I was so nervous the night before my training day. Not nervous because I thought I was going to do bad, but nervous because I was so excited! I've been talking about getting certified in SOMETHING for longer than I can remember, and it was finally happening. Plus, I knew I was going to get to hang out with Alli Upham for the day and that girl honestly inspires me! In spite of the nerves though, I actually got a really got night's sleep.
I got up nice and early on Sunday morning because I knew I had to be out of the house by 7:15 to get there on time since it was all the way over in Orlando. I wanted to get there early so that I would have time to settle in. I had all my clothes and everything laid out the night before so that I could just get up, make my shake, and go! So that's what I did . As I was hopping in the car, THIS happened:
Really?!
My beloved chocolate breakfast all over the ground and in the car. Probably a good 1/4 of my cup was gone. Anyone who drinks Shakeology understands that each drop is precious! Haha. All I could think was, REALLY....Is this how my day is going to go? Lol. But I quickly rescued the rest of my Shakeology and hopped in the car.
I made a pit stop at Wawa to grab some snack for the day and a cup of coffee! I turned on my tunes and the GPS and hit the road. I was way ahead of schedule, but it was better to be early than late! Plus, I wanted to have a minute to say hi to Alli.
When I pulled up in the parking lot I felt like I was going to pee my pants. I was a ball of excitement and nerves. I was ready though. There was nothing in me that felt like I wasn't capable of doing this and doing it effectively. I have been leading a group of people working out for over a year and I LOVED it....surely this would be just as amazing!
Excited to go inside!
The first beautiful face I saw walking in was Alli! :) Now, I had been following Alli on facebook and Instagram for quite some time. Her National Wakeup Call was the first Coach Call I'd ever heard after I became a Beachbody coach and I had fallen in love with her story and her spirit from that point forward. So I felt like I'd known her forever. And then when I met her again at Super Sunday in Orlando in April I loved her just as much. She meets SOOOOO many people, so I didn't expect for her to remember me from Super Sunday. But when she asked for my name and checked me in, she knew who I was cuz I always comment and like her stuff on social media. She ran around a gave me a hug! Haha! Yep, I was ready to hang out with this chick all day!
I was excited that we didn't spend too much time just chilling out before we started the workshop because it's always awkward when you don't know anyone. I'm not really an introvert or shy, but I do get quiet when i'm around people I don't know. Especially when they seem to know at least one other person. I was happy to see that it was a great mix of men and women at the training.
We started promptly at 9:00 and the first thing we did was open up our goodie bags and saw that we already had our first Insanity Live Music and Training DVD in our hands! Yay! So Alli walked us through everything it contained and we began learning a little bit about the program and the concept of HIIT. We had another trainer there, Katrina, who was helping Alli for the day. I recognized Katrina from Super Sunday back in April and I pretty much immediately fell in love with her personality as well. (Seriously....are there any mean people in Beachbody?? Haha. I love being surrounded by a group of people who are always so positive and motivating!)
Studying the movements and taking notes...
Anyway, Katrina helped teach us some stuff about form and how to talk about Insanity when people ask you what it is. She was awesome and I learned a lot from her.
Next up: the workout! We were going to go through a whole Insanity workout (the one we'd be learning) so that we had a good feel for it. Which I thought was a great idea. Because even though I've done the at-home version of Insanity, I knew that doing it live would be a bit different. So we went through the entire 55-minute program and IT WAS AWESOME!! Killer.....but amazing!!
Me post-workout
We did a bit more work from our manuals and Alli put us in two different groups: a big group and a small group. We learned that we would practice our section of the workout with our big group, and then come together with our small group so that we could practice instructing the others. So there would basically be one person from each section of the workout in the small group. So we did some practicing working with our groups and then we broke for lunch.
By this time I'd gotten more comfortable around the people, so it was nice just sitting around chatting at lunch. I got to pick Katrina's brain a little bit and get some ideas of how she started teaching in Tampa and what I could do to start teaching as well. I was working during lunch as well. I had a coach who had just started a few days prior, so she obviously had lots of questions. We promised Alli that we wouldn't be on our phones during the day, so I had a lot of responding to do during lunch.
Once lunch was over it was time to start learning our sections and teaching our small groups. The way the workshop is set up is very effective. You do the entire program at the beginning, and then you go over the form and modifications in the block that you're assigned to. So once you come back to your small group, everyone should be an expert in their own block and can teach the other two. I found it to be an easy way to not only learn the block that you were dedicated to, but to effectively learn the other two as well.
One of the biggest things we learned was how to listen for the queues in the music. The way that the insanity live platform is set up is actually very instructor-friendly. Very easy to learn once you get down the sound effects and the 32-count rhythm. Being somewhat musical I was able to quickly pick upon the 32 count cycle and identify when changes were going to come. I've already found that this skill is definitely to my advantage.
The two rounds that I left the workshop with
We broke into our small groups and spent the rest of the afternoon practicing how to teach each other and listening to the music queues. This was honestly the best practice. Even though it was totally uncomfortable and embarrassing because we all were horrible, it was great practice!
We finished out the day by deciding whether or not to become a member of Pro Team. Once Alli explained the benefits it only made sense to me to do it. I'm a logical and financial savvy person, and if something just makes cost-effective sense then I'll do it! Worked out pretty well cuz I received Round 8 that day from Alli in addition to Round 12 that we actually got certified in AND the next round was sent out the next day and I had it within a week of being certified. So now I have 3 rounds in my possession to be able to each from. And I'll get a new round every 8 weeks! Pretty awesome!
Before we left we took silly group photos! Alli is seriously a riot; and even if you don't have that "out there crazy" kind of personality, she's going to bring it out of you. Lol.
Before I headed out for the day I stopped to get a picture with Alli. Honestly, if I can end up being half of the group fitness instructor that this lady is, I will be amazing. It is a very rare thing to see someone doing something that you can tell that they were TRULY made to do. I enjoyed the certification so much, not only because it fulfilled something off of my personal goal list, but because I got to learn it from an amazing, inspiring person who is super passionate about what she does.
All in all, this was a totally awesome experience and I am so thankful to have gotten the opportunity to do it. I pray that this will help jumpstart my fitness career so that I can start doing what I truly love!
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