Inaugural Wednesday Workout

Yesterday Zach and I hosted 21 teachers and staff from his school district for the inaugural "Workout Wednesdays," a new fitness club at his school. When I signed up to be a Team Beachbody Coach, one of the first things I wanted to do in order to reach people was start up a fitness club. Since Zach is a principal and has access to both willing participants and a high school gym, we were quickly in business.

With the help of one of the teachers at his school, we publicized the event and secured high school students as babysitters for anyone with kids (so no one could use kids as an excuse not to come!). I was thrilled with the enthusiasm that the teachers showed about the program. We had thirty people express interest in coming, and even more asking questions about it.

Zach and I had a blast coming up with the workout. We used moves we have learned in P90X and through the One on One with Tony Horton programs that we have delivered every month. When choosing which moves to put in, it was essential that they meet two criteria: 1) it does not require any equipment like weights and 2) it is modifiable for any fitness level. Most of the moves came from the "Cardio Confusion" DVD, but some came from Plyometrics, and one move even came from the Insanity workouts.

The day before our workout, I sent a special treat up to school to advertise one last time: Black Bean Brownies. Now, I won't lie and say these brownies are as good as the real thing, but they were definitely good. Next time I'll either dust some powdered sugar on them, or sprinkle walnuts and chocolate chips on them to pump up the chocolate flavor a bit. Anyway, the point was to say that treats don't have to be totally fattening and/or ruin our diet. Next week I'm trying a chocolate cake that uses beet puree. I'll keep you posted  on the results of that one.

Back to the workout.

We met at 4:30 in the gym, and 21 of the 30 who said they were interested came to participate. The cardio workout consisted of 25 one-minute moves, followed by a cool down and 10 minutes of abs. Zach stood at the front with me and demonstrated the high intensity version of the moves, while I showed how to modify for low intensity. Everyone did fantastic! We had people of all ages, some who are currently doing P90X, and some who haven't exercised in years.

Wrapping up our ab workout

After the workout, we had a short talk about nutrition, wherein I challenged the group to go soda-free. I figured it would be an unpopular suggestion, but people took it pretty well! Paula, the teacher I'm working with, has generously offered a prize to the participants who live up to the challenge for the week.

I can't tell you how good it feels to help people get on the road to good health. My hope is that we can inspire people to make exercise and healthy eating a part of their lives for the long term, because I really believe healthy and fit people are happier people, too.