My Turbulence Training Experience

I promised I'd do a blog post about my experience with Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training ("TT" for short) exercise program, so here it is.

As you already know, from reading my blog, my weight loss journey started before I found TT, back in June of this year. I had a great summer and made a lot of progress. Three months later, I was down 10 pounds, and looking much better (for a mom of two kids - hence the title of my blog). I kept working out, but was having trouble getting any more results. I figured it just wasn’t possible for me to look the way I did before I had kids.

I somehow never attributed my stalled progress to a lack of significant weight training, my aforementioned addiction to Coke Slushees and my weekly treat of a cheesesteak and french fries. But then I found out about Turbulence Training, and thought it might be worth trying, so I signed up.

As it turned out, my signup took place right after the last date to enter a "Transformation Contest," where you try to transform your body in 12 weeks. There were only 10.5 weeks left in the contest, but I decided it was never too late to get started, and although I thought I’d likely not have a shot of winning, participating in the contest would be fun and help motivate me. So I took my "before" pictures and started my workouts.

Posting my exercise and nutrition on a daily basis opened my eyes quite a bit. And I got some "tough love" from a fellow competitor regarding my nutrition (Thanks, Francis!) that was a great wake-up call for me. I started focusing on eating more whole foods and fewer weight loss shakes and convenience foods. I also started to manage my cravings and tendency towards mindless eating by fasting twice per week, using a program called "Eat Stop Eat." (More on that in another blog post!)


I have to say that I was shocked by the rapid and total transformation of my body. Only nine days into my transformation, I had lost enough fat from my upper body that I was able to button a suit jacket that I had not been able to button just a week earlier! At the end of my transformation, 75 days later, I felt like I had come so far. My nutrition was leaps and bounds better than it was, I had cut out some of the foods that I craved the most, and improved my overall health immensely. I gained in both strength and endurance.

And, I blew past nearly all my goals along the way. My weight was 117 lbs., lower than the 118 lbs. goal I set when I started, and my total body measurements were coming eerily close to the measurements I had as a freshman in college! I lost over 8” from my body, dropped two pant sizes, and looked fantastic! I was literally in shock over the decrease in my body fat percentage. Somehow, I managed to gain two pounds of lean body mass while losing eight pounds of fat during 10.5 weeks! I could see biceps and shoulder definition in the mirror (I NEVER had shoulder definition in my life!), and I managed to do 30 push-ups consecutively. I even went on vacation and found the right balance between enjoying myself and sticking to my plans, coming back lighter than I was when I left!

TT helped me not just achieve a total body transformation, but a total LIFE transformation. I left that contest much smarter and happier than I was when I entered it (not to mention healthier!). I was proud of what I could do, and looking forward to the next chapter in my fitness journey.

I am happy to say I no longer just look good for a mom of two kids. Now I look GOOD! No qualifiers necessary.

See for yourself...

What's even more amazing is this...I'm close to finishing another 12 week transformation contest and my results are guaranteed to shock you. Look for an update in the next two weeks with more recent before and after pics!