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The Wait is ALMOST Over!

#1 Question I get asked as a Beachbody Coach: “When is Chalene Johnson going to come out with a NEW program, and what will it be!? I LOVE Turbo Fire and Chalean Extreme SO much…I just can’t take it anymore!”

I’m happy to provide BOTH answers for you!

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FINALLY!

Chalene Johnson’s NEW Workout!

Coming June 2014!

Improve Your Overall Strength and Flexibility

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Get an ultra lean and intensely defined physique without bulking up or straining your joints.

Introducing PiYo, a high-intensity, low-impact workout for a new kind of STRONG. 

Chalene Johnson took the very best Pilates and yoga-inspired moves and cranked up the speed to give you full throttle cardio, strength, and flexibility training—all at once. PiYo packs it ALL into each workout so you can build lean muscle mass—as you’re burning crazy calories.


Want to sculpt every single inch of your body? Watch this video about the new PiYo workout.

Now you can carve every inch of your body.

How? You’ll use your body weight to perform a series of continuous, targeted moves, to burn fat as you redefine every single muscle. No weights. No jumps. Just hardcore results.

The result? Problem areas become no problem. You’ll get sleek, long arms, sexy, flat abs, a tight, lifted butt, and the confidence that comes from knowing you’re at your best!

This is your chance to define exactly how you want to look—and how you want to feel. You’re in control.

You have the power to define yourself.
Now use it.

Be First To Get Chalene Johnson’s PiYo!

Want to be the first to get Chalene Johson’s PiYo Workout? Want to get the workout schedules for PiYo, meal plans, and everything else before everyone else? Simply fill in the form below!

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Open Letter to….

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This is a letter I was asked to write to a group of people in another coach’s challenge group who are struggling with self-confidence, body image issues and other feelings of negativity about themselves. They are either starting, re-starting or continuing on a journey of health and fitness. I was happy to share my story with them, and thought that it was worth sharing here, too.

“Dear Challengers,

I was honored when _____ asked me to write to you about my experiences and my personal journey with health and fitness.  I applaud you all for either getting started, or continuing on your own personal journeys. It’s not always an easy path, but it’s so rewarding…you’ll begin to WANT to keep going!

Even though I had always considered myself a fairly ‘healthy’ person, I didn’t realize that I had a lot of work to do! I have been pretty active my entire life, and enjoyed eating healthy foods, but as I approached my 40’s…it just wasn’t enough. I was slowly gaining weight, month by month, pound by pound. I was doing the same workouts, and eating the same kinds of food, but it just wasn’t working anymore! I tried to convince myself that it’s just what was meant to be. I couldn’t do anything more about it than I already was. I was kidding myself.

In the process, I was also becoming more unhappy and depressed by the day. I wasn’t happy with the way that I looked or felt. I wouldn’t allow a single picture of myself to be taken, and if there was…I would delete them! Isn’t that awful? Can you relate?

So I did something weird…I decided to put the cart before the horse, in a sense, and signed up to be a Beachbody coach in order to START my journey, and be accountable along the way. I started with Chalean Extreme and TurboFire, and lost 16 pounds and 20 inches! But I wasn’t done yet. Then I did Les Mills Pump, and then Insanity…and lost a grand total of 24 pounds within about 6-8 months! I’ve done several other programs since, to maintain and continue to get stronger each day.

I’m not done with my journey! I will never be done. This is a new lifestyle for me and my family. Seeing my success, my husband has now lost 25 pounds and looks and feels better than ever! We are both healthier and fitter than we were when we got married 20 years ago. We’ve made so many changes in our daily lives. We eat much healthier foods. We’ve eliminated most processed foods entirely. Working out is a priority, and we often do it together, which is so fantastic! It didn’t happen overnight. This all took time, persistence, failures, re-boots, etc…but I was committed no matter how long it took me.

As a result, my confidence is better than ever. I actually allow pictures of myself to be taken now, so there’s evidence that I am part of my family! I’m a happier, healthier mom for my four kids, and they’re all learning how to eat healthier, and be healthier, too!

My message to you is to keep going! Whether you stumble, or fall – just pick yourself back up and keep going. Make small changes every day, and celebrate your successes! Set small, achievable goals every day. Plan, schedule and prioritize! Once you start to see results, you’ll be addicted to the process!

Surround yourself with positive people, books, etc. Learn as much as you can about making healthy choices you can live with every day! Share your journey – ask a friend or loved one to join you. Keep a journal and document your thoughts, troubles, joys and achievements. Take monthly progress pictures to refer back to – trust me on this one! You’ll be glad you did it! Find exercises, workouts and physical activities that you LOVE! You might have to try a hundred things before you find your ‘soul-mate’ workout, but it’s out there! Try hiking, biking, walking, jogging, a new exercise dvd, etc….You might find SEVERAL! And that’s even better!  But whatever you do, never stop trying. You are worth this journey, your family is worth it, life is worth it! Consider the alternative! I know I want to age with as little pain and illness as possible, and there’s only ONE way to do that! You can’t control everything, but you can control your health. You owe it to yourself to be as healthy and happy as you can be!

When you struggle, remember WHY you started. Write down your goals, today! Write down your WHY, too! WHY are you trying to be healthier? When you have a ‘why’, you have a reason to commit, and recommit if you need to, every single day.

I wish you all the very best, and believe that you can all achieve anything you set your minds to! Go ahead and blow your own mind!

-Angie”

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This is Going to be BIG!

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So we have a little competition going on among Beachbody coaches right now! But get this, if we win…YOU win! The goal: change more people’s lives through health and fitness!

THE OPPORTUNITY: This will be an opportunity like NO other! I am co-hosting a group challenge! Get this: FIVE coaches, including myself and the amazingly awesome Jenelle Summers, will be coaching, motivating and helping each participant reach their individual goals! It will be a “Biggest Loser” style challenge (LOVE that show!), starting on Monday August 12 and running for 30 days! Stick with us for 30 days, and you’ll be well on your way to making some really positive changes in your life! And, if you join this challenge on my team, you’ll get me as your coach for these 30 days and beyond! This is going to be FUN!

THE CHALLENGE: This challenge will be open to anyone who is ready to invest in something that will kick-start some serious results! We’ll be working out, eating clean and keeping each other ON TRACK! Workouts can be done from home and we’ll give advice and tips about clean, healthy eating. We’ll be doing this together in a private Facebook group! *If you’re not ready to invest in anything, I would still love to hear how I can help you, or someone you know!

THE PRIZES!: What would a competition be without prizes!? There will be one overall winner selected for best results and participation! The winner will receive a $100 gift card AND a special autographed book (join the challenge and you’ll find out!).

THE FINE PRINT: This challenge is open to anyone EXCEPT current coaches or those working with other coaches! (Stay with your own coach please! They love and care about you!) 🙂

READY?! Click the “30 Day Challenge” tab at the top of this page for more information. Read some testimonials of previous challengers and contact me to sign up and let me know what your goals are and how I can help you reach them!

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Analysis Paralysis

Back+To+Basics

When you make something more difficult than it has to be, it can become so overwhelming that it seems impossible to actually do. Take health/nutrition/the quest for the body you have always wanted. You could read a thousand different articles, theories, magazines, blogs, tips, suggestions, etc…You’ll read about counting your macros, eating certain foods, wearing special shoes, doing your workouts at specific times of day, walking vs. running vs. HIIT workouts vs. crossfit, cardio vs. strength-training, and on and on…But when you boil it all down, all that you really need to do is 2 things: eat well and exercise. That’s it.

I have had challenge participants in the past who have become overwhelmed during the process, because they start over-thinking it. How much protein should I eat? How many days should I lift weights vs. cardio? What shoes should I wear? What if I miss a day? What muscle groups should I focus on/how many days per week? How many reps should I do? I’m not saying that these aren’t important questions to ask. But they’ll spend all of this time scrolling through pages and pages of different tips and pictures and workouts and diet suggestions and recipes. Before you know it, they have spent SO much time thinking about working out, that they never had the time to actually do it! And even though they have read about clean eating, and healthy foods and pinned a bunch of recipes that they wanted to try, they have to grab something quick to eat because they ran out of time.

 
I think there are a couple of things going on here. I think there is an element of avoidance. Since they’re spending time reading about health and fitness, somehow it seems productive. But they’re not actually DOING anything productive. We live in a world where information is everywhere, at our fingertips, on t.v., your computers and tablets, anything you ever wanted to know about anything is right there. And you could never read it all! You’ll find 10 different theories about healthy eating in less than 10 minutes on the internet. You’ll find dozens of workout theories in the same amount of time. So what’s right? What do you do? Well, don’t spend so much time looking, scouring and pinning, that you become paralyzed by all of the information. All you need to know is 2 things. Eat well and move daily!

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We all have a basic enough knowledge of food to know that some things are good for you, and some just aren’t. I mean the absolute BASICS!

  • Fruit and veggies = GOOD!
  • Chips = BAD!
  • Whole grains = GOOD!
  • Box of mac and cheese = BAD!

When all else fails, avoid the aisles (where all of the processed food lives) and shop the perimeter of the store. You’ll get most of your healthy food there.

 
And as far as exercise goes: lace up a pair of shoes and move: dance, run, jog, walk, jump rope, dvd workout (I can certainly recommend a few!), box, pick things up and put them down, air guitar! Whatever floats your boat, do for 30-60 minutes every day! Go ahead and get a little sweaty! It can’t hurt! 🙂

 
Once you have that totally mastered, and I mean MASTERED it – Like it’s an everyday daily non-negotiable habit, THEN you can pay a little more attention to details. Go ahead and read about protein and the many benefits of strength training, and calculating your macro-nutrients, and picking the perfect fitness shoe, etc…but wasting time on the minutia, especially at the beginning of your fitness journey, just takes your attention away from the basics. Find healthy foods you like to eat, and find a workout or 2 that you enjoy doing. Get yourself an accountability partner, fitness coach (ME!) or join an accountability group (check out the 30 Day Challenge tab at the top of this page), and get working on making a lifestyle change that involves just the 2 basics. It takes 21 days to form a habit (good or bad). Do these 2 basics for 21 days, and you’re set!

 
In short, don’t make it harder than it has to be. Put down the smart phone, step away from the lap-top, stop pinning and start DOING!

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Challenge = Change

ChallengeChangeAs I’m getting ready to open my eighth monthly health/fitness challenge, I’m struck by some of the results that I’ve seen come out of them! I’ve heard from a few previous challenge participants over the last couple of days and their results are more than encouraging! These kind of results prove that true change happens when you challenge yourself to replace old habits with newer, healthier habits. It’s the lifestyle change that sets these amazing transformations into motion! The purpose of these challenges is not to get you in the best shape of your life in only 30 days. Rather, it’s to learn how to take care of yourself, and find motivation that you never knew you had, so that you can continue on your journey beyond the challenge.

They say it takes 21 days to form a habit. I’ve seen it happen time and again. Once you get used to the idea of eating cleaner, healthier foods, and making your daily workouts non-negotiable, you start to tackle every day with a new determination and purpose.

These challenge groups work because they combine all of the crucial elements. You get to pick a workout that suits you. Not everyone is expected to do the same workouts, what fun would that be? You have to find something that you enjoy, so that you can stick with it! The good news is that there are MANY to pick from. I personally have done Turbo Jam (seems like a million years ago!), P90X (all 90 days!), Turbo Fire, Chalean Extreme, Les Mills Pump and now Insanity! Some people think that DVD programs would never work, or that they might get boring. That might have been true 10 years ago, but they have changed! You don’t just get one or two DVD’s, you get an entire folder full of DVD’s, each with different workouts, meant to be done on different days. Furthermore, there is a always program calendar to follow (usually 60-90 days) developed by fitness professionals that understand the importance of muscle confusion and well-timed rest days, etc. AND, there are usually some REALLY good tunes to work out to, which always helps me stay motivated!

The second part is nutrition. This was the game-changer for me. I always thought I ate pretty ‘healthy’, but I was definitely eating a lot of processed foods with labels like “low-fat”, and “sugar-free”, thinking that these things were healthy! Now, I’m not saying I don’t eat anything with those labels anymore, but I have switched a lot of it out for clean, healthy, unprocessed, whole foods. When I did, I started to see results like I had never seen before. I was so skeptical about Shakeology before I started, but honestly… now I can’t imagine a day without it! It is so satisfying, and full of nutrition! It curbs my cravings (especially the sweet-tooth cravings!), keeps me regular (if you know what I mean) and gives me enough energy to get through my very busy days! I drink it as one of my 5-6 small meals each day. Eating more often throughout the day, instead of 3 BIG meals, keeps me satisfied all day without the need to STUFF myself because I’m starving! You’ve heard the saying: “Abs are made in the kitchen”, and it’s true! You can work out everyday at high intensity, do crunches and planks galore, but if you’re not eating the right kinds of foods, you’ll never see what’s going on under that belly fat. I always share my meal plan, as well as some of the recipes that I’ve discovered along the way. It is NOT a diet, it’s a lifestyle change!  diet_over

The third and most important element is ACCOUNTABILITY! You can exercise and eat healthy all on your own, right? Well, when you have a group of people, who all have similar goals and expectations, and you report to them every day about your workouts, nutrition, victories and struggles…it just takes it to a whole new level! There’s just something about knowing that you’re going to tell people either “I crushed my workout today”, or “I skipped my workout today”, that motivates you to get it done! You’ll get to look forward to weekly progress checks and celebrate with the group when you’re making progress! Having that kind of support makes the process so positive and fun!

So without further ado, I’d like to share some of the results that have been reported.

  • Since I started, I’ve lost 22 pounds and about 16 inches. (Chalean Extreme, TurboFire, Les Mills Pump & Insanity + Shakeology)
  • Jen has lost 24 pounds and 21 inches! (Chalean Extreme & cardio + Shakeology)
  • Michele has lost 21 pounds and 23 inches! (Chalean Extreme, Turbo Fire, Hip Hop Abs + Shakeology)
  • Gretchen is down 27.5 pounds since she started a few months ago! (Turbo Fire & Yoga)
  • Barb is 62 years old and so far has lost 17 pounds and 19 1/2 inches! (Walking, body-weight exercises & Tai Cheng + Shakeology)
  • My mom, age 63, is down 7 pounds and 6 inches, and looks & feels better than ever! (Slim in 6, Turbo Fire, Chalean Extreme and running)
  • Lisa went from a size 14 to a size 8 and is down a total of 24 inches! (Chalean Extreme + Shakeology)
  • Jessica has lost 12 pounds and over 11 inches and is close to being as fit as she was when she was a college athlete! (Les Mills Pump & cardio + Shakeology)

And these are just a handful of the results I’ve seen! There are lots of reports of losing 10 – 15 pounds in the 30 days of the challenge, but it’s the results that go beyond that, that are SO incredibly inspiring. It makes me feel so good to know that the challenge causes a change in the way we think, eat, exercise and live! It works, if you do! Interested? Ready to start your own transformation? Check out the “30 Day Challenge” link at the top of this page.

FITNESS + NUTRITION + SUPPORT = SUCCESS!