My P90X3 Transformation

In February of this year (2014), I started P90X3 and Shakeology and joined a Beachbody challenge group.   My daughter, Sienna, was not yet 2 1/2 and my twin sons, Price and Maddox, were 3 months old.  Thanks to breastfeeding and pumping, I had already dropped most of my baby weight, but my physique was VERY different.  I felt soft and smushy everywhere.  I was ready for a change.  Thank goodness for P90X3 and Shakeology.  I LOVED the program, did not get bored with the program, and was very challenged.  Shakeology was a LIFESAVER for me in that it was a quick, easy, and very nutritious meal I could count on every single day.  My results came quicker and were better than I ever could have hoped for!  I hope this video serves to inspire and give hope to the women out there who are not comfortable in their own skin anymore.  That was me too.  But I made a change and I am so grateful that I did!

Tips For Making It Through Your Workout

I have been working out at home and pressing play for 6 months now (wow, I can't believe its been 6 months!).  Throughout that time, I have realized that it's very easy to just stop when things get hard.  Or just stand there and mutter curses under your breath (or out loud) at Tony Horton or Shaun T (or was that just me?).

The point is, I have come up with a system to make it through your workout while giving yourself a kind of break, so you don't die.  

Here are my tips:

1. Modify the exercise.  If they are doing squat jumps, just do the squats.  If they are doing tuck jumps, just jump in place.  If they are lunging low, just pulse at the top of your lunge.

2. Give yourself a 10 second break and then start again.  If the countdown clock was at 10:25, I would say to myself, "Okay, I am going to stop, but at 10:15, I am jumping right back in- full throttle".

3. Just move.  If they are jumping on one foot across the room (because, yes, that happens sometimes), jog around the room.  Continue moving.  March in place.  Walk around.  Moving is better than stopping.  Moving is better than standing still.  Moving is better than quitting.  

4. Press pause.  Take a bathroom break.  Get more water.  And when you are ready (no more than 2 minutes break), press play, and go at it again!

I always tell my customers...just make it to the end.  Watch the clock turn 0:00.  And the next day...do the same thing and try to modify less, take less breaks, press pause less, and YOU WILL see improvement.  It will get easier.  You will get closer and closer to your fitness and health goals.  But you have to press play every single day.  You have to finish every single day.  

PiYo: Buns

This is the best BUTT workout I have ever done.  I have never done a lower body workout for thirty straight minutes that I felt in my buns the ENTIRE time.  In every exercise Chalene does, she pinpoints your caboose.  It's A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.  My butt is the area I most want to build muscle in, so I will be tempted to do this workout three times per week.  

She starts with a brutal squat series, moves on to lunges, and finishes on your hands and knees doing a series of leg lifts.  I felt it in my LOWER butt, UPPER butt, and SIDE butt (you know what I'm talking about when I say "side" butt)!  

My favorite line of the workout:

"Your hamstrings are saying, 'Are you kidding me?!', and you just say, 'No, Hamstring, I care about you in my bikini and I want you to be tight.'"  

Gotta love Chalene.  

PiYo: Hardcore On the Floor

I am really loving PiYo the more and more I do it.  The workouts are becoming more intense and more like how I pictured PiYo to be.  

Hardcore on the Floor is a bonus DVD, and you were ON THE FLOOR.  Literally, I don't think I stood up except for at the beginning during the warm-up.  As you can imagine, there was a lot of planking, a lot of down-dog, and not enough child's pose.  : )  

Duration: 36 minutes

Twin Skin

For those of you who do not have twins, you are thinking to yourself..."What could this post POSSIBLY be about and why is it on her fitness blog?"  

Here's the thing...my mission is to be absolutely transparent when it comes to my life as a mom, a wife, and a Beachbody coach.  I am not writing this blog to make myself appear perfect, act like I have it all together or pretend that I have all the answers.  I'm not, I don't, and I have no clue most of the time.  

I have had amazing physical results since I did P90X3 and started drinking Shakeology.  My body bounced back quicker than I ever could have hoped for.  BUT this post is for the people out there who claim, "It's like she never had twins!"  I did and I have the extra skin to prove it...something I am PROUD of.  
Check out these pictures taken 8 months postpartum.

Seemingly back to normal
(By the way, I am definitely keeping it real
with the blotch of spit-up on my sports bra!)

See how the skin around my belly
button gets wrinkly?  That is twin skin!

The "Plank" really brings out the best in my twin skin! ; )

Hello August Challenge Group

My "Hello August Challenge Group" is for everyone: Young or old, male or female, the unfit and the fit.  Choose any Beachbody program, commit to drinking Shakeology everyday for the 4 weeks, and in return you will receive one-on-one fitness coaching and accountability.  I want to help you create a healthy lifestyle.  We will begin on August 4, but July 28th is the last day to sign up! 

Interested in joining my Hello August Challenge Group?  

Connect with me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dara.laporta

OR

Send me an email: dara.laporta@gmail.com

I look forward to hearing from you!  

PiYo: Sweat

This workout is TRUE to its name.  I found it to be significantly harder than the previous two workouts.  It is much more up-tempo, to the point of even struggling to keep up, especially at the beginning when you are just trying to figure out exactly what she is doing.  In each series, you build upon each exercise without pause.  This workout is exactly what I pictured PiYo to be and I really loved it, finding it effective and challenging.

I love performing the yoga elements, but at an increased speed.  You are still getting a great stretch, but also increasing your strength and calorie burn due to the nearly constant movement.  This was an all-encompassing workout with quality upper body and lower body segments.  I was sweating, I was ready to for it to be over, I wanted and needed (and took) a few breaks.  

Duration: 36 minutes

PiYo: Define--Upper Body

Chalene LOVES the tricep push-up.  These are also known as military push-ups.  Tricep push-ups are when the elbows do not go out, but stay parallel to your body, right alongside your rib cage.  They are the most difficult kind of push-up in my opinion.  And she loves them.  

The workout was not terribly difficult, and it was short and sweet, BUT because I was so sore from the previous days...it still proved to be challenging and effective.  This would definitely be a day where you could add in some cardio prior to pressing "play", and you would have yourself an amazing all around workout.  

Duration: 18 minutes

PiYo: Define--Lower Body

I JUST finished this workout.  It wasn't as difficult as I had anticipated.  I expected my legs to be shaking like crazy by the end, but that was not the case.  Now, I am more flexible than most people, so maybe that's why this particular workout wasn't as challenging for me.  

So was it worth it?  Absolutely.  Though I wasn't doing hundreds of squats and lunges, Chalene makes sure that the exercises you are doing...you are doing right.  There is no cheating, no taking the easy way out.  The most challenging aspect for me keeping my hips square.  My hips are much more flexible than my hamstrings, so it is easy for me to want to turn my hips out instead of keeping them square and making the hamstring WORK.  I wasn't drenched with sweat, my legs weren't shaking, but my hamstrings were ON FIRE.  

This kind of workout is going to be extremely different than a T25 or P90X3, but no less important.  My flexibility, range of motion, and posture will see huge benefits from PiYo.  I am really excited to to see what the rest of the week brings.  

My Why

A few days ago if someone were to ask me why I am writing this fitness blog, I would have listed reasons like:

•       I am passionate about health and fitness
•       I want to help people reach their fitness goals
•       I love working from home
•       I needed something for ME to do outside of taking care of my family
•       I missed having a “job”

These reasons are all true and valid.  But I just started reading the book “Start With Why” by Simon Sinek, and he challenged me to dig deeper.  WHY do I feel so passionately about this?  WHY do I love this job so much?  And then it came to me.  It hit me like a ton of bricks.  It was nearly instantaneous.

•  I do this for MOMS. 
•  I do this for moms with little ones who sometimes feel trapped in their own home. 
•  I do this for moms who are generously giving their babies perfect breast milk while    potentially sacrificing their own sanity.
•  I do this for moms who often feel overwhelmed by the responsibility of maintaining a household with toddlers on the run. 
•  I do this for moms whose daily nutrition usually comes from the half-eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and stale goldfish crumbs left by sticky hands.
•  I do this for moms who don’t recognize that tired face and lumpy, weird post-partum body in the mirror.
•  I do this for moms who feel like they don’t have anything to look forward to except their baby’s often-unpredictable naptime.
•  I do this for moms who don’t know how to think outside the box anymore.
•  I do this for moms who remember being fun, but can’t quite recapture that aspect of their personalities. 
•  I do this for moms who are losing bits and pieces of themselves, but don’t even realize it. 

Does this sound terribly depressing?  I don’t mean for it to.  This story has a happy ending.  But I have been EVERY SINGLE ONE of those “moms” on different occasions and on different days throughout my motherhood journey.  I remember sitting on my couch, a 2 month old little boy in each arm, watching my wildly delightful 2 year old prance around the room, GUILTILY thinking, “Is this what my life looks like for the next 18 years?!” 

Beachbody has forced me to create a time for “Dara”.  Whether it is doing my own workout while dodging six tiny sets of hands and feet or gleefully answering my challengers’ messages, I have re-discovered parts of me that have been buried for years: Passion and selflessness and competitiveness and creativity to name just a few. 

I do not think size has a number and I do not think “fit” is a particular shape.  I do not think that being healthy is the answer to all of your problems.  But I do believe that being healthy starts a ripple effect of confidence and self-discipline that will infiltrate every other area of your life.  I do believe when you are healthier, you are happier.  I also don’t believe that Beachbody products are the ONLY way to reach your fitness goals.  But their products are the medium I have chosen to use because they are effective and simple and straightforward.  Beachbody takes the guesswork out of getting healthy.  Beachbody makes it easy for very normal, ordinary people to experience extraordinary fitness transformations through their products and radical LIFE transformations through the coaching opportunity.

My mission is to help, encourage, and give hope to moms everywhere that they can feel beautiful in their own skin again, that they can create a time that’s just for them no matter how chaotic life is, and that they can rediscover passions and skills and dreams that have long since been forgotten.  I aim to be real and vulnerable and transparent as I share my fitness journey and my life as a mother of three.

Connect with me on facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/dara.laporta

PiYo: Align - The Fundamentals

Today was Day 1 of PiYo and I was so excited to start, and then a tad disappointed when it appeared the "workout" was really just a "let's make sure we all know what we are doing" kind of preview.  Chalene went over the basic moves and positions that we will be doing throughout the next 2 months.  She told us and showed us how our bodies should look and feel.  

Disappointed as I was, I felt tired and ready for the DVD to be done! : )  Considering this "workout" wore me out, I am pretty excited (and apprehensive) for what's to come when we do the ACTUAL workouts.  In particular, there is one called, "Drench", that has me worried.

Overall, I think it was very wise to begin the program this way.  She took a lot of time going over each move and position, using the modifier and the advanced "model" often, so you could figure it out as quickly and easily as possible.  

Duration: 40 minutes

T25: Ab Intervals

I really love this ab workout.  I am a big fan of intervals, as they are predictable and more entertaining.  For these ab intervals you start with 2 minutes of planks and some yoga stretches (child's pose and downward dog).  From there you work 2 minutes of core and 1 minute of what Shaun T call "Cardio Recovery".  Cardio?  It is.  Recovery?  I wouldn't quite call it that.  But at least it changes it up from just literally doing ab work the entire 25 minutes.  Personally, I enjoy the so-called cardio recover segments.  

So what kind of core work do you do?  Planks, leg lifts, heel taps, leg lifts, "V" holds, leg lifts, heel taps, and supermans.  Oh...did I repeat leg lifts 3 times?  Yes...yes I did.  Because basically outside of planks...you always have 1 leg lifted in the air, if not both.  Tired of that little pudge layer of fat below your belly button you can't get rid of?  This workout will be good start.

T25: Lower Focus

This workout is named appropriately.  After a 4-5 minute warm-up, for the next 20 minutes you squat, do calf raises, lunge, lunge and squat, squat some more, do high knees and squats, perform single leg deadlifts (not as scary as they sound), and then do a burnout encompassing everything you've already done.  It IS as fun as it sounds.  You DO focus on the lower.  You will NOT ever want to do a squat or lunge again.  I wish I had something exciting and creative to describe or explain about this workout.  But it's pretty straightforward.  You will burn.  Your legs will thank you...one day. 

T25: Upper Focus

I really liked this workout and I did not expect to!  I don't typically enjoy working out my upper body because I never feel like I get a good calorie burn.  But Shaun T does the upper body justice with this workout.  

You start with a 3-5 minute warm-up, and then head in to the bulk of your workout.  I noticed a pattern of working a particular upper body part for 2 minutes, cardio work for 1 minute, and then moving on to the next upper body part for 2 minutes, so on and so forth.  I loved that he concentrates on one body part (shoulders, biceps, triceps, chest, and back) at a time.  I LOVE the cardio/sprint/plyometric sections that keep your hear rate up even when you are just doing bicep curls.  

This is by far one of my favorite upper body workouts...if you HAVE to work your upper body, this is how it should be done.  

T25: Dynamic Core

This workout is pretty straightforward.  You start with 10 minutes of cardio/speed/plyometric exercises, and finish with 15 minutes of core exercises.  Your feet are in the air A LOT, you plank A LOT, and you are in the "V" position A LOT!  It's definitely one of the easier workouts, but you will still be ready to be done and feel like you have been WORKED by the end of it.  That's it...short and sweet.

T25: Core Cardio

Due to a few missed workouts over the past few weeks, it had been a while since my husband and I done the Core Cardio workout.  This is NOT a workout to skip out on because doing it today, felt like I was doing it for the first time.  And.I.struggled.  

It was one of those workouts where I did NOT miss an opportunity to take a "justifiable break".  Oh, I need to go to the bathroom.  Sure, I'll turn the volume down.  Oops, the baby is getting too close to the DVD player!  Every chance I got, I stopped doing what I was supposed to be doing in order to catch my breath and give my poor, weary, jello-esque legs a break.  

Core Cardio is a bruiser.  There isn't much to dissect here.  Any possible way to kick, jump, lunge, hop, squat, turn, or skip...you do.  You do each exercise for 30 seconds each for the entire 25 minutes.  The only time you aren't jumping or squatting or kicking is during a short plank series near the very end of the workout.  But don't be fooled.  It's not a break.  By that time, just standing up straight is difficult, let alone planking.  

And it's called Core Cardio because besides your legs AND torso will be screaming in unison.  Who's up for the challenge?!  

Tony Horton Photo Opp

P90X3 is the FIRST Beachbody program I have ever done and I LOVED it despite the fact that I wanted to punch Tony Horton in the face half the time.  Not only does he make you work REALLY hard, but he cracks super cheesy jokes while he's ordering you around.  Not a good combination.  

At Coach Summit, I had the opportunity to meet him and take a picture with him.  I had big ideas about how this would go.  I would very casually saunter over, making sure I don't look too impressed or over-awed.  I would take a fun picture with him...you know, something involving me pretending to kick him in the face.  And then walk away, cool as a cucumber.  

This isn't exactly how it went.  I.got.nervous.  Seriously?!  I was nervous to meet that goofball.  I wanted him to like me, and I wanted him to know that I had been pregnant with twins and how P90X3 helped me get back to "ME".  As I walked up to him, he grasped my shoulders and said, "Well hey there, Shoulders McGee!"  Such a Tony-esque line, but it made me feel so good that he thought I had nice shoulders.  I was shocked!  We went on to discuss how I was a pole-vaulter, and I was so flustered that I stood next to him, smiled, and that was our picture.  Side by side, cheesy smiles on both of our faces.  How terribly disappointing to walk away knowing I behaved like a 15 year old girl at a One Direction concert.  {SIGH}  

3 Types of Beachbody Coaches

Did you know that not all Beachbody coaches are alike?  Beachbody coaches make the decision to become coaches for different reasons, approach the business differently, and have different goals.  Most likely, all Beachbody coaches fit into one of these three categories...

Discount Coach: 
You LOVE the products, especially Shakeology, and you want to get your 25% off every month. You don't have to build a team, you don't have to sell a thing. If people do purchase from your website, you still receive the commission.  You love a good deal and saving some money.  

Hobby Coach:  Beachbody products changed your life, and you want to pay it forward!  
You want to help others reach their fitness goals, and if you can make a few hundred extra dollars per month doing it...great! You aren't TOO interested in building a team, but wouldn't turn anyone away either. You want to start slow, and go at your own pace.  You start out running challenge groups with your upline coach until you are ready to branch out on your own.  You love the products and want to share them with others!  

Business-Building Coach: 
You have been completely inspired by the lives Beachbody has changed and are ready to go all in. You believe in yourself and this company and you are ready to learn and work towards making a significant income by helping others become the best they can be.  You want to participate and be active in the trainings your upline coach has to offer.  You are ready to build a business.  

All of these types of coaches are great.  Beachbody became the company it was because of these kinds of coaches.  What kind of coach are you?