Why P90X isn't about the workouts.

After posting my round 2 pictures on facebook a few weeks back I have had an overwhelmingly positive response to the success I have achieved. I have had both friends and family asking me for advice on whether P90X truly works, how it works, and if they would be a good fit. Every time I am asked about it I get excited because it's an opportunity for me to share my story and hopefully help create ones for others.

First off I always start by telling them that I am not a professional in fitness by any stretch of the imagination. Most if not all the knowledge I have from health and fitness has been acquired through my own searching, questioning, and digging. I am a firm believer in being all natural. Good hard American work, proper nutrition, and a powerful attitude are what drive me, not short cuts. When people ask me man how did you get so cut? I tell them straight up through P90X, my diet and attitude. They get that I worked out and see that as the main reason for my success but what they don't understand is that it's not about the workouts.(mostly)

If I had enough time to explain to people what I am about to explain it would change their minds of the TOTAL transformation I have achieved.

P90X or any extreme workout program is not for those looking for that quick fix. (90 days is by no means quick) For the sake of time I will assume (although I never like to) that people know that doing a workout like P90X is intense to the max. The workout itself is hard no doubt but it is everything else that surrounds the workout that is the true challenge (hence the title).

I wanna use a quick example to illustration what I'm trying to get at. Most people tend to work 8 hours or more in a given day. Despite what line of work your in you know that 8 hours makes for a long day. This is only the hours you have at your job and not including everything else in your life. If you have been pressing the "play" button on life you can be very exhausted. Now throw in a 50 min intense workout at the end of that day. This is where the real challenge lies. It's not always about the workout but actually being able to get to the workout that's challenging in itself. Say you work 12 hours in a given day let alone on a Friday. It would be so easy to say no thank you workout I'll go drink a beer. But after going through P90X instead of saying no thank you workout I can say no thank you beer. This is what makes P90X more then just the workout. Being able to have a whole different mindset on life.

Many people pick what is gonna satisfy them in the present. By going through P90X I can now look at a situation and make a decision based on how it will affect me down the road. Bad habits are very difficult to break but once you do the walls of those habits crumble and you replace them with positive ones.

P90X allowed me to change the way I made a lot of decisions. Most nights when I had the choice of pizza or lean chicken I would go with the chicken. In times of past depending on how long it had been since I had pizza I would justify eating empty calories because I hadn't had them in a while. Now I am able to approach this and say how will eating that pizza effect my body, energy levels, mind, performance 5 minutes down the road, 1 hour down the road, days down the road?? To me when you look at everything in a cause/effect situation it allows you weigh options in both the now and down the road.

P90X has opened the question master within me. Instead of simply saying don't eat that or don't do that. I ask why? What is the reason behind all the little details in this healthy life style. Yes I know it is for better health but why? Yes I know eating that pizza is bad but why? What's the real reason why it's bad? Dig deeper as to the WHY. I'm not just satisfied with "well because it will make you fat". What is the science behind it? What is it that makes each ingredient act the way it does in your system not allowing you to have a healthy experience?? WHY WHY WHY??? Instead of saying that I am to tired to do the workout, I now ask why shouldn't I do the workout. Why should I?? I have more to gain from doing a workout then I have from not doing one.

This whole journey has opened doors that I never felt possible. Before P90X I was in good shape. I "attempted" to eat right, workout and stay healthy. I never knew there was a much better way to it and as I write this today I know that months from now I'll be saying "and there was an even better way then before". I KNOW MORE!!

P90X isn't about the workouts it about what motivates the workouts, what drives the people to continue, what gets people excited for the day saying what the heck am I going to learn today? It's about possibilities and being open. It's about sharing and learning. It's about total health, mind, and body. It's about bringing it and pressing play on LIFE.

Tony Horton’s 11 Laws of Fitness

Tony Horton’s 11 Laws of Fitness

The title really says it all with this one. Tony Horton, the creator of P90X and several other top selling Beachbody workouts has been changing lives all over the world with his incredible training and insight into fitness and nutrition. He came up with these 11 laws to help guide people toward being better, happier and healthier. I do my best to follow these “laws” every single day, and their impact in my own life has been nothing short of profound. Read them, absorb them, and live them - you’ll be glad that you did!

Variety - Variety is the spice of life and fitness. A lifetime of health and fitness is achievable when you can think outside the box. You have to mix it up all the time. Stay curious, creative, and stick with the kinds of workouts that you enjoy. A variety of exercises, workouts, and sports will allow you to avoid injuries, plateaus, and boredom.

Consistency - Improvement and change occur when you do things often. Stopping and starting all the time will kill any momentum you need to succeed. You must find ways to stay in the game. Moderate forms of exercise, done consistently, provide far better results than the occasional full-body pummeling. A lifestyle that includes multiple forms of exercise five to six days a week guarantees results.

Intensity - YOU’RE TOUGHER THAN YOU THINK. The fear of pain or injury from working out is a mindset steeped in failure. You must learn to “Find the Line.” Do the extra rep or two, increase your range of motion, and increase resistance as you get stronger. Intensity goes hand in hand with Variety and Consistency. The combination of the three work together as a triad that creates a platform for success. The programs provide variety. Your plan will keep you consistent.

Purpose - Your purpose is to have a better life. Exercise and eating right help you feel better. When you feel better, you do more. When you do more, you meet other people. A healthy lifestyle gives us the energy to be better than before. We want to participate, share, communicate, and build a community—have purpose in our lives. If you had never found Beachbody, you might be right back where you were—isolated, with nothing to share, no purpose, because you weren’t doing anything with anyone.

Reality - Why do we want life to be different than it is? Why do we think about who we were and who we’re going to be more than who we are? We certainly talk a good game about who we are now. Why do we try to predict the future with the hope that wishful thinking is enough to change it? Life is NOT the way it was. It’s the way it is. Life is not our fantasy predictions of the future or our glory days of the past. Life is that thing that is happening to you as you read this. We fall into the trap of living in the past and future because right here is not good enough. Back then and up there are keeping you from right now.

Sports - Take the onus off of weight, inches, and body fat percentages and put the focus on

MOVING—from dancing, rock climbing, and mountain biking to table tennis. I love that ping-pong! Think in terms of “can do” instead of “look like.” Sports are fun and help develop balance and coordination—which in turn accelerates your results. Jump, kick, run, spin, throw, skate, shoot, hit, score, compete . . . PLAY!

The Plan - SCHEDULE ALL WORKOUTS IN ADVANCE. This creates accountability. Plan an entire month ahead of time. Try to schedule as many workouts as possible with friends who have similar goals. WOWY was developed so that we could find an easy and effective way to stay accountable and work out together. Now we’ve got people in all over the world working out at the same time. That is cool!

Sleep (and stress) - Stressed out, sleep-deprived people don’t eat right and exercise regularly. Stress depletes energy, strength, and desire, while poor sleep habits affect your moods and immune function along with cognitive and motor performance. Burning the candle at both ends makes it impossible to be fit and healthy.

Loving It - Exercise and workouts involve commitment, determination, planning, consistency, and intensity. If you don’t like what you’re doing, there’s no way on earth you’ll succeed. Enthusiasm is a very big piece of the puzzle. Get creative and stay curious. If you enjoy doing Power 90 exclusively and it works for you, then keep doing it until it doesn’t. If you get part way through P90X and it’s not your cup of tea, then stop, and do something else. Something’s got to bring you back day after day, week after week. Love it (tolerate it) or leave it.

Flexibility - Flexibility is the fountain of youth. Flexible people are much less prone to injury. Yoga and stretching allow you to bring more intensity to your workouts. Flexibility is the key component to becoming less vulnerable and more durable. Aging has a funny way of making everything we do harder. Staying limber and flexible is the way to prevent that from happening.

Food and Supplements - You are what you eat! Food and supplements are your fuel. The right fuel supplies proper energy and recovery through balanced brain chemistry. The right supplements simply fill in gaps in your diet.

Failing

This story/blog sort of sums up the last 5 years of my life. I titled it failing because I felt that this best suits my mindset over this time period. You will soon read that failing doesn't have to be a negative word but can be embraced. I once read in a book (yes a book) about a guy that had an idea and thought his idea was better then anyone else's. This guy went from house to house, company to company, person to person selling his idea. He was turned down his first time, second, third, forth, and eventually 20+ times before someone finally said lets here it. You may have heard of this guy Dr. Seuss? It took Dr. Seuss failing over 20 times before he finally got someone to notice. In baseball if a batter fails 7/10 times that's considered pretty good. Failing is not always bad.

While a freshman in college I had a advisor (yes advisor), tell me the that my idea to work in sports was ludicrous, dumb, and a waste of time. I was told to look at more practical areas of study. She said that only athletes get these types of jobs. She was looking for me to fail. That being said I used that sole motivation to prove her wrong. Transferring schools and setting out to work within sports I knew what I had to do. While attending school I was able to achieve many notable awards, major of the year, scholarships, and many internships. The one that stood out the most was with the Cincinnati Reds in Sarasota Florida. Couldn't work within sports huh? I basically gave my old advisor the proverbial finger and managed to mingel with some big name people. I fought the temptation to send her an e-mail everyday I was down there. I had proved her wrong and had not failed.

Fastforward to today, and here I sit. A year removed from my experience within the Reds orgainization. Jobless and basically moneyless. To most accounts I have a very impressive resume and am considered (depending on who you ask) to be someone intelligent. You may be saying well you are failing right now man. But I would beg to differ. I am currently Dr. Seuss and knocking on my 20+ doors right now and while I go through this journey I think it's funny that since I have basically already knocked down the door that my advisor setup the day she said you can't, I do not feel like my orginal goal is good enough. I have already proven her wrong and was just waiting for someone to say you can't.

This has been at the root of everything I have done for the past 5 years. People saying you are going to fail only fuels the fire. I see it all around me in the everyday things. When someone starts a workout plan, you get the "oh your not gonna last a week" or "you can't do that". When someone wants to better their lifes I hear "thats stupid why even try". So many are afraid of failing that they don't want to see others succeed around them. I use to think that my worst fear was failing in life. I wouldn't try new things and was somewhat reserved. If you knew me today you would know that I LOVE TO FAIL!!! It allows you to grow and learn and provides a challenge that can spark your own internal drive. I have that internal drive that is so powerfull I will always know that if I do fail its only for the moment and I take that and run with it until the failing becomes success. And today I am a success because I have failed so many times.

My First Blogg

Well folks I have finally tap this great universe known as blogging. I just wanted to get something on here to kick start this momentous event and I know my fans are greatly anticipating my upcoming posts. I look forward to providing all of you with a great deal of insite from my enormous library of knowledge known fondly has my melon. Sit back relax and enjoy the show. Oh and if by some crazy event I actually get one person to read this stuff LOL. I will be pumped.

P.S. (Do people P.S. in bloggs?) I would like to thank Lance Moser for this inspiration. RIP Moser where ever you are.

P.P.S. Love you mom!