My name is Vince Rogers. Over 10 years ago I was working all the time – six sometimes seven days a week. I was content with working all the time because it allowed my wife to stay home. At the time my oldest daughter was recently born and my wife was looking for a way to help get back to her “before baby body.” I honestly don’t recall what type of exercising she was doing at that time – I know that we bought or were given a treadmill and she was using that somewhat. Me? Well I wasn’t really doing anything. I was working! But deep down inside, I felt a little lost. Work, work, work, work, work! I was lethargic and really longed to be a part of something. I played basketball in high school and a little in college and really loved the team atmosphere and comradery that came with it. I missed that. I longed for that. If you would have asked me as a kid what I wanted to be when I grow up, it was to play in the NBA. But, trying to raise a family, working seven days a week, and living on only my income did not leave much room for basketball.
Again, I don’t recall the exact details, but I had seen an infomercial on P90x and immediately got excited. It wasn’t just running on a treadmill or jumping around the room (which was my stereotype for DVD-type workouts – boring!). It was pushing and pulling and lifting weights and plyometrics! All the things that I absolutely loved when I was playing basketball. I wanted in! Yeah, well…we didn’t have money for that. So (and again I don’t recall the details) I got a copy of the program and I went at it. Hooked!
Ok, so that was quite a while ago right? Well through the years, my wife and I used the P90x program as an off and on maintenance-type routine. I’m pretty sure that not once did we ever complete the full program – especially in the 90 days. We would start up and get busy or my wife would get bored and we would stop and try a different program. We literary have a library of workout programs – P90x, Hip-Hop Abs, Pi-Yo, Body Beast, P90x2, P90x3, and a bunch of others. It turned into more of a “what DVD do we want to put in today?”
Well recently my wife started seeing more and more Facebook ads about people working out and coaching for Beachbody and she suggested that I should look into it. I of course was hesitant and my usual self – “I don’t have time for that, I work all the time.” She pressed and pressed – gotta love when your spouse does that right? I trusted in the Beachbody programs so, I started looking into it. I quickly realized that there is a vast amount of resources and network to plug into. So I committed to actually completing a P90x routine and signed up to be a coach to help keep me accountable.
So after I signed up to be a coach, Beachbody introduced me to my coach. Wait what? A coach is given a coach? But I’m the coach? And one of the first things my coach did was ask me what my goals where and introduced me to a challenge group. Well I like to be challenged – So Bring If On! But…as you may have guessed by now (there seems to be a pattern here!)…that wasn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be either. The Challenge was not to see if you could beat someone else, which is what I thought. The Challenge was to see if you could beat yourself! To see if you could push through your assumptions and fears and prior failures and stereotypes and preconceived notions about…yourself. To set and achieve your goals and eating healthy and taking care of yourself. And the group – it is called a challenge group – is just real people, helping real people achieve those fitness and nutrition goals. Real people sharing their journey – the ups and the downs. The good and the bad. The failures and successes. Real People! My first week in the challenge group, I lost 6lbs! Are you kidding me! 6lbs! In one week! Just by plugging into a group of like-minded, real people trying to do the same thing I was doing.
So being a coach is a bit different than I had thought. Being a coach is about three things – support, nutrition, and accountability. That’s it! Be there to support real people – help them through their journey. Be there to aid real people in their struggles with nutrition – point them in the healthy eating direction. Be there to help real people with their own accountability – to their self and their family.
We all have our own journeys that we are on. But there is no reason we have to go it alone. Join me on my journey and I will join you on yours.