It is totally crazy to think that I have completed an entire round of Hammer and Chisel already. 60 days in the books! I will be honest that I enjoyed myself over the holidays, I stuck to the workouts but we had Christmas, a trip to Florida, New Years, a huge weekend event here in Pittsburgh, then another trip to LA to speak at a conference so I will say that my nutrition was less than perfect. But, I will say that despite all of that, I can tell that I am gaining muscle definition, I am getting stronger and I feel better! I can really see a difference in my body from the past 60 days.
What I will admit is that I was not perfect at taking pictures and I didn’t document my physical transformation because at this point its not about the scale, its truly about how I feel in my skin. I just want to feel strong, know that I am in fact feeding my body with great nutrient dense food and I am giving myself the competitive edge in life with strong bones and a great heart! I workout not because I have to but because I love too! It makes me feel energized and ready to take on the day!
So this week marked the beginning of round 2 with Hammer and Chisel. A whole round under my belt and I definitely learned a few things!
#1 You have to constantly challenge yourself to dig deeper and push harder. Increase your weights when you feel that it’s becoming comfortable.
#2 Track your weights so that you remember what you lifted the week before.
#3 Track your food! It is easy to have a skewed perception of how closely you are following the nutrition plan when you aren’t actually writing it down. I love being able to look back over a week or even a day and seeing how good I did on my water intake and checking off the boxes for my nutrition plan. Then, I can schedule in my 1 splurge meal each week without feeling guilty about it.
#4 Trust the process! I learned that you have to have faith in the process. You might not lose weight right away but its not about that! It’s about listening to your body, getting stronger, challenging yourself physically and mentally and being healthier on the inside too. But, if you are doing the program for 3 weeks and not seeing any changes at all, its important that you don’t abandon ship. You don’t stop doing the program because HEY after 3 weeks of no results I guess it doesn’t work… WRONG! Your body is like a science experiment and everyone is totally different. We all respond differently. Some of us can’t have gluten, some are sensitive to dairy, some of us can’t eat carbs after dinner and others can! We all respond differently so its important that you track your food, you identify trends and you ask your coach for help when you get stuck! It can be something as simple as cutting back 1 yellow container or switching the times of the day or the types of fruits you are eating to jump start yourself back into the right direction. TRUST the PROCESS. Hammer and Chisel went through a lot of testing before it got to you! They know what they are doing, it will work. But you have to have faith and trust the process.
So with that being said! It’s time for round 2.
Worksheets printed and you can find them on the Team Beachbody Website under the Get Fit Tab and Workout Sheets.
