July 31 2016

The Day I decided to change.... For  Real Time!!!!

Sometimes it takes alot of self reflecting to really figure out WHY you are doing something.

I have been a Beachbody Coach off and on for over 3 years now and really never put any effort into it. I kept hearing people say: It is a business and you have to work it like a business,

Then I went to Summit this year....

Something hit me. In all these years of trying to be a Beachbody group and telling people:

You Should join a Challenge group and you will see results if you do the workouts and drink this shake.... I realized. I have only completed 2 programs on my own. I had NEVER been in a Challenge group. Well talking about not Practicing what I was preaching!!

So I asked my Coach, Yes even Beachbody Coaches have their own Coaches, if I could join her Challenge group along with several other coaches on our TEAM for their August group.

So here I am... Starting Fresh, Starting Over and this time I am going to Success because I have a network of friends that I have built relationships with that are going to call me out if I don't exercise, when I posted I ate a dozen doughnuts or whole large pizza. They are going to remind me in a nice way, unless I get really out of line how much I want this and What my Goals are! When you have a Coach or Team of Coaches you TRUST this is what you do.

So What are you waiting on to make a Change?

My Struggle Part 2

In an effort to tell you about myself I have decided to break my story into pieces so that you don;'t have to read this really long post... So here is Part to of My Struggle.

2007 had to be the worse year of my life so far.

I filed for divorce from my husband with 2 babies ( ages 1.5 and 4.5). My Sister (half-sister but the only sibling I had) passed away days before our birthday. We shared the same birthday. She was born very prematurely when I was 8 years old and died just short of her 20th birthday. It was only by God's grace that she was here with us so long, but it still hurt. By the end of 2007 after months of fighting over custody, my ex-husband and I agreed on an custody agreement. Looking back now I wish I would have fought it longer and not backed down from what I really wanted since there was no way he was getting help.

So at the start of 2008, Here I am now. An overweight single mother that at the time was forced to move back in at home with the grandparents who raised me due to my financial situation. My ex-husband and left me with a mountain of debt, I had drained everything I put into my kids savings just to keep the house we had bought midway through 2006 from going into foreclosure and every credit that I had in my name was maxed out. Sure part of it was my fault. I didn't know how to say no and sometimes I just felt like I needed things. We has purchased a new house before we separated and there were things we needed for that house and once I figured out why he was really taking money out of the checking account and removed him from it so we could pay our bills, giving a drug addict a credit card with  a high available balance was not a good idea. I found out the hard way a drug addict will do anything to get money for his fix.

Anyways on to happier day and how to deal with it. Now a single mom on one income with a mountain of debt I was totally lost. I stopped exercising and eating right and the weight came right back on. I tried focusing on my kids, my faith and working to pay off the debt.

That fall my oldest son started kindergarten..  That November I went to a parent night out auction at his school and won (bought) 4 personal training sessions. I went and was hooked... after those 4 were over I signed up for more. Now this wasn't at a gym, but at a place at that was all they did... There I started to find my strength and love for exercise again!!

2009 was going to be a whole new year for me....

My Struggle Part 1

Throughout High school and college, until I had children, I never really struggled with my weight. I was 5’2” 105-110lbs. In all honesty, looking back now I looked sick. When I started college I got up to around 130-135lbs. Which if I had been toned I would have looked great but still I think I looked pretty good. Today I am around the 225lbs mark.. Which is totally crazy and unacceptable for someone my height that knows what to do.

So here is part my struggle….

After having my oldest son, Cristian, in 2002 9 months to the day after the attacks on 9-11 I had gained close to 70lbs during my pregnancy..  I was miserable. I was waiting tables at Outback steakhouse and they feed me ALL the time. Fast forward 3 years and I had my second son Brody. I don’t remember my weight before I got pregnant or during but I don’t think I ever got below 160 before getting pregnant.

At the end of 2006, November 29^th to be exact, after months of speculation of drug use, I left my husband of almost 5 years. I had more than enough proof of what he was doing and it was no longer safe for me or my kids to be in that environment.  In January 2007 I filed for divorce. It was something that I didn't want to do but I really had to choice. He wouldn't admit to the drug use and I had proof. I started to have a lot of anger and anxiety and the best way I knew how to handle it was to workout. 

That year Alabama started a program, Scale back Alabama, to encourage the people of Alabama to lose weight. I joined with some fellow co-workers and during those 10-12 weeks I got down to the lowest I had in years. I was somewhere around 150-155 when it was over with. How did I do this? I wrote down everything I ate but I was spending too much time in the gym. I would spend in hour on the elliptical and then on 3 of those days I would weight train… No one has time for all that with 2 babies at home, working full time and at that time I was also working on my Master’s in Accounting. I stayed pretty fit that year, but after my divorce was final on December 10 2007 I went right back to my ways and the weight came back on.

What I did have back then was a plan. 

I got tired of the hours I was spending at the gym. I got tired of the meal planning and days of eating the same thing over and over. Yogurt with fruit, turkey and cheese sandwich on low fat bread, turkey patty and spaghetti squash (no more that 1,200 calories a day even when I worked out). I got tired of feeling so empty and not knowing what to do next. I was just tired. 

Another part of my life that had been lacking and still really to this day is was my Relationship with God. Sure I turned to him in my hour of need but did I do it everyday? Did I give him praise in what I had been given? Two beautiful and healthy children. Sure my life was a mess but things happens. We have to have faith all of the time just not when it is convenient to us. I got tired. I got run down by trying to do so much, I got tired by trying to stay busy and keeping my mind of what was really going on. I should have turned to where I needed to be. Just then maybe this struggle I have had for the last 13 years would have not have been so long. 

Matthew 11:28-30New International Version (NIV)

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

60 Days at the Barre...

So for me the 60 Day Barre Challenge is over..

Granted I only missed one day because the studio was closed due to Ice, I did take an intensive that counted for 2 classes of I still had 60 classes in 60 days... Oh my...

What have  I learned?

First there are alot of little muscles in your body that we don't regularly work. before coming back to the Barre in January I had been doing crossfit since February 2014. At the end of September 2014 I did start to have some problems with my feet that turned out to be tendinitis in my Achilles which kept me from going to my crossfit workouts only a handful of times between October and January because of the pain I would be in the next day.  Yes I was sore after my Barre workouts, but even after putting on lets say 40+lbs since the last time I really did Barre.. I could finish a class and feel proud of myself when I did.


After 60 days of Barre I still can not hold a plank for the full 90 seconds. I think some of this is more I may need to take a few days off and let my body totally rest and see what happens. I will soon.. like in a week when I get a massage lol

During my last class of the Challenge I was able to hold the "chair" position for almost the full time. My typical chair pulled of the Barre is more like a water ski. Yesterday I was able to go all the way down to the chair and just let my legs shake. I did have to raise up a few times but this was such a big improvement.

During Side seat, I was able to hold my leg up higher and for longer. I could feel the muscles working all the way up into my muffin top. I have noticed over the last couple of classes that when we work seat, either side or back, that I am able to hold my leg up higher. I was even able to do the dreaded fire hydrate exercise the other day better than I have before..

All in all I love Barre.. So now that the Challenge is over what is next?

I will continue to go to Barre. I was to hit my 500 class this year.. I am at 270 classes with 294 days left in the year with 5-6 Holidays in there so it is totally doable..


I really need to start working on what I am eating so I can truly have that Pure Barre Body.

So my plan. I am going to do the 3 Day Refresh from Beachbody starting tomorrow and the after that I am going to start the 21 Day fix. With the 21 day fix plus my Barre workouts I should get to my goal!!!


Well it is almost time for today's intensive seat class. I am not sure what I was thinking when I signed up for it.  #LTB #purebarrehuntsville #60daychallenge #21dayfix #3dayrefresh

43 Days of Pure Barre and I am still going

We are 43 Days into the 60 Day Challenge and so far I have made it to call everyday and one of those days included a 90 minute full body intensive class. So a few things I am learning.

During Warm-up, I mean like the first raise your knees to your chest your legs are going to hurt after the first lift. IT is going to happen after 43 days and no breaks.

When pumping your arms at the beginning your legs aren't going to go that far down. Some Days they will be lower than others.

Plank... 90 seconds that feels a lot longer than that.. I have yet to do the whole 90 seconds. Some days I try the first 30, some days I try the middle 30 and others the last 30. There are some days that no matter how much will power I have my Abs shake uncontrollably when I do the whole plank on my knees.. My shoulders burn and my Abs burn... So who cares if I am on my toes, it is still working.

Thigh work... The Place that they say sets the ton for the class. Well today I must have been totally our of it because after 2 thighs I was ready for a stretch and honestly thought we were done. We all have good days and bad days at the Barre. At 34 straight days it doesn't take long to feel the burn or get to the shake. Honestly though I don't know sometimes if the burn is my muscles changing or them screaming "Please take a day off!"

There are days that Thigh work was so killer that the stretch even burns..

Seat... Well depending on what we do this can be really taxing. I mean if your thighs are already toast and we do one of the lunge or waterski positions seat and be overly challenging. You really have to focus on what you are doing. You can tell when someone is new in class the most during seat. Why? Because it is about little movements. During your first time in class you honestly have no idea that you are only moving those little muscles around your hips. You see women swinging their legs like it is nothing and you can't help to giggle and think I was one so there.

Abs... Round back, Flat back and on the floor. For some crazy reason someone thought it would be a good idea to add a little weight work to the middle Abs.. be warned if you do this in class, a day or 2 later it is really going to catch up with you and you will have no idea what you did to yourself. I experience this on day 42.. I think on day 41 we used weights during abs.. might have been 40 and some day 42.. the littlest abs movements hurt.

About our wonderful Pure Barre instructors..
They are always so cheerful and preppy and sometimes you'd like to play a game of dodge ball with and that little red ball. Just when you think you form is great, they either lift your leg higher, push your shoulder down sinking you lower into thigh or lift your arms higher for tricep work. I apologize now if I have every screamed so loud in class that someone might have heard me.
I often wonder how many time in class they ether get frustrated because we aren't doing things correctly or how much they laugh to themselves when they know what is next and they know it is going to hurt.

I love Pure Barre... I am 17 classes away from hitting 60 classes in a row and I just hit my 250 class last week and All I can think about is... When will I hit 500!!

Join me at the Barre if you haven't already tried it!! #purebarrehuntsville #pureresolution #60daychallenge

31 Things I have Learned in 31 Days of Pure Barre

What have I learned after 31 classes in a row at Pure Barre:

1) Warm-up is probably the hardest thing mentally to get threw.  Especially when the instructors say to pick up the little red double tube... yeah I was cussing today before class even started because I knew what was coming.

2) Plank for 90 seconds is alot harder then it seems...

3) There is no such think as picking up your heavier set of weights. 2lbs seem like 100lbs and this is coming from a girl who can clean and press 85lbs+ and deadlift 200lbs!

4)  You'd think triceps dips on the floor wouldn't be that hard when you can do ring dips... Think again.. Especially when you are supposed to have your butt of the ground and well Back Got back with some short arms.

5) All the equipment is red.. I believe that these is a reason for this

6) you cringe when you hear take the double tube to the Barre... Not as bad as seeing the Velcro tube but you know what is coming...

7) For girls with No thigh gap the double tube exercises have 100x more resistance then those bird legs... Just imagine you don't even have to try to press out on the tube to have any kind of resistance..

8) After 31 days, 1 thigh exercise is more than enough to get your legs shaking.. If it starts with a chair, you are done put a fork in me

9) Down and inch up and inch is really just that.. and inch, if that. Sometimes you think you are moving but you're really not.

10) So if Shaking if Changing, What is burning? I mean that burn where you feel like you muscles are just about to rip off the bone because well they are rebelling, Where is my stretch?

11) Why are some of the little red balls not round? They are more of an egg shape. This is due to trying to fit that not so little ball between thighs with no thigh gap.. Just saying. One day I will pop that ball with or without a pin.

12) Stretching after thigh is a "reward" It is where you need to mentally prepare for seat and you are reminded that once upon a time you could do the splits.

13) There are days that seat work is just not going to happen. Today was that day

14)  Putting that little red ball between your hamstring and calf to hold it for seat is harder than it appears, even when the two aren't that far apart when at a 90 degree angel.

15) Seat... works the hamstring.. the deadlift muscle... however dealifting 200lbs seems easier than having a double tube around both ankles trying to lift one side.

16) When starting some seat exercises, you may start to automatically shake or lose control of your muscles. There is nothing that you can do about this. It just happens. Go with it.

17) Side seat works the muffin top area..  you know this is true when you side totally cramps up. It happens.. There is nothing that you can do to prevent it

18) Pretzel is not something that they are going to reward you will. Though chocolate ones would be nice. Looks will full you on this one... I often wonder if someone walked in a watched us doing this in class if they would think that we are actually doing anything.

19) Laying on the floor working seat is not a joke.. at least no one can see your face as your side hip cramps

20) They have this exercise for side seat that looks kind of like the fire hydrant. If you make it through that without putting your leg down you are a trooper.

21) When you see the Velcro tubes hanging on the Barre and you walk into class, you will automatically start singing.. I've got no strings to hold me down..

22) Abs at the Barre, they take totally concentration and are harder than they appear when you are doing them right. It is about Abs and not hip flexors.

23) 20 Minutes of Ab work is enough for anyone in one day!

24) Te instructors are always chipper and I am sure deep down laughing at some of the things we do during class.

25) No matter what, class becomes addicting.

26) Each and every day you will push yourself hard.. Today it is 90 seconds of plank on my knees, tomorrow I will do 80 seconds on my knees and 10 seconds on my toes, ect

27) No class is the same. Yes it is warm-up, thigh, stretch, seat, stretch, other seat, stretch, Abs but with all the different exercises and equipment is is never the same

28) You will see changes. You may feel them before you see them but you will see them.

29) Friendship will be made, you will laugh together, laugh at each other and shake together.. You will make jokes that only you and other Barre Addicts understands

30) You will become addicted.. It will happen..

31) Once you Finish class...You will be checking your schedule to see when you next class is and who the instructors is. There are just some instructors you don't want to take back to back

I found this online from when Pure Barre Huntsville Opened 4 years ago.. I am the one in the pink. Clink Link to watch

Pure Barre Huntsville

Ab Work on Day 24.....

I came to a few realizations yesterday while doing Abs work under the Barre yesterday.

Not only couldn't I do round back due to the difficulty of having my legs at table top, three quarters length and then full extented, Flat Back was just hard.

Now what do I mean by Round back... here is what it looks like sometimes

You are in a curved C shape and you are working your lower Abs. We move our legs but that is to come from the Abs moving and not the hip flexors... Well that is what the instructors say :)

I normally love Round back because we do use one leg at a time and it gives a really good stretch. This is the first place that I see my flexibility come back every time I come back to the Barre.

When we got to Flat back I came to this totally realization... My thighs are just too big at the top to hold my knees together.. Okay maybe it was because I was on day 24 but even trying ot hold me legs together killed my thighs, hip flexors and nothing to do with my Abs. Flat Back is all about pressing your back all the way to the wall and breathing, pulling your Abs closer and closer to the wall each time.

Pure Barre is a 55 minute class that by holding your hips tucked under the whole time you are literally working your Abs all the time.... 

If you haven't tried it you should, If you have let me know what you think..

Today is Day 25 of 60....