Ep 015 Abby Groeneweg

Narrator: 0:10

Welcome to the athletes in motion podcast from race to recovery. With your hosts, Tom regal and Kenny Bailey.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 0:30

Hey, Tom, how are you?

Tom Regal: 0:30

I'm great. Kenny, how are you?

Kenny Bailey<br>: 0:32

I'm doing fantastic. Thank you for asking. We have our guest today is Abby Groeneweg. Did I do that right,

Tom Regal: 0:37

Abby, Welcome.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 0:39

We'll call her Abby G

Tom Regal: 0:40

Abby G!

Abby Groeneweg: 0:41

So much easier.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 0:42

So you're the operation manager at burn boot camp? Is that correct?

Abby Groeneweg: 0:46

That is correct.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 0:47

Okay, and you manage three of them.

Abby Groeneweg: 0:49

I do. Nolensville, Spring Hill and Franklin.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 0:52

Okay. But that's not what we're having you on the show. What we have you on the show for is because I've been watching your online journey. And it's it's fascinating to watch. And we wanted to have you on the show just to talk about sort of, I think you've declared that you need to put yourself on a fitness journey. And I think it's, it's fantastic. And we want to just get an understanding of the why understanding of kind of the challenges and all that good stuff and see what we can do about helping other people if they're trying to do the same thing. So what what goal Did you set up for yourself? What was the thing you said, I want to Was it something specific? Like I want to be x or I want to by this time, like it was your birthday yesterday! Happy birthday!

Tom Regal: 1:36

Happy birthday!

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:36

Did you have like by my birthday, I want to have x? Or was it just I need to get better?

Abby Groeneweg: 1:41

No, it was a realization. Fully that I just needed to take care of me. I think if you talk to anybody who knows me, they will tell you, I always have always put everybody else first, instead of putting myself first and I think many people can speak to 2020 changed everybody. Not just pandemic wise, but sitting at home, you know, getting in your feelings getting in your emotions. You know, for me, I packed on a ton of weight when I was like, Oh, cool. 2020 I don't really have to work at the gyms I can work at home, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be healthier. That did not happen. So I kind of vowed in 2021 I didn't set out a goal per se, it was more of just taking back over my life and putting myself first

Kenny Bailey<br>: 2:34

Was that intentional not to set a goal just because? Or was it just like, hey, I'm just going to start and lean into this thing and see what happens.

Abby Groeneweg: 2:40

Um, I will be honest. I am part of a team team Claiborne. And at the beginning of challenges, it's worth first form. And we do these eight week challenges, but Kenny does one extra week. And the reason I love Kenny so much is because he puts his heart and soul into this curriculum that we all follow. And it's the same throughout each challenge. But his first, like homework exercise is to write out your goals. And the first challenge I did, I was like, this is lame, like not doing this. And then this is my third challenge that we're starting now. And it literally I have like, it's a book, I can write a book about, like, why I'm doing this what my goals are. So I don't think at first I realized, like, truly goals are important, which is kind of dumb when you think about it, but I have them now. But you know, originally it was just taken back over my life.

Tom Regal: 3:41

Was there was there a trigger point or was there one, one morning or there one point that's that's when it turned and said I just need to change this path?

Abby Groeneweg: 3:52

It was a combination of things. And I kind of not to keep dwelling on 2020. But I also found out I had fertility issues. And I think that kind of already being in the in the middle of a pandemic. I you know, took this job right before we had to close all three gyms down literally two weeks. Sounds familiar? Yeah. Kenny and I have PTSD. Um, the job I was working at before I started working for Burn, I was supposed to do kind of double roles for a month, they got hit by the tornado. And the business had to shut down temporarily. So then I mean, thankfully I had you know, this job lined up but it was like all of that and then to add on more of my husband and I were wanting to start a family but you know, we've kind of realized we couldn't and then like his father who we started getting close with unexpectedly passed away. And I think just all of that it was hit after hit after hit after hit And I woke up probably in November and December, realizing like, I was in a deep dark depression. And that nobody, nobody was going to get me out of it. Except me. Yeah. And I think that's really about when things started cranking.

Tom Regal: 5:19

Got it. Cool.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 5:21

So what what is what it cranking start to look like? I mean, so walk us through sort of, was it? Would you start being a little bit more physical? Did you start eating better? Did you? I mean, what what are those things? Did you start with one thing and then kind of move into a bunch? Or did you just like, look if I'm gonna change one thing?

Abby Groeneweg: 5:38

Um, well, obviously, I've been at Burn for four and a half years, so I always worked out. And if you ask me, my eating was always, I ate well. What got me a lot was alcohol. Which is so funny. I mean, it's so much fun. But the the, what it does to your body is just horrible. But it truly started with my friend Nicole. Nicole Sanchez. I have several Nicole's have to make sure she knows I'm talking about her. She told me she was going to start 75 hard. Have you ever heard of 75 hard? It's all the rage now. It's crazy. I can't believe you haven't heard of it. Alright, I'll talk about it in a second. She told me she was going to do 75 hard for her second round starting at the beginning of the year. And I was like, You know what? EFF it. Let's go. I'll do it with you. Yeah. And people literally told me I was crazy. But it is one of the most rewarding things you can do for you.

Tom Regal: 6:41

So what is it? What is 75 Hard?

Abby Groeneweg: 6:43

So 75 Hard is committing to yourself. And it's not even really a lot of people think it's about fitness. But it's really about mental toughness, which if you think about it, any kind of life changes, it starts here. So I think that's why it was perfect for me to start there. Because I had to get my mind right if I was going to, you know, progress forward. 75 hard is two workou s a day. One inside one outside 5 minutes each 10 pages of a bo k a day, you have to read a y book, but it's it says any boo, but it's supposed to be li e self help, or things th t motivate you and really get y u thinking, a gallon of wate a day. follow a diet doesn't t ll you what diet to follow. It j st says follow a diet like so if you say you know, this is ow you're going to eat, then tha's how you're going to eat do't kind of go off the rails. Sad y, a lot of people I see post ab ut it, they don't do it. Right. nd they're there. They're short ng themselves so much of he experience. But it's rea ly truly like get your mind goi

Tom Regal: 7:54

It's to get you Yeah, into the groove.

Abby Groeneweg: 7:56

I mean, I there was days, most of my second workout, which is the outdoor workout was just walking. And to be honest, that gets really boring, really fast....

Tom Regal: 8:08

You're talking to endurance athletes. Yeah we do a lot of boring things.

Abby Groeneweg: 8:12

it was almost like, you get to a certain point

Kenny Bailey<br>: 8:12

Hours at a time..... where you're, you know, your body can't handle much more. So it's like, might as well just go on a walk. But I'm one of those like, even now and we'll get into this, we talk about my goals like I'm starting to run, I loathe running. But it's like, I can't go the same route. It's like I get like ADHD like I space like I can't do it, I'll get bored. So running would get our walking would get really boring some days. So I would go back to Burn and do like an afternoon workout, but I would do it outside.

Tom Regal: 8:48

That's good.

Abby Groeneweg: 8:48

There's pictures that were taken of me. One night, I think it was at 530 camp. It's lightly snowing outside, and I'm out there working out. And that just gives you so much pride in yourself. Yeah.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 9:04

So what your 75 was then you had to do? What was the so what were the workouts you were doing burn in the morning.

Abby Groeneweg: 9:11

I was doing Burn in the morning, and then I either was walking or going back to Burn first.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 9:18

And then the books you were what were the ones that you started to? Oh, like mainly self help ones or maybe it

Abby Groeneweg: 9:25

was so I did read Andy Frasella's 75 hard book. And I do have it if anybody's interested. It's gone around Burn several times. I'm trying to think what all I read. There was how to UN-EF yourself.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 9:42

Oh, that's nice. Yeah.

Abby Groeneweg: 9:46

There's a David Goggins book I got, but I never read. But that's helped my husband like he's now a huge David Goggins fan.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 9:55

Awesome. Yeah. And then from a diet perspective, what was your what was the one thing you wanted? Or The thing that you decided for 75 days, well, you know, I was gonna go. So it

Abby Groeneweg: 10:04

mainly was for me. That's where I started tracking and counting macros, okay. And I left out like part of that. 75 days like, it's no alcohol, no alcohol, no cheats. That's kind of why I really thought, This is why I should do I should prove to myself that I don't need that glass or two of red wine every night.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 10:27

Yeah, yeah. And it's easy because it becomes a habit. Yeah. I mean, I find myself doing that, right. It's like the day's done. Everything's done. Dinner's done. I'm tired. Just gonna have a little glass of whiskey. You know, watch. I watch Bravo. I'm proud. You know,

Abby Groeneweg: 10:45

there's nothing wrong with nothing wrong with that.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 10:46

There's so. So you're you sort of found your why, right. Your Why was okay. There's a combination of things. Like we're having fertility problems. There's a death in the family. Like, I got to start doing something. Right.

Abby Groeneweg: 11:02

Well, I think all that is what brought me into like this really? deep, dark place that made me say, like, this isn't okay. Yeah.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 11:11

So you're three weeks into your 75 day thing, right? Because the first week is kind of exciting and fun. The second week, you kind of grinded through third week. You're like, shit, okay, now Now, let's get to it. Okay. Like you said, you know, it's like, Oh, great. I get to look forward to another walk. Right? What was it like it like week three? What did you how did you kind of continue to motivate yourself or week four? Was it those? Oh, my God, I can't believe I'm out here in the snow during a workout was it?

Abby Groeneweg: 11:35

It was I mean, because even if you remember, there was like a week last year, where we got plummeted by snow. Yep. I was in the middle of 75 hard. My butt was outside. Yeah, walking down the ice. It was I mean, I've slipped I fell. But it's that whole moment of being proud of yourself. And a lot of it was like, I can't quit. I told myself, I was going to do this. I told myself I was going to do it. And I'm going to finish it. And not only did I tell myself, I was going to do it. It's that's where Nicole and I built such a strong relationship and friendship that has led me down this path. I mean, she introduced me to Team Claiborne and Kenny Clairborne. And I mean, it was knowing that even now like we hold each other, so accountable, and I think everybody needs that person when you're going through anything.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 12:36

Yeah, I think that's incredibly important. So one of the it's an interesting phenomenon where we least from a healthcare perspective, right? People were looking at watches, like, Hey, I'm going to count my steps. And I'm going to be able to do that I'm going to be accountable to the steps and what experts are finding is people aren't beholden to a piece of machinery. And people aren't beholding to that. But they're beholding to other people. And it sounds like you found somebody to be able to help kind of keep you on as keep you. keep you motivated, keeping moving that kind of thing with that? Was that a safe thing to say? Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Tom Regal: 13:10

I think that's critical to try trying to do one of these types of things is having a community that that you hold you responsible, like you're letting him know, and then they just force us kind of to do that. And stay on that.

Abby Groeneweg: 13:22

It's true. It's true. And that's why I'm so grabbing. So grateful. Not only do I have like the Burn community and the ladies and my husband that I work out with daily, it's team Clairborne also provides this community for me and we do things throughout the week. Like wear Red Wednesday or flex Friday or transformation Tuesday, and you're posting your pictures all the time, and that holds you accountable? Because there's 18 other 1800 other people watching what Yeah,

Tom Regal: 13:54

yeah, yeah. Wow,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 13:56

no pressure.

Abby Groeneweg: 13:58

at all, it's going through this. This, like I said, it's my third challenge with him. And this week, Tuesday was our first transformation Tuesday, and that has been like my schpeel to like the newbies. I'm like, Look, we've all been there. Like we've all said, these, these pictures are gonna make me vomit. I don't want to post this, but it's like a freeing moment. It's you're putting yourself out there and saying, This is where I'm at. And then what we do is we put our starting weight, our current weight, our picture weight, and then our goal weight. So it's a great way to visually show the team like, this is where I'm at. This is what I want. You know, it's fun to watch throughout the weeks. how that progresses and how people progress

Kenny Bailey<br>: 14:46

and that first photo was probably....

Abby Groeneweg: 14:49

oh my god, it's.......

Kenny Bailey<br>: 14:50

so for people that don't know, right you're you're taking a photo. I think it's in isn't in a bikini is it?

Abby Groeneweg: 14:56

It's an underwear and bra.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 14:58

Yeah, right. So in the world Have you know absolute airbrush perfection, right? You have to stand there. And obviously these photos are never the best because you're probably doing them in a bathroom you're doing your the lighting is horrible and everything

Abby Groeneweg: 15:09

The bathroom at Burn Boot Camp.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 15:14

That takes like, that takes a set of balls to be able to do that. Like, I don't know if I could do that, to be honest with you that that would be hard for me. I feel like I'm in pretty good shape. But I don't I don't know if I want to take a selfie. Like we were just talking before we got on the air like am I gonna have moobs on? Like, it's the self conscious thing is an easy thing to fall into. And to be able to strip that and say screw it. We're, you know, this is this is me. I mean, was that? Was it easy for you? Or was it like, once you did it you like you said it was freeing,

Abby Groeneweg: 15:42

um, it that first time it was so embarrassing. And I was one of the ones who was like, I didn't want to post this. It's just makes me want to go cry. But it is so freeing. And I didn't share those pictures. So that was the spring, spring sprint challenge. And I didn't share those till way after. Like, I think I started publicly sharing those maybe June July. But I think everybody needs to see, like, if you do something like this, or I mean, it's anything in life. Like, if you put it out there in the universe, you're gonna have so many more people like cheering you on motivating you helping hold you accountable. And I think that's where people kind of recluse because society has become a little mean.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 16:41

A little mean. Right? Yeah.

Abby Groeneweg: 16:42

Right. And I think people are scared to like, put themselves out there. But I truly feel like that's where you start to get the aha moments.

Tom Regal: 16:51

Yeah. And I think then you inspire other people to do the same thing. Take the same journey. But yeah, it's it's got to be incredibly difficult to put that up on Instagram where everything looks beautiful.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 17:03

So imagine the confidence, right? You've, for people that are thinking about Look, I need to do something, just imagine the confidence where you put your photo out there, it's not you know, it's not it's not gonna be the best one, right, you're not glammed up, it's your your being your authentic self. And the feedback you got was probably fairly positive, right? I mean, I know when I saw it, I'm like, good on her, man. I mean, she's, you know, you live, you live it, you're living, you're living up to your truth. And you can either, you know, hide from it or grow from it, and you decided to grow from it. Right.

Abby Groeneweg: 17:35

Right.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 17:35

You finished your 75, right?

Abby Groeneweg: 17:37

Yes.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 17:37

I mean, yes. So that confidence, that confidence is like, you know, I dug in, and I did this, and I'm able to do this and the feedback that I'm getting, does that that must feel great to have that confidence to be able to say, Okay, I know I can do this now, does that make you kind of lean into the second and third challenge?

Abby Groeneweg: 17:55

It did. So finishing 75 hard and was like, Man, this is great. Like, that's how Nicole was like, Well, I'm also part of this group. So it was 75 hard, and then it was right into the first challenge. And then I mean, things just just keep clicking.

Tom Regal: 18:13

So when it's when that first 75 hard at what point, like we always talk about in training, you're gonna you're gonna have the highs and the beginning, right, and I hit the lows, and then you hit a plateau where you need to get over that because your body's fatigue and everything going how far into that 75 days to you got that burst of energy and started to really feel the effects the good effects of doing this that propelled you.

Abby Groeneweg: 18:38

So what's crazy is and you can go back on my Instagram and see like, there wasn't a lot of change that occurred for me during 75 hard like, I mean, I trimmed up just a little bit but it really was changing the way I ate is really what like started getting me results and providing me like being able to see this really work so a lot of it's like truly understanding what's going to fuel your body. And here's part of why I hate Instagram and social media is you have all these fitness influencers posting stories and stuff telling you what you should be doing. Well great, just because it worked for client A doesn't mean it worked for client B. So like for me personally, I like I said I met Kenny just from being on the team, but I now work with Kenny directly so Kenny is my one on one coach. Not not that Kenny even though I send an email to that Kenny meaning to send it to you. I'm gonna change your name but I work with him one on one. And that is what really like were all the hate using the word magic. There is no Magic about it. I mean, it was all my hard work. But I now eat. Obviously, we talked about, like my infertility issues. And that started him digging into a lot of things about me personally, but I don't eat anything processed anymore. It's pretty much all natural. And that's something that he could see. I could tell, like, just from those pictures that I posted, like, why are you so inflamed? Like, let's start, you know, taking one or two things out. So that's why I'm saying like, I really get annoyed with fitness influencers and social media, little Storymakers when it's like, you should be doing this, you should be doing this. You don't know that person. Like, yeah, don't stop, stop just giving a blanket. You know what you should do? Because everybody's different. What works for me is not gonna work for you.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 20:50

You know, it's interesting that you mentioned inflammation, because it seems to be so the irony of this comment, it seems to be those fitness folks are some it seems to be as a fitness community inflammation is, you know, through because of diet, because of other things seems to be rising to the top as, as a topic have to take seriously, not just go out and do your exercise, burn the calories, you know, more calories out and more calories and talk to us a little about the inflammation thing. What was it that? How is it manifesting itself? And then when you start changing, how did it feel differently?

Abby Groeneweg: 21:25

Right, so, um, when Kenny started saying, you know, I can see in all your pictures, you have inflammation, you look puffy. I mean, I could see it, you could go back to where I post that original, like, you can definitely see it. So when we started taking things out, like he started asking me questions related to like, the infertility and all the issues, and it was alright, start taking out certain things. So high glycemic foods. I was a sweet potato lover. Like I could eat them all day, every day breakfast. That's one thing though, for me that I can't have. Really? Yeah, so no potatoes, no rice. No, I mean, it's pretty much when I say I hate when that just kind of gets used a natural diet. But it really is like most of what I eat is just eggs, chicken, fruits and veggies, but again, watching their glycemic index number.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 22:31

Yeah, I mean, every I think it's pretty well known, right? The closest to the source, you can get the thing you know, potato chips are the furthest away. Right? You know, they're so good. I had cauliflower potato chips, like somehow cauliflower chips. And now I'm doing okay, well, this cauliflower. Let's forget the whole oil part. That's cauliflower. It's fine, deep red color. It's good for

Abby Groeneweg: 22:56

you. I used to think the same way. I'm like, but it's cauliflower.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 23:01

So if, as somebody that's listening to this, or watching this high, they're nervous. You know, they're listening to you going, Yeah, I kind of feel like I'm in that same boat, where they're just sort of like they're kind of bobbing around. They're trying to figure out what would be, you know, two or three things that, that if somebody sat down and said, Hey, what should I do? What would what would you tell them to do to start?

Abby Groeneweg: 23:29

The first thing that I think most people I feel like this is a blanket statement. But most people don't actually know what they're putting in their body, how much they're putting in their body. Especially women tend to under eat. Yeah. I mean, we're all told there. Again, social media. Everything looks so pretty and colorful on social media. So many women don't eat enough. And so that's really where I, I personally like counting macros. I know it's not for everybody. But it visually shows me what I'm eating. And it visually makes sure like for me that I'm eating enough eating enough of what I need to be eating protein wise, carb wise, fat wise. So that's always gonna be my first thing is like, Do you actually know what you're putting in your body? Yeah, because most people are like, just like I was for years. I eat healthy. Yeah, yeah. Okay. No. I'm so kind of looking at what you're eating, knowing what you're eating, making sure you're getting enough food. Another thing that I have truly been working on, which is a struggle for me is sleep. And making sure I'm getting enough sleep. So I look like the crazy lady with two devices. But I wear the whoop just so that I know pretty much where my recovery that, because if I have and, you know, a 95% recovery day Versa, where I'm sitting right now just because birthday party fun last night 35% day, I know I can push my body differently at 95 Verse 35. Interesting. So, eat, sleep, and just move your body.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 25:24

And it seemed like there was a group a group element involved too, right? I mean, your your, did your husband follow you? Or did you guys to see this as a pack together? Or how did? How did he get involved? Was it he saw that you were doing it? It's like, I'm gonna do it too. Or,

Abby Groeneweg: 25:38

um, so he doesn't fully do it?

Kenny Bailey<br>: 25:41

Yeah, my just sort of drafts off, you need some glasses.

Abby Groeneweg: 25:45

He does. So my husband is a very ambitious person. I will not get in trouble for saying this. He will, He will admit it. He's a very ambitious person. But then he's like, Ah, I could go run. But why go run when I could just lay here. So I think he does feed off of my like constant like pushing myself. So he's been a member of Burn for practically like three months after I got the job. And he went a few times. And then he didn't. and he stopped going. So a lot of that's just his schedule. He's an officer. And he was working nights. And now that he's moved to days, he gets up and goes every morning. He is in the team Clayborne group, but he hasn't fully drank my Kool Aid. So when I had to, like add him in, and I had messaged Kenny, and I was like, So Aaron wants to be a part of it. But he also doesn't want to be a part of it. So I'm just gonna add him and let him see everything that happens. And then if he wants to do the next challenge, he can do the next challenge. Yeah. He will. He will definitely say his eating habits have changed. When I first met him, he was a McDonald's type of person. Yeah. So I think he I think he kind of feeds off of me. But I don't pressure him.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 27:25

Yeah, but he sees what you're doing, he sees. I mean, I know or does that. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Tom Regal: 27:29

That's great.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 27:30

Yeah, cuz,

Abby Groeneweg: 27:30

I have like one of the most supportive spouse.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 27:32

And that's really important. So and I think one of the critical things is, and I'm a big proponent of this, if you're getting started, if it's something you need to do find a group that can help you. Because sometimes, and we've met people where their spouse is like, I don't know why you're doing this, it seems kind of kind of silly, where you're not getting that support at home, or you're not getting that support by your friends. Because it's just an odd thing, right? Sometimes you, you tend to gravitate towards friends that have like, obviously, like, like minded interests, and all that sort of stuff. And if all your friends are out, you know, hey, we're gonna go do wine night, and we're gonna eat a bunch and we're foodies, and all that. And then all of a sudden, you're like, Hey, I'm going to start really paying attention to what I do, I'm going to skip the wine thing and have water. Sometimes it's difficult to be the lonely little you know, little air you know bobber setting in the ocean of everybody around you. So if you can find like minded people that can help you and push you that's, that's a huge deal and to have your spouse be able to go rah, and then they're going to kind of go with you and may not and he may not be there 100% of time, but he knows he understands what you're doing. That's a that's a really important thing.

Tom Regal: 28:38

Yeah, what cuz you can get those toxic relationships where they're pessimistic and negative. And just pick at you little comments that are sad as you're trying to reach your goal. You're just being dragged down a little bit. So, I mean, it's key to have those people that support you and boost you up. I mean, they talk about that. You are whoever your five closest friends. I mean, so and normally. What geez, and normally, you know, successful positive people usually attract people to them and negative people tend to not, you know, they attract the wrong the wrong, folks. So

Kenny Bailey<br>: 29:14

yeah, trainer, Tim's fired again. So, Tim, Tim, you're out again. So now you're out of the friend group.

Abby Groeneweg: 29:20

I know. Y'all need to reevaluate. Yeah, I

Kenny Bailey<br>: 29:22

think so. I'm all like, look at my list.

Tom Regal: 29:25

This next podcast is going to be

Kenny Bailey<br>: 29:27

exactly the last podcast. I can't believe I'm hanging around this guy. No, I have to tell you, though, I mean, I've been. So Tom's been my swim coach for the last couple of months. And literally going back to your point, if it wasn't for Tom, I wouldn't be ready to do my race. I mean, it was a morning where it's like it's cold, I think was 45 degrees. We had to go out to Lake 45 or 45 degrees out at six o'clock in the morning. We said we're going to be at the lake at seven. And I'm like they're 18 things I want to do right now other than what this thing is, but I know I had to get out there. I know. He was going to be out there. And we had one of the best Yeah, workouts. And it's just like one of those things where you got somebody that's held accountable. And then you just sometimes if you can't do it on your own, you just need to have the guilt of, you know, disappointing somebody else. They kinda have to kind of get you. But once you get over that, then afterwards, I mean, we felt great. I mean, one may have done Waffle House afterward. So maybe that clean one Yeah, we made a clean eating part we're still working on.

Tom Regal: 30:26

That was a big treat once in a while, it worked

Kenny Bailey<br>: 30:31

so well. So now that you're on your third one, you said you have this list of goals where at first you just needed to do something and your goal was just get going. What what are some highlights on on these goals now?

Abby Groeneweg: 30:42

Um, well, it's funny, I told you, like when we put the pictures up when we talk about like, our current weight, starting weight. So my, my goal weight, I refused to put a number. Just because I think I think that's part of what a lot of people do is like, Oh, I'm going to get to 175 pounds. Like, okay, okay, great. So I always put on there that I want to be a lean mean muscle machine.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 31:14

Nothing wrong with that.

Abby Groeneweg: 31:14

Yeah. No, I mean, I think a lot of women are scared to lift weights because they're like, I'm going to get bulky. I'm going to get muscles and I'm over here. Like, give me all the heavyweight? Yeah, remember, I said I loathe running and the opposite. Like, I would rather just go lift weights all day. But um, so we do, some of my goals are we do a members game at Burn, it's, it's a spin off of the athlete games. Ultimately, I would like to get my CPT which I started right in the beginning of the pandemic. And potentially, this makes like, makes me so scared to put it out in the universe, but I'm putting out in the universe, because it's good for me.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 31:56

Um, she was talking to herself just now. But yeah, we weren't here.....

Abby Groeneweg: 32:00

You just went on that journey with me

Kenny Bailey<br>: 32:01

Tom and I will be over here when you're done!

Abby Groeneweg: 32:05

I would love to participate in the athlete games. Awesome. I can't I can't participate in the members games, obviously, just being the ops manager and we try to keep that focused on our members.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 32:17

Yeah, makes sense.

Abby Groeneweg: 32:20

But then the other thing is, I'm signed up for half marathon......

Kenny Bailey<br>: 32:25

Yay you! look at us. We're endurance people were like, Hey,

Abby Groeneweg: 32:30

I'm so I'm signed up. Disney half.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 32:33

Oh, there you go. Sweet. It'll be a ton of fun. Yeah. That

Abby Groeneweg: 32:38

I hate running.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 32:40

What is it about the running you hate?

Tom Regal: 32:41

You won't care when you are there, it will be awesome.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 32:43

Is it? Let's dive into the running part.

Tom Regal: 32:45

Let's talk about this....

Kenny Bailey<br>: 32:46

Yes. Or you just OCD?

Abby Groeneweg: 32:48

Do I need to lay down?

Kenny Bailey<br>: 32:50

Actually the chair does recline. Is it is it cuz some people just OCD. They just like running because of the repetitiveness of it. Right. It's the Okay, that's part of it. Yeah. Cuz when you're lifting weights, it's short bursts if you're done. That's because I'm OCD. I don't know why I'm doing long distance thing. I mean, I just I like to short stuff and like just burst a power and be done with it. But there's just a sort of a level of beauty in understanding the rhythm. And kind of getting into that into the cruise of it. Like, it's like a drummer, right? It's almost like you don't need to have the, you know, that the fills are fun. But that that when you're in that groove, that kind of okay. You know, it's feeling and that's that's kind of, if you can get to that part of the running part. It feels like that's the part that's kind of the fun part. Right. Okay, now, I'm in that cruise area. I'm kinda, you know, I'm helping them I help him at all. No, you're looking at

Tom Regal: 33:41

me like, I think there's also a part to get comfortable being in your own head, because there's nothing else going on. Right, right, you're running. And now you're dealing with thoughts, right? Because you've got lots of thoughts running through because you got plenty of time because you're running and you're going through. And unless you're focusing on something else, you've got to deal with that. No, that's a part that I love about running. And long distance cycling is the fact that I can just, I can just start to parse through some thoughts, and make lists and put things in the right spot. So I feel like I clear things up. It's like clearing up my desk. That's what it's like, for me is like it's just putting the papers in the right order and setting everything up. So I get through. I always joke about saying it's the only way and get all the voices in my head to say one thing. They're saying I'm silly I'm stupid. I'm What are you doing this for type of thing, but they're all at least saying the same thing. I don't have all this noise going on in my head and I can kind of clear stuff up. And that's what I try to relate to other people who are getting into running and doing that, especially as you start running longer distances. You're running past, you know, 5k You're running out to a half marathon. I mean, you got you got a little time to think. Yeah,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 34:47

yeah, I mean, I know I'm doing my best workout is when I'm doing email in my head. Like I'm answering email, I'm thinking of things I like that's when I know. Like okay, I've got I got a rhythm going Now it's just oh yeah, I needed a dress that oh, yeah, I gotta get back to that person. Oh, yeah. Okay, I gotta write that up. Oh, you know, I need to write a story. I mean, for some reason if I'm if I'm doing that, then that means every the physical parts doing well. But I think I think the great thing that you've that you've done and you you didn't say it overtly, but it's, you've done it three times. Now you did something that scared the shit out of you. Right? You're like, this is gonna scare the shit out of me. I'm gonna do this 75 thing. It's gonna scare the shit out of me, but I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna take a photo. Post it that's gonna scare the shit out of me. And I'm gonna do it. And then you declared on air first time half marathon. We heard it as hear dial it? Yes. Right? We've been wanting to do you know, you want to participate in the athlete games, right? So you're, you're finding things that aren't easy, or finding things that aren't. You know, if you skip a few days, like not to pick on your husband, but it's like, you can't roll over and go go sleep because the outcome of that is going to be when you show up, it's going to get it's gonna be ugly. So not it's forcing you to get it. I mean, it's forcing you to go like, I don't want that result at the at the time to be that negative. So you're picking things that are that are kind of scary for you, do you? Do you think you're overtly doing that? Or is it something that you think that helps you motivate you?

Abby Groeneweg: 36:19

Um, I definitely probably am purposely doing it. Because I know. It does scare the shit out of me. And it's maybe I'm like, maybe I'm a thrill seeker. Maybe we're just unpacking things I didn't know. On this podcast, um, I really think a lot of it's just like, pushing myself out of my comfort zone. Yeah. Because you're not gonna grow if you constantly keep doing the same thing over and over and over again.

Tom Regal: 36:54

That's why I call it a rut. You want to get out of a rut? The only way to grow.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 36:58

But what's interesting, you said, I don't want to go do a 5k you like I hate running. You didn't say Well, I'm just gonna try 5k And if I like that, I'll go to 10. He's like, look, I'm gonna do the half. It's probably gonna suck and it's gonna hurt by the way.

Abby Groeneweg: 37:08

I've ran several five K's There you go. My sister and I in 2019. Did a 5k a month. That's all we set for ourselves. So fun. Did one a month. Um, and I think that's my thing. Like, okay, cool. I can do five K's i i can do it. It's knowing kind of in my head. This is gonna sound a little backwards. But what do I think up here? I can't do that I can prove to myself I can.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 37:40

Exactly. Nice. Yeah. And what you're gonna find is you can do it, you will do it. Right. It's just a matter of is it gonna be prettier? Ugly, but no, seriously?

Abby Groeneweg: 37:50

I mean, it's true. I can I know I can do it. It's yeah. I hate running. That's why you're sitting over there. And you're like, it's a good run. If I'm doing emails in my head. I'm like, but that is why, like, I love burn, whether it's a strength day or a cardio day. Yeah, that's 45 minutes that I'm not having to think about any.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 38:12

Oh, yeah, I get it.

Abby Groeneweg: 38:14

And that's, I mean, that's truly like, my me time. Because I'm currently wearing like, I don't even know how many hats at this point. Yeah, the organization. And so it's like, any other time, it's my brain is always constantly ticking and going. And that's part of why I don't like the running because, like I would. Yeah, I mean, my head would be triggering, like, all these things I need to be doing. Yeah,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 38:44

I mean, and to clarify, I think for me, it's it's the like, there's always a knot someplace, right? There's like this weird sort of problem in in like, my work life or my personal life or whatever else. Like there's something that's just not like, it's just not clicking right. And so for me, I don't know why it is either run or about an hour and a half into a bike ride or an hour and a half into the run. Everything's just sort of like to Tom's point, all the voices are now talking in the same direction. And then the oh, okay, well, what if I, oh, okay, what if I did it that way? And it almost takes me like, an hour and a half. Like, just tell my boss I'm like, just like, we got a problem to solve. And I'm like, Just give me an hour and a half. Let me go run. He's like, what? I'm like, just, it's just how I my brain works. And then everything floats out enough where it starts to make sense. That's what I mean by the email and stuff. (Phone starts ringing) Oh, this podcast is brought to you by Comcast.

Tom Regal: 39:44

Who's calling?

Kenny Bailey<br>: 39:44

I don't know now and I want to answer it. Yes, you can come in. So that's, that's wonderful. So you're doing the the you're doing those things that scare you doing those things. So you've got coming So you're in the middle of that your third, right?

Tom Regal: 40:04

Yes. So and just all 75 day challenges?

Abby Groeneweg: 40:08

No, no, no

Tom Regal: 40:08

And not as hard. That's 75 hard was your first.......

Abby Groeneweg: 40:10

That's 75 hard. It's just completely different.

Tom Regal: 40:12

Okay? So what do these challenges look like?

Abby Groeneweg: 40:14

these challenges are. It's called the eight week transformation challenge. It's from first form. And it's eight weeks, basically, to.... I feel like a record, like put you first, like, there have been so many people from so there's the last two winners. No, New Year's and spring winners are from my team. So it's really awesome to see like these two women who want to have like, five, four or five kids, you know, works a full time job. One is, you know, from the army, has a kid, you know, works full time job, but it's it's so interesting to see, like, if these people who can get through all this, and win this challenge, and find the time to put themselves first, it kind of makes you really feel like, all my excuses are bullshit. Yeah. And that's what I love about it. And that's the funniest thing, like when I was, you know, telling people I was gonna do 75 hard, it was like, I couldn't do that. Because, you know, XYZ, whatever you want to say? And I'm like, that's an excuse. Well, no, it's not an excuse. I have kids, I'm like, okay, like, you can do whatever you want to make enough time to do. But the eight, the eight week challenge is they have advisors. Mine is of course, Kenny. And they work with you through the app about like, looking at what you're eating, you're tracking your macros, and you're logging your workouts and you're logging your water. And it's just eight weeks to devote

Kenny Bailey<br>: 42:03

I Like that. to you.

Tom Regal: 42:06

That's, that's outstanding. I mean, that's the best way to do it. Yeah,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 42:10

that's accountability. Yeah, like you said, you're looking at the data. It's surprising, right? I did, uh, my wife and I, by the way, at the end of the year, we did a thing on like, how much should we really do spend at Starbucks? Because Starbucks doesn't show you the total on their app. Right? And so I started adding it up. And I'm like, Oh, my God, like my wife looked at how much we're spending on Starbucks per month. And it's like, or a second mortgage, what the heck, right? So just adding that data

Abby Groeneweg: 42:35

Dang it Kenny, now I'm gonna go do that.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 42:37

Yeah, and you add it up? Exactly. You add it up, and Starbucks don't want you to know, by the way, so this episode is not brought to you by Starbucks...... But it's you add it up, and you're like, holy crap, because to your point, once you understand the data,

Tom Regal: 42:48

once and you're like, Wow, am I eating that much sugar? Am I eating that much carbs? No, I thought, you know, it was fairly lean on the protein you find out you're like 80% carbs and 10% protein. But .... you start looking at labels, and you see how much sugar is in everything, yeah, even the healthy thing. Yeah. Second thing on the list is sugar. And you're just like, oh, yeah, wow, maybe I'm eating too much sugar?

Kenny Bailey<br>: 43:11

Well, just understanding it, right, just getting a concept of where you're at on the dartboard. And then from there, you can figure out how to make make changes. Exactly. Cool. So going through that you got a half marathon you've committed to doing how are you feeling? Kind of where you're at? Do you think you're always going to be on a journey now? Or do you feel like there? Is there a I don't say an end date, but is there something where you feel confident Where is? Is this your new? Is this your new normal? Oh, I hate that word.

Abby Groeneweg: 43:40

But, so it is my new normal. I actually just, like two weeks ago, signed up for Kenny for one whole year. So initially, when I signed up with him, it was just for like, this is just the one on one training aspect of it, which is just for basically nutrition. I just did three months. So I went ahead and signed for one full year. But I think this is this is just who I'm gonna be.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 44:13

Cool.

Tom Regal: 44:14

It's a lifestyle.

Abby Groeneweg: 44:15

Yeah, it it truly is. And I think that's where a lot of people are looking for like the the quick fix or the What can I do to what can I do to drop 20 pounds to go to Florida so I could put it all right back on in Florida.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 44:28

Exactly. Yeah. Well, Tom, and I's goal is to get you to like running, or at least not hate it

Tom Regal: 44:34

Tolerate it?

Abby Groeneweg: 44:35

I will say. So there's two people on our team, Mary and Josh, who are doing triathlons, and I'm like, I mean, that could be a rad goal.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 44:51

Yeah, those are, come to the dark side. Come

Tom Regal: 44:55

Come on over there. Sure. Great sprint and Olympic to the dark side. distance races. Since that's fantastic, could be a great challenge. And you get out there and you'd crush it.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 45:03

Yeah, there's some early tris to where you can go in a pool, you don't have to go and open water. So you're swimming in the pool, and then you get on a bike in a closed course. And then you run a 5k. And they're just fun to see if you can do it kind of deal. So

Abby Groeneweg: 45:16

I think I might have to add that.....

Kenny Bailey<br>: 45:18

We did it! Yes. Converted another one. Okay, so the tattoos are next week. So that's what you're fully committing? Yes. When you do the tattoos? Well, we appreciate you coming on. And I mean, I think this is for me, it's been fun, just to watch and just to see that, like, look, I'm gonna, I'm going to do these things. And, and, you know, if, if it goes great, if there's some challenges, great, you know, that's kind of how life is going to be. But if we don't start trying to make a change, we're not, you know, we're not start someplace, we can't, we can't make any change. And it's going to be rough.

Tom Regal: 45:51

And what's your advice? What would you what would you say the top three things, or, or five things or one thing that for somebody who's like on the on the verge who really kind of wants to do something, but doesn't know how to start or, um, say

Abby Groeneweg: 46:10

have a realistic conversation with yourself? I think that's, I think, again, social media, I think it clogs our head. And we don't actually have true conversations with ourselves. Now. I'm not saying like, go sit in a mirror and talk to yourself, but it's truly knowing what you want. And there are you're right, there are so many people out there who hate to say unhappy, but they don't always want to put in the work. So that's where you've got to have that real conversation with yourself about what do you want? Yeah, what do you what do you want out of life? Again? I thought goals were stupid up front. And now it's like, what are your goals? Like, because you can't get to x if you don't know why. So knowing your goals, finding that community, that partnership, that accountability. I mean, you have to have somebody, you could do it on your own, but nobody's sitting there pushing you nobody's motivating you. I mean, it's it be pretty lonely. I couldn't imagine doing all this without I mean, my tribe. And again, just I mean, start start focusing on what you can I get that not everybody can, you know, have a Kenny Claiborne in their life? Not everybody can can afford that. That one on one I knew for me personally, it was a long conversation that my husband and I had, it was a I'm not seeing results. I'm doing everything. Now. I think I need to dig deeper. But there are a lot of outlets out there like first form and this challenge that really doesn't cost you anything that you could just do. Yeah. And then I don't even know what number we're at. But I would also say get off of social media stories. Yeah,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 48:07

yeah. Yeah. I agree. Cool. Anything going on and Burn coming up? Anything you any cool stuff that we need to know about?

Abby Groeneweg: 48:17

Any shameless plugs? Absolutely. Um, nothing currently with Burn. We did just finish will this week, we're finishing our commit to fit challenge, which is our fall promo. Of course, there will always be some fun stuff coming up at the beginning of the year. But Burn does offer a free seven day trial. You still need to come try it.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 48:39

I know. See, I got this little Iron Man thing I'm doing right now. And so soon as I'm done with that,

Abby Groeneweg: 48:44

like I love running, I'm like, Come come come to Burn. Yeah,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 48:47

I just got to finish this Iron Man thing and then I'm freed up after that.

Tom Regal: 48:50

He's free forever.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 48:51

And you have to that talk about eating... all that said stuff you said about eating not going to be it's just going to be a week of gluttony after that, and then I'll then I'll get back. They'll return to normal. Well, we appreciate you having having you on and we appreciate you being open and honest and kind of sharing your stuff. I mean, that's that's to us is, you know, this whole podcast is about everyone's an athlete and everyone you know, as long as you're moving as long as you're attaining, whatever that goal, it could be a crazy hairy thing. Or it could be a crazy hairy thing for you. Like, you know, like we've had people on that have done hundreds of miles. I mean, that's their crazy hairy thing. You're crazy hairy things. I hate this, but I'm going to go try to do a half marathon. No, that's, you know, good on ya. Right. So we appreciate you coming on. We appreciate you sharing your story and we hope we hope you inspire other folks to do

Tom Regal: 49:44

where can we follow you?

Abby Groeneweg: 49:45

So I was gonna say so you can follow me on Instagram. After I'm like, don't watch on Instagram.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 49:51

Social media sucks. Anyway, I'm on Instagram.

Abby Groeneweg: 49:55

I am on Instagram as Abra underscore Kadabra 107 And I'm on Facebook, but I would say if you are somebody contemplating starting a journey, follow me reach out. I'm very transparent about mine. And it's not to be like Woe is me. It's to be like this. This is doable. Yeah, this is a normal I'm 100% normal person. Just trying to get my life back together.

Tom Regal: 50:27

Yeah. Awesome. Great. Thank you so much. Thank you really appreciate talking with you. It's great conversation. For everybody out there. Give us a you know, some reviews, some ratings, thumbs up five stars. It helps the algorithm helps more people find this. We've had a great time doing this. So reach out to us. We appreciate everything. And we'll catch you on the next one.