"Wessly only bleeds on the inside." -Tony Horton- KenpoX
1.Thursday - P90X Diet
2.Friday - P90X Exercises (Cardio)
3.Monday - P90X Exercises (Weight)
4.Tuesday - P90X Dedication
5.Wednesday - Tony Horton
6.Thursday - Results
7.Friday - Final thoughts (last day)
Time for another perspective - DEDICATION. This is ultimately what makes or breaks a fitness program. If you can't capture your audience or if you just have the personality that does not allow you to do something day after day after day, you're not going to see results. That applies to everything, not just diets and fitness.
"You can do anything for 30 seconds" but can you do anything for 90 days?
90 days is short for a workout program. But step back, it's not that short. It's 1/4 of a whole year. It's not like you'll be ripped and at the beach in a weekend. And it's most definitely not a miracle drug. Results take time, it takes effort, and it takes a lot of determination. It's as much of a mind game as it is a physical game.
P90X is a 7 days/week program.
Some people might consider exercise as "I'll just do it and get it over with" Watch out for this! It's very defeatist. You're telling yourself you don't like what you're doing. If you really want to make it to the end of 90 days, you really need to be excited about working out, or at least eager to reach your goals. Trying to get yourself to do something you hate is like teaching a cat to play fetch, its HARD.
The videos do a reasonable job keeping you coming back. You very often hear "KEEP PUSHING PLAY" which by most accounts is an effective way to get you rolling. Not in the mood to exercise? Push play anyway... sometimes you'll start doing the goofy warm-up march then (what seems like only moments later) it's over and it was actually not bad.
Missing days: try not to do it, especially early. If you start missing/skipping days in your first few weeks, it's hard to recover. You start justifying in your head that "Oh, I've already missed a day, so my perfect attendance is already blown. What's one more..." which ultimately turns into laziness and forgetfulness and 1 month down the road you've thrown in the towel or restarted from the beginning. It's best to stay on track as best you can and avoid any problems by adjusting your days accordingly. Can't make a Wednesday Yoga? Do it Saturday and skip StretchX. Your days got shifted around, but you still did all your workouts.
Going to Spain for 2 weeks REALLY through me off. Not only did I return weaker and fatter than I left, but I was much less motivated. I convinced myself that if I didn't start up immediately, I wouldn't start up. So I took it upon myself to really push hard to get back into the game. Long breaks/sickness really hinder your overall performance. I honestly think my results and motivation would be significantly better had the routine not been interrupted by my 2.5 weeks off.
Same goes for the diet. But I think it's easier to get back on track with the diet after a small hiccup. Just don't blow it by performing a weekend binge.
Was I dedicated? Let's put it this way, if I could chart my dedication (X being day, y being % dedicated/motivation) It would look like this:
--X--|--Y--
1 | 100%
10 | 100%
20 | 85%
30 | 100% - introduction to phase 2 EVERYONE LOVES CHANGE
40 | 100%
50 | 80% - about ready to leave for Spain
60 | 15% - in Spain
70 | 15% - in Spain
80 | 85%
90 | 75%
100 | 75%
108 | 65% - this last week I am so not motivated
It's easy to start strong and get pretty reasonable results and then crash after 30-40 days. Why not right? Well I think sticking with the whole program gives you better lasting results with habits which might stick with you. If you got do Phase 2 and stopped, chances are you've already returned to your normal diet and normal fitness routines (or lack there of). The longer and harder you invest your time, the longer and harder you will fight to maintain what you've worked for. You won't throw it all away at a moments notice.
Dedication can't be taught. It's just something you have to have. If you are thinking about doing P90X, set goals, ask yourself if it's something you can commit to, and be truthful to yourself and others. The best thing I have done to improve my dedication is to HOST THIS BLOG. Granted most of the people who read it I don't even know, and chances are I never will, and the blog writing process takes a lot of time... but it MAKES ME ACCOUNTABLE. If I skip a workout, I feel bad and that SHOULD be enough to keep me from skipping another, but having people read about my blunders makes me feel WORSE because I like to think they are on my side, they want me to succeed, and that they are struggling with similar problems.
So although just about any fitness program will help you lose weight / build muscle... if you can't stick to it, you won't get very far. So the big lesson of today is - Go get it. Want it. Just do it. Bring it. Keep Pushing Play. Get back on the horse. Man up. Get'er done.
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