Farewell

So I know it has been over a month since I posted anything, my life has gotten very busy and I just have not had a whole lot to say since vacation and finishing up INSANITY. Let me tell you about the end of INSANITY, I finished it up while on vacation at Tybee Island Georgia so that should let everyone know just how motivated I was to get it finished. I didn't miss a single workout in the 63 days and tired to bring it as much as I could each and every time I would do a workout. I really think it paid off, even eating more food than I think I had in my life I still lost 6 lbs while on the program and another inch or so off my waist and at least a .25 loss everywhere else. By my ballpark guess I lost about 2% body fat which brought me down to under 10%, which is the number I have been shooting for. Still don't have the abs that I want but I am getting there. I just started Tai Cheng week 3 today where you put all the moves into one 3 minute sequence. I can tell you it was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be, if you stop thinking about one single part of your body for even a minute you will find that you end up losing form in that part. I also add to the intensity by using weighted gloves and a strength so that caused my form to go bad a little bit while I fought against the band but I will get better with it and am excited to do so. I also have a half marathon this month on the 20th and I have finally started running again to get ready for it. My run yesterday was no good but my run today was much better. Yesterday was 3 miles and today I went four at a little bit slower of a pace. I was feeling good when I finished and will be taking a run rest tomorrow before doing a little more on Friday and then taking the weekend off. The runs are going well due to the cardio I got from INSANITY, and I think I will do just fine on the half marathon as long as I remember to pace myself a little better than last time. So I am thinking it is time to say goodbye to this blog, one can only ready so much about mans workouts each day but I do plan on starting another one, I am thinking it will also have a fitness theme, but I want to add more information and I think a little something about faith in there as well. (Also think I will make sure the words in the title are spelled correctly.) I will let folks know what and where the new blog is when I come up with it. Thanks to everyone that came by and took a look at my rants, it really helped keep me going!

Justin

On a whole new path

Ok well here is what has been going on lately. I have spending a lot of time with the Team Beachbody coaching to learn as much as I can and become a better coach to my clients (a list that continues to grow) In the past two weeks I have read a book called "The Tipping Point" which is about how the little things and right people can make a huge difference in how something spreads in society. I thought it was really good and worth the read. The next book I read was called "Don't sweat the small stuff" it is a short little book about how to not let the little things in your world stress you out. There were 100 little things that you can do to make your life less stressful and to let things roll off you back. I can't remember all of them but the ones that stuck out to me I find myself remembering and working on when I can. It really has helped me mellow out and trust me that is something that I needed this week, it has been crazy busy all week long and I didn't even really stop to breath. The good news is the quarter is over after today so I don't have to teach for two weeks! Now I am reading a book called "Eat that Frog" I am about 25% done with it and it is a book on how to beat procrastination and become more productive and successful. It is another one that has been worth the read so far and it has given me plenty of ideas to get more done in a day so that I don't feel so buried all the time with work, school and fitness stuff. My workouts are going really good as well and I only have 9 workouts left before I finish INSANITY, I don't know if I already mentioned this or not but when I finish I am going to take it easy a little bit and do Tai Chang for 90 days to work on balance, flexibility, and piece of mind. I am very much looking forward to it because after 9 months of beating on my body something kind of fierce I am ready to recover and let the muscles relax and grow. I think when I am done I will be all set up to do that round of 10-Minute trainer and be primed for my marathon training. Don't forget I have a half marathon in 6 weeks but I am not too worried about it, I am pretty darn sure after 63 days of INSANITY I will be good to go and ready for that thing. The way I see it I got over 11 miles before having to walk when I did my first one and that was during P90X which does not train your cardio nearly as much as INSANITY does. I am excited for it and when I finish INSANITY I am going to take a day or two and just run it out and see how it feels and how far I make it, that should give me a good idea what to expect and if I will need to do some training for it after INSANITY.

I want to end with this, I know it sound cheesy but I have really enjoyed the books I have been reading and although I have never really been a reader of "Self Help" books and I don't know if I would even call these books that, they have really help clear my head and have a more positive outlook. I feel like great things are coming (one thing already did this week) and I feel like my coaching is about to really take off, I have a great group that I really feel like I can help and I hope I am able to. Well until next time (will try and be sooner)

Justin

Thought that would be easier

Today was a workout I have been looking forward to for a little while now, it was the end of week 7 and core cardio and balance. I had it in my mind that it would be a little bit of a break from the last week of getting my butt kicked but it was pretty darn hard and I was sweating more than I think I ever have during that workout. I guess it is because my body is not quite as rested as it was during the recovery week. Before I go into that let me tell you about the weekend and the good things that are coming up this week. We went down to Athens Georgia this weekend, which was about a 6 hour car drive and stayed the night so that we could come back Sunday afternoon. That made for a very early morning for the family. My poor wife got up at 3:50 to get her last turbo jam workout in and I was up at 5 AM to do max recovery. Once it was done, it was in the car for the trip. For going to a party I was able to eat well for the whole weekend which was something I didn't think would happen so that was a nice surprise. Sunday was the hard part, we had to wake up early and drive back then I had to get into max cardio conditioning and cardio abs, trust me when I tell you that a workout like that after 6 hours in a car is quite hard to do. I got through it but really had to work for it, I had to take a break during the abs, I think a lot of it was because of the trip and some of it was because it was following a stupid hard workout. Ether way I felt great at the end and the workout was worth the time. Then came today, core cardio and balance, I had to really put forth some effort to get it done and was pretty tired by the time it was over. Tomorrow is supposed to be a rest day but I will be using it as a chance to do a fit test before going into the final two weeks. Keep an eye out on the blog because I will be posting all four weeks worth of fit test results tomorrow. I hope to see just a little bit of improvement over the last test, even one rep on each of the exercises is going to be a win in my book. Stay tuned.

One last thing, this week is the official start of my INSANITY challenge group and I am excited to see how my first one goes. I think it will be great, as the start gets closer more and more people seem to want to join so good for me. I already have more than 50 posts on the thread and 29 likes to my facebook page.

Getting dedicated again

Ok, I am working to make sure I start posting again so my 9 readers can see how things are going. Today, like I said yesterday, was Max Interval Plyo and I knew it was going to be a hard one because of how my legs were feeling yesterday and a little bit more this morning. The good think is, this workout is not quite as long as the Max Interval Circuit and it goes by pretty quick. For the most part everything went well, and I didn't have to stop during the workout. I did have to take a few second break a few times during the first circuit because it ends with power jumps and no matter how strong my legs are getting those still seem to kick my butt more and more often than not. I know this was the third time through the workout but I am always surprised at the amount of resistance work there is in the plyo routine. There are squat push ups where you stay in a squat and fall forward to your hands and push yourself back up. There are level three drills where you have to go to a push up position to 16 push ups, 16 mountain climbers, and get back up. Then you get to do it all over again. Side push ups are a blast as well, you get in a side plank with both hands on the ground and do 16 push ups on each side. And don't let me forget about the one leg pike push ups where you get in a downward dog like position and lift one leg up then go down and push back up with your shoulders, when you finish 30 seconds you switch legs and go another 30 seconds. When you finish the workout you are truly covered in sweat and all the muscles in your body are burning but you do feel a bit firmer than you did when you started. Tomorrow is Max recovery and although I was sweating pretty good when I finished it the last time it did make me feel better and I have been looking forward to the workout in the morning. Just wish it didn't have to happen at like 5:15 but hey if you want to make change you have to be dedicated. I saw a picture posted on Facebook today that I really like it was of a woman that had lost a good amount of weight and it said "Stop saying I will and start saying I did". I pretty much think that nailed it when it comes to fitness. Well tomorrow should make the leg burn go away and one last thing. I have made a change to my fitness calendar for after INSANITY. My mother in law was nice enough to let us borrow her Tai Cheng program so I am going to do that for 90 days after INSANITY. I figure I have beating on my body ruthlessly for the last 9 months and it needs some time to repair and work on mobility and balance. When I finish I will still finish the year with 10-minute trainer but I am excited to to do this program to feel better and get yet another free t-shirt!

On the second week and still going strong

Well I have still been going strong on INSANITY although I have not been posting here as much as I should because of focusing on the business and the challenge group that I have starting in a week or so. I am now on the second week of the second month of the program and am still bringing it everyday. Yesterday was the cardio conditioning and today was my third round of the max interval circuit. Just like the last month I am starting to get better and make it through the workouts without having to stop. I am also able to really push harder to do more of the moves and keep the form better. If sweat is a measure of how hard you worked then I totally brought it this morning because I looked like I had gone swimming in my workout gear when I was done. Now that I sit here I my legs are burning pretty good and I am a little tired but it is almost the end of the week and I will be going into the max recovery on Saturday morning before taking a car trip south. If the legs still feel like they do today on Saturday, I can totally see myself taking the whole trip with the heat on the chair. Today is a slow day at work so I am working on getting some learning done, both for work and some fitness stuff shhh...... Well tomorrow is max plyo, I still have not gotten through the whole workout without having to stop but I think tomorrow is the day. I just need to Dig Deeper

I have been bad and I know it

OK OK I know I have not been posting as much as I used to but I have been working hard on getting my challenge group together because it will be starting soon and I want to make sure I have everything I need to help people get the most out of the program. I think I am in pretty good shape to get it started and have had all kinds of interest in my thread the last day or so. Let me talk about this week a little bit, today was the last day of my first full max workout week and let me tell you, I can feel it. I have done pretty good with the workouts, I got through the first max interval circuit without having to stop but when I went to do the workout again I did pull up a little bit at the end. I really didn't have a choice I went into the first time through the workout pretty fresh from recovery week and an easy Tuesday of just doing the fit test. The second time was a little different, since it was the last days of the week I went into the workout a little sore and my performance suffered a little. I still gave it all that I had just my all that I have was not quite a much as it was the time before since the tank was not as full. Today was the max plyo again, and I did better this time than I did the last time, the power jumps still throw me a little bit and wear me out but everything else went pretty well. The third circuit of the last set I slowed down and couldn't get the full number of pushups in on the level three drills but still got a great sweat on. Just take a look at my facebook group and you will see what I am talking about. Getting ready for bed my whole body is pretty sore and this rest day could not have come at a better time, I might get up just a few minutes early tomorrow and do the 10-minute trainer yoga flex but I don't see myself going gung ho and doing fountain of youth or anything like that. I just need a little something to combat the soreness and get ready for a whole week of more kicking my own butt. One quick shout out to my amazing wife who is on her last week of TurboJam after doing two rounds of 10-minute trainer the hard work has paid off and she looks even more beautiful.

Day two and still searching

Well today was the second workout of my max month and I went from max interval training, which was not all that bad to max interval plyo. I knew this one was going to be a bear because I have never been great at plyo workouts but I went into it fairly optimistic and ready to do my best. I figured after yesterday's successful workout without having to pause (I did need to slow down) I thought I would be able to do the same on this workout. Well.... not so much the case here. This time around I did end up having to catch my breath a few times but I didn't worry about it because my legs were a little sore from the day before and this workout had ALOT of resistance work in the way of push ups and moves where you held a squat for a while. Tomorrow I think is going to be a killer, it is the max cardio conditioning, so I totally expect to burn some killer calories but I know I am going to have to work for them. The cool part is after tomorrow morning I am going to have only three and a half weeks of the program left. Then it is on to fun. I looked at my calendar for the rest of the year and the start of next year when I start training to run a marathon and it looks like I have enough time in there to get a 28 day program done so I am going to get my 10-minute trainer on after my P90X INSANITY hybrid.

Speaking of INSANITY I am still looking for folks to join my challenge group and get in great shape before the holiday parties. If you are interested comment below and check out my Facebook Page for my team and see if you are interested, it is going to be hard but it is going to be worth it when you look in the mirror each morning. Now is the time to start talking about tomorrow and get it going today!!!