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Friday, July 24th- P90X Chest and Back

I can’t even remember the last time I did this workout but I do remember that I was pumping out 30+ push-ups each set. This time, not even close. I think I may have gotten to the low 20′s in a couple of the sets.

Sunday, July 25th- Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit

Talk about sweating…!!! WOW. I have been doing the Insanity workouts for some time now so I knew what to expect, but the humidity has been really high lately causing me to sweat up a storm. There was a point when I was sweating so much that I had to pause the workout to dry off the floor. I was slipping all over the place and almost fell a few times.

Monday, July 26th – P90X Arms and Back

This has to be one of my more favorite workouts. There are not any pull-ups which is a big plus, but I really enjoy all of the bicep and tricep exercises.  I learned my lesson from the first time I did this and didn’t push it too hard. I did just enough to fell the burn and experience a bit of muscle failure. Last time I pushed it way to hard the first week and was crazy sore! I was so sore I couldn’t even scratch my nose!

Tuesday, July 27th – Day off

I was will my boy the entire day and decided to take a day off. I must have burned a similar amount of calories chasing him around the entire day!

Wednesday, July 28th  -P90X Legs and Back

It has been quite some time since I have done this workout, but as I began all I could think about is what my brother Andy had said to me last time we talked.  Andy recently started the P90X and said that he feels sick to his stomach after the Legs and Back workout. I have to say that this is a tough one. I am still surprised that my brother and I can feel this tired from doing a bunch of exercises that really involve no extra weight.  My legs should be really sore tomorrow. I am not looking forward to getting out of bed tomorrow.

Thursday, July 29th  -Insanity Core Cardio and Balance

Today’s workout was a bit different from yesterday’s. There were about twice as many water breaks however, it seemed almost twice as hard.

It started out like yesterday’s workout did. There were 3 sets of exercises. Each set was 3.5 minutes long.

Here is a list of the exercises in each of the sets. Each exercise was 30 seconds long.

1. Jogging in place
2. Power Jacks
3. Log Jumps
4. 1,2,3 Hiesman
5. Butt Kicks
6. High Knees
7. Vertical Jumps

As stated above, we did this set 3 times with a 30 second water break in between. Needless to say I was breathing pretty hard after the first 12 minutes.

After the water break was a very welcomed 6.5 minute stretching session.

There was a 30 second water break before the insanity began. Literally.

The next section was around 8 minutes long. There were 3 sets that were each around 2 minutes long with a 30 second water break in between each one. However shorter, the exercises were a bit more intense.  At the end of the last set Shaun-T has a surprise for everyone, 1 minute of tricep dips. These were really tough! The exercises for the 3 sets were as follows:

1. Power Jumps
2. Belt Kicks
3. Hit the Floors
4. V Push-ups
5. Tricep Dips

30 Second Water break

The next section is much shorter, only 30 seconds,  but tough! He had me doing “ball push-ups”. Basically you bring your knees up to where your arms are at and do push-ups.You may think its  easy until you do about 5 of them.

30 Second Water Break

2 minute long sets.  3 times through. 30 second water break in between each set.

1. Hurdle Jumps
2. Globe Jumps
3. Moving Push-Ups
4. Floor Sprints

Just when you think you cannot do anymore, there is the final 1 minute set. This set really challenges you and makes you work for it.  The set is 8 hop jumps and 8 push-ups. From what I can remember I went through these 4 times.

I was really tired and sweaty at the end of this workouts. The final 3 minutes was a stretching session where I basically just stood there again and let my arms hang. Check back tomorrow for what sounds like an easier workout, Cardio Recovery!

Nervousness is what hits you when you hear Shaun-T say after the warm-up that he is nervous for the upcoming workout.  I will not lie, I became extremely wary of the workout myself, but chose to only think positive thoughts.  Positive thoughts of “bring it on,” and “lets do this.”  You would not think that 15 minutes of pure, straight cardio, without any pre-planned breaks would kick your butt; but it does and hard.  I honestly thought my heart was going to pump itself out of my chest, through my throat, out of my mouth and onto the floor, leaving me lifeless.  I lived, obviously and feel absolutely amazing!

I have only been doing Insanity now for less than a week and I have already started to see a few differences.  I have lost I believe around 2 pounds.  I am trying to follow the meal plan, but finding it difficult, but I know I will get there.  As my sponsor coach always tells me, working out is only half the battle.  You need to eat right; not only to get into great physical shape, but also to be healthy and fuel your body to survive these Insanity workouts.

If you are into getting into the best physical shape of your life, you need to genuinely look into the Insanity workouts; or any of the Beach Body programs.  You can do anything, the only factor holding you back is your mind! So, get your mind right, tell yourself you can and WILL do this! Do your best, that is all any of the programs ask of you.  I promise you if you give it your all and do your best, you will not be disappointed with the results!

It has been a while since I have blogged on my site, I blame it on this nagging cold I’ve had. First it started in my chest and then it settled in my sinus’. I plan on starting the Insanity program this Monday. This time I am going to do everything possible to not get sick. I think I may even give up alcohol for the majority of the summer, OMG!

I want to take a minute to give a shout out to my younger brother, Andy,  and my sister Danielle.

That is me on the left and my brother on the right. Both of my siblings have been lifelong athletes who have had great success at what they do. My sister was an accomplished cross-country and track runner in high school and my brother was a good all-around athlete but very successful at lifting weights.

My sister has always been a workout junkie. To give you an idea of what I am talking about, when I am visiting my parents for the holidays, upon awaking,  it is not uncommon for me to be nursing a mild hangover from the night before. It doesn’t matter if she was up drinking with us or not, Danielle will get up and workout first thing in the morning. To say that she is relentless about working out is probably an accurate description.

Last August  I had just finished my first round of P90X and had great success with it. I was telling my sister about it and it seemed to catch her attention. She ended up getting the P9O X and liked it, but I don’t think she loved it. I don’t think she loved it because it wasn’t intense enough for her.  Having learned this I pointed Danielle into the direction of Insanity. If Danielle wants an intense workout, then Insanity is where its  at.

The Insanity workouts are a bit quicker (40 min.) than the P90X’s (70 min.) and you don’t need any extras (bands, chin-up bar, etc.). But while the Insanity workouts are more intense, I believe it also suits her background more than P90X does.  I have talked to so many runners that truly love the Insanity program. They love it because it helps them take their cardio to a higher level and helps them shed that last bit of fat around their waist lines.  Danielle also made the decision to become a Beachbody Coach. She primarily did this to take advantage of the 25% off of all Beachbody products. She ended up getting the Insanity program for only $89! I am also going to help her make some extra money on the side too.

Danielle will be blogging about her experience with the Insanity workout program. Check back to read about her journey as she tracks her progress.

My brother Andy is stationed in New Orleans at the Coast Guard station. He gets to ride around in helicopters and save people all day long. Pretty cool eh?! Andy was a good all-around athlete in high school but  loved the weight room. Andy wrestled and played football in high school but the success he had in those two sports pale in comparison to the success he had in the weight room. I am not really sure what triggered it, but around the age of 15 Andy started to seriously lift weights.  He has kept this up for 15 years and as you can see above, he his much thicker than I am. I am more of a toned-up string bean compared to him, plus he can ride a bull much better than me.

When I was telling Andy about the P90X he kinda did what most people do. He was polite and listened but really didn’t show much interest in it.  Andy had a lot of success in the weight room and really didn’t see the point in changing up his routine.  I really don’t blame him.

Andy recently turned 30… and I think he began to realize that lifting heavy weight for bulk really isn’t getting him anywhere. He recently bought a racing bicycle to help him lose some of his fat. Andy has been unable to break 185 lbs. despite eating healthy, riding his bike 25 miles a week, and lifting 3 days a week.

After some careful consideration and taking my word for it, Andy recently purchased the P90X and began it yesterday. I am super-pumped for him because I know that if he sticks with the workouts and the diet that comes with it, he cannot lose! I will be seeing him in August and can’t wait to see and hear how much success he has had with it. Andy will also be blogging here. Check back in to read about the success a weightlifter-turned-P90X’er is having.

I have volunteered for a few non-profit groups in my time. The toughest part of raising money for these groups is getting the members involved. And then once you get the members involved there is the hassle of getting the members to sell the products, collecting the money, ordering the merchandise, and then finally delivering the merchandise.

Beachbody is the company that makes workout systems such as the popular P90X and Insanity workouts. Perhaps you have heard of these? The infomercials are almost impossible to miss. These programs acutally work very well and their popularity is sweeping the nation. I guarantee you know someone who is using a Beachbody workout system.

Beachbody is unveiling a program that is built especially for non-profit organizations. These types of groups could include but are not limited to: school districts, PTA’s, churches, fraternities, or sororities.

The program is so simple and could raise a lot of money for each group. Better yet, it requires no collection of money, ordering of merchandise, or delivering the merchandise.

All you have to do it add a website address to your newsletter or promote the website in some other  manner; flyers, word of mouth, Facebook, etc…

Intrigued yet?

Here it is.

Beachbody has a Coach program where individuals sign-up to promote Beachbody products. Each Coach receives a fully functional website, mine looks like this,  from Beachbody. Simply put, when people go to a Coach’s website and make a purchase the Coach gets 25% right away. And ALL the Coach did was refer that person to their site.

Normally Beachbody charges their Coaches a monthly fee of $14.95. This would be waived for non-profit groups.  So basically, this fundraiser will cost your group nothing and will take up almost none of your time.

This has got to be the biggest no-brainer for any non-profit group out there who is looking to raise a lot of money without putting too much time or energy into it.

Please email me at Nathan@RippedBody.org if you have any questions or you if you would like an application to go ahead and get started.  I will fax the application to you and your fundraising can begin within days.  Beachbody has given me a PDF file that outlines this program. Click here to download the FAQ page.

I look forward to hearing from you and helping your group to make money!