OMG where have you been my whole life! (and why Turbofire might be the best thing I discovered this summer.)

Have you ever had one of those moments? When you were all why the hell haven't I tried this yet? How have I lived 32 years without knowing this exists? I had that ahhah moment about a month ago with almond butter and this is just blowing that moment out of the water.

After some shipping kerfuffles, my Turbofire challenge pack finally arrived. And I thought I was happy
with the Insanity program when I started that. Hah! This is full of dancing and punching and energy and real music. Like Bobby Brown, Wild Cherry, Salt-n-Pepa and The Sugar Hill Gang. There is even some funkified Tina Turner and Kool and the Gang.

As my daughter would say, "what!" (and yes in a Lil' Jon fashion.)

I can't even handle the fact that the music not only rocks but it motivates me to keep going and keeps my energy way up. When I was struggling to get through all the Shawn T yelling at me and jumping stuff, it took everything in me to get geared up for just a few more suicide drills. Go, go, go! With this, I don't even have to think about it. The music starts to pick up and I am singing and jamming along and bam, workout is over and I am ready for more. (and not laying on the floor feeling like I died - although that does have a time and a place. Sometimes laying on the floor with nothing left feels awesome.)

For a girl who always tries to blast music and trick her brain into working out by pretending to choreograph in her head, this may be a perfect fit. I hope I am in love with this forever and ever. (I now think I understand what people mean when they talk about their soul mate workout!) Chalene Johnson is the trainer behind this program and she is just as upbeat as the music. She pushes you to keep going not by yelling at you like a drill sergeant but by telling you things like "You aren't tired!" and "You will believe whatever you tell yourself so tell yourself you can do this."

And any workout that encourages me to shake it as part of my exercise is already at the top of my awesome-sauce list.

So a little more about the program itself --

It is a 90 day program (which with the way I do things means it will probably turn into a 120 day program.)

There is a calendar that gives you exactly what to do every day for the 90 days.

It is cardio focused with kick boxing drills choreographed to pretty great music. Lots of punching, kicking, turning (using that core in a standing position) and using your legs (lunging and squatting) while you punch.

There are two strength building classes incorporated during month 2. For those you need a lower resistance band (included in the base kit) and a resistance band (or dumbbells - which I prefer. The resistance bands and I just do not get along.) I also picked up a pair of weighted gloves this month and added those to my workout. I can totally tell there is more definition from my shoulders from adding them. Yay!

It incorporates HIIT training (which means High Intensity Interval Training.) She asks you to go hard - as hard as you can - for a about a minute. These are spaced throughout the classes and there are classes built out of HIIT (and they are short - whoo hoo! Like 15 minutes short!) but mostly they are sprinkled throughout. There is some jumping but always a modifier so if you can't jump or are working up to that point, there is an option.)

Chalene always talks about how it is your class. And it is up to you to make it your class - whether that means working even harder to get all you can out of it or having to modify because you are coming off an injury or working toward getting stronger. I love this mentality and the thinking about my results being what I get out of these 30 or 45 or 55 minutes is totally up to me and what I make of it.

I am currently working through month 2 of this program and still love it. I am at a place where I am missing weight training (I think the 2 days of strength training on the schedule throughout month 2 have me itching for more) so I am looking forward to adding Chalene Extreme (a weight training based program) to TurboFire once I complete my 90 days.  And I am also excited to update this when I am finished to see if I am still so in love with this program (and of course my results!)



And the big news.... Throughout the entire month of August, Turbofire is discounted when bundled with Shakeology (you can read more about shakeo here.) But is is a super awesome deal (and I am really jealous it wasn't around when I ordered my copy!)

If you are interested in trying TurboFire or have any questions give me a shout. You can message me on Facebook or send me an email at scyobe@gmail.com

Why I decided to become a Beachbody coach....

I always said that if I was an actress or model or *insert job that requires a hot body here* I would totally look that good too. I mean, it would be MY JOB. I am going to work hard for my job or not get paid. If the model doesn't look good, she doesn't book any jobs, she doesn't get paid. Well, it's time for me to put my money where my mouth is because I just made it my job. One of the best reasons I saw for signing up to be a Beachbody coach was that it was now my job to look good too. How am I supposed to motivate or help anyone reach their health goals while I am sitting on my ass eating popcorn all day? The answer is I'm not. So on those days where I just don't want to, please don't make me workout, it pushes me to do so. It keeps me accountable without having to go to a meeting to listen to people whine about how cake is the devil.

What I love about everything I have experienced so far is that there is no magic pill. No you aren't going to lose 60 lbs in 30 days (ok maybe someone somewhere has but the reality of that is super slim.) You aren't going to lose weight by sitting on the couch. It just doesn't work that way. You have to put the work in and you get out exactly what you put in. If I skip workouts and eat like poo, it is reflective in my performance and my results. I have literally given blood, sweat and tears to completing the Insanity program and worked my butt off for every single ounce I lost. And I didn't lose a ton of weight. I will not be the next infomercial star but I am so proud of myself for showing up and working hard.

I believe, as consumers, we are lied to every day and, as Americans (in one of the heaviest nation in the world) we are super sensitive to anything that promises to be an easy and quick fix when it comes to weight loss. Beachbody is not that. And I love that about this company. There are so many workout program options and they just ask you to push play and give everything you've got. That is something I can stand behind.

When I ordered Insanity, I had just done a month of bootcamp (with a Groupon) and was in love. I was getting up at 5 and busting my hump 5 days a week. My month with my Groupon was almost over (and I couldn't afford to stay without the discount) and I didn't want to lose the incentive or the good habits I had started. The infomercial for Insanity came on and I thought why not? I proved I could do more than I thought by taking a bootcamp class for a month, maybe this was step 2. Go big or go home.

And while my Insanity results weren't commercial worthy, they aren't anything to sneeze at either. I have tried so many programs, so many different diets, but nothing gave me results that came close to my Insanity results (even the bootcamp I loved so much.) One thing I really struggled with during Insanity (and I think I will with almost every Beachbody program going forward) was the meal plan. About a year ago, I gave up meat and dairy. Most of the eating guides are very meat (protein) heavy. I started searching the message boards and even asked in some of the Beachbody groups on Facebook. I found nothing. I really felt like there was a huge gap in the community. And when I found an "answer" it was to substitute tofu or other soy based protein product (which the jury is still out on how great these are for you too...) I don't mind tofu and I have actually grown to really enjoy it in some recipes (once I fumbled through a bunch of recipes learning how to cook it.) But I really didn't want to eat that much soy. I try to limit that to once a week not multiple times a day! Where is the help for someone looking for vegetarian or vegan nutrition? It just isn't there. I really want to be there to help people who are struggling with the meal plans, like I did.

Learning about plant based nutrition has lead me down this twisty turvy path that has me questioning
not only what is sold as food but what we are told about our food by manufacturers. We are generally given brightly colored boxes with nutritions claims and are virtually patted on the head and told we are good boys and girls for making the right decisions. The entire food industry treats us like we are children. No, honey, you don't really want to know how we put the fiber back in or how we made the fat free, healthy, death by chocolate cookie taste good or how we keep the bugs out of the corn. Those are messy, grown up things that you don't need to worry about. Now go eat your snack and stop asking silly questions.


I feel like my job as a Beachbody coach is not to get people to eat the way I do or get as fired up as I do about the food industry but to let everyone know it is ok to question what is in your food. Why do we have to add red dye to farm raised salmon? (and when I found out the answer to that I gagged and stopped eating farm raised salmon.) Why does Kraft make macaroni and cheese for European countries without artificial food dyes and will not do that same thing in America? (read more about that here. Thanks Foodbabe!) And that it is ok to decide that maybe you want to stop eating things with artificial dyes or sweeteners or even foods that are processed. As Beachbody coaches, I feel, that we need to get out there and encourage people to make their own decisions, to do their own research, to empower them to try things like clean eating and see first hand if it makes a difference in their lives. Our food is fuel for our life. I know I don't want to eat things that make me feel sluggish and tired and laying on the couch all day because I don't want to look back and see that I spent more of my days invested in the lives of fictional characters than I did invested in the lives of the people I care the most about.

And of course there was one more huge reason I bit the bullet and decided to become a Beachbody coach...

The discount! That was a huge incentive for me to become a Beachbody coach. I wanted the 25% discount. Even with the monthy website maintanance fee, it was still saving me around 15 bucks on my shakeology. That was a no brainer for me. Kind of like when I used to work retail. I loved getting the clothes on the cheap (and ended buying way more than I should have or needed.) I also get bored easily. I'm not the type who is going to keep doing the same workout over and over and over. Sure I might come back to a workout (maybe revisiting Insanity once a year or so) but I need to change it up. The discount gave me the ability to purchase more workouts (starting Turbofire next! Whoot!) and now that I am committed to exercising 6 days a week I need the variety. (And if I ever stop ordering "mom's shake" my toddler might never forgive me, as it has become her favorite snack.)