Thursday, November 7, 2013

New Adventures, New Challenges – Team Beachbody!!



Clearly you all know that I am into fitness…big time.  I love the challenge of training, racing, and challenging my body.  As I have progressed in my triathlon journey, I have loved the improvements I have seen in my endurance, my cycling, and my running.  I was also hoping to see some changes in my physique with all the extra training that I was doing.  Well, as good as my training was, and as successful as my first season of triathlons went, I did not end up with washboard abs and 10% body fat that I had hoped for.

Towards the end of the season, a good friend of mine, Vickie, posted some photos on Facebook accompanied by this blog post.  I saw these photos when I was in Vegas, not feeling my fittest, and at first was super jealous...because her body rocked.  The photos she posted were before and after photos from completing Shaun T’s T25 at home videos and drinking Shakeology.  

Immediately after seeing those photos, I got myself into the gym at our Vegas hotel and took some accountability photos, to remind myself how my body looked right at that moment.
Blah!!! Not stoked
As soon as I got home from Vegas, I let Vickie know that I wanted the success she had!  So I got online at teambeachbody.com, restarted my Shakeology Home Direct Delivery, and set a plan to start T25 as soon as my last triathlon ended on Sept 29th.  

So what is Beach Body???

Most people have heard of P90X, Insanity, etc.  Infomercials are all over TV.  And Shakeology is the awesome Superfood Nutrition shake that helps you lose weight, reduces junk food cravings, increases energy and improves digestion.  But Beachbody isn’t just home workout videos and shakes.  Since connecting with Beachbody about 2 months ago, the most important thing that I’ve found is the awesome community of likeminded people supporting each other on the quest for better health and fitness. 

With the common link of Beachbody guidance, coaches have Challenge Groups for people doing specific Beachbody programs like T25 or Insanity, Accountability Groups for general workout and healthy eating accountability, and Clean Eating Groups to give folks guidance and meal plans for healthier eating.  These groups are comprised of all kinds of people…coaches with lots of experience with the products, people with lots of healthy recipes to share, newbies with lots of questions, and people who are just members of the group and take in all of the info that is posted.  
 
My experience so far...
So far, my experience with the accountability groups has been incredibly motivating.   Since I’m already super active, I’ve found that the most beneficial part of the groups I have joined is helping to keep my food choices in check.  Throughout the Triathlon season, I would often find myself making excuses to eat more than I needed, or not making the healthiest choices “because I just did a really hard workout.”  Hence the reason that I didn’t end up with the body that I wanted.  Also, during tri season (and when work and life get really busy), getting to the gym is pretty difficult.   

Having multiple triathlon workouts was time consuming, and there just aren’t enough hours during the day, so I didn’t get into FNS as often as I would have liked.  Because I wasn’t going as frequently, when I did go, I ended up really sore the next day, and that would affect my tri workouts…just not the best combination.  (Since I started Biogenesis, this isn’t a problem anymore). 
Since I wasn’t getting into FNS as much, I was missing strength workouts, and really needed something to keep feeding my muscles.  Enter T25.  I was super skeptical of doing a workout video at first…I honestly didn’t think I would get a good workout and thought I would look ridiculous.  After day one of T25, my mind was COMPLETELY changed!  The workout was HARD!  Not so hard that it wasn’t doable, but I could feel  that my body was worked!  Just what I wanted.
After T25 week 1 - no flexing!
My schedule has finally calmed down again, and I have been able to get back to FNS about 3x per week.  I was super worried that I would have lost a bunch of strength because I hadn’t gone in FOREVER, but thanks to T25 (and biogenesis – seriously this stuff is amazing) I felt like I hadn’t missed a beat.  I’m now doing a combination of T25 and FNS, which is a great way to make sure I get my workout in no matter what.  I also drink Shakeology for breakfast about 5 days/week, and have it as a snack the other two.  I love to cook and eat veggies, but sometimes it’s time consuming, and having shakeology makes it easy to not stress about it, knowing I got my powerpacked serving in and everything else is just extra.  (It also helped kick my coffee addiction to the curb, so now it’s a special treat, not a absolute need every morning).
http://myshakeology.com/alliG9
My NUMBER 1 Shako recipe is: 1 banana, 1 tbsp. PB, 1 scoop Chocolate Shakeology, 5 ice cubes and 1 cup water.  Amazing start to my day - no caffeine needed!

Accountability

The other great thing about Beachbody is the personal (or shared) documentation of your progress.  I was never a fan of taking before and after photos, and never really took measurements.  With the Beachbody challenge pack programs, Saturday is STATurday…a set day to document your progress.  It has helped me stay on track during the week, knowing that I’ll have to record my progress on the weekend.  It’s great encouragement if my stats improve, and it’s an even better reminder when my stats digress.  
Now I’m a coach!

So I'm a Beachbody Coach, what does that mean exactly?  Being a Beachbody Coach is simply helping Beachbody customers to stay motivated and accountable to their fitness programs and goals.  Not everyone has access to a gym like FNS or the time to get to the gym.  But everyone has 25 minutes a day to watch something on TV!  Why not make it T25??? 
 
www.beachbodycoach.com/ALLIG9
 I’m going to be starting my very own Challenge Group  - Fit by ‘14, starting on Monday, Nov. 25th!  Yes, Thanksgiving week.  Joining my Challenge Group and starting T25 (and Shakeology) will help provide motivation to stay healthy as the holiday season starts, and will help kickstart a healthy 2014!  I promise, no matter how busy your holiday season is, you WILL be able to get in an awesome 25 minute workout no matter what.  And the workouts are so much fun that you’ll probably be convincing your family to join you in your daily workout ;) I've already made my mom get in on the action!

With Fit by ’14, I’ll be posting healthy holiday recipe suggestions, winter activities to get the whole family moving, and being there to answer any questions as we tackle my Fit by ’14 challenge!  Email me (alligtrialanderror@gmail.com) for more info on how to join the challenge and check out my Beachbody page for product and ordering info!

www.beachbodycoach.com/ALLIG9
http://myshakeology.com/alliG9
http://myultimatereset.com/alliG9