My Got Core DVDs, have been one of the most popular sets of DVDs I have sold.  I am still selling the first one and then you get the second one for free. They make great gifts and have been responsible for alleviating or eliminating hundreds of my client’s lower back pain.  Click here to get one sent to your door step.

If you have an Apple product I have an awesome Flat Stomach Workout App for $1.99.  Click here to download.

Here is a great video showing some of my favorite core exercises.

Question of the day:  What are some of your favorite core exercises?

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If you are part of my Fit Moms For Life DVDs, you are familiar with this type of training for our cardio section of the DVD workouts.  Even though it only lasts a couple minutes, I have been told and also believe it to be the most challenging part of any workout.

FYI, this video was shot about 2 years ago!  I wasn’t too comfortable on camera back then

You will notice that this is pretty high impact, so if you have bad knees or other joints you need to cut the intensity down or pick lower impact exercises.

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Abby and I with the family

A couple days ago I shared with you part 1 of a story on a Mom with 7 kids who changed her whole families life. I received so many comments and private emails from my subscribers about this story and how it really inspired them to look at what they are feeding their kids.

The second part of the story is about the miracles Kim’s family has seen from getting off of the traditional processed and toxic diet.  When I was in ND with everyone I had a great conversation with her husband who has lost 45 lbs.  He looked awesome and said he loves Tracies webstite, and he is just a sponge for knowledge regarding food.  He has a problem I hope all of you get to at some point.  He needs to GAIN weight, and is currently eating 3000 calories per day, but can’t keep weight on him.  Nice problem to have right  You can obviously see from his before pic, he wasn’t gifted with great genetics.  He has systematically experimented with HIS body to find the foods that HIS body responds well to, and has his hormones very regulated and is eating only high quality foods that his body can process.  He has found whole grains (a very healthy thing to eat) doesn’t sit well with his body and his back problems come back right away.  I challenge you to do experiments on yourself and track how you feel.  Many people have trouble processing dairy, sugar, and grains.  Try eliminating one of them for a 4-6 week period and see how you feel and then try another one to eliminate.

Kim and her family before changing their diet

Enough rambling, here is the rest of Kim’s story:

“I was just looking out the window at the kids playing in the yard and realizing what a miracle they are.  Our oldest just turned 14, we have twins who are 12, triplets that are 8 and our youngest is 4.  I didn’t think we’d be able to have kids.  I grew up obese, and didn’t have a normal puberty.  In fact, I only had my menstrual cycle one to two times a year.

As a kid, this didn’t bother me so much.  It wasn’t until we decided we wanted a family, that I became concerned.  I made an appointment with an OB-GYN, who immediately referred me to a fertility specialist.  He told me I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.  He told me I would never conceive a baby without medical intervention.   He put me on some oral drugs that were supposed to stimulate my body to ovulate, but that was unsuccessful, so we proceeded to take fertility shots. We were lucky to have a single baby, twins and triplets.  All were healthy and we decided six was enough!  We weren’t worried about having any more kids as pregnancy was impossible without medical intervention.  Maybe with the way I was taking care of my body at the time, it was impossible, but my niece had me on an exercise plan to help me lose a lot of pregnancy weight.  I was losing weight and exercising consistently.  To my surprise, my periods started to become more regular.  More surprising than regular periods was a positive pregnancy test when the triplets were three.  We had a healthy baby boy and I had my tubes tied.

Abby and I with Kim on the left and Patty on the right

School starts in a couple of weeks.  Our ADD son is entering the third grade.  He successfully completed the second grade, medication free.  We keep him off of school lunch and gluten.  We do notice that his symptoms return after he’s been to a holiday meal or birthday party, and we suffer for a couple of days to get him back on track.  This proves to us that his diet has a lot to do with his focus and success in school.

I just had all the kids in for their yearly physicals with their pediatrician.  He said “Where’ve you been?”  We hadn’t been in since last fall, aside from some stitches in the knee of one of the boys.  This is completely awesome to me because we have a child with an auto-immune disorder who needs to go to the ER with any fever over 101.  She hadn’t been in to the ER or on antibiotics for a whole year.  What we are saving in doctor bills has easily made our increased grocery budget worth it.  I’m also excited that I am nearing the end of  the year with leftover vacation and sick days.  This is the first time since we had kids that I have not run out before the end of the year.

As I close this, I am waiting for Kevin to come in from mowing the yard.  We live on a farm and it takes close to six hours to mow the whole yard.  Sitting on a lawn mower for six hours was something he could not do last year because of his back.  His backaches are virtually gone.  If asked which one of the changes made the biggest difference in his back, he’d tell you it was the gluten.  Maybe our chiropractor who picked apart our diet wasn’t so crazy after all.”

Question of the Day:  Have you experienced interesting things that have happened when you started to change your eating habits?

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Kim and her family before changing their diet

Today I want to share a story of a mom named Kim and her 7 kids, yes I said 7!  I met her through my Fit Moms For Life DVD program and then went to ND and did a bootcamp out there for a bunch of her friends. She just launched her own FMFL community at a recent elementary school orientation and has 36 women who have committed to working out together each week and getting together intentionally to support on another and develop authentic relationships!

I recent wrote a post on “How much money are you wasting?”  This story you are about to read goes pretty well with it.

Here it is in Kim’s words:

“I always thought we were doing pretty good with what we were eating. The kids ate school lunch and I was taking a freezer meal to work for every day. Kevin ate a lot of bologna sandwiches with Miracle Whip and Cheez Whiz, and we had a lot of macaroni and cheese for dinner. Kevin didn’t really have a severe weight problem and I was maintaining a 30 lb loss that I achieved with Weight Watchers, with freezer meals and a lot of fat free foods. Aside from your typical kids’ sicknesses, we didn’t have anything major wrong with us, and I was proud to be feeding nine people on a strict grocery budget. I sometimes made it a game to see how cheap I could get our food. It did seem like I took a lot of days off of work because of colds and flu, and we were always in the clinic with somebody. That seemed to be part of having seven kids.

Kevin’s job required a lot of lifting and twisting and he was at the chiropractor a few times a week. His chiropractor finally referred him to a medical doctor who started a series of X-rays and MRIs. The diagnosis was bulging discs and the treatment plan was physical therapy and probable surgery down the road. Kevin wanted to avoid surgery at all costs, so he started seeing a wellness chiropractor in another town. She did a lot more than adjust his back and send him on his way. She started picking apart his diet. What could his diet have to do with his back? We thought she was crazy, but continued to make the changes she suggested.

The first thing to go was the 6-10 cans of Coke a day. Along with the pop, the candy was stopped as well. She also suggested we throw out all processed foods, white flour and white sugar.  Click here to learn about all the dangerous effects of sugar. She introduced us to the world of organic fruits and vegetables and we started eating different kinds. We sometimes make a game out of how many different colors we can get on our plate. She also started a fire in Kevin for knowledge about nutrition.

With her guidance, we threw out all of our vegetable oils and purchased coconut oil for cooking. I was already buying butter instead of margarine. Not because I knew that margarine was such an unhealthy fat, just because I liked the flavor of butter, better. We started the whole family on cod liver oil supplements. Kevin continued to research and I started modifying recipes and learning how to cook and bake with different flours and sugars. I was still of the mentality that good moms bake cookies for their kids, and that kids need treats.

Kim's family after

We learned the importance of eating grass-fed meats and free range eggs. We started making changes to the dairy we were consuming as well and went from skim to whole milk for the whole family. Our pediatrician was not excited about this change. He disagreed about the fat content in whole milk. We merely smiled and continued on, believing in what we were doing.

It wasn’t long in to our changes that one of our triplets started having problems in school and we took him in for hearing tests. He ended up being diagnosed with ADD. The first (and only) suggestion we received from the child psychiatrist was medication. Not wanting to go down that route, we researched ADD and discovered that some people have problems with focus and hyperactivity because of gluten intolerances. We decided to take the whole family off of gluten for a while and see what happened. This was a difficult change as gluten free food is not the best tasting. Little by little, we eliminated grains. This made meals a lot more difficult, because I relied a lot on pasta or grilled cheese sandwiches for quick and easy meals. We had to modify some more, but we got used to it pretty quickly. We still eat gluten-free pastas from time to time and occasionally I will purchase a loaf of Ezekial Bread, but we really eat very little grains.

Sometimes, I second guess the latest changes Kevin wants to make, but they are validated to me every single time I receive my Fit Mom’s For Life dvd in the mail and listen to Tracy Hittman’s nutrition segment. This makes me feel better that we are making the right decisions, but the biggest indicator that things are going really well are all the radical changes we are seeing in our health. So, while our grocery budget has easily doubled, the changes we have seen in our health have been priceless.”

Day One

Breakfast

Choice of:

Nitrate Free Bacon and Free Range Eggs

Greek Yogurt Smoothie

(Greek Yogurt, Frozen Fruit, Milk, Protein Powder)

Lunch

Grass-Fed, Nitrate Free Hotdogs

Assortment of Fresh Fruit – (melon, grapes, berries)

Cottage Cheese

Dinner

BBQ Chicken Legs

Dilled Baby Red Potatoes

Assortment of Fresh Vegetables – (carrots, celery, broccoli, cucumber)

Day Two

Breakfast

Choice of:

Nitrate Free Bacon and Free Range Eggs

Greek Yogurt Smoothie

(Greek Yogurt, Frozen Fruit, Milk, Protein Powder)

Lunch

Romaine-Spinach Salad

Baked chicken breast, cheese, broccoli, carrots, ranch dressing

Assortment of fresh fruit

Dinner

Meatballs (made with grass-fed beef)

Mashed potatoes and gravy

Asparagus or Green Beans

Day Three

Breakfast

Choice of:

Nitrate Free Bacon and Free Range Eggs

Greek Yogurt Smoothie

(Greek Yogurt, Frozen Fruit, Milk, Protein Powder)

Lunch

Chili topped with greek yogurt and cheese

Assortment of Fresh Fruit

Dinner

Beef Roast

Baked Potato

Assortment of Fresh Vegetables

Snacks include: String Cheese, Yogurt, Organic Granola Bars, Apples and Peanut Butter

Most fruit and vegetables are purchased organic. We try to follow the Dirty Dozen List.

Stay tuned for part two were Kim talks about what changing their families eating habits have done for the family.  It is pretty shocking!

Do you have questions for Kim?  Please feel free to ask her in the comments section below?

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One of my coaches made a statement that got me thinking.  He told me “How much money is it costing you, NOT to do it?”  I am not going to go into the details of my specific example, but it got me thinking…

How much money is it costing you to not put your health as one of the top priorities?

How much money is it costing you not to eat healthy?

How much money is it costing you not to participate in a fitness program that has hundreds of documented success stories?

How much money is it costing you to consume so much processed foods?

How much money is it costing you, going from one diet to the next?

How much money is it costing you to continually have to buy different sized clothes because you are always losing and gaining weight?

How much money is it costing you in medication for high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, and many other drugs?

How much money is it costing you to continually take your kids to the doctor because they are always sick?

How much money is it costing you in sick time from work?

How much money is it costing you in worthless fitness infomercial products? (except P90X and Insanity, those are ligit)

How much money is it costing you to drink all the crap out there besides water, milk, and unsweetened tea?

How much money is it costing you in dental bills with all the sugar and soda consumption?

How much money is it costing you in chiropractic bills because your core isn’t strong enough to make a chiropractic adjustment hold?

Or Even Scarier!!

How many YEARS less of life are you going to lose, because you didn’t put your health first?

I don’t want to make this post be negative or use fear tactics, but when I hear someone tell me they can’t afford XYZ (good for their health stuff), and then I see their house and it is huge, they drive very new cars, they have all the big screen TVs, they go out to eat all the time, and they drink and smoke… all I can do is scratch my head and smile and walk away.

Now obviously this is an extreme example, but many people do fit in a few of these categories.  All I am saying is that we should be using enough of our discrecinary income on things that are going to make us healthier, instead of things that either make no difference or make us sicker.

I am going to share with you next time a story from a family I know who learned this lesson and changed!

If this really hit you hard and you are looking to invest in yourself here are a couple options for you.

Fit Fun Bootcamp: If you are in the Madison area and looking for the ultimate workouts and accountability this is the program.

Got Core: If you have a ball at home or have back problems, or a mid section that is bothering you, this $30 investment is a great place to start.

Fit Moms For Life DVDs:  Would you like to hire me as a trainer but couldn’t afford it or don’t live in the Madison area?  This monthly program is like having me train you in your house.  These are the exact workouts that some clients pay me $150/hour to share.  Each month you will receive a DVD in the mail.  I give the first one away for free (just pay shipping) in order to test the program out.  http://www.fitmomsforlife.com/thankyou.html

Buns Guns Back and Shoulders:  Are you looking for short 8-15 minute workouts that target certain areas?  These 12 workouts are the perfect solution for you.  Remember you can’t spot reduce fat, but you can spot tone certain areas.

I am curious your thoughts.  Do you agree or disagree?  Did anything strike you one way or another?

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Katy Smith Before

Today I would like to share with you a story of a mom who refused to let any excuses get in her way of reaching her goals.  If you watch her workout, you can tell she is on a mission and will give everything she has everyday.  Not only has she been extremely consistent coming to Mamatone, but she she really made some drastic changes to her eating.  I asked her to share a 3 day food journal with you.  As you will see, it is by no means perfect, but it shouldn’t need to be perfect to see results.  I hope you are inspired by her story.  Please share this with any mom who you think would benefit from it.

Here it is!

“Weight has been an issue my whole life.  I stayed fairly fit during my high school years by running cross country, but from college on my weight was constantly fluctuating depending on what was going on in my life.  When I went through a divorce in 2005 I lost a lot of weight.  A year later when I met my current husband (and was happy), I packed on the pounds.  I would try every fad diet out there, but I would lack will power and eventually give up.  I would also try to exercise.  I thought running on a treadmill was the best way to burn calories, but when I didn’t lose any weight I would get frustrated and stop.

After giving birth to my 3^rd child the end of November 2009, I was the heaviest I had ever been at 184.  I knew this was my last child, so I couldn’t use the “I’m just going to have another baby and get fat again” excuse that I had hidden behind for the previous 6 years.  I had to do something about my weight, and this time I was determined to succeed!  Both my mom & sister had great success with Weight Watchers, so I started that program, but I needed to exercise, too.  Luckily, a friend of mine suggested Dustin’s classes.

Katy Before Again

January 22, 2010 I took my first Mamatone class.  It was a completely different way of exercising then I had ever experienced.  The best way to describe it is eye-opening!  I thought I was in OK shape, and after one class realized I clearly was not.  That particular day, Dustin was also doing body fat tests and I was shocked to learn mine was 41%!  Yikes!  So, I started a food journal and went to Mamatone consistently two times a week.  I also bought a treadmill, weights, and a ball so I could work out at home an additional three times a week.

The first couple weeks I didn’t see any results and it was very frustrating, but I stuck with it.  Finally, after 3 weeks I had lost 5 pounds and after that I continued to drop approximately 2 pounds a week.  In early May I had lost 30 pounds and Dustin did another body fat test.  I had lost 11% of my body fat and 7 inches off my waist!

Today, I have lost 42 pounds and my body fat is at 24%.  I’ve lost a total of 9 inches from my waist and went from a size 14 to a size 8.  I still follow Weight Watchers, but incorporate some of Dustin’s nutrition advice into my eating.  I make sure to have protein with every meal and avoid fake sugars.  The most important thing I’ve learned is to read labels!  I used to buy the cheapest item on the shelf.  Living on one income, I thought that was the smartest way to shop.  WRONG!  Knowing what you are eating makes a huge difference when you’re trying to lose weight.  I’ve also become much more conscious of what my kids are eating.

Here is a sample eating plan.

Katy After losing 42 lbs!

Day 1

Breakfast

Chobani Blueberry Greek Yogurt

1 cup of coffee with 1 tbsp. fat free vanilla coffeemate

Snack

Whole Wheat Bagel Thin with wedge of Laughing Cow Cheese

Lunch

Strawberry Salad (spring greens, strawberries, feta cheese, chopped almonds & Newmans Own rasberry walnut vinagrette)

Snack

Banana & string cheese

Dinner

Fajita (grilled chicken breast, green pepper, red pepper, onion, lettuce, 1 tbsp. plain greek yogurt in 100% whole wheat tortilla)

Day 2

Breakfast

Special K Protein Plus Cereal with skim milk and blackberries on top

Lunch

McDonalds grilled chicken sandwich with no mayo

Small iced coffee

Snack

1/2 cup cottage cheese with fresh peach

Dinner

Weight Watchers Mexican Meatloaf recipe (ground turkey, ground beef, cornbread stuffing, egg whites, enchilada sauce)

Steamed green beans

Day 3

Breakfast

Chobani blueberry greek yogurt

1 cup of coffee with 1 tbsp. fat free vanilla coffeemate

Snack

Small handful of almonds

Lunch

Turkey Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato Sandwich on 100% whole wheat bread

Snack

1 serving of baked pita chips with homemade black bean salsa

Dinner

Grilled chicken breast

Steamed green beans

Glass of wine

My focus now isn’t so much on losing weight as it is staying healthy.  I try to make it to Mamatone three times a week.  I love to do exercises I physically couldn’t do in the beginning.  I also love that there are still some things I can’t do, and that continues to push me.  My kids love going to the gym, and I love showing them how important exercise is.  I can seriously say these classes have changed my life and made me a better person, mother, and wife!”

Thanks Dustin!

Katy Smith, Madison

Great job Katy!  Does anyone have questions for her?  I am sure she would love to respond.  Please write questions in the comments section below.

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Last week I was able to get a glimpse of where I believe my business and vision is going.  I recently did a post about what some of my core mission statements and beliefs are regarding what it means to be a Fit Mom For Lifer.  Click here if you missed it.

I have spent the past 2 years reading tons of books, talking to some of the biggest names in coaching, and getting advice from anyone who has produced results in the areas I am looking to go into, and I am about ready to launch a world wide Fit Moms For Life movement with the goal of reaching 1,000,000 (I like typing that number out) moms by the end of 2015.  This is a huge goal, that will take an incredible amount of work, but I am ready and excited about the possibility of helping transform the lives of 1 million moms.  Think about it, not only would those 1 million moms be transformed, their 2 kids (on average) will have a better life, their husband/significant other might be positively influenced, and they will probably help at least 3 other friends become healthier.  So if we help reach 1 million, we have touched at least 5 million!  That gets me excited.  But I can’t do it without your help, actually if I do my job, I won’t be the one transforming the lives, it will be YOU!  I will just be their to guide.

I am not going to go into detail of the structure that is going to be created, but basically I am going to help train and build up moms who raise their hands and want to be leaders in their communities.  They want to help empower women through weight training,  eating right, positive thinking, changing their environment, and surrounding themselves with only positive like-minded individuals.  They will get together in authentic community, where they can open up with each other and talk about their struggles, and celebrate their successes.  A community of like-minded moms who put themselves first, in order to be the best they can be for others.

If this is something that interests you even a little, click here.  This will send you to a page where you can enter your name and email and be on a special list that will be used to ignite the movement once I get the ball rolling within the next 6 weeks.

But today I want to share with you a couple of moms who are already ahead of the curve and have done exactly what I have been envisioning!

Kim (left), Patty (right)

Meet Kim and Patty.  They live near Fargo, ND, in the middle of nowhere. They have large farms and big families.  One day Kim was searching on youtube for burst workouts and found a video I did on burst training.  Her and her friend Patty had just finished half marathons, and to their horror, GAINED weight!  If you have been reading this blog for awhile you will not be surprised by this, but for most it seems impossible to be doing so much exercise and getting fatter.  They both signed up for the FREE trial Fit Moms For Life DVD and CD and I guess you could say the rest is history.

They have been on the program for close to 1 year now and have both transformed their bodies.  Not only have they changed, but they began changing the health of their families.  They also started sharing the good news to their friends.  Their friends started the FMFL DVDs and soon they had a great support group that formed.

J-lo Booty

I told them I wanted to go out and see everyone, so I asked them to gather their friends together and I would come out and do a bootcamp style workout and nutritional talks.  I received front page coverage in their local paper.  Click here to read article.  42 women show up, and abou 10 kids!  It was so awesome to see everyone out celebrating health and fitness.  They had $500 worth of food and prizes donated for the event and had special pink Got Core t-shirts made for everyone.  They had 15 stability balls, and 30 sets of dumbbells up to 30 lbs for us to use in the bootcamp.

Abby and I put together a bootcamp workout in the blazing 85 degree heat and sun.  We had 42 start the workout, and about 25 finished it.   For some, they said it was a huge wake-up call to just how far they have let their fitness and health fall.

The week since I went out there has been really neat.  They are keeping the momentum going and putting together a group that will meet 1-2 times a month and create authentic community and support one another.  I am very excited and thankful for all that is going to happen in the Fargo area, and how the Fit Moms For Life program will continue to grow.

My goal by the end of this year will be to form 75 of these groups across the country.  So again, if you are at all interested in learning more about how you can be apart of the beginning of this movement, click here and put your info in the boxes.

If you have been able to get others involved in working out and support groups, please share your experience with everyone in the comment section below.  Let us know what has worked well in building a community.

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-Partner Workouts

-Fat burning

-Muscle toning

-Very interactive: you are using each others body weight for many of the exercises

-Creative:  Many of these exercises you have probably never seen before

-Positive: It was great to see the couples in the DVDs encouraging and suffering together

-We had a husband and wife for two of the DVDs, and two mom friends for the other

-These workouts are the closest workouts I have to my bootcamp workouts, since many times in bootcamps we are doing partner exercises to increase the commrodery and relationships.

-Fun, with all the new workouts and positions you have your body in, the workouts are funny and unique.

I hope that helps.

Please write in the comments section below as many names that you think would sound good.  I will pick the winner by Sunday evening.  You will win a free set of the DVDs if yours is chosen.

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Have you ever noticed when you receive a compliment from someone you immediately down play it and try to not make a big deal about it?  Have you been told you looked really skinny in a certain picture and you say something like, “Well the lighting was really good, black made me much skinnier, and I was posed at the right angle.”  Why is it so hard for us to accept compliments?  Or another question… Why is it so hard to let others know about our successes?  I think we don’t want to come off as arrogant or braggish (not sure if that is a word, but it is now).  We all know some of the most annoying people to be around are those who always talk about themselves and brag about what they have done.  I believe it is ok, once in awhile to tell others what you have accomplished.  It helps us celebrate our successes, if we just kept them up all inside and never did anything about them, I don’t think the successes would mean as much to us.

So be sure to post your response to the question at the bottom of this article.

This month I reached a big goal for me, and a huge honor.  I was featured on the cover of my favorite magazine Personal Fitness Professional.  This is the magazine I picked up 6 months before I decided to become a personal trainer, and to be featured on the cover was a huge honor.  I was also told that I was the youngest trainer ever to get on the cover for the “Success Journey” story.  To be acknowledged amongst my peer trainers, who I respect and love so much means a lot.  If you are interested in reading the article, I have included it below.

Here it is!

Being called a “Mama’s Boy” is not something most people take kindly to. Dustin Maher, however, wears the label proudly… and has already turned his self-proclaimed identity, as well as his unique connection with moms, into a growing empire.

Maher’s strength comes from the fact that he knows who he is and where he’s going. The confident son of a stay-at-home mom who sacrificed a lot for her four children, Maher loves working with moms. With a handsome grin and the youthful charm to make any mama proud, Maher (who isn’t married and is nowhere close to busting out of his 20s) proudly proclaims his goal to be America’s Trainer to the Moms.

Maher is blazing his own trail through the fitness world, with three thriving MamaTone classes and an iPhone app developed from pieces of his core training DVD, 300 boot campers enrolled in his 12-location Fit Fun Boot Camp and more than 1000 moms from nine countries having purchased his monthly DVD program, Fit Moms for Life.

But it didn’t start out that way. Maher, from the first grade on, had dreamed of being a weatherman. It was his passion. That is, until his freshman year in college, when his love for fitness clouded over his weather aspirations. He had been studying exercise and nutrition on his own, and Maher began teaching anyone who would listen — which often times was his mom and her postmenopausal friends — the benefits of moving your body and eating right.

So Maher, a student at the University of Wisconsin, switched his major to kinesiology with a minor in business. He also picked up a job at the university recreation center, where he cleaned weight machines and answered questions. Soon, Maher applied to teach a circuit class and got the job. It was his first boot camp style class. He then recognized the need for a 30-minute core class, which Maher felt was his specialty. His boss asked him to write a curriculum for his proposed class. Soon thereafter, Maher and eight other trainers were teaching his core class, which became the most popular class on campus with more than 400 weekly attendees.

It was at the Rec Sports Center that Maher earned his ACE certification and trained more than 30 students and faculty members his last two years of college. During his senior year, a local health club hired Maher. He initiated his core class there, as well as doing general fitness assessments. After graduation, Maher knew he had the tools to begin focusing in on his niche — mothers. He wanted to develop an exercise class for stay-at-home moms, somewhere they could get a great workout, have free childcare and socialize with other moms.

MamaTone Fitness was born. Women in the community responded overwhelmingly, and soon the program had a following of 60 moms. Maher was also training one-on-one with clients, working about 50 hours per week and moving toward burn out. He knew he needed to begin leveraging his time better. Maher shifted all of his clients into groups of four, which cut his hours in half, and began eyeing boot camp model. At the same time, Maher had received requests for a program similar to MamaTone for working moms. He decided to create some early morning workouts but made them co-ed. Two years ago, Maher formed Fit Fun Boot Camps with two different locations.

Within a year, the boot camp grew to eight locations. By the second year, it amassed 12 locations, 16 different start times and about 250 campers. Always looking forward, Maher knew that he needed to develop a program to reach more people in a way that would further leverage his time and expertise. Maher found a mentor who would help him transfer his knowledge and expertise to DVDs, with his help, Maher created Fit Moms for Life, a monthly DVD program.

Each of the 12 DVDs featured Maher training a different mom at her home, along with nutritional segments and interviews. “I tried to keep it very personal,” says Maher. “Like me training you in your home.” Maher and a buddy who videoed weddings produced the first four DVDs. Then, two months later, after some evaluation and improvements, they produced the remaining eight, plus two bonus core DVDs, completing a total of 10 DVDs in two days. Going low-budget allowed Maher to learn along the way.

Maher is used to being in front of a camera, however. A master at generating publicity, he’s been on TV or radio more than 80 times, leveraging that exposure to build his classes and boot camps and sell DVDs.

In fact, he now trains five reporters on an ongoing basis. And most of them are moms.

Beyond being critical in building his business, his ability to garner TV and radio spots led Maher to partner with another of his mentors, Steve, and launch a coaching program to teach other trainers how to do the same. In August, Maher will release Fitness Media Dominator Coaching Program. But what drives Maher forward is his mission to reach one million moms.

“I”m most excited about creating a movement for moms to come together in a healthy way,” he says.

With a strong online community (his blog gets 1,000 visitors per day) and more DVDs in the works, Maher is now aiming to create a grassroots organization in which moms across the country and around the world can meet in small groups and use his programs within their homes to get fit while holding each other accountable. Also called Fit Moms for Life (the name of his DVD program), these communities are based on the Body for Life model, which still has support groups meeting today.

“It’s about creating a vision,” says Maher, “and the ability to communicate your message within a system.”

And Maher’s vision is clear.

“In Fit Moms for Life, I see a very large, brandable community of moms who are seeking to put themselves first and become better role models for their kids.”

Maher’s mother is, no doubt, very proud.

What’s Your Favorite…

…workout equipment? plain old dumbbells

…healthy snack? ants on a log — celery, peanut

butter and raisins

...quote or saying? “The greatest discovery of my

generation is that human beings can alter their lives

by altering their attitudes of mind.” –William James

So here is the question of the day:  List your top 3-5 health and fitness related accomplishments that you are most proud of.  These could also include mental and emotional components. Lets celebrate everyone’s successes together!

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Patty and I in Casselton, ND

I had an amazing time in ND this weekend hosting a bootcamp and meeting with a bunch of Fit Mom For Lifers.  It definitely made the 8 hour trip well worth it.  We had over 40 women show up and 10 kids.  I will be sharing more in the upcoming days, but here is an email I receive from Patty, one of the organizers of the event about 2 months ago.

I am sharing this with you because Patty is doing exactly what I would love all of you to be doing.  I am only one person, but if I can teach you the most effective and efficient ways to workout and eat, and then you teach others, I am able to have a larger impact, and you get the joy of helping others and are more likely to stick with it.

Before I share the email with you, I have an important question to ask you at the end, so please share with me your input.

Here was the email:

Hey Dustin!

I had the biggest compliment.  A friend that I did the Dick Beardsley training with last year was at the gym last week running and running and running on the treadmill as usual.  She called me this weekend and asked me what I’m doing because I’m so much thinner than I was when we ran together last year.  I told her lifting weights.  She asked if I could show her, so this morning at 6:15 a.m. we were both at the gym.  She looked at me in my workout gear and said “Oh my God you’re thin!”  (I’m 10 pounds lighter than I was when we were running together last year) I gave her Fit Moms For Life DVD #1 (that I ordered off your website for free, just paying the shipping costs) and told her to try the core/cardio tomorrow and tell me what she thinks.  After we got done lifting weights, (we did the strength portion of FMFL #1) I stayed and just did a quick HIIT on the treadmill, 10 minutes with 30 second bursts.  Another friend was there when I got there at 6:15 and she was running/walking on the treadmill.  After I was done with weights AND the HIIT, she was still on the treadmill.  I was getting ready to go and she said “Are you already done?!” I said “YUP!” and she said “I might have to call you.”

Patty Munro, ND

Question:  Do you need any other additional resources from me to help you help others?  In other words, what is preventing you from teaching others what you have learned.  I want to help enable you to enable others!

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