Life has a funny way of happening. Just when you think you know what’s going on in the world, it all changes on you…

If you are popping over here for the first time from Model Per4mance, welcome, this is your new home. If you were already reading Jodiojo before Model Per4mance, hi, it’s good to see you again. It feels good to be back and even better to bring my closest friends with me.

I remember a time when I was a brand new trainer—straight from the world of group fitness—and I absolutely loved the craft. I was a full time engineer during the day and would leave my job to head right to the gym for the rest of the night to train clients and teach class. Eventually I ended up leaving my engineering position to become a full time trainer at night and a stay at home mommy by day. That time was magical. I could not learn enough, fast enough and it was awesome.

As time went on I ventured into nutrition and became a Nutrition Manager at a time when very few people were even thinking about mixing nutrition and personal training. It was still very taboo back then due to liability reasons, lack of adequate certifications and so on. It was a very different time. But it was an exciting time: the industry was booming, information was new and accurate, people really cared about the welfare of the client, there was a tradeshow around every corner to get the newest info out there and it was hot. Flash forward to today and you have a very different picture of the industry. Trust me when I say I am not going to sit here and go on and on about all of the things that are wrong with my true passion today–I honestly love it too much to do that. But I will say that it is not the same and I know that you notice it, too.

I am not sure if you are like me, but I am going to have to go out on a limb and think that you are pretty close and assume that you are bombarded day after day with this harsh world. In fact, traffic alone could beat you down for the day never mind coming in contact with folks at the grocery store who are in a hurry or the six o’clock news tragedies which bring us down even further. Then when we arrive home we have to face the mail, a demanding house of laundry, etc. and for some of us, little ones who need us to encourage and edify their lives. Oh, and can you hurry up and make dinner? By the end of the night we fall into bed wondering what in Heaven’s name we are doing and is this all that life has truly promised us? Really?

Somewhere in all that mess of the day you find yourself wanting more for your health and your body. You’re not happy with the way it looks: it’s either out of shape from neglect/illness/medication, not what it used to be no matter what you try, heavier than you would like although you continue to try every diet/exercise program or right size but nothing is in the same place anymore. What’s your answer? This current industry which seems to have the quick fix for you or the latest scientific reason as to “why” you are not losing weight: you should be eating like a caveman, enjoying South Beach, running from starches, no wait—it’s dairy, sugar, gluten, fill-in-the-blank and for some us it’s everything I just listed?! They are shouting from every roof top and they are getting louder by the minute. Meanwhile, you’re getting a headache or heavier—or both. You are not sure which one to try or you are tired of trying them all because no matter what happens you don’t have the time to cook, track, pay attention, keep up with, follow, stay consistent with and so on. So the industry tries to answer that problem by making each diet plan/exercise plan either more extreme to beat you into shape faster (doing high intensity workouts 5 days/week for 3 months straight is not the answer) or more restrictive to make it easier for you to follow (limiting you to 3 out of the 4 food groups with a bunch of rules is a great way to set up some eating issues instead long term success). What really ends up happening is you just become a bucket of guilt because you can’t stay focused and you think everyone else can and how is everyone else getting it done and why can’t you get it done and is it my metabolism or I’m not working out hard enough or…is this sounding familiar?

Let me let you in on a secret: you don’t live in a vacuum. Honestly. You do not live independent of your surroundings and they are going to affect you much more than you give them credit for. You are also not a motor moron. You really do want to learn some truth out there without having to take a course in physiology 101 (I know it helps to understand why you do what you do, but can we at least make it fun?) from your local trainer but where in heaven’s name can you do that? Jeez! I thought you would never ask (and quite frankly, I couldn’t go on too much longer with the story, haha!)…

Welcome to JODIOJO and Company. We are a group of women dedicated to nutrition, training and lifestyle and not in the way that you are used to seeing it. Whenever you find a lifestyle site it is always something like ‘choose this more often’ or ‘walk instead of blah blah’ or very rudimentary tips that you have moved past years ago. And actually, even better example of what I mean is they are always in the form of “tips”. I love a good tip just as much as the next gal but when I have 10 tips and no cohesive way to put them together, what I really have is frustration about 2 weeks later when I can now only remember 3 of 10 tips I was just given. How about learning how to live life an effective way? A healthy way. A sustainable way. There is more to life than just choosing the right foods. There is choosing the right foods after a long day when you failed to plan ahead because your son told you the night before that he needed help with a project he just started and it was due the next day and he told you while you sitting in the middle of your daughter’s recital that was going until 8 pm and you, yourself, have to at least start laundry because you are down to your last pair of underwear and *gasp* (take in as much air as possible here)… have I made my point? How do you continue to get it done when life won’t let you and why do you not have the motivation to do so?

Journey with us as we find our voice here, introduce ourselves to you—5 very unique women with very different stories of how to get it done—and teach you a thing or two about health and fitness in the process.

Monday Heather
Tuesday Amy
Wednesday Seanna
Thursday Jodi
Friday Nicole

For the next four days I will tell you all about our passions through the companies all of us represent through Jodiojo:

www.ModelPer4mance.com
Thinking about a 5K, 10K or ½ marathon? Avid skier? Want the career and the recreational goal to keep you going? I will talk about this one tomorrow.

www.trans4mationstation.com (coming Jan 2011)
Want a body that looks good in or out of the jeans? If looking good naked is a thing that you desire, here’s your solution. I will tell you all about this on Wednesday.

www.jonesin4fitness.com (coming Mar 2011 or sooner)
Have you already reached your goal and just want to some fun workouts? Do you want to know how to fit it all in through hearing someone talk about it? Or maybe just learn some new stuff in the industry? This is our online store of workout packs, mp3’s, webinars and so on. More info and background on how this all fits together on Thursday.

www.Body4Christonline.com (blog coming Jan 2011, site Feb 2011)
I have so much to say on this one that I invite you to join me on Friday as to what this is going to be and what it’s all about. I cannot wait!

We invite you to get to know us here at Jodiojo and if you desire to work with us or learn more from us, the above sites are the way to do it. Over the next 3 months we will unveil all of our new endeavors and what we have been doing behind the scenes for over 5 months now. The blog will cover the same relevant topics and much more as now our scope has broadened and we have much more to focus on.

Thank you so much for making 2010 the best year a new company could ever ask for. Your support has meant everything to us. We know you will love the changes and additions that are coming. See you tomorrow (make sure you do not miss it) as I delve into the world of recreational sports. Bye for now!

Well kinda.

You see this blog is my passion. It is my place of fun. A place where I get to hang out and do my thang and I don’t have to worry about life, my kids, the dishes and etc. I just sit down and start to talk about what’s going on in the world of looking good naked. But this means when something big comes along—not just busy-ness because I am always busy—this will take the hit. That time has come and has been the last two weeks—hence the one time per week posting. So let’s talk about that for a second.

When I say I am going underground, I mean that I will be doing two things:

Sending my posts out as blog blasts and
Putting my premium content in a blog blast

Blog blasts make your life easier because instead of visiting my blog everyday in hopes that I have posted, I send it straight to your inbox so you have it before anybody else does. You do not have to sign up for this but I highly recommend that you do because I will no longer post ‘series’ in my blog, I will only send them out as a blast. Now I know what you’re thinking and I’m going to stop you right there. This is not a ploy to get you to sign up to sell you stuff. I have nothing to sell on this blog, remember, it’s my personal haven. If you sign up (or you are already signed up b/c there are a lot of you who are) you will only receive quality content each and every post. If there is something that I am supporting, you will hear about it in the blast only AFTER I have done something for you first with content and it won’t be spammy. I think that is only fair. However, I am not set up to sell anything so no worries there and if and when I do, I’ll give you heads up.

But I have been schooled to the ways of the blogosphere and have found out about bloggers who somehow troll the web and take content off of your site and push it as their own. I do not know the exact mechanism of this but it has to do with links and trackbacks and things that Google can trace and all kinds of wizardry like that that goes way over my head (honestly, gave me a headache when they tried to explain it to me). I do not want to stop giving out quality content so all programming is going to a blast only whereas my articles are open to the public. BTW, programming refers to series that I will do like ‘how to diet for vacations’ and ‘what to do to prepare for a reunion’ and etc. I also want to give back to those who have been with this blog for the short time it has been in existence. I truly appreciate your support (and wonderful emails) and cannot wait til you see all that I have in store for you for 2010.

Now as for what has been taking all my time… my site has finally launched. It is www.modelper4mance.com. It is a blog and website all in one and it is for athletes (from recreational to elite) who want to become more competitive in their sport through sound nutrition and training principles. Tell your friends and family to come check it out. We cover the athlete as a whole, not just their nutrition for their sport, so we talk about everything. There is so much we are going to cover there that it is crazy. There will be athlete spotlights, contests, health issue articles, training articles and etc. All info is presented in a funny, lighthearted way—you know, what you’re used to!—and will be presented 5 days a week on the blog. You are more than welcome to come hang out with us, just know that the focus is different than this blog so what is said there by me may not always translate the same as to what I say here. They’re not trying to look good naked.

Check it out and let me know what you think about it. I am looking for any and all feedback you may have (and thank you to so many of you who have shared your opinions thus far, as well) so feel free to email me at Jodi@modelper4mance.com and tell me what you’re thinking.

Lastly, Jodiojo is getting a bit of a facelift. Not sure of how much but she’ll be getting her ‘hair did’ soon.;) Might be minor changes or a whole theme change, not sure, but it’s time to raise the bar a bit on my baby. She’s a lovely blog, so I am going to give her some attention. Stay tuned while she’s under construction. It won’t be long, though, because she’s kinda hot as is.

So that’s it in a nutshell. Again, thank you for keeping up with my daily escapades and get ready for a content-filled 2010! Woop woop!:o)

I went to my sister’s house yesterday morning and it is a bit of a drive for me, all highway, at least an hour.  It’s Sunday morning so there are very few people on the road but there was enough that you might have to dodge a few slow pokes and avoid a couple of psychos.  Halfway to her house I pick up a psycho.  A woman in a Toyota (relatively new, well kept and nice tires—just sayin’…) decides that she is going to play footsie with me.  She could not decide whether she wanted to be in front of me or behind me.  She would speed up and pass me and then moments later I would find myself passing her—and not because I was trying.  If this was a weekday, I would have ended this nonsense by just blowing past her (and the NASA space shuttle for that matter) all in one swoosh.  I drive a lawn mower for a car so this would have been an effort but I wouldn’t have cared.  I would have thought: “Off with your head!” as I left her 10 car lengths behind.. 

But it’s Sunday morning and I seriously could not have cared less.  I was groggy, enjoying my CD in my car and just loving the drive because there were no cars on the road.  So when she decided to kick it up a notch and pass me for the third time, I let her.  She must have flown by me doing at least 90 and was probably thinking the same thing I would have been thinking had I passed her—‘Off with your head!’.  I was happy to see her go and thought to myself, “I need a good wingman anyways to flush out the staties. I’ll stay close but not too close.”  No sooner did I think that than I saw him pull out from the side of the road, fly up behind her and pull her over.  You know that could have been me.  Gotta love a good wingman.

Do you have a good wingman? 

Technically, my driver friend does not fully count as a wingman because we are supposed to both be in it together for us to each other’s wingmen…but at that moment, she was mine.  And I am wondering, when it comes to dieting, do you have a wingman? 

Seriously, this is not a role to take lightly and just put any ol’ person in the position.  You need to have a friend who has your back so that when you call her up with one hand on the baked chicken breast and the other hand on the Twinkie, she knows what to do.  Dieting is hard.  Dieting with a very distinct purpose of affecting a change in your appearance more than what the general public will do is even harder.  You need someone in the trenches with you who knows how to roll with your mood swings and provide you with good advice when you find yourself leaving your husband for a molten chocolate dessert that he ate without any remorse.  Oh no, you need to really *think* about this role. 

Who is it?  Who is that person that can keep you on track even when you don’t want to be?

You don’t know?  Find them.  Fast.

These people do exist and most of the time they are not your closest friend.  They almost shouldn’t be because it’s going to get rough.  When you just cannot eat another piece of chicken or you want to poke your eyes out if you see another vegetable, they need to step in like Rocky’s trainer and slap you around like a husband in a bad Lifetime movie (such as Julia Robert’s brother who must have starred in at least 10 Lifetime movies—oy!).   Really good friends have a hard time doing that for you.  They typically sympathize with you and end up enabling you:  “You know what, girl…You haven’t had anything in a long time.  Let’s just go to dinner and get something…”  Don’t fall for this.  Get a wingman who will handle you differently:  “Girl, go in your closet and put on those jeans you want to wear.  Oh wait, they don’t fit right?  I didn’t think so.  I’ll see you at the gym in a half hour.  Be ready to do some work.”  Now THAT’s what I’m talkin’ ‘bout!

It’s January so you are most likely on a mission that’s burning hotter than Aruba with no shade.  But that’s going to fade real soon.  Like…ummm…tomorrow.  So when that happens, you need to be prepared.  Get that wingman in place now. 

She needs to be stronger than you.

She does not have to be {insert here} (skinnier, taller, prettier, etc.).  It’s not about that.  It’s about will.  She’s gotta have it.

She needs to be available.  Don’t pick your second cousin Leslie who just happens to be in jail at the moment.  Yeah she’s tough ‘n’ all but she can only call you Sunday nights after 7pm.  Not good.

She needs to have similar goals because you are riding her mojo. 

Lastly, she needs to know how to get it done.  You don’t want to be wandering in the desert for 40 years with this girl.  You want to get somewhere fast.

Right now it is all about staying on track.  Starting with the end in mind.  Doing your thing.  Getting it done.

Yes, you can do this without a good support network.  You can even do it without a good wingman.  But it won’t be anywhere near as enjoyable so do yourself a favor and go find one.  She’s ready and waiting to boss you around.;)

Or…watch your rear view mirror because whether you like it or not, you may be someone else’s wingman.

Happy Dieting!  Woop woop!:o)

I have a new love.

No, not a passion like yesterday.  I’ve moved on–keep up!

No…this is a new love.  It’s yoga.

This is huge for me.  I am so not the yoga type.  Nothing I do in life is slow, methodical and calculated like yoga.  I do not like slow songs, I can not go to the movies and just sit and watch a movie, I have a hard time sitting still for long periods of time so I find that I barely sit throughout the day.  But I am completely smitten with yoga. 

Am I getting old?  Or am I just growing up?

I have not been practicing long and I am a knotted ball right now, but still: I am a woman on a mission and that mission is flexibility, peace, calm…  I want to bring something worthwhile to my “mat”.  I find that I am too new to truly *relax* into my sacred time right now but I am getting better and better at it.  Every so often I actually catch myself getting into my breathing or experiencing a new amount of flexibility I didn’t have before.  It’s exciting–and I need exciting right now.

It is so easy for us to burn out on a love or passion.  I love lifting and I have a passion for it, but I also need to back off of it every so often to just *breathe*.  Step away so that when I return I still love it for what it is:  mine, raw, fun, challenging.  If I hit it day in and day out and do my own programming, I am so over myself that I literally talk to myself in the gym saying things like “do you train all your clients this way and are you always this boring?”haha  So yoga has provided a much needed refuge for me to be able to go within and challenge myself (umm…try any advanced pose and you’ll see what I mean) without having to depend on the usual standby’s of increased weight or zany training techniques. 

What are you going to try this week that will open up a new horizon for you?  I am challenging you to find something and then let me know what you chose.  We have a job to do and that’s to transform ourselves!  So hop to it!

Oh please say you have one!

Every woman needs something that gets her all in a flurry just by mentioning it.  What’s yours?

Honestly, I have a few.  Anyone who knows me knows about my pen and journal fetish, my love for science of any kind, law and order (csi, closer, ncis, getting the hint here?), houghton’s pond and the number one passion right now…

MAKE UP!

Oy vey!  Ladies, if you are going to go through the trouble of dieting, working out, being health oriented then daggonit–LOOK GOOD AT THE END! 

Again, I am not saying this is for everyone…but it sure as heck is for me right now.  Want me to become starried eyed on you?  Tell me what you deadlift AND what your favorite dazzleglass is!haha!  Need me to read your email before everyone else’s?  Put Important in the headline alongside–FREE MAKE UP! Now you really have my attention!

If I had my way, I would have every woman have one heck of a workout first thing in the morning.  You know…with pullups and everything!  Maybe a complex with 5 reps or less per move.  This chick would be smokin!  Then she’d have the bomb breakfast of crustless quiche with tomatoes, spinach and goat cheese with some seasonal fruit–umm…YUM!  And then she’d top the whole morning off with a shower and THE BEST make up application ever!  I am so serious here, ladies!  I almost needed to fan myself here for a minute after typing this!LOL 

What I typically see is the “either or” girl.  It’s either I am into making myself gorgeous or I’m into making myself fit–but I have no time for both.  Au contraire mon fraire! (sp? haha) 

Take your workouts and yourself seriously!  Meet me at the gym for a kickass set of squats and bring your credit card cuz we’re hitting Sephora right after!  Woop woop!