Ohhhhh leg day. Seriously that photo was me just a couple hours after finishing the Upper Fix workout. I had to run out to the car for the dog food and the 3 steps down to my driveway felt like a mountain! 

Yesterday was Day 1 of the 21 Day Fix. I decided to gift myself with this program for my 30th birthday next week! I'm trying to break through a plateau right now, and while I'm willing to put in the work I don't want to spend my time calorie counting.

So far...I am LOVING the 21 Day Fix!

The first workout is Total Body Cardio. It consists of 4 sets of 2 rounds of 2 exercises - got all that? Gotta love interval training.

The Good
Autumn Calabrese! She is a trainer that I identified with the minute I started the first workout. I loved her energy, I loved the variety of moves, and I appreciated that she was motivating without being too cheesy.

The length! 30 minutes and I'm done. I really appreciate shorter workouts because it lets me feel like I can have free time at night or not wake up super early in the morning.

The burn! It's only 30 minutes but it's TOUGH. I consider myself a cardio queen, but I will admit I had to do some of the modifications (which are wonderful) and even pause the DVD a couple times. If you are truly pushing yourself through the exercises you'll feel it!

The moves. I loved that these were very basic moves where I didn't need to worry about choreography. I personally feel strongly that simple is best and it seems like Autumn does as well.

The people. The cast in this workout was made up of all real people which was really refreshing to see. I have a lot of challengers who feel like they are too out of shape to workout, and it's great for them to be able to see that people of all shapes and sizes can do the workouts.

The Bad
The burn! Seriously though, I had to take quite a few breaks and I wonder if I just need more time in between rounds to rest.

Ab work when my heart is racing. I personally don't like to lie down on the ground when my heart rate is up; it makes me super dizzy. The last exercises in this workout were two floor based crunches and I didn't feel great after. Next time, I will probably wait a little longer before I tackle that last set. That being said - my abs are burning which feels amazing.

You may have heard the buzz around Beachbody's newest fitness program - PiYo! Even thought the PiYo workouts are new to Beachbody, they have been around for a couple years, available as live group exercise classes. For the first time, they are available as an at-home workout.

Since I've been training for a half marathon, I have been counting down the days until this release. Running is really hard on your body, no matter how fit you are, and I'm looking forward to using PiYo to help restore flexibility and range of motion. 

But...let's be clear, these workouts look intense! They are high intensity, but low impact aimed at building long lean muscles using your own bodyweight and protecting your joints.






What is PiYo??

• Align: The Fundamentals (45 minutes) - Learn the basic PiYo terminology, proper alignment, and available modifications while Chalene takes you through a strengthening flow that will have your blood pumping. 

• Define: Upper Body (35 minutes) - This workout will start chiseling away at your upper body and get you on your way to shaping your arms and sculpting your shoulders. You will strengthen and stretch your entire body, while building on the movement patterns you learned in Align.

• Define: Lower Body (25 minutes) - This workout will shape and tone everything from your glutes, hamstrings, quads, and calves to gently, yet effectively get you sleek and lean legs.

• Sweat (30 minutes) - A traditional PiYo workout that incorporates effective dynamic conditioning, fast-paced cardio yoga flows, body weight resistance strength training, powerful athletic moves, and ab work into ONE workout!

• Core (30 minutes) - This ab-centric workout hits your powerhouse from every angle, building a strong core while creating flat, sculpted, and totally toned abs, obliques, and a strong and sexy back.

• Drench (45 minutes) - This workout not only leaves you drenched, but your metabolism will have been kick-started to ensure you scorch away fat! Go through a warm-up and stretch of upper and lower body, a power section that gets your heart rate up, then focus on your lower body to improve muscle endurance, balance, and flexibility. 

• Strength Intervals (25 minutes) - A nonstop body carving, calorie incinerating workout that uses no weights, no equipment, and gives you no bulk! Alternate between intervals of hardcore body weight resistance exercises and heart rate elevating athletic moves that melt away fat and promote long, lean muscle development. 

• Sculpt (30 minutes) - This muscular endurance workout uses varying tempos to keep your muscles under tension for longer periods of time. You'll use your own body weight to generate muscular endurance and stimulate metabolic changes to totally and utterly transform your figure!

• Bonus Workout: PiYo Buns (25 minutes) - Focused on the glutes, this workout is designed to lift, redefine, and tighten the entire backside of your body. This is a BIG calorie burner that combines low-impact, high-intensity lower body exercises that get the heart rate up and increases the booty burn for the perfect tight and round butt! 

Who can do PiYo?

ANYONE!! Everyone from the fitness beginner to highly trained athletes can DO and BENEFIT from this program. PiYo is a high-intensity, but low-impact workout that can be easily modified to meet everyone's needs. In fact, each workout includes a modifier demonstrating a simpler, though still-as-effective variation to each move.

There is no jumping in PiYo so it's perfect for anyone needing a low-impact workout that can still torch calories. You use your own body weight for resistance, so there's no need to buy any weights or resistance bands. In fact, the only equipment you need is a little bit of space and a yoga mat. What you'll get is a toned, sleek, and total body transformation.


What are the details?
PiYo released on June 19th to Team Beachbody customers. You can be the first to score your copy of the PiYo Challenge Pack and land yourself in an exclusive PiYo Test Group!! You can receive your copy of PiYo TWO WEEKS before the official program launch on the Beachbody website, so make sure that I am your assigned coach and that you have contacted me to reserve your copy of the workouts. CLICK HERE TO MAKE ME YOUR COACH.

Also, as a coach, you can receive a 25% discount on your PiYo purchase. So be sure to ask me about the preferred customer discount.

When I started my first Beachbody challenge group last year, I was sort of unwilling to get up in the mornings to workout. I convinced myself I'd be good and workout as soon as I got home from work.

Guess what?! It didn't work. I'd end up working late, things came up at night, or I just felt lazy and didn't want to work out. I realized that if I had really committed to the challenge group (doing P90X3) then I had to commit to changing my life and my schedule. Thus, the morning workouts began.

Nine months later, I LOVE my morning workouts. It sets the tone for my entire day. I start my day feeling productive, positive, and I am better able to deal with the little stresses that come up throughout the day.

Benefits of working out in the morning:
1. It's already DONE! You don't have to worry about fitting your workout in after work, you can focus on relaxing.
2. Increased energy through the day. When I workout in the morning, I find I don't NEED coffee or tea to get me going. Seriously.
3. You get to feel proud about having already worked out. I always feel pretty great about myself and I find I'm more motivated through the day to make better choices.
4. Increased calorie burn ALL DAY. Working out in the AM jump starts your metabolism, so you burn more throughout the day.

So...HOW did I do it? How did I transform myself from a snoozer to someone who gets up and pushes play??

Here are my tips:
1. Pick a date and commit to it! Put it in your calendar every morning.
2. Determine what workout you'll be doing. If I don't have something planned I fumble. I love Beachbody workouts because they determine the schedule for you, and they always make sure to mix it up so you aren't bored.
3. Set your alarm for 10 minutes earlier than you normally get up. Start out small and increase this amount by 10 minutes every other day until you have enough time for your workout.
4. Be realistic. I started out with P90X3 because the workouts were only 30 minutes. I'd recommend starting out with 20-30 minute morning workouts until you're used to getting up early. I now wake up about an hour earlier than I used to, without feeling tired. Deciding you're suddenly going to start running for an hour every morning is going to lead to disappointment.
5. Set small goals and reward yourself. For every 5 days in a row you get up and workout, promise yourself a treat like a new workout shirt, massage, or 1 hour of time for yourself.

The reason I know these tips work is because they worked for me. You CAN change your habits to reach your goals.

Are you a morning person? Are you interested in joining a challenge group to motivate and support you in your fitness journey?

Digestive enzymes help in the digestion of foods and increase the absorption rate of those foods for optimum health.




Even if you don't think you're a 'shake' person, I'd encourage you to give Shakeology a shot. (From one skeptic to another!)