Day Two of P90X/Plyometrics

Up at 5 am again. I am going to need to go to bed earlier, as it was not nearly as easy to roll out of bed this morning!

Took my supps, fried KC his eggwhites before he was out the door to work, set up my living room to look like “My Gym”, signed on to WOWY “Online Super Gym” and then pressed play. I don’t get to work out with music, as my kids are all asleep down the hall, and I have to keep the volume VERY low and do all my hopping, jumping, grunting, and straining as quietly as possible.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE PlyometriX!! It works your legs something fierce, but all in good fun, and I love having new moves to learn. One thing about ME: I am pretty competitive, so I really try to keep up not only with the girls, but with the boys. (NO ONE can keep up with Tony Horton – every good competitor knows when they are outmatched!) Some sound advice I got before this workout: “Don’t go at it like an animal or you won’t walk tomorrow”. So I started out with those intentions. That lasted about 30 seconds. I was having so much fun the time flew as I worked my body like crazy in this routine. But not beyond safety and keeping good form; just a good hard workout that ROCKS!!

The inside tip of the day:
“THINK CATWOMAN; NOT CRAZY WOMAN”.

Soft landing is the name of the game so our knees that have recovered from the SQUAT NAZI Debbie Sieber’s Slim in 6 will not be sore again!!

I am so excited to be going through this with all of you! It’s just a CRAZY program that will whip our bodies into tip top shape come day 90. And the fun of doing it alone in your house is that you really are competing with yourself. Yes, there are those on the tape who we compete with each time, but it’s a personal best against them. And no one standing next to you to make you feel less because you can’t keep up with them. In the flesh. It’s a beautiful thing, this home fitness idea. And then we pick back up our living room and no one is the wiser to our private fitness sessions, except that our sweatshirts are starting to bulge in the arms.

I’ve got someone coming for a haircut in a few minutes and I still have yet to take a quick shower. A good hot shower sounds good for my worked body right about now!! Check back in to see if I’m able to walk tomorrow!? I’m up a for a GREAT day today, after a BLAST of a start!!

Is it tomorrow yet?????

Bring it!

This is an inspirational story that any parent should read…

One of the best benefits of learning how to eat to fuel my body, as a mom, was learning what a healthy plate looks like. At Tony Horton Fitness Camps in the days of old, Tony used to talk about the important fuels for your body: lean protein, healthy fats, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

When we first started on this health and fitness journey, I cleaned out all my cupboards and fridge of the bad stuff that I’d allowed to creep in, and replaced it with the healthy stuff listed in my new food journal provided with the Team Beachbody Club. That was a big deal for me, because it was a commitment with my pocketbook! I used the expression “Say no to yourself once: at the grocery store!” that I’d learned from another member in my Beachbody Challenge Group. That saying made sense to me, and I wanted to teach my kids the same thing. Rather than me having m&m’s in a bag that they ask me for 10 times throughout the day, not even having them on the shelves was a few less “no”’s I had to tell my kids. It helped me get creative in making the snacks fun, and the meals tasty!

My kids really resisted at first. Well, the older ones. They were grumpy that the junk food they’d grown accustomed to were no longer an option. Oh, I’m all about moderation, and they still had desserts, and sweet foods, but I changed their options for the more healthy counterparts: Fat free yogurt instead of go-gurts, lime Perrier (“bubble water”) in place of soda, thin crust, light cheese & veggie pizza instead of the thick crust, oozing cheese pepperoni pizza’s of old. We had tons of different fruits, and instead of calorie laden casserole’s we had grilled chicken, lots of veggies and instead of white rice, we had whole grain rice and quinoa and bulgar. Havent tried em? Neither had I until I found the Beachbody Club and then I was hooked on these new flavors! In fact, my kids actually (and this is the truth!) used to say “Brussel Sprouts? Yay! Thanks Mom!” It sounds so fake and cheeseball, but they really love brussel sprouts – a veggie I’d never made before then. Because the truth is, healthy foods DO taste good, and its possible to re-train our habits and taste buds.

Oh, we still have soda, and ice cream every now and again, just not every day or week, and you know what? My kids are healthy, strong, and adjusted. So be encouraged if you are just starting on your journey to a healthier family – with time and consistency, and open, honest communication, ie: “I cant in good conscience give to you what I know now to be so unhealthy for you, son.” your kids WILL adjust and when they’re adults they’ll thank you. When they do, you can pat yourself on the back knowing you did the hard, but right thing by your family.

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Me & Steve 2012

Meet my friend Steve Osher.  Steve was born in Brooklyn, NY in the mid 60′s.  A big kid, Steve was an active baseball player and dreamed of playing in the big leagues one day.  But at the age of 11, he was diagnosed with Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis, where the upper end of his femoral bones separated from the balls at his hip sockets.  Between the ages of 11 and 15, Steve would endure 4 painful surgeries to correct the problem in both hips and be able to walk normally again and without pain.  Just a year or two later, Steve would undergo another surgery, this time to repair torn cartilage in his knee.

Steve’s mom & dad had their own share of health problems.  His mom has always struggled with her weight, and his father, although thin, had his first heart attack at 43.  When his dad got that wake up call, he quit smoking cold turkey, and started gaining weight.  Steve kept busy at the gym, working out and power lifting.  At 36, he was doing a 1,200 lb leg press, and popped a blood vessel in his head.  He blacked out for close to 20 minutes.  Although an aneurism was expected, Steve’s doctor said he had just overdone it, and would be fine.  Regardless, the scare stopped him from working out and he got discouraged.

At the age of 60, Steve’s Dad developed vocal chord cancer and the cancer took his life within a year, the day before Steve’s 38th birthday. At that time, he was 250 lbs.  Steve checked out, spiraling downward – as he called it, “entering the dark side”.  He was angry that his father was taken from him so early in his life.  “I felt like I died with him,” Steve said.

Steve: Before

Over the next 6 years, Steve grew to 358 lbs, turning to food for comfort and to fill the void that his dad had left behind.  At 43, the age his dad had been when he died, Steve could no longer walk up a flight of stairs without trouble, his mom was worried about him, and he was worried about following in his dad’s footsteps.  He vividly remembers his dad telling him before he died, “If you don’t take care of your mom, I will come back to haunt you.”  He knew it was time to make a change.

Steve saw an infomercial for P90X and bought it.  He did the first round of 90 days, and lost 8 lbs.  He felt good, and said “What’s next?”, so went for another round.  In his second 90 days, he lost 12 lbs., and signed on as a Beachbody Coach to get discounts on the products.  At a Beachbody local event, Steve met founding Coach Traci Morrow, became friends and found out all about Beachbody’s Annual Coach Summit.  Wanting to look his best for his first Summit experience, Steve started his 3rd round of P90X and this time stopped drinking sodas, alcohol, and stopped eating junk food.  His third time was a charm, and he lost 47 lbs. this time!  Steve was hooked.

At Summit 2010, Steve was introduced to Insanity and Shakeology, which he did as soon as he got home.  Even though he had done multiple rounds of P90X, he wasn’t prepared for the level of cardio that Insanity had in store for him.  He had to modify – a lot!  But each week he got stronger and faster, and in 60 days, Steve lost 18 more pounds.  He did an additional round before 2011′s Summit and lost 60 lbs.!  By this time, Steve was back to where he had started before all the weight gain.  He was so proud of his accomplishments, but wasn’t ready to quit yet.  He kept going and eventually completed Turbo Fire, another round of Insanity, P90X2, and Insanity: The Asylum. This year, Steve has also completed the Ultimate Reset where he lost another 20 lbs.

Steve: After

Steve is down to 226 now, and is looking forward to Body Beast and other workouts that will slim him down and tone him up. Steve has advice for any of you who are trying to lose weight and keep it off:

• Modify, modify, modify!
• Never give up.
• Reach out to people – let them help you! When you’re in that place, you’re embarrassed, scared, alone and afraid to reach out.  You don’t know what’s right anymore, and that’s where the Beachbody community comes in.
• Plug into local events for support and encouragement
• Take responsibility for where you’re at.  Each day is a choice, and you can choose to be healthy one day at a time.
• Be willing to take criticism and trust that God is going to help you get through.
• It’s not just about fitness & health, and it’s not a “diet”.  It’s about a lifestyle change.
• Don’t stop if you have a set back – forgive yourself and get back on that horse!
• Be open and ready, because it’s going to change your life in ways you cannot even imagine.

To find out more, visit Steve’s Facebook Page.  And if you’re looking to lose a little weight or a lot, we’d love to help you.  Let us show you how to lose the weight and keep it off.  It all happens one healthy day at a time.

Dr. Oz said passing a kidney stone hurts like nothing else.  It is unique in its scale, duration and variations of pain.
So if it is that similar, does that mean that this man could handle having a baby?!  I had a BABY.

I suffered, I mean, suffered for 50 hours – long, sleepless hours. I had time to wonder: “How much longer will this go on? Can the pain possibly get worse? Am I going to die? How did I get this? What can I do to make sure I NEVER have this again?”

One thing that crossed my mind was, “How can I stop someone from or help someone else through this torture? I know some of you are wanting details and facts, numbers and even science!  What, who and why people get kidney stones and how they are formed.  I also know that some of you want just the basics. I think I’ll keep it simple. Know that my intention is education and prevention. I semi-technically had a baby and no man should have to do that! Plus, the women already have had quite a lot pain to bare.  Heck, you were that pain they bared!

The technical name for a kidney stone is renal calculus.  I thought I hated calculus in high school and college.  How do you know you have a kidney stone?  You will be curled on the floor thinking you are dying and there can be blood, vomit, pus, fever and absolutely no giggling.  How long will in last?  Hours to days.  Who gets them and why?

• first off, men get it more often (80-20%).
• being a white man makes it even more likely.
• being over weight.
• having too much sodium.
• dehydration from lack of water or too much alcohol.
• too much animal protein.
• too many refined sugars
• too much high fructose corn syrup
• too many sodas

Clearly, don’t be a white man if you can help it. Watch what you are eating and drinking. You don’t have to be a diet Nazi, but you cannot make the above your lifestyle.  So many Americans have done just that.   I’m here to tell you that it just isn’t worth it.  Drink your water, watch what goes in your mouth and educate yourself further.  The kidney stone could be the least of your problems, but I promise you will think about death as it happens.  You do not want an unplanned “pregnancy”, but if you keep fooling around you may as well start picking out names.  I named mine Plymouth.  The one difference is that I don’t have to raise it for 18 years…

I hope that helps.  Need more info? Email Me.

Leading so you can see the way,

Bart

Beet Carpaccio with Marinated Bean Salad | goop.com.

For more great recipe ideas, or if you need help making a plan for healthy eating, Contact a Beachbody Coach.

Examples:

• Beer instead of water
• fries instead of carrots
• ground beef vs. ground turkey
• sleep for an extra 1/2 hour, or walk for 1/2 hour

Choices like these can make the difference of +2 or -2 lbs. in a week’s time. Why is it so easy to make the wrong choice every day when you KNOW that it’s wrong? How come when you make right choices every day, it’s an extremely intentional, conscious effort, and the days are marked clearly on the calendar and in your head? But, when you don’t, and you let the bad choices choose you, days turn into weeks that turn into months, and then you look up and a half a year is gone and you’ve gained all the weight back that you just lost. So how do people lose weight and keep it off? That is the real question.

Is it magic? No, it’s consistency. There are four components you need to lose weight:

• Proper nutrition
• Exercise
• Small & large personal, meaningful rewards
• Support

Out of those four, which do YOU think is the most important? I’m sure we could all argue that each one has its place, or that each of us struggle with one over the other. I would argue that a support group is the most important, because it’s the only component that can give you the other three.

A support group, a family, friends, whatever you want to call it, is the one thing that ties them all together, that lets you achieve what you absolutely need for long-term success, which is a new lifestyle.

For over 20 years, I’ve struggled with my weight: different diets, different programs, different empty rewards, and usually with no support – because, “I didn’t need it.” For the last four years, my weight has still fluctuated up and down, but my losses have been greater, and my gains have diminished.

It was hard for me to trust other people, to share the embarrassment that weight gain caused me, and stripped me of my self esteem. I was afraid to tell somebody that I was on a diet or exercising again, because I didn’t want them to see that I had tried again, and failed again. Turning 40 was a milestone in my life. I was going to give it one more try, but again wasn’t going to tell anybody, and I thought maybe this time would be different.

I began working out with P90X, and what I didn’t know was it came with a giant community of friends and family who were there to support me. They all had the same problem I had. Weight loss isn’t just about a number on a scale. It’s about daily life, daily choices and consistency.

If you struggle with weight loss, find a support system – the bigger the better. My Beachbody family is the reason that I keep getting up, every time I get knocked down. If you’re struggling, I want to help you. Contact me and let’s make a plan for your long-term weight loss.

Bart Emken, 2008

Bart Emken, 2011

Isn’t it amazing what a little P90X & Insanity can do for you?  Isn’t it amazing what happens when you ignore your excuses and push play every day NO MATTER WHAT?  Isn’t it amazing when you say no to the usual crap you put into your body and say yes to healthy and whole foods?  Amazing.

Because of these and Bart’s continued results, I don’t even think twice about the extra work, the late nights I stay up to make sure I answered all my customer emails and updated messages to our private Facebook challenge groups, the pressure I put on my kids to eat right, and the number of friends I contact to join us in our quest to End the Trend of Obesity in America.  I would do it again in a heartbeat, because being a part of changing the world is what I do best.

Now it’s your turn.  Who can you help today?  Think about joining us to get yourself healthy or do it for someone in your life that you love.  Just don’t stand by and do nothing.  This country needs you!  And we’re here to help you every step of the way.