Fitness
Power Plays – Transformation
Marisol Campuzano took part in TRAIN’s one-month challenge and found the camaraderie of the online group helped spur her to new heights.
Vital Stats
Before
Age: 33
Height: 5’3
Weight: 145.9lb
After
Age: 33
Weight: 143.3lb
Joining Up
For me the Team TRAIN group has been a safe place to go. It’s very common within fitness groups to have tons of bullies. Team TRAIN is totally different. I can be close to a diverse group of people, from professional athletes to newbies and I can share anything to get great feedback. And the most valuable thing about Team TRAIN is that it’s managed by the people who work for a very important and prestigious magazine: TRAIN. This is reassuring that all the information they share is pretty valuable; there’s no scam.
AHA Moment Of Change
I’ve been reading TRAIN since 2017 so I’m always checking the latest issues and the mails that I receive. When the quarantine started, I was receiving invitations through my mail to join the TRAIN Facebook group and at first, I must confess that I wasn’t interested because I have been in other fitness and bodybuilding groups, and they became very boring for me. In May I decided to sneak peek what was going on and everyone seems very nice and were cheering up each other, sharing tips and their workouts. I clicked the join button. A few days later I noticed that the admins posted the new challenge of the month and I saw that they were considering a workout schedule to do at home without equipment. I was very excited about it because I was hitting a plateau with my home workout routine and I didn’t know what else I should do to keep my fitness journey on point. For the first time since the quarantine began, I realized there were other people having issues like mine; I wasn’t alone, even though they live far away from me. So being confident that I could trust in a workout supported by TRAIN I gave the new challenge a try. The first week I was pretty sore, and I burnt the same calories as I did when I was working out in the gym but in less time and without any special equipment. This was amazing for me.
Personal Journey
On New Year’s Eve, 2019 I was facing my lowest point. Thanks to the support of my family and friends they helped me to get through all of this and I immediately started my psychological and psychiatric therapy and I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. I remember that I had a weird feeling in my hands, like if all my blood pressure was in there; I felt I needed to do something about it, like to carry weight to free that pressure. I told this to my psychologist and she advised me to join a gym. Within two weeks of signing up I felt a huge difference as it gave me a space to relieve my depression and anxiety. Not only was my body transforming but my mind and feelings were too. And doing this challenge for me was a big reminder of why I started to go to the gym almost two years ago: to take care of myself, not only the physical side, but the mental and emotional side too so I can be a better version of myself. This challenge helped me to remember that even in a short period of time I could achieve a big transformation in my life.
First Steps
Before starting the challenge, I made changes to my diet. I used macros percentages that in the past helped me to get leaner, focusing on a caloric deficit and a decrease in my carb intake. I was conscious of my daily activities schedule because I could not accept not going to the gym; there were no excuses for me to go off track. For the first time since I joined the Team TRAIN group, I decided I wanted to finish the challenge, no matter what.
My Diet
9:00 am – 2 whole eggs, 120g cottage cheese, two slices of turkey ham, 2 cups black coffee
2:00 pm – A big bowl of salad mostly with green vegetables and dressed with olive oil, 80g cooked white rice, 250g chicken breast, 30g goat cheese and 2 corn tortillas
5:30 pm – 120g Greek yogurt with a kiwi
9:00 pm – 150g chicken breast, 50g labneh, 30g cheese, 1 slice of whole bread and 2 spoons of natural almond butter
Advice To Others
Don’t use your medical or psychological conditions as an excuse to not being able to push harder; use them as the fuel to keep going. And yes, it’s not going to be easy and you will need to be disciplined, but if you want huge changes in your life it’s necessary to make big sacrifices. But trust me, the reward of looking back and seeing how far you’ve come is one of the biggest rewards you’ll ever receive. Don’t compare yourself with other people – everyone is different and they may have conditions that maybe you don’t. Be your own competition.
Helpful Hacks
- Be consistent with your diet.
Even though you’re training like a beast, if you don’t take care about what are you eating, you’re not going to have the results you want.
- Take measurements of your body
Sometimes the scale wouldn’t move but that doesn’t mean that you aren’t losing fat, maybe you’re gaining muscle mass.
- Don’t be afraid to ask for help
We were all newbies at the beginning, so if you don’t know how to perform an exercise or what supplements are the best for your goals, ask others with more experience. The Team TRAIN group is a great place to share these doubts.
- Avoid your mobile while you’re working out
Use it only to hear music and to see your workout routine.
