P90X3: Day 5 of 90. CVX. Sweating.

And, we sweat.  CVX.  Boy, it looked easy on the DVD when I was previewing it.  I started with a 10 lb dumbbell.  Here is what I sounded like on the third set, "Lexieeeee???"

"What?" came the sound far away from my kitchen upstairs.

"There's a five lb dumbbell next to the fireplace...bring it down here quick!!"

Oh, the male ego.  Yes, I looked at the ladies.  Then, I looked at the guy in back.  Saw him grab a 10 while the ladies took less.  Well, I'm no lady.  I'll have what HE's having dammit.

This was a good workout.  With the fives, I finished and finished well.  Completed all circuits and sweat like a dog. THIS will someday be a favorite.

Day five update...there are muscles that were sore four days ago that feel stronger today.  What I realized doing P90X, and it seems to still hold true here, is that the next days exercises are designed to rest the previous days burnout.  That's what puts P90X at the top of my list.

Props to Traci Morrow, who I follow on Facebook.  She kicked ass on this workout.  Tony paid her a little too much attention but, hell, can you blame him?  Tony's jokes are still funny too, they keep me going.

Okay, all the best and tomorrow, when you get up, just do it one more time.  It gets easier.  Promise.

“When Work and Weight Collide” Insanity: Day 33 of 60

I work at a company that has college students as its primary market.  When you think of weight and a college student, what comes immediately to mind?  For most, it’s the “Freshman 15.”  So my company is looking for Blog content for the summer, and they had a bunch of folks from the Marketing group all sitting around and pick up the various topics.  Oddly, no one took that topic.  Here’s the skinny…I am not in Marketing, I’m in technology.  I ‘overheard’ their meeting and picked up on the fact that no one took the topic.  So I emailed the Product Manager and asked him if he would mind if I wrote it.  There was a little skepticism, but he said, ‘okay.’

I try not to let my Health, Fitness, Coaching and Blogging life interact with my work life.  There are only a handful of people who even know how much blogging I do.  That said, today we discuss the Freshman 15!  PLEASE KEEP THIS IN MIND...I had to write this for a particular audience with a particular slant and voice.  So here goes...

The Freshman 15.  Fact, Fiction, the whole Freakin’ Enchilada.

It’s hard to believe, isn’t it?  Doesn’t it feel like just yesterday that you were starting High School?  It started out weird because you didn’t know many people, then, suddenly, it felt like home.  Then, in a flash, your boyfriend gave you flowers, you graduated, and now, you’re leaving  and doing this all over again.  In a bigger place.  Crazy, right!?

You pack up your pictures thinking, “Wow, that prom dress was gorgeous.”  Still can’t believe dad actually shelled out the cash for it.  Remember how you were so nervous and lost all that weight in the spring?  It cost $60 just to get the gown taken in so it didn’t fly off on the dance floor.  You grab the baggy sweatpants off the nightstand and jam them in the box.  You want to hear something scary? By Christmas, those sweatpants won’t be so baggy and that prom dress will be a memory.  Wait….WHAT!!??

That’s right.  Wrap your head around that for a second.  As you walk through the door of your new college around Labor Day, you’ll be greeted by your roommate and the Freshman 15.  What’s the Freshman 15?  It’s a term used, sorry, mostly for girls.  It’s the 15 extra pounds of flesh and cellulite you’ll be slogging home around Thanksgiving or Christmas time.  It’s waiting for you at college like a creeped out Facebook stalker.

No, no. Not me.  That won’t happen to me.  It’s a joke, right?  That’s just a myth.

Is it?  No.  It’s not.  You remember all those activities that you did the last four years in high school?  All of the sudden, that’s going to turn into studying and partying.  Sit. Study. Sit. Eat.  Sit. Study. Sit.  DRINK.  Sit. Study. Sit. EAT AND DRINK!  That’s a catchy little rhythm isn’t it?  Do you see ‘run’ or ‘exercise’ in there anywhere?  Uh…nope.

There’re a lot of reasons for the Freshman 15.  First reason:  no real activity.  Totally true.  You’ll be less active.  Second reason:  eating.  Eating everything.  Late at night, in the dorm room, in the cafeteria…it’s never ending.  Whenever anyone extends a slice of pizza, kiss it goodbye.  Don’t worry, you’ll see it again.  At Christmas.  It’ll be waiting at home in your bathroom mirror.  Last reason?:  Alcohol.  No.  Not that.  There’s no alcohol in college, the drinking age is twenty one!  I’m hoping you recognize the sarcasm in that last sentence.

So why just girls?  Why should only girls worry about this?  Because life’s not fair, that’s why.  It’s the ‘tough $h!t’ rule…you just have to deal with it.  Guys will gain fifteen too probably.  But fifteen on a guy looks rugged and it’s not that much relative to their total body size.  And guys wear baggy jeans, not booty shorts.  Get the picture?  Fifteen extra pounds on a chick has you going from Taylor Swift to Adele in four short months.  No one would notice the poundage if you looked like Adele and could sing like her, but you can’t carry a note, so you’re screwed.

No. C’mon!  Is fifteen pounds even physically possible?  Yes it is.  Let’s do a little math.  I know, you’re a psych major now.  You thought you would never do math again.  Bear with me.  There are about 15 weeks in a semester, so that would be a pound a week.  A pound is 3500 calories.  That’s 500 extra calories per day.  Decrease your activity levels, toss in some booze and add a donut per day (Dunkin Donuts Blueberry Crumb Donut equals 500 calories on the nose).  Still think 500 extra calories a day is hard?

All right.  Enough already.  How do I keep this from happening?  There are some things you can do.  Get the butt moving.  Keep the butt moving.  Find the gym.  Do pilates…yoga…aerobics…the dorm stairs.  Find something and do it regularly.  Do something that keeps your metabolism up and going.  Make some eating rules and stick to them.  Here’s a few for you to think about.  Stay away from the starch and fried foods.  No Pasta, white bread, hamburgers, etc.  Stay away from the sugar.  Avoid desserts and meat dishes wrapped in sweet sauces.  Eat salads, vegetables, and fruits as much as possible and have a good protein rich breakfast.  Avoid the booze.  The extra calories are killer and the munchies will kill any of the above mentioned rules because, frankly, once you are three drinks in, you won’t care.  Last, bring a scale to school.  If any of this matters to you, keep an eye on your weight.  You don’t want to go four months without standing on the scale.  At least, not without meds for depression.

Do you care about this?  Maybe you don’t.  But if you want to avoid remarks about the Thanksgiving Float (after you realize they aren’t talking about the Macy’s Parade) you should heed my advice.  The facts, the fiction and the whole freakin’ enchilada.  Just don’t eat the enchilada.

"Can Exercise Reverse Aging?" Insanity: Day 32 of 60

The comment I hear most often from people who have known me for years, but haven’t seen me in a while, is, “You look ten years younger.”  It feels vain to say this, but I do own a mirror, “I know, right?!”  I never say that.  But inside I want to.  I look younger.  I feel younger.  I feel great.

So, is the aging process changing due to my changes in nutrition and fitness?  The answer is a wholehearted “Yes.”  Just so you know that it’s not solely my personal opinion, there’s plenty of science to back it up.

Aging is something we all experience.  While it is a factor of time it is also a factor of activity.  As we get older, our lives change.  We get more sedate.  We sit more.  We eat more.  Whether you know it or not, the human body is constantly in growth mode.  Your cells regenerate over time and, in your early years when you are most active, your cells “turn over” quickly and at a high rate, causing you to maintain a youthful appearance.  Your cell regeneration is tied to your metabolism.  As we get less active in our latter years, our metabolic rate decreases.  We begin to “turn over” our worn out cells and replace them with new ones at a less rapid pace.  Our youthful appearances slowly fade. 

In addition, we carry more baggage.  As we get less active, we pack on those little globules of energy storage known as fat.  The fat cells also contain particles from every known toxin you have ever ingested or been exposed to.  So, in addition to a slower cell regeneration process, we have to fight off toxic byproducts.  Those byproducts get into the many different cells of our body.  Because those cells hang on longer, we develop growths and tumors as well as have systemic disorders.  It’s easier for cells to get ‘infected’ when they are in your body for prolonged periods.  We begin to break down.

Certain hormones and processes in the body slow down due to time, that’s very true.  Organs that operate the body regenerate slower than does muscle and skin tissue.  But by keeping your metabolic rate up and staying active, you can extend the capability of those organs significantly.  This means that your naturally produced hormones and processes work for longer periods of your life.

We aren’t aging because of ‘time.’  It’s because we stopped moving and we stopped putting the right fuel into the machine.  If you have a car with 200,000 miles on it, but you did the maintenance every 3,000 to 5,000 miles, that car probably runs better than some that were poorly maintained and have 60,000 miles.  I always say, “It’s not the years, it’s the mileage.”  With the human body though, it’s slightly different.  “It’s not the years, it’s the maintenance.”  Why?

The human body can be equated to a machine on many levels.  There is one quality of the human body, however, that makes it unique and special.  There is no other machine on the planet that, when fed and used, actually IMPROVES in ability to perform.  No engine’s mileage ever got 50% better because you put the right gas in it and drove it every day.  Every machine ever made gets more worn with use.  Not the human body.  If you fuel the body properly and if you exercise it, it gets better.  Better at processing the fuel..better physically and mechanically…better efficiency.  The human body is the greatest mechanical miracle on the planet yet we continue to ignore it and even destroy it.  How smart is that?  It’s your last car.  There’s no showroom on earth waiting to take a ‘trade in’ on your body after you have just burnt it up.

I am in better shape right now than when I was twenty-five.  I am fifty.  It’s not a miracle.  It’s scientifically possible...if you make better decisions around the care and maintenance of your physical machine.  You can’t reverse time, but you can reverse aging.  How else do you explain a 50 year old machine that performs better than when it was 25?  You can slow the aging so much that, relative to the ‘old folks’ who were born the same year you were, you look younger.  Much younger.  And when that happens, the perception is also that you reversed the aging process.

Hell, if it’s true that perception is reality, then “voila!,” aging has been reversed.

What condition is your physical machine in?  It’s not too late.  We are all fighting the same thing…the illnesses and physical breakdown caused by a lack of focus around our health and fitness.  It’s a war.  You can put the brakes on aging and your body can actually get better.  If you stay active, time chases you.  Don’t let it catch you.

Remember, it’s a war.  As we used to say, when I was in the Army, “Stragglers die in combat.”  Will you be left behind?  We’re waiting for you.

"What Do You Know?" Insanity: Day 31 of 60

Hey, guess what?  Someone who will not be named because she hates public exposure on the internet is down seven pounds since starting my June Challenge Group.  No Shakeology (shame) but just the workout DVDs for the Tony Horton Power Half-Hour and with something more than a casual commitment to some form of daily exercise.

Last week, the comment was, “Wow, I can see improvement.  I was able to finally do the whole workout.”  This morning, the comment was, “I’ve lost about seven pounds.”

Many feel that weight-loss and fitness management are difficult things.  As a culture, we seem to love the drama of putting obstacles in front of ourselves.  It’s as if some of our lives are so uneventful that we need to turn it into an X-Men movie or something to feel like we are alive and kicking.  The reality is that there are issues in everyone’s lives, but many (if not most) are completely manageable with very little effort.  It just makes us feel good to think we just cured cancer.

I actually created a name for it many (many) years ago in college…”Low Hurdle Syndrome.”  It’s when you take a really small obstacle and make it look big for everyone else by painting it as “awful” or “huge.”  Then, when one takes that little bitty hop over it, it makes the effort look like that person just tackled Mount Everest.

I listen to a lot of people talk about their lives as if they were a reality TV show.  Seriously, that's not a very high bar.  There's a reason that an entire season of the Kardashians lasts only 13 episodes at 40 minutes each.  It’s because their lives only have about 8.5 hours of drama a year.  They just make it look like a lot with reruns, plastic surgery and poor parenting examples.

When we hear about someone who actually has real tragedy and difficult issues in their life, we cannot even fathom what dealing with THAT would be like.  Why?  Because those issues are REAL!!  The real barometer to figuring out who is dealing with real issues and who has drama, is the noise level.  It is completely ironic that the people with the worst possible situations and the most in need of help are almost always the ones you NEVER hear from.  They endure it silently.  No drama.  How often have you heard something truly tragic about someone even as close as a good friend and then say, “Wow.  I had no idea.”   Why?  Because real issues are only made worse by drama.  To survive them, you need to feel like you can control them…and you can’t control them in a morass of noise. 

So when we talk about potentially losing weight and getting fit, the drama flies.  “I can’t possibly do that.”  “I can’t possibly keep that piece of birthday cake from going into my mouth and down my esophagus.”  “There is NO WAY that I could eat less.”  “Exercise for 30 minutes is SO HARD.  30 whole minutes?  Seriously, I hate to get all sweaty.”

Seriously?  I have heard all of those excuses and about a hundred more.  I have watched some of the folks with the excuses actually sweat while eating!  When you attack your food so voraciously that it makes you sweat…there’s a problem.  When eating actually has become your form of exercise, the vicious cycle has just devoured you.

So, from the first paragraph of this blog, you see it has been demonstrated (again, and not just by me) that with a little effort and consistent attention to the matter, weight loss will happen.  It doesn’t happen without the effort, but the effort is not as overwhelming as we all make it.

Smile.  It’s easier than you think.  You will feel much better when you have found out that how you look and feel is completely up to you.  It’s liberating.  It’s like when you first got your Driver’s License and realized that you could go anywhere you wanted.

Ready to hop in and go for a spin?  I have many new cars lining up just for the rest of you!

“New Beachbody Product Idea” Insanity: Day 30 of 60

Wow, I am at day 30 of 60.  Halfway done.  I will say this to all of you thinking of Insanity, it goes fast.  P90X went by quick, so did this program.  If there is one aspect to the programs that continues to surprise me…it’s the time flying by.  You look at this stuff on an infomercial and think, “Man, 90 days is a long time” or “60 days will kill me.”  It is seriously an obstacle to getting people engaged.  But it’s the most real mirage you will bump into as a coach.  It’s a real concern, but it ends up being nothing.

Many who know me, know that I am an eCommerce professional and have been doing this for more than ten years now.  I know a little of that which I speak today.

So…here is a new Beachbody product idea.  Live streaming like Netflix.  Instead of buying all the DVD’s, the exercise programs could be kept on the web.  How it would work is, people enroll in a product like P90X or Slim in 6 or Insanity, etc. and then opt for a Shakeology delivery.  They pay a subscription fee up front for the month and renew each month thereafter.  They pick a start date for the program.  On Day 1, the first routine is available.  On Day 2, the second routine is available.  And so on.    

Each segment can only be played twice in one day (in case you mess up or get interrupted) and can be streamed to a computer, a smart TV, through a Playstation 3 or Wii…almost any of the options available today to bring content to your home.  It can also be monitored by Beachbody.  When you play it for the day, it fulfills your Challenge requirement and you are entered in the drawings and/or Coach qualified.

When you complete any program, and have obviously paid the monthly fees, you then are able, under your account, to access that one program, and all its segments, any time you wish.

How is this beneficial?

From the workout perspective, it would really be no different than having the DVD’s at home.  In fact, you could stream it from any location where you could get an internet connection, on vacation or on a work trip.  Nothing needed to bring along.

Each Daily Routine would be broken up into its individual exercise segments.  P90X Triceps Shoulders and Abs, for example, would be broken up into its 24 or so individual exercises on the web.  This could be used later for those who want to mix and match and create hybrid routines.  Once you have completed both Insanity and P90X, for example, you could configure your own Hybrid routines (or use some Beachbody sponsored and pre-programmed ones)  and share (with trainer oversight) amongst the Beachbody community.  Every time you complete a new program, you would have all of the exercises available for you and be able to save your routines on your Beachbody account.

From the sales perspective, it would give the Coaches the ability to get someone to try the program at a lower price point and not lose revenue opportunities from someone who thinks 60 or 90 days is too long or that the money up front is too much.  Imagine that, instead of getting someone to commit to the Challenge Pack, you could also offer them a chance to commit to Shakeology and then a one month subscription to the exercises.  You could get someone in the door at a lower price point and if they blow out, at least you earned some income for the effort.  Let’s face it, half a “Yes” with some upside potential is better than a complete “No.”

So there you have it. My idea of the day.  This blog is a little short but it packs a punch.  I think Beachbody could do well with this.

Beachbody is having their annual Coach Summit this week in Las Vegas, NV.  I can’t attend.  Maybe my colleagues could take this idea to the Big Boss!  Just a thought!

“I Hate Beachbody Recovery Weeks!” Insanity: Day 28-29 of 60

I’ll be dead honest.  I hate recovery weeks.  I know you need them.  I know you pay later if you don’t do them.  I know experienced folk are guiding you and know better.  I just can’t deal with it.  I get into a groove, and I don’t want to stop.  I want to keep going.

I’m at a place where I know the exertion that I will have to put out for each day.  At this point, I have been cycling four DVD’s and I know the strengths and weaknesses (yes, there are weaknesses) in each one.  I know where Shaun T. stretches one side of your muscles and forgets to stretch the other side.  I know when the timer on the DVD comes up short and your thirty second breaks are actually twenty second breaks.  I know when Shaun T. will stop paying attention to the strain on the exercise and will spend time around the participants trying to converse or show you proper form…leaving you hanging in a stretch or contracted position…so I adjust.

The place I am in right now also has me knowing the sweat level and the intensity.  I also have been doing Ab Ripper X, which I have moved to four days per week from three.  ARX is now M, W, F and Saturday afternoon.  I know the whole thing and can do it without the DVD…and in less time than the DVD.  I also have been using my treadmill post Insanity workout to loosen up the muscles in my legs and calves.  I do between 1.5 and 2.0 miles per session at 4.2 miles per hour.  Don’t you love the digital age…we can be so precise!

Let’s do a quick compare, since I have now done both programs, of P90X and Insanity.  P90X was not as rigorous from a pure exercise routine perspective.  It used a lot of muscles and your body literally was breaking down and building up in crafted cycles.  It was really hard because you had to work muscles until you burned them out.  Insanity is more cardio based and, while it is exhausting while you do it, does not require the post routine (as in the next day) recovery that P90X did.  When I did P90X, my body was sore the next day.  On some days, really sore.  Muscles needed 24 to 48 hours to recover.  Insanity does not require the same recovery.  Insanity is really about getting all of those ‘twitch muscles’ moving.  It is fast moving and uses muscles in an energy burning way…not in a “now I can’t lift my arms” way.

I hated my P90X recovery week too, but it was mental.  When you prepare athletically for anything, there is both a mental and physical component.  In P90X, my psyche wanted to go but my body was welcoming the rest.  The DVD’s during that recovery were different every night and that made it somewhat bearable.

So, why do I hate the Insanity recovery week? 

First, my psyched wants to go…and so does my body.  That is frustrating. 

Second, I was making progress and had gotten my body to the point where I knew both physically and nutritionally how to optimize the routines.  It took a while to figure out a few things, but I finally got there.  I figured out how much and when I need to eat.  I know now that I have to focus on hydration.  I also know that I have to stretch properly (and when I need to push pause and stretch more than the DVD says).

Last, I had just gotten all the forms right.  If I have one criticism of this program, it’s the instruction on form.  It should go into a little more detail of why you need to focus on it and the dangers of not doing them correctly.  Simply saying, “To avoid injury” is not enough.  I had to figure out a few things that, I am sure, others probably got frustrated on and quit.  Each DVD should take 5 minutes of time before the routine to cover the postures being done that day, cover the reasons you do it and tell you what your body will feel if they are done wrong.  When I finally got the form down on the various exercises, the exertion was more and the pain was less…go figure, right?

So, it’s only Monday and I have to wait until Saturday to get to Insanity Phase II.

The worst part?  Besides the mental and physical anxiety of downtime?  Recovery week in Insanity uses the same DVD for a whole week of recovery.  The Core Cardio and Balance DVD is used EVER NIGHT.  That stinks.  The exercises are the same.  The comments are the same.  The same participants (Don Cheadle lookalike) have issues and fall out.  The guys are an embarrassment night after night.  But it is just over and over again…that’s the killer.  It’s not motivating me for the next level…I am just in the “on deck circle” waiting for the next round.

Okay, enjoy your day and I will try to get myself excited about tonight’s workout.  Ho-hum.  Let’s see how I feel next Monday after a couple days of Phase II!

“Can Positive Action Infect Other Parts of Your Life?” Insanity: Day 27 of 60

My wife said something to me this morning that has prompted this question.  It’s a good one.  Can positive things from one aspect of your life bring about positives in other areas?

What prompted it?  She came down the stairs and I was in front of the TV watching the morning news.  I was doing my “Ab Ripper X” routine on the carpet.  It was odd for her to see me there because I usually work out in my “man cave” in the basement.  Today, however, is the first day of summer for my kids and my son had some friends sleep over to participate in a Lord of the Rings movie marathon, otherwise known as the “Nerd Hobbit Convention” (that’s MY term…not theirs). 

So there I was, in a strange place, plugging away at the 350 exercise, 17 minute routine.  My wife said, that she had been talking to a good friend of ours, Maureen Kayata , who is a spiritual therapist specializing in hypnotic regression and therapy as well as being a psychic medium.  The conversation between them had been focused on people making highly concentrated efforts for the better in their lives and how that results in the person manifesting positive things in the other parts of their life.  The basis of this is that you can create your own successes but it starts from an energy you kick off from inside you.

My wife said, “I think that’s what you are doing.”

I was a little struck by the thought because, honestly, I have been working so hard to make the best health, fitness, relationship, and work choices that I haven’t even given it much thought.  Apparently, that is part of the process.  When you stop to think about what you are doing, you kind of blow the karmic effect.  But, if you focus on the journey, and the right decisions, and leave the baggage behind, you can harness the positive energy and, like a magnet, more positive is drawn to you.

Conversely, of course, if you focus on the negatives the inverse happens.  Negative is drawn to you.  It could be from many different areas of your life.

If you live your life in swirling patterns of drama from bad relationships…

If your work environment is toxic but you refuse to leave it…

If you have family members that are toxic influences but you refuse to just separate from…

If you have addictions that are swallowing you…

If your health and fitness are so poor that it’s affecting the rest of your life…

All of these things have the capability to bring out the worst in you and manifest negative energy and bad results in your life.  If you find ways to eliminate the bad and live your life with the most positive decisions and actions, you will get to a point where everything starts to flow in the right direction.  At least, that’s the theory.

Does the theory hold any water?  I don’t really know except to say that my wife’s observations are grounded in some very real things that I have done in my life over the past four to six years.

Some of it actually started many years ago.  There were family relationships that have rollercoasted up and down for various reasons.  When they got toxic to me…I just let them go.  It wasn’t easy because along with the pain, there was also some very happy times.  But I had to weigh the good versus the bad and then make a very hard decision.  It didn’t come without loss and regret, but, overall, I think it ended up being a positive thing for me as a person.

Then about six years ago, my work life became stressful in a way that was dangerous.  Coupled with my failing physical health, my work stress had me take a couple of ambulance rides from my office to the hospital.

The first decision was to change the things I could change the easiest.  Believe it or not, the easiest thing was my weight, health, and fitness.   Why was it the easiest?  Because it was the one thing that I could control and change that no one else, so long as I didn’t let them, could affect.  It was the one thing that was totally up to me.  I went out and found a liquid diet to get the weight off and then found the right fitness routine and eating style to keep the weight off right up to today.

Once I was physically set, I made a decision to stop the partying I was doing.  Before the weight loss, my life had been full of family and work parties that had me indulging far too much in alcohol.  When I lost the weight, I had to stop.  The negatives from the alcohol went far beyond the physical effects…I found there were effects on my personal relationships as well.  I decided to make the party lifestyle a thing of the past.  To be realistic, you don’t have to cut it out completely, you just need (I think) to have a line.  What you do is up to you anyway…this is my story.

Last, I decided that the job I had done for years needed to change.  I loved the job when things were going right.  The job was absolutely the most stressful thing I had ever done when it was bad…and it was bad a lot.  The successes did not outweigh the misery.  In other words, “The juice was no longer worth the squeeze.”

The net result of all of this is a new job where I am happier working than I have ever been.  I have a fit and healthy body that, honestly, is kind of very cool to me because I have never been this fit.  My life has relationships that I treasure and memories I can comfortably recall with the happiness that they merit.  I wrote my first novel, a Christmas book of almost 450 pages.  Last…and I think this is what my wife was seeing…when I want to do something positive at this point, I seem to almost be able to make it happen.  Good things seem to be following me and finding me.  It’s kind of cool.

I have a piece of advice I give to my friends looking to do the positive but are unwilling to release the negatives in their lives, “You can’t drive to the destination of your life’s journey while you are staring in the rear-view mirror.  You will either go too slow, or drive right into a ditch.  Either way, you won't get there.  If you really want to get there, you need to lighten the luggage, keep your eyes on the road, and put your foot to the floor.”

More simply said, from my brother John, “Let go or be dragged.”

Do you think there is anything to this?  Maybe, just maybe, you should give it a shot and see what happens?   

What do you have to lose?

THE WORKOUT:

Ab Ripper X this AM but it is also my Insanity off-day!

"Fitness Workouts Training What Have I Learned in Four Weeks?" Insanity: Day 26 of 60

Beachbody Insanity.  Tonight is the end of week four.  Next week is a recovery week and then it’s four more weeks of even more intensity on the workouts.  I am currently getting my head straight for it.  The last couple of days have been really successful as I adjusted my sleep, nutrition and hydration.  I also learned a few things about Insanity that BEGINNERS may want to read about…as it comes from the four week experience.

HYDRATION: I have drunk lots more water lately and it has helped.  It has been evident in many ways…I sweat earlier in the workout and more profusely.  I know…very pretty visual.  My muscles get warmer more quickly and I feel more flexible.  It has helped through things like the squat jacks.  Drink your water during the day and cut back on caffeinated drinks because they are diuretics (they dry you out).

NUTRITION: I had to adjust this too.  No adjustment to the Oatmeal/AppleSauce/Raisin blend I have in the AM.  Lunch changed a little.  From the book “Eat to Live” I got some good advice to add beans to my salad for protein and energy.  That has helped.  I also added about 4 more ounces of meat to dinner as a supplement to my Shakeology blend.  Before I blend up the Shakeology, I have chicken or some kind of fish.  The added calories has actually helped me push harder and it is showing up.

SLEEP: I have been exercising earlier in the PM.  This has allowed me to fall asleep by 11 to 11:30PM and is giving me more rest than what I have been getting the last three weeks.  Your body needs recovery time.

You have to discipline yourself to do these things or you are sabotaging your efforts.  I KNOW I have to and should be doing them and still kind of let it fall by the wayside.  You can’t if you want this program to work in a way that is both efficient and effective.  When it isn’t going right, it can feel very wrong.  What I mean by that is that if you find you have to force yourself through every workout, it will become something you hate to do and you will begin to find excuses to quit.  So take care of your habits and take care of YOU.

Now…for you BEGINNERS.

WATCH YOUR FORM!  My biggest mistake in this program was not watching my form on the exercises and just kind of adapting to the moves.  Just some examples here:

One.  In the first week, my calves and lower thighs were killing me.  Yes, there is a physical adjustment curve to the intensity of new exercises.  BUT, and this is a biggie, I really hurt the process by not stretching and not using the right form in the squat part of the routine…any squats.  Power squats, squat jacks, etc.  You name it.  Make sure when you squat that your knee is NOT out over your toe.  When you do that, your tendency is to be on the balls of your feet and your heel ends up off the floor.  It makes your calves tight and overworks that muscle.  Make sure your core is tight and your butt should drop back and down, not just down.  Make sure your heel is square on the floor.  Your knees should never be bent at more than a 90 degree angle or you will over stretch the thigh muscles above the knees.  It takes a while to get this form right but work on it or you will pay.  You want to get this right because if you don’t you will start to think it is just “too hard for you” and convince yourself that you should quit.

Two.  Stretching.  The other reason my legs were killing me is that I was not stretching properly.  Something they, in my opinion, do NOT emphasize enough is the “WHY” part of these stretches.  There is a lot of work impact on your (do I need to repeat this?) calves and lower thighs.  The calves in particular, need to be stretched properly.  Make sure in your stretches that you keep your legs straight.  When you have to extend the leg, extend it completely.  Don’t shortcut it.  If you do, the muscle stays contracted and tight and never properly loosens.  You will pay for that unstretched calf.  If you have to, stop the DVD and stretch until you feel you are ready.

ON GETTING “HEARD” OVER THE INTERNET:

 I try to do my blog daily.  On any given day, I get anywhere from 120 to 200 views on my blog for the various topics I have covered.  I am approaching 200 blog articles.  200 is really good, but can it be better?  How do you get your message out there when there are just so many?

I am trying an experiment today.  There are three words that are the most searched terms.  FITNESS, TRAINING, WORKOUTS.  I want to see if this blog post gets found a little better and read a little more.  Who knows…maybe we will get more INSANITY participants!

WORKOUT LAST NIGHT:  Cardio Plyometric Circuit.  Went real well.  Getting better at the Basketball drills.

WORKOUT TONIGHT:  Cardio Power and Resistance.  Last one of the first half!!

Have a great day!

"Walking the Talk" Insanity: Day 25 of 60

There is so much noise these days everywhere.  I mean endless, mindless, baseless, and completely unfiltered chatter…everywhere.  As the internet has become the tool of communication choice for folks, the more everyone has something to say and the more everyone thinks their voice will and should carry the day. The most discouraging part of all of this is that, even if your message has real value, and could potentially save lives, it will always fall victim to the “Kim Kardashian Wedding” or the “Octomom.”  Many great messages are falling to the side of the road.  It’s the nature of the game.

So, if you have a valuable message that constantly rings the values of health and fitness…how do you give resonance to that ring?

There is only one real way to do it.  Walking the talk.

The first rule of persuasion or selling is to be able to demonstrate expertise.  It’s the hardest hurdle to overcome.  Nothing fuels the leap over that hurdle like credibility.  If you are a doctor, you are there.  If you are a credentialed Nutrition specialist, you have a distinct advantage.  If you are a certified physical trainer, point for you!  But if you are talking health and wellness, and you have none of these things, you better wear credibility as a suit every day and it starts with looking like you are healthy and fit.  The other key is that, if you are helping people get from unfit to fit, you better be able to relate to and verbalize that journey.

“Walking the talk” gives your message strength and resonance.  Here is another secret.  By “walking the talk” you have a distinct advantage over even those who are actually professionally credentialed!  If you are a doctor, nutrition expert, or personal trainer, and you look like you are not fit yourself…you may persuade some people, but there will always be those who look at you skeptically with one eye cocked.

When I went on the Optifast diet in 2008, the physician running the program was a short, tubby, and kind of jolly looking man.  I have to say honestly that, as he was touting the benefits of weight loss and the value of the program, no matter how good those words sounded, they lost resonance coming out of that rolly polly frame.

Since 2008, many have asked me about my journey.  My blog has been read as far away as New Zealand and some have even emailed me for advice.  The reason they reach out, I believe, is that I practice what I preach.  I have been in their shoes.

I have done a lot of reading and research about nutrition.  I can tell you how the body breaks down food and processes it.  I can tell you how the bad food is processed and stored…and how toxic fat truly can be.  I can talk about the personal issues that being fat can cause.  I can talk about the challenges of keeping the weight off.   I can tell you how valuable exercise can be for you.  BUT, do you know what people respond to more than anything else?  A side by side photo of me in July 2008, in my bathing suit at 285 lbs, and a picture of me in March of 2009, at 205 lbs.

A picture is worth a thousand words.  No kidding.  I know, because I have written HUNDREDS of thousands of words and the pictures do it every time.

My blog helps.  I do have a certain writing style.  Those who know me claim that when they read my writings, they can literally see me saying it.  My writing and my real voice and style carry the same resonance.  Many have called my writing style “graphic”…in the nice way.  They say that when I write about something, it is very descript and you can actually see it happening.  I tell you my entire journey of fitness and many have said that you can feel the work and energy that went into the whole voyage.  It’s a nice complement, because that’s how I like my writing to be seen.

But, in the end, it’s the damn pictures!  Show me.  That’s the world today.  In and amongst all the chatter and blather, you better have something visual to show people.  Because words are cheap.  Hell, they’re free.

Are you walking your talk?  My question today addresses health and fitness but the question and comments apply to whatever it is in your life that you are working to promote. 

If you don’t sincerely believe that your product or service works and is good, or, more importantly, if you can’t demonstrate it, you’re in a tough spot.

“Why is everyone so skeptical of these products?”

“Why don’t they understand that this will HELP THEM?”

“Why do they always say that there are other things that work better?”

“How can I motivate them to make a decision?”

The answer lies with you.  Look in the mirror and ask yourself if YOU believe it.  Ask yourself if you can demonstrate that message.  More to the point, ask yourself if you portray someone who looks and feels better.  Do you?

My old boss Glenn Morin used to have a saying, and he may have heard it somewhere, but he said on a few occasions, “You have to be able to eat your own dog food.”  Now that’s graphic.

So look in that mirror.  Do you “Walk the Talk?”

"Focus on Your Successes" Insanity: Day 24 of 60

The other night, I went to Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.  I went to see the music group America play live.  The fans were very much in my age range…that is to say, they had their teen years in the Seventies and maybe the Sixties.  As I stood there, I struck up a conversation with a podiatrist who is expanding his practice into retail footwear for the ‘pediatically’ (I made that up) challenged.  He had some very interesting insights on this generation of kids we are bringing up.

He said, “Everything with this generation is now.  Now.  Now.”  All they think about (generally) is, “Where’s my stuff?  When do I get what I know I deserve?”  The real point to his opinion was that this generation feels entitled and that they focus on what they ‘don’t’ have and complain far too much about not having it.  I don’t think that is generational though.  I think it is a cultural thing that we are all experiencing in one way, shape or form.  It’s something I try very hard to NOT do, and I will share why.

You cannot be successful unless you are moving in the direction of your goals.  To do that, you need to have knowledge and skill, which we can all get somewhere if we look hard enough.  The other two critical factors, confidence and motivation, can only come from the journey you are on and the other successful journeys that you have had.  Nothing helps breed success like past successes.  They build on each other.  When you have had a few, you then have the confidence that you can have more.  With that confidence, you find ways to self-motivate to achieve the next goal.

It is so easy to focus on what you do not have.  I could do that with my health and fitness goals.  But where would I be?

When I started this journey, I weighed 285 lbs.  That was four years ago.  It has been a long journey getting here.  The life of health and fitness that I now live had to evolve to where it is right now.  It didn’t change overnight, and the reason it worked is because I knew right from day one that it wouldn’t happen overnight.

I went on the Optifast liquid diet with a group of about twenty people.  The diet itself can be (and was) very successful for many.  But, like every other ‘diet’, it works for that period that you are engaged in it only.  To keep the weight off, it is up to you to make permanent and lasting changes to how you live.  Why?  Because if you go back to your old patterns your old friend “Mr. Fat” will be knocking on your door and in no time at all, will be sitting intimately with you on the couch again.  Why, four years later, am I still thin?  Because I knew it wasn’t an “instant cure” right from day one and my focus was life change, not weight loss.

I now do Beachbody health programs to maintain and improve my health.  In addition to the dietary changes I have made (to include high nutrient density foods), I also use their nutritional products.  I have seen awesome results from these programs and products.  P90X took 90 days…but due to some changes I made, I actually did it for 104 days.  I am on day 24 of Insanity.  That’s one-third of a year.  128 days of commitment and exercise every day.  In addition, I follow my diet, which includes the Beachbody Shakeology drink every day.  It’s a long journey.  How do I (or you) keep it up?

Focus on the successes.

I look in the mirror every day for results.  My body isn’t perfect.  Far from it.  I can tell you candidly that when you are 285 lbs and have had a big fat frame, for the number of years that I had one, that shrinking it to the form of the people you see on the DVD’s is very difficult.  Most people who are reversing a lifetime of perverted eating are going to have the exact same issue.  When you have been that big, and you start to lose the weight, it’s like letting the air out of a balloon that has been inflated for a long time.  The shell of the balloon has accommodated itself to that shape and can’t just shrink and depress.  You have fat cells that have been the containers for the fatty substances you use for energy (or not) for a very long time.  They don’t just disappear.  They empty, but they stick around.  Just in case.  Like suitcases waiting to be packed for the next trip.  Only after you have leaned your body for a while do they finally get the message and dissolve and go away.  It isn’t a pretty sight when you look in the mirror.

There are places on my body where I have accumulations of fat that are very slow to respond.  There is an area that was around my belly but now has become kind of like a tire around my lower back.  It’s shrinking and getting there, but slowly.  It has taken a very long time to reduce this.

My point is this.  I could focus on the fitness things that have not just immediately happened.  I could look at the things I really wanted to ‘be perfect’ and be depressed that they are not.  But there are other areas of my body that have had serious positive results.  My performance has also improved.  My health markers (cholesterol etc.) have improved.  If I chose to focus only on the things I haven’t had happen yet, how would my motivation be affected?  I choose (and you should too) to see the real positive results and ingrain that in my head.  Every success recognized contributes to my track record of wins and gives me the confidence that the next steps are extremely achievable.  This goes for health and fitness, but also is for the other areas of your life.   

That’s why you need to focus on your successes.  You need to put those ‘wins’ away like trophies on a shelf and you need to remember them.  You need to recognize them.  When it comes to health and fitness, nothing plays the role of ‘trophy case’ like a mirror.  In a society that pretends everyone should be humble, there are those who will think you are vain for looking at yourself.  Well, when they earn their trophies, they will change their perspective.  Until then, find some noise killing headphones and bask in your own glory.  Find the things you are happy with.  Use that as the fuel for your next win.

 Cardio Recovery tonight and P90X Chest Shoulders and Triceps!

"Hitting the Wall" Insanity:Days 20-23 of 60

When I was doing P90X, I felt just like I do right now.  Worn out.  Serious adjustments were necessary.  I had to change my diet, I had to add good food.  I have to say though, that I am more tired with Insanity than I was with P90X…I am just running down.

A couple of observations…

Sleep.  I am not getting enough.  Last week, I exercised late almost every day due to things that had to be done after work.  This completely threw me off on my sleep for days.  Then, I had to get up early on both weekend days.  My body is simply not repairing the way it should.  I need to focus on getting my exercise done early enough so I can get a good night’s rest.

Nutrition.  I am getting good nutritional efficiency, I just feel like I am not eating enough.  I am actually starting to feel hunger.  I am going to have to increase my food intake…particularly as I ramp up into Phase II of Insanity.  It goes longer and harder so my fuel will have to be a lot better.

Hydration.  I don’t know if it was the New England change of weather or what, but my body is responding differently.  I think I might need to hydrate better.  I know that my routines are always ‘sweat-drenched’ affairs so I am losing plenty of water.  There are some nights when I feel like it takes me a little too long to warm up.  There are two times of the year in New England when I notice my body change to the weather.  One is around the end of May when the weather gets more humid.  The other is around early October when the weather gets really dry.  I can feel the change this past week.

The routines themselves are actually fine…I can go through them most nights without pressing pause.  I may slow down on some of the exercises.  The Plyometric Circuit is a killer on me.  The second circuit with the basketball jumps, the level one drills, the ski hops and the in/outs still is killing me.  By the time I get to the ski hops and in/outs, I am fried.  I am almost considering reversing Phase I and II just to see if I can get full impact from each circuit.  I feel like the second circuit should be done with fresh legs.  Even Shaun T. doesn’t do them all.

Believe it or not, the Pure Cardio with no breaks is actually easier on me than the Plyo Circuit.  I think that’s because my muscles are pooping out from all the work.  It really surprises me that it’s my legs giving me issues because they are stronger than most people’s.

I’m at a point where the routines are kind of blending together.  I have to keep track from day to day because it seems like when I “push play” I always feel like I just did the routine yesterday.  I swear, yesterday I put on the Plyometric Circuit and I put the Power & Resistance on to review and then went back to Plyo…I couldn’t remember which one I did.  I checked my calendar and was still sure I had done the same one two days in a row.  Finally, I just went with my calendar and did the Plyometric…when in doubt, do the hardest one.

I also should mention that I am doing AbRipperX three mornings a week and that I am doing the Chest, Shoulders and Triceps and the Back and Biceps each week as well.

So I feel like I am hitting a wall and I really need to get sleep, eat a little more, and hydrate.

Listen to your body.  If you are in tune with how you respond to your food, drink and sleep, you will know when you have to make an adjustment.

Stay tuned!  I have Pure Cardio tonight.  “Are any of you afraid as I am about for what’s about to happen?”  (you have to do Insanity to get that joke.)

"Forming Positive Habits" Insanity: Day 19 of 60

My work group went to lunch in Boston the other day.  We went to a restaurant that was noted as, “very good and high profile.”  So I sit down to look at the menu.  Soups…loaded with cheese and what must be other dairy like milk or cream.  No salads.  Bowls of pasta coated in cream sauce…many with red meat that looked like it had been cooked in lard.  No chicken or fish to speak of.  Every sandwich was on heavy white bread and loaded with, yes, cheese again.  I looked at this menu and just laughed.

My work buddy, Rick, looked over at me and laughed himself and said, “You won’t be eating much here!”

Just some observations here.

This menu disgusted me.  Not after I thought about it, which is when these thoughts usually hit you.  It was while I looked at it.  As I scanned it, every food choice was bad.  Red meat, dairy, processed food…an endless menu of very beautifully prepared junk.  Even the soups had been ruined.  The plates came out and were very decoratively prepared…as though chef school must teach them how to make beautiful looking food using the worst possible material.  At first, when you start to eat well, you will be discouraged but still tempted to just pick something on the menu.  After you have eaten well for a while, it will occur to you how bad this menu is, after you give it thought.  Once clean eating has become your life, you move to where I am now.  You look at the menu and, without a thought, put it down.  I scoured it for something I could eat.  I had the one soup without cheese…mussel soup.  Basically, it was five mussels in a broth.  Then I ordered the asparagus appetizer.  Six sticks of asparagus and two halves of a boiled egg.  Needless to say, I had to stop on the way back to the office for a clean salad of nutrient rich vegetables.

The second observation I would make is that many around me not only know of my dietary discipline, but have seen its impact on me and accept it.  My eating habits have become so well known that people close to me just need to look at the menu and then say, “Dick won’t eat this at all.”  My dietary routine has become so ingrained in me that others accept it as gospel.  That’s kind of neat.

The third observation is that others around me are actually judging what they eat in comparison to me.  I am making others think about their food choices.  I’m not doing the judging.  I never say anything about what others eat (with the exception of my kids because I see that as an obligation and teaching opportunity).  I just will do everything in my power to eat right for myself.  Sometimes people will try to help by saying, “Why don’t you have the Blah-blah-blah?”  I will just smile and tell them, “No.”  When they persist (and some will) I will explain why it is a poor choice.  And then I won’t eat it.  I find a lot of people with me looking down at their plates.  Very soon, I expect that either the people around me will eat well or I will get no invitations to lunch!  

It has taken some time, but I have gotten to a point where my food choices are healthy or none at all.  There is no meal that I cannot wait to eat.  There is nothing so urgent that I have to “sacrifice” and “give in” and eat junk when it is offered.  My eating habits have become a discipline for me.

It has paid off.  After four years, I have managed to keep the weight off and I have learned that a diet of fruit, vegetables and some lean meats will allow me to live a healthful life for the remainder of the time I have left on this planet.

Let me say this about my eating habits.  When I describe them to folks, I hear a lot of people remark, “I could never do that.”  That bothers me a little bit.  I know that many would love to do what I have done.  I know that many think that it’s ‘hard.’  It is difficult, but there are many things waiting on the doorstep of your life that will make watching your food intake look like a walk in the park.  It’s simply not that hard.  The benefits far outweigh the work involved.

Over the past four years, with constant vigilance and thoughtful choices, I have managed to solidify a foundation of habit for my health.  I look forward to every meal, but not like many do.  I don’t romanticize it.  I simply enjoy it as the food that it is.

So remember…food as fuel.  It’s not entertainment.   It’s not a love affair.  You don’t have to become engrossed in it.

And…if you ARE going to treat your body like an amusement park, make sure you inspect and do maintenance on the rides daily.  With P90X and Insanity.

Have a great day!

THE WORKOUT

Tonight was simple.  Pure Cardio.  At this point in Insanity, it’s Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs.  I have been doing Ab Ripper X three days per week and some weight work…so I am leaving the Cardio Abs out for now.

I have been tired all week.  Every day it seems, I have had to do things after work and then have to work out late.  But, I have not missed a day.  Friday is my off day and I am looking forward to it.  I think my body is telling me I need a break.

That’s important.  Listen to your body.  But, make sure it isn’t just tired.  If it’s sore and broken, it needs a break.  If it’s ‘tired,’ you may have to really think about the break you are going to give it.  Is it real?

Have a great day!

"Is Your Toxic Body Poisoning You?" Insanity: Day 18 of 90

For over 65% of the people in this country, reserve stores of energy are being packed away in the form of fat on their bodies.  Calories not expended and poor food choices have turned our own bodies into “hoarders.”  Yes, just like those TV shows where people have piles and piles of useless junk in their house, we are stockpiling fat at a dizzying and obscene rate.  We must be worrying that some natural disaster or Armageddon will occur that will have us never see a stitch of food again.  If that is the case, then I applaud your insight.  Until that time though, those of us in the “fat hoarder” category are risking their lives on that bet.

Risking their lives?  How so?  It’s just fat cells right?

Wrong.

When your body starts hoarding the fat, it creates the fat cells like little receptacles and begins filling them up.  Yes, they fill up with the fatty material we stockpile for future energy needs.  But, they also stockpile other things.  All the toxins in your body that your liver can’t eliminate end up stored in your fat cells with the fat.  The more toxins you have taken in, the more poison it is that ends up there.  Toxins can be directly put in your body, like nicotine.  Toxins can be created or occur as byproducts of things you put in your body, like the saturated fat, cholesterol, and arachidonic acid you will have after a diet heavy in meat and dairy products.  Toxins are everywhere in our food, especially in the growth chemicals for natural foods and the artificial sweeteners in manufactured foods.  Most carcinogens we are exposed to in our environment or ingest (cancer causing, by the way), end up stored in the fat cells.

So, along with the fat we are hoarding (for which it could irrationally be argued that there is some disastrous dyer future need), we are also piling up toxins and wastes that sit it our bodies just waiting to poison us and cause long term medical issues.  The fat alone is bad enough.  The presence of all the fat cells, in addition to the severely bad habits around eating and the constant barrage of our digestive and metabolic systems, is crippling our bodies.  But, while we fight the effects of the excess fat cells, we leave our bodies dangerously exposed to the harmful effects of all the toxins being piled up in the fat cells.

If there was ever a good reason to improve your diet and to lose the fat, this is it. 

When you are obese, and I know this from personal experience, the first week or so that you begin a weight loss program, you feel strange.  It is not uncommon for there to be feelings of general malaise or even actual illness to occur.  When you stop taking in the excess calories, and if you also complement that with exercise, your body begins the process of glucogenesis and begins to convert the materials in your fat cells into energy for the body.  As your body processes the fatty materials, it also has to process the toxins in your fat cells.  That can make you feel ill.  It was fine when the junk was just sitting idle in your fat cells (like old asbestos in a building) slowly poisoning you, but now that you have disturbed it, like asbestos, there are the toxic effects of the dust as you remove it.  Your body is left to deal with the residual effects of ridding it of the toxic junk you have been hoarding.

Many people who begin a diet, at this point, say, “I feel like crap.  I can’t do this.  This diet is not right for me.”  They couldn’t be more wrong.  If you are feeling this way the first week, you are successfully ridding your body of waste.  Over time, your body actually gets used to this process of reverse engineering your fat cells and it becomes better at processing the toxins in the fat.  The human body has an amazing capacity to adapt to processes, both good and bad.

You have to go through this if you are going from severely overweight back to healthy.  You have to experience the feelings that go with ridding yourself of the toxins.  You could quit.  The net result to that decision is leaving the toxic time bomb sitting in your system just waiting to cause illnesses like cancer and dysfunction of your system (bringing on functional problems like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, nervous system disorders, etc.).

So, as I was saying, when you are considering the benefits of losing weight, nothing compares to this one.  If you are storing fat in large amounts, you are storing toxic byproducts of your environment as well.

Think about this very carefully.  Many who tell you that losing weight is important will tell you that you need to do it to (a) lower your cholesterol and blood pressure, (b) help physical structure damage caused by muscle and back issues associated with the extra mass, or (c) look better and more attractive.

The best reason that I can think of is that, for your own long term health, you need to do it because you are carrying around every toxic byproduct you ever came into contact with in your own fat cells.  As it sits there, it slowly and efficiently invades your body and poisons it.

Is that a good reason for you to consider fitness?  I am betting that it is.

Think about it, enjoy your day, and plan your next round of exercise! 

THE WORKOUT:

The workout last night was Cardio Plyometric Circuit.  I did AbRipper X before starting it, but as I got into the warmups, I was tighter than usual.  That’s when I started thinking about my day.  Very little hydration…in fact, I hadn’t had as much as a bottle of water all day.  Great time for that to occur to me.  I did the routine, of course.  I felt it though.  The calves and thighs were a little tighter.  The second circuit (Basketball jumps, Level 1 Pushups and Runs, Ski Abs, and In/Outs) was brutal.  I got through it, but I had to pause here and there.  I always know when it’s due to poor hydration because I am not tired from all the cardio, my muscles are sore from the exercise.

In order to get the most out of your cardio, the muscles have to be totally ready for the journey.  Mine weren’t last night, but I made a mental note for the future.  Insanity is the toughest thing I have done so far when it comes to nutritional and dietary discipline.  When you deviate, it shows up in spades in your routine.

Another thing, in Cardio Plyo…what’s up with Shaun T cutting short (or cutting out!) some of the stretches.  I know he thinks they are very “im-paw-tint” so, what the heck?  Just an observation.

"Home Exercise or the Gym?" Insanity: Day 17 of 60

Things have been kind of hectic lately.  When that happens, you have to work around certain priorities.  It isn’t easy.  What suffers?  A lot of time, it is the stuff you are doing for ‘you.’  Like Exercise.  It happens very easily.  When your day has been a little too long, and you’re tired and mopey, you can very easily rationalize that you can’t work out because you’re exhausted.  I was at that point last night.  Just too damn much running around etc. had finally caught up with me.

There was a time, when I would have listened to that inner voice and just cracked open a beer and sat down to watch television.  I would have good reason, too.  Not only would I have been tired, but to work out, I would have had to go to the gym.  Let’s see how that used to play out…

Thirty minutes to get my workout stuff together, hop in the car, get to the gym and get the treadmill warmed up.  Almost an hour on the treadmill, (forty-five minutes on light days), and then cool down and towel off.  Twenty minutes to drive home with Air Conditioner blasting in my face to cool off.  Ten to fifteen minutes to shower and fully dry out.  Let’s count it up…two hours.  Two hours had to be allocated to working out.  The treadmill did get old too.  It could be boring.

Back then, at 8 O’clock or even 8:30, no workout was going to be contemplated.  If I didn’t get out of the house by 7:30PM or so, it was really easy to convince myself that tomorrow would be better.  That happened a little too often.  Also, I was only running three to four days a week!  So you miss a day and the week goes from four days of exercise to three.  What was the culprit here?  My busy life.

Last night was different.  Why?

Yes, things had been hectic and I was tired.  It was 8:50PM.  My wife was already laying in bed reading.  The kids had finished homework.  All household signs and indications were that this day was over.  A year ago, this was an easy decision.  Not a great decision, but an easy one.  So, last night, what happened?

First I asked myself, how much time do I need?  Typically, with Insanity in the first month, it’s about 40 minutes.  If they throw in Cardio Abs, it’s another twenty, but let’s shoot for normal here.  I need about 45 to get my workout clothes on, push play, and do the routine.  In fact, I get dressed faster because I just throw on any old workout clothes.  Number one, no one on the DVD cares what I look like and they never judge.  Number two, these Beachbody workouts make you sweat so much that your clothes will have to be wrung out anyway, so they might as well not be your snazzy cute workout sweatpants.

So, by 9PM, there I was in front of the DVD player with Shaun T. saying, “Yo what’s up, this is Insanity!”  By 9:40PM, I was drenched in sweat and feeling pretty damn good that I had made the time and checked off another box on the wall calendar.  By 10PM, I was back on the couch with my Recovery drink and a mango (my new favorite fruit of choice).  A little over an hour was burned.

The second factor here is that, because I need to carve out less time for my workout, I do it more.  Doing it more (six days per week) actually gets your body in a cycle.  It becomes a rhythm where you get used to that flow of endorphins that comes with a rigorous workout.   In the back of your mind, with repetition, your brain begins to instinctively respond to thoughts of exercise with pleasure, not pain.

Home exercise versus the gym?  Seriously, it’s a slam dunk…home.  The reason most people don’t like home exercise is that they either don’t have a disciplined program or don’t have the equipment.  What if you had a disciplined program and didn’t need equipment?  That would work.  Know what?  It does work.

The other reason that people don’t like working out at home is that they get lonely and there is no encouragement.  I understand this, but I think it’s an excuse.  You either want to be in better shape or you don’t.  When I am at the gym, I don’t talk to anyone.  I’m not there to socialize, I’m about to run five to six miles on a treadmill.  I won’t even have enough breath to talk and run.  I do ‘people watch,’ but only when the bank of televisions has nothing of interest on.  With the home exercise programs that I have been using since February, there are enough people on the DVD’s to keep my eyes occupied.  You can count on them too…they are ALWAYS there!  Not to be rotten here, but they are all in great shape and easy on the eyes.  That is not always the case at the gym.  I am laughing as I write this.  I’m no Prince Charming either!  It’s just an observation.

Home exercise programs can be cheaper as well!  Some gym’s cost thirty to forty dollars per month.  That’s $360-$480 per year.  A Beachbody workout program (like P90X or Insanity, that I use) costs about $120 retail…but once you spend the money, you can use the DVD as often as you like.  When you take that cost and divide it by the number of times you use it, the cost efficiency is much lower than a gym membership.  Not to mention the online advice and support you get.  If you want to socialize about working out, do it online!  It’s what we do now anyway…why do you think they call it social media?

So, from my experience, home exercise with a great program that can’t be beat.  It takes less time, is enjoyable, will be repeated, and will bring you better results (if for no other reason than that you will use it more).  It also is cheaper than a gym and can be reused.

The best reason of all though is that it keeps your excuses to a minimum and the increased usage will bring you better health and fitness.

Isn’t that the real goal?  You do have a goal…right?

I’m smiling.  Now go work out!

Have a great day.

THE WORKOUT

The workout today was actually not a workout.  Okay, that’s not completely true because I was sweating when I was done.  Today was Fit Test Number Two.  You take the fit test before you begin Insanity and then you take it along the way to gauge your performance.  Last night was the first retake since starting Insanity.  My results were actually pretty good.  Keep in mind, I started Insanity on the heels of P90X and considered myself to be in the best shape of my life.  That said, in only two weeks, my results were somewhat startling.

Switch Kicks: 116 Kicks to 122
Power Jacks: 63 to 70
Power Knees: 86 to 118 (I was not using the right form on Day 0, so you can toss those numbers)
Power Jumps: 44 to 54
Globe Jumps: 12 to 13
Suicide Jumps: 17 to 19
PushUp Jacks: 39 to 48
Low Plank Oblique: 61 to 73

I was happy I beat all the people on the DVD. Except the suicide jumps. I still don't believe the girl beat me. Not cause she's a girl, but because I was keeping pace with her...I might just go back to the DVD and count her reps!

Where will I be on Day 60???

So, Insanity, like P90X, actually does what they say on TV and does get you in very good (okay, excellent) shape!

"Call Me When You're Serious" Day 16 of 60

It always amazes me that, after four years of being thinner (not skinny, thinner than I used to be), some people still wonder how the weight stays off.  I end up in the most curious conversations.  I truly believe that people think that some people are normally thin and some people aren’t.  It is always funny with me because, forever, I was fat.  Also, some of the people that I end up talking to, for the longest time, were thin.  I wasn't always this way...and neither were they.  But the conversation always takes a turn that makes it seem like that is the rationalization that works best at the time.  I had a dialog this past weekend that kind of sums it up.  Just as a side note, it was not my wife.  I always have to put in that old disclaimer.  It went something like this.

She glanced at me sitting on the couch and said, “So, you’re still keeping all that weight off.”  (it wasn’t a question, it was an observation)

“Yep…plan to for the rest of my life.”

“Yeah, I should do that.  It’s not easy.  What are you eating these days?”

“Oatmeal for breakfast, fruit as a mid-morning snack, salad at lunch with veggies and no starchy junk, protein bar mid-day, Shakeology for dinner, and nuts/fruit mix before bed.  If I get hungry during the day I might grab a fistful of nuts or eat two halves of a Klaussen dill pickle…only 20 calories in the whole massive pickle.  What are YOU eating?”

“It’s kind of like that. (said, to the snickering of her son) Do you use regular dressing on your salad? (it amazes me the things people focus on)”

“Yeah, I don’t worry too much about that, given that I’m exercising from 40 minutes  to 90 minutes on any given day with this new exercise program.  So if YOU eat like that, what kinds of snacking are you doing in between?  Because if you eat like that, it shouldn’t be really hard to stay at a good healthy weight.”

Nervous laughter.  “Oh, that might be a little of the problem.”

“How about alcohol?  Even a drink a night can lower your will-power and make you crave sugary things you know.”

“Oh, I really only have a few drinks on the weekend (to more snickering from her son).  Well, here and there.”

“I’m not your doctor,” I laughed, “I don’t care, it just makes it harder to not snack…not to mention that you don’t feel like exercising.  What kind of activity or exercise do you get?”

“Well…I walk.”  (Again, not my wife, but I know this person and the walking is basically making sure the dog moves it’s little legs enough to poop)

I chuckled, “No…exercise.  Exertion.  As in walking fast enough or exercising enough to break a sweat and know that your body is working a little bit.  Do you do that?”

More snickers from the son, and she responds, “Well, no.  I probably should.”

Someone else gets up and begins to go to the kitchen, “Anyone else want another beer?”

Without a moment’s hesitation, the person I am speaking to says, “I will.”

And then I start laughing.  Then she sees me laugh and she starts laughing too.

I’m not judging here, this is real life.  This is how many weekends go for a lot of people.  This is NOT about the person I was talking to.  It’s a rhythm and a pattern that everyone gets used to and ends up comfortable with.  It is not easy to change that pattern.  It’s funny to me because I now go through my new pattern so effortlessly that many think it’s easy for me.

It is much easier than it used to be because habits have been formed that I don’t think about anymore.  That said, those habits were changed as a result of a lot of daily decisions being made very consciously over a period of a couple of years.  That sounds like a lot, but when you consider 46 years of really crappy decisions about eating and exercise, two years is a walk in the park.

The other thing is, I’m not casual about my health.  Many are.  To many, they will not get serious until something critical happens that puts them over the tipping point.  You don’t know how you will prioritize your health until you question it.  Someone may be overheard making a nasty remark at a party that truly embarrasses you.  A child might make a very public comment about your size.  You might have to be left behind on something physical because ‘you can’t keep up.’  A doctor may look at your cholesterol and say things like, “Lipitor” and “heart attack risk.”  You may find you are winded just moving around with the kids.  Your doctor might take your blood pressure and show that alarming look which you realize can’t betray what they are thinking.  You might just look at the mirror one day and have a glimpsing memory of the smaller ‘you’ and feel an inner sadness.  It might be affecting your marriage or relationships.

It could be any one of a hundred things.  The bottom line is, 95% of the people will not do anything about their health and fitness until the “lack of it” becomes an issue they want to move up the priority chain.  The motivation has to come from inside them.

When people ask me about my weight and fitness, I never fail to tell them how I did it.  I don’t judge.  I’m not pushy.  People have to want to do it.

So I tell my story.  I don’t judge.  I was there.  I can see that most of the world still is.  I can talk about why I changed.  I always hope the best for people and wish for them that they would be proactive about their health.  I hope that they do not have a life changing event that causes them to need to do this, one that damages them in such a way as it limits the quality of the remainder of their life.  Because I was close.  I just will keep the word out there in front of me and, when they are ready, I will be standing in front of the line to speak with them.

My thoughts until then?  And, I don't say this in a nasty way...

 “Call me when you’re serious.”