So Blessed!

I am sitting here surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. For the past 4 years we have been coming up to Estes for our mini-vacation to just unwind for a few days and have it just be my husband and kids. This year seems more sentimental to me as my daughter is about to get married to her fiance who she has been with for the past 5 years. A new chapter will begin in their lives but our traditions will remain as we plan on keeping this getaway on the calendar for years to come. The family will grow and the memories will be even more blessed. But for now I am enjoying the moments. My husband and I will be married 24 years this year and it sure doesn't seem like it has been that long. Time will never stand still and you must always work together and grow too and the most important know that above all else God is the biggest part of your lives. If he is not in your relationship then you will have a rough time of it. We all grow up and become responsible, we all want to be good examples to our children, and we all want to grow in our success. This is another area I am so blessed in. There are times I get scared and I feel like I will fall, but I pray and through faith I know I am on the right path. God just gave me another sign to move boldly ahead with a new program that I will kick off in May called FitRanX! I was drawn to it immediately because of the ranking system. Being in the U.S. Army I love the way you had to work your way up the ladder to get promoted. It gave you something to work towards. This is no different. You will work your way up in the fitness levels. You can only get better and stronger, more healthier and definately more fit. It will give recognition and the best part it will I pray bring new people for more challenges within the bootcamp. I am so blessed to have great women now surrounding me and supporting me in both bootcamp and tactix. I look forward to having the new ladies and even gentlemen come on board and join in this new elite program that will be the talk of the town! I will keep you posted on the progress! ;) I am now going to go sit by the fire and enjoy some coffee and relaxation before heading out for the day! We are going to go hiking and enjoy God's country! ;)

Are You Free?

It's been over a month since I did my last blog and one of my goals was to try and do better at being a blogger! I have had a great month with the ladies in my bootcamp challenge. They took 30 days and committed to follow a fitness routine, implement nutrition and look for key emails that would give them points in order to win. I had 4 ladies who were very close in the running just about the whole way. I had others that still hung in there and were successful in there own right. It takes something deep inside you to really want to change. To finally be done doing what you have always done and just leave it behind. You think you will miss it if you let it go, or that your identity won't be the same if you move forward and gain a new perspective on fitness and health. You might think that you will fail and because of your fear you don't even try. That is the worse thing you could do because when you let fear override what you truly want to be it robs you of so many victories in your life. What if you didn't have your freedom to choose? Then you might not have to worry about fear because it would be taken care of for you. When you have no freedom you are trapped. And some people are not free although they have the freedom at their finger tips to choose to change. What makes a person want to be so obese and miserable that they won't even get up and try to change? Or if they have changed what takes them back to that place that they once hated so much? These are questions I often ask. I don't judge a single person because everyone has a story and although I might see choice and freedom as an easy thing, someone else might find it very difficult. Some people are slaves to food. That seems like a crazy concept doesn't it? But sad to say, millions of people, maybe even billions by now have this food addiction. It is like any other addiction, it grabs their soul and twists so tight and clouds their judgement so they see no light, just darkness and no hope. I live in a small town, I have seen in my last 3 years of being a business owner and personal trainer, great strides in the transformations that come through my door. When someone meets with me for the first time, I see all sorts of emotions, I hear all kinds of excuses, good ones it may seem to them, but to me, nothing short of having a limb or two absent, and even then, is no excuse to not make that choice and choose to be hopeful and set new goals in your life. All of us have a fire deep inside us that needs to just be lit and remain burning for the rest of our lives. I love to see the transformations in my clients. It is the biggest joy for me. It is not over night and it is a process. It can be painful at times, it can be very emotional, that is due to the changes that happen within your body, it is not easy, but not as hard as one might think it out to be, it is the ultimate victory when you hit those mini-goals driven to the main goal. What is the main goal? LIFE! We never get younger, although that would be great for some things in life,however, we don't have to let our bodies go into a state of oldness before it's time. Again, that is our freedom of choice. We can all choose to be more fit and healthier. To add years to our lives and do it in such a way that it is fun and lasting! How do you do this? By putting one foot in front of the other and just choosing to ignite that fire! Here is something I bet you have said at one time or other in your life when you wanted to start losing weight. "I will start Monday." And say that is on a Friday, you eat so much junk food and just veg out in front of the t.v., more than normal, if that would be possible, and then Monday rolls around way to fast and your mindset isn't strong enough yet to follow through with the start. For one, you didn't share that with anyone but yourself, so you have no support, which is the number one thing you must have in your choice to change. Some people have to hit rock bottom before they climb up the ladder. It is sad, because it is no one else's fault but their own that they landed in the hospital due to that Monday never coming around. That is my point, your tomorrow may never come so while you have today no matter what day it is, you can start on the road to recovery and your tomorrows will be brighter and if you don't see it then those left behind will have been impacted by your efforts. So today, no matter what day it is, get up, put one foot in front of the other, and help yourself and others that may be in your same situation, start on a road to freedom, on a magical journey filled with endless possibilities. Have faith and hope in yourself and share your victories with others who are looking for that same hope!

Do you hear it??? The Rocky song!!!! I did it!! I completed the 90 Day TapouT XT Fitness Journey!! There were days when I didn't even want to put in the dvd but I did and I am so much stronger and healthier because I chose to do this! Nothing is ever easy but it's not hard either! It's up to you and what you do when no one else is watching. To get those results and keep pushing through! Your someone's hero, so why not be your own!! ;) Thank you K-Train for letting me ride along and get some great exercises and I am praying that you are working on Part 2 of this TapouT XT Fitness Journey!! I know I will step up to the plate when it comes out!! ;) Thank you all for following along with me too and for those of you that are going to buy the program because you followed my vlog, just remember, you can do it!! Like I say, even when you don't feel like it...DO IT ANYWAY!!!! Great ride! DAY 90 Cardio XT + Ultimate Abs - all time favorite!!! I didn't drop the weight much, still at 132, I bounce from 128 to 132 now. Chest 31 Bicep 10 Waist 30 - that did go down 3 inches from day one!!! Means my friend is starting to vanish!! YES!!!!

Once again I didn't want to workout especially since my broncos were playing however, I did the yoga xt and got it out of the way! ;) Yoga XT - W13D5

Whew! Last night I got this Plyo workout in after a full day in Denver looking for a place for our daughter and future son in law, to get married! In the video I said we stopped at Texas Roadhouse to eat, and I said there were few choices, what I meant of course is that there were few healthy choices! At any rate, I could have convinced myself to just not workout and do the day 4 of the last week since I already put in my 45 minute workout with my ladies in our Cardio Kickboxing Saturday bootcamp! And you know what? I almost did, but that nagging feeling pushed me to grab the dvd and hike downstairs and knock it out and then I could go relax and watch my Nebraska Cornhusker college football!! Of course they lost but what a battle, defensive for sure in that game! Anyway, so did it and now sharing what I did last night! PLYO XT- CRAZY!!!

It's a great feeling to be so close and in a couple days I will tell you just how great it truly is! I chose: Buns & Guns + Ultimate Abs today!!!

I DID IT AGAIN!!! I love being strong and keeping up with the dude on the GRINDER!! If your just starting out, don't worry, just finish as you can and I guarantee if you stick with it you will be able to keep up with him before you know it! :) Maybe even beat him!! ;) Check out some exercises I put on this video: Cross Core Combat