Pushing Through

"If you don't push yourself past the barrier, there's no way you're going to progress."   

~ Shaun T

June 7, 2010 - Day 1 of INSANITY

June 7, 2010 - Day 1 of INSANITY 

So, as you know, I've been working hard and sweating it out day after day in my basement.  I began this journey almost one year ago.  June 7, 2010 is my INSANITY "birthday".  Since the day I began, I've completed several rounds of INSANITY, did a month of P90X and dabbled in other Beachbody programs.  I thought I had gotten into fairly decent shape.  I lost weight.  I lost inches.  People were noticing and making comments about the changes in me.  It all felt great!!!  I was (am) very proud of the weight and inches I had lost during those rounds of INSANITY, but for some reason, I felt the urge to continue to push even harder and dig even deeper.  The best was yet to come......  

Entering The Asylum: 

May 1, 2011 - Day 1 of The Asylum 

May 1, 2011 - Day 1 of The Asylum

May 1, 2011 - INSANITY The Asylum Changes Everything

The beginning of May and entering The Asylum changed everything for me!  The Asylum is a 30 day, over-the-top-extreme fitness program featuring the same trainer (Shaun T) as in the INSANITY workouts.  It features sports specific drills involving an agility ladder, weights, resistance bands, a jump rope - every tool in the fitness trainer's tool box!      

Yesterday, was my Performance Assessment (or Fit Test) or Day 30 of INSANITY The Asylum.  The end of round 1 for me (since I plan to start round 2 on Monday)!!!  I found out through this assessment that I am stronger, faster, and have more inner gumption than I ever thought possible.  I was assessed in nine different areas in categories of speed, strength and agility.  From Day 1 to Day 30, I improved dramatically in all areas.  I am very proud of this accomplishment.  I also weighed and measured myself.  From Day 1 to Day 30, I lost an additional 8 pounds and 8.5 inches!

I know that most of you don't know what any of this means, but here are my Performance Assessment results (the first number is Day 1, the second number is Day 30):

Agility Heisman : 7 > 8

In/Out Ab Progression:  27 > 47

Lat Push-Up:  15 > 20

Mountain Climber Switch Kick:  60 > 80

Agility Shoulder Tap:  4 > almost 6

X Jump:  20 > 33

Moving Push-Up:  3 > 3.5

Agility Lateral Shuffle:  13 > 15.5

Agility Bear Crawl:  6 > 9.5

One thing I took away from this program is something that Shaun T says in one of the workouts.  He basically says that you can do anything you put your mind to if you have the MENTAL strength to do so.  He says "if you don't push yourself through the barrier, there is no way you are going to progress."  This is an incredibly important quote to remember and is significant in weight loss, fitness and life itself.  There are always going to be barriers that hold us back.  There will always be something that stops our progress, happiness, success, comfort.  We need to rely on our mental strength to push ourselves through those barriers and get better!  Shaun T also says, "if you left it up to your body, you'd have quit a long time ago".  This is so true!  Our mind is what gets us through everything - especially when the going gets tough!  What are your barriers?  What is something that is holding you back?  Will you make the commitment today to pushing through so you will see amazing progress on the other side?  30 days is not a lot of time and yet I have had the fastest and most satisfying results to date.  As I said, I plan to do another round.  

June 5, 2011 - The completion of Round 1 of The Asylum!

June 5, 2011 - The completion of Round 1 of The Asylum

June 5, 2011 - Round 1 Complete

One thing people need to keep in mind with fitness and weight loss is that there is no finish line!  It should be a daily activity (one which hopefully you enjoy), which delivers the results you are looking for in order to live a more healthy and fulfilling life.  I plan to keep pushing through barriers, working out in my basement, sweating my tush off, and continuing to be proud of myself for doing something I never thought possible.  Care to join me?

~ Cheers!

  

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 :)

Hubby As Guest Blogger

Paul Speaks - Part 2

SHAKEOLOGY

Now that I have a weight goal in mind I knew that I needed to change how I was eating. Insanity comes with a nutrition plan but I didn't really look at it and still haven't started to follow it. But I did change my eating habits. Junk food is cheaper than healthy foods and that is why Americans are so overweight. We decided to start to eat more and more veggies and fruits. I also cut down the portion sizes I was eating at each meal and eat SLOWER, that way my brain knew my stomach was getting full. In July Carrie got me a bag of Shakeology for my 42 birthday. She was using this as a meal replacement and was preaching the wonders of the ingredients to me and once again I was SKEPTICAL! Well now I have my very own bag and she volunteered to make me a delicious shake. I have this bag of powder so I might as well have a chocolate smoothie. I told her sure and let her make me one. Well I have to say it tasted great! I have been drinking this for breakfast since last July. My overall cholesterol has gone down 30 points and my blood pressure has gone down as well. I attribute this to the exercising everyday and the healthy shakes every morning.

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES

So I am in my daily workout routine with Sunday as my day off. I actually get frustrated if there is a day I cannot exercise due to work commitments or if the family's schedule does not allow me. I am seesawing between 150 and 153 lbs and trying to figure our how to get the weight to stay at the lower number. If I have one fault, I have the ability to really focus on something to reach my goals. So I am committed to getting to where I want and won't stop until I have reached it. The one big thing I notice is that I feel really great and that I am sleeping better and the biggest thing is that I haven't gotten sick this past winter season. Every year I usually get a whopping case of the Flu  that takes me out for at least three days. I attribute not getting the Flu to the regular exercising and change in diet to include larger portions of green veggies. I have always loved steamed Broccoli and would eat this every night as my vegetable if the family would let me!

Paul doing the "Heisman" as part of the INSANITY warm-up

Carrie called me at work one day in February of this year and said Shaun T is coming to Gillette to conduct a workout with people. I thought absolutely! I've been doing this for almost a year I can workout to any Insanity routine he throws at us. We each paid a fee of $100 and decided to make a weekend out of it!
  

 MAY 13TH

Meet and greet booth - May 13

Carrie and I arrive at Gillette the evening before the event. The local Beachbody coach Kevin, who arranged the event, has set up a meet and greet with Shaun T and a couple of Patriots cheerleaders at the Patriots Place shopping mall area. We walk to the area where the table is set up and we stand in line and notice that everyone in the line is a young male and they want to get their picture taken with the Cheerleaders! We got to the table and said to Shaun T "We're here to see YOU!" His face immediately lit up and asked if we have been doing INSANITY?  We both said yes and he got up came around from the table and talked to us for a while about the workouts and what it was like filming them with all the people in the videos. We asked him what Saturday's workouts were going to be like and he said he hadn't decided yet put it was probably going to be pretty tough. Great I thought. We took some pictures with him and me with the cheerleaders. I had to take a picture with them, they're pretty cheerleaders after all and wasn't going to miss that opportunity.

Shaun T meet and greet May 13

The "must have" photo op with two pretty Patriots cheerleaders

Stay tuned to hear more from Paul...............

Hubby As Guest Blogger

Paul Speaks - Part 1

(It's a long one so will have to be in a couple chapters!)

It's been two weeks since Carrie and I worked out, twice, with Shaun T at Gillette stadium on Saturday May 14th. My exercise workout journey has been developing over the course of many, many years. First off I am going to emphatically say "I HATE TO EXERCISE" I would rather sit and read the paper or watch some worthless mind numbing TV show. Now having said that, I now LOVE the Insanity workout DVD program. My exercise journey got a big jolt of energy last June. I had been a member of a couple of gyms and had really let my exercise regimen slack. Carrie had mentioned this infomercial about a DVD set called "Insanity" and like everything, I kind of shrugged it off. Who wants to exercise in their basement? I also said to her "those things don't work in the long run. Its just a money grab" and "I will never look like those people as they have trainers and nutritionists that are looking over their every move in order to get them to look good to sell the DVDs!" Because I am a very frugal person, cheap sometimes, I agreed that this was a more worthwhile investment than two gym memberships that we probably won't use that often. Plus, Carrie was very very excited about it. What did I have to lose I thought? Maybe some weight!  I remember Carrie either emailed me or called me at work to tell me that the INSANITY box had shown up. You would have thought it was Christmas at our house! I can be a very skeptical person at times and hadn't really bought into this exercise program but wanted to support Carrie because of her excitement. We watched the very first DVD called Fit Test. This judges where you are through a series of different exercise moves. You are to log your results, how many of each you were able to do, and then do it again some weeks later to see how you improved. 

THE JOURNEY BEGINS:

Day 1 of INSANITY - June 7, 2010

I vividly remember the night I began this exercise program because I thought I was going to die. It was a Monday night. Carrie went off to work. I put the kids to bed and changed into some workout clothes and headed for the basement. I put in the fit test DVD and started the routine. Now I have run 5K and 10K road races and used to run on average 3 - 5 miles a day. So I believed I could do just about anything. I did this fit test and at the end of it fell to the floor leaning against the couch and thought to myself this is the day I die. I was not only winded but my muscles were shaking. Folks, this is not the exercise program, this is a fit test to gauge where you are at. I hadn't even put in one of the DVDs that you actually exercise to!!! My only thought was Carrie will come home in a few hours and find her husband dead on the playroom floor. I sat there for a half an hour. Then I got mad. "This thing was not going to beat me" I said to myself. So, I started the next evening with the first DVD. At the bottom of the screen is a time line of how long each exercise move will be along with the overall time for this particular DVD. I looked and it said something like 39 minutes. I thought to myself "I got this". So it works like this. You do a three cycle rotation of warm up exercises. Each one is three minutes long before you get a break. So you do the routine for three minutes with each round getting faster than the last until the nine minutes are up and you can take a break. So I decided to relate this to something I know, running, guess what, it is not like running at all. It is not one thing you warm up with. You run and then you do jumping jacks and then something called Heisman and then two or three other different moves until you repeat the whole thing again. After three minutes I am ready to call 911 again. Now you get a 30 second break in between.

30 seconds is really long most of the time but when your exercising it is really, really short. I now have 30 more minutes of this!?!?!? Well I got through it and Carrie asked me how I liked this move or that move. I think I complained but still wasn't going to give up. She was very encouraging and was glad I was doing it.

DAILY EXERCISING

About two months into doing Insanity I notice that my pants are getting looser on me. I now have to wear a belt to keep them from falling down! OK so now I am seeing some results. Carrie had taken some before pictures in June and now wanted to take some more pictures in order for me to see the transformation that has taken place. Now I didn't think I looked bad back in June, because I think very highly of myself, but when I saw the pictures from two months later I realized just how chubby I was. In June I was around 168 - 170 lbs. and in August I was down to about 155 - 156 lbs! Not bad I thought. I now decided on a goal weight. The lightest I have ever been in my adult life was 147 lbs around the time I got married and that was probably for only a 1/2 an hour that I was at that weight. So my new weight goal was to get to 150 lbs.

December 2010 - about 6 months into the program

Stay tuned to see more of Paul's INSANITY transformation story....... 

You Think No One's Watching, eh?

I've been working out regularly using Beachbody programs for almost a year now.  I had no idea the influence I am having on my children, particularly, my 6 year old son.  You see, he's in school only half a day and is home with me the rest of the day, so he's there with me when I eat and when I work out.  On most days, he watches me exercise and has, on many occasions joined me.  He is slightly obsessed with Shaun T., loves to make comparisons between my muscles and Shaun's (as though there is any comparison at all!!), and he frequently enjoys checking on his own "stomach muscles" in the mirror.   Ever since I began using INSANITY last June, he became my little accountability buddy and loves to participate in the warm up and stretch.  Here's a photo of him doing a yoga stretch from the INSANITY warm up.

Here's one of him doing a "switch kick" - how awesome is that??

A couple of months ago, when my package containing P90X arrived, he was as excited as I was!  He made me a poster in celebration of "OUR" new workout program.

So, this week, when I began The Asylum, of course the little cutie decided to join me.  It was the greatest thing!!!  He took off his shirt (to be just like Shaun T and the other fellas in the DVD), grabbed a set of 3lb dumbbells and worked out alongside me for a good amount of the 45 minute "Strength" segment.  He even said to me "Mom, this is SICK!  I like it as much as INSANITY."  That made me chuckle!!  I thought I'd also mention that he thoroughly enjoys the fact that I drink Shakeology on a daily basis.  He begs for a taste (saying it is just like chocolate milk).  Yesterday, when my most recent shipment arrived, he grabbed it from our postman and ran to the house announcing (the entire way up the driveway) "SHAKEOLOGY IS HERE!!!  SHAKEOLOGY IS HERE!!"


Ever since I became a Beachbody Coach, he's been asking for the Shaun T's Fit Kids Club DVD so he could do his own thing at home.  This week, I bought it (shhhhh, don't tell him) not only for him, but also to share with the new Fit Club that I am beginning soon (more on this later).  

The moral of my story is, if you think no one is watching you, think again.  Our children watch every move we make (good and bad), and model their own behavior and develop their habits after our own.  If you are a parent, I challenge you to be the best possible positive role model you can be for your little audience. 
~Cheers!  

"Bringin' It" - Day 1

Yesterday, I began my P90X journey with Tony Horton and his (very fit) posse.  What is P90X, you ask?  If you haven't heard of it, I think you might possibly be living under a rock, in a cave, in some remote location or someplace where there is no electricity!!  P90X stands for Power 90 Extreme - a 90 day workout program put out by the company Beachbody and led by the phenomenal trainer Tony Horton.  The infomercials run constantly on television (and I believe hold the #1 spot for infomercials).  Check your local listings to catch one - especially if you've never heard of this program before.  The people in the infomercials are inspiring and do an amazing job showing off their eye-popping 90 day transformations.  I decided I had to be a part of it.  Like a kid on Christmas morning, I was so very excited when this arrived a couple weeks ago.

I had a small(ish) idea of what to expect, but tried not to think about it too too much beforehand.  The whole premise of P90X is that it is an extreme, 90 day workout regimen (and nutrition plan), designed to "confuse" your muscles (using varying moves).  The thinking is that by confusing the muscles, the body never has time to adapt or go into auto-pilot.  You are constantly challenging your muscles and using them in different ways, every day for 90 days.  Every 30 days throughout the program, Tony changes it up so the workout never (by design) gets easy.  There are twelve (TWELVE) extreme workouts in the program!

As it says in today's blog title - yesterday was Day 1 for me.  That meant Back and Chest (with an extra workout of Abs).  I went into it thinking - " I just completed months and months of INSANITY, how much more extreme can this be?"  Let me just put it out there that INSANITY and P90X are two completely different animals!  Back and Chest workout is 52 minutes of varying push ups and pull ups.  52 minutes, 12 sets (repeated twice).  There are weights involved as well.  I had to chuckle when Tony picked up the 45 pound dumbbell and I picked up the 5 pound one (hey, I didn't want to peak on Day 1 - hee hee).  The program also requires use of this bad boy.....

The pull-up bar.  Yikes!  Brings back memories of high school fitness tests, eh?  Of course, Tony offers modifications and "breaks" for those of us who are not ready to go as extreme as he and his devoted clones.  I ended up using a chair to assist me during the pull ups and I still wasn't able to get through too many in a set (leaving plenty of room for improvement).


The verdict?  After workout 1, day 1, I am more sore than I ever was during the months and months of sweating it out with INSANITY.  Which is a good thing!!!  It's obviously effective, I'm doing the moves correctly, and (hopefully) I will look cute in a bathing suit in the very near future.


Today's workout is Plyo.  Hopefully, I'll be able to walk tomorrow.


~Cheers!  

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

This week marks my last one (for now) in my continuing love/hate relationship with Shaun T and the INSANITY gang.  I have mixed feelings about this.  On the one hand, Shaun T has pushed me, helped me get to the fitness level I am at today, helped me lose weight and welcomed me (with open, sweaty arms) into the Beachbody family.  However, it's now been 9 months since we started our relationship, and I am ready for a change of pace and new challenge.  


Beginning Monday, 3/28, I am starting my next fitness endeavor (and new relationship) with Tony Horton and the P90X gang!  Believe me, I am SCARED!!!!  I am strong, but have my doubts about whether or not I will be able to keep up.  The workouts are an hour long (will I have the time?), and there are weights and pull-up bars involved!  What am I thinking??  Well, the way I figure, the program is 90 days.  90 days from March 28 will be the beginning of summer and the height of beach weather.  If all goes as planned, my body will be bathing suit ready by then.


Stay tuned to witness the transformation!!! 


~Cheers!