With or Without you

To use a trainer or not to use a trainer?... that is the question! Well lucky for you, I have the answer.
Back when I started all this training and was offered the AMAZING opportunity to partake in the 12 week challenge, a lot of people said that I couldn't fail when I had a trainer by my side through the entire process... I'm not gonna lie a little part of me took offence to that statement. I felt like they were discrediting the work I'd be putting in. I mean yeah, I have a trainer, but I'm doing the work so how could anyone think this was "in the bag", right?  Well now I see that statement from an entirely different point of view...
Could I go to the gym everyday and work out, eat healthy and loose weight and maintain a healthy weight? Sure, I probably could! So why use a trainer? I'll tell you why, because if I hadn't I would NEVER get the body I want! I definately would not have put a bikini on this past summer and truth be told I would have quit 3 months in... lets face it we want fast results... one word "TRAINER"!!!
My experience with a trainer (and I've used 2) has been all positive, I'm pretty sure I got the best of the best in that department. There is  a lot to be said for pushing and encouraging and being held accountable. That part of a trainers job is invaluable. Those are the things that get you through each and every session. I promise you if Sam and Lisa didn't push, encourage and call bullshit on me each and every time I worked with them I would have stopped at the first sign of fatigue, who wouldn't??? And now that I'm on my own (physically) in the gym there are times when I can still hear Lisa in my ear saying "C'mon Jenna, you got this" or Sam yelling "PUSH! DO NOT GIVE UP ON YOURSELF" and THAT will drive me through that last set, sometimes with tears in my eyes! But I fight because I know I can, they taught me that.
Here's the important thing though... they TAUGHT me. Yeah sure they showed me how to use weights, and machines and cardio. Anyone could have done that I suppose, but they TAUGHT me how to use ALL that equipment properly and understand WHY I'm doing what I'm doing. When I train I am 100% focused on the muscle group I'm training. I won't say hi to you at the gym (unless I'm between sets) I won't answer a text message (well unless I'm doing cardio, or talking to my trainer... lol) and I won't get discouraged because I've been taught that way.
So now when people say "well of course you lost that weight and got in shape, you had a trainer" I'll say you're damn right and you should get one too!
I train online now so I am physically at the gym alone, but Sam is with me 24/7, she will never give up on me and will kick my ass whenever I need it.  How could I possibly fail when my trainer believes in me to that extent??? With or Without you? Always with, Always!

AB DAY!!!

Everyone has that part of the body they wanna focus on... and while it's true you can't really "spot train" you can still have a favourite work out. In my case it's ABS!! I love love love working abdominal muscles! It's also the work out that causes me the most pain about a day and a half later, but I don't care... I still freakin' LOVE training my abs!
You may not know this but having conditioned abdominal muscles isn't just "pretty", I mean yeah we all want that flat tummy, but it's also hugely beneficial to your health to have a lean middle! Seriously! Did you know that getting rid of that spare tire also lessens your risk for cancer? Yep! True story!!  That's not it either... how many of you suffer from poor balance, sore back or less than desirable stamina? Tighten that TUMMY! For real this is no joke, once you strengthen your core the world is your oyster!
There are a ton of ways to work your abs too, it's sooo easy to get a good ab workout, but I'll share mine with you because it's wicked awesome, and like Sam of BeautyFit alwasy says... "pay it forward"... Check it out, and give it a try>>>

I've included some pics for you as demo, which I took at home because I am not yet ready to ask random strangers at the gym to take my picture while in strange positions... hee hee!

First let me tell you that I do abs twice a week, on Monday (with my Back workout) and on Wednesday on it's own, AND I always do it with my cardio burn 500!

I have 4 different exercises that I do in sets of 20 (bicycles and hip dips I do 20 on each side totalling 40) 3 times. I do not break between each exercise, I do all for consecutively and rest between the 3 sets.

Leg raises: lay flat on your back place your hands under your bum or lower back and raise your feet up perpendicular to the floor then lower but don't let your heels touch the floor, they should be about 2 inches off the floor.









Bicycles: lay flat pull up into the crunch position bringing the knees up in a 90 degree angle. Put hands behind your head and alternate touching elbows to opposing knees.

Hip Dips: lay in a side  plank position and lower hip to floor, than raise up, keeping the core tight and controlled, back straight!

Captain'sChair with a medicine ball: - side note, when Sam sent me this training program and I read this, I laughed, sent a text message to my cousin telling her what I was going to do, she laughed... really hard, then I asked Sam if she was trying to kill me and she replied... "no breaks between sets" and I'm sure she was laughing too... you really should have seen Jim when he took this photo... he laughed too... Jerks! - okay so you're going to get into the captain's Chair and raise your knees up so you're in a seated position, with a medicine ball between your knees... you decide the weight, my advice don't be a hero!

So there you have it folks... that is my Ab work out and it's my fave... but remember, The great Jimmy Mentis once posted on facebook (quoted from somebody smart) "Great Abs are made in the kitchen", so keep your meals clean too!

RUN Beauties... or Walk with purpose

BeautyFit Beauties READY SET AND GO!

Today was a really big day for us BeautyFit Beauties! Over the last few months we've been raising money in support of the CIBC Run for the Cure. We, as a team raised over Five thousand dollars... YEP WE DID!!

Me, Amanda Weiss, Jacqueline Figueiredo and Crystal Cox

Some of us ran, like Jacqueline Figueiredo who ran her very first 5 KM, Kira Walker who came into KW from Toronto and Sam's mom who was here in KW all the way from Newfoundland!! Many more Beauties ran, and finished in great time!!

Sandra (Sam) Compton and her beautiful Mother all the way from Newfoundland

Kira Walker in the pink vest

Some of us walked, like me, Crystal Cox and Pam Roth, we walked with our children. We weren't alone either, we had some other Beauties walking by our sides! It was an amazing day, full of so many emotions and so much LOVE!

Me, Pam and Sarah Roth

Sidney Cox, Crystal Cox, Me (in the carrier are Kerrigan Inglis and Sarah Roth), Pam Roth and Ben Roth in the stroller

Crystal and Sidney Cox, me and Kerrigan

My family at BeautyFit gets involved in lots of important fitness events, but we also do our part for out community! I'm so proud to be a part of the team... Way to go gurrrlz! We did it!

"Date Night" revisited...

I have to apologise to my husband, because I do not thank him enough for how supportive he is! So here it is Jimbolina (he hates when I call him that) THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!
Back in March when I decided to make all these changes, he fully supported it, then again when I decided to do the 12 week challenge, stood behind me 97%! I say 97% because Jim and my kids ate what I ate, arranged their schedules around my training and BeautyFit bootcamps, went out and purchased a home gym for me... BUT!! He has NOT joined a gym or expressed any interest in working out with me... until now!

I was lucky enough to be able to obtain my gym membership through Jim's corporate plan at work, so he got one too! How freaking awesome is that??? I don't know for sure what has inspired the sudden interest... could be that Sandra (Sam) Compton nicknamed him "cupcake" (which I know he secretly likes cuz he smiles and blushes every time she calls him that) or if I've actually inspired him to want more out of life... or the fact that I can bike way faster and farther now... but what ever it is... YAHOOOOOO!!!
Having two kids at home is trying on any marriage, and there isn't a lot of time for just the two of us... so now our date night happens at the gym! We still get hot and sweaty, laugh and enjoy ourselves... it's just healthy now too! I love it!

ON MY OWN!

Hello my friends... long time no write... well there are a couple of reasons for that, the first being I have been crazy busy!! I've also been so focused on life I wasn't sure how to tell you all about it!
I'm well into my 3rd week of on-line training with Sandra (Sam) Compton of BeautyFit (www.beautyfit.com). No one said this was going to be easy and it certainly hasn't been... but for different reasons than I expected.
You may or may not know that I have a 3 year old daughter, and because I work for myself out of my home doing hair I am home full time with her. This has worked well for us, but she's become a bit spoiled because of it... ooops! One of the biggest challenges I've had to face is getting Kerrigan (Keeker) on board with my new training schedule. She is also attending day care for the first time! This was a HUGE deal for her!!! Well in the spirit of honesty, it was me that was the problem (I just didn't know it!) Keeker flat out told me she would not be going to day care! Period! So now what?? Well we went for a "visit" and she was a bit scared, I had to let go a little and let her see for her self that it was gonna be FUN!! Goodlife has a great set up for the day care, and the teachers are fantastic... they even give the kids their own memberships so they feel like they're really important!

I Got my OWN membership!

Now that we're in week 3 and nicely settled into our routine things are going much smoother... I'm still "dealing" with some other small challenges... like finding the proper equipment... I'll admit to bbm-ing Sam late one night because I couldn't find the dang Assisted Pull Up machine... sheesh!
I'm also having a bit of an issue with what time of day works best for what I'm doing... for example, I've learned that doing my training between 5 and 10 pm is HORRIBLE!!! It's great because I can go with my husband and we get to hang out doing what I enjoy, but the gym is ridiculously busy and it's next to impossible to get my stuff done. So I either do it directly after my am cardio or later at night... either way works for me so this was pretty easy to deal with!
Its always funny to me that the things I worry about leading up to a "change" are never the things that are "issues"...  and things I never expected to happen, like Keeker LOVING day care and my husband working out me (which is a whole blog post in itself... it's coming) are the biggest surprises! Life is good, even with challenges!

Back to School!

I love this time of year! It's always a fresh start, and new beginnings, full of so many new adventures! I may not be going back to school, but I am being schooled anew!
As of September 1st I have joined a new gym and committed to a new training program... exciting!!! I just got back from my last week (well okay, 11 days) of summer vacation and so tomorrow it's "back to school" for me!... EXCITING!!!
BUT... I'm a little bit nervous too! Deciding to change gyms was seriously a hard decision! I mean I REALLY REALLY love World GYM Kitchener, and the staff is so amazing! I can't even begin to tell you what a fantastic bunch of people work there! My 12 week trainer Lisa has become a friend, and my running buddy Sheryl who works the front desk is some one I will always have a special place in my heart for! Everyone there is so supportive and caring! So why not stay? It all came down to location... I joined Goodlife because it's located at the end of my street (almost) I can walk there with my daughter every morning and put her in the daycare and get my work out in! We're a one car family so this is really important to me... and there you have it!
So the other new and exciting... and really kinda scary thing is that I'll be doing online training with Sam from BeautyFit. I've had Sam as a coach for a while now in the group capacity... and she's been there 200% coaching me personally as well... but I've not been in this scenario with her. I know she expects every ounce of my focus but she won't be standing there pushing me... I'll be doing that on my own... for the first time! I have to be accountable to me!! I've been given all the tools and shown how to use them... and here's my chance to prove to ME that I have "it"! That I can do "it"!
I'm hitting the hay now... tomorrow is a BIG day! xo

Goals

Here's the thing about goals... you set them, you reach them... then what? Live happily ever after? I thought so! I was wrong... but not in a bad way... I mean I've set my share of goals in the past... and met them and life's been good. Let's take smoking! I started smoking when I was 13 (terrible!!!) and I smoked A LOT!! At least a pack a day... then I decided I wanted to be around for my kids, I set a goal to quit and I did! It's been 18 months and I am smoke free, no slip ups and it feels pretty great, the gold at the end of the rainbow... "happily ever after?"... sort of... see that started a chain of events. It gave me the courage to set and achieve other goals. Once I knew I had it in me to succeed it got a little easier to set a goal and achieve it, get more gold. Make it through 6 weeks of Boot Camp, CHECK! Give up my 2 large iced cappuccinos a day, CHECK! Lose weight, CHECK! Run, CHECK, Run a 5KM race, CHECK!
My goals are not all huge, balls to the wall goals, they aren't even all fitness related... My biggest goal has been to be a better person... and that is something that I will be working on forever... which brings me to my point... what about after? Once I meet my goals, get my gold... then what??
Here's another thing about goals... you set them, you reach them, get your gold, you live happily ever after... and then what? Well that's up to you... you could stop there and that's perfectly acceptable and you'd have every right to feel proud! Let's face it, achieving a goal is pretty damn awesome! And sticking to it, is work, so there's that...
For me things are a little different, and that's partially because of who I am, and partially because of who I've become!
I could be comfortable with what I've done to this point and it'd be pretty easy for me to maintain... because I've been given all the tools and knowledge to keep up what I'm doing. There's no shame in that either... but I'm not that person any more. My eyes are open MUCH wider now and I've seen too much... of ME! I've spent the last 5 months pushing and pulling, fighting and working, sweating and crying, straining and bruising! I have absolutely LOVED every single second of it! I'm not lying either, it's been such a rush seeing what this body can endure. I can't stop now... I have a bit more weight to lose, sure! I have some toning I want to do on my wobbly-bits, sure! But I want MORE!! I'm worth more!! I can DO MORE!
Here's one more thing about "Goals" they are forever changing and redefining. They have no limits, no bounds and no rules... because YOU set them! So here's my advise... DON'T! Don't stop setting goals, DON'T stop achieving them, DON'T limit yourself, CHASE every single rainbow and get YOUR gold!
I don't know where this journey is leading me... but I know it's a better place then where I was and I also know there is WAY more gold to be had!!