Hubby As Guest Blogger Part 3

Paul Speaks Part 3

MAY 14TH SUPER SATURDAY

Carrie and I walk to the stadium, register and go up to the workout room in the Fidelity box. To say I'm a bit nervous would be an understatement. Today I am going to do two 60 minute workouts with the guy that created the Insanity workouts. This is not me working out in my basement.....no phoning it in folks! We told him the night before we have been doing this for about a year and I'm sure he is not going to let us slack. There are all kinds of people there from very fit to some that are in the middle of their fitness journey. You can feel the nervous energy in the air. We were told by the event organizer that there are going to be about 150 people working out. Lots of people are talking to one another about the different workouts they have been doing from P90X to INSANITY to several other Beachbody exercise programs. We also realized that there are a few local  "Fit Clubs" here. These groups get together at local gyms or other halls to exercise together to Insanity etc...  9:30 rolls around and we hear Ozzy's "Crazy Train" being played and in comes Shaun T. Carrie and I are in the back of the room in order for us to have enough room to move during the workout. Shaun T starts to high five and shake hands with people and sees me and shakes my hand as well! Carrie said he probably looked at me and thought "You've been doing Insanity for a year huh?  I'm going to KILL you now!!!" 

Getting a handshake from Shaun T on his way into the venue

He gets up on stage and gets his stuff together and starts the workout and now I'm thinking "Here we go this is it. Let's see if yo can hang with him like the people in the videos". I have said to Carrie from time to time that even he can't do his entire video workouts cause he stops and goes around to the other people in the videos to encourage and to correct form. Well, I can say now that HE CAN do his entire workouts. This guy has muscles on top of muscles. I know he is a fitness professional and should look like this but he takes it very seriously and I can relate to that with things in my life. After the warm-up I am back to when I started Insanity that first night and think I am gonna die here. 

Dying already and it's only the warm-up (the WARM-UP!!!)

He is running this workout faster than what is on the videos! Again I say to myself "I can do this, this will not beat me" The whole room gets through about 30 minutes of working out and he stops everything and tells us to take a break and listen. Now he is going to give the key piece of information I needed except I didn't know he was going to do this. It usually takes one piece of information to bring it all together for me. Whether it was going to night school taking all those engineering classes, playing the drums or making cymbals for that matter. He said "When you feel you can't do it anymore and you want to stop, push through and channel that mental energy telling you to stop into positive energy and tell yourself you can push through" It's a mental thing people not physical! You can take a break and take two quick deep breathes but get back into it. Push through and Dig Deeper People! 

Shaun T giving a motivational pep-talk in the middle of the workout

OK that's it! I got it now. No more needs to be said. He continues the work out and he is walking around the room encouraging, working out next to people and really energizing the room. All of a sudden he is standing next to me doing one of the exercise moves and I am worried he is going to tell me to go faster. So I keep up with him and he moves on to someone else. I realize that the little talk in between the workout has changed my focus. I am no longer in a room working out with 150 people I am working out with and against myself! I get into a trance and am just listening to his cues to change from one exercise move to another. So, 60 minutes is now up and I have a sense of accomplishment and a little relief! 

Drenched in sweat after workout #1 with Shaun T

Carrie and I have about 5 1/2 hours before we do the second workout at 4 pm. I very rarely work out twice in one day especially at this level of intensity. I got through the first workout and am determined to get through the second. We went back to our hotel room took showers and headed out for a nice lunch. We headed back to the Fidelity box to have our picture taken with Shaun at the meet and greet that started at 2. We waited in line until it was our turn and Carrie gave him a really big hug that made Shaun T laugh a bit. 

He then said something to Carrie about my determination during the workout, which I totally missed him saying, and that indicated to me that he is really watching everyone during the event. Carrie asked about the second workout and Shaun said he is really gonna bring it and it will be harder than the first. I'm thinking great. but also told myself, I can do this. 4 pm rolls around and we're told that Shaun T is not quite ready yet and at about 4:20 he comes out. Now having played drums for almost 33 years I know that you have to mentally prepare for a gig. I know why he was late and why he didn't start right at 4. He was in a room mentally preparing to do the workout with us. Although he is a fitness expert he still has to prepare mentally and not just rush into things. As we start the second workout he says be prepared because I am going to kill all of you! Well, the second workout was twice as hard as the first. About 20 - 30 people were not at the second workout. Either they had other commitments or the first workout wasn't what they thought it was going to be and decided to bail on the second. A couple of moves that he had us do toward the end included a 64 count push up, 32 counts down and 32 counts up. Are you kidding me?! He told us it is not in the arms people it is in your core. Tighten up your core and you will be able to do this move with him. Well he was right, I tightened up my core and noticed it was a little easier.

Telling us it's all in the core - right before the killer 32 count push-ups

I remember looking up to watch him and he was solid as a rock doing this. One of the last moves was to get into a squat position and do 64 low squat pulses up and down with your arms straight out. He told us that if anyone gets up out of the squat position to take a break that he is starting the count all over again. Well a few people couldn't do it and he DID start over again.....twice! One of the people that caused us to start over was the event coordinator Kevin!!! We were all yelling at him. I felt like my quads were being poked with a red hot spike. The workout is now done and we stretch to finish up and I have this huge sense of accomplishment. I feel like I have climbed a Mt. Everest in one day. Carrie and I changed out of our workout clothes, clean up in the restrooms and get into our street clothes. What a great day. One that will I will never forget.

Workout #2 is done and the event is over.
Beachbody Diamond Coach Kevin Lopes presenting Shaun T with a personalized Patriots jersey

The one thing that I have taken away from this experience is that I have to use my mental ability to keep going when I think I can't. This has changed my focus with exercising and life from now on. I am also changing my outlook on my diet. I am really starting to look at what I eat everyday. Shaun T said at the end of the workout to not deprive ourselves of things that we like. It is OK to have a dessert after dinner once in a while. Control your portions. It is a lifestyle he told us, not a race that you complete. This race never ends.

I am now renewed with exercising. I am still doing Insanity but it is different now as I am not just trying to get through the routine, I am challenging myself to work harder during it - creating more personal goals within the workout. I'm very much looking forward to when I can attend one of these workouts with Shaun T again!

There is no finish line.  Always a work in progress!

Thanks, Peace out :)