Hi gang. I know it’s been a while since I posted a blog and it is all my fault. Not that I couldn’t have done a blog, and not that I haven’t had time to do a blog, just that I didn’t really have anything worthy of blogging about. But, now I do–an update on my P90X experiment.

I bought the DVDs and official P90X kit in April, but actually just officially started the 90 day challenge on May 17 2010. It started out as an experiment, a way of reviewing a popular fitness package and seeing how it measured up against other training programs. The results of a friend, and his good advice, made me decide to dedicate myself wholeheartedly to P90X instead of just trying it out in order to write a review.

Having been at it nearly two weeks, there are two things I can tell you for sure:
1. My username on the P90X website should be “Pause Button King!” And,
2. It is an excellent program that focuses on exactly the things I need to focus on at this point in my life.

After ten years of progressive resistance training with body for life and with the similar and also very excellent program of Lee Labrada called the Lean Body Challenge, I am fit and muscular. But, what I need more of right now is the type of conditioning that will develop a really good core, excellent balance, endurance, better range of motion, pain free joints, and still will retain the symmetry and leanness that I have developed over the years. P90X, I am convinced, will do just that.

One caveat. When they say it is “extreme,” they mean it! It is not for those who are tremendously overweight or who are just beginning to regain the physical fitness they once had. Body for Life or the Lean Body Challenge are perfect programs that are easily adaptable to beginners or severe obesity but P90X honestly is just too demanding to make it even worthwhile under those circumstances.

I have followed it as closely as I can, and I hit the pause button a lot, as I get winded, but even after just two weeks, I’m seeing significant and good results in the mirror, on the scales, and in how my clothes fit. The lady who sees me at the Red Cross every two weeks and sets me up for my platelets donation looked at me today and asked if I still weighed what they show on their records. She explained that I looked like I had gotten really lean really quick, and she also said that the muscles and veins in my arms really look different. She wasn’t trying to give me compliments–she was just doing her job, but it just shows me that what I think I see is also what others are seeing, too! I am also reasonably sure the changes are due solely to the exercise regimen, because I have NOT changed my classic 6 small meals a day, with the usual array of protein and carbs, except that I have begun eating just a bit more carbs since both the time and intensity of the exercise require more endurance than progressive resistance training does.

Well, I plan on doing the whole 90 days and I’ll take some progress photos in 3 or 4 weeks from the beginning and bring you up to date then. If you’re wondering whether it would work for you, drop me a note and I’ll be glad to try to answer any questions you might have. If you’re in the middle of a body for life or similar challenge now, by all means stick with it. P90X IS NOT a replacement for those programs–it’s the next thing you ought to think about doing!

God Bless! It’s a wonderful time of the year to be getting fit. No excuses! Decide, Commit and Succeed!

I donate blood platelets at the Red Cross every two weeks, as part of my ongoing program of helping those who need it and who have no means to return the favor. In the case of platelets, all I know is that they go to help cancer and other critically ill patients, so it’s perfect activity to give without expectation of a return.

I say all that only to tell you why I watch so many old movies–and that’s because the donations take a couple of hours plus the supply of movies is old. Today, I watched Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray. Even if you’ve never seen it, you know that it is about a guy who gets trapped in a life where every day is exactly the same as the day before, except that he has the power to react to all the events as they occur. He sees the same people every day who have the same things to say to him, but he can alter what he says and does to them.

The movie is both sad and funny at the same time, as Murray’s character struggles to escape this daily nightmare in Punksatwney Pennsylvania (hence the title) where he wakes up as a Pittsburgh weatherman who is supposed to be coverning the groundhog who sees his shadow. Murray’s character is a prideful but small time weatherman who thinks he is more important and talented than he is. Day by day he becomes suicidal and tries to escape the hell of sameness by doing himself in, but still wakes up to live the next day.

He eventually learns that he has undiscovered talents, which he develops, and also learns that his contempt for those around him is part of what locks him in this daily hell.

Murray eventually escapes his daily hell by applying his new found talents to entertain and benefit others; by living humbly, by living purposefully, and by doing good for others. He learns the true meaning of love and a life well lived.

It’s a good movie and the theme is timeless. “Live intentionally; give of your time and talents; and love others no matter the risk.” That’s much of what a transformed life is all about. What starts out as just another diet and exercise program transforms you from the inside out, teaching you that you can do more than you can think, that you have undiscovered talents and character traits; that you are at your best when you live an organized and generous life, and that you were put on earth to help others–not to help yourself.

I liked the movie–as you can plainly tell. But I loved the message much more. I plan on living that message–how about you?