Yes I know the picture isn't great! But that's her standing behind me with the black hat and yellow and black shoes. She is truly 5 foot nothing, but her bark... has some serious bite. I don't remember how many times she said she would personally kick our asses... It was AWESOME!!!! Ok so let me tell you the story!
I can't remember if it was Monday or Tuesday when my friend Sherry asked me if I had submitted my name to workout with Jillian... I was like "what??? no one said anything about this to me!!!! ahk, what do I do? what do I do? who do I call? Thank the Lord Sherry is used to my panic ridden anxiety because she sent me the number right away. I called and they told me I couldn't get in the class unless my name was drawn from the lottery. I wasn't about to give up, I asked if they could call me if anyone didn't show up, then I asked if I could be in the gym... so they could call my cell. They had no problem with that. So plans were made.
I taught on Wednesday morning, then grabbed lunch, picked up Sherry and off we went. She had gotten into the class, I was literally loitering by the bottom of the stairs waiting for the ok to take the class. There was one other lady waiting to get it with me, then two more joined. Class was due to start at 3:30 and at 3:27 Jillian with her hat and aviator glasses bounced up the stairs. I nearly missed her, at 3:35, after photo's were taken they let us in. I grabbed my weights and walked right up front. See me in the picture, I did the class from there.
The way I figured it, I wasn't about to miss the most amazing opportunity of my life by hiding in the back of the class. I wanted the whole experience. I wanted to be yelled at! I wanted to leave everything on the floor... at her feet... yes... yes I worship the woman!
The class was 45 minutes, of the most intense moves I have pretty much ever done. You know those moves that you might only see a few of in a 60 minute class... and lasting about a minute... Ha. Well I don't actually remember her ever stopping at any point in the routine. It was one intense exercise to the next... and she was very clear that she would give a 5 second count down and were were not to stop the previous exercise until she said 5, then we were to start the next one. Ok so we are talking, tuck jumps, jumping squats, plank walks, push up-walk ups, side arm raise lunges, single leg squat with bicep curls, mountain climbers, plank jumping jacks... and the list goes on and on... (apparently similar to her videos ... but harder! ) I got yelled at, looked at, tripped on... all by Jillian... I swear to this day, I gave it everything I had. Nothing was left in the tank.. and also if that lady had asked me to do a 1 finger push up... I probably would have... Because it's Jillian Micheals asking.
I was so proud of myself! I was so greatful for having been allowed the chance to workout with her. And so blessed that I had an amazing friend to share it with.
The rest of the day, we re-fueled and then went to her Maximize you life seminar. Also a mind blowing experience... I can even begin to get into everything that she covered. But yes, she spoke about diet, exercise and mental wellbeing. Here's the short version... Eat less!!! Move more!!! And also metabolism is your endocrine system... so the food you eat affect the hormones in your body... Eat crappy=hormones aren't working to optimize health=fat cells growing.... Eat clean/nutritious/and the right amount for you = you have happy hormones=optimize health=burning fat
She gave us the math. You can look it up too. Look up how to calculate you BMR. You can just find one online. Mine comes out to being 1436... That is how many calories I need to live. Now you can multiply this number by your normal activity level. 1.1 sedentary.... 1.2 slightly active throughout the day 1.3 you are a trainer... 1.4 construction worker/heavy repeated motions all day long. (she was a 1.3 so I'm a 1.2)... so my daily caloric intake should be 1723. If I want to lose weight... I need to eat less and move more!
Ok and my brain is still trying to wrap itself around the mental/mindful aspect of the seminar. Diet and exercise I get... But then she asked some pretty important questions... "Why are you doing what you are doing?" (so for me... why am I killing myself with the triathlons, why do I then turn around and consume alcohol and other treats, which sabotage my hard work?) Why?
And then she got into the reasons why we fail... Destructive patterns of behaviours... done because why? We are looking of a different result? We follow the same routines leading to some type of unhealthy behaviour. Rince and repeat... We essentially determine our own failure by taking the same path. So the point is to be conscious... to constantly check in... How do I feel in this moment.. Is it making me happy, ok good, continue, or is it making me feel crappy, ok bad, disconnect! She really liked using the term "listen to you bull crap meter"... it's probably right. But we get really good at ignoring all emotions, we stuff them way way down so we don't have to deal with the unpleasant ones.
