Saturday, May 06, 2006

It's Time To Party!

Jam On! Today it's time to move, to groove, and to burn that stored energy - with reckless intent on success, mutual support, and having fun!

It's the kick-off "house party day" for Beachbody's test of a new fitness/weight loss motivation concept called "Turbo Jam House Party" and the neighborhood slim down. In over 1300 homes across the country, over 10,700 people have RSVP'd to get together today to learn about Turbo Jam, and to kick off the ten-day "Turbo Slim" program.

The point here is to get people together today to commit to following Turbo Slim for the ten days, and see how good you can feel and how much weight you can lose by teaming up for a brief ten day flight of fitness focus starting May 15th. In this case, the real motivation will come from two forces: The fact the people you are partying with today are relying on each other (and you) to keep the promise so they have that added accountability to keep their promise to you. If you don't quit, they won't quit. Second, the second house party (which we are calling the "weigh-out" party) is where people will see the visible results of ten days of consistency.

Ten days... Real results. Summer's around the corner. This one will be a winner.

Success has many fathers and mothers. This one is a group project that was motivated first by Beachbody President Jon Congdon's own Power 90 group which woke us up to the fact that, for some, it is easier to stay motivated by getting together in small groups than it is to work out alone in your living room with the accountability of WOWY to keep you going. The question was, how do we scale that concept? One morning I was reading a press release about a company called House Party, LLC that was helping media companies get fans of TV shows together to celebrate premieres and special events. I called them and met with co-founder Parker Reilly. I liked many aspects of the idea, but was not sure how it would translate to our products and community, except that it sounded a little like something that Chalene Johnson had described in terms of how she and her Turbo team band together in mini-groups to focus on accountability, especially when it comes to proper diet.

In discussion, the phrase Neighborhood Slim Down was being used to describe the motivation concept behind the House Party, and then everything fell into place. Bringing people together 1,000 parties at a time would be another arrow in our quiver to help people get in shape and lose weight without buying expensive equipment or having to join a gym.

After a few meetings and discussions, the concept had traction. And while there were many skeptics even at Beachbody, we know that no improvement ever comes from standing still. Contracts were signed, and the dates were announced. And today is the kick-off party.

So what's this mean to all of us who either didn't host a party, get invited to a party, or who aren't interested in the party aspect of the idea? With summer on the way it means that you can kick off your own "flight of fitness focus" with the rest of the Turbo Jam House Party. Neighborhood Slim Down does not have to be a physical neighborhood. It can be your cubicle. It can be your friends on WOWY. Or it can just be you and the rest of the neighborhoods who are hosting house parties. Whatever it is, we are all launching the ten-day program on May 15th. We'll be talking about it. We'll be supporting each other. We'll be in WOWY everyday.

EVERYONE who participates will benefit by the new friends, the renewed focus, and the spirit of support which is the central point to the neighborhood slimdown and today's Turbo Jam House Party event. I hope you join us and share your experience!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have attempted to cancel my beachbody account and autoshippments for quite some time.

Since then, I have moved-- and one of my credit card numbers has changed. I am billed on one card, and sent a letter from a collections agency from another.

I have saved my many attempts to CANCEL everything that would require future billing. I am disappointed in this process, thus making me uneager to purchase future products from beachbody.

Please look into this.