Beachbody

The way they talk to you in the video, it's like they're there and they're saying, "I'm watching you. You could do more." Especially, Shaun T. He is funny. He makes you laugh, and he's there making sure you're not tightening. I did the Tilt, Tuck, Tighten, Hip Hop Abs, to the CIZE workout, and everything he has done and came out with. I've done Hard Corps, where I did the intense part when they want you to do bear crawls. I've have had so much fun that I just keep going. Now I'm just trying to do definition without losing my weight. I don't want to lose no more weight. I just wanna work on muscle.

I've done the before and after pictures, but I never received any of my stuff. And then, I entered for the contest and wrote a story. But I didn't hear anything about none of that either. I bought a lot of videos, and I did everything that came out. They told me that I would receive Boxercise and then I would get a Hard Corps. I was in the running for the biggest reward which I entered the contest because that was a lot to lose in one summer. But I haven't head anything about that. Other than that, Beachbody really motivated me. I loved the programs and I did them and followed them. I worked super hard from the sweating and making sure I stayed on path, getting a Fitbit watch and getting about 10,000 or 15,000 steps a day, dedicated to doing my workouts, doing the extra things they say you could do like the bonus features, and it all paid off.

I enjoyed how the Body Beast is a little bit shorter. It's not all super-duper long, which is really encouraging because it's hard to commit to an hour-long workout with P90X. Even though most of the time, I'm in the gym long enough to be there, it's hard to initially get started. I also like the way it logged most of the workouts. At the end of the workout will be the ab workout and with it automatically attached, when you hit play, it looks like it was already a part of your time, or else I wouldn't do it. It's all psychological, but it's what works. If I can get through the first five minutes, I'm good.

I tend to bulk up extraordinarily fast. I follow bodybuilding and they're the community that appreciates that. But I also have a background in figure skating and that community does not appreciate that so I balance it. There's a decent amount of yoga stuff out there, but I wanna move a little bit more and a lot of holding positions can be a bit tough. Also, I crank my music up and that just doesn't fit with the yoga feel. have been drawn more toward Pilates and have augmented a lot of my workouts with it. Also, I can't seem to get the core I want unless I do Pilates. The only time I stray from Beachbody products is to get that workout. They should come up with a kick-ass Pilates program and explore that niche a bit more.

I tried Shakeology and I didn't care for it. I tried it a million different ways and I just couldn't really get it down. The only way I could do it was to put half of it into something else. And then, it was like I was choking it down. I hated it. But I've been told that I should try a different flavor. Although the idea of it and the nutrients are very positive, I wouldn't not recommend it to anybody. Or I'd recommend trying it or trying in different flavors because I think I just didn't order the right thing for me.

But as far as the streaming video, I love it. I could choose a different workout whenever I wanted and I was totally into it. Supposed to be, it's 30 minutes a day, but I would do an hour and a half. I would send in my before and after pictures. I didn't lose that much weight, but my body changed so much. I still had some fat on my belly, but in the 21 days, I had abs. And with the Shaun T program, I lost about 17 pounds after 21 days because it was mostly cardio.

Then, I started to do the CORE DE FORCE and I loved it. I love the moves and they take my mind off the fact that I'm exercising. However, I was halfway through doing CORE DE FORCE and I snapped a ligament in my ankle. I have not been able to exercise since, not even yoga. I can't balance on that leg. I was doing everything, but when I use that leg, I would hold on to something. I measured my calves and one was a half an inch bigger than the other. It's completely healed but it healed wrongly so I'm getting a surgery to fix it.

Also, I haven't spoken with my coach for a while because of my injury. Nevertheless, she's the best coach. She's a Diamond coach and is very successful in the business. And she truly cares about all of her coachees. Either that or she has an extreme gift in making everybody believe that she cares. Either way, she's in the perfect job. She wants to help women because she's been there where you're not really fat but you're chunky and not happy. It took her two years to get to where she is now physically.

She's the reason that I stayed with Beachbody. She would answer the silliest of questions, like, "I feel like I'm doing this workout and my upper body is so weak. I feel like it can do two push-ups and that's it. What would you recommend?" She would say, "Oh, do this little segment of this workout every day with your workout, it'll help." I did ask a lot of questions at first because I'm 45 and I have fibromyalgia, and I have never exercised like that on purpose in my life with a video or in a gym.

Having fibromyalgia is just one of those things you can't predict. You feel great one day and the next day, out of nowhere, you feel like you can't even move off the couch. And those days, when I was working out, I felt poor at first. I would have only a couple of bad days for the whole month, but normally, I'm half and half. I didn't know if it was the eating healthy or the working out or both, but whatever I was doing, it was working. It made me feel so much better. I started to take medicine, but I took less and my energy level was through the roof. When my husband gets home from working all day, I would ask him if he wants to walk. Having the right coach made all the difference, from making it just a thing you see on TV to an actual personal experience.

But everything else, I’m wonderfully excited and happy about. I've had amazing results with Beachbody. I’ve lost around 16 pounds since December. My strength, performance, and endurance have gone up. My heart rate is down and my VO2 max is up. I also love the nutrition plan that goes along with the program. I am vegan and have been plant-based for the last three years so the fact that LIIFT4 is incorporating meal planning with that is pretty awesome. I know a couple of the others have done that as well and it makes it easy on that side of things. The nutrition program makes it easy for me to recommend the program to people in my circle of friends who are also plant-based or trying to move away from meat or processed food. I really like that they’re coming along in that aspect.

Another thing is it costs $100 a month nowadays to a gym whereas I could pay a 100 bucks to get the Beachbody program for a year. I just do it in a little gym at my condo and I can do it when I want. I can download it to my phone and take it with me so if I ever travel, it’s right there. I can put it in and 30 minutes later, I’m done. I don't have to think about planning a workout. It’s just in and out and over with. I’m also a law school student so it’s great to be able to do the program. I do the LIIFT4 program four days a week and for 30 to 40 minutes a day of those four days. It just takes all of the thinking out of it. I’m still able to be fit and in shape even with a sedentary situation like law school. It’s cost-effective, time-efficient, a great plan, and if you’re intentional about it, you can get great results.

I've tried Refresh, the subscription, like Beachbody on Demand, Energize and Recover. I'm very faithful with following the workouts so the Energize works really well for me. I keep up with it, not so much with the Recover, and I only use a half scoop. I don't need the whole scoop and it is great especially for those work mornings when I have to get up earlier to workout. It gives me what I need to get going so I'm very satisfied with that. I also love the Shakeology. I did that for a while but the cost made it hard for me to keep up with it. But I love the fact that I get a yearly subscription to everything else and all the stuff I get with that. So that's primo. I love it. The ordering process is pretty good too. I made my purchases online and I didn't have any problem with it. There are so many things there though, and I would try to understand what it all is. But once I got familiar with all the choices that I had, that made it easier. Now, I have my favorite things.

Right now, I'm doing Morning Meltdown 100 and there's a lot of great modification but some of them are too much. For instance, my mom is 72 and she wants to work out and to weigh less but she doesn't know where to start and how to do it without getting hurt. It would be nice to have a program for somebody who has some limitations. As for me, I've seen physical benefits from being stronger and weighing less. But the biggest thing for me has been the mental benefit 'cause I've struggled with anxiety and depression since 19 and this has been working out. It's been so effective for me in managing that and just having a better outlook on life.