The results of my 10 week Summer Body Challenge (+photos)

For the last 10 weeks I have been participating in ‘The Robards Method’ Summer body Challenge (#TRMSBC).  www.therobardsmethod.com. I have just taken my final ‘after’ photos and submitted them today for judging.  The chances of winning the competition are remote, but I didn’t do this challenge just to win, I did it to improve my health, to feel better, to function better and as a bonus, look better.  All I can say is that I have far surpassed what I expected to achieve over the 10 weeks, and have well and truly achieved all my goals for the challenge. When people start to ask if you have lost weight or changed something, then you know you have made some good changes. Continue reading to see the results of my 10 week challenge and what I have learnt from my experience.

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My Results
So here are my before and after photo. Putting photos on here like this is well and truly outside of my comfort zone, but I am proud of the results I have managed to achieve. 

​'What the SBC involved
The SBC had two components, an exercise component and a diet component.

The exercise component consisted of following along with the TRM app.  There was 3 workouts per week; a strength workout, a power workout and a rings workout.  The TRM program utilizes the use of gymnastic rings for a lot of the exercises. I didn’t have gymnastic rings, but used my TRX instead.  The only other equipment needed was an exercise band and a pull up bar.  This means I could do all of the exercises at home without having to join a gym. I also added 2, sometime 3 cardio sessions in the week.  My cardio was a 20 minute interval training workout on a spine bike.

For the diet component I followed the 721 nutritional formula that is also from The Robards Method.  Here is the website: https://therobardsmethod.com/nutrition.  I don’t like the term ‘diet’.  As the name suggests, this is more of a formula to follow.  In the book, Tim Robards describes the 721 formula as “a sustainable way of eating, one that doesn't avoid any food groups. It's not a diet, it's a redesign of your eating habits to help improve your lifestyle. It's both sensible and realistic, designed with real life in mind”. The 721 stands for:

• 70% super clean, 20% sensible and 10% relaxed.
• 70% of the time you eat super clean with protein and carbs coming from salad and veggies. You avoid processed food, grains etc in this time.
• 20% of the time you can incorporate some carbs from grains to your meals.
• 10% of the time you can choose whatever you want, no parameters. This equates to 2 meals per week. 

I have found that this is a very sustainable way of eating.  The best thing I have found is that there is no calorie counting or anything, you just try to eat the right things and for me this works great. The other aspect I liked is being able to eat whatever you want 2 meals a week, so if you really want to have a burger you can go and have one without the guilt.  

Other changes I have noted after the 10 weeks
The physical transformation has been great, but apart from the obvious physical changes I also noted a few other changes as well.

• I have a lot more energy and feel so much better within myself. This is even with reduced sleep due to a new born at home.
• My constant sinus congestion and hay fever has almost completely gone.  I am putting this down to the change in diet, likely the significant reduction in bread consumption.
• Even though I was allowed to have a 'cheat' meal, I found was that I didn’t always feel like one.
• I have instilled some good habits with my daughter Bailey.  She loves to help daddy do his exercises and often tells me it is time to exercise and goes and gets my shoes and clothes ready for the workout. 
• I have continually got stronger and as a result have less back aches, especially after sitting for increase periods of time.
• My posture has improved.
• My organization has improved a lot.  In order to eat well, it often requires you to be more organized with food preparation and planning.  We have decided to plan out our meals for the week on Sunday and do the grocery shopping after that (this has saved us money).  Good planning helped a lot with lunches. My lunches were often an afterthought and that often means eating bad food.  My lunches during the challenge usually consisted of a salad and a protein (usually leftovers from the night before).  To make the salad takes as long as it does to make a sandwich and easily doable in the mornings before work.

 
If you have any questions about the 10 week challenge or what I found, please ask.  I will do my best to answer them for you. If you are interested please check out 'The Robards Method' to find out more about their approach.  There are heaps of other challenges and programs out there, but this worked for me.

​The key is to set a goal and start your journey. During the process I lived by the quote “If you want to make a change, make time, don’t just find it”. Life get busy, but if you make the effort, your body will thank you for it.