NYE

Today is an off day for us...We'll end up having some drinks this evening and enjoying some New years Dinner with friends...We'll be back in action tomorrow!!!

Tomorrow starts the 3 challenges I'm excited about.

#1 100 pushups per day all month
#2 120km (75miles) running for the month
#3 three sets of Pullups every day this month.

These challenges alone (with clean eating would be WONDERFUL), but I'll still be teaching Turbo at least 5 times per week and I will ALSO be doing weights at least 2-3 times per week.

I also hope to get my bike back on the road at SOME point this month. This is the worst month of the year money wise for me (recovering from chrsitmas, which I have no discipline when it comes to buying Christmas presents) so we'll see!! ;)

December30- 2006 Grand Finale!

Detox week has been GREAT! The food I've been eating is almost 100% completely clean, completely natural and it has completely cleaned me out! It feels so good to get back to clean eating! I haven't felt this healthy in weeks. I know it sounds funny, especially to those who may not be quite as obsessed, or for folks who have never been out of shape to the extreme, but I've felt this way and I've felt the exact opposite. The funny thing is that when I was eating horribly, snacking on junk after dinner, before bedtime, and making poor meal choices I didn't even know I was feeling bad. Not until I felt good!

Today is a busy Saturday. I have class to teach in an hour, then a full day at the office (till 6pm). Then tonight its Ultimate Fighting! Heather and I LOVE the UFC so we have a blast trying to stay up past midnight every couple months to watch the pay per views!

Food

Meal1: EAS Edge Protein Shake (4points)
Meal2: Power Crunch Bar (4points)
Meal3: Whole Wheat Pita with Falafel and Veggies (11points)
Meal4: Power Crunch Bar (4points)

Workout

Workout#1-930am. Turbo Kick Class. Class was AWESOME! More ladies than I expected and the class was WONDERFUL! I was completely drained at the end, and then had to head to my "day job" for a long and busy day. That was my last class for 2006! I'm going to work this weekend and next week to get a new Round ready for the ladies! We're going to start 2007 off with a BANG!!!

December29- The year is running out!

So I feel my run this morning! Not running since July, even with the short length of last night's run is felt in my ankles and calves. Weird. I've got Turbo Kick™ class tonight and that is all I will be doing fitness wise. Tomorrow I have Class, and work all day, but I do want to get a run in as well (before my guests arrive, as we are hosting an Ultimate Fighting Night to watch the new UFC Pay Per View!).

I'm excited about the New Year too! For the first time in forever I'm not trying to lose weight as a New Years Resolution, although I probably will drop a little more body fat as a result of the new challenges we'll be doing!

The 2 Challenges I'm participating in during the month of January include a PUSHUP Challenge and a Running Challenge.

1. The Pushup Challenge will be basically 100pushups per day on top of whatever else I do.

2. The Running Challenge will be a mileage counter. Over the month I need to run a total of 120km (75miles)

These two challenges will REALLY help me stay on track through the dark months of winter, and be ready for the Sporting Life 10km Race here in Toronto that I've decided will be my first race of the year. I'm not sure how many races I want to run this year, but I am REALLY hopeful that I can get a bunch of friends together to do the Sporting Life Race!

Food

Meal1: 3x Chicken Breasts (6points)
Meal2: Whole Wheat Pita with ChickPeas and Veggies (7points)
Meal3: Whole Wheat Pita with Falafel and Veggies (11points)
Meal4: Chocolate Chip Cookie (6points)
Meal5: Power Crunch Bar (4points)

Workout

Turbo Kick Class 730pm - class was GREAT! The last Friday before New Years...Small Class? NOPE! We had 20 ladies in class (not as big as the 30-40 we normally had but still big and AWESOME). There were quite a few ladies in class who have been absent for a while because of work, illness and other Christmas obligations so I was SOOO Happy!!! I miss my gals when they are not here!

December28 - Running Again

Awesome awesome sleep last night! I don't think I've slept that soundly ever! I've decided to do my run this evening after work rather than this morning though. So I will do an update on my workout tonight.

Food

Meal1: 3x Chicken Breasts (6points)
Meal2: Whole Wheat Pita with Chickpeas and Veggies (7points)
Meal3: Whole Wheat Pita with Chickpeas and Veggies (7points)
Meal4: 3x Chicken Breats (6points)

**snacking on carrots as well throughout the meals**

Workout

Running - I decided that this first run (since July) I would take easy. I figured I would only run for 20minutes just to see how it felt. It's been a while...So I decided to work on a negative split. Basically I start out at one pace, and make sure that the second half of my run is faster than the first half. It was kinda cruddy out, and much easier to measure on the treadmill, so I headed upstairs to our gym to do it. So here is how it went.

20minutes-15minutes: 6.5mile per hour pace
15minutes-10minutes: 7.0mile per hour pace
10minutes-5minutes: 7.5mile per hour pace
5minutes-1minute: 8.0mile per hour pace
1minute-finish: 8.5mile per hour pace

Total time: 20minutes
Total mileage: 2.398 miles.

I want to get my pace that I am hitting at least 3miles in 20minutes. So I will keep my TIME based runs at 20minutes for now (every other run) and my MILEAGE based runs will vary depending on the day. I will do a mileage based run on Saturday next.

Lucky Irish Fitness Frenzy!

Well the last couple of weeks have been insanely busy! My workouts have still been wonderful, bt the food...OH the food! Christmas was great, but like every year, I am glad that its done. There are only so many days of family cooked gourmet (to the extreme) that I can handle! I don't know what it is about the holidays that makes not only our apetites grow, but also our judgement fails. I ate food, and quantities that I would NEVER eat throughout the year. My justification? Oh its Christmas. WTF?

Well Christmas is done, and all the festivities, save one New Years Eve Party are finished, so today marks Day1 of my Winter Fitness Frenzy! My workouts will continue to be consistent, although starting Jan1 a few of us are doing another Pushup challenge in addition to our workout schedule. January will see us do 3000 pushups on top of our normal workouts!

Food

Meal1: Fibre One Cereal with Skim Milk (4points)
Meal2: Whole Wheat Pita with Falafel and Veggies (12points)
Meal3: Whole Wheat Pita with Chickpeas and Veggies (7points)
Meal4: Pad Thai with Curry Chicken / Ginger Chicken (??)

Workout

Turbo Kick Class - 630am. Class was Great. As I anticipated, the class was a little smaller than normal. I figured that because of the Christmas Season (and the obvious 630am class) that we would have less folks, so when we had 6 including me, I was pretty happy! I know we'll have more in the evening class, but this morning's class was wonderful and really made me regret the food choices of the last few days. I'm not too worried though as I know that the next couple of months are going to be amazing!

Turbo Kick Class - 730pm. Class was freaking AWESOME! We had about 20 ladies, which was more than I expected during the Christmas holidays! I was DRENCHED at the end of class, it was GREAT! That's too classes today with over 1000 calories burned in EACH! I'm wiped!!!

Fortune Cooking comes true?

As I mentioned yesterday, my parents took Heather and I out for dinner last night as a surprise and we had chinese. At the end of our meal we got our fortune cookies and I read mine.

"A long awaited letter will appear any time now"

As we arrived home, I we checked the mail and I have a package from Beachbody! It was my pictures from the photoshoot we did for the new Turbo Jam™ infomercial! Too cool!

I wish my fortune said that a million dollars would be waiting in the mailbox, but I am still really excited about the pictures! I've never had "REAL" pictures taken of me, especially for such a cool event, so I am really excited to check them out!

I looked at the pictures briefly last night and there a couple that I think turned out really well! I don't find myself overly photogenic at all (quite the opposite actually), but I think the Beachbody folks did a great job!

Here are a couple of the "casual" pictures they took. But before....Here again is the "BEFORE TURBO" picture



and my Day 1 picture.




I'm MUCH happier now!!







And a couple pictures they took in my workout clothes



...just being silly



and the "FAT PANTS" pictures! YES these actually did fit at one time...and they were tight!!!

The Day of the Run?

Today is my first training run. I am not planning on overdoing it, especially since I have 2 classes to teach tomorrow, but I feel really strong, and healthy, so even though its my first run I may stretch it out a little. Depending on the weather, I'll run outdoors or upstairs on the treadmill...all depends on the weather, as I'm not going to GET myself sick either :)

Food

Meal1: Fibre One Cereal with Skim Milk (4points)
Meal2: Whole Wheat Pasta with Sauce (8points)
Meal3: Whole Wheat Pita with Falafel and Veggies (10points)
Meal4: Surprise Chinese Dinner from Mom and Dad (???)

Workout:

My run did not happen tonight as I had planned. My parents, who I haven't seen in over a month showed up unexpectedly and took Heather and I out to dinner! Although I have a very specific plan, seeing my parents was amazing, and I will get my run in on Thursday (since I work all day and teach 2 classes Wednesday and a run on top of that would be a little much).

Back in Action!

I have already received some pretty cool ideas on where I can run and when!
I still kind of want to do the run in the April Time-Frame, but I've been told about a few pretty cool runs that are a little earlier.

For my jouraling, I will be eating a few more carbs than I was when I was losing my 85pounds, for the simple reason that I am burning a lot more now, and with the added running I will need them! I wear my heart rate monitor during the Turbo Kick™ classes I teach and I always burn more than 1000 calories (closer to 1100 most classes), so that and the average of 500-700more on a given 3-4mile run means I am going to have to be taking in a few more calories too!

I'll still use Weight Watchers as my journaling tool. It may not be the most high-tech, but it works for ME, and I lost all my 85pounds doing this, so I am back on it! Just need to go buy some string cheese!!! ;)

Food

Meal1: Fibre One Cereal and Skim Milk (4points)
Meal2: Whole Wheat Pasta and Sauce (8points)
Meal3: Whole Wheat Pita with Chick Peas and veggies (7points)
Meal4: Whole Wheat Pita with Chick Peas and veggies (7points)

total Points consumed: 26points

Workout

730pm Turbo Kick class - Class was AMAZING! We had some new ladies in the class today and I got to find out some potentially REALLY cool stuff that may happen in the near future!

Tomorrow is an OFF-Turbo day, so Running is on the schedule!!!

List of things for the upcoming week!

If I am going to be successful in anything that I've set out to do with the schedule I already have, I am going to make lists of things to do. I am going to go back to the journaling I had done in he past. My food intake as well as my exercise. Each Sunday, I will write down my goals for the next week and on Saturday I will comment on how I accomplished them!

My day job as a travel agent has an entire list of goals I have set to accomplish that is completely separate from my fitness goals. These goals, and this list will be completely related to my fitness goals and fitness career and I will keep my alter ego (Travel Agent) out of it.

1. Journal my food every day
2. Water intake of AT LEAST 3 Litres per day
3. Weekly Mileage of 10miles (16km) - split into 3 runs.
4. Chapter 1 and 2 read and studied in my ACE Text Book
5. Teach all of my Turbo Kick Classes (5 this week)
6. Include 1 Weight Lifting working in this week.

Between this, Christmas Shopping and WORK I think I've got a busy week ahead of me. Wish me luck! Please continue to send me ideas for my spring race/races!!

Back to Forrest Gump!

Well since my bike is still out of commission and I don't currently have the funds for the new Frame/Fork I will eventually purchase, I decided today that I am going to start my running training again! 2007 is going to be a GREAT year for my running! I want it to ALSO be a great year for my cycling, but I don't want to get too exicted about the bike quite yet, at least not until I can afford to get mine back on the road!

The last couple of weeks I have added some weight training back into my schedule and its been tough, mainly because of the schedule I have set for myself, but its been good overall! My Turbo Classes and Training has definitely kept my cardio up, so now its just a matter of some sport specific training! To run better I need to run! I am going to pick a race in April. I am not sure WHICH race, or where, but I know that THIS race will be an important one for me!

If any friends out there know of a cool 10km race in your town or anywhere, let me know! I won't decide WHICH race I do until the new year, but for now, its time to train!!!

Pictures from the Event!

My photographers, who also happen to be family sent me a bunch of awesome still shots from the event! I spent most of the evening after work going through them (after I got home from my massage). As far as my neck goes, according to my therapist, it was just a really bad knot in my neck that was triggered by stress. She REALLY beat me up, which got the knot worked out, but I am bruised and sore from the massage. I know that will feel better within a day or so, but the relief to be able to turn my head again is HUGE!

Anyways, here are a few pictures of the event!

The group really packed themselves into the room and although the room was frigid when we arrived, it didn't take long before the ladies warmed the room up!





This one is a little dark, but here's me kicking!




Who says the back row can't ROCK IT!!! Here's a picture of Christine bustin it up from the back! She ran around from the front to the back, and all over! I am so greatful that she and her crew (Heidi and Lynn) came up and kicked butt with my gals!



Here is Fran showing that EVERYONE could use a little Junk in their Trunk! Shorts are courtesy of SASSNSWEAT women's athletic Wear! (www.sassnsweat.com)



The most HAPPY guy in the room!!


This is some seriously amazing form! During the PiYo Class!



This one was taken the day before the event, at my Friday night class, but I had to post a pic of me and the "Heathers!" How awesome do they look! That's AFTER taking class too!!

Zoolander?

If anyone has seen the movie Zoolander, you may remember that although being extremely ridiculously good looking, Derek had one fatal flaw. He couldn't turn left. It was quite the issue to have as a super model. Well the last couple of days I've felt like Bizzaro Zoolander. I can't turn right!

I woke up Tuesday morning and I couldn't move my neck! I was in extreme pain! I made it to the shower and afterwards could get a little movement in my neck, but if I tried to turn to the right, the pain would be too much to deal with.

So being the smart person I am, instead of going to the doctor, I just pump myself full of muscle relaxants and pain killers, and head off to work. The pain killers didn't help one bit.

Then Wednesday comes around. 2 classes to teach! EEEK. I didn't mention anything to my morning class and just sucked it up. I don't think anyone noticed, but I sure felt it. So much, that I told my evening class that if they saw my doing anything odd, or wincing when I turned right, not to follow what I was doing ;)

I made it through class, and Heather bought me a heating pad, which seemed to help a lot. It still hurts SOOOO much, but I have more mobility at least. This morning I feel a lot better than before. It's been 3 days now, so I hope I'm back to normal soon! I promised Heather I would go to the doctor if it's not better by tomorrow!

First of the Pics

I should have a bunch of pictures to post soon, but until then I do have a group shot from right after we finished working out! There were a few camera shy ladies, but this picture is MOST of the people from class!!! I can't help but smile just looking at this picture!!!

Turbo Kick Event!!!

What a day! I was really excited and wanted to try and out shine our last event in October! Behind the scenes, it was a tougher organizing this one, and the gym didn't make my life easier (They dropped the ball on a number of promises, including food and prizes at less than a day before the event), and the running around didn't stop until the 11th hour, but it went SO well! More on that soon!

My most awesome friend Heather from Arizona flew in Thursday and is staying with us until Monday morning! My friends Christine, Heidi, and Lynn drove in from New York as well! I am so greatful that these awesome ladies came up to support me in this event!

We had the gym open the doors an hour early, so we could finish cleaning up/setting up and getting all of our prizes and food

My butterflies were fluttering like CRAZY as the folks started arriving! I still have "FUN NERVES" before every class, but my nerves fluttered like my FIRST CLASS! I couldn't have been more excited if The National Promotions Director from Powder Blue was taking my class!
That's because she WAS!!!

Having Christine Dwyer taking my class was such a treat! I have so much respect for her, not only for how amazing an instructor she is, but for her own success in weight loss and fitness! This lady had her first baby this spring, and to look at her in class you would have NEVER guessed! Christine brought Lynn and Heidi, two other phenomenal ladies from Rochester who I adore and I was so happy to have them kicking up a storm with my ladies!

Heather, who is injurred (worse than she lets on) and has not been working out for about a month from doctor's orders jumped in for 2 classes this weekend including the event and her energy, volume and power was SUPER infectious! The local ladies really stepped it up with her up in front!

We had just about 60people arrive and participate in the event and it was amazing!!! The energy was so high and so were the voices of everyone so I really had to belt out the cues in class (since I teach sans Mic), which did quite a number on my voice. I will hopefully be getting a hold of a mic system (thanks to Lynn) and experimenting with that to try and save my voice so I can continue teaching ;) But Voice loss or not, this was the most fun I've ever had teaching Turbo Kick!

I had some REALLY talented photographers / videographers recording the event (who also happened to be my amazing Cousins Sarah and Pete), and I should be getting their pictures later in the week and I will post those as they arrive. I do have some pictures already though and will also post those later in the week!

I also have to say that I had some pretty awesome friends and businesses donate the most amazing line up of prizes!!

Christine added EXTRA excitement to the event by teaching a PiYo™ Class after my Turbo Kick™ class and the ladies LOVED IT! I will likely add a PiYo class to my week in the new year so this was a very cool way to show the ladies what they have in store!

I couldn't believe how amazingly generous EVERYONE was, and how exciting the event was!
I want to thank each and every person who came, brought friends, brought the excitement, the power and the fun to this day! This was the best December 2nd ever!! :)

Another WTF moment!

So I taught my class at Dufferin Mall yesterday. I was excited, because according to the manager of my gym, this was a big favour to the gym as they were going to have a huge turn-out for their rennovation completion party. Normally I work my Flight Centre job past 6pm each day (which is why I teach at 730pm each night). But because of the favour, I arranged to leave early (before 5pm) so I could get to Dufferin Mall and get acquainted with the gym before class.

I got there, and found the gym, which is located in the centre of the mall. I don't know if my expectations are too high, but I expected some sort of greeting, but as I arrived nobody so much as said "hi" until I came out and said "Hi I'm Rob the Turbo Kick Instructor!". At that point I got a "Oh hi, the Aerobics room is around the corner".

I was slightly bewildered. I got to the room, which was mostly empty, except for garbage littered throughout the room, chairs scattered and GNC suppliments scattered on a couple of tables. I honestly thought I was in the wrong place.

Since I was by myself, I cleaned the room, moved the chairs, setup my music and hung out in the room. At about 2minutes before class, there was nobody there. I found this really odd, because the whole reason I was there was to help them out of a jam, being that SO MANY people were going to be there, which is why they had to have my class.

7 ladies showed up right at the last minute as well as a couple ladies from my gym (Hanna and Liliane rock!!!). So the class was ultra small, but went GREAT! The ladies were great and did a phenomenal job catching on and I have a feeling that some, if not all of them will pop over to our gym (since they can go for free) in the near future!

I think class went wonderful, and wanted to get feedback from the manager, who had watched much of it from either the doorway, or on the monitor at their front desk. But apparently she left for dinner just as my class left. So my exit was much like my entrance...very lackluster. Like I said, perhaps I have high expectations, but I would have thought at least a "HELLO", "GREAT CLASS" or at the very least "THANKS FOR HELPING US OUT" would have been awesome!

All in all however I think it was great, because I already know that these classes are about the members, not the managers of the gym, or the staff or me. So if the members loved Turbo, which I think they did, that's ALL that matters!!!

This morning I taught my 630am class and it rocked! I walked in to at least 20 posters advertising our Turbo Kick Event this weekend! They are up a little later than would have been ideal, but they are UP and EVERYWHERE!

Class was GREAT today and I am completely wiped from it! I'm eating my face off right now to fuel up for the day (and for class#2 and my P90X workout)!

Extra Class this week!!

Well I just got home from class and got surprised with a Special request today. Another location of Fitness One is in a jam and has asked if I would headline their Customer Appreciation Party with a Turbo Kick Class!

So this week I get to check out the Dufferin Mall location (which I've never taught at, but apparently is their busiest location). It should be fun, and I can feel the butterflies already! Teaching at a new location where nobody has ever done Turbo feels like I'm starting all over again! I'm so excited and nervous!

I'm also SUPER excited about this weekend! I have my best friend, Heather arriving on Thursday night from Arizona and my friends Christine, Heidi and Lynn coming in from New York on Friday! I'm so excited for Saturday's event that I can't think of much else right now!

Having Christine in my class is a little nerve-inducing too (but mostly just SUPER exciting). Christine is the National Promotions Director for Powder Blue Productions. Basically this means that she is in charge of all of the Area Promotions Directors (who I desperately want to become this next year) who certify all of the new Turbo Kick Instructors!

So this week class schedule:

Monday - 730pm - Charles Street
Tuesday - 530pm - Dufferin Mall
Wednesday - 630am - Charles Street
Wednesday - 730pm - Charles Street
Friday - 730pm - Charles Street
Saturday - 900am - Charles Street EVENT!!!

Unfinished Goals

This past year has been amazing for me. I've had so many goals, and whether it has been my weight loss, my attendance at Turbo Kick Camp, Teaching Turbo Kick™, or Being a part of the Turbo Jam™ Infomerical I have done them all!

I've set goals for my 5km and 10km races, and accomplished them. I set a goal for the CN Tower Climb, and blew it away! This year has been phenomenal.

But there is one fitness related goal I have fallen short on...several times. P90X. For anyone who doesn't know, P90X is a pretty intense, ok REALLY intense workout program. So intense that with everything else I've been able to do, I haven't even made it through a month of P90X before giving it up. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that Turbo has been such a big part of my life, and doing both was pretty taxing.

Well talking with my friend Suzie today, we decided that the two of us are going to start a 1-Month circuit of P90X. We're not interested at a full 90X right now, but we both feel that doing this between now and Christmas will not only help us with our fitness goals, but also help battle the winter blues! We've decided that we'll start on Monday and go straight to Christmas day. From there, we'll decide what's next.

I'll still be teaching my Turbo Kick™ classes, so I'm going to have to eat a little more (and plan a LOT better) than I have been! It's going to be one crazy month! I can't wait to get started!

I'm going to be blogging every day, like I did when I was losing my weight. I'll blog about my workouts, my classes, and my food! I know there are some people who read my blog pretty regularly, so feel free to keep me accountable if you see a day go by without an entry between Monday and Christmas! I think this is the best Christmas Present Suzie and I could give to ourselves!!! It's gonna be a blast (I think!) ;)


By the way. I'll put a link for Suzie on my blog soon, but until then, if you wanna see her, she's over on MYSPACE

http://www.myspace.com/the_sooze

I freaking LOVE mornings!!!

As a self proclaimed NON-morning person, I think I'm coming around!

I mean I still hate crawling out of my warm bed at 5am, but once that necessary evil has been accomplished...MAN!!! What an awesome way to start the day! Walking on the quiet streets, taking the empty subway train on its first trip up the Yonge Street Line, and walking into the gym to see a half dozen ladies on treadmills and working on weights.

A morning class is such a different dynamic than an evening class. It could be the very same ladies (and in some cases it is), but the way they feel and act is MUCH different at 6am than it is at 730pm!!

All the ladies were in the room, stretching, or QUIETLY sitting patiently waiting for class to start. When I saw quiet, I mean QUIET. You could have heard a pin drop! Everyone keeping to themselves, and just trying to force those last sleepies out of their body.

I even find myself talking a little more softly (at least until the music starts). By the time I've climbed the stairs to the 4th floor when class is held, I'm ready to go, but until the music actually starts, I'm still kind of in sleep mode myself.

I LOVE watching the smiles emerge on these ladies as the blood starts pumping through their bodies and seeing how much they physically and emotionally change over the period of only 1 hour! Those ladies who walked into the gym at 6am are NOT the same people who walked out at 730am!!!

What an awesome morning!!!!

How much do I love Turbo Kick?

Enough to turn down a free all-expense paid trip to Barbados!

I entered a contest a few months ago at work, and today I got a call from the Barbados tourist board letting me know that I had won! I was invited to travel to Barbados for a week, and race in the Barbados marathon!

Debbie for Tourist board - "Hi Rob, You've won! Is your passport current"
Me - "Yes Ma'am!"
Debbie - "Can you be in Barbados from Nov28-Dec4"
Me - "Ooph...No I'm sorry I can't"

There is no way that I can be away, even for a free trip to Barbados when I have this event! Not even a consideration. Oh well. Someone else will get this amazing trip because I turned it down so really I guess I got to make someone else's day today too :)

Class was GREAT tonight! Absolutely packed, and the energy level was through the roof! The windows were completely fogged and we had an absolute blast!

Words to live by

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened. -Theodor Seuss Geisel"

A first time for everything!

I just got home from class, and like always it was great! Isabel "Izzy", an absolutely AWESOME gal from Michigan came to check out Turbo in Toronto today! Izzy was certified a few months ago, and like me and so many others, is simply addicted to Turbo! Her form was awesome, as was her enthusiasm! I'm so excited that she came to class!

Now on the flip side. Today was the FIRST class I've ever taught where I was VERY frustrated. Our gym doesn't have a mic, so I have to do class A CAPELLA. Normally its no issue, but sometimes there are gals in class who like to chatter. Now I have no issue with loudness, excitement, and chatter, but when its loud talking, ESPECIALLY when I'm explaining things so the NEW folks won't feel lost, I get really frustrated. Today was EXCEPTIONALLY rough in that respect. I don't want to say "HEY QUIET DOWN", because I beleive that grown ladies should have the common sense and respect to realize that they are being disrespectful to me and to those in the class, whose faces clearly showed the frustration with the noise level.

I hope I don't have to address it in class, because I don't want to take the wind out of anybody's sails, but these girls really need to talk about their days before class or after class, not in the middle of it while class is going on.

Ok venting done. All in all I had a great day!

Mornings ROCK!

I am SO glad I decided to teach an early morning class! I know it's only one day per week, but it is SUCH a great way to kick off the day! It's so amazing to watch my morning class (which is growing like crazy too) wake up! 630am is very early for some people, and at the beginning of class you can totally see it on their faces! I kind of giggle to myself about it actually, seeing the "I just don't do mornings" look on so many faces. Yet, despite that these ladies are up, at the gym and giving it their all when most of their friends are fast asleep!

I normally teach facing the same direction as the class, but have recently been spending more time facing the class, and "mirror" teaching. I find that this is especially fun in the mornings! Seeing the expressions change as the class goes on, seeing the energy levels climb and the endorphins released is such an amazing thing!

By the time class ends, you wouldn't know that its only 730am! The energy that these ladies generate is through the roof!!

Time to get moving for me! Breakfast is done, lunch and dinner is packed, as well as some clean gym clothes for tonight's class!! :)

The Bike is Dead.

Some folks have their first dog or a cat, some their favourite running shoes, even their first car. Some thing that holds a special bit of nostalgia. Well for me, I had my bike. "Emma" has been my constant companion for years. I built her from the frame up. I even built the wheels, one spoke at a time. I've put literally 10's of thoushands of miles on her over the past 5 or 6 years.

Well as I was riding her home after teaching class on Friday night I noticed that my seat was loose. This was not uncommon, because I have a really nice saddle on this bike and have been the victim of attempted theft several times while she has been locked up outside. I have a strong cable permanently attached to the saddle (the other end to my frame) to deter would-be thieves.
But sometimes the thief gets the seat loose before noticing that it's secured onto the bike. So I thought THAT was the issue. I WISH.

I got home with my loose seat and notice that the entire frame had broke! The seat tube had literally snapped off! This bike has taken me so many places, over so many miles at both my heaviest weight (and my current weight). She's been a real work horse. But this break is un-fixable. I had to get rid of her now. Emma has been the most wonderful companion and by far my favourite bike ever. But today, she is dead.

December 2, 2006 - FUN FUN FUN!!

New Day, More Turbo!

Well as if the week of Infomerical Fun wasn't enough! I flew from the OC to Rochester NY yesterday to see some of my Turbo Kick Girls and a good friend of mine, Neva all get certified by Christine Dwyer! I flew from Orange County to Newark, NJ and then after a 3 hour layover, headed in on a quick flight to Rochester! I made it from the airport to the hotel, dropped off my junk and then straight to gym where I arrived just in time to do the first of Two classes with the girls!

WOW! :) I forgot that I was supposed to be tired after all this travelling and jet lag stuff!! class was AWESOME! I've known Christine for a while now and have taken a PiYo class from her, but have never been lucky enough to take a Turbo Class from her!

SERIOUSLY folks, Christine is up there with the ANNA-RITA's and Chalene's of the world! This girl has POWER and intensity and although I expected her to ROCK, I wasn't expecting her to be THAT freaking incredible!

I sat in the back during much of the certification, trying to learn as much as I could! I really want to be an APD (Area Promotions Director) for Turbo Kick and getting to learn from Christine was great! I've done the same with Mindy at her certifications and I love how each of these awesome gals put their own twist and perspective on the certification! Anyone would be lucky to get certified by either of these phenomenal Presenters. If I am fortunate enough to get to their level and I am half as good as they are, I'll be a huge success!! They rock!!

We had a quiet evening last night, that consisted of some good food, a couple drinks and some great conversation! I slept LONG for the first time in a week (10 WHOLE HOURS!!!!! YEEE) and I am so excited to sit down this week and set some new goals, and make a list of how I'm going to accomplish them!!

Infomerical Final Cut!

What a day!!! Long, tiring and the best experience ever!! We did some more testimonials, we got prepped and did a KILLER workout on film (with the Turbo Jam weighted Gloves). HOLY COW!! I've used the gloves before, and totally love how they add to the workout! But MAN! Today, I was sweating just thinking about the workout, so with the gloves on and working out for a couple hours, we were all drenched! It was awesome though!!!

We did some talking about the gloves themselves (BY THE WAY, they are coming out with a NEW model of the weighted gloves, that I got to test during this shoot, and they ROCK!) They are more comfy than the old model and I liked them A LOT! I can't wait to get them!

Now...I'm about to check out of the hotel and then head to the airport for our long flights home. Ali and I are flying back to Newark together along with Elizabeth a really cool gal from MA. that we met this week! Ali is HOME in Newark, where Elizabeth heads on to her home state, and I'm connecting to Rochester!

I just talked to my lovely wife and she's safe in Rochester with my friends Neva and Pete! I'll get to see them all shortly!

This is going to be the best end to an already spectacular experience!

I've got to see friends I've missed, meet a tonne of new amazing people and this is another experience I will never forget! I am SO fortunate to have been a part of all of this! Chalene, and the Turbo Jam crew were all amazing and it really has been a surreal experience!!

Now I have to start thinking of things to do to keep me on this high!!!

Infomercial Day2 - Done!

What a day! After Chalene's class I met up with Libby, who I hadn't seen since August when we were out here for the Turbo Kick Camp and we headed over the site filming to meet up with everyone who had earlier calls than us.

We got there just in time for lunch, so our parts in the infomercial were off to a bit of a slow start, but the food was great! :)

I got to see everyone else dressed up, through hair and makeup and getting their pictures taken! They looked SO good! Being the only guy in this infomercial was weird, and seeing how AMAZING all these ladies looked made me wonder why the heck I was there! I mean seriously, all these girls are just amazing!

I got to go through and show the folks the clothes I had brought and between those clothes and the wardrobe they had on site, we were able to piece together my interview clothes, and my workout clothes for the pictures (and for tomorrow's workout).

The interview was like nothing I had ever done! The camera was rolling almost the whole time, with just a couple small cuts, but what a weird, neat, uncomfortable, cool, fun experience! Totally something completely foreign to me! I sure hope that between my rambling nonsense that they can edit together some sort of sane comments!

I was really surprised how organized everything seemed to be too! The folks at Beachbody and the production team doing this really have taken great care of us, and have done a bang up job with this whole thing so far! I can't WAIT to see the finished product!

We all rushed after filming and most of us were able to get back to the 24hour Fitness gym (where I was this morning) to take a class lead by Anna Rita!!
SOOOO good! Her class is really advanced by the look of it, so the routine she did reflected that! A bunch of stuff I had never done before which I loved! We did some of the round that I am teaching right now too, which was great! Anna Rita pulled me up on stage for a bit which I loved too! Jackie and Missy also rocked the stage during class!! A couple of friends of Anna Rita's spent most of the class up on stage and they are kick-butt! Class was such a blast!

We headed to dinner and ended up at the CHEESECAKE Factory. I have heard about this place but never been to one. All I can say is BIG. Big everything, including PORTIONS! I made it through about 2/3 of my meal...Super tasty and not expensive, but BIG! We had a really good time!

I REALLY like everyone we're doing this experience with! I really feel fortunate to have even been included in this whole adventure! I am beyond words really...and for me that's tough!

Well tomorrow morning is more fun. I am not sure all we're doing, but I do know that our filmed workout is happening and for that, I am Giddy!!! Who would have thought...An awesome trip to California, out of the freezing weather in Toronto...What do I remember the most? (besides the most amazing people in the world I get to hang with). The workouts! We're constantly looking at our schedules to see where/when we can fit in a workout and how long it would take us to get back! What an odd bunch we are! :)

until tomorrow!
I'm wiped!

Infomercial Day2 - Off to an EXCELLENT Start!

So 3am rolls around and I am wide awake!! Dang Jet lag...So I wander around my room, pull check the status of my workout clothes that I washed in the sink last night, and try to tidy up the hurricane that I created in the room yesterday!

I had a chance to talk to Heather shortly after that (the first BENEFIT of a 3hour time difference!) and then called Jackie at 6am as she was likely almost ready for her casting call (7am).

Since I don't leave until 1145am for mine, I had time to burn, so off I go to 24Hour Fitness at the Irvine Spectrum area to take class from Chalene!!! Oh man!!! It was amazing!!

It started off amazing, because Janie, one of the other girls from the infomercial, who is staying at the same hotel as us showed up, then my friend, Summer arrived!! After that a few other familiar faces including my friend Heather from Powder Blue! I got to meet Kristi, who works with Chalene and whom I have emailed with but never met yet!!

Chalene arrives (I got my hug and an AWESOME intro to the class), and the class is packed!!! All of a sudden the door opens and someone popped in that caught Chalene's attention. I couldn't tell who it was though because there were so many people! This mystery person weaves her way through jabs and crosses up to the front, just in front of me..It was Anna Rita!!! She stopped working out, ran over and gave me a hug, and then we got going!

We did Round29! It was out of this world! For anyone who doesn't know, this is the new Routine that Chalene is working on that isn't scheduled to be released yet for a bit...All I can say is that it is probably my favorite one! I've either DONE, or WATCHED about 15 of the 29 rounds and this one is AWESOME! The mirrors were completely steamed by the time class was done, and the floor was so wet that EVERYONE was slipping all over the place. It was fun, a little dangerous but amazing!!!

The aerobic room was REALLY cool too. It is a new concept that 24Hour Fitness is doing called "THE ALLEY". It basically makes the Group Fitness area look like a dance club. There is a HUGE disco ball up top and a lighting system that is tied into the sound system. So big bass gets lighting changes etc...So cool! Its decorated REALLY classy too! Just a wicked environment to do class in!!!

Summer gave me a lift back to the hotel, and now I am about to get cleaned up, and in 1hour, the shuttle will be hear to wisk me off to wardrobe! LOL :)

Conclusion of Day1

Phew...What a day! Hours and Hours of travel (no luck on the upgrade of my second flight) but I'm here!!! My friend Jackie Bull was waiting for me at the airport when I landed with my two new friends Missy and Gen!! These ladies all rock!! We got to the hotel, checked in, got our WELCOME packages and met up with Ali, another friend from NY who was already here! The 5 of us threw our stuff into our rooms and then headed off to catch a Turbo Kick Class with Holly!

It was AWESOME, we had such a blast!!! Afterwards we were ALL wiped! Even though it was only 9pm (it felt like midnight for Ali and I with our EASTERN TIME ZONE jet lag)

I am just giddy with the excitement of what is to come over the next two days! I know its going to be long days, but THIS is SUCH a treat! Getting to share with the world, the KEY to getting me from being the lazy, fat, obese, unhealthy person, to the man I am today!

Until tomorrow!

Infomerical Adventure Update - Houston

FUN FUN FUN!!! The first leg of the trip for me is Toronto to Houston Texas. I will post this after I land, but I am writing this as I sit in First Class on the plane from Toronto to Houston! When I checked in at the Airport, I got to talking with the lady who was doing the boarding passes (they were surprisingly NOT busy). So in passing I did mention to her that I would LOVE it if there was any way possible to get upgraded to First Class. She told me that she would do what she could and to meet her at the departure gate. So I get through security and bump into a friend of mine, who happens to be a professional Olympic Distance Triathlete (also a client of mine at the travel agency and a former coworker of mine when I worked at Celestica). She was flying to Cancun today for a race! So we hung out for an hour before her flight left, then I headed over to my Departure gate where I met Angela, the super nice lady who checked me in earlier. Sure enough, she was able to bump me up to first class! While in first class its been such a BLAST! I have my Mac book here with me obviously, so I was chatting with the flight attendants and ended up telling them WHY I was going to California, and showed them my Before and After pictures! The conversation then takes a TURBO turn! We talked about nothing but Turbo Kick / Turbo Jam for the next while, and I showed them what the workouts looked like (happened to have one of the Turbo Kick workouts loaded on my laptop) :)

I think they were hooked! I mean could they not be! So I think all in all, LEG1 of my flight has be OUTSTANDING! I gave my email address, blog address, and Turbo Kick / Turbo Jam addresses and TK Fanatics Info to the girls on the plane, as they were SUPER excited about Turbo JAM (being flight attendants, their GYM schedule can be pretty tough!)

I really feel like the Canadian Ambassador of Turbo today! ;)

California Bound!

Well I woke up this morning (or should I say last night because it was so dang early) and felt so awful. Sick like a dog. Typical! I get excited, possibly over excited and I get sick. Happens all the time! Anyways, my awesome wife, Heather did ALL my packing for me, including my carry-on luggage and sent me on my way just before 5am this morning. I felt much better by the time I had gotten through security and besides some sniffles I feel pretty great right now as I wait at the gate for my flight to Houston (from Houston I head to Orange County). It's going to be a long day, but SO worth it!
I mean seriously, there is NO way a year ago when I was over 260pounds that I would be in the best shape of my life, and heading to California to be a part of an infomercial for the best Fitness Workout on the planet! But here I sit, and I am just bursting I am so excited!

Those of you who know me well, know that I am having a tough time sitting still right now. Even at 630am, when I am excited about something I am bouncing, literally! I have a feeling that the next few days will have quite a bit of bouncing!

I have my schedule (at least what I know about it). I know that I arrive at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California at 440pm this afternoon. I know that I have a meeting at 1145am tomorrow to do my testimonial and interview. Other than that I have no idea. I know there will be pictures, filming and working out, but I don't imagine I'll know the times for that until I check into my hotel this afternoon!

I'm meeting my amazing friend Jackie at the airport when I land, along with some of her Texas Success Story Buddies (Gen and Missy). Between these 3 ladies, they have dropped well over 200pounds with Turbo! Crazy Stuff!

I'm a phone-a-holic too, so I have been calling all my friends in California and otherwise to chat before I go! I can't wait to meet some of these new people and to see some friends I've been missing like crazy!

I will be taking some Turbo Kick classes FOR SURE this week! I know a few friends (if you have the Turbo Jam DVD's you'd know some of the faces) who teach in the OC, so I am REALLY hopeful that we can drop into a class or 6 while we're in town!

I know that when I get to Rochester on Saturday morning, I will be ready for some more Turbo fun though!

I'm already missing all of my local Turbo Girls! I'm sitting here at the airport, and it is now 650am...Right about now, we'd be at the TURBO section of our morning class, and I would already be getting excited, and thinking about how much fun our Wednesday EVENING class is going to be!

As much fun and as much Turbo as I am going to be doing this week, I am MOST DEFINITELY going to miss our classes and I can't wait to get back at them on Monday!

Just another friendly reminder as well. Saturday, December 2, 2007 is going to be the biggest, most crazy, and action packed Turbo Class we've ever done! If you thought we had fun during our Master Class on Oct21 when we learned Round 27, you just wait!! I've already got some REALLY cool prizes to give away, including some actual SASSNSWEAT workout wear (www.sassnsweat.com), another huge gift bucket of supplements from Sports Nutrition Depot (SND) and a tonne of other cool stuff!!! I am SO excited for this! The DEC2 class will start at 930am (GET THERE FOR 9AM) and will run through the lunch around (until about 2pm). There WILL be refreshments and food to get you going, there will be a break and we WILL be doing a PiYo Intro class as well (SUPER AMAZING, FUN class!). Remember this event is FREE to all members AND non-members, so feel free to bring a friend or 10! :)

I will write more, and update you all as my Turbo/Infomercial Adventure continues!!!

FLASHBACK!

Well its been a while since I did any comparison pictures, and showed my old Fat pictures. Since they are all hidden in the "Archives" I thought I would do a flashback post! I imagine that I'll get a few new pictures done in California next week, but until then here is a few pics, starting at the beginning


I still cringe looking at that picture! I finally got a wake up call and decided to do something about my shape, or lack of...Here is Day1 of getting it going..Fresh haircut and excited to lose some weight!



Rather than posting EVERY months updates (I do have them all). Here is my a few months later!



And more recently from California in August with my AWESOME friend Heather from Arizona! ( I miss her TONNES)



Now with all of the success I have had, and how amazing this year has been, it is VERY important to note that I would be NOWHERE even close to where I am right now if it weren't for my amazing Wife, Heather!! Her success and her hard work is EASILY equal to mine!

Check out HER before pic..


And her on her road to FANTASTIC!


And more recently with me in California!


For me, it is EASY to see that Heather is as much a success as anyone I've ever met!

It just keeps on coming!

Still on a high from Saturday's class, I arrive at the gym on Monday (yesterday) and to my surprise, there are approximately 40 ladies in class! Jeez Louise!!!

I regularly get 20-30 ladies per class in the evenings, but when you're in a smallish room with 40 smiling faces looking at you, its quite the feeling! I can only imagine the feeling that those allstar instructors must have when they have 80 or 100 people in class!! Anyways, class was amazing! I LOVE this round and I LOVED class!

I think I will do events more often, although if I am to do them at this gym, there will have to be a much higher buy in from them. No more "do nothing" can happen.

NOW the COOL news.
I have received a few emails and a couple phone calls recently and TODAY was the BEST call!
I have been invited to fly back to Orange County, California to be a part of the new TURBO JAM infomercial!!! I'm Gonna be ON TV! Aside from Heather saying "YES", this is the coolest thing that's ever happened to me!

So I fly out early morning on the 1st of November, and get to film on the 2nd and 3rd of November, flying home on the "RED EYE" on the night of the 3rd. The EVEN better part is that I am not flying home to Toronto, but instead I fly into Rochester where several of my Students are doing their Turbo Kick Instructor Certification! My Heather will be there with them as well!! I'm gonna sleep well after this trip!!! :)

I'm more excited than you can imagine!!!!

The Best Day!

Well today was the day! My first Master Class! We started at 930am and we did a Form and Technique class before breaking down the new Round, section by section. Once we all had it down (as well as we could)...we started up the music!!

It was SUCH an amazing class! The ladies LOVE Round27, and having more than 40 ladies in class made it loud, fun and exciting for everyone!!

In addition to the AWESOME ladies, and AMAZING class we had, we were also able to get some REALLY cool prizes and giveaways!

Engraving By Ellen (Ellen is one of our awesome TK'ers) donated a beautiful crystal bracelet!

Summer McArthur, owner of SASS N SWEAT fitness clothing http://www.sassnsweat.com donated some AMAZING workout tops and bottoms for the ladies as well as 30% off Coupons to EVERYONE in class!

Sport Nutrition Depot (SND) donated a HUGE bucket full of Protein Powders, Shakes, Bars, and other suppliments! These guys such an amazing shop! The Manager is a Fitness Competitor herself and the staff ROCKS! I don't go anywhere else anymore, and DEFINITELY not after how generous they were to my class!

Bellair Tan donated free 1-week tanning to everyone in the class!

Fitness One, our Venue donated several cool prizes as well!
5 Bag/T-Shirt Combos and Three 2-month memberships

We have a tonne of pictures, but here are a couple, including one of the birthday girl, my wife HEATHER (on the right) with two of her friends from work! This was Marissa and Aryn's first class!!



Here is a shot of the whole class all 44 of us!



I think their faces say it all in this picture!



This little fireball's name is Hannah. She's been in class with us for a little while now and she absolutely rocks! This pic of her doing a Hook is great!!



I LOVED today and I don't think anyone in class had as much fun as I did! I'm still floating on air!! What an fantastic group of ladies!!!!

Thank You ALL for allowing me to be a part of this!

A must read

I received an email today that had the following written. This is so wonderful and beautiful. I had to share it.

~~At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question:

"When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?"

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. "I believe, that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes, in the way other people treat that child."

Then he told the following story:

Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?" Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked if Shay could play, not expecting much. The boy looked around for guidance and said, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning."

Shay struggled over to the team's bench put on a team shirt with a broad smile and his Father had a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat. At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible 'cause Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing the other team putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least be able to make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over, but the pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the head of the first baseman, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!" Never in his life had Shay ever ran that far but made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!"
Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to second base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball, the smallest guy on their team, who had a chance to be the hero for his team for the first time. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions and he too intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay"

Shay reached third base, the opposing shortstop ran to help him and turned him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third!" As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams and those watching were on their feet were screaming, "Shay, run home! Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the "grand slam" and won the game for his team.

That day, said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world.

"Shay didn't make it to another summer and died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his Father so happy and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!"

"When the opportunity arises for you to either win the game, or hold the ball so someone else might win, I ask you...please...be The Pitcher."

My Life - Cutting the Fat

Everyone is busy! Everyone has things going on, but so many people take on more than they can handle, and it all becomes overwealming. This is where I sit today.

Between my day job, My Turbo Kick Classes and my own business (bicycle business) I am working from 630am until 1100pm, 6-7 days per week.

I speak to friends and family a lot about time management, and I think overall I do a pretty good job with it, but there really is only so much I can do.

I spent some time this past week thinking about it, and have decided that I am going to trim down my schedule.

With a LOT of thought, and quite a bit of mixed feelings, I have closed the bicycle business all together. This is about 20+hours per week that will be freed up! This business represents all my early mornings, all my late nights and this will be something both Heather and I will be happy about, now that the time will be given back to us!

I have so much I WANT to do in the upcoming week. Most of what I want to do is Travel or Turbo Kick related so it is definitely time that I put some more direct focus on it, while keeping some time for FAMILY!

This change should give me more time to spend with my lovely wife, my family as well as the chance to expand Turbo a little more as well!!!

Excited? You betcha!!!

It's SO addictive!

Back in action! The gym was closed on Monday for Thanksgiving, so no classes! It was nice to have a relaxing day with Heather but I now know that the depressing feelings I was having was WITHDRAWL for working out! I know this because after finishing class this morning, I feel the EXACT OPPOSITE!

I've started telling my classes as well, but just in case there's anyone who isn't in class yet, or hasn't been out in a while here is the scoop!

Saturday October 21st!
We're going to be having a VERY special Turbo Kick Class! Not only are we having our normal 930am class, but we are extending the class and making a free MASTER Class! We're introducing a new ROUND to class. Round27! This class is FREE and open to EVERYONE (as long as you're female). The Master Class will consist of learning each section of the new round, focussing on Form and Technique, followed of course by DOING the Round! Class will last longer than normal 1.5-2hours in total so get ready!!!

We also will have some really cool give-aways/prizes including some gym SWAG, movie passes, and locally sponsored gifts!

You don NOT need to be a member of Fitness One, NOR do you need to have EVER done Turbo before! All you need is to be willing to have fun!!

Thanksgiving

There is nothing like a several day food-fest to make you feel like you're in the worst shape in the world! The work I've put in, the weight I've lost, the fitness level I've achieved? Well yesterday it all seemed non-existent.

I still have a weakness with food. The difference now is that I never let it get out of control to the point where I am going to start going back to the out of shape, depressed guy that sat in front of this computer a year and a half ago.

This past weekened was Thanksgiving, and the week leading up to it was super stressful at work. The ultimate test of my discipline for food? Well if it was, I would have received an "F". I made MANY poor food choices, knowing perfectly well what they would do to me. A lot of people will argue that you shouldn't WORRY about food on holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving and that you should just enjoy the holiday. Those people either have NEVER had an issue with weight, OR they are perpetually overweight, looking for an excuse to let loose.

In any case, I went to bed last night feeling horrible, physically and mentally. This morning is fine though. I know HOW to eat, WHAT to eat and WHEN to eat. This morning I feel better.

REALISTICALLY, because of my activity level and the intensity I workout with, the last week really didn't make much of an impact on me physically, but I could feel how easy it would be to simply "let go" and go back to the way I've eaten in the past. In fact, during certain meals, times and instances last week I WAS back there.

The difference now is that I recognize that and will fight it! Like an alcoholic I truly feel like I will struggle with this forever. It will/has gotten easier, but there are always going to be temptations, and "just one drink" CAN lead to a slippery slope.

So my friends who think I'm obsessive, please know that I would rather be obsessive, fit and ripped than complacent, excuse ridden and overweight.

Keep on keeping on!

CLEAN UP!

So today I completely Pooched up my blog and basically erased the whole thing!
Oops!
Anyways I was able to SORT OF fix it.
You can see any of my old posts by clicking on the archives on the right hand side.

July 31 2005 is when I started this journey and if you want to see pics of my progess, you can each month by clicking on the archive of that month.

I am going to post some recap pics soon and continue to post new pics as we go on. In any case, we'll all set! :)