After my last post, I had several people ask me why I am doing the P90X doubles. Good point, I thought, I never really clarified that. In some of my older posts I referenced exercise and some reasons why I like to stay in shape. There are many reasons, mostly because I want to LIVE! I love how I feel when I am in shape. I really enjoy what I can do when I am in shape. I love adventure, so I can capitalize on opportunities to do some things that I would not be able to do if I were not in shape.
Another really good reason is for my family. I want have fun with my wife and kids. To me fun is getting outside and doing things that we enjoy doing. Those mostly include some form of physical activity and if I am not in shape it will not be as much fun for me. I also want to have the same kind of fun with my future grandkids. My Mom told me to keep having fun no matter how old I am, so why not.
Jenny and I enjoy traveling, and when we travel we like to participate in the local running races when possible. It really allows us to meet some great people and experience the culture first hand. We were in Ireland and ran a race in Dublin. Over 2000 runners! What an experience. It was an evening race and there were people everywhere. Jenny took 3rd in the women’s division and I won’t mention how I did since she is a stronger runner than I am. Let’s put the skates or blades on tho.
When I separated shoulder playing broomball and my hurt back from over using one side of my body during sandbagging due to the shoulder, I was pretty messed up from Feb to June. All summer I could not run, so I just lifted and really struggled to get that last layer of fat off my waist. My eating and entertainment habits did not help either. Hey, you have to enjoy life too. Once my core got strong enough to support the low back, then I figured I would get some cardio going. P90X gets your core so strong, I just love it. I cannot remember ever being this strong in that area. However I still have some work to do.
I chose the P90X program because of what it gives me. I like the workout partners on the DVD’s because I enjoy working out at home. I like the pace because that I what I was missing in my previous workouts or when I did go to the gym. The intensity is AWESOME! This workout is not for everyone and I sold fitness equip for a long time and I used to get asked all the time “which equipment would work the best?” and I would tell them “the one you enjoy and actually use.” So for me to say that P90X is for you is not realistic. My wife does like P90S tho and she has a six pack to go with it.
About 8 years ago I read a great book by Tony Robbins called “Awaken the Giant Within”. That book changed a lot of my philosophies, one of them is why workout in the morning. He studied and learned that if you workout every morning for six months, then your body will crave those workouts for the rest of your life. So that is what I did. I have always been a cardio guy, love to run, so I ran or did cardio everyday for 6 months. I’ve had some major back issues lately that has limited my running to pretty much nothing, however I can lift and bike inside.
When you train yourself to exercise first thing in the AM, it gets your metabolism rolling for the day, and you get the workout done without any excuses. The excuses are what kill you and to try and sneak in a workout later gets to be a challenge, and the workout is lackluster at best.
Before I started doubles in Oct, I noticed a couple of things in my workout sheets. First, I was not getting much stronger. Second, I was not very strong in the latter part of workouts, no endurance. Some of that is my diet, the rest is lack of cardio efficiency. I knew that if I did doubles and worked thru the wall, that my endurance would sail, my workouts would get better, and I would most likely burn off that FAT!
Well, I just started week 7 and I can tell you that my endurance is coming on strong! I had one of my best workouts ever today and I have cardio to do again tonight. I did hit the wall last week tho, and it was tough. I just know that some nutrition changes would help, the day of rest would help, then hit it hard again and push through it. I am really excited to keep this rolling thru the winter. I am also going to do the INSANITY program after Christmas. Check these programs out at www.bodybyexercise.com and see for yourself what you can choose from. You can also look into some nutritional products on that site as well as: www.bodybynutrition.com some great stuff that I am using.
You have to find what you like, mix it up a bit and then go with it. You may find that once you hit a certain level of fitness, you will want more challenging workouts to choose from.
till next time,
to your health and abundance,
Steve Aune
Steve Aune 
Leave a Reply