Final Assessments

I am like a proud mother! All of my Angels did AMAZING on their final assessments today! One Angel went from doing 3 push ups to almost 40, another did around 70! We had one Angel hold her wall sit for OVER 15 MINUTES.... that is INSANE... so it's no wonder why I gave her the award "Most Likely To Be Recruited By The Military" (heh heh heh).

Seriously, I can't believe how much everyone improved in just a month's time. It truly goes to show that if you set your mind to something, you will push yourself to reach that goal and then beyond. Amazing job Angels. I'm so sad this is coming to an end, but so happy that we were able to have this experience. Win or lose (though I hope we win) I think just our sheer improvement is a fantastic accomplishment, and you should all be so proud of yourselves.

1, 2, 3, ANGELS!

The Final Bootcamp

Well, well, well.... the time finally arrived. The final bootcamp. *tear* How quickly this month has flown by! Last night the Angels had their booties kicked for the final time by our awesome trainer, Sirena. We pushed hard, we gave it our all, we glowed like pigs, and most importantly... WE HAD FUN.

Wall sits, check!
Medicine ball twists, check!
Planks, check!
Lunges, check!
Step ups, check!
Superwoman, check!
Hip bridges, check!
Medicine ball squat, check!
Rows, check!
Push ups, check!

Tomorrow we have our assessments and I can't wait to see how much everyone has improved. Here are some photos from the very last Jen's Angels bootcamp.

The Other Side of Weight Battles

When people say that they have an issue with weight, sight unseen one would assume that they are either trying to lose weight, or trying to maintain the weight that they've lost. This is an assumption that most people are guilty of - myself included. I am someone who has struggled with weight/weight loss my entire life, but I have never experienced the other side of weight struggles. I used to think "you can never be too thin unless you're anorexic or something."  I now know this way of thinking is completely false, however, it is rarely talked about unless someone is "scary skinny" like the model below. We are constantly shown images of thin, airbrushed models, ads for new fad diets, diet pills, etc. It's easy to blame the media for our fixation on weight when what we should really be concerned with is health.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again. One of the things I truly enjoy about Jen's Angles is the fact that we are so diverse in our fitness/health needs and goals. We have people on our team who have always struggled with yo-yo weight, ones who have always been fairly fit, ones who have been underweight and trying to gain weight, had an eating disorder... you name a scenario, and I bet someone on our team is able to relate. This is awesome! No, not the fact that we've all had to deal with these things; the fact that we can learn from each other, motivate one another, and rally around an issue. Our team has a Facebook page where we're able to communicate with each other, and recently a few members have posted before and after photos of themselves from times dating before this challenge. (How very brave they are!)

One person on our team knows both sides of the weight battle. Ericalynn started off at a weight that she was unhappy with, made up her mind to do something about it, set a goal, lost the weight she needed, and then it went a bit too far. Before she knew it, she was underweight for the first time in her life. Being underweight carries its own set of health risks. The sad fact is that we get recognition and praise for losing weight, and it can become increasingly difficult to switch gears and want to put weight back onto your body that you just worked so hard to lose. The important thing for people to remember is that a number on a scale does not define you, and you should listen to your body.

Since I do not come from a background to give the issue of being underweight the justice it deserves, I spoke with Sally about this issue. For those of you who don't know, Sally has Celiac disease which is an auto-immune disorder. Basically, it prevents her body from digesting gluten protein which is found in many foods. From 2004-2007 she was quite sick and pretty underweight as a result of being malnourished. When your guts are damaged from a disease like Celiac, you can no longer process the vitamins and minerals from any of your food. In her own words she "looked like a bobble-head doll and could barely drag herself to class." She says "I'm finally at a happy place with my weight after years of struggle. Sisters, listen, I know many of you are grumbling right now about this… 'This chick is wanting me to sympathize with her inability to gain weight? For real?' Hear me out. Just because a person is thin doesn’t mean they’re healthy. I look back at my old photos and see my sallow skin, the dark circles under my eyes, and my hollow chest and realize that I was just as far from being healthy as a person struggling with obesity is. Now that I’m able to process nutrients just like a 'normal' person, I’ve gained weight and been able to keep up with an active lifestyle. Jen’s Angels and the Fiona’s Challenge have really pushed me and made me add strength-training to my running routine. Now I’m seeing muscles sprout up when I’m throwing my hair into a ponytail. Soon, I’ll be cutting slits in my t-shirts so they’ll accommodate my wicked biceps! I kid, I kid."

All of us on Jen's Angels had different reasons for wanting to join the challenge that sadly is coming to an end quicker than I care to admit. Nonetheless, being active and exercising is a part of a healthy daily routine whether you want to gain, lose, or maintain your weight. We're all striving to maintain a healthy lifestyle for ourselves, and this challenge is just the tip of the iceberg! Let’s push ourselves and make each other proud!

Motivational Mascots

A friend recently told me that reading the Jen's Angels blog posts has inspired her to take action. She'll be running two 10k's in April! This made me so happy to hear because everyone needs extra motivation sometimes, and Jen's Angels are no exception. Hearing that we motivated someone else to go out and become more active is one form of motivation, and another is found within our group of Angels.

One team member, Ericalynn, has decided that she wants to take some of the positive energy that we give each other, and put it in a more creative form. Thus, The Plank People have been created!

From now through the rest of the challenge we'll be getting inspirational messages from The Plank People to help keep our spirits and motivation high.

                                                

We carried this positive energy into our bootcamp workout, and we had the entire team there! Yay! For once, someone on our team wasn't traveling, and even those who are sick (myself included) showed up and still gave it their all! Again, thanks Angels for being the awesome women that you are and putting in more than 100%

                                                  

Our Little Secrets

Do you remember when you you were younger, and your friends would ask you "can you keep a secret?" how you'd always say yes? You knew full well that you would turn around and ask someone else the same question and pass the secret on! If you answered no, you missed out on a large part of elementary school bonding. Secrets got passed around amongst friends, and in the end it was something you usually laughed about.


No mater what your age, secrets are fun: secret family recipes, secret clothing store where you find amazing deals, secret perfume that gets you lots of compliments, etc. Usually, when people start to lose weight they DON'T want to keep it a secret. In fact, it's quite the opposite, and they want to scream it from the rooftop. A coworker of mine was discussing this with me on Friday, how he has lost 40 pounds but no one seemed to notice. I told him that people did, they most likely weren't sure how to say "hey did you lose weight?" without potentially offending him. He is the type of person who wants people to notice his weight loss and say something to him. In essence, he wants everyone to know that he's accomplishing some personal goals. Well, not everyone wants to do that. Some, like Angel Noël, like to hold the accomplishment in and let it steep. She can feel it infusing throughout her body, especially during Fiona's Challenge. Sometimes at work she'll get up from her desk and feel soreness in her muscles that she didn't even know she had before taking a FOCUS session. She says she quickly looks around to see if anyone else notices, and is happy when she exhales a sigh of relief that her secret is safe... that no one knows if they had a contest she could hold a plank for longer than most of the people in the room.


Noël, and the rest of the Angels, can't wait to see how much we've changed. Our final check-ins are coming soon, and while we'll be sad when the challenge is officially over we'll be excited to see our progress from the past month. We've shared some fitness secrets with one another, and we'll continue to utilize what we've learned! One "secret" that I don't mind sharing with you on this blog... my team is awesome and I'm going to miss seeing these girls at the gym, and our post bootcamp dinner bonding sessions. Just over a week left!

(L-R: Noël, Cory, and Sirena)

Curse of the Angels?

It seems that our team members keep getting sick! Between the flu, sinus infections, and most recently being in the hospital with pneumonia, it seems my Angels are cursed! However, by my calculations  we earned more points the 2nd week than the 1st week in terms of attendance. So, even though we've been down, we have by no means been defeated! We're still moving in the right direction and giving it our best, and that's exactly what we'll continue to do!

For those of us that haven't fallen ill to the curse, we are keeping up with our workouts, and trying new things and new classes. It's no secret to my team members that I'm a ZUMBA addict, and I have tried to recruit them on more than one occasion. A few of the Angels have come with me, and most recently was Sally. She had never taken a ZUMBA class before and we took Tavia's class on Monday. Her class stays high energy the whole time, which I love, and she engages all participants. Sally thought the class was fun and really enjoyed Tavia so she's thinking of looking into her Body Pump class as well. (Body Pump is another one of my guilty pleasures... and I'm anxiously awaiting the new release that's coming next week! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!)

I love having my Angels at the gym with me, especially when I'm not planning on getting to see them. I saw Cory and Ericalynn taking a FOCUS Gravity class together on my way to my workout, and then on my way out I bumped into Angie as she was heading to start her workout! At the beginning of this challenge, Angie's form for some of the exercises wasn't quite right so she's been working at it. Her wall sit has improved, her pushups are getting stronger, and her squat form is much better. In passing she started singing to me "I'm up in the gym, workin on my fitness, Jen you are my witness...." while showing me her improved squats. As such, I had to take a photo!

Keep up the good work Angels! We'll kick that curse's butt!

~*Jen*~

Bootcamp, Bootcamp, Bootcamp!

This week the Angels' trainer Sirena kicked it up a notch with our bootcamp. Just goes to show that if you tell a trainer to push you harder... they WILL and you better be ready. The Angels pushed themselves and were giving it all they had, and before you knew it, bootcamp was over! If it hadn't been for the sweat and exhausted muscles proving it was a decent length... I wouldn't have believed it. I guess it's true what they say.... time flies when you're having fun! We had various stations and intervals like last week, but we decreased the time to switch stations and added modifications to make the exercises more challenging. This enabled Angels to push themselves based on their individual athletic ability. Check out the Angels in action! (Some of the photos are a bit blurry as they were taken with a camera phone).