Final Call for My June Fit Challenge Groups!

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Hey Boys and Girls!

It’s that time again! Time to decide if you want to commit to giving 100% to your fitness and nutrition for at least the next 30 days. Accountability and support are KEY to success and that is why I host at least one Beachbody Challenge Group every month. To help those who are serious to reach their goals that much faster. Fitness + Nutrition = Success. Period. I’m launching into an action packed summer, including Beachbody’s Summit in just a few weeks so I’m ready to get even more FIT, how about you?

My goal for the next 30 days!

So what’s involved. It’s really basic, the guidelines are below.We will be starting on June 6th so all orders must be placed by May 31st.

1~ Commit to working out 5-6 days a week and to bring your “A” game. The workouts do not have to be Beachbody but do need to be challenging to YOU. If you need recommendations message me at Coni@ConiFitness.com and I will hook you up ;-) Think you have to be super fit to be included? Think again! These challenges are for peeps from ALL fitness levels.

2~ Commit to eating AT LEAST 90% clean for the next 30 days. We all have different dietary tastes and preferences (vegan, paleo, vegetarian, etc) so instead of all of us sticking to the same meal plan we will commit to eating minimal (none would be best) processed crap food during the challenge. No white flour, sugar or things that come in boxes. No chips, candy, soda. Nothing that is not real, whole food. We will also go out of our way to eat LOTS fresh fruits and veggies.

3~ Commit to drinking at least one Shakeology a day by creating a Home Direct order I know many of you are already doing this or have in the past. For those who aren’t what are you waiting for?? Shakeology is simply the best nutritional product I’ve ever come across plus it tastes great. If you want to be leaner, have more energy, improve your digestion, feel healthier and get other perks like longer hair, better nails and improved skin quality this is your go to product! 100% natural and filled with superfoods, nothing else compares. Give your body the fuel it deserves and it will thank you, promise!

4~ Commit to DAILY check ins on our private facebook page. Get and give support, share your experience and come to get your questions answered. You are not in this alone! The rest of the Challenge Group is in it with you and we ALL do better with support.

That’s it! I REALLY hope you decide to join us and, as your coach, I PROMISE to be there with you every step of the way. Make TODAY the day you commit to be being the best you can be, no one else can do it for you. Are you up for the Challenge? If so let’s GET THE PARTY STARTED!! Message me on facebook or at Coni@ConiFitness.com and let’s get you set up.

PS~ Almost forgot! If you are looking for a workout program to use we have some killer deals on Challenge Packs that include a full program (ie P90X, Insanity, Les Mills Pump, Brazil Butt Lift, Turbo Fire, etc) AND get you started with Shakeology. If you are getting both at the same time message me and we will find the best deal for you or you can browse the selection on my Team Beachbody site at www.beachbodycoach.com/ConiConstantine. Remember that the deadline to order to be included for June is May 31st. If you want in, don’t snooze it!

Handy Tips from the Desert~ Sap and How to Unstick It

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Just a quick post today to remind you (or maybe just to remind me) that it is ALWAYS a good idea to look for sap before climbing a tree. Especially if you are wearing shorty shorts and decide to butt scootch down a section. Maybe this is obvious to most but I can be pretty oblivious.

A little sap goes a long way!

So here’s the deal, sap is STICKY and it smells super strong. I love the scent of fresh pine as much as the next person but it was a little overwhelming plus it was starting to burn a little. Since there is no soap or running water in the middle of Joshua Tree I had to get resourceful! Enter a pretty genius idea if I do say so myself! I simply sprayed my butt down with tanning oil, scrubbed it a lil with some extra towels a pair of underwear I was OK parting with and BOOM, no more stickies!! A quick splash of water finished the clean up and I was on my way.

The Sap Zapper!

So there you do Dear Readers! It turns out sap removal is easy peasy if you have the right tool. I hope you found this post helpful!

Coni

No more stickies!

 

Ultimate Reset Quinoa Salad

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I will be posting a week 1 re-cap of my experience with Beachbody’s Ultimate Reset this weekend but I’ve had so many peeps asking about this quinoa recipe that I wanted to get it out there ASAP.  Feeling AMAZING btw. Energy is way up and it’s only day 6! Enjoy friends :-)

Ultimate Reset Quinoa Salad 

Ingredients

  • ½ cup cooked Quinoa
  • 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
  • Himalayan salt or Bragg® Liquid Aminos (to taste)
  • 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
  • 2 Tbsp. finely minced fresh parsley
  • 1 Tbsp. finely minced fresh mint leaves
  • ¼ large ripe tomato, diced
  • ¼ large cucumber, peeled and diced
  • 2 Tbsp. chopped pitted Kalamata olives

Directions
Toss quinoa with olive oil, salt or Bragg Liquid Aminos, and lemon juice, mixing well. Gently fold in parsley and mint, followed by remaining ingredients. Cover and chill for 1 hour. Serves 1.

Nutrition

  • 270 calories
  • 18 g fat
  • 2.5 g saturated fat
  • 0 mg cholesterol
  • 135 mg sodium
  • 25 g carbohydrate
  • 4 g fiber
  • 5 g protein
  • 254 mg potassium

Rest in Peace Sean Michael O’Malley aka Cardio Coach

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This is a hard blog post for me to write. Certainly not one I thought I would ever be writing. I sat down and said out loud~ “Where do I start?” A little voice inside my head simply said…start from the heart. So that is what I’m going to do.

For those of you who had the pleasure of knowing Sean, in real life or through his workouts, you know what an incredibly kind, caring, and giving man he was. The fact that his physical body stopped being on Sunday, March 25th seems unreal but it’s true. I truly believe that he had a positive impact on every person he was able to reach. I know he definitely had a major impact on mine.

I discovered Sean’s Cardio Coach workouts several years ago when I was living in rural Virginia. A gorgeous part of the country for sure but WAY different than what I was used to. Thousands of miles from home, in a place that I felt like stranger in, and dealing with a stupid amount of debt it felt to me like I was NEVER going to have my life back. I was also still dealing with the recent death of my beloved father and grandmother. Despondent and hopeless pretty much sums it up. Alive but not living life. Getting by, whatever. For those of you that know me now that probably seems hard to believe but it was TRUE. I honestly do not know what got me out if bed some mornings but what I do know is that I was aware that feeling good physically would be the first step in getting my mojo back. Cardio Coach became part of that journey.

Based on what I had heard about the workouts, I expected to have my butt kicked and kicked it was!! I surprised myself and found that I COULD run more than 2 minutes without my legs falling off or coughing up a lung. What I wasn’t prepared for was that these workouts, that Sean’s gentle, wise and sometimes tough love words would also begin to change my perception of my life. They would change me, what I could experience and what I was capable of. A little tiny light appeared at the end of the tunnel. At the time I had no clue as to how I was going to back myself out of this situation but I KNEW that it was going to happen. I KNEW there was a future that did not include depression and hopelessness. I KNEW that I would get it all back and more. I did not have complete control over my present situation but I DID have complete control over how I reacted to it and over every decision I made going forward. Every workout became a sweaty attitude adjustment.

So THANK YOU Sean. Thank you for giving me hope and belief when I needed it the most. Thank you for helping me realize that I have an infinite amount of strength and potential, that I have the power to choose how I live my life. Thank you for leading by example and for teaching me that, a true measure of a coach’s success is the success of the people they coach. Thank you for making me a better coach and a better person even now, as we try to make sense of you being gone. Thank you for the friends I’ve made along the way. Thank you for always being a light to so many of us and for the inspiration you will continue to provide.

I feel compelled, more than ever, to follow your lead and be true to myself, my heart, and to the people in my life. Whether they are in it for 1 minute or lifetime.

Oh, and I also promise to bring my A game to each and every workout :)

Until we meet again in Cardio Coachland…

xoxo

What is Success?

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What is success?

I came across this quote by Bob Dylan the other day and thought it summed things up PERFECTLY.  

“A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.”

Truly, what else is there? It made me realize that, as perfect as any life may be, we can always be truer to ourselves and our priorities. Are YOU spending your days doing what you want to do or are you spending them doing what you think you should be doing? NO ONE should ever have to settle for a life they don’t really want. Yes, at one point or another we all have to make concessions and compromise but if you consistently spend 5 days of the week wishing it was the weekend and the other 2 days dreading Monday you owe it to yourself to make a change!

What moves you? What can you get passionate about? What do you LOVE? I promise you there is a way to get paid to do it. It might be a little scary and feel a little uncomfortable at first but living a successful life is worth it, yes? 

Are you living your dream life? If not, what would you rather be doing?? Post below and let me know so we can get you closer to what YOU want!


xoxo

Coni

No Excuses aka Suck it Up Buttercup

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It’s too hot.

It’s too cold.

I’m not as young as I used to be.

I don’t have the time.

I’m not naturally good at sports/running/yoga/business/dealing with people/being creative, etc etc etc

I’m too shy.

I’m too busy.

I’m too afraid to fail.

I could never be as good as “so & so”

I don’t have enough money.

I’m too tired.

I don’t believe I can be thinner/fitter/healthier, it’s not in my genes.

I don’t like vegetables.

Maybe once the kids are out of school/this project is done/after the house sells/once things improve with my job.

I’m too scared to take 100% responsibility for my life, my future and the amount of awesomeness in it.

I don’t want to hear all the reasons you can’t. I want to hear the one reason you CAN. 

The truth is that, every successful/fit/happy person had that moment when they stopped looking for reasons why they couldn’t be their best and started looking for reasons they could. Why not you?

If you are ready to bust your excuses, I’m here to help.

>Spicy Paleo/Primal Chili

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Who doesn’t love chili on a chilly winter day? By popular demand here is the recipe that goes with the pic I posted on facebook a couple days ago. I like LOTS if heat so there are lots of peppers. Feel free to adjust according to you taste :-)

***Special Note*** Since I published this recipe I have cut WAY down on my bacon intake (as in none at all lol) and also eat much less meat. I will be revamping this one to my current tastes but did not want to just replace this one because, well because it’s freakin tasty! If you do try this one PLEASE treat yourself to the very best meat you can get (nitrate free, grass fed, non factory farmed, etc etc, etc.) Your taste buds will thank you and it’s good karma I believe <3 

Spicy Paleo/Primal Chili 

Ingredients~

  • 2 lbs ground beef chuck
  • 1 lb ground pork
  • 1/2 package bacon, chopped
  • 4-5 carrots, sliced into bite sized pieces
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 cup sliced mushrooms
  • 1 green pepper, chopped
  • 2 habaneros, diced
  • 3-4 stalks celery, sliced
  • 2 jalapenos, diced
  • 5-6 cloves of garlic, finely diced
  • 4 14.5 oz cans fire roasted tomatoes
  • 4T Chili Powder
  • 2 tsp Paprika
  • 1.5T Oregano
  • 1.5T Basil
  • 1.5T Cumin
  • 1T Pure Baking Cocoa Powder
  • Salt and Pepper to Taste
  • 1 Cup Strong Black Coffee
  • Chicken/Beef broth to cover

Directions~ 

Brown the meat (ground meats & bacon) on medium high heat until bacon starts to cook and meat is no longer pink. About 5 minutes Drain most of the excess grease off.

Add all vegetables to the pot (carrots through garlic) and continue cooking until veggies start to soften. About 5 minutes more.

Add spices (Chili powder through salt & pepper) and continue to cook, stirring constantly, for 1-2 more minutes.

Add canned tomatoes, coffee, and broth to cover. Stir well and bring to boil. Once boiling lower heat to a gentle simmer and let it cook for at last another 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Garnish with avocado, plain yogurt, more sliced hot peppers and cilantro if desired.

ENJOY :-)




>AWESOME Barre Workout!

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>Today I took a slight detour from my Les Mills Pump hybrid rotation and tried out one of my fairly new (and never done before!) Cathe workouts, Turbo Barre. Love, loved, LOVED it! I substituted my X-Pole for the barre and it worked quite well.

The upper training segment was high reps/low-moderate weight and challenging if you pick the right resistance. The leg/butt work on the barre was TOUGH. Seriously, I feel like I can squat for days but this kicked my bootay lol.

It concludes with a brief but tough core workout and and a much welcomed stretch to keep things long and lean. If you need to keep your workouts low impact but still want to feel the burn, or if you are just looking for a change of pace from crazy high impact workouts with losing the challenge this is definitely for you!

I would like to think I looked as graceful as Cathe and the girls but not so sure hehehe. It made me FEEL like a dancer anyway :-) Check it out!

Click here to visit Cathe dot Com.

>Finding Clarity

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OK, I’m going to get a little zen today but that is one of my priorities this year. Sometimes the harder we search for answers or solutions to a problem the more evasive they become! Let go, don’t force. Go within and find that little still place at the center. Let the truth reveal itself on it’s own. Trust in your wisdom and let it happen. Here is a little haiku I use to remind myself of this. Namaste friends xoxo

Sitting silently,
Doing nothing,
Spring comes,
And the grass grows by itself.

Osho