The holiday always throws a monkey wrench in my workout plans, and last year was no exception. We’re back on the Tony Horton home workout wagon now, and here are my thoughts after session 25 of P90 Basic by Beachbody.com … the second time around.
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I have really enjoyed the Beachbody.com at-home exercise programs. I started with the Power 90 Fat Burner Express fifteen months ago and aside from a few detours with kettlebells never looked back. I have to say, working out at home with Tony Horton and his minions has done more for my body than personal trainers, strength coaches, and mind-numbing laps in the pool ever did.

The biggest reason is consistency. Most of the Beachbody.com workouts are forty-five minutes or less; the majority of those still are thirty minutes or under. It’s hard to skip a day when one could easily spend thirty minutes browsing a Web site, watching television, or playing a video game. If you have time to complain about not working out, you have time to actually work out.

Lately I’ve gone back to the original P90 Basic routine. It’s considered the foundation series for other workouts I own, like the Power Half Hour or the Great Body program. I’m all the way at the starter pair, Phase 1 (cardio and abs) and Phase 2 (strength). This time, however, I’m doing things a little differently.
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I’ve been at the Beachbody.com workouts for a little over a year now. In that time, I’ve gone from a size 34 pant size down to a size 31. I used to wear a size XL t-shirt; now I wear a large. It was a lot of hard work, some fun, and totally gratifying — except for all of the clothes and motorcycle equipment that I’ve “undergrown.”
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It’s been a little over three weeks since I completed the excellent Power Half Hour series by Beachbody.com. I wanted to give myself a little time off from the typical Power 90 / Tony Horton-style home workouts, and was on the lookout for something a little different.

I turned to a Russian kettlebell workout every other day, with Beachbody.com’s Great Body fitness series on the off days. Like the Power Half Hour series, I work out six days and take the seventh day off.

For those of you unfamiliar with Russian kettlebells, they are basically a big ball of iron with a handle on top. The bottom is flat so you can rest it on the floor. The ones I’ve purchased have a vinyl lining; that was because they were the least expensive not because I had an affinity for vinyl. Well, at least, not with my workout equipment. Online recommendations suggested a 16kg (35lb) kettlebell to start, with a 24kg (53lb) kettlebell for “fit” men. I am glad I didn’t listen to any of that shit and bought a 20lb kettlebell. But more on that later. Let’s just say it felt delicious for Amazon.com to second-day air me a twenty pound chunk of iron. :)
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I started the P90 Basic home fitness program somewhere around September 17th of last year. I’d done the six day P90 Fat Burner Express Hawaii edition before then, so technically I’ve done 96 P90 sessions. I should have finished seven weeks ago, but with the holidays, my own laziness, and travel for work I stretched out the program to twenty-two weeks.

Here’s my final write-up as a Beach Body P90 basic first-timer, with some bonus Sasquatch pics of yours truly.
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I know I just wrote about P90 a few days ago, but I am excited to have just seven sessions left. I have decided to start with a Hawaii session, then Phase 1, then Phase 2. Yeah, I’m going to gimp it along this last week, but it’s hard getting motivated when the longer Phase 3 and Phase 4 sessions stare you in the face. Anyway, the reason I’m posting is that I’m going to have to modify my work out even more next week.

I’m being sent to California to straighten out a renegade project, and will be away from the nest. That means no weights for the Phase 2 workout. I use weights for the Hawaii workout also, but those are optional. So it looks like I’ll alternate Hawaii and Phase 1 unless I decide to buy some hand weights at Target and leave them for housekeeping. ;)

In the meantime, here’s me doing a prayer squat salutation, one of the warm-up moves from the Hawaii workout:
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Last weekend and tonight were important for one big reason: I’m getting back on schedule. I rode my motorcycles for the first time since Christmas break, and I did P90 for the first time in well over a week.

Laziness has been my downfall. I could have ridden a few times during the weekends between Christmas and now, but I was too tired, too lazy, too busy playing on the computer, or too cowardly. I bought a fair amount of cold weather riding gear and have been reluctant to use it. For example, I bought some TourMaster heated gloves and a heated fleece jacket, but after fighting with the cords on the gloves I’ve left them both in their packaging.

However, it was in the 50s on Saturday, and I didn’t need any specialized gear. I rode Adama, my Honda CB400T, over to see Starbuck at work. I took the back way there, as the 400cc sewing machine doesn’t really have the power I long for on the main drag in town. I laughed the whole time, throwing the tiny bike around turns and pinning the throttle back. Its dual exhaust sang the note of an angry goblin child and we motored through suburbia. That bike is such a hoot.

The weather was even better on Sunday — 60! I fired up Raptor, my BMW R1150R, and got reacquainted with the pleasures of cruising at highway speed. I had forgotten how it feels to be free of the “cage” of a car. I had forgotten what it is like to be nimble and free to use as much or as little as the road as I see fit to get from point A to point B. I felt so much safer on my motorcycle than in my Mazda. Even though space was limited, I had at least somewhere to go if something bad happened in my lane. The simple act of moving from the center of the lane to the left or right side has made the difference a few times between a wreck and an angry horn.

I guess the motorcycling gave me an ego boost, because I was back in front of the television tonight with Tony Horton and P90. I did the Hawaii edition, and will do Phase 1 tomorrow, followed by Phase 2 on Wednesday. I just finished workout #80, there are only ten left. I can fucking do this!

The weather is going to be crappy again starting tomorrow (30% chance of snow), but the light is at the end of the tunnel. February is the worst month for riding in Richmond, but it’s a short month. I’ll be back in the saddle full-time very very soon.

It’s been almost a month since I last wrote about P90. The holidays, a looming layoff, and just general apathy crushed almost all of my desire to get in front of the television and mimic Tony Horton.

I just finished session 78, which means I grunted through twelve sessions in almost thirty days. I should have done twice that many, and would be almost done with the entire Basic program had I stuck to the schedule. Instead I played on the computer, did some chores, and read a little. I also caught up on some television sans the Beach Body workout crew. It felt nice to relax, but I felt guilty at the same time.

I’m not sure if I can steel myself to crank out the remaining twelve sessions on schedule. I have to go through a fairly extensive brow-beating to get motivated enough to work out. On the other hand, seems like a waste to get this far and then stop. So we’ll see.
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It took me a little longer than the fourteen days expected to go from session 55 because I spent one day getting holiday stuff taken care of, and the rest I just blew off. Frankly, going through the P90 Phase 3 and Phase 4 program has taken its toll on my enthusiasm. The standard workout seems robotic and the repetition is killing me. As such, I was very happy to break the recommended routine and do a six-day detour to Hawaii.

The Beachbody P90 Fat Burning Express Hawaii edition, that is. Here’s my opinion of this DVD after a second helping.
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I completed session 55 out of 90 yesterday, so I’m technically into week nine now. I can’t wait to hit #60, since I am taking a week off of the normal Phase 3/Phase 4 program to do the special Hawaii edition that made me fall in love with P90 in the first place.

I am bored. Bored of doing the same thing over and over again. I have tried to entertain myself by doing little challenges — how many pushups can I do in the final “burnout” phase of Phase 4 (answer: 30; I do over 100 pushups per session) — that kind of thing. I am not even doing Phase 3/4 full-time. I do a two-session circuit of Phase 3/4 and then Phase 1/2, and I am still burned out.
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