Benching 400 pounds.
Running a half marathon.
Climbing a mountain.
Running a full marathon.
Skydiving.
Completing a triathalon.
These are all goals, physical feats of men and women across the world. Even me, I’m looking to complete my third marathon this year.
But there’s another goal I’m looking to achieve, one that requires more perseverance and even more dedication than most or all of these coveted obstacles - completing the entire library of P90X and Insanity workouts.
Why does this require more perseverance and dedication? Because it will be EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I’ve trained for a marathon - it’s hard; it’s mentally taxing. There are really great runs followed by horrible, terrible runs. But you don’t have to train every single day to complete a marathon. You take days (plural) off from running. You cross train or rest your body.
Doing 90 days of four different workout series takes the ENTIRE year, 6 days a week. Doing it with the crazy and extreme cardio workout that is the Insanity series adds to the amount of perseverance and dedication it will take to make it through the whole year without getting off track.
But this isn’t the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life. Not even close. I’ve had to face the passing of my father. I’ve had to overcome my own self-destructiveness. Those are much worse than anything I’ll do in any of these workouts over the next 365 days.
I am also doing this journey with some “textbooks” to guide me on my personal and spiritual growth as well. They are all daily devotionals, daybooks - whatever you want to call them - that I read every morning. I’ve read parts of the books before, but never finished any of them. This will be the year I finish.
Here’s what’s on my shelf:
Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach
A Leader’s Heart, A 365 Day Devotional Journal by John C. Maxwell
A Year With Hafiz: Daily Contemplations by Daniel Ladinsky
A Year With Rumi: Daily Readings by Coleman Barks
Beautiful You: A Daily Guide to Radical Self-Acceptance by Rosie Molinary
Resonate with Stillness: Daily Contemplations by Swami Muktanada
A Course in Miracles
Holy Shift: 365 Daily Meditations from ACIM by Robert Holden
A Year of Miracles: Daily Devotions and Reflections by Marianne Williamson
I started all of these books on January 1. The list looks long and intimidating, but since all the texts are broken into 365 pieces, each daily read is short. It takes about 30 minutes total to read and reflect on all the books.
Do I find the depth of every single word of every single sentence in every single paragraph? Probably not.
Do I feel better after reading these? Heck yes.
Will enlightenment happen? God, I hope. But enlightenment has always been happening, as I’m slowly finding out.
A physical journey and a spiritual journey. Those are the steps I’m taking this year to uplift those around me.
Extreme. Insane. Miraculous. That’s what this year is starting to look like.
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Today’s Workouts:
P90 Sculpt A
Insanity Max:30 Cardio Challenge
Let me just say I have done P90X and Insanity before (see About Me). But yet, I’m still in love with Tony Horton and Shaun T. Both are motivating; both are authentic. That’s what you need in someone that’s taking you on a journey like this.
If you are doing P90 as well, then you’ll know this tip that I somehow missed before starting today - YOU NEED A DOOR ATTACHMENT FOR YOUR BANDS! After all the resistance bands I’ve received from Beachbody, I somehow don’t have a door attachment. Not sure how that happened. So instead of buying another set of bands just to get the door attachment, I went to Amazon and bought an $8 door attachment (sorry, I love you BB). I first tried using the resistance band and just shutting the door to hold it - then they immediately came down and slapped my boobs across their face. I improvised by just using weights in the same manner of the resistance bands. I’ll get my door attachment on Wednesday (thank you Amazon Prime!).
Sculpt A was the PERFECT first workout for those wanting the “on switch” to fitness. PERFECT. What this DVD does well is it shows you the move before you do it, rather than wasting the first few reps while you try to figure out what’s going on. Love that Tony Horton has this figured out. Form is key and Tony preaches it!
Sculpt A hits all the major body parts: legs, glutes, core, chest, shoulders, biceps, triceps. Your heart rate will get up as well. I didn’t sweat (which is shocking for me!) but - and I say this knowing where I was and where I am now - I’m a little beyond this workout. And that’s fine. If you’re reading this and are new to fitness, haven’t worked out in a while, or just want to try something that’s more strength than cardio, then this would be great to do.
Next up was Cardio Challenge from Insanity Max:30. I took a deep breath, put my big girl pants on, and dove in ...
My accountability kitty, who has no problem hanging out with me during PiYo, 21 Day Fix, and even during P90 (even to the point of getting in my way) immediately ran out the door, never to return. He was watching from outside the room as I was sweating profusely and jumping around like I was walking on hot coals.
The amount of movement you’re doing starts and never stops. Light jumping … okay, who am I kidding, full-on jumping, followed by exercises like burpees, push-ups, dynamic planks, dynamic ab movements … dynamic everything!!!
The whole point is that you go full out until you have to stop and gather yourself. Today, I maxed out at 8:15. I was panting like a dog in the middle of a hot summer day. My heart rate was WAY faster than it was when I ran my marathon last month or on any run I do!!! I don’t work in the extremes when I run (to remain injury-free). Shaun T ONLY works in extremes.
But even though it hurts, it hurts so good! Shaun T is so positive, empowering, and motivating that you want to just keep going. It’s only 30 minutes. By the time you’re at 15 minutes, you’re halfway done. You tell yourself you can keep going, you can do it … so does Shaun T. This DVD is also great because the modifier (another BB coach, Danielle Katz) has the option to remain in your screen the entire time! At about 16 minutes I stuck with Danielle the rest of the workout.
Modifying is not a disease. It’s called building yourself. You don’t run 26.2 miles on your first run, and most of us (or all) won’t go full out for the entire 30 minutes of this working, never reaching the max out point. That’s the whole point, YOU WANT TO MAX OUT.
Day 1 is complete, in the annals of history. I feel ready and more inspired than ever to continue this journey. I have Tony Horton and Shaun T by my side. I think I’m in good company :-)
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