Shakeology, Beachbody coaching, injuries

Let me start by saying this.  If you want to be healthy, you need to eat REAL food.  REAL FOOD.  Let me see if I can give you a little more detail.  R-E-A-L   F-O-O-D.  What does that mean?  It means if the ingredients of whatever it is you are eating is something that you can't pronounce, you can't read, you can't grow (like fruits & vegetables) or catch & kill (fish, steak, pork, chicken) then its not real food.  Stay the F away from processed crap.  That means the bags of chips, the pop tarts, anything in the frigin Keebler family is not something you want to live off of.  Different people have different opinions about what else should be included in this mix.  Milk, dairy, pasta, etc...   To each is own.  My opinion, start with getting rid of processed foods and then see if your body needs more intake changes to change the outcome.

To complement the REAL FOOD and give your body as much possible healthy nutrition as it can get, there are supplements that are made up of real foods.  Some would say super foods.  Shakeology is one of those.  Let me just say, it is every bit as healthy as they (Beachbody) make it out to be.  Go ahead, look at the ingredients.  AMAZING.  Lots of things that I would definitely not get in on my daily intake.  I eat lots of fruits, veggies (all organic) not to mention grass fed beef, antibiotic free chicken, uncured & nitrate free pork.  I'm still not as healthy as I can be.  So I've decided to re-introduce Shakeology into my daily nutrition and I'm going to use it as a meal replacement (very common).  It is pricey, but the health benefits are worth it.  Fortunately my wife and I have figured out a way that our family can afford it.

To help off-set the cost of Shakeology I signed up to be a Beachbody coach.  Why?  Initially it was just to get discounts on great products I believe in (like Shakeology, P90X3, T25, etc..).  Products that I have used and have worked to help me, easily improve my health and quality of life.  It has also helped me motivate others into improving the quality of their life and taking charge of their health.

Now let me make it clear - I have never, ever been a coach.  I have been fortunate enough though to be part of a group of a couple hundred like minded individuals who daily are using the products to try and improve their health.  Improve their life and lift others.  It's amazing to be a part of it.  I am right there with them.  Sharing in their successes.  Helping pick them up after they've had a misstep or injury.  Motivating them, encouraging them to keep going on and moving forward.  They have done the same right back to me when I needed it the most.  What have I learned during that process?  I really like being part of the process.  I like doing these things that coaches do.  No - they can't do the work for you so that you can be successful.  That is your job.  They can help guide you down the path of success, show you where the pitfalls are so you can avoid them and help you learn from mistakes they have made.  It is really awesome to be part of.  That is one of the reasons WHY I am choosing to delve into this and actually be a coach to help people.  Not just pay to be a coach to get a discount.  I'm a bit clueless in regards to this whole process, so once again I'm leaning on my support system to help me through it.  Wish me luck, I'm going to need it.

Now moving onto injuries.  I've been fortunate to be relatively injury free while working my way back to a healthy me.  I've had a weak lower back and weak knees throughout the journey, all that stuff is behind me now though.  My back hasn't been an issue in a long time.  My "core" is the strongest its been in years.  My knees are a lot better.  I used to have a lot of pain there and its been a process, but as I've gotten stronger that pain is gone.  I'm pretty happy about that.  This is not the case for everyone.  Injuries are real and they do happen.  You do have to listen to your body and rest when it needs rest.

My wife and I have been going back and forth about me resting.  She has been insisting I need to rest my body more.  I've been feeling so great that I've been insisting I need to pick it up a notch.  I've added "mini" workouts to my regular workouts in an effort to increase my health and results.  These mini workouts are challenges like the 30 day Spartan burpee challenge.  30 burpees each day for 30 days.  TOUGH.  Its been a great benefit to me.  I even went and did Fit Club this week, which was insanity.  Literally.  It was Shaun T's Insanity Pure Cardio.  That whooped my ass.  Kudos to anyone who has done this program start to finish.  Definitely tough.  I think I've come a long way in my fitness level and I believe I could do this program and see some amazing results, but I'm not doing it just yet.

From doing Insanity my calves are KILLING ME.  I've been doing P90x3 for the past 2 months and Tony doesn't really do cardio.  Shaun T does cardio.  He does cardio to exhaustion.  Crazy.  Calves are still sore, but I'm proud of how well I did during that Insanity session.  That being said - my body is tired.  It's wasted.  This morning I woke up and my body said enough was enough.  I clearly slept wrong and muscles in my neck and shoulder aren't happy. Super tight and sore.  I tried to push through my workout (Pilates X) and it didn't work out so well.  Fortunately this is a transition week for me.  I'll see how I feel in the morning, but right now I'm leaning towards resting.  It'll drive me nuts - but I need to listen to my body.  I'm not helping it by hurting it more.

This weekend is the end of Block 2.  I need to take some pictures and take measurements to measure my progress.  I'm very much looking forward to seeing how much progress I've made.  Until then....