It's My Coachaversary!

Summer bodies are made in Spring.

Today is the first day of Spring.
Today is also my Beachbody Coachaversay.

Coincidence? I think not.

To celebrate my coaching anniversary and the first day of Spring, I am kicking off a Bikini Ready Booty Anniversary Challenge starting, you guess it, today.

The program? Brazil Butt Lift. The goal? Bikini-ready butts.

Click on the photo to order your Brazil Butt Lift Challenge Pack today...

or complete the contact form on the right side of this page for more ordering options.

This program works. It's why I became a Beachbody Coach (that and the Shakeology discount).

Don't worry, it's never too late to join us!

This Week is All About the Glutes

What a week!

Today's the day I get my email. Today's the day I find out if I made it into the Marine Corps Marathon. I haven't opened my email yet. I'm too nervous. What if I didn't get in?!? ... What if I did? Gah! Am I really ready to commit to this training? 

Yes. Yes, I am because committing to training is what my life is all about now.

Tomorrow our Bikini Ready Booty Challenge starts and I will commit to training my glutes and legs. (There's still time to join us by clicking here.) We're doing the Brazil Butt Lift program and I'm super excited about it. Love how much fun that program is. The perfect mix of dance and strength training. And it is so effective for lifting that butt and toning those legs just in time for bikini weather. It's that special triangle training Leandro does.

And Saturday is the Montvale 10 Miler. I FEEL ready for it, but who knows if I'll meet my goal pace until I'm out there on the trails.

So, really, this week is all about the glutes. I'm going to need them to power me up the hills on Saturday. 

Falling Off The Fitness Wagon...Again

Let me get real for a minute. (Nah, for real, I'm always real. But that sounded like a good opening line.)

Recently my workload doubled. Literally. It literally doubled. This is mostly a good thing. I mean, more income is always a good thing, right?

But time wise, my life went a little out of control. I was unprepared for the chaos that ensued with such a sudden and drastic increase in my work. My once focused and intense workout schedule became random, sporadic. I began eating whatever fully processed crap I could find sitting in the back of my pantry. I spent 90% of my day sitting at my desk staring at a computer mindlessly cramming food into my mouth.

It doesn't take long for those types of habits to catch up with you.

I ran a 10k trail run on Saturday. That was my wake up call. Carrying an extra 12 pounds up and down the slippery trails was difficult. Add to that the fact that my body was not fueled properly and I had lost some muscle tone, well, it was a poor and painful performance. I finished through sheer will and stubbornness (largely thanks to my good friend cheering me on at the finish), but I was miserable. I did not enjoy it. Not even a little bit. 

It happens. We fall off the fitness wagon. What do we do when that happens? (This is where you pump your fist in the air and yell, "GET BACK ON!") Yep. I'm recommitted.

So, my work schedule may not always allow me to get out for a long run or fit in a 30 minute fitness program, unless I become that chick that forces herself out of bed at 3am to fit it in. And that's probably never going to happen. I need my sleep to keep from hurting all the people.

Still, I CAN use my monthly fitness challenges to squeeze in some basic exercises between classes or even while on a conference call (yes boss, I'm grunting because of the squats not because of the new class schedule). And I CAN refocus my eating habits. It's all up to me. 

And it's all up to you, too. Though, if you need a little support, I can help with that. Just check out the Free Fitness Group Schedule.

Push Up Variations by a Small Chick

I host a free monthly fitness group through Facebook. We focus on a different area each month.

February was arms. We followed a 30-day calendar that told us how many push ups to do each day. How long to hold our planks each day. How many tricep kick backs to do each day. So simple.

The results? Phenomenal. Many participants have shared their successes through loss of inches and pounds. Some are showing off their guns by posting pics. They are all rock stars. 

I am sharing my successes visually with the moves I am able to do that I have never been able to do before.

These are the hardest push up variation that I've tried.

So, it may be time for a new medicine ball, but the move was still quite challenging.

These are my favorites. Workings arms, core, and glutes all at once!

I'm not sure I can technically call this one a Superman Push Up since I stayed on my knee, but I'm calling it that anyway. It's my blog. I can do that. Besides, I tried it the real way...I fell on my face. 

March's focus will be the legs. Oh yes. Bring on the tank tops. Bring on the shorts. We're ready!

Wanna join us? Complete the Contact Form on the right and I will get you signed up!

My Pre-Run Routine

You'll Find Me In My Car
Where It's Warm

Do you have a pre-run routine? I do. I sit in my car. My car with the 13.1 magnet on it to prove I'm a runner. My dirty car to prove that I'm a trail runner.

Yeah, I feel some pressure from the other runners out there stretching and jogging and standing in the port-a-potty line. But I am my own runner. I don't succumb to their pressure.

I don't pre-run jog because, even after 20 years of running, I still believe that I NEED every last ounce of energy I showed up with and a quick ten-minute jog is like adding an extra mile to the run.

I trained for a 5k people! I am prepared to run exactly 3.1 miles this morning. Not Four!

Besides, I don't like to be cold. And race day morning is ALWAYS cold. It's like a law of physics or something. Actually, it probably is since it has to do with the sun heating the earth and that heat escaping through the atmosphere overnight and blah, blah, blah. That's physics, right? I don't know. I don't remember passing that class.

Anyway, I don't like to be cold, so I'll wait in my car where it's warm, thank you very much.

PLUS, you have to get up at the ass crack of dawn for most of these runs, so I'm probably tired and need a little nap.

So, fellow runners, judge me if you must. I don't need to warm up. I have never pulled anything during a race and I am not likely to do so in the future. I just don't run that hard.

The point, fellow runners, is that I run.

Finding my Running Weight

Ask a runner what the best day of the year is and most of us will tell you, it's the first day you can run comfortably in shorts.

Today was that day here in VA. Normally my first run in shorts will leave me feeling light and free. 

Not so much today. I'm carrying an extra 12.2 pounds of winter weight. (I'm like a bear. I need to make sure I can survive the winter.)

So now the work begins to get back to my ideal running weight. I've got a 10k trail run on Saturday and at this rate I'll be lucky to finish last in my age group. I might end up so slow that they move me into an older age group just because. 

I've got the exercise piece down. I'm continuing to build muscle with my fitness programs and flexibility with my yoga. Now it's time to refocus on nutrition. 

Need to find your own running weight (or just looking to drop some pounds)? Join the Monthly Fitness Challenge under the Free Support Group Schedule tab. We'll focus on creating one new healthy eating habit each month. 

And just so I'm clear, I'm quite happy with how I look. This is not about trying to be skinny. This is about being a better athlete. Stronger. Faster. Leaner. 

Legs and Zombies

Preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse

Thirty-Day Leg Challenge

These two things are totally related. Just read. I'll get you there.

I was going to run a Zombie Run last fall.

I love a challenge. Running through the woods with zombies chasing you trying to infect you? And, dude, there was a Twinkie station. An entire station dedicated to TWINKIES. Yeah, seriously good times. Plus, who couldn't use a little practice for the zombie apocalypse? I want to know what to expect when the undead eventually take over the world. Wait. Undead. That's vampires. You can't train for vampires. You ain't outrunnin no vampire no matter how hard you train. I guess zombies are just dead-dead. And you can totally outrun that.

I didn't though. I didn't run the zombie run. Mostly I didn't run because all of my friends are pansies. They were to scared to run from the zombies and this concerns me. I mean, I've surrounded myself with a bunch of pansies. Who will have my back if I need to start throwing some bows? Admittedly, I'm not swinging on too many people these days, but I like to have the option of running my mouth knowing I've got people to back me up. But clearly I don't have people.  And, for real, I am NOT running from zombies alone.

Whatever. New plan. Since I will obviously be the last of "my people" left on earth when the zombie apocalypse does hit, I have decided that I need "new people." So I'm taking applications. We're in training, people. And we're starting with our legs. If we're going to outrun the zombies, we need strong legs. You know what that means. Thirty-day leg challenge! Yep. Who's with me?

We're starting March 1st. Click here to join or email me for more information: sunshinestrongbb@gmail.com.