P90X: Day 90 Pictures and Results

Infomercials are a dime a dozen.  The question is, do they work?  I think it always helps if you can see someone you know go through it and see if it did.

I have lost about 10 lbs in the 90 days but have definitely added muscle and gotten more lean.  I am also in very good physical condition.  I am in Medium sized shirts and size 34 waist pants for the first time since High School.  The pictures are in...judge for yourself.

P90X: "Coaching: Engaging the Player" Day 91 of 90

In my experience, a Coach is only as good as his/her ability to share and teach the player.  In sharing and teaching anything, to anybody, you have to have the ability to ENGAGE.  Have you ever heard someone say about someone else, "They're just so engaging!"  Someone engaging actually makes you feel compelled to be in their circle.  Not to just listen to the engaging person, but to also participate.  That's what engaging means...it means that that person makes you feel like you are a part of driving something, not just a 'passenger on the bus.'

How do people who are 'engaging' accomplish this or become that way?

There are characteristics of these people that you either already possess or can work on building.

The first is that an engaging person projects themselves visually.  They are dramatic, sometimes 'over the top.'  They use a lot of body language to make the space they are in look bigger than life.  They fill a room when they enter it.  When they are expressing themselves they do it with a passion that is outwardly perceived.  Think about people you feel compelled to listen to...you will find they have this ability to translate visually.  Even when you talk to an engaging person over the phone, most times, you can feel that emotion.

The second thing an engaging person possesses is a 'hook.'  An engaging person, in your eyes, will have something you want...even if you don't realize at the time that you want it!  Be it a product, idea or emotion, the engaging person has it and you either want it or want more of it.  An engaging person may have a new way of thinking of an old concept.  It may be new facts or ideas.  It may be something that is completely old, but this person found a new way to wrap it so it feels new...and you want to see it again.  Maybe what they have will help you in business.  Maybe it will help you personally.  Maybe they are just really happy and 'up' right now and you want THAT.  If only because it will just make you feel better for a moment.  An engaging person has a 'hook' that draws others.

The third thing an engaging person has is 'room.'  They always have room for you...no matter how many of YOU there are.  They ask questions and listen.  They let you participate.  They let you nibble on the 'hook.'  With an engaging person, it's not a manipulation or sale.  They are sincere.  You can feel that they care deeply about their cause and how it will affect you.  They want to hear your story too.  Again...they LISTEN patiently and sincerely.  The relationship an engaging person forms is a dance, not a direction.

The last thing an engaging person has is a great sense of self-awareness.  They are humble enough to know that they don't know everything.  They also have a sense of humor.  They don't take themselves and everything so seriously that becoming involved with them is a life or death proposition.  They know that life is too short to not have fun doing what you love...but that everyone may not love the same things.  They have respect for you.

As a Coach...as a leader...these things will help you become a person who draws others in.  When you have people's willing attention, you are best positioned to be influential.

If you do not have these qualities, they are things you can learn, improve, and practice.

Many are not comfortable in front of people.  That hurts your ability to project and show passion.  A player can't see it if you can't show it.  There are many ways to get out of this shell.  Toastmasters is a great group that encourages you to get in front of the room.

Finding your 'hook' can be a challenge.  You need to really understand what it is you are trying to project and truly understand it's value or potential value to your audience.  Is it really something of value or something you WISH they valued?  Ask yourself that question and be honest.

Do you leave 'room' for your audience?  Always keep a list of no fewer than twenty engaging questions for the audience.  Some people are habitually good at this and do it reflexively.  If you are not a natural at this, get index cards, write the questions down and rehearse them until you know them by heart and can ask them with sincerity.  Listen acutely.  Don't just blink and nod.  Listen with real concern.  If the 'hook' is of real value, this should not be that hard, but it does take practice.

Remember to keep it loose.  Not everyone feels the same way about the 'hook.'  Let them take their time to get to it, don't just grab the damn fish and slap the hook in it's mouth.  Not nice.  Not engaging.  It's more like a trap.

Being able to 'engage' a player is vital to being a good or great coach.  If the player is not ready or willing to really take your guidance...your coaching may be only minimally effective if not simply ineffective.

Okay, time to work out!  I am putting in an extra two weeks of P90X.

Have a great weekend, GET UP, and JUST DO IT!

My resources this week for my Coaching blog were:

Mindset, by Carol Dweck Ph.D.

The Power of Persuasion, by Robert Levine

Influence Without Authority, by Allan Cohen and David Bradford

The Handbook of Coaching, by Frederick Hudson

Coach Anyone About Anything, by Germaine Porche and Jed Niederer (this one was sourced the most)

P90X: "Did I Really Finish??" Day 90 of 90

I will do the last of this week’s Coaching blog tomorrow.  I need to take a moment here to collect myself.

Wow. 

Ninety days of P90X.  For those of you following my work, you know I added two more weeks due to some transition issues to Classic and some vacation.  Still though, ninety days is the program milestone.  When I do the Kempo X tonight, that will really be the end of the Program as we know it.  I will be doing my 90 day shots on Saturday (today is Thursday) but I also will be doing some 104 day shots just for kicks.

If you are considering doing P90X, a few things you should know. 

First, ninety days seems like a lot when you are considering this.  In actuality, the time flew by.  You spend each week doing 6 different routines so that no one routine is typically done in the same week.  It went so fast at times that, when I was doing certain routines, it actually felt like I had done them a day or two ago, not a whole week.

The next thing you should know is that the program works.  I have seen significant improvement in my 

physical performance and in my measurements.  While I was not overweight when I started, I was not as sculpted as I am ninety days later.  In fact, I have never been this sculpted in my life.  I went on vacation to the mountains of Utah and hiked uphill for hours on end at the ripe old age of fifty.

When I started this on Day 1 and into the first week, it was almost comical.  I go back and reread some of my blog entries and there were times I was so sore I couldn’t type properly.  I thought I was in good shape!

P90X Day One

P90X Day Two

For some of the routines, this went on for weeks.  I had bouts where I tweaked something because I pushed too hard and needed to come up with an alternative solution to that particular exercise in a given daily routine.  Some of the routines still stand out.  In Core Synergistics that first week, I couldn’t lift my legs off the floor at the midpoint of the routine.  I burned myself out on pushups so badly in some routines that I could barely push myself to my feet.  I couldn’t do ANY of the exercises in Ab Ripper X completely for about 7 weeks.  I now do it three times a week and do the hardest forms in each routine.  All of the weight work that I did (because I wrote it all down as Tony instructed) improved to about 2X the weight I started with.  If I started with 10 lb dumbbells, I ended with 20.  If I started with 15, I ended with 30.  Very significant improvement was seen in every phase of the workouts. 

You should also know that this is not a diet plan.  There are many diet plans out there if your goal is to lose weight.  Pick a safe one.  P90X is not a diet plan.  Does it come with nutrition suggestions and guidelines?  Absolutely.  If you are overweight right now, will you lose weight?  Probably, but it depends how overweight you truly are.  If you are overweight (a BMI of over 25%) and follow the exercise and nutrition guidelines, you should lose weight.  If you are one of those people that obsess about your weight when you are really only about 10 percent above the normal weight for a person your height and age (like a 132 pound woman who should ideally be 120) the results may vary.  It depends how much weight work you do and how rigid you are with the nutrition.

I weighed in the low 220’s when I started and I weigh about 212 now.  I lost about ten pounds.  That is less than 5% of the weight I started at.  I have weighed less than that in the past four years, at one point being about 198.  I remember it because I had not been ‘sub 200’ in over twenty years.  So, I didn’t lose so much weight that I am ‘lighter than ever.’  I have dropped a complete pants waist size going from 36 to 34.  I have dropped a shirt size from Large to Medium.  I can see my abs and my physical look has never been this muscular.  While I am not “lighter than ever”, I am certainly “leaner than ever.”  That is really the goal of this program.  Fitness.  Runway models are stick thin.  They also have a high incidence of anorexia and bulimia.  That is not health.  It’s skinny, but it’s not healthy.

FIT people make the right food choices, exercise often, are more likely to choose a physical option than a comfortable one, and possess much less body fat than the ‘average’ person.  I say ‘average’ because we live in a nation with close to a 60% rate of being overweight and a 30% rate of obesity.  Think about it this way…the goal is to have less fat.  If there is no fat on a muscular frame, you have achieved your goal.  The scale may not say it…but the scale is not the right yardstick.  That’s why P90X asks you to measure yourself and take photos.  There is more than one way that you need to measure improvement in this program.

I recommend this program to everyone and anyone.  The only watchword I will give is that you should do this with some help and guidance.  Make sure you have a coach.  Someone who has done this and has seen results.  Don’t just go get the DVD’s and stick them in and do this alone.  I used many resources along the way but nothing replaces my Coach Lisa Barker, our team nutritionist Melissa Binkley and my Chiropractor (who also does P90X).  They really steadied me through this.

So if you are interested in markedly improving your health and fitness, while challenging yourself like never before…get a damn coach, get off the couch, and GO FOR IT.

 Thanks!!