Fitness Challenge Group

"It is never too late to start, it is always too late to wait."

How are those New Year's resolutions holding up?  

If your answer is "not so great." I have some GREAT news!  My February Fitness Challenge Group is starting in about a week.  February 6 to be exact!!!  This is going to be an amazing opportunity to get the "full package" - fitness, nutrition and support!  Lucky participants will get it all, and in turn, they WILL get the results they have been looking for!  I will be there every step of the way virtually kicking butts to make sure people are staying true to their commitments and their "why."

"Before" - June 2010

"After" - August 2011

Don't let time (or lack thereof), a busy life, kids, limited money, or low motivation be your excuses for not getting what you want.  I have been there!!!  This is ALL about reorganizing your priorities!  Great results do not come from an “I’ll start tomorrow” attitude.  Great results start today and come from a place of intense focus, determination and 100% commitment.  Let me stress that I am NO DIFFERENT than anyone else!  I live a cuckoo life.  I work a full time job.  I have a busy family with people running in (what seems like) 100 different directions on a daily basis.  There are life stressors to contend with and the endless treadmill (no pun intended) that we all get caught up in.  Throw in a few food temptations to boot and trust me, I know how difficult it is!  All of these factors get in the way of our focus, determination and commitment.  I am asking that you make a choice today.  Choose right over wrong.  Choose healthy over unhealthy.  Choose activity over being sedentary.  Choose me as your fitness Coach!  Sound good?  Let me help you achieve the results you are looking for.  Let’s do this thing together!!!  

As I said, the next challenge starts February 6 and I would LOVE for you to be a part of it!  This is going to be a very limited group, and I still have a couple spots left. Sound interesting? Leave a comment, let me know and I'll be happy to send you more details. I look forward to hearing from you.


~Yours in Health,
Carrie




     

On the Road to Amazing!

BE AMAZING!

~Tony Horton

I recently purchased Tony Horton's new book "Bring It!".  Tony is the creator and trainer for the wildly popular Power 90 and P90X workout DVDs.  His book is full of inspirational tidbits, nutritional advice, recipes as well as a full section of detailed workout moves.  In the beginning of the book, Tony talks about the importance of getting your head in the right place for exercise, getting fit and living a positive existence.  He calls it the "Cycle of Success".  He says that often times (unfortunately), the perils of negativity and self-doubt live within all of us.  He maps out 12 specific success tools to get everyone on the right path to fitness, health and living a better overall life.  These 12 tools are integral if one is looking to make a change and start living a healthier lifestyle.  The one out of the 12 that spoke to me most deeply was his advice to "Be Amazing".

Everyone wears a mask - one which often hides our "true self" from the rest of the world.  We often deny ourselves the ability to be authentic and true in order to try and fit in and be who we THINK others want us to be.  Part of living a Fit Full Life is being AUTHENTIC, TRUE and AMAZING!!!!!  We need to stop caring what others think of us.  We need to stop being so sensitive to other's criticism and negativity.  We need to stop focusing on the negative voices within us and (as Tony says) "celebrate your victories and accomplishments and recognize the things you do really well."  

Years ago, a friend of mine asked me to take an indoor rock climbing class with her.  I was totally and utterly freaked out by this notion!  "Are you kidding me??!!"  The possibility of the rope snapping or the harness malfunctioning thereby sending me plummeting to my death did not even enter my mind!  What I worried about was....what if someone sees and makes fun of my giant, dimpled bum as I am suspended in the air attached to a teensy rope.  Yes, my friends, that was my biggest fear.  You know what?  I needed to get over it and forget about what others thought!  This was a fun class that I was taking for ME, to better myself and to get over some fears (of heights and teensy ropes) and shed my self-consciousness.

After the first rock climbing competition I ever did!

A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to display Beachbody products at a local Health Fair.  It was an incredible opportunity, with the potential to speak to over 2,000 people about the awesomeness that is Beachbody.  However, I was dragging my feet and couldn't commit!  What was wrong with me??  Fear!  Self-doubt!  Negativity!  What if I couldn't do it??  What if no one talked to me?  What if I wasn't successful?!  After about a week of questioning myself, my wonderful husband sat me down and said "Just do it!  You love what you do and people need to hear it.  What have you got to lose?" So I did it and it was a fantastic day!  I had the opportunity to speak about what I am passionate and I hopefully was able to lead others toward living healthier lives.  It was worth stepping out of my comfort zone!!

Me in front of my Beachbody table at the DreamRide Health Fair

So, the bottom line:  YOU are defined by everything you are - your inner being, your mind, your talents, your everything.  Let that be your guide, let it out and BE AMAZING every day!  When you start living as your true self, it is the most freeing feeling in the world.  Keep in mind, this is not something that is accomplished in one day or even throughout a 63 day exercise program.  Living authentically takes time (maybe even years) especially since people tend to change throughout the years.  Open your eyes, recognize what you need to change in order to live this way and start living for YOU (not others) and become the most amazing YOU that you can be!  Once you start doing that, you will see awesome things start to happen!

~Cheers! 

A Swift Kick In the Rear!

Sooooooo, it's been a while since my last post.  Sorry for that.  I've been dabbling in all things Beachbody since I last wrote. Let's see......I did a few weeks of P90X.  Whoa - what a workout!  If you want a buff bod in 90 days, this extreme workout is the one for you!  It requires weights, and a pull-up bar (along with loads of flexibility for the 90 minute Yoga piece).  The Ab Ripper X is a KILLER too!  If you want washboard abs for summer, do this one every (or as Tony recommends, every other) day (along with a healthy diet and a regular cardio routine) and you will get there in no time.  You'll be sweating and shedding fat in the blink of an eye.    


I thought I'd also mention that I did a one day sampling with Chalene Johnson and Turbo Fire (just to see what it was all about) and it was fun, energizing, and a super workout! Chalene is a teensy little firecracker and boy can she move!  I wish someone would bottle and sell her energy and enthusiasm - it'd be better than O.D.ing on caffeine on a daily basis, for sure!  I will definitely come back to Turbo Fire when I am done with my next endeavor........


My next endeavor you ask?  Well, as I spent the last month dabbling in Beachbody workouts, I felt myself longing for my first Beachbody love.....the one and only Shaun T.  I missed his drill sergeant ways, the sweat dripping into my eyes (and clouding my vision), and being so tired at the end of a workout that I'd collapse in a heap of mush.  I kept going back for more INSANITY abuse on the days I should have been doing something else (what a nut, huh?).  So, to curb my Shaun T addiction, I purchased his latest and most difficult workout to date called 


INSANITY - The Asylum!!!!!

Here I am, looking like a total goofball, welcoming the arrival and Day 1 of my journey into The Asylum.

The Asylum is a sports-drill-specific workout, geared toward improving speed and agility and get one performing and looking like an elite athlete.  Take a peek at this video to get a taste of what the workout is all about.  It is all shades of awesome!!!!  It's been said that The Asylum is like "taking INSANITY, dousing it with gasoline and setting it on fire."  Apparently, I've gone off the deep end because I can't wait to be a part of it, finish the 30 day challenge and qualify for the "I committed"  tee-shirt that I WILL get at the end of it all.  Thus proving, once and for all how cuckoo I really am.  I love a challenge, I love a super-intense workout, I love to sweat.  Follow along in the days ahead to see my progress!


~Cheers!    

Digging Deep

I am here to debunk the thinking that you cannot get a good, intense, effective workout by exercising in the comfort of your own home.  For most of my adult life, I have belonged to a gym.  Granted, I also own a treadmill, enjoyed running outdoors, and working out to exercise DVDs, but in the past, my "go to" place for sweating it out was always a gym.  When I purchased the workout set INSANITY, my thinking changed. Since beginning this program 9 months ago, I have worked out more regularly and frequently than any other time in my life.  If you don't think you have the ability to push yourself at home, don't sell yourself short - you can.  If you don't think you have the attention span to complete it - think again - once a workout gets "in your blood" you will not want to stop (and let's face it, the menial home tasks and laundry will always be there anyway).  Plus the awesome DVDs that Beachbody puts out all are led by amazing trainers who are incredible motivators.

Here's Shaun T and some of the INSANITY crew!  They look badass, don't they?  One of the great things about this workout is that some of the cast members were just "regular people" beforehand.  They went through the program in its testing phase and had tremendous success!  It's so motivating to see the results of a normal person who transformed their body in such a drastic way - makes me think I can do it too.  Also, I love the fact that they are all sweating, panting, raising their heart rates (to what sometimes feels like unnatural levels) and even collapsing from exhaustion right along side me.   

That's the man himself.  The King of INSANITY, Shaun T.  Shaun T is a superb trainer too.  He's constantly talking, encouraging, giving tips on proper form, telling me how to breathe, hold correct posture, and I love that he tells it like it is (plus he's nice to look at too).  One of my favorite quotes from him is "It's get fit or get out people!  I'm not trying to hurt you, just trying to make you better."


On Monday, I began Month 2 of INSANITY!!  Let the madness begin (again)!  Month 2 MAX workouts are around an hour long with (what seems like) double the intensity as the first month's workouts.  I am still sore from Monday's MAX Interval Circuit workout - ouch.  What makes INSANITY different from traditional workouts is the amount of time you spend pushing yourself to the limit.  In traditional workouts, you would generally exert a sustained moderate amount of energy/intensity throughout with short bursts of high intensity.  INSANITY workouts are just the opposite....you work as hard as you can for 3-4 minutes with a 30 second rest in between each burst of intensity.  It is extremely effective!  On the agenda for me for today is MAX Interval Plyo.  I'm ready (yikes)!!

  ~ Bring on the Diamond Jumps!

A Healthy Snack or Occasional Meal on the Go

Trying to eat 5 small meals a day can sometimes be a challenge.  If you live a full life like me, you're not always home (or are lacking the energy) to prepare the requisite protein/complex carbohydrate/fat combination that a clean, healthy diet requires.  Normally, I wouldn't recommend a product that comes "from a box" as I prefer food in its most natural state.  (The more a food has been processed, the more I try to avoid it.)  However, let's be realistic, shall we?  We all want a simple solution, something easy, that's good for us, and that we can just quickly grab and go, am I right?  Besides Shakeology (which is one of my very favorite things in the whole wide world), another quick snack or occasional meal option would be the Peak Performance protein bars offered by Beachbody.  These bars were made in conjunction with fitness guru Tony Horton (of P90X fame) and it's been said that he was meticulous about getting it just right.  Good news too!  Beachbody has recently reformulated these bars to have less sugar, more natural ingredients and no trans fats.  Each bar contains around 260 calories and packs in over 20 grams of protein.  In my opinion, they taste much better than other performance/sport bars on the market. 

Order a box of these delicious bars today.  They will give you the nutrients and energy your body needs while delivering protein to help you gain the lean muscle you're looking for!!

~Cheers!

A Lesson in Motivation

Go back in time with me if you will.......June 2010, I'm sitting on my couch (a lot), falling asleep in the middle of the day (a lot), feeling gross, flabby, exhausted and generally apathetic about my appearance and life itself.

Now, I've always been active.  I've got 3 full marathons under my belt, have done several triathlons, participated in indoor rock climbing and group exercise classes, but for some reason, it all came to a screeching halt last year.  Yep, I got into a rut and "let myself go" a bit.  Funny thing is, apathy like that is a vicious cycle.  The more you don't care, the more you don't care.  So there I was, literally becoming part of my couch (muffin top growing by the day), when I saw the late night Beachbody infomercial for the workout series "INSANITY".  It was unlike anything I'd ever seen before and thought it seemed like something I'd enjoy.  I am not a "dainty" exerciser by any means - love me some hardcore cardio and bring on the sweat - the worse I look after a workout, the better!  The trick was, trying to convince my hubby that spending $120 on a set of DVDs was a wise investment.  I suggested not renewing our $100 a year (each) gym memberships (which were up for renewal and hardly being used anyway), he took the bait and we never looked back!  INSANITY is put out by the company Beachbody.  It's is the same company that puts out P90X (which if you haven't heard of by now, you must be living under a rock), Turbo Jam, Slim in 6, and other awesome workout DVDs.  Let me tell you, the $120 was the BEST money we have spent and it changed our lives forever!!!! INSANITY is designed to get you in the best shape of your life in 60 days. It is extremely DIFFICULT, you sweat your cottage cheesy tush (and muffin top) off, and the benefits are amazing!! We both lost weight - he about 13 pounds and myself about 11 (so far) - plus we both have completely toned up, added muscle and significantly lowered our total cholesterol levels. I am about half way to my ultimate goal of another 10-15 pounds lost and my husband only has a couple more pounds to his goal.

So, where does my motivation come from?  What got me up from that apathetic place on my couch, to push myself beyond what I ever thought was possible and sweating like never before?  Well, I gotta say, the shirtless, solidly muscled trainer (Shaun T - who I LOVE) in the DVDs certainly doesn't hurt - hee hee.  But truly, motivation for me comes from a whole bunch of places.  I turned 40 in September and that was HUGE motivation for me.  With Type 2 Diabetes running in my side of the family and heart disease lurking in my husband's side, and obesity on both, I did not want to end up aging with medical issues on top of it!  Looking at photos of my parents and in-laws when they were 40 is an eye opener.  Is it just me or did everyone look 60 at the age of 30 back then?  So call me vain, but I want to be a hot mama at 40 and beyond.  I want to look good in a pair of skinny jeans tucked into boots.  I want my loved ones to be proud of me and I want to be proud and comfortable with my appearance as well.  My Beachbody business is also a HUGE motivator for me.  If I'm not continuing to be a "product of the product", than I am a fraud.  Simple as that.  I continue to try and live by example and practice what I preach. 

So for me, motivation is NOT just the intention to do something, or saying you're ready, or planning it all out, or even clicking "Yes I'm ready to take the INSANITY challenge" as I did back in June.  Motivation is this........you've run out of excuses and have nowhere else to go.  What motivates you?