Let me set the scene…
It’s 4am on any given day in 2008 and the room is lit by the flickering light coming from the TV screen.
A girl sits on the sofa, flicking aimlessly through the channels as she tries to convince herself that she is tired enough to go to bed.
She finds herself stopping on the image of a beautiful black man, muscles rippling, as he jumps around on the screen, encouraging the people with him to “dig deeper” as they struggle through the workout. She sits there, watching the entire thing, wishing that she could do what they were doing.
This was the first time I ever saw Shaun T! It was also the first time I had ever seen exercise as being for something other than weight loss - these people were athletes and that approach to exercise just struck something in me.
It would be another 3 years before I actually committed to the 60 days of ‘Insanity’ and nothing has been the same since.
You see, that program not only helped me lose weight, but the ‘hit you in your soul’ motivation and ‘tough love’ that is at the core of Shaun T’s teaching style sparked within me a desire to pursue a career in the fitness industry.
It is because of that ridiculously hard program and Shaun’s ability to keep you coming back for more, that I started my Personal Training business, that I became a group fitness instructor, and that I continued to pursue opportunities in the industry, culminating in partnering with BODi - the very company that produced that original workout program!
I wanted to help women go through the ‘hard’ of weight loss without it having to be as lonely as it had been for me. I wanted to be a source of motivation and inspiration for them to truly embrace their strength and power, the way Shaun had been able to help me embrace mine.
12 years later and I found myself on a production set, on screen sweating with Shaun T, as he filmed another exercise program, with a next-level hit-you-in-your-soul motivational message. Me! On set! As part of the cast!
A full circle moment if there ever was one.
My time filming Focus T25-Delta was surreal and amazing and hard and unbelievable and scary and magical, because it was a literal dream come true.
Here I was, a formerly obese girl with extreme self-esteem issues, now a cast member of a fitness program led by her idol!
I had to navigate a lot of imposter syndrome feelings, a lot of ‘you don’t deserve to be here’ thoughts, in order to be fully present and bring my best to the project everyday, and navigate it I did.
Focus T25-Delta became available to us all on May 1st and doing the entire program again, this time with MY fitness family; my teammates and members of the #InspiredNation was a surreal and WONDERFUL experience. What I want YOU to take away from it is that the dreams we dream CAN come true... IF we stop being the obstacle in our own lives.
xoxo Sabs
