I mean by negative 365 is the person that is obese or maybe morbidly obese or the person that has type II diabetes. They've been going down the "negative" path a lot longer than you. That one doesn't get talked about enough but I think people subconsciously do it all the time. You are ok not having the cover model figure but AT LEAST you aren't as bad as the person you saw at the grocery store today or your overweight uncle Frank. Sorry to any uncle Franks out there. Are you in that place? Be honest! Do you catch yourself saying things like "I would never want to be that skinny" or "I never want to have muscles like him/her." What you are really saying is I'm good enough and what you are likely doing is comparing yourself to the person that is on day negative 365 not the skinny or muscular person. I'm not saying you shouldn't love who you are and where you are right now! You should however give yourself an honest assessment of where you are at this particular moment. The idea of "good enough" is aimed at the thoughts that you have that you shouldn't be trying to improve yourself. If you're not improving yourself and moving forward, you're most likely going backwards. There are just too many things in our society today that will slowly compound over time to wear down your health and cause you to pack on the pounds. I'm talking about things like stress, environmental toxins, processed foods, and constant sitting and inactivity. Those things over the course of a lifetime will cause you to become sick and overweight. It won't likely happen in a month or even year, but 20 or 30 years from now the choices you are making TODAY will have an impact. If you are ready to leave the world of ambivalence and start making decisions that will actively improve your health and mental well-being, we would love to help with that. Our online accountability groups have been able to help hundreds of people step out of ambivalence and help them take control of their life and health. For more information on these groups you can go to our Challenge Group Page or Email Us and we would be happy to share some info.
Written by Danielle Lochow with Take Charge Fitness
***IF THIS POST HELPS YOU, LIKE IT!! IF YOU THINK IT WOULD HELP A FRIEND, SHARE IT!!***
Now that I have all that shouting out of the way allow me to present to you these photos. I've been doing a LOT of thinking lately about calories and pounds and maintaining weight and how my own journey with fitness and food and weight has evolved over time. These are pics from every day this week. As you can see, I weighed in different each time I stepped on the scale. My weight fluctuated five entire pounds within a couple days. Why is this??? Did I gain? Did I then lose? And then gain again? If you struggle with trying to make the scale come up with that one special number, please know that your weight will change based on...
And any other number of things. It is physically impossible to gain five pounds in a day or two. It's also impossible to gain it in a WEEK. Why do I share this? Because I know that for some people this relationship with the scale is a negative thing. It has a negative impact on their life. When I decided I wanted to lose weight I strictly counted calories. I tracked my calories religiously in MFP (My Fitness Pal). I weighed every Friday morning and when I got to record a loss it was FABULOUS. It was working!! For the first time in my life this weight loss thing was working. I eventually met my weight loss goal when I saw that number I wanted to see. And then I knew that I could keep tracking calories and keep weighing that number. Understand that when I was religiously tracking, I didn't always necessarily care WHAT the calories came from. 400 calories from a salad was the same to me as 400 calories from a sandwich cookie. I learned very quickly that tracking to only net around 1500 calories (that's what mfp says a person of my height and weight should eat to maintain) was kind of unsustainable. And I hadn't figured out yet that fluctuation in weight is NORMAL. So it was making me crazy. If I went a couple hundred calories over one day, and weighed a half pound heavier the next day, I thought I knew exactly why. Too many calories. So dumb guys. So dumb. Eventually I got plugged in with a great fitness community online and started learning about how to clean up my diet. I leaned that the quality of food is important and that even if something is higher in calories it doesn't mean it's unhealthy, or that it will make me gain weight. And I learned that if I do see a "gain" it's probably any number of things my body is doing that has nothing to do with a couple hundred "extra" calories. I weigh myself randomly. Sometimes it's once a month, other times it's every day for a week but gaining confidence in my diet and my habits, growing in my physical strength and understanding more about how bodies work gives me SUCH FREEDOM AND PEACE. I am not married to my special number. I admit to being interested to seeing how it fluctuates and know why it does, but it cannot and will not ever bother me like it once did because I have confidence and faith in my daily habits! Bottom line is this: your number does not have to define you. No one sees a number when they look at you. When you follow a lifestyle that is rich in healthy, nourishing foods, regular exercise and movement, and you are surrounded by people who encourage you to live your best life every day...you will not need to stress about maintaining weight. People always say that maintaining weight is harder than losing it, and that may be true but ONLY if you are looking at it as though once you hit your number you all of a sudden want to go back to bad habits that got you heavier in the first place. When you are COMMITTED to living healthy, your healthy weight will find you. And you will be FREE of your number. If you like what you've read we encourage you to follow Danielle on Facebook at Take Charge Fitness or you can email her directly.
July 16th - 19th we packed our bags, left Eli with my parent's and headed to Nashville, TN to spend 4 whole days with our Beachbody family...to say we were excited was a bit of an understatement!
This event is something we look forward to every single year for quite a few different reasons:
I won't bore you with all the details of what we did since I have pictures of most of it...but to summarize: there were workouts with Shaun T and Autumn Calabrese, listening to Simon Sinek speak and also DeWitt Jones who is a photographer for National Geographic, delicious food, amazing trainings, knowledge, insight and inspiration shared and LOTS of walking! "Every One Matters" was the theme for this year...and that couldn't be more true. We're in this business to help people live HEALTHY and FULFILLING lives. Your health really is one of the cornerstones of your life and it impacts every area of your life. If your health is suffering, everything else seems to go downhill as well, right?? So our goal is to get people to focus on health...and how it's a lifestyle and not a diet or a short term fix. It can't be if you want to live life to it's fullest!!
We are already looking forward to next year...and can't wait to have so many more people from our team there!!
Our next online fitness and accountability group is forming and starts on August 10th!! If you're wanting to make healthy, lasting changes...this is the place for you. We know that changing habits is hard so these groups are a safe place for you to get tips, inspiration, nutrition advice, support and encouragement!! Let us know if you're intrigued and want to learn more! The best way to get a hold of us is to shoot us an EMAIL.
***It actually hasn't been scientifically proven, but I'd say it's the truth after reading this.
This is our good friend, Scott.
We've never actually met Scott...but I (Laura) met his wife Amber on Instagram about 2 years ago. She was looking for a way to lose some weight and was interested in trying one of the Beachbody workouts so we chatted and picked one that worked best for her and her goals at the time. She got hooked on this whole "healthy lifestyle" thing :) and the rest is history...she's now one of the top coaches on my team, ready to move mountains and help so many people change their own lives after changing hers! She shared her husband's story on her page last night and I knew I had to share it with you guys too. I LOOVE this stuff. I live for it. I get goosebumps. Getting to watch people change their life (even if from afar) is one of the best things ever. Here is Scott's journey...in his own words: **How did you feel about yourself & your body before starting the program?** I've always been a fairly confident person, but I suppose that is based more on what's inside my head. I think I had disconnected somewhat from an honest assessment of my physical self. My weight was distributed all over my body, so I initially didn't notice that I was getting so chubby. It wasn't until a professor referred to me as "husky" that I took note. Shortly after that, I stepped on a friend's scale in their bathroom and was 255 pounds! I was sluggish and wore out easily. Once I accepted that I was, indeed, overweight, I went through a period of personal disgust, tummy grabbing, and dealing with thigh-chafing hikes before finally deciding to tackle it. **What inspired you to change your life & begin exercising?** In truth, I was not inspired to change. My wife's commitment to her health and her dedication to her Beachbody business and general fitness and nutrition was admirable. SHE inspired me... but it didn't make me want to do the videos. I was drinking the Shakeology and feeling pretty good from that. I kept telling myself that I would get back to exercising once I finished my dissertation. But the truth is, there will always be a "dissertation". We all have a dissertation (kids, family, friends, work, chores, any combination thereof) which prevents us from doing things for which we know we should be making time. There is never enough time for everything. But one's health and fitness should be a priority in life or you're just shortening the time (and quality thereof) you have on the back end. So... I was not inspired. I was coerced. I was on vacation with my wife and we had a lot of space in our rental cabin and I had virtually no excuse not to do the videos with her. So... after a beautiful hike in the Smoky Mountains during which my thighs really got to know each other intimately, leaving me a chafed-up mess, I decided, "Oh, the hell with it!" **What did you like about the program you chose?** T25 was only 25 minutes (to be honest, it's generally 27.5 to 28.5 minutes with warm-up, but T28.5 isn't a commercially appealing title). But hearkening back to the time issue... that's the number-one reason people don't exercise: not enough time. The truth is, we all have time to squeeze in some exercise. The truth is, most people don't like to sweat and pant. It hurts. It's hard. Especially at first. I was one of those people. I am NOT athletic in the slightest. Never have been. I don't even like watching sports. But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy physical activity. I'd just gotten out of the habit. When you get out of the habit, starting any exercise program just sounds so overwhelming. Just as energy creates more energy, lethargy spirals into more and more profound lethargy. I had learned this time and again throughout my life as I would start exercising in earnest, feel the energy spike, and then abandon it as I ALLOWED life to take over and I ALLOWED my focus to scatter. So what was different this time? I suppose I could attribute my success to these things: a.) The ease of fitting T25 into my day, whether early in the morning or late at night... It was always less than 30 minutes... even if I had to do it after midnight, which often I did, I made myself do it. It hurt at first, but like everything, it gets better. b.) The structure of the program. Rather than hitting the gym and trying to piece together my own thing, I was able to follow a calendar and check off boxes. c.) Shaun T is charming, encouraging and doesn't annoy me. d.) I had to catch up to my wife's level of fitness so people wouldn't assume she had a weakness for funny flabby guys. **Describe your results that you achieved:** I have lost 75 pounds since beginning T25 in August 2014. I went through Alpha, Beta, and Gamma twice. Now I am doing the 21-Day Fix and will move up to Extreme after a second round of that. After that, I will meet Tony Horton in his natural habitat (not that strange commercial where he flirts with the grocery-shopper). I have lost weight all over my body and it is certainly noticeable. I have muscle definition in places where I never had before. My thighs are no longer rubbing buddies. My legs are actually extremely strong. I have toned arms and visible abdominal muscles. I am not ashamed to go shirtless at the pool or lake. I have so much energy between the exercise regimen and the Shakeology that it's insane. I've always had enormous mental energy reserves which sometimes manifested in short bursts of physical energy, but now I am driven, focused, and can manage my frequently 18-hour days without problem. Plus... I look in the mirror and I think that I look good. I guess I never realized how important that it before, or perhaps I was in denial. It's good to feel handsome. It's nice to know that I am in great shape. The mental results are just as good as the physical ones. My confidence has spiked all over. **How has your life changed since completing the program?** Well... I've already said a lot... What else can I say? There are obvious improvements to life which come from physical fitness. Everything is better because I have more zest, more stamina, and more desire to DO. I have more confidence which improves my relationships with everybody. My marriage has always been a good one, but the spike in our mutual health and confidence has made it that much better. Something I can talk about is what it has done for me professionally. I am an actor, writer, and professor of theatre. For years, I held myself back as an actor because of a vanity in which I was in denial about. I made all sorts of excuses but I really just didn't want to be the fat actor. Now that I'm in great shape, I am getting all sorts of offers. People are noticing. I have the confidence now to pursue roles more aggressively. And one thing I've never done is audition for commercials. I have to get new head shots (because I look completely different than in my old ones) but I plan to start pursuing commercial work (where all the money is) because the mental impediments are gone. And just recently, I performed in an incredibly visceral, physically-demanding production of Eugene O'Neill's "HAIRY APE" at the KC Fringe Festival. I would have never made it through that show alive one year ago but now I'm not only making it through, I'm thriving and getting great reviews. The KC Star critic wrote: "a visceral, non-realistic production anchored by Scott Cox in an extraordinary performance as Yank. Cox’s intense, physical presence is riveting, and it never wavers during a show that moves with the momentum of an avalanche." Nobody would have said that a year ago. I couldn't have done that a year ago. Now I plan to keep doing it. I'm two years shy of 40, in the best shape of my life, and just now starting to achieve the things I've dreamed of professionally.
Success can be defined a lot of different ways. In sports it is winning a championship. In work, it is landing that big deal or getting your dream job. In fitness, it is reaching your "goal weight". No matter what area of life you want to look at, being successful takes a lot of work.
I know about this firsthand as a golfer, I was pretty good... I don't say that to brag, it was true and to a lesser degree, still is true. Let me take you back to my childhood. I grew up at a golf course, not literally but pretty dang close. As soon as the course opened each spring I was out there playing and practicing everyday, this probably started around age 9 or 10. I would ride my bike out to the course at 6:30 in the morning and spend the entire day out there. Golf was my life! Once I started playing competitively I set a goal of being a State Champion. I was in 7th grade when I set this goal, so that gave me 6 years to prepare before I would have my last chance to accomplish it. I did everything to accomplish that goal, played 100+ rounds of golf every summer, practiced for hours on end at the driving range. In the winter time I chipped and putted indoors in our basement and when I could, I would travel 2 hours to a golf dome to hit golf balls.
So here is where success became a problem for me. My focus was on one tournament, one achievement. Yeah I had dreamed about playing professionally, but my effort was focused on that one tournament. I never had a game plan if I won. That success was the end point for me. I transitioned to college golf where I had some success but nothing like I had previously. From there I was a local club professional and played against other local professionals and had some success there too. I think I felt like things would come easy to me, that if I accomplished that one thing it would be like dominoes falling over from that point. That winning a state title would naturally lead to success as a collegiate golfer and success there would lead to success as a professional golfer.
Here is the secret that I've learned 15 years later: success isn't like dominoes. One accomplishment doesn't mean you are guaranteed your next victory. This isn't just about sports, I look at this now in my fitness journey, my job, my relationships, my spirituality. I've had some success in these areas but I don't look at success as a destination anymore, it is a journey. Everyday I need to remind myself to keep pushing forward, to knock that next domino over. For me this means reassessing my goals on a regular basis, so that I always have something to work towards. It also means that I need to work on myself through personal development. The person that I am today can only accomplish the skills that I know today. If I want to accomplish new things than I have to grow and learn new things. If you want to be successful in some area of your life I would encourage you to think the same way. Set goals regularly, that way you have a game plan as to what is next. Don't get caught living for one moment or one accomplishment.
Your ACTIONS and your EXCUSES are completely within your power.
Which one are you going to use to change your life?? Working out and eating healthy foods honestly did not come easy at first. It was the last thing I wanted to do after getting home from work. We had cable at the time and it was so much easier to sit down in front of the TV and let 2 hours fly by...yes...it's crazy how reality TV on Bravo just sucks you in or random food shows on the Food Network. As soon as my butt would hit that comfy couch it was pretty tough to get back up and find the motivation to pop in my Insanity workouts. I eventually learned my lesson and as soon as I got home I would go and change into my workout clothes. OR if I was feeling really ambitious I would work out BEFORE work :) Once something becomes a habit you don't really even need to think about it...you just do it. I like to tell people to just treat working out exactly like you would treat taking a shower or brushing your teeth. Those are habits, right?? Working out is MORE important than those things in my opinion...so you should definitely make it a PRIORITY...not an option!! I'd like to say we're perfect and never struggle any more...but that would be a big fat lie. We still struggle some days, and that's OK. Some days we don't feel like working out or making a healthy choice for food and sometimes we won't!! You learn that it's not about being perfect and following the workout calendar to a T...it's about consistent effort...it's about a general movement forward. When you do miss a day or screw up, just pick yourself back up and get back at it. Continually focusing on what you want to be and not on what you once were is the key!!
This past weekend was my 3 year anniversary of being a Beachbody coach. I honestly cannot believe it...it's flown by and I have so many emotions, thoughts swirling but this picture pretty much says a lot of what I'm feeling...
When I signed up I was simply in love with Insanity and Shaun T and wanted to spread that love around to other people. I wanted others to experience how amazing I felt and change from the inside - out just like I did in just a few short months of doing the program. I LOVED that I could get the best workout of my life in the comfort of my own house. Don't get me wrong, it's a tough program and there were some days where I really did not feel like doing it...but once I saw results, I wanted more! Once I felt that rush of endorphin's I needed it again....and again...and again. Anyway, that's basically how I started coaching. I knew NOTHING about network marketing and honestly didn't even think about this as being something like that!! I just knew this was a way to help people and I had fallen in love with health/fitness/nutrition and what better way to help people change their lives...right?? Those things impact EVERY area of our lives whether we realize it or not. That was my main reason for signing up, but I very quickly saw potential just by listening to other coaches stories. I saw how our lives could be different. I saw HOPE. Hope looks different for everyone...but at that point in our lives, hope looked a lot like TIME. You see, Dan was working long hours and many days as an assistant golf professional. During the summer, the hours were even longer and we rarely saw each other. I learned very quickly that if he stayed in that profession he wouldn't be around to see our future kids grow up and I didn't really want that life...and he didn't either. My very first BIG, scary goal was to retire him from his job. I don't even know if I told him that right away but I just dove in to learn everything I could by listening to trainings, collecting a ridiculously huge amount of notebooks because I had to write down everything I learned, watching and learning from some of the top coaches and just trying to absorb everything I could. Now, our hope looks a little different because in October of 2013 Dan WAS able to quit his job and be home full time so we could work on this business together!! God is so good. Dan now stays home and takes care of Eli, who is 11 months old, but he is also a coach and has a nutritional certification from Precision Nutrition. Right now we are on a mission to create a life we LOVE...a simple and flexible life. One where we have the freedom to focus on what we love and what God has planned for us. We want a life where we are our own bosses and get to choose when we work, what we want to focus on and just pour love, compassion and honesty into other people!! Helping someone make small changes to their habits to become healthier, stronger and happier is the one of the best perks of this "job". The other major perk are the people...seriously. Our team of coaches is made up of the most incredible people from all over the U.S. They're passionate about health/fitness but also about simply sharing their life (the good and the bad) in the hopes that their struggles might help someone else. They're authentic, real and just want to make a difference!!
I honestly never would have thought that one small change to my workouts would create such a change in my life. God's timing and plan is perfect and there is nothing I would rather be doing with my time and energies!!
If any of this resonated with you and you have questions about coaching, do not hesitate to reach out!!
I had put off trying this program for the longest time. I don't really know why, maybe because I just loved Tony Horton and Shaun T so much and their style of workouts. I will say that Tony and Shaun tend to push me a little harder than Sagi. Sagi definitely knows how to lift weights though, and that is what I really enjoyed about this program. I used to love going to the gym and lifting weights but I have now learned I was doing it all wrong. I had a general idea if I wanted to work certain areas that I should do certain lifts but the science of dynamic set training that Sagi brings with this program is just great.
This program is laid out into 3 phases and a total of 90 days. There are two different approaches you can take, you can follow the Lean Beast calendar or the HUGE Beast calendar. I followed the Huge Beast calendar since my goal was to put on some weight. Laura is currently doing the Lean Beast, you can look for her review in a little bit. There are 3 phases that you go through with either calendar; Build, Bulk, and Beast Phases. You will start "building" a base of strength in the first phase. Followed by the "bulking" phase where you change up your lifts and if you are looking to gain weight, you add more calories to your eating plan. The goal here is you will add muscle but you will also add some fat. Then in the final phase, you trim the fat and keep the muscle.
Overall Review
This is a great program for pretty much anybody. Whether you are a guy looking to gain some serious mass, to a 70 year old grandma. Lifting weights is so important for everyone, as a way to at least maintain muscle mass. The intensity of this workout can easily be scaled up or down depending on your current strength level. You will get stronger and you will gain muscle mass during this program. If you combine your lifting with a strict nutrition plan and controlled calorie intake you will be able "bulk" up. For me personally I didn't start putting on weight until I was consuming 4,000 calories per day. Prior to that I was eating around 3,000-3,200 and was gaining minimal weight. So for anyone (women mainly) that are scared of "bulking" you don't have to worry, because you really need to a crazy abundance of calories on top of the right hormonal situation going on (lots of testosterone) to add serious mass. I'll let Laura give more perspective on this topic when she reviews it. If your goal is fat loss, get stronger and to tone or gain muscle this would be a great program to do that. You likely won't be ready to run a marathon after you are done, since the cardio component is a just a smaller piece of this program. It is enough to keep you in decent cardio shape and burn fat.
One concern is the amount of equipment that you might need to do this program. A great way around that especially if you are a gym regular you can stream this workout from a phone or tablet and do it at the gym and use all of their equipment. You would just need to become a Team Beachbody Club Member for that. My Results
My goals going in was to add 10 pounds and go from 160 to 170 pounds. I definitely underestimated my metabolism and fell short of that goal. Over the first 6 weeks of the program I put on around 4 pounds total. That is when I bumped my calories up to 4,000 per day and went from 164 to 169 in the final 3 weeks of the Bulk Phase. Had I been eating like that the entire time I would have maybe hit my goal. I will say that I did have some insecurities when that scale crept up north of 170 a couple times when I weighed in at night. I hadn't seen it that high since I first started my weight loss journey. I was a little nervous about leaning out and getting it back down.
I did take some supplements while I was doing this program which I think definitely helped. First one was Shakeology. When I was consuming 4,000 calories a day I would usually have 2 shakes per day, each one around 700 calories. It would have been next to impossible for me to eat that many calories if some of the calories didn't come from a shake. So that was huge, plus it kept my nutrition on point. I also used a l-glutamine supplement that aids in muscle growth but also in intestinal health. When you eat 200+ grams of protein per day your digestive system needs all the help it can get. So this helped along with the digestive enzymes and probiotics in Shakeology. I also had some leftover creatine from a previous workout that I used on occasion. It tends to give me a headache so I use it sparingly and about half the dosage recommended. Looking back to, I now realize how hard it is to gain muscle and 10 pounds in 90 days maybe wasn't the most realistic goal. My final totals were, I gained 5 total pounds, I lost one pound of fat and gained 6 pounds of lean mass. Overall I'm pretty happy with my results from a measurement standpoint and visual standpoint. I think the thing that I see the biggest difference in is my back.
If you are interested in this program you can head over to our Body Beast Page to watch a short demo of the workout. Feel free to hit me up with any questions that you might have too.
Today is the 2 year anniversary of the day that really began my fitness journey. I remember it because Laura had just returned from Beachbody Summit (big national convention) that took place the last weekend in June. She came home with a copy of Focus T25 on Sunday and I started on Monday!
Prior to that I was sporadic with my workouts, I would fit them in when I had time and when I felt like it. My half-hearted commitment gave me half the results. This time though 2 years ago things changed. A couple things standout as to why they changed. First, was that I loved the program and it was short, just 25 minutes. Even working the crazy hours that I was as a golf pro I was still able to get my workouts in nearly everyday. There were a few days when I worked 16+ hours that I wasn't able to do them. Normally the program takes 60 days to finish, I think I did it all in 67, 1 extra week!!! The second thing that changed was I joined one of Laura's accountability groups. At this point I wasn't coaching and had zero interest in it. I joined to support her and learn what she was spending her time doing. I can't tell you how much the accountability helped me stay on track and stay focused. I even remember one of the nights that I came home from work after working about a 15 hour day and it was because of the group that I pressed play at 9:00 at night. I was hooked! Working out wasn't just to something to help me lose weight it was something that became part of who I was and who I wanted to be. I got asked by a friend not too long ago, "Do you really workout 5-6 days a week?" My answer was yes, I do! 2 years later and I haven't gone more than 2 days without a workout, that includes the time I sprained my ankle, I still did some pilates and ab workouts. I don't share that to brag but because I used to sit on the sidelines and never made fitness a priority. Maybe that is you right now??? If it is it's never too late to start! What if you said yes today, how different would your life look in 2 years? What changes would happen to your body and mind? Would you regret your decision? It's crazy to think back and that was only 2 years ago that I made a decision and how much my life has changed since then. If you are feeling motivated to make a change, to change the direction of your life, and to do that right now, I would love help you with that journey. If you've been trying to do it on your own and have been spinning your wheels, asking for help doesn't mean that you've failed. It means that you've gone as far as you can on your using your own effort and it's time to let others help you. Reach out to me on social media or shoot me an email, I would love to chat.
We are always told that it takes willpower to lose weight...or if we want to be successful at something we just have to harness our willpower and make it happen.
It's not that easy. Your willpower doesn't just sit around waiting for you to use it. It shows up sometimes and other times it's no where to be found! It's fleeting but the good news is, it's re-chargeable! You start the day with a full tank of willpower but the bad news is: as you go through the day, you use it up little by little...so when you get to the end of the day and late night snacking is calling your name, it's REALLY TOUGH to ignore those voices and put down the cereal or ice cream. Willpower is like a fast twitch muscle that gets tired and needs rest. It's incredibly powerful, but has no endurance. You can work on that muscle and make it stronger, but it will still get tired sometimes! Willpower is also like gas in your car...when you resist something tempting, you use some up. The more you resist, the more empty your tank gets, until you run out of gas...which is not where you want to be. That's not all... There have been studies that show that the more willpower you use for one task, the more your blood glucose levels drop. Crazy huh? Since willpower is a mental muscle and doesn't bounce back quickly...if you employ it for one task, there will be less power available for the next unless you refuel. To do that, you'll want to eat foods that elevate blood sugar evenly over long periods, like complex carbs and proteins. Think about this... What are your "default settings"? Because whatever they are...you're going to fall back on those when our willpower is low. Will you grab a bag of chips or cookies OR a bag of carrots? You can adjust your "default settings" over time...these are called NEW HABITS! We focus a lot on building those in our accountability groups. I read once that it takes roughly 66 days to build a new habit...not the typical 21 days you normally hear about. So be patient with yourself! Be CONSISTENT and slowly add in some healthier habits. Focus on things that you can do for the long term and just build into your life. Then once you get those down, focus on some different ones to continually be growing and changing. The reason we get hung up on willpower is because we don't focus on it enough. We use it all up without reserving some of it throughout the day....this means being intentional about what you buy and keep in your house and staying away from the treats in the break room at work. If you're constantly allowing yourself to have temptations right in front of you, you're going to constantly be using up your willpower and have nothing left over by the end of the day. Some other ways your willpower gets taxed: - Taking tests - Trying to impress others - Coping with fear - Suppressing emotion or impulses - Doing something you don't enjoy - Selecting long-term over short-term rewards - Implementing new behaviors - Filtering distractions Every day we run into these issues and more...it's up to us to PROTECT our willpower and our actions! A few ideas: 1) Don't spread your willpower too thin. You have a limited supply of willpower, so decide what matters and reserve your willpower for that. 2) Monitor your fuel gauge. Pay attention to how you're feeling and if your willpower is lacking, don't put yourself into situations where you're going to compromise your goals and go crazy. 3) Realize that your willpower is not infinite...so stop beating yourself up when you struggle with it. We all struggle with it but you CAN make it stronger! (This topic was adapted from the book The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results) It's been a few weeks since we got back from our trip to Cancun with Beachbody and the warm ocean breezes and palm trees are definitely missed!! We decided to bring E with us so that meant we didn't get a ton of "relaxing" in...aka sitting on the beach reading a book or playing sand volleyball...or sleep, since he was up at 5:30 or 6am every single day, but that's definitely OK. The memories and pictures we have make up for the lack of sleep...PLUS we got to see the sunrise every single day so I can't complain about that! (trying to be positive here...is it working?) We flew in on a Wednesday afternoon, enjoyed the amazing welcome party that Beachbody threw... from our patio though because E fell asleep so early after the long travel day...that was OK with us though because we wanted to get up early to work out with Shaun T! It was a fabulous workout at 7am and as we walked out into the lobby there was freshly made Shakeology waiting for us. Nothing better than that! Thursday consisted of pool time, nap time and a few margaritas. We decided to split up the nap times by the very fair method of rock, paper, scissors. I was in charge of nap time that day and lucky for me, E slept for almost 3 hours. Good because I didn't get sunburned like Dan did but bad because I was stuck inside all afternoon! After he woke up we went back to the pool and hung out for a little bit and then went to dinner with some of our friends who were there. I will say the BEST part of this trip was getting to spend time with our friends and fellow coaches that we talk to regularly online, but rarely get to see in person!! Brainstorming, sharing struggles and tips, figuring out how we can better help our teams and work TOGETHER to grow the people around us were definitely some of the highlights. There is no cattiness in our circle of coaches. We truly want to see each other succeed and everyone will bend over backwards to help you if you're struggling. Such amazing COMMUNITY!! Yep, sunburned. Dan is too, you just can't see it. Working out with Shaun T on Day 3! This trip was paid for almost entirely by Beachbody and I couldn't be more grateful!! Earning trips like this by simply helping a few people every single month is kinda crazy. It was a rare occurrence a few years ago that Dan would be able to take that much time off to go on a trip...so this was an amazing blessing. We coach not because we want to be rewarded with "things"...but because we want to make a difference in someone's life. There are many different avenues to do that, but helping someone with their health and nutrition has the potential to impact so many other areas of their life as well!! That's why we love what we do and are proud to be a part of this company!
We want to recognize a couple of our friends that have decided to make a commitment to their health and fitness. They have found success in their own journey using Beachbody products and want to share that success with others. Please welcome Cheryl Vaske to Team FullyFit! Cheryl and Dan used to work together at Hazeltine National Golf Club. Cheryl has been a couple of our Challenge Groups and has fallen in love with Focus T25 and loves Shakeology. The 25 minute program fit nicely into her busy day and helped her lose some weight all while getting stronger. She has decided to make a commitment not only to her health but also wants to help others reach their potential too. We are SO excited to have you on board Cheryl...and for those of you that know her, she would love to connect with you on how you could begin your own health journey. She will actually be co-hosting a fitness and nutrition accountability group with Laura starting on May 4th. If you want more details about what that accountability group is all about, reach out to her us and we would love to help. We are SO excited to welcome our good friend, Jillian Kruger, to our amazing team of coaches. What that means is...she loves health and fitness and wants to help other people create change in their lives!! She is such an amazing, compassionate person...a busy mom...and loves to be active. She participated in a few of our accountability groups and has done T25 and the 21 Day Fix.
We are so EXCITED for her to start this new journey and have no doubt she will be an incredible coach. If you know Jillian and need some help building some healthy habits into your busy life, reach out to her!! She'd love to chat more with you to help! That's right, a number of Beachbody's most popular workouts are available to stream online as long as you have access to a web browser and the internet. Just like Netflix revolutionized online movie space, we feel this is going to be a game changer in fitness world. We have been able to use this platform for the past month and blown away with the quantity and quality of the workouts that they have included. It's also extremely easy to use. We have accessed it from both our computers and our phones and it works great. We were able to stream workouts to our TV using Google Chromecast and I'm pretty certain you could do the same using Apple TV. So how does it work??? When you log in this is the first screen you will see. Right now there are 11 Full programs available and they have a New & Noteworthy section that you can preview all of the latest programs that have been released and some classics that haven't made their way into the Member Library yet. The 11 programs that are included are: Insanity, TurboFire, Brazil Butt Lift, P90X, P90X2, P90X3, Chalene Exreme, Hip Hop Abs, 10 Minute Trainer, Tony 1-on-1, and Insanity Asylum. The New & Noteworthy workouts will give you access to 1 individual workout from 8 of Beachbody's other programs. Also coming by the end of March 2015, there will be a Purchased Products section which will give you access to certain programs that you have purchased by DVD. After you select a program, you will have access to all of the workouts and program materials for that particular workout. For example with P90X3 you would also get Quick Start, Fitness Guide, Calendar, Nutrition Guide, and Extras. All of these are downloadable. Once you hit play you will be prompted with a disclaimer screen. Beachbody is really good at making sure if you go all insane doing Insanity that it isn't their fault. A couple clicks and you are ready to start working out. Plus after you hit this agreement on the disclaimer you won't have to do it again for that workout series, which is nice. Here is a short video showing some of Beachbody's celebrity trainers getting a first look this new function. Club Member Benefits
Frequently Asked Questions: Will I need to buy the fitness program to stream them? No. Programs inside Beachbody on Demand’s digital library come with a membership to Team Beachbody Club. Will there be an extra cost per workout watched? No. Unlimited access is included in Team Beachbody Club membership at no extra cost. Will I be able to stream workouts internationally? Yes. You will be able to stream abroad as long as you have a valid internet connection. Will the workouts be available to download and watch offline? No. Programs inside the digital library come with a membership to Team Beachbody Club. How much will it cost? The current price for a Team Beachbody Club Membership is $38.87 which is paid quarterly. So essentially it is $13 per month. The CEO of Beachbody eluded to the fact that this price may go and you would be able to lock in the current price if you sign up before the price comes out. You are also able to buy a Club Challenge Pack which is a combination of 3 months of membership plus a 1 month supply of Shakeology for $140. If this feature sounds like something that will help you stay on track and see the results that you've been hoping to accomplish, we would love to chat with you. Feel free to shoot us an EMAIL or comment below and we will be in touch. If you KNOW this is going to be the difference maker for your fitness, click the button, JOIN THE CLUB, below and feel free to go through the sign up process. Oh and in case you want to combine a club membership with a month's supply of Shakeology, click JOIN THE CLUB + SHAKEOLOGY. That combination is on special this month and you will save $30 when you bundle them together. We aren't talking about trees and green grass here, although those things are important too. The environment that we are talking about is everything around you. That includes nature, but it's so much more than that and also includes:
You get the drift...it's everything that you come into contact with on a daily basis and not just physically. All of that information and exposure creates who you are, what you think, your health, your relationships, and your lifestyle. You've probably heard of the concept of nature vs nurture. To get a little geeky on you, it is also your DNA as well! Your DNA is really the only thing that will not change. Did you know that there is a particular branch of genetics called epigenitics that is doing a lot of research on how our ENVIRONMENT can turn on or turn off certain genes?? Although we can't change our genes, this science is telling us that the excuse of "It's in my genes" may not be a reliable excuse any more. You may now have to change it to "It's in my environment!!!" How cool and yet scary is that? Based on what you consume and what you come in contact with may dictate if that cancer gene, or alzheimer gene, or obesity gene actually "turns on." It's cool because our environment is actually the one thing that we have a lot of control of. Go back to that list above: ALL of those things you can change today!!! Would some of them be more difficult...like walking away from a job or moving out of your house...sure, but you could still do it! Would you do it if you knew your house was going to cause your whole family to get some auto-immune disease? Absolutely!!! What if you knew that your job increased the chances of you developing cancer? The World Health Organization actually listed shift work (working over night) as a known carcinogen!!! I guess the reason I think this is a little scary is because now YOU are in control. There really aren't any excuses any more. Sure, there are some environment things that you can't change unless you plan on living in a bubble...but a majority of what you come in contact with is because of a choice you make. If you are crabby all the time, look at your environment. Is your job creating too much stress? Are the people you're hanging around with crabby and constantly complaining? If you are depressed, look at your environment. Are you getting enough sunlight/vitamin D? Are you exercising, which is known to release good mood hormones? Don't get me wrong, there is definitely a time and a place for medication...especially if we're talking about depression, but we turn to drugs way too soon and way too often before exhausting every other effort. If you are overweight, look at your environment. Are you exposing yourself to toxins that mess with your hormones and cause you to store more weight? Are you eating whole, fresh foods? Are you exercising? If you are feel empty and your life seems to have no meaning, look at your environment. Are you watching negative news all the time? Are you reading personal development? How is your spiritual life? How are your relationships? Your environment is going to change you, but the cool thing is: YOU have the ability to change it first! Ever since Laura and I did our little experiment with counting our calories (2,800 calories consumed each day) and watching our macronutrient breakdown (certain %'s of protein/carb/fat), we've been getting a lot of people asking about what their calorie needs are and what they should be eating. Oh and we both lost weight on this plan too!!! As much as I like to help people figure their own individual macro needs and calorie needs, to actually track it is a MAJOR pain. Will it work, absolutely! Will you have food issues after a short period of time and struggle to eat without your food scale, probably!!! Why is this??? Because eating shouldn't be difficult and if it is one of two things is going to happen.
What if there was an easier way??? Simple eating, that's portion controlled, so you don't have to worry about weighing food or macros. You get what you need in the amount you need it. It exists, and it's called the 21 Day Fix! I know we sell Beachbody products so you might think we are just saying this is a great product because then we can sell more of it. Honestly though, this program is the REAL deal... It takes all the guesswork and stress out of eating. It really is a program that I would recommend to people even if I wasn't selling it. How does it work? If you want the long version, can head over to an earlier blog post, The 21 Day Fix Explained, where we go into a little more detail. The short answer is that you get a variety of color coded containers that are specific to certain food groups. Depending on your size and activity level you will be allotted a certain quantity of each of the containers each day. Don't worry you won't starve!!! We actually hear the opposite from a lot of people that have done it, they struggle to eat all the food... This system may not be quite as precise as the calculations that I was figuring out for people....specific percentages of each macro that they should aim for... which involves using MyFitnessPal or some other meal tracking website. The long term success however, of people that have used these food containers is nothing short of remarkable because it is much more simplified. Check out this support group of 21 Day Fix Customers and some of their transformation photos. (https://www.facebook.com/groups/21dayfixrecipes/photos/) You'll have to scroll a bit since there are a lot of food pics, but feel free to look at those too because that is the food you get to eat on this plan!! On top of the original program, Autumn Calabrese (the creator of the original program) just came up with a more advanced version, 21 Day Fix Extreme. This program uses a similar simple eating plan as the original but modifies it slightly for more intense workouts. It also includes a 21 Day Countdown to Competition Guide that will give you serious results in just 21 days. We are both extremely excited about these new workouts and eating plan. Laura is going to be starting it on Feb 23rd and will be running an accountability group for others that want to join in! Let us know if you want more info! If you've tried dieting or calorie counting without any long term success, we would love to help you find a better way. It may be this program, it may just be some small nutritional tweaks. Either way we want all of you to be living up to your full healthy potential. Let's be honest...you might live under a rock if you have never heard of P90X. This is the "original" workout that came out 10 years ago. P90X3 came out last year and was extremely popular since the program was condensed into 30 minute workouts. P90X2 is like the step brother of the P90X family that was shipped off to military school for kicking too much ass. This program is the real deal from a butt kicking standpoint. P90X2 is geared more towards sports performance and is more of an elite training for athletes, which is one reason why I wanted to try it! I still play quite a bit of volleyball and at a fairly competitive level so for me, it was mainly to improve my performance on the court. Move faster, jump higher, and be in better physical shape to avoid injury. There is no strict calendar to follow, which makes P90X2 very unique when comparing it to other programs. It is broken up into 3 phases and although each phase has a recommended schedule for each week, they don't say to do each week for a given period of time. You are the judge of when you're ready to move on to the next phase. Each phase helps prepare you for the next group of workouts which is really nice. I started this workout after completing 2 rounds of P90X3, followed by a "rest" phase where I did PiYo. So I was in decent "P90X shape" coming into this workout. By that I mean, Tony makes you do a lot of pull-ups and push-ups along with quite a bit of balance work... just to give you an idea of where I was at with my workouts before starting.
Phase 1 - Foundation This Phase is geared towards teaching you most of the moves. The warm-ups stay pretty much the same in all the workouts so you quickly learn all the moves you'll be doing during that part of the workout. One thing that I really enjoyed about this program was that the warm-up was very comprehensive, so you do a lot of moves to get warm, then you stretch, and you foam roll in nearly all the warm-ups. The foam rolling piece is nice because normally I'm too lazy to do that...so it forces you to spend some time improving the quality of your muscles not just size and endurance. There are 6 workouts that you use in Phase 1, plus a bonus 7th workout Ab Ripper that you add on a couple of days. The schedule is setup so that you workout hard 4 days a week. Those workouts include high intensity core work, plyometric work, total body strength and a balance and strength workout. In between those workouts you mix in yoga one day and the other two days you can either take as rest days or do the Recovery + Mobility workout, which is a fantastic workout and something I tried to do at least once a week. I really enjoyed this Phase and I ended up doing it for 4 weeks before moving on. Here is a little video of me me doing one of the moves in the Balance + Power workout. This will also give you an idea of the space you will need, which isn't much! Phase 2 - Strength Phase 2 is similar to Phase 1, so you will go hard 4 days a week, 1 yoga day, and 2 recovery days. The intense workouts in this phase were some of my favorites out of all of the X2 workouts. I used to be a gym guy before I moved into doing home workouts. I wasn't good at actually getting TO the gym, but I did enjoy throwing some weight around while I was there. A big piece of the Phase 2 workouts is using a lot of dumbbells, push-ups, and pull-ups. Stuff that most guys (and some ladies) like!!! The awesome part of this program, and what sets it apart from just lifting weights "normally", is that you are rarely standing on 2 feet when doing lifts, or when you are doing push-ups you are using stability balls or medicine balls to balance on. This really engages all those stabilizer muscles and core muscles. As you progress through each phase, you definitely notice your balance improves with the moves that you are doing. I never upped my weight all that much but I did notice that I did more reps and my balance was much better. Phase 3 - Performance Once again, this phase is 4 days of hard workouts, 1 yoga day, and 2 rest or recovery workout days. The 4 days that you are "on" you use just 2 workouts, P.A.P Upper and P.A.P. Lower. P.A.P. stands for Post-Activation Potentiation. If you want to look into what that means exactly, here is a link to an article on the topic, Post-Activation Potentiation. To summarize: the goal of this type of training is to improve your explosive power as your muscles fatigue. My real life application of this is playing volleyball. This type of training will help me to be able to jump as high in my last game of the night as I was able to jump in my first game. If I'm being honest, this was my least favorite Phase. After the 2nd week, I found myself bored with the workouts and the schedule. I did 3 full weeks following the X2 schedule but in the 4th week I ended up switching to using P90X3's Complex Upper and Lower workouts which are also based on PAP training. This gave me a little more variety, which was nice. Overall Review Overall I really enjoyed this program, especially the first 2 phases and all the different workouts and moves. I definitely saw my strength and balance improve. I loved the complex nature of all the moves and it really challenged me. The only downside was the workouts did get a little long. For the person that just wants to get in and get it done, this wouldn't be the best workout for you. For someone that is transitioning from working out at the gym, I think it would be great from a timing standpoint. I would say this program is geared more towards strength and improving muscle endurance. My goal going into it was to actually put on some weight, which I was able to do without gaining any body fat. I don't know if I would recommend it to the person that wants to lose a lot of weight. It is probably better suited for the person that wants to drop some body fat % points, get a little stronger, improve muscle quality and improve sports performance. No matter where you are with your fitness, this program WILL challenge everyone. If you're more advanced, you will likely be able to move through the phases faster...but there is something for everyone with this program! My Results I'll start with my before and after pictures (before pictures are on the top, after on the bottom). I try to be as fair with this as possible, no flexing (except in the flexing ones), similar lighting, same time of day. When I started, my weight was the lowest it had been since right after college, 157 lbs. After finishing X2, I was up to 165 lbs!!! I personally see a difference in my back, shoulders and arms...and a little bit in my chest. If you're looking at the flexing pics, I definitely see more definition in my shoulders and back. Overall I'm pretty happy with my the changes! Some of the coolest numbers that I like to track are girth measurements and also the Fit Test numbers. I love that I basically maintained my waist measurement while adding 8 lbs. Based on the measurements, it seems my arms, thighs and butt got most of it. With the Fit Test, the before numbers were actually my after numbers after I completed my first round of P90X3. I set a goal at the beginning of X2 (with one of the Challenge Groups that I was running) that I wanted to be able to do 25 pull-ups and 100 push-ups without breaking. I fell a little short, but definitely saw some big gains in both of those areas. Another area that I didn't really notice getting stronger but based on the numbers from the "Ab In and Outs" my core strength/stamina definitely improved. The last thing that I want to point out is the cardiovascular work that these programs provide. So many people think they need to go pound the pavement or hop on an elliptical in order to work their heart. NOT TRUE. Before I started any P90X workouts my resting heart rate was 62 which is good, but you can see how much it improved. I will say X3 is a better cardio workout due to their being less breaks and shorter breaks. My heart rate maximizer numbers from a year ago were: Immediately after - 172 After 1 minute - 107, After 2 minutes - 107, After 3 minutes -79, After 4 minutes - 85. Basically what this test has you do is go all out with jumping jacks for 2 minutes to get your heart rate up then once you are done, you monitor how your heart rate recovers. The change here is crazy!!! After 2 minutes of basically sprinting, my heart is now able to recover to the point of my resting heart rate. If you want to live longer, your heart muscle needs to be stronger...and this workout definitely works that muscle too.
If this program sounds like something you are interested in trying out, I would love to chat with you. Hi there friends! If you follow us on Facebook, you might have seen that we got our Insanity Max:30 workout last night. We decided to give the first workout a shot and wanted to share this video with you of what a few of the moves look like...along with our review of this workout, Cardio Challenge. In the spirit of A Chipmunk Christmas we made the workout double time so Shaun T sounds like a chipmunk. We both are SUPER excited to continue with the other workouts in this program and plan on jumping in fully with our accountability group that starts on December 29th. We know we will need some support through this program, because if the first workout is any indication of the rest of them, it's something that will push you mentally and physically...EXACTLY what we need after the Holidays and getting over that post holiday slump!! You know what I'm talking about....right?? We only have 10 spots left so if you are interested in the group and want to take advantage of this deal, comment below or shoot us a message. We should also note that anyone who buys a Challenge Pack (Insanity Max:30 + Shakeology) before December 15th will get a $25 gift card from us to the retailer of their choosing!!! Shaun T hooked me on home workouts with Insanity and to this day, he's the ONLY ONE that can inspire me to do more than I think I can and push my body to its limits. My body wasn't the only thing that changed though....my MIND was stronger and it made me believe I could do anything...which also spilled over to the rest of my life. I love that the goal is to fail. I love that it pushes you right away and forces you to assess your own limits...and then INVITES you to shatter what you thought was your limit!! Eeek!! I can't wait!
**BONUS from us: anyone that orders a challenge pack THIS WEEK will also get a $25 gift card to either Amazon or iTunes! Who wants in?? Don't be shy! |
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