Team Beachbody ¡preestreno!Español Guest

Unless you've been into fitness your entire life, getting fit in middle-age is a challenge - especially if you have a chronic pain condition like fibromyalgia. Well, I haven't been into fitness my entire life and I DO have fibromyalgia, so where does that leave me? It leaves me extremely determined to take control over my body and my health.

I am 41 and have been struggling with

More ...

Unless you've been into fitness your entire life, getting fit in middle-age is a challenge - especially if you have a chronic pain condition like fibromyalgia. Well, I haven't been into fitness my entire life and I DO have fibromyalgia, so where does that leave me? It leaves me extremely determined to take control over my body and my health.

I am 41 and have been struggling with fibromyalgia for years. It's a very frustrating condition for many reasons; first and foremost being that it is a very poorly understood condition and secondly because it changes all the time. Today, it could be my legs or my shoulders that are in pain...tomorrow, it might be my hands or my feet. It moves and changes and could easily drive someone insane, but I am determined to regain control over my body as much as possible and I am NOT letting this thing define me.

I have been a Turbo Jam/Chalene Johnson fan for several years now, and I'll admit it - it's been a rocky relationship at times. When I first discovered Turbo Jam, I was enthralled - here was a great workout that was actually FUN to do! But I hadn't yet developed the mental attitude that I have now and let the fibro stop me from teaching and, eventually, even let it stop me from doing any Turbo. I got really depressed and regained everything that I had lost. My entire life was defined by being a sick person. But I am not the type to give up that easily and this past spring (2009), I decided enough was enough.

I started rebuilding my fitness level very slowly; my goal was simply to do 10 minutes of any type of exercise daily. I realize that doesn't sound like much, but when you're in a lot of pain, 10 minutes can be a very long time! I persevered, and it wasn't all that long before I was ready to get out my Turbo Jam DVD again.

The funny thing about fibromyalgia is the fact that it makes you so amazingly stiff and sore, to the point where the last thing on earth you want to do is exercise - but if you DON'T exercise, the pain and stiffness just gets worse. (God has an ironic sense of humor.)

So, here I am, late fall of 2009, and I have seen such progress and results that I decided to take the plunge and become a Beachbody Coach. My mentor and friend Russell Jackson had tried to talk to me about the Coaching opportunity before, but I wasn't ready to hear it and just blew him off. (Sorry, Russell!) How on earth could I be a coach, when I am still overweight? Who would listen to someone like me?

Well, maybe someone else like me. Someone who really wants help and wants to succeed, but needs a little help to get there. There's nothing wrong with asking for help when we need it. I think my experience with being overweight and with having a lot of difficulties getting fit put me in a fairly unique position to help others who are struggling for whatever reason.

I know I'm ending this abruptly, but I wanted to get these thoughts down and will continue to improve my bio as I improve myself.

Close