Striving

I have started this blog post 3 times so far. I’m sitting here on the struggle bus, surrounded by tons of baggage that I thought I had left by the side of the road ages ago! I don’t know, it’s really weird, right? You work through your issues, you feel like you’re at peace with things, and suddenly, overnight, you can end up feeling like you’ve taken 1 step forward and 2 steps back. Do you have times where you ride the struggle bus? Guess what, me too. I think we often see others in a different light than we see ourselves.

Often we are so wound up in our own journey that we don’t even realize that the people who inspire us struggle as well. Everyone has issues they are working through. Everyone. No matter who they are or what they do. I guarantee you that this is true.

This year, 2018, I set my word of intention as STRIVE.

I thought this was a great word. Last year, I worked on me all year. I fought hard to get my fitness and health journey under control. I worked my tail off. I lost 43 pounds and kept going. I figured it out, I worked out for 276 days of 365. That’s pretty impressive when you consider the fact that I literally did not start doing any physical activity until March 23^rd. So, yea, I figured strive was a great word for this year, this second year of my journey to better health.

Here’s how it’s going. We are now starting the fourth month of 2018. I haven’t lost a single pound. Am I disappointed? No. I’m not. I’m not because I know that this year, I have done a crazy difficult exercise program and have owned it, my way. I think just about everyone knows that I’m a Beachbody Coach, at this point. In January of this year, I started a program called 80 Day Obsession. Part of me wants to tell you that I had no business even considering this program, because it’s an advanced program. But you know what? A really BIG part of me wants to tell you that I went at this program with my eyes open and I have done 68 days of this crazy program. SIXTY EIGHT days of it are done. I’ll be honest, I’ve missed probably 6 workouts, but that’s okay. You know what? No one is perfect. No one. Everyone has a life. Life happens.

 When I first started the program, I was totally wound up and convinced that if I didn’t do every single move in every single workout, I was a failure. Seriously. Here I was, doing the most difficult program I’ve ever done and I was telling myself I was a failure. I felt like I was a failure because I had to modify, I had to pause the videos, I had to take a day off because my knees were so sore I couldn’t hardly stand, let alone workout. As the days went on, the super trainer who teaches the program actually came on and admitted that there were some editing issues that shortened the breaks between moves. On that day, something inside me changed. I realized that this was MY program and that I need to own it and do it MY way. I also connected with a group of people on Facebook who were also doing the program and needed modifications.

A lot of people think modifications are an indicator of weakness, but you know what? I think modifications are an indicator of strength. It takes strength and determination to look at what the person on a video is doing, acknowledge that you can’t do it, and find an alternative. It takes strength to be willing to take a chance on yourself and do a program that is probably beyond you. It takes strength to keep going, keep doing it, when you aren’t seeing any change on the scale. It really does.

This program has 3 phases. Each phase, the moves get progressively more complicated and more difficult to do. I remember at the end of Phase 1, I was talking to a friend and asked if I should just stay in Phase 1 because I was still modifying. She said no. Looking back, I think I should have trusted myself. I think that if you modify, doing Phase 1 at least 2 times, all the way through, probably makes sense. I also think that if you are looking to lose weight, rather than looking to tone, after losing all of your weight, this isn’t the program for you. Everyone’s mileage varies, but this program is about flat abs and building a booty. It’s not about weight loss. While I have had some wins, (I’m down 8.5 inches and 2% body fat), I’m up 3 pounds and that makes my “strive” goal of losing 43 pounds again this year a bit more challenging, but it’s okay. The “win” of having done this very difficult program is pretty big. I’ll take it and move forward.

As the phases went on, there were some workouts that I just could. Not. do. I replaced them with other workouts that I could do. I had a couple of times where I just didn’t have a solid hour to workout. I picked shorter workouts that I knew I could get done. Again, my journey, my rules. Most recently, I did a Shaun T workout. When I started Beachbody, I started on Shaun Week. Shaun Week was a series of 7 workouts, each progressively more difficult (at least that’s how I saw it!). If you don’t know who Shaun T is, let me tell you in just a few quick, sobering words. He created the Insanity workouts. Enough said? Yep, I figured. So doing Shaun Week was no cakewalk. I literally marched through a lot of it. And I lost weight and inches. As I started to say, last week I did a Shaun Week workout. I did it probably 80% unmodified! It was crazy! I took out the jumps but that was about it. Seriously.

So now, my thoughts are that I will continue my journey, owning it, doing my best. Continuing to workout 5-6 days a week, and maybe next year, I’ll go back and do one of these workouts, after I lose more weight and am closer to my goal and maybe I won’t have to modify much of it either!

It’s good to have goals. How about you? What are your goals? How can I help? Want me as your coach? Click here: COACH ME PLEASE

Start Where You Are and Keep Moving

Have you ever built a Lego kit? Yesterday, I was in a meeting with my team, and one of my coworkers pointed out that she looks at projects like Lego kits. Each component of the project has to be identified and put with others that are similar to it. You have to make sure you have all the pieces you need before you start, or you won’t be successful. Then, there is a step by step process to completing the Lego project or you won’t end up with a finished project that looks right.

I thought this was SUCH a profoundly simple way of breaking down projects. Then, this morning, I woke up thinking about this analogy again and realized that it applies to working out and fitness as well.

You don’t just start a program and immediately perform every move perfectly. You just don’t. (well, you might, if you are WonderWoman or Mr. Universe, but I think even they have learning curves!) You take one step at a time. One movement, one exercise, one day, until eventually, you are able to do it all to the best of your ability.

I think that often, we start a program and, when we can’t do everything right away, we get discouraged. How about if we, instead, take it one step at a time, and one component at a time, and figure out a path to get where we want to go instead? I have started doing this, and I’m having more success and am far happier than I was before I started trying to WonderWoman my way through!

I do Beachbody workouts. They are fairly badass, and led by supertrainers who are in incredible shape! They aren’t like me, they do this for a living, and they have done it for a living for a long time! I, on the other hand, am 57 years old. 40 years ago, I was captain of the varsity swim team. 30 years ago, I did Jazzercise, and I did it on and off until about 15 years ago. For the past 5 years, I’ve done DDPYoga, until I was forced to take a break for the very reason I’m describing here. I went in with the mindset that I should be doing what the trainer on the screen was doing. It took a LONG time and a LOT of frustration for me to understand that Dallas has been doing this for over 20 years. I was new to it, I shouldn’t have been forcing my body to do motions it wasn’t ready to do. I needed to be patient and build. I needed to identify the Lego components and follow the instructions. Are you with me? Do you see where I’m going?

I’m currently doing a program called 80 Day Obsession. We just started Monday. I have the insanely amazing experience of being in the Exclusive Coach Group. I’m there with 40,000 other Beachbody Coaches, from all walks of life, all over the world, at all different experience levels. We are there together, supporting each other, doing our best with this new program, and trying to learn it so we can help our teams learn it and be successful with it. Am I killing it? Well, I am for me!!! I’ve finished all 3 days, and I’m still here. J

When I first started Beachbody workouts, I started on a special challenge week led by a man named ShaunT. He is, beyond a doubt, one of the most inspiring people on the planet, (behind Diamond Dallas Page, don’t get me wrong!). Shaun week was hard, guys. It was REALLY hard! On Day 1, as I did it, I couldn’t breathe. I was sweating so badly I couldn’t see. I wasn’t sure if I could finish. I finally reached a point where I started to just march when I didn’t think I could do anymore. When it ended, I celebrated. Then I told myself, “if I can finish up to Day 3, I’ll be proud.” So the next day I hit play again. I repeated the sweating and lack of oxygen, marching, and finished Day 2. Each day, I kept moving. I wasn’t comfortable getting on the floor to do bear crawls, so I toe tapped the edge of a step instead. Not quite the same move, but I was pushing, for me. As the days progressed, I found more and more ways to do more than march. I got creative, and I kept moving. I didn’t stop. I didn’t quit, I just modified. Guess what? I finished the entire week! I then moved on to a program called Shift Shop. It was SO hard, y’all. I mean, it was SO hard!!! I felt like I’d never get it down and I had to move around and try to march and do all sorts of things that were outside my comfort zone. I modified the heck out of it, and finished that twice! I’ve done other programs the same way and I’m down 30 inches and 23 pounds since I started Beachbody in late June, so I know it works.

Bottom line, never give up. Keep moving. Can’t do it? Once you try it once, substitute in something similar that you CAN do. Keep moving. Next time you hit that move later in the program? Try it again, modify it again. Eventually, I will bet you that you will be able to do the move. Really. Trust me. I can do ShaunT week workouts 90% unmodified now. (the remaining modification is me protecting myself from an old injury and I’m good with that!)

Please don’t stop. If you need help with modifications, if you need help staying motivated? Let me know. I’m here to help. I’m more than happy to try to help as long as you are willing to put in the work.

Want me as your coach? Click here: COACH ME PLEASE