The Book I Wish I Had 15 Years Ago

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Writing a book is SO freaking hard.

It’s also really easy. When you know what you want to say, the writing flows. And for the most part, for me, I always have something to say. (Just ask Erik.) If I could write all day, I would. So you would think that writing a book, on a topic of which I have experienced half my life, would be easy.

But writing this eBook is SO freaking hard. 

I’ve alluded several times to the new eBook that Strong Figure is publishing…soon. This book, the Strong Figure Total Health and Fitness Makeover, is going to be life-changing for people. Or maybe I should say great for changing people’s health. No, scratch that, it IS going to be life-changing. I will change someone’s life with this book. Hopefully more than one. This book is GOOD. We’re well on our way to 200+ pages of teaching people who want to transform their health, their fitness, their food choices, their LIVES, into exactly what they’ve wanted but have never known how to start.

I’ve lived this story. I’ve had to overcome obesity, poor life-choices, and unhealthy food relationships. I’ve struggled for over ten years to learn how to change my life–emotional, physical, mental–everything. This book is for the person who was just like me, ten plus years ago, who needed to start somewhere but didn’t know where to go.

The book is for that time when I walked into the gym and didn’t know where to start with weights, with cardio, or when I didn’t even know what a kettlebell was.

And it’s a book for that time in my life when I knew a lot about food but I didn’t know how to eat for my goals. It’s for the time when I was getting too little sleep and eating too much sugar. The time when I wasn’t hydrated though I thought I was, and I was overtraining, though I thought I wasn’t. It’s for all the Steph’s out there who need to figure out WTF is up, down, left, right, wrong, truth, fact, myth, and lies.

Our makeover is for the every-day person who needs to figure out how much is too much, how little is too little, and the knowledge to learn the difference. It’s a well-researched “how-to” piece of literature filled with various success stories, nutrition tips, motivational perks, fitness facts, and fun pictures.

Yep, you read right, this isn’t just MY success story–it’s several success stories. I reached out to my ambassadors for help with this project and they responded right away. Some sent tips, some facts, some successes, and one even sent an entire chapter on pregnancy health. A) I have the best ambassadors, and B) I told you, this book is going to be GREAT.

So why is it so damn hard to write? 

The more Erik and I work on the book, the more complex it gets. We started off with an idea…we did what every writing entrepreneur says to do: write about what you know. And I know a HELL of a lot about how to turn your life around from being lazy, fat, and eating nothing but processed junk. So we started a table of contents. 

Easy.

Erik asked me one day, “If you buckle down on this, can we have it done by January? You know, hit all the new years resolutioners?”

I say, “of course!”

I even go as far as publishing my last Strong Figure post of the year in early December in order to “buckle down” on the project.

Each chapter took me three times longer, hell, maybe ten times longer to write than I thought it would.

January rolled around and this time, Erik and I were serious. We were going to publish in February. But the more we wrote, the more we wanted to include. Chapter on mobility? Done. But…let’s find some ambassadors to take some mobility pictures for us. Ok.

Chapter on sleep? Done. But then the research and note taking starts, poring through journals and studies, new sleep hygiene techniques, blue blockers, yoga, what works, what doesn’t…we cross reference, try the techniques ourselves…do you see where I am going? It is a LONG process.

And then, “Let’s include several recipes for the nutrition section.” Ok–let’s get Amber to help–she has some GREAT ones on her site. Perfect. But….let’s also include a mini-recipe book to advertise in our tiered selling program, Erik says.

Our what?

Ok….I’ll reach out to Alexandra. She has wanted to publish a book of her recipes for a long time.

What’s a tiered program?

You see, I do the writing. Erik does the research, the business management, the office work, everything that sounds gibberish to me. While I’m writing, he’s researching how to sell a product, how to reach our customers, how to format the book for kindle, Amazon, Apple, and…however else you can format a book.

And in the meantime, I’m learning more and more about nutrition. I’ve already edited and re-edited the nutrition section at least five times. “I can’t forget to include information about this, that, this other thing and that thing too!”

We are producing a quality book and I can’t leave anything important out. It is, as I said, life changing.

I appreciate your patience with me. With all of us, really. Because the more I work on something so easy, the more challenging it becomes. And that’s ok because at this point, we’re going to be releasing a product that’s pretty freaking awesome if you want my personal opinion on it. When will it be done? I have no clue. But I’m going to make sure the end product is damn near perfect.

In the meantime, let’s workout!

Your Strong Figure Conditioning Workouts this week are inspired from the CrossFit Open workouts 15.1, 15.2, and the workout I did this past Saturday. Tasha’s recap of 15.2 is posting tomorrow, so don’t miss it!

Workout One–9 Minutes, As Many Rounds As Possible:

• 15 Toes to Kettlebell (lay on the ground with your arms stretched out above your head and hold onto a heavy kettlebell. The kettlebell keeps you grounded–you are NOT picking it up. Bring your toes to the kettlebell–or as close as you can. You can do these with straight legs, or you can do them by bringing your knees to your chest and then kicking your feet back. This is one of my new favorites.)
• 10 Kettlebell Swings
• 6 Kettlebell Snatches, alternating arms
• After the nine minutes are up, you now have 6 minutes to complete as many kettlebell clean and jerks as possible. Alternate arms.

Workout Two–As Many Rounds As Possible:

• You have 3:00 to complete 2 rounds of 10 overhead squats (hold a kettlebell, a plate, etc.,) and 10 pull-ups (or ring pulls, or barbell pull-ups on a smith machine, or push-ups if you have no other options.) Rest the remainder of the 3 minutes.
• Once the clock hits 3:00, you now have three more minutes to complete two rounds. This time, you must do 12 squats with 12 pull-ups (or your alternative). Rest the remainder of your three minutes, if you get that far.
• If you do get to the 6:00 mark, you now have three more minutes to complete two rounds…this time 14 reps of each exercise. Continue this pattern until you run out of time before your rounds are finished.

Too difficult? Scale back to 4 Rounds of 10 reps each, for time.

Workout Three–For Time (with a 30 minute cap)

• 75 Wall Balls
• 60 Box Jumps
• 45 Pull-ups
• 30 Kettlebell Clean and Press (15/arm)
• 15 Dips

If you don’t have equipment or access to a gym, you can scale all of these workouts. Pick substitution exercises like burpees, hollow rocks, lunges, sit-ups, mountain climbers, push-ups, V-ups, plank holds, supermans, bridges, squat jumps, etc. Your choices are endless. I’ve set up the workout, you can make it fit for your goals and whatever you have to work with.

Do you have a health and fitness success story, a motivational strategy, or a favorite recipe you would like to share in our Total Health and Fitness Makeover? Leave a comment in the section below and we may contact and/or quote you in the book!