P90X: "Seeing a New Me" Day 15 of 90

Today is the first day of week three.  I did Core Synergistics for the third time.  Very few times did I have to hit 'pause'.  I typically do this if giving my all was really exerting or if the exercise we are about to do requires me to see it before I do it.  I have seen all the exercises, so I really only need to be reminded of the moves.  I am at a point where I really don't want to miss even one rep because I had to watch Tony.  I decided that since the reps were all being done, that I would make a concerted effort to not hit pause and try to blow through the next set.  Anything to up the intensity.

Why am I feeling this way about the workouts?  Because whether this "works or not" is not even a question anymore.  Neither is whether I can do it.  I have the answer to both questions.

I know it seems stupid to ask if it works.  But to be absolutely honest, to see people who make their living doing and selling exercise as a lifestyle leaves doubt in your mind if a 'regular person' can look like them.  I am seeing a level in my own performance, and a look to my body, that I have never had.  It's pretty exciting and amazing.  I am dropping the weight, my pants are already baggier and my shirts fit differently.  There are areas of my body where I have always had the 'extra' and, although I have lost a lot of weight in the past four years, I had convinced myself that I couldn't get rid of it.  It was 'excess skin' or something like that.  You know what?  I was wrong.  It is going away.  I find myself really looking forward to Day 90...and contemplating how to keep this going.  It is working.

I struggled with wondering if I could do it.  I am in very good shape for a 50 year old man.  But 50 year old men who just started working out at 46 are NOT on this video.  Tony Horton has done this forever.  There are gymnasts, ex-marines, and other young fitness dynamos all backing him up.  Nowhere in there do I see my profile.  So you, of course, ask yourself the question.  Can I do this?  Oh, then of course is the warning on the DVD's.  "This is an extreme workout program"...and so forth.  Scared yet?  So I plowed right in and just followed along.  I am at a point where, with the exception of one thing, I am able to do the entire program.

What is that one thing?  If you are following my blog, you know it was my shoulder popping from the pull ups.  I now know that when I dropped, I put a shocking, full weight drop on my shoulder.  It was a slight shoulder separation.  My shoulder feels fine now and it seems ready to continue.  I will be adjusting to the bands hanging from the pullup bar until my shoulder strength equates the lower body strength.  My physical condition was extremely out of balance...which in all likelihood led to my trip to the chiropractor five weeks ago.  But at the end of the day, I can do everything on this DVD.  I can also do some things at a pace and using weights that only Tony Horton is doing.  I can do it.

Lastly, I am seeing a new me.  When I do the workouts, I am feeling a lot stronger.  Better strength, better stability, more endurance.  But also, I am changing.  I can see something happening that I have never done before.  I am pushing through a level that I never expected.  It makes every week exciting and it makes the work involved so rewarding that it is ceasing to become work.

So, if you are following this blog and are considering this program.  You can do it.  It is work...but it is really good and rewarding work.