Coby Linder: How Beachbody® saved my dad’s life (and Challenge Packs saved my business)

By staff writer Abby Cohen

“I wasn’t a marketing guy, or a workout guy,” says Coby Linder. “Just a drummer in a band, a fat kid who watched his dad almost kill himself with food. He didn’t know how to stop. Until he found Beachbody.”

Three years ago, Coby was the last person you’d expect to see posting YouTube® videos about Shakeology®. Touring the world with his band, Say Anything, Coby was living his dream of playing drums professionally. “Wherever we went, the crowds loved us,” he remembers. “I thought it was too good to be true.”

Turns out he was right.

“I was drinking too much, eating really badly, smoking . . .” Coby admits. “I was at my heaviest ever. I couldn’t stop—it was just like my dad.” It was then that Coby got the devastating news.

“Not only had my father contracted cancer for the second time, he’d been diagnosed with diabetes.” Coby shakes his head. “He had to change everything in life, fast. Or he wouldn’t HAVE a life.”

Coby had been unable to quit his own unhealthy habits, but facing his dad’s mortality, something shifted. At the peak of his music career, Coby decided to focus on his father.

“I put dad and me on P90X—both of us were guinea pigs to see if I could be a good Coach,” he recalls. But Coby never expected this other outcome.

“This program I did for my dad’s health . . . ended up saving mine.”  

His father dropped a whopping 120 pounds and got his diabetes under control, and chemotherapy eradicated his cancer. Coby lost 45 pounds, too, proving to himself that he had the power to dramatically improve his health. But while his dad continued to get healthier, Coby wasn’t so lucky.

“I went back on tour and gained back all the weight. The yo-yoing was really discouraging. Frankly, I started to get desperate—thankfully! Because THAT gave me the willingness to change.” That’s when the real transformation started, when Coby tried something he’d been resisting.

“As soon as I gave Shakeology a chance, I fell in love with it,” he says. “I started to accept that I’d been using food emotionally and finally, I was ready to stop. I let Shakeology do what it was going to do. I wanted Coaching to have a real effect on me, so I decided to go to the biggest Coaching event of the year.

“I went to Summit, open to whatever was going to happen. It was so inspiring, I went Emerald a week later and Diamond three weeks after that!”  

Coby put in a lot of hard work and it paid off. But the most significant spike in his earnings came from a “simple” change.

“I started selling Challenge Packs. That worked like nothing else—even people who’d never been interested before got on board.”

Coby chalks it up to the framework of the Beachbody Challenge™. People still work out at home when they can best fit it in—but now the group is accountable to each other, and to him. “We all inspire each other,” he explains.

In fact, the Beachbody Challenge gave Coby something he’d wanted from day one of his Coaching business:

“For the first time, my Beachbody check covered all my rent and expenses!”

“My earnings went from an average of $175 a week to over $1100. And with the Beachbody Challenge, I know I can make even more.”

To make sure his group stays focused, Coby connects often. “I post motivational quotes, reply immediately to calls and messages, help with meal plans—I’ve even taken people grocery shopping to show them what ingredients to look for and which things to avoid.”

The way he sees it, these interactions are another advantage.

“Everyone in my Challenge Group is excited to hear my suggestions and ideas—and their motivation is incredible.”

What advice does he have for Coaches who are about to embark on a Challenge Group?

“Do it for real, from the heart. Participate and care. These people make a commitment to you as much as to themselves and their programs. You have to take this journey too—invite them to join you.”

“Whatever program you’re doing now, stop. Start it over as a Challenge Group and you’ll see better results.”

Now when Coby goes on tour, he drinks Shakeology, exercises before the shows, and makes sure his band is supplied with healthy food. He’s even gotten other band members to do the same.

Of course, the biggest change for Coby has been his peace of mind, knowing his father is healthy.

Says Coby, “My dad’s a two-time cancer survivor; he’s obviously a fighter. He just didn’t know how to fight until Beachbody. There are all these Beachbody Success Stories, and heroes—I put my dad right up there with all of them. Now I can’t think of anything better than taking after him.”

Coach’s Playbook:

• If you’ve got one person, you can start a group. Find their friends, get your family into it—once you start it, everyone will be hooked.

• Put at least an hour a day into your Challenge Group. You owe it to them—and yourself. And the results are amazing.

• If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. If you put your mind to it, you can easily find ways to keep people interested—especially once they start seeing results.

• Educate yourself. The more you know, the more you can help others.

• Trying something is better than trying nothing.Even the most profound changes start with a shift in mindset. I tell people who want to lose weight, why not just try SOMETHING?  

Chocoholic Liberation Front Baby!