P90X: "Consistency" Day 29 of 90

Today was a very busy day and really different for a Saturday.  We had to be somewhere at 10:30AM and I knew the day would be really busy in front of me.  I wanted to get my workout done early.  Ate my bowl of oatmeal and had my two cups of coffee.  Then five minutes later, I rocked into Core Synergistics.

Bad idea.

Okay, not totally bad...I did the whole workout.  I also worked harder than usual on intensity now that I have the forms down, the exercises memorized and the energy/strength to get through all the reps.  The bad part?  I have never felt so much like I was going to lose my meal during a workout!  I should never have gone into this routine so close after breakfast.

Superman/Banana was brutal.  The prison pushups were also kind of tough.  The pushup position runs wiped me.  So I really pushed it...and I felt it.  Then, when I finished, I broke again from my norm.  Typically, I have a large 32oz cup of water, lemon juice, sea salt and a dab of pure maple syrup and wash down my vitamins.  It makes a great recovery drink, usually followed an hour later by my shakeology when I use that as a lunch replacement.  None of that happened today.  I found myself feeling very odd later at the event I went to.  A little dizzy, and very hungry.  Empty tank, low electrolytes and fluids were probably the culprit.  I am learning how tricky it is keeping your system balanced.  You have to pay attention to your body's needs.

I am going to shoot for a little better consistency in the execution...particularly the timing.  These P90X workouts are not to be taken lightly.

Keeping it short tonight, pics and Cardio tomorrow.  Keep it up!

P90X: "Disney Obesity Rant" Day 28 of 90

I can’t get this out of my mind…maybe If I rant enough it will break free.

I read yesterday where Disney is changing an exhibit in Epcot because it was deemed offensive for stigmatizing overweight and obese children.  They had crafted the exhibit to educate the children and to point out the dangers of living a life of eating unhealthy foods without discipline…combined with no activity.  This is a formula that we all know results in weight gain and, if it becomes your lifestyle, obesity.  Their exhibit was focused on two healthy living characters and two unhealthy ones, and contrasted their lifestyles with the obese ones eating too much junk food and watching too much television.

Disney has always been an organization that had kids as its primary market.  While I have really not liked the way they have seemingly turned into a shameless money machine in the past fifteen years, this seemed like an effort of theirs that I could applaud.

In a very short explanation, this is why they are changing their exhibit.  The National Association for the Advancement of Fat Acceptance is appalled that Disney would reinforce the stereotype that obese children are lazy and have poor eating habits.  They accuse Disney of advancing the prejudice against people of “higher body weight.”

They are appalled.  THEY are appalled?  First of all, I have been very large and obese.  I have a pretty good perspective on it.  The condition of people in general, as far as overweight and obese, is dangerous and epidemic.  Over 65% of the population is overweight and over 30% are obese.  OBESE.  35% in some states.  We are becoming the society pictured in Disney/Pixar’s Wall-E movie.  That movie was NOT as fictitious as many would love to think it is.  Just walk around a shopping mall on a Saturday afternoon or evening.

The numbers are going up and have been for forty years.  There is only one reason for it.  The lifestyle and acceptance of that unhealthy medical condition of FATNESS as a ‘lifestyle’ is on the rise.  More and more kids are being raised to believe that being obese is acceptable, un-fixable, and okay.  That somehow it is a ‘condition’ that they can’t control or change.  That is so wrong it is beyond belief.

The medical issues that accompany the overweight and obese are well documented.  To raise children and allow kids to get that big is criminal.  CRIMINAL.  These parents and these organizations should be criticized loudly for encouraging this behavior.  Why was there such a push against smokers?  It caused cancer.  The cigarette companies KNEW it caused cancer, so we ban cigarettes.  There is no National Association for the Advancement of Cigarette Acceptance.  The only reason that the organization for Fat Acceptance exists is because the shame about a condition that people have caused and have brought upon themselves is accompanied by the laziness and lack of desire to change.

What is the other reason for the group?  65% of the people are fat.  So they have numbers.  They are a majority.  So why should they be shamed into feeling bad about being fat.  So instead of getting healthy, they form an association.  All these people of “higher body weight” get together to tell the rest of the world to stop judging them for having really bad and unhealthy habits.  PLEASE!

The only reason that we dance around this subject with political correctness is because 'fat' is a visible condition and is marked by how people LOOK.  And you can't criticize how people look.  We are told 'that is wrong.'  You can't criticize how people look when it can't be helped or changed, of course.  Race, skin color, medical conditions, etc...you don't criticize that...that is entirely understood.  But FAT is not one of those conditions.  IT ISN'T.  FAT is the result of behavior in 95% of the cases of fat and obesity.  But the responsibility for the choice is being hidden by the fact that the result of that choice is a visible condition.  It is a ruse...sorry, I am not buying it.

Their unhealthy habits (and I know because I used to have them for 30 years!!) are putting a crush on society’s medical costs.  Those costs are borne equally by ALL of us.  In the same way that the costs of fighting cancer were paid for by all of us, so too are the results of obesity.  And I will add, and you may be surprised to know, the costs are HIGHER.  So instead of paying the costs, it was cheaper to stop the root cause of cancer.  But please, please, don’t stop the root cause of obesity!  Oh my God.  What WILL we do?

I have sat in chairs and watched them explode under me.  Literally.  I have gotten so big I had to sleep on my side for three years.  Acid reflux.  Allergy increases.  Edema in my legs.  Ambulance rides.  Many tests of my heart that ended up being related to the acid reflux from being obese.  I actually couldn’t fit in the seat at a baseball game and could not fit in a roller coaster ride at the amusement park.

Do you overweight people have any idea at all how much it costs people trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle?  You have to pay more for food WITHOUT high fructose corn syrup, Nutra-Sweet, chemicals, all kinds of unnatural fat additives.  You cannot find decent food on a standard restaurant menu.  The foods you stock in your house, if you are trying to eat healthy, can be put in one small cabinet.  About fifteen items of very expensive food.  Physical education is being slowly removed from schools not to mention any education at all about maintaining a healthy lifestyle.  There IS plenty about sex education though. 

There is a cry from the “higher body weight” people that is about to come out.  I will answer that cry before it even surfaces.  I KNOW THAT NOT ALL OF YOU CAN HELP BEING FAT.  There are about 3% of the world that have documented and real medical conditions like thyroid issues that result in them being fat or obese.  The other 62% of you riding that excuse train can just get the hell off at the next stop.  The only medical condition you suffer from is ‘can’t put down the food-ism’ and ‘won’t get off my ass-ism.”  I know I WAS ONE OF YOU.  I did not blame the food industry, or society, or my upbringing, or my job, or my genetic predisposition…the list goes on...I blamed me.  And then I fixed it. 

Take responsibility for your condition.  If you don’t want to do anything about it, don’t.  You have every right to your condition, so long as you bear the costs, not me.  But stop telling children, who are going to live a shorter and unhappier life, that it is okay.  They still have choices.  They don’t know anything but what you tell them.  They deserve to hear the truth.  They do not have to look like fat mom and dad.  It is not genetic.  You and society and the National Association for the Advancement of Fat Acceptance are LYING TO THEM.  They can live their lives any way they choose.  Don’t warp these kids into thinking they are unable to control it simply because you won’t.  It is not okay, just because you have accepted it for yourself and are too ashamed to call it what it is, for you to tell them you are that way for some reason other than you ‘don’t want to change your lifestyle.’

The obese kids cannot even make one lap around Epcot and Disney should hold their position on childhood health and health education.  It’s either that or get more of those electronic ‘wheelchairs’ for the electively disabled group known as fat people.  The number of those carts has quadrupled in four years.  Next, they will be parking in the disabled parking spots and displacing the truly old and disabled.

There are MANY overweight people who know how they got that way, feel bad about it, and have to fight the battle every day to get back to health.  They aren't lying...they feel awful and wouldn't wish it on anybody.  I stand and applaud every one of them and will always be there to answer emails and help them in any way that I can.  They are not making excuses.  They are all my people and are NOT the ones this rant is about.  They wouldn't wish their condition on any child.

I want Disney to re-reverse their thoughts on this.  Tell the National Association for Advancement of Fat Acceptance to change THEIR platform.

Killing yourself with obesity is NOT acceptable.

P90X: "My Secret...Full Confession" Day 27 of 90

I have to make a confession.  I have a secret.

While it is true that I do all my P90X workouts alone, I would be remiss to mention the group I interact with on a daily basis.  This challenge is being done in a group setting on Facebook.  We have a team of four and two support coaches.  We also have the coach of a coach overseeing as well.  Each coach comes with their own experiences with P90X and Beachbody as well as varying experiences in marathon training, body building and personal excellence.

We interact daily as a team and share our workouts and issues.  There aren’t many issues really.  There is a lot of cheerleading (and while that sounds trivial, pushes are not only welcome but sometimes necessary) and guidance.  It also helps to hear how everyone fits the program into their day.  Are they morning workout people?   Nightly workout people?  Diet is essential, so we hear what everyone is taking in as fuel.

I think for many, the team and coaches are ‘training wheels.’  I use that saying when my family goes on vacation.  “I don’t decide where the bike is going, I just follow along behind and make sure it doesn’t fall down.”

This, however, is not my secret.

There is one other, and to this point undisclosed, member of my team.  His name is Dr. Terrence Aussant.  He is my chiropractor.  He is an invaluable member of my team.  Why?  First of all, as a chiropractor, he is a trained professional on the recovery and rehabilitation of muscles, joints, ligaments and limbs.  Second, he works with athletes and physically conditioned people, helping to keep them in optimal condition.  Last, and most importantly, he does P90X.  That last one is big.

As I have openly blogged about this experience, you all know that I am fifty years old and that I have tweaked a few things along the way in this P90X program.  Getting support from your group is important to your effort, for sure.  But when you pull a muscle, over-stretch a ligament, or traumatize a joint, nothing replaces a professional inspection and opinion every two weeks to let you know what your situation is and how you should treat it.

Because he has done P90X, when I discuss my tweaks with him, I can tell him what exercise in the program I was doing and he can instantly translate that exercise into the muscles used to perform it.  He then can ask me questions about how the injury occurred.  P90X has become our common ground on explaining the incident (accident?), and also has become his method for telling me what I injured and how to avoid it.

We discussed my shoulder last night.  He fully inspected it and worked it out.  There is some looseness and tenderness in the joint, but nothing was permanently damaged.  I may have pulled a particular muscle, which I can’t rename for you, but there was no long term damage.  Pulled muscles take 4-6 weeks to heal.  It has been two for me.  He wants me to continue but not do the one exercise that pulled it, and to restrict the other shoulder exercises.  Because he has done P90X, he could give me other options.  He also tested the rotation and flexibility of the shoulder and we worked on stretching it.

We also looked at the hip, which I messed up last week.  He believes I pulled a minor hip flexor.  That one was not as pulled as the shoulder and, due to its normal lack of use, will heal quicker.  Do the exercises, but stay aware of how it feels.  Hydrate, extra stretching and ice after the workouts.  Incidentally, I had been putting the hot Ben Gay on my muscles post-workout.  It felt good.  Me, the expert.  When you have a pull, it’s ICE after the workout, and when you are getting ready to workout, it’s heat.  You probably know that.  I didn’t.  Forty years of dedicated observation of professional Football and Baseball down the drain.  For years I have watched pitchers and quarterbacks with the ice packs on their shoulder after the exertion of the game…duh!!!  It didn’t click when I was self-diagnosing.

The one last thing I get from the Doc is an attitude that I shouldn’t stop just because something popped up (or just plain popped).  Some General Practitioner doctors might tell you to stop for two weeks, get an MRI, etc.  This would derail your program.  They have to worry because their lack of specific knowledge in this area, especially for the general practitioners, gives them a blind spot that makes them be over-cautious with you.  Just as a side note, I also have noticed that GP’s in general are not as physically fit as my chiropractor.  They probably can’t relate as well to what you are experiencing.  At least that is my own biased perception.  My Doc’s specialty is getting athletes back in the saddle.  His perspective is that everything is fixable.  THAT is an indispensable point of view when you are doing this program.

That’s why the Doc is one of my most valuable team members.

He is my secret.

Workout again tonight.  I hope it’s taxing.  Stretching was boring.  Necessary…but boring.  Happy Birthday to my wife...she joins me today at 50!!

[later that day]

Did Cardio X tonight.  I have to be honest, it is a lot easier than the first weekend that I did this.  No breaks, just blew right through it.  I felt so good, I tacked on Ab Ripper X and then did two miles speed walking at 4.5 mph.  I think that I assumed the same level of exhaustion I felt in that first week would be how everything continued to be, except that I would be doing more reps.  I have caught up real quick.  I can't wait for next week.

Goodnight!

P90X: "Time?" Day 26 of 90

Anything can be an excuse for not doing something else.  If you let it, an excuse will always happen.

Sometimes, the mindset becomes such that we actually like it when life provides valid excuses.  We are off the hook for our other commitments.  There have been times when I have seen something happen to someone that would normally derail someone’s day or project.  To my surprise, that thing then becomes completely embraced by them because it was an excuse to buy time in other areas.

The bottom line is, if you want something badly enough, you can make it happen.  If you want to NOT do something badly enough, you will find a way (consciously or unconsciously) to make that happen too.

I am the former.  I want to make things happen.

There are realities of life, for certain.  You shouldn’t be sacrificing things of value.  That said, you are as important as everybody else in your house.  If you are mad because you have no time…and then find that your time was used making lunches, cleaning the house, washing dishes, washing clothes…while your kids are watching TV and playing on the computer…you are your own enemy.  If you are doing things for everyone in the house and being left behind, that is bad.  And, I might add, your kids aren’t learning to use their time wisely nor are they becoming self-motivated and responsible people.

Someone asked me last week where I get the time to workout, blog, do things with my family, do my normal job…etc.  I thought about that quite a bit.  I didn’t see it as all that difficult.  It is true that my kids are now fourteen and sixteen year old teenagers…so they manage themselves pretty well.  My wife gets out of work at 2PM each day (give or take a busy work schedule) and she ferries the kids from place to place until dinner.  She makes sure the homework is getting done.

I have a pretty disciplined schedule.  Here is how my typical Monday through Friday go.  Wake up at 6:15AM.  Make the coffee for the house and make my oatmeal for breakfast.  Check dishwasher to see if it should be emptied.  6:50AM, to the shower.  Dressed and out by 7:15AM to make the 7:32AM train.  Blog (this blog) on the train from 7:35AM to about 8:20AM when the train pulls into Boston.  Begin my work day.   Salad for lunch at noon.  Same salad, same place.  Check personal email etc. through lunch.  Work until 5:30PM…take 5:40PM train home.  Catch up on eMails, call home to see how the events of the day progressed, maybe do some finish work leftover from the work day…this is about an hour of catch up time.  Home by 6:45PM, make my dinner shake and have some fruit.  Hang out and catch up with family from 7PM to 8PM.  8PM to 10PM, exercise and shower.  10PM to 11:30PM…do any laundry I need to do (I do my own), rinse dirty dishes in sink and drop in dishwasher, drink my salt/water and vitamins, apply the Ben Gay (these days!!).  I catch up on my blogging and then wind down for sleeping.  Use this time to finish my P90X blog and to do any bills that need paying.  Watch Chelsea Lately and anything on DVR that I want to catch up on.  In bed by 12:30AM…up at 6:15…recycle.

The morning train and evening train was where my book was written last year…I wasn’t blogging as much.  When you read the last paragraph…it is pretty stuffed.  It is also easy to get thrown off, because there isn’t a lot of wiggle room.  You just have to draw the line at what justifies a disruption and what doesn’t.  “Not just any excuse will do,” as my old army buddy Kevin used to say.

I have no idea if the daily schedule I wrote is ‘busy’.  You may think it is.  You may think it is a walk in the park.  I don’t complain about my tight schedule.  Number one, I have no idea what anyone else’s day looks like relative to mine.  I am not them.  The big reason I don’t complain is mainly because I made it up myself.  My workouts can be adjusted, and have in the past quite often, but I am being more rigid right now because the P90X requires more discipline.

There are many people who, after doing a lot less during the day, will complain about time.  It’s as though they are being chased by time.  I rarely complain about time, mainly because I am always chasing it.

An interesting observation that I have made is that there are people who complain about not having time, and most of them have plenty.  There are also those who do not complain, and have very little to spare.  The ones who complain actually think that the ones that don’t gripe actually have more time to give.  Just because you complain you “don’t have enough time” does not mean you are the busiest person on the planet.  It may just mean that you have no ability to manage what you have.  It may also mean you just like to gripe.

One other observation…there is a big difference between having a schedule and living by a schedule.  If you live your life around a clock, but fail to perform to it…that one is on you.  Procrastinators LISTEN UP here.  When you have to be somewhere by 7PM, that does not mean 7:15PM.  Trying to make something as unyielding as time bend for you will fail every time.  Sorry McFly…this is the real world.

We all have to remember to manage our time wisely.  Don’t let your feelings of obligation to others become your excuse for not taking care of yourself, be that time to exercise, relax, or recharge.  They have an obligation to you as well, which is: they are largely responsible for themselves.

Time.  Remember what my army buddy Kevin said, “Not just any excuse will do.”

Stretch X today.  I’ve never done this one.  Feels like I am shorting the workouts this week.  I am putting a little extra into each one and doing extra Cardio.  Can’t wait to go back to the tough workouts next week.

Have a great and well time-managed day!

[later that day]

I did Stretch X tonight for the first time, but the exercises were all familiar.  They have been done in part in many different routines that last three weeks.  When I got done, I felt bad.  Like I had wasted a night.  I did the treadmill for 45 minutes at 4.2 mph.  I just don't feel like I got enough out of tonight.

When I ski, I sometimes divide the cost of the ticket by the number of runs.  The goal is to get the cost per run to be as low as possible.  When I work out, it becomes work per hour spent.  I try to put everything into all the workouts.  Tonight felt off.

I have to trust that this is what is necessary at this point.

Okay, see you tomorrow!

P90X: "Fear...of Failure" Day 25 of 90

I always set my goals publicly.  I tell people when I intend to make an attempt to do something.  Why?  I realized long ago that if I am doing something all by myself, and if the only person being held accountable is me, and if I am the only one who even knows that an attempt was made, that it is all too easy to quit.

The other thing I learned was that if you publicly set a goal, then people think twice before getting between you and it.  Some may even help you!

So when I set out to do something, I let people know.  I mark the goal.  I want folks to know that I have committed and am holding myself accountable to get it done.  I have been practicing this for a long time.  There are two sides to this practice.  If you succeed, everyone knows you did something you set your mind out to do.  You become known as a driven and determined person.  If you fail, you fail publicly.  Everyone knows it didn’t work out.  It may be a mark on your character, but that all depends on how you handle it.

I have been doing this for so long that it stopped occurring to me that anyone would approach the task of goal setting and achievement any other way.  The thought of setting a private goal and covertly going after it never occurred to me.

I first encountered this when I did the Optifast diet four years ago.  I did this because I had gotten myself past the point of ‘no return’ and needed medical help to get the weight off.  It is a special program designed to help the exceptionally large and obese people lose weight and change how they think about food.  Two critical aspects to this program are weekly classes on behavior and nutrition.  There is an exercise element as well but in my humble opinion, it is not stressed nearly enough and is one reason for some of the personal failures in the program.

On this diet, you weigh in every week.  You know how well you have done in the short term.  You have a target weight objective in the program, so you know where you are supposed to be going in the long term.  The diet is so meticulously measured that, if followed, you have to lose weight.

From the first behavior class, it was obvious to me that at least 85-90 percent of the class would not say on a weekly basis how much they lost.  They always said, “I did okay,” or “I didn’t do so well.”  It was completely arbitrary.  I can still remember asking on that first night, “What does okay mean?  How much did you lose?”  You would have thought that I murdered someone.  I got rotten looks, hurt looks, indignant looks…it was really confusing to me.  I made my own personal statements of how much I was there to lose and I was ready to go!  I hadn’t even started the diet yet, I was still holding my 8 oz. 150 calorie sippy drinks.

As I went through the program, the ones that were very open to setting their goals and talking about their progress in a real way were losing weight.  Every week I openly spoke of how much I had lost, what I had done right and what I may have done wrong.  In week three, a man I used to sit next to was ready to graduate to normal life again.  He had lost about 95 lbs.  He took me aside after class because he knew I was frustrated by the contempt being shown to me and the defensive postures of most of the class.  He told me to just keep doing it the way I was doing it because I would be successful.  He wished me luck and just disappeared.

Week after week I sat there listening to stories about doing ‘okay’ and the lack of progress for most of them.  I listened to the therapist coddle them.  The more I listened the more I kept hearing the fear creep in.  Then one night, I asked the question that opened my eyes.  I asked one woman, “Doesn’t your family and friends know you are on this medical diet?”

“Oh, no!  I haven’t told a soul.  The last thing I need is for them to know that!”

Just by looking at the faces around the table and the nodding of heads, this was a prevailing and reinforced point of view.  They were afraid.  Afraid of being judged but also letting themselves off the hook for accountability.  These closet eaters were trying to be closet dieters.  The program was allowing this by telling them that they were accountable to no one but themselves.  So then, why do this in a group?  At least be honest and accountable with the group.  I truly believe that the program did not want to lose participants and that they wanted a high attendance.  So they let some people simply cruise along.

I understand now how much courage it takes to put yourself out there and publicly state a goal.  I also think that without that declaration, there is very little accountability.  Accountability is important because when you have to make two choices, one supporting the goal and one thwarting it, accountability may help influence your choice.  The other thing not usually stated is that there are very many who NEVER TRY THINGS.
They will applaud the fact that you even tried.

The bottom line here is that you should not let your fear of failure keep you from openly pursuing your goals.  Take some risks and put yourself out there.  It will help keep you on track when you feel like drifting.  Put your goals in a place where you are not the only one who sees them.  Don’t be afraid that not reaching the goal is a failure.  The only true failure in this life is not trying.  So let that publicly stated goal help you…let it influence and guide your decisions because you feel accountable for achieving it.

I know this one is hard.  Best of luck!!!

[later that night]

Did Yoga X tonight as scheduled. I have to agree with Melissa, this is not really in Tony's wheelhouse. Has anyone else noticed that he short cuts the left side? Always faster than the right...I know his left knee is bad and when he has to support the lunge on the left leg, it must be painful. But he whips through it too fast. I am going to have to figure something out. Three weeks ago, I couldn't keep up. Two weeks ago, I was fine and didn't even notice. Now that I am disciplined and counting the reps, I even notice when they short the routine. I just keep going. I am really enjoying this. My berry skakeology came today!! I am about two shakes away from opening it.

See ya in the AM!

P90X: "Time to Reflect" Day 24 of 90

This week seems like a great week to do some reflection.  I have never done P90X but I have done a lot of programs to lose weight.  There are a few similarities that I think I can share on this blog.  Right now, in week four of P90X, it is a recovery week.  We have put our bodies through three rigorous weeks of physical training and we are now exercising, but letting some stuff repair.  I can tell you, my body needed it.  I am doing a little more cardio in this phase, which isn’t in the plan, but fast walking at 4.2 mph on the treadmill doesn’t seem ridiculous.  I am just burning extra calories.  The bottom line is, when you get here, you have come a long way.  Seriously, the hard part is over.  What?  There are almost eleven weeks left!  I know.  But let me explain.

Three plus weeks is a long time to do the P90X program.  If you have stuck with the plan, you have exercised almost 21 of 23 days.  The workouts have ranged from 50 minutes to 90 minutes.  Conquering the milestone of doing this physical activity regularly is big.  You may also be following a diet plan along with the workout.  That requires personal discipline as well.  At this point, if you have had to reschedule your life to make room for this, you have probably settled into a daily routine of sorts.  People in your life have adjusted to the fact that you are doing this…some may even have commented that they see an improvement already.  Anybody familiar with certain eating habits you used to have, have finally adjusted to your new habits.

Give yourself a lot of credit.  You have come a long way the last three weeks.

The hard part…the stuff that causes most people to quit, is behind you.  There is really only one thing left, barring injury, that could cause you to stop doing this.  You have to understand that you are forming habits that you want to last the rest of your life.  This isn’t a 90 day program you are on.  It may say 90 days…if it said, “To do the rest of your life!”  They wouldn’t sell one DVD set.  They hope that along the way here a message sinks in.  That message is, “Living this way is healthy and better than what you were doing.”  The only thing left that can cause you to quit is not making the mental leap required that makes exercise a part of your life from now on.

You will hear everybody who was ever on a diet type program tell you, “It worked for a short time, but then the weight came right back.”  The problem isn’t that the program stopped working….the problem is that THEY stopped working.  Making physical activity a part of your life is not a rock you push until it has momentum and then it mysteriously carries you and keeps rolling the rest of your life.  As you get older, things get more difficult.  The slope rises in front of you, not the other way around.  You stop pushing and that rock will just stop.  But if you decide right now that exercise and proper nutrition can work for you, you are moving in the best direction.

Reflect.  Use this week to fix your mind on how you make exercise work for you for the long term.  I don’t mean P90X type of exercise either…there is a goal and purpose to this workout that goes beyond a lifestyle change.  That said, you may WANT to incorporate P90X into your life…I know I am seriously considering it.  But right now, you need to begin to think about what life will be like from now on.  How will you commit to your future health?  Don’t overthink it and overwhelm yourself.  Just start thinking about yourself as someone who will want to exert themselves every day to keep the calorie burn going.

Reflect.

You have accomplished a lot.

What was your goal?  Was it to survive 90 days?  Or was it to change your life?

At this point, as people start to observe the changes, the positive feedback probably feels great.  Now is the time to feed off that and use that positive energy to carve out your future plan.

When I lost my 85 lbs four years ago, I can still remember the diet specialist asking me before the program, “What is your goal?”  Well, this wasn’t my first fatty rodeo.  I had lost a lot of weight many times and it always had come back.  I looked at her and said, “My goal is to lose the weight and never put it back on again.”  She responded, “No, I mean how much weight to you want to lose?”  I looked her straight in the eye, “I don’t care.  YOU give me a number and I will hit it.  I know I can do that.  I need to know how to keep this off for the rest of my life.”  As professional as they are, and as long as they have run that program for hundreds (maybe thousands) of people, I could tell by her tone that the number of times they had gotten that response could be counted on one hand.

This is a week to exercise at a vigorous but not too strenuous pace.  This week’s program is the kind of thing that you should be considering as you think about changing your life patterns for personal health.

Have a great week and Namaste!!

[Later that day]

Did Kempo X tonight...interesting thing happened.  I was doing the stretching and got a cramp in my hamstring.  I immediately stopped the DVD.  I took an additional 5 minutes of stretching and got myself warm with some jumping jacks and high knee stepping.  All went well.  Gave my all, and my all gave back...great workout.

One observation...how come I am working so much harder and with such better form than the big lunk in the back?  His horse stances are for crap and he puts no energy into his workout.  He must have blackmail pics of Tony Horton.  Now I know I am doing well...I am criticizing people in the DVD for not trying.

See ya tomorrow!

P90X: "Changes" Day 23 of 90

I'm not trying to hide the fact that this P90X program that I am undertaking has, as it's primary goal, to change the way my body looks.  I will say, though, that how my body looks is just evidence.  The true goal is to greatly improve my physical condition. The only visible barometer is 'how it looks.'  That said, when I want to know if this is working, the first thing I do is look for the changes.  There are a lot things that I observe during each workout, as I see improvements in every set of repetitions more vigor expended, but the most obvious indication is found in the mirror every morning.

There have been a lot of changes in three weeks.  I'm not going to go into great detail except to say that there are areas that I thought would always be a little flabby that are thinning out.  My legs are becoming more defined, my stomach is much tighter and, yes, there are some abs showing (for the record I always knew they were there buried underneath).

It's been a little more than three weeks and I am not even one third of the way there but the results are alarming.  They are so alarming that my wife and son are now doing the Tony Horton Thirty-Minute Power Half-Hour.  When the results inspire others, you know it is working.

For those of you following this, I did the Core Synergistics today and really worked myself into a sweat.  Every workout has been an improvement.  This is my warm-down week so I also did the treadmill as well for about thirty minutes.

It's Oscar night and I have been a massive movie fan my whole life.  Gonna relax and prep for this week.

Thanks P90X for putting just one more thing in front of me to challenge my way of thinking and my belief that nothing in life is impossible with the right drive and dedication.

See you all tomorrow!