What Can You Do in 7 Days?

I had a little baby brain storm over the weekend as I was shopping for matte top coat online. I knew it would probably work and I would probably like it but I really wanted to try it first. Returning it via mail (and opened) would be such a pain if I hated it -- even though I knew I could return it and get my
money back. So what was stopping me was the convenience of being able to try it first with no commitment (which was soon solved with a trip to the mall.)

I have been talking about how much I love Shakeology for months now and I know a lot of people that want to try it but are hesitant to order it. It is a big commitment and even though there is a 30 day money back guarantee -- sometimes returning something (and a trip to the post office) can be a huge pain. So why not make it easy?

I decided to do a 7 day Shakeology mini-group. So what does this mean?

You get --

7 days of Shakeology
7 days of clean (and easy) dinner recipes
7 days of Shakeology recipes
7 days of motivation to get your body moving

and maybe some prizes and other stuff thrown in there too....It is the week after my birthday so I will be feeling super generous.

It's just a week....what can you accomplish in a week?

Send me a message or email to scyobe@gmail.com if you are interested!

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 sucked it up and joined a challenge group (And now have to put my foot in my mouth)

What the heck is a challenge group?

Typically that is what I hear (peppered with a tone that reads "you are the mayor of crazytown") when I tell people what I have been up to and involved in the last two months. And a few months ago I would have been the one to roll my eyes and and mock the entire thing. Repeatedly. Because honestly, how are a group of strangers on the internet really going to help me? I have friends. I don't need pretend ones online. How in the hell would this give me any type of accountability or motivation?

But I had been watching some old friends on my Facebook feed talk about these groups and their successes and I reached a point where I figured I had nothing to lose (and yes, I was desperate.) I was working out and counting calories with no changes happening. I was frustrated and angry and decided to put my foot in my mouth when I found that I was indeed wrong about the entire thing.
(And I kept the fact that I joined group a secret for probably a month because I don't like to be wrong. Ever. Ask my husband.)

I sent an email to my friend Katy and asked her if she had any room left in a group she was starting. I didn't really know what I was getting into or what the rules were. Just that she was going to put me into a closed group on Facebook with a bunch of strangers. (And to be honest, I didn't even know what a closed group was. I kept checking my wall to make sure my group posts weren't there for all to see.)

So here are some basics:

A challenge group is a closed group on Facebook. It is either 30, 60 or 90 days. You commit to this group and in doing so commit to trying Shakeology, commit to checking in every day and in some groups commit to doing a fitness program or working out in some way.

When you check in every day you rate your day on 1-5 for your diet, your workout and a yes or no if you had your Shakeology that day.

Some groups are really specific, that all members are completing a certain program together (think Insanity) and are there to complain about Shawn T and pull each other through when you really just don't think you can look at his face anymore.

Some groups are only for clean eating and everyone shares recipes and tips and tricks.

Some groups are super flexible and allow you to do whatever workout you want as long as you workout.

They are all the same in that you participate, set some goals and make it happen.

There were some times I fell off the wagon. Where it would have been easier to quit and not workout and to eat some cake. (Yay cake!) But being in a group like this made me feel like I had to keep going. (Honestly, I probably wouldn't have finished Insanity if it wasn't for my group. After moving across the country and missing 5 days I was so ready to just throw in the towel. But I knew they would know if I quit.) And I enjoyed seeing what everyone was posting and what they were doing. And all the crazies working out 2 times a day made me want to push more.  I was not going to let some stranger get better results than I was. There were times that knowing I would have to post changed what I put in my mouth. If I had pizza for dinner it was totally going to make my food intake for the day go from a 5 to a 3. I know it sounds silly. I really thought so too until I was involved. I mean who would be the wiser if I lied. But if I lied, I would only be cheating myself. And haven't I done that enough already?


So my advice is to get over yourself and join a challenge group. What do you have to lose?





**I am ready to share the love and have new challenge groups starting all the time. Message me for details!

Pushing Through (when the exercise porn doesn't do it for you anymore)

My husband calls me a hobby dropper. I get something new. I love it to the point of obsession. I fill my hours and days with research about it and participation. And about a month later, I am sick of it and move onto the next shiny, sparkly thing I find.

I have reached that point with Insanity. I was so pumped to get it in the mail and get started. Even though the first week (or two) were so hard I spend more time on the ground than actually working out, I was pumped to run down to the basement every morning and work out. I creeped around the Beachbody message boards to see what everyone else was saying. I poked around on some Insanity survivors' blogs to see what their advice was and what their results were (I love seeing the before and after pictures - exercise porn!) I would get sucked in for hours dreaming that those would be my results too. I tracked my calories. Invested in  a BodyMedia Fit band (which is kick ass by the way and I will talk about soon.) Planned my meals. A week in I even gave up all my hesitation about the online support groups and contacted a colleague of mine to be my coach. She had great success and honestly if I was going to do this, I was going to do this. I signed up for a challenge group. Ordered Shakeology to try it out for a while. I was driven. I was going to do this.

I struggled to finish month 1 but made it through to the month 2 workouts. When I stared the new workouts, Insanity was all shiny and new again. The workouts were different. Yay!

Well the sparkle started to wane before the week was up. Every step of this week so far (and even the end of last week) has been so hard. I don't want to press play. I don't want to look at Shawn T's face anymore. I am sick of it. (Ironically, this lined up with reporting my 30 challenge group progress. I saw results in my pictures, weight and measurements this still was not enough to push me through.) I was dragging ass when I pushed play not giving it my all. There was no digging deeper. So what was the point. This is where I had to stop and assess what exactly I was doing.

Why am I doing this? Am I trying to make myself crazy? No, I want to see some results and not drop this hobby so my hubby can't say I told you so. (The monetary investment isn't anything to sneeze at either...)

So today I busted out my old gym playlist. I haven't really touched it since I let my gym membership lapse when I was pregnant (which was in 2010.) And I busted a groove. Music seriously motivates me. I love to dance and shake my ass. So I turned off the terrible music that plays in the background of the DVD's (sorry Beachbody, but it's bad) and I turned some Brittany on. I love me some poppy dance tunes and it never fail to not only put me in a better mood but to get me off my ass. I did what I used to do when I would run on the treadmill for an hour, I choreographed in my head. This maybe really weird but if in my brain I am dancing around (and not doing squat jumps or pushups) it really helps. During the water breaks, I wasn't laying on the floor praying for the minutes to move faster. I was dancing around in circles with my toddler. And then was ready 30 seconds later when it was go time. It was so motivating. I've had the best workout I've had in a few days.

Today's lesson: Find what motivates you and use it! As humans, we get bored easily so mix it up. Make it shiny and new everyday and your workout will feel less like work and more like a dance party (for me anyway.)

And when I am sick of my late 80's -90's jams I may just turn on some Pandora. I am hoping this will keep me moving and grooving (and sticking with this Insanity program) for another couple of weeks. Because I will finish this time.