Team Beachbody Guest

I played sports throughout high school, got really fit in preparation for college football, then didn't get accepted. Fell into a slump, then picked it back up about a year later. Really made some gains, then got involved with buying a house & moving, all at the ripe young age of 20. About two years after that my brother-in-law did a duathlon that my wife and I went and watched. The event, the

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I played sports throughout high school, got really fit in preparation for college football, then didn't get accepted. Fell into a slump, then picked it back up about a year later. Really made some gains, then got involved with buying a house & moving, all at the ripe young age of 20. About two years after that my brother-in-law did a duathlon that my wife and I went and watched. The event, the people, and the excitement got me so pumped that I knew I just had to do something like that! So I started training and he, my wife, and I did a sprint triathlon together as a team, with me as the only adequate swimmer of the bunch. It was only 500 yards (open water) but it was very difficult and took me about 20 minutes to even get my bearings straight after I got out of the water. I vowed to do the whole thing by myself the next year, and I did! In 2007 I completed a sprint and an olympic-distance triathlon, a full marathon and a few 10Ks thrown in there. The next year (2008) I took it even further and did a half-ironman in Kansas. For those of you who aren't familiar with the different triathlon distances, a HIM is a 1.2-mile swim followed by a 56-mile bike and a 13.1-mile (half marathon) run. I rounded out the year with back-to-back sprint triathlons on consecutive days, and the same olympic-distance tri that earned me a picture in the local newspaper as the camera man decided my road rash would be appealing to their audience (I wrecked on the bike and still maintained almost a 20mph average).

While I was training for the marathon in 2007 I developed Plantar Fasciitis which, basically, is shin splints... except on the bottom of your foot. Thankfully it was never unbearably painful and I was able to train through it in order to have a decent 2008 race season, but after my final race - a 10K in which my 59 year-old mother completed her FIRST EVER road race!! - I decided to hang it up and let this foot heal once and for all. Over the winter of 2008 things slowed way down at my job and I got really into cooking and baking. Which was a nice way to pass the time, but wasn't very good on my waistline!

I caught the P90X infomercial while I was flipping through channels - there must have been a rerun of Good Eats or something - and it sucked me in. Now, I'm not the kind of guy to buy ANYTHING from an infomercial; primarily because I know they're designed to sell you something and they're highly effective. So I watched it and then turned it off. Then probably a week or two later it was back on again so I watched it again! I was hooked. I did a search on BT (beginnertriathlete.com) for P90X and there were a few threads; all positive regarding the program. I was going to buy it. And then I never did. Things got in the way--like they always do. Work, friends, family, we all know the routine. So I never got around to ordering it.

A couple at our church started having "Young Couples Sand Volleyball" at their farm every other Sunday night, and while I was talking to Darrel (my sponsor) his son Lonnie popped into the room for just a second so Darrel says, "Do you want to play some P90X volleyball with us?" Like a moth to a flame I zipped right over to Lonnie and started inquiring about this P90X thing that I had wanted to do but never took the time to. He was really encouraging and sent Darrel to church the following Sunday with the P90X kit for me to take a look at. You know what I did? I wish I got right into it and started kicking butt and taking names... but I didn't. I didn't do anything with it! What in the world! I had it for a couple of weeks and then we went on vacation. On the way back, Lonnie gave me a call and asked what I thought of it. I had no answer for him, because I hadn't even cracked the box open to look inside! It could have been filled with poisonous spiders for all I knew. Finally I asked him if he had some time where I could just come over and do a workout and see what I think of it. Like the stud he is, he jumped at the opportunity! So the very next day I came over and did Core Synergistics. I gotta tell ya, that was the easiest thing I've ever done in my life! What a joke! Okay I can't even TYPE that with a straight face -- come on, banana rolls-to-superman-to-flying-jellyfish-eat-me-alive-I-want-to-die-right-now-somebody-kill-me. That was TOUGH! And I was sore and moody the next day. That's how bad I had gotten. I wasn't even fit enough to be a mediocre triathlete. I was worthless. Two days after that workout, my wife and I seriously started the P90X workouts and they work. They are tough, and they are not for the faint of heart or the armchair quarterback. These workouts are for people who've had enough and want to get better; for people who want to improve their quality of life.

So that brings you up to this point in my fitness journey. Two weeks into the program and I still can't do a pull-up, but I'm hopeful!

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