BEACHBODY SUMMIT IN LAS VEGAS

Filmed a little video while at the airport. very excited about this trip to Las Vegas!

Today is Day 1 of our P90X® certification. Workout with Tony Horton is on the menu!

SO YOU FEEL SAD...

                      


Sometimes, we encounter difficult circumstances in our life. Family issues, health issues, work issues... a combo maybe?
Bottom line is, we all have phases in our life where we have difficulties, and often one of the first thing that gets dropped is good nutrition or exercise. Or both. Are you with me?

You know what I am talking about: you are stressed out and so you go on stress induced junk food binge; you feel depressed so you skip 1, then 2, then 2 weeks' worth of workouts.

Sometimes, the very things that would help us feel better and keep our head above water are the things we first let go of.

And I am guilty of this!

I have been taking a medication for Multiple Sclerosis once a week since January. If you are scientific minded, the medication I am on in the interferon category.
To make a long story short, it makes me quite sick. Strong flu like symptoms accompany each injection and they last about 8 to 12 hours. I take pretty massive doses of Ibuprofen to be able to cope. And by cope I mean lay on the couch. Not what I would call a great day. Keep in mind, this is happening every week.
Something else that is happening more and more is the feeling of being completely spent and exhausted the day after the injection. I have very little ressources left both emotionally and physically. So 7 days/week minus 1.5. Not great.

For the past month, I have been feeling very depressed. Depression is another not so uncommon side effects of taking Interferons.
Though it is unclear if the medication itself causes depression or if the realization that one has to be taking said medication forever is what causes depression. Possibly, the coming to terms with having MS can be causing depression too? Maybe all those things are causing depression? Who knows. I'm depressed.

It's no surprise, I have been struggling with my nutrition and exercise, and it is truly not like me to be dragging my feet to workout. I have gained a few lbs, I have been missing training days and sometimes my workouts are less than stellar.
While I tell myself that this might be the best I can do right now, you can imagine that with my personality this does not leave me in what I would call a "good place" with myself.
There is also the inner dialogue where I tell myself that if I let a little tiredness and feeling blue keep me from exercising hard, I will most definitely have huge regrets about not pushing myself a little (okay, much) harder if/when my health goes downhill and I TRULY cannot exercise.
You see the merry go round in my brain? Dizzying.

Needless to say this an on-going process.
But I will tell you this: while there is a discrepancy between what I think I should be doing and what I end up doing, I do not give up. I keep "falling off the wagon" in small and sometimes and not so small ways, but I always, always get back up.

I really believe this is the lesson in health and Fitness. Things happen, sometimes bad things, and they will knock us off the course we had charted for ourselves someway, somehow. Our responsibility is to take the hit, adjust our goals and start again.
As a Beachbody Coach and a Group Exercise professional, I have seen many people who, when they encounter difficulties don't take the step to assess the situation and get back to a routine. They just give up.
That makes me sad, and I want to tell all of you, that not many things come easy and we need to be prepared for this reality.
Things will come in the way of our Health and Fitness. Sometimes, those "things" are excuses we create to avoid having to hold ourselves accountable, but sometimes they are genuine hurdles and we eat the pavement a little bit. Or a lot.

But I do know this, we can always take a breath and start over, and over. Eventually we will hit a stride. And then that stride will be compromised and we will hit another one.

LET THE TRAINING BEGIN!

LET THE TRAINING BEGIN!

Last month, I decided to re-ignite the project of taking my HKC certification. It had been on the back burner for a while, but I love training with kettlebells and I find them to be one of the most effective tool to train my clients. Since I have a fair amount of traveling to do with my role as a Zumba® Jammer, I was reluctant to travel out of state for the HKC... But then... tah dah! The HKC comes to my door step! And voilà, the Salt Lake City HKC Certification!

So with this new deadline, I am re-adjusting my fitness goals to be able to pass my HKC. This is not one of those certification where a little studying and physical attendance suffices.
In order to pass, one must have been training with kettlebells for some time and must have trained with qualified trainers. There is a lot that goes into each of the moves required to pass.

The HKC revolves around a few functional basic moves:
- the Deadlift.
- the Two Handed Swings.
- the One Handed and Hand To Hand Swing.
- the almighty Turkish Get Up.

Only 4 (well 5) moves... but the devil is in the details and once can easily fail their HKC because of very small points of form. When you start delving into the exact for of the moves, it feels very much like ballet, with exacting technic point, total body tension and a very strong body awareness. Proprioception is key.

But I am a very lucky girl to have found Sondra Fair on my path to kettlbells. Former ballet dancer and ballet mistress at Ballet West, RKC certified and working on her RKC II (people, that alone is a feat, a FEAT!), Sondra has an eye like a hawk and is one of the best trainer I have ever encountered. I am so happy I get to work with her. And by work with her, I mean getting my butt whooped by her.

The goals is to complete 4 Kettlebell workouts a week on top of my Zumba® Fitness classes.
There are new guidelines for the swings which *frustrated groan* make it so I have to break some well ingrained patterns.

So, my workouts will be looking something like this.

- Warm-up and Deadlifts
- Waiter and Farmer's walks with an enphasis on the left side to balance the fact that yes, I have scoliosis.
- 100 53lbs Two Handed Swings.
- 100 26lbs (or) 35lbs One Handed Swings.
- 20 minutes of TGU.

I will add some strict shoulder presses and squats to the mix as well. I also plan on doing 1 P90X a week to keep things fresh.

This is a toll order for me, and I am very excited!