TAK

I don't know what it is, but it would seem that all roads lead me back to fitness, and health, and wellness, and taking action toward those ends. I grew really tired of only writing about fitness on my old BLOG, so I started this new one to talk about other stuff and yet here I am about to launch into more fit info. Can you even believe it?

What can I say I love a good workout!

The title of this post is TAK. What the hell is that you may be asking. Patience noble reader, isn't that part of the fun of reading?

If you know anything about me at all, it's most likely the fact that I am a long time Tracy Anderson Method junkie. Love her, love her workouts, love all of the guidance and support that she has provided over the years that I have been doing her workouts. She not only helped me lose those twenty pounds that crept on after marriage... you've heard of the freshman twenty right? That's where you go off to college and eat all the shit your parents forbid you from consuming in copious amounts, you party, drink and of course study, and then you pack on the pounds. Well there is a thing in later life too it's called heavily ever after and it happens after you tie the knot. You're just so dang blissful and happy you lie around in bed and feed each other cake then BAM, same thing you pack on the pounds. 

But I digress.

I was neck deep in my heavily ever after when I learned about Tracy Anderson on Oprah or someplace (like we all did back then I believe) and I started with her Mat DVD, this is old news though. You know all this. If you don't, feel free to click the link above, I've spent a good five years of my life writing about it! I stuck with her and while I have had my ups and downs with dieting, kicking sugar, falling off the wagon, then kicking it again (86 days sugar free and going strong) I've managed to mostly keep those pounds off. Not all of them mind you, but for the majority of the past six years, over half. Not a bad average.

Still, I'm getting older and things they are a changin'! My metabolism is starting to slow down in a real way and a few things have shifted around my mid-section. Now before I go any further, I want to state it loud and clear that I am and always will be a Tracy Anderson Method devotee. I am never giving that girl up. She promised me that she was going to be doing this into her 80's well Tracy, I'm going to be doing it right along with you.

However, that said, a few elements of the workout have changed. If you're familiar with Tracy's work, you know that she is always evolving and honing her Method. I have a unique body type. Well Duh, Shan we all do! Yeah yeah, but I mean I am thick around the middle. Even when I'm thin, my mid section goes up and down it does not curve in at the waist. It likely never will but I certainly do not need any additional musculature happening around that area so I have really had to tailor my streaming workouts to avoid some of those oblique challenging moves.

Allow me to take you back to 18 months ago when Tracy launched her online streaming workouts. This took us from working out at home along with one of her pre-recorded DVD workouts, to working out live with her (still at home) while she filmed her actual studio classes. Along with this launch she had a streaming contest where a whole bunch of at-homers got to connect with one another and it was here that I met the amazing and contagiously happy Emily Kirsch. You can find her HERE.

She was onto Tracy in the early days and the girl just has her thumb on the pulse of all things fitness. It was Emily who turned me onto a new trainer that she'd been working with who she had fallen madly in love with. Katia Pryce of DANCEBODY.

Now listen, I've had a lot of people tell me about a lot of trainers over the years, but Tracy was the one for me. There was no one else. I mean I love and adore Anna Kaiser one of Tracy's former trainers, but her workouts were not for me. Then there is Body by Simone and Yin in the Zone. I'm sure these ladies are all terrific and are absolutely the right trainer for someone, they are just not for me. I am not a trend hopper. At least not anymore. If you'd talked to me seven years ago I'd have told you I'd done them all, Jillian Michaels, Chalene Johnson, P90X etc. and none of them worked for me. But now I am a TAM girl through and through.

Which brings me back to Katia.

She too is a former trainer of Tracy. Emily directed me to her website and I tried the couple of tutorials that she had there with some simple dance routines. They aren't on the site anymore sadly, but guess what? Low and behold I was able to follow along. This girl could teach this old dog a new trick. I mean not only am I am old dog, I'm an old dog with two left feet. I could never do Tracy's dances. My brain just didn't operate that way. But something about the breakdown and four count and balance from left to right with Katia made me think there was hope for me yet!

Katia began offering free periscope workouts, both sculpt and cardio. At first I was only in it for the cardio because you know me, I hate the dance cardio and that hate is compounded further by the fact that I cannot dance. But I really want to be able to dance so this was a way for me to possibly learn. However, as time marched on, I found myself trying the sculpt classes and absolutely loving them. I began to really tailor by workouts between Tracy and Katia and I'm actually starting to notice a shift around my midriff. It's... SHRINKING!!!! I can't believe it.

All this time off sugar, giving up gluten, no processed foods and I still had a muffin top. I'm back into my original skinny jeans people. The ones I got into at the end of The 30-Day Method!!!

So what do I do? I do the arm section of Tracy's live stream class, a wee bit of cardio with Katia, like maybe one song or two on a good day, and then I do between 30 and 50 minutes of her legs depending on which periscope class I'm following. Now I know what you're thinking: fat lot a good that does me, I haven't been doing her periscopes!

Good news noble reader, Katia - KPDANCEBODY is about to start her own streaming and you do not have long to wait. She is launching it on Monday June 27th!!!! Isn't that so exciting!?!! I absolutely cannot wait.

So has it clicked in yet? Have you figured out why the post is called TAK??

It's my new preferred method of movement. Tracy Anderson and Katia T.A.K.

I love it!

Aren't they just adorable? Don't you want to hug them both? I LOVE these girls.

Now before I go I've got to get one small thing off my chest...

When these periscope classes first launched, there was a young lady on Instagram who sent out a call about loyalty. It's a topic I know a thing or two about being a fiercely loyal person to the people I love and respect! What this young lady was suggesting was that if you are someone who does the Tracy Anderson Method or TAM as it's been shortened to, then you should not partake in Katia's workouts because there was bad blood between the two former colleagues.

To that young lady I say: Whatever happened between these two women is absolutely none of my business. It's got nothing to do with me. You telling me if I am doing one I cannot do the other is the equivalent of saying that if I shop at Saks I'd better not be caught shopping at Macy's.

I am a TAK girl all the way! 

xo

Shan