Beachbody Coach

Just got back from another coach summit and this year it was in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand. Besides it being a miserable 108 degrees almost everyday and me getting sick for the first time in 4 years I had a great time.

There was about 4500 people at the event. It’s crazy to see how much all of this has grown since my first summit just three years ago. There were workouts, trainings, personal development seminars, guest speakers, and of course the parties.

Day 1

We left early out of Detroit and got into Vegas around 10am. Unfortunately our room wasn’t ready until almost 3pm so we sat around for quite a long time in the casino. Once we finally got into our room we had to get dressed for the night. Since I made Elite Coach last year we were invited to an event with all the other Elite Coaches.

We started at Tabu night club for cocktails and then off to see KA – Cirque Du Soleil. The show was impressive. The theater didn’t look that big walking in but once inside it was anything but. I couldn’t get over how gigantic the theater and stage were. Played some craps after the show and went to bed.

Day 2

Woke up with what was the beginning of the flu or whatever it was that I caught. Didn’t feel too horrible at the time though. There were meetings led by coaches who have large organizations that day. They gave out some recognition and we even had Tony Horton, Chalene Johnson, Craig Holiday, and Carl Daikeler come on in to talk to us.

When the meetings were over we changed and got ready to workout with Tony Horton. They had to get one of the conference center rooms to have enough space for all the people who showed up. There must have been 1500 people in that room. We did some of his normal P90X moves and he sampled the upcoming MMX workout which is a little bit of MMA stuff.

At night they had the 5 year birthday bash around the MGM Grand pool. Again, it was frickin hot. At 8pm it was still 95 degrees. Felt like somebody was holding a hair dryer at our face. My sickness was starting to kick in and the temperature didn’t help. We stayed for the entire party and watched the firework show they put on which went off over the MGM. After the party we went and hung out with a couple of coaches on our team.

Day 3

Missed the morning workouts due to my flu thing going on. Did make it to the morning general session. They recognized a bunch of coaches who moved up into the Star Diamond ranks and one of my coaches, Mark Klanac, got a chance to get up on stage for making 2 Star Diamond Coach. They announced a whole bunch one new products along with new tools coming out to help coaches grow their biz. The new products are:

• Body Beast – A 90 day workout program designed to bulk you up.
• Body Beast Supplements – Hardcore Base Shake, Fuel Shot, Max Creatine, and Super Suma.
• Insanity Asylum Vol 2 – More insane workouts from Shaun T and it looks like Apollo Anton Ohno will be in it.
• Les Mills Combat – A fighting type workout put on by the Les Mills trainers.
• Vegan Chocolate Shakeology – I guess it tastes like dark chocolate.
• Derm Exclusive – Beachbody has had this skin care line for a while now but is now opening it up to the coaches to promote.
• Cordastra – A supplement designed for the Tai Cheng workout.

Highlights of Vegan Chocolate Shakeology

• The Cacao comes from a more direct source.
• Moringa – Lots of Vitamin A’s and C’s.
• Coconut Flower Nectar – Natural sweetener.
• Luo Han Gao – Digestion help.
• Himalayan Salt – 70 trace minerals.
• Konjac – Helps digestive issues.
• Proteins in Chocolate Vegan Shakeology are all plant-based.

There is a couple other things about Chocolate Vegan Shakeology such as why the calorie and fat count went up a little bit. Instead of me explaining it all to you Id rather let Darin Olien do it.

Beachbody CEO Carl Daikeler telling us Insanity: The Asylum Volume 2 is in production. I already told you how Apolo Ohno does the Asylum workout. This is the little blip they put together with him and Shaun T that talks about Volume 2 of Insanity: The Asylum.

I have completed a round of The Asylum already and will be doing Vol. 2 when it comes out. I didn’t notice any new moves in the clip they put out so I don’t know what to expect.

My guess is we are going to see a lot of Asylum like moves with the pull up bar, agility ladder, jump rope, and dumbbells like before. I’m sure Shaun T will figure out a way to make it harder than it already is. If its anything like Vol 1 than you’re gonna want to be in awesome shape before starting.

I’m going to be trying the Body Beast workout along with the supplements it comes with after summit. There is going to be a protein shake, pre-workout drink, and creatine designed to help you bulk up. Probably gonna do Asylum Vol 2 after I finish Body Beast. Chalene Johnson came in and gave another speech too.

At night they had the Diamond Reception at Wet Republic. This place was awesome. They had mermaids in the pool swimming around and a DJ playing music. Unfortunately I was still feeling sick.

Maybe had two drinks and talked to a couple of people before I called it a night. The heat was getting to me and it didn’t do well with the fever I was running. Had to call it an early night again. Thats two nights in a row were I didn’t get to wild out.

Day 4

It was a good thing I went to bed early and not try to power through the sickness. The Super Workout was at 6:30 am that morning and its like mandatory you attend. Almost 5k people got to workout with all of the trainers for 90 minutes in the parking lot of The Tropicana Hotel. There might even have been more people. We showed up a little bit late and could barely see the trainers on the stage.

I could not take the sickness anymore after the workout and decided to go to Walgreens for one of those minute clinics. I need more than the over the counter stuff I bought at MGM. On my way there I remembered my good friend and fellow coach that I met at last years summit, Buck Parker, was a Doctor.

From the time it took me to walk across the entire MGM to the Walgreens on Las Vegas Blvd he had diagnosed me via text and called ahead a prescription. This is what Team Beachbody is all about. People helping people. I still owe him a hug.

I attended the “Power of 1”  workshop with Pete Pena and Robert Hudgens. I really liked how they talked about if you sponsored just one new coach a month and your new coach sponsored one new coach a month and they all bought Shakeology on auto ship and so on that in less than one year you would have created an income of $40k. I thought this was important stuff for all coaches to know.

In the afternoon general session we got to listen to Tony Horton tell his story about how he got to where he’s at and how we should approach our biz. Always good stuff from him. The keynote speaker they brought in was Seth Godin. I haven’t read any of his books but I will be buying some of his very soon.

What I like about his speech was he made his point through research instead of just saying this is how it is. His take on leadership, the internet, and the education system in the U.S were my favorites. The guy knows what he’s talking about.

The Celebration event was at night. This is where you get all dressed up and Beachbody gives out awards for business success. Was happy to see one of my coaches, Jonathan Register, make it on stage for being a Success Club 10 All Star. He’s killing it with the success club points. I also got a chance to walk on stage for making Elite Coach. Was very cool to accept an award in front of 4500 people knowing that only 35 out of the 80k coaches in the Team Beachbody network received this award last year.

At the same time I would never have received this award with a great team. Thanks everybody. Congrats to Wayne Wyatt on earning Top Coach honors. I really don’t know how it does it all with the lifestyle he lives. If anything, he sets the bar and makes all of us look lazy.

Also, Congrats to Richard Neal on winning the $100k grand prize. I could not believe it when it said he lost over 200 pounds in less than a year of doing P90X. Amazing to say the least. After the awards ceremony they had the big dance party. I showed up for about an hour and again had to call it a night. I was still feeling like crap and I used all my energy to sit through the ceremony. I went to bed still sick and everybody dance partied without me.

Day 5

Still sick but getting better from the medicine that Buck prescribed for me. Summit was officially over but we decided to stay another day. We really wanted to go to the Pawn Stars shop but I was in no shape or form to go. Everything was trying to get out of my body. Ate very little that day and slept for about 5 hours.

At night we went with our friends to Max Brenner at Caesar’s Palace. It was really good. Upon our arrival back to MGM I went and played craps. Won a couple hundred dollars and did my best to power through the sickness. Hard to turn down free beers when you get hot with the dice. Stayed up as long as I could before calling it a night.

Recap

All in all I still had a great time even with being sick. I enjoy the time I spent with all of my coaches who made the trip out there. It’s usually Summit where all of this sinks in and people get what we do. Running into old friends I’ve made via the coach network is cool too.

Sharing tips and stories about how we continue to grow our business and what the business is doing for us. I’m forever grateful for the opportunity to be available in the first place and then taking the time to learn the biz and apply it. I can only imagine what next year will look like. I’m betting that next years Summit, which is back at the MGM Grand in Vegas, will be bigger and better than this years.

We just got back from another great trip put on by Beachbody for qualifying for Success Club last year. This years trip was to the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas.

We stopped in there last year for a couple of hours on the Success Club Cruise but didn’t get to see that much else. Andrea and I decided to get there a couple of days early before all the workouts and business building workshops kicked in.

Days 1 – 3 Of Success Club Trip

We stayed at The Reef for the first couple days and am kind of glad we did as it had a kitchenette. I received sticker shock when we ate at the buffet and spent $60 a person that first night. Decided it would be in our best interest to go grocery shopping to have at least breakfast and lunch food around for the week.

If you plan on going grocery shopping in the Bahamas make sure you keep the stamps the store gives you and use those as money when negotiating with the taxi cab driver on the way back. We later realized the stamps were as good as cash to the locals.

Andrea and I spent most of the first two days hanging out on the beach, going on the water slides, having the not so lazy river flip us twice and enjoy the resort. We spent one afternoon at the Dolphin Experience feeding them, letting them push us, and getting pictures of us kissing them.

The staff there messed with us the entire time which brought out a laugh here and there. Was kind of bummed when they said I couldn’t bring my GoPro camera in and instead had to pay $70 for 5 pictures. Nothing is cheap at The Atlantis.

The Atlantis is where the rich high school kids go on Spring Break. Saw kids dropping more money at the bars there on one night then I did my entire week on my high school spring break. One guy bumped into me at the bar and asked me how my spring break was going. After informing him I was not on spring break he asked how big the high school I went to was.

Him and his girlfriend were surprised when we told him we were in our early 30s. I guess we are aging well. Before dinner that night we shared a shuttle ride with Adrian Peterson and saw Donovan McNabb. One of their teammates from the Minnesota Vikings was getting married there.

Days 4 – 8 Of Success Club Trip

Our first day of Beachbody hosted events was a trip out to Sandy Toes Island with the rest of the 2011 Elite Coaches. Its a private island with a very rustic feel to it. Reminded me of a Corona commercial. Had a great time with the rest of the Elite coaches. Have made some great friendships with them over the past couple of years and its good to catch up.

Did some snorkeling, enjoyed the view, and had a couple of adult beverages. Even though we were only there for 5 hours it was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Later that night there was the welcome dinner for everybody who qualified for the trip.

The next couple of days we just hung around the Atlantis. There is so much to do there if you can find ways to get around the cost or just deal with it. Beachbody moved us over to The Cove. There is a private adult pool called The Cain just for people who are staying there. It looked like a postcard with lounge chairs and beds near the bluest pool water I’ve seen.

Bars on both sides with a DJ cranking out music and a place to gamble within arms reach of the pool. I didn’t do so well the first two nights at the casino but thought it would be cool to play outside. Felt a little intimidated playing craps with the guy next to me as he was betting over $500 each roll while I was slinging $25 around. Made all my money back plus some while everybody else was wilding out on the little island beds in the middle of the pool.

Did the morning P90X2 workout with Tony Horton and attended the meeting with Carl and Isabelle Daikeler talking about the new Ultimate Reset product coming out. I’m on day 3 as I write this.

Was interesting to hear them talk about as to why people need to do this 21 day cleanse and also what it can do for our business. Was really pumped to see coaches from my team, Mark & Jessica Klanac along with Jonathan Register and Jennifer Register, qualify for the trip. Had a blast hanging out with them.

Beachbody put on a firework show the last night which was quite impressive. It was better than the one my city does for 4th of July. Nice touch to end a great week.

Every time I get back from one of these events I feel a little more grateful to Beachbody for opening up the Beachbody Coach business to every day folks like myself when they didn’t have to. I think over 400 people qualified which meant 800 people were there.

Its been something to watch the Team Beachbody organization grow with business and physical success stories. I could probably go on and on about the week but I’d rather let the pictures do the talking. Thanks Beachbody.

Couple months late in getting this out but this years Success Club Leadership Retreat was held at the Laguna Cliffs Resort and just so happened to fall on the same weekend as my college’s homecoming weekend again. That’s two years in a row now. Oh well.

I think this one was a little bit better than last years leadership retreat in Dallas. The venue was cooler and more people qualified. The weekend was full of upcoming product announcements and business building activities.

Day 1 Success Club Retreat

Beachbody invited all Elite Coaches to come a day early and go to a meeting held by Carl Daikeler and some of the Team Beachbody Executive Staff. They gave us a brief introduction into the new Beachbody Challenge Packs and the Ultimate Cleanse which will be coming out in 2012.

They took us out to a welcome dinner that night. Was very impressed with the place because it overlooked a marina and the Pacific Ocean. Hung out with Jeff Armbruster, Jason Diebold, Barbie Decker, Josh Spencer, Monica Gray, Jenelle Summers, Deryl Williams, Dallas Carter, and met Sean Callahan. Seems like I see them every three months now. Probably left some people out and I’m sorry if I did.

Day 2 Success Club Retreat

The second day included a morning workout with Brett Hoebel, leadership development, and presentations from Craig Christensen and Joe Thomas. Both speakers specialize in building people up to be better sales people. Went out to dinner that night with Craig Holiday, Blake & Angie Warrington, and Mark Klanac. Had a great time with them and enjoyed seeing Laguna as only Craig knows it.

The Detroit Tigers just so happened to be playing the Texas Rangers in the ALCS when I was out there. Of course I had my Detroit Tigers hat on and was one of two people watching the game. The other was Jeff Ochoa who lives about 20 miles away. Had a good time talking to him about the Tigers and Beachbody. Funny how you have to go 2300 miles away to get to know somebody who lives so close.

Day 3 Success Club Retreat

Started off the day with the new P90X2 yoga workout. I liked it a lot more than the original P90X Yoga X because it moved a lot faster. I hope to be able to do the handstand by the end of my 90 days of P90X2. The morning session ended with Carl Daikeler announcing how the Beachbody Challenge Packs will help us build our business and how to implement them.

They also announced the new Les Mills Pump workout. Looks pretty cool. Too bad it had to come out at the same time as P90X2 or I’d start doing that one right now. Will have to wait til I’m done with P90X2. Carl also talked about how you can get certified to teach P90X.

The morning session concluded with a presentation from John Amatt who climbed Mt. Everest and the first to climb the Troll Wall. His story was about figuring out how to do something that has never been done before. The afternoon session included a fun team building exercise where we had to move a bunch of rocks over an open area and help our teammates move on. The night ended with their “Good Vibrations” beach party.

I always have a fun time on any of the Beachbody Coach trips because I get to meet new people, share business building tips, and enjoy some of my hard work. The places Beachbody puts up in are pretty sweet so I can’t complain. All in all I’d say Beachbody keeps finding new ways to make the coach experience and business that much better every year.

I know I’m 6 months late in getting this post up about the 2011 Beachbody Coach Summit but I figured better late than never. This year was bigger and better than the 2010 Coach Summit. Had to expect this because the amount of coaches almost doubled in size last year. We stayed an extra day because of all the travel from Michigan to California. Plus, it seems like there is no down time at Summit so the extra day was needed. Summit was held at the JW Marriott in downtown Los Angeles. Beachbody made it a day longer than last years to accompany the additional coaches, give more time for people to attend business building sessions, workout with the trainers, and some partying.

It was really cool to have Jonathan & Jen Register and Mark & Jessica Klanac from my newly created Team Epic there too. It was their first Coach Summit and from the looks of it they really enjoyed it. Ran into a lot of old friends and made some new ones too. Went up on stage a couple of times for some awards I won. My favorite was the Elite Coach medal. Congrats to Josh Spencer for winning top coach and the other coaches who won awards too. Walking across the stage for any award is an accomplishment on its own.

Beachbody introduced a couple new products like the P90X iPhone App, Tropical Shakeology, a new Tai Chi workout, and P90X2. Carl Daikeler and Tony Horton had a little sit down where they talked about how P90X2 was going to be different from P90X. They also talked about the making of the P90X iPhone App and how tricky it was making Tropical Shakeology.

It was pretty cool seeing everybody doing the morning workout outside of the Staples Center. Must have been over 2k people in the streets working out with the trainers. Don’t know how everybody made it to the workout after two consecutive nights of partying well into the night. My guess that it’s in all coaches DNA to get up and get going. Plus, how many times do you get the chance to “bang the drums” with Leandro Carvalho doing some Brazil Butt Lift?

The 2012 Coach Summit is going to be held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Had a feeling it was going to be there because of how fast the coach network is starting to grow. It was the only place that could hold everybody. Might have to make a week-long trip out of it. Can only imagine what its gonna look like to have 5k to 10k coaches inside the place. Pretty crazy to see how in 2010 there were maybe 1k coaches at Summit, then 2k this year, and it looks like nearly 10k next year. This whole getting people in shape and helping others live a healthier life is pretty cool. Get a little bit more pumped every time I get back from Summit. Can’t wait for next year.

 

 

 

 

The Beachbody Coach Success Club Cruise took place on March 12th – March 19th. The cruise ship Beachbody went with was the Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas better known as the worlds largest cruise ship. It was my first cruise and Andrea’s 3rd. She kept telling me I was spoiled with it because of how awesome it was and that I’ll never enjoy any other ship. It was nice walking into our cabin and reading a note from Beachbody saying they were crediting our end bill with $300.

All in all it was a great trip. Fun mixed in with a little bit of business. Catching up with old Beachbody Coach friends and making new ones. Only made one 7:30 am workout. Sorry Chalene and Shaun T. I planned my recovery week for the cruise as I knew 7:30 was not going to happen. Here is a recap.

March 12th – Took the early flight from Detroit to Fort Lauderdale. Boarded around 2:00. There was a meet and greet with all of the coaches and Beachbody CEO Carl Daikeler welcomed us to the ship. Did some (more than some) partying that night at one of the make shift bars they have on the front of the ship. Made this video showing off the Oasis of the Seas.

March 13th – Nassau – Bahamas – Skipped the morning workout with Chalene Johnson (sorry Chalene) because we only had 5 hours on the island to play around. Andrea and I bought the day pass at the Atlantis, went through the aquarium, and played around on the beach and water slides. Forgot how much fun they were as I caught myself running with the kids up the steps to get in line. Are 30 year olds allowed to do that? On our way out we stopped into the casino so I could throw some dice. Of course I won on my first throw, doubled up, and lost it all. Went to dinner that night and made two new friends, Ali and her cousin AJ. It was the beginning of a great friendship. Partied again.

March 14th – Day at Sea – Went for a 3 mile run on the track, did some push ups, and sit ups. Hung out by the pools and met more people during the day. Chalene Johnson had a great social media seminar during the day that I attended and took lots of notes from. Went to the diving show they had at night followed with a little bit of wilding out.

March 15th – St. Thomas – Walked around in downtown St. Thomas for a while and then took a taxi ride to Magens Bay on the other side of the island. Did some swimming with other Beachbody peeps and just enjoyed doing nothing. Saw a couple pelicans almost hit people while diving for food, had a couple drinks, and laughed when our taxi van driver almost hit every car on a hill he decided to drive down at 45 mph. Dinner and then no wilding out as I was exhausted.

March 16th – St. Martin – I actually woke up and did the morning Insanity workout with Shaun T. Its so much different when your trying to keep up with him. Of course he told us to slow down as our form was garbage. I think he knows what he’s talking about. Felt great after the workout. Washed, changed, deboarded the ship, got on a taxi van and headed to Sunset Beach. Probably was my favorite part of the trip. If you’ve never been to Sunset Beach (aka Maho Beach) then you need to get there. Its the beach right next to the airport where you get to watch 747s come in right over your head and then takeoff blowing you into the ocean. Best part is that the Sunset Beach Bar is right there so you can get drinks and laugh your ass off for 4 hours. Shaun T was there hanging out with some of his friends and we all had a great time together. Went back to the boat and got on the Flowrider for the first time. Thought it was going to be like snowboarding but I was wrong. Tried to move around on it and kept wiping out. Dinnered it up  and went to a show afterwards. Here is a video I made of the day.

March 17th – Day at Sea – Celebrated St. Patty’s day doing what is common on that day. I did go for a run on the track. Still think its crazy how 2.4 laps on that boat is a mile. Went out to dinner with my coach Blake Warrington and his wife Angie along with Steph Perez, Taryn Perry, and their husbands. Ended the night with wilding out.

 

March 18th – Day at Sea – Not that much happening on the last day. Saw a whale jump out of the water. Had a great last dinner with Ali and AJ. Did some more wilding out at night and met some more friends.

March 19th – Flight back to good old Detroit.

In Summary – Had another great Beachbody Coach trip. I really like how they are doing the Success Club trips now so more people can get to these events and see what this is really all about. Have to keep the momentum going to add onto Hawaii, California, and Dallas trips. Every time I get back from a trip like this I feel re-assured that I truly am helping people by sharing with others what worked for me.

Two weeks ago Team Beachbody came to Lansing, Michigan to have a Beachbody Coach game plan event. These events are a combination of Success Stories with workouts like P90X, Shakeology, and business success. About 200 people showed up with 90% of them already being a coach. It was the first time the corporate people from Beachbody came to Michigan.

This was not my first game plan event but I know how important they are for new coaches to go to or for people who are using Beachbody products and are curious about what its all about.

I heard one of my new favorite P90X success stories at the event. I forget his name but his story was about how he was told by his Drs that his life was pretty much over from a spinal injury and was given a life supply of Vicodin. The Drs told him to not lift over 20lbs of weight as it might mess with the surgery he had just had. At the time he had a baby girl who was almost over 20lbs. Drs. were basically telling him he could not hold his girl. He decided that since he was going to be in pain already that he might as well put himself through more and work on his body.

He had seen the P90X infomercials before but realized it was too much and went with the Power 90 workout. During those 90 days with Power 90 he dropped 40 pounds and no longer had to take the pills. It was a pretty moving story to say the least. It still amazes me how these programs can change people’s lives. Kind of like my cousin-in-law Kevin (pictured with Andrea and I) who has lost 25 pounds in the past 3 months since starting Power 90.

Craig Holiday gave a 30 minute motivational speech about why its so important to actively build our business. It really set in when he said “Its not about you.” Its so true. Our “job” as a Beachbody Coach is to tell people who are out of shape or have poor health that we have a remedy to it and will be there to support them. The business just follows.

Every time I hear Craig speak I want to build a building or something like that. Its why I keep on pushing with the business. I know that I am truly helping people because I am able to tell people what I do to take care of my health. That’s probably why I had a really good month in February. I was focused on helping people.

Some of my favorite quotes and sayings from Craig are:

“Are you a weight watcher? Do you wait and watch?”

“Give me a chance to fail and don’t.”

“DNA – Determined. Natural. Ability”

It was not all P90X and business success stories. This is a health and fitness business so of course we had an hour long workout. The first half was the Power 90 Upper Middle Lower workout led by fellow Coaches Tommy Mygrant, Jeff Armbruster, Jason Diebold, and Rob Boyes. The second half was an action packed 30 minutes of Turbo Fire moves.. I did much better with the UML workout and looked like an idiot doing Turbo Fire. I did pick up some new dance moves though.

Every time I leave an event like this it reassures me that I am doing something that is really changing people’s lives including my own. Hearing other people’s stories are so moving. Jeff Armbruster did an awesome job of setting up the event and probably had the best quote of the day when he said “I would do this even if there was no business attached with it.” Well said Jeff.