Introduction

In the unlikely event that someone is actually reading this, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Tony, and the topic of this blog focuses on fitness. My backstory is like many other Americans who write about this topic. I played a lot of sports as a kid, went to college, gained the Freshman 30, and after a couple years finally set out to fix that. I completed several of Beachbody's programs, including P90X, Insanity and then P90X2 and got into excellent shape. From there, I tried to come up with my own workout programs, but failed to be consistent and eventually stopped any healthy habits whatsoever. As a result, I am back where I started and so I am turning to Tony Horton once again to help me get back on track to a fitness journey. Writing this blog is an idea I had to help keep me accountable and consistent. In addition, I will share about unique fitness topics that are different from typical gym nonsense, such as bodyweight training and Parkour. One of my best talents is for skeptical analysis, and skeptical analysis is much needed in the fitness world. When someone says something like "A heavy 4 rep set will bring much better results than a lighter 10 rep set", the only challenge that statement ever faces is "Is it true?" Not "What does 'better results' mean?" Using this approach, I hope to help sift through the madness of the fitness world. Back to P90X3, I am on Day 3, which is X3 Yoga, and I have completed Day 1, Total Synergistics and Day 2, Agility X. Both of those workouts were challenging, yet easy to complete. The 30 minutes a day really helps psychologically. Anybody who's done P90X will know that it is very easy to convince yourself to skip a day. You wake up 15 minutes later than you planned and think "whoops, no time for Yoga!" It is only Day 3, but I have yet to experience this. I put the disk in, and it seems like it is over as soon as it begins. Agility X will make you feel like Wes Welker, it is virtually all change of direction. This approach is so much better than starting off with Plyometrics, as it is much lower impact, but still provides similar cardio and athletic benefits. Plyo X and Plyocide workouts hurt if you aren't acclimated to Plyometric training, and it wears motivation fairly quickly. Only 12% of people who buy P90X(and an unknown number of people who borrowed it, bought it used, or pirated it) actually finish the program. There are many reasons for this, but I believe Plyo is responsible for a nice chunk of attrition. They have corrected this mistake in the third iteration of the franchise. When I did P90X for the first time, I thought the schedule should start with something that was like the recovery week, with Core Synergistics being the first day. Your core is the most important muscle group by far, and a strong core is rare among people who are out of shape. Building a strong core should occur before doing Push ups, Pull ups and other intense exercises. They corrected this with P90X2, and they continued with P90X3. Total Synergistics is like Core Synergistics, but much more abbreviated and less painful, but still very challenging and effective. I am approaching the first week by doing every modification possible and taking it easy. Taking it one day at a time is the way to go if you are out of shape. I am capable of doing most of the advanced versions of the exercises, but I didn't get out of shape overnight and I'm not going to get in shape overnight. The key to coming back is to leave something in the bank. This is me 6 months ago, and about 3 months after I stopped consistently working out.

And these are my P90X3 "Before" pictures.