RESULTS DURING 2016

OK.  Here it is!  This is my B4 & Current pic of my Fitness Transformation after doing P90 workouts every morning, 6 days a week, making healthy choices, and watching my portions.  I didn’t want to share this until I had visible results, but I never expected my results so soon!  “RESULTS” is what BeachBody is all about!

Within the first 5 weeks of my BeachBody program, I’ve…

• Dropped 2 pant sizes!
• Lost over 30 pounds since January 1st!
• Experienced a significant Increase in energy!
• Experienced a significant increase in physical stamina!
• Experienced an increase in strength and definition!
• Actually grown some arm muscles (Biceps)!

BeachBody has some of the best programs on the market and their fitness mindset is so inspiring that my wife works out with me every morning.  We really do love BeachBody, our Coach, the exercise programs, and Shakeology smoothies.  This isn’t race and there’s no finish line.  This is a life-changing program that has the potential of helping you achieve the RESULTS you’ve always dreamed of.

HOW TO ACHIEVE RESULTS

• FOOD
• EXERCISE
• WATER
• SLEEP

Eating the right FOOD:
Making healthy choices and portion control.  There are many programs out there to help you accomplish this.  BeachBody uses a color-coded container system for those of us who are very tactile-type learners.  WeightWatchers uses a point system.  MyFitnessPal is an online food tracking system as well.  The IMPORTANT thing is this:  We didn’t get overweight by eating healthy foods and already knowing and adhering to proper portion control.  These systems make it easy to identify what a proper portion “should” look like.  After that, it’s YOUR responsibility to do with it as you desire.  Choose a program that works for you, and stick with it until it becomes second nature.

Doing the right EXERCISES:
Find what works best for you.  This is not just a physical thing, but also a mental thing.  If it’s not fun, not engaging, not challenging, not interesting, you will probably get bored and quit.  At BeachBody, we have Coaches who can help guide you towards a workout that best serves your needs and abilities.

WATER:
This is simple.  Take your current weight and divide that in half.  That’s how many ounces of water (non-alcoholic liquids) you should drink every day to stay fully hydrated. (Example: A person weighing 200 pounds should drink approximately 100 ounces of water daily.)

SLEEP:
Your body needs time to repair, recover, and metabolize your daily nutrition.  On average, a middle-aged person needs between 7-8 hours of sleep each day. 

WHAT I DID...

WHAT I DID...WHAT WE DID!:

This transformation was a team effort with my wife who inspired me and worked out beside me.

For FOOD:

     We started with BeachBody’s color-coded container system and later changed to the WeightWatchers’ smart point system.  We really liked the usability of their phone app and PC site, as well as the accountability through the weekly weigh-ins and meetings.  Again, find what works best for you.  The goal of most of these programs is to teach you portion control and to steer you towards healthier choices.  Remember, you can NOT out-exercise bad eating habits.  This basically means you cannot exercise to make up for eating mass quantities of unhealthy foods.  Sounds obvious, but people still do it.  We used to do it.

     Our favorite meal of the day is BeachBody’s Shakeology Smoothie.  It’s super-nutritious and helps the body recover.  It costs a little more than most smoothies out there, but you seriously get what you pay for.  Even independent studies and websites rank Shakeology at the top of the Smoothie game!

Once you’re giving your body the proper amounts of the fuel it needs, it’s time for exercise.

For EXERCISE:

     We started with BeachBody’s 21-Day Fix.  Thinking we didn’t need to modify any of the exercises in the program, we quickly got discouraged, burned out, and eventually quit.  This happens a lot with most of us.  I know this because if you ask anyone who doesn’t exercise, "Why?" they’ll tell you straight up, “I hate exercising!”  The worst part of exercising is starting out.  It’s the most clumsy, painful, exhausting part of any exercise program.  So, if a person starts an exercise program, probably 75% of their first 30 days is a miserable experience!  What happens?  They quit (like we did).  A few weeks/months/years later, they start up again only to quit again because the first 30 days of any exercise program can be very discouraging, painful, etc.  This same person may try this any number of times until they finally come to their realization, “I hate exercise!”  When exercising has 75% misery associated with it, why wouldn’t they hate it?

     It often takes a little push to get us over that exercise hump.  That’s where BeachBody’s Coach Support system is so valuable.  My coach shared some exercise program information and helped guide us towards a program that was best-suited for us.  My wife and I started P90 (This is an intro program to the famous P90X) on January 18th, 2016, at 6am.  It challenged us right off the bat, but also encouraged us to perform the modified versions of each exercise starting out, until we were strong enough to do the full movements.  We stayed engaged, entertained, and challenged.  We even found ourselves becoming more coordinated and looking forward to our 6am workouts.  This is crazy if you know us. lol  This bolstered our confidence and desire to push it even harder each and every workout.  We are now on day 41 of 90 and totally loving it!

4...3...2.....eh...Houston, we have a problem!

It's been a rough couple of days of missed workouts.  Stomach bug, sore throat, headaches, dizziness, etc.  The only silver lining is that my diet has been on track.  Been eating nuts, hummus, baby carrots, a small amount of Ancient Grain crackers, and juice; lots of juice!  Another silver lining has been sleep.  I've slept fairly solid the last couple days off.  I'm looking forward to hitting it hard as soon as my body doesn't feel like it's gonna implode!  As soon as that happens, I'll get back to some workouts.

Seventh Workout - Full Body, TRAD, 20:00

PRIMARY FOCUS: Full Body (Actually Legs, Lower Back, & Rear Delts)
TYPE: TRAD (Traditional Workout, Not as intense & slightly modified w/reduced rest periods)
TOTAL WORKOUT TIME: 20:00

GROUP 1:
Set 1:
10x Standing Hip & Hamstring Curls – each leg (position 6 on machine)
10x Standing Hip & Hamstring Curls – each leg (position 8 on machine)
10x Standing Hip & Hamstring Curls – each leg (position 10 on machine)
(30 seconds rest)

GROUP 2:
Set 1:
20x Bent Over Dumbbell Butterflies (8lb)
10x Lower Back Hyperextensions
(10 second rest)

Set 2:
20x Bent Over Dumbbell Butterflies (8lb)
10x Lower Back Hyperextensions
(10 second rest)

Set 3:
20x Bent Over Dumbbell Butterflies (8lb)
10x Lower Back Hyperextensions
(Finished)

Sixth Workout - Full Body, HIT, 16:45

PRIMARY FOCUS: Full Body
TYPE: HIT
TOTAL WORKOUT TIME: 16:45

WARM-UP (no rests):
30 secs Jump Rope, 40x high knees, 10x shoulder rotations (both directions)
30 secs Jump Rope, 40x high knees, 10x shoulder rotations (both directions)
(10 second rest)

GROUP 1:
Set 1:
15x Modified Wide grip Pull-ups
10x Deep Squat Press w/2 (25lb) Dumbbells
(10 second rest)

Set 2:
15x Modified Wide grip Pull-ups
10x Deep Squat Press w/2 (25lb) Dumbbells
(10 second rest)

Set 3:
15x Modified Wide grip Pull-ups
10x Deep Squat Press w/2 (25lb) Dumbbellsf
(20 second rest)

GROUP 2:
Set 1:
20x Side Lateral Dumbbell Raises (10lb)
30 second Plank
20x Standing Zottman Curls (alternating arms) w/2 (15lb) Dumbbells
(10 second rest)

Set 2:
10x Side Lateral Dumbbell Raises (10lb)
10x Side Lateral Dumbbell Raises (5lb)
30 second Plank
20x Standing Zottman Curls (alternating arms) w/2 (25lb) Dumbbells
(Finished)

It's beginning to look a lot like....

It's beginning to look a lot like my exercise program is working. (not what you were expecting? lol)  I know it's only been 6 days, but today my chair dips were easier to the point that I could do all 3 sets of 10x without tapering down the reps (like I did earlier in the week).  Also, my hanging leg lifts were a solid 3 sets of 10x with only an extra grunt on the very last 2 reps of the last set.  I'm feeling motivated having completed the full workout today, and it was a doozy.  You may not think going from 12 mins to 15 mins is much of a deal, but remember this when you're going up stairs and think, "almost there."  Only instead of 3 more steps, you got 3 full minutes of steps!  After my shower I was still hot and burning calories for the next couple of hours.  In fact, as I write this almost 3 hours later, my body is still tingling.  My joints feel well-lubricated and my body feels stronger.  I still look fat, but hey, Rome wasn't built in 6 days!