Team Beachbody Guest

I have always thought I could get into really good shape if I wanted to. I have been training off and on most of my life. I have followed workout routines from magazines and made up some of my own. I have been on diets ranging from the fad of the month diet to body building diets all with limited results. One of my most limiting factors was my alcohol intake. No matter how great my diet was or how hard I trained my alcoholism was the ball and chain that kept me from any real results. When the results stopped coming I would give up and tip up the scales and a few more beers.
At age 35 when I started into my recovery from alcoholism I was 264 pounds and had a 40 inch waist and my jeans were fitting like a pair of 70’s disco pants. With my new outlook on life I headed back to the gym to get my body back. Back to the strict diet and exercise with the usual sore joints from squats and other heavy lifting. My lower back always seemed to be in pain along with some various nagging injuries from poor form and lifting too much weight. The weight would come off and I would get some muscle definition and from time to time the elusive four- pack would appear. No matter how hard I trained I could never get the ripped physique I saw in the magazines. I had come to accept I would have the love handles for life. Maybe it was just my genes and that ripped beach body just wasn’t in me. I had spent 20 years chasing a dream of having a body of Atlas and I had to give up my dream. My genes were to blame and that was that.
There I was 40 years old and as usual lost in the multitude of free weights and machines grinding away hoping to find that special combination of exercises to capture the elusive six-pack. My right shoulder was a mess. I could no longer do any bench presses or dumbbell presses the pain was too much and my strength was fading. I was doing my best to work around my injury and becoming quite frustrated. Maybe this is how you are supposed to feel when you are 40 years old. Little did I know my body was in for an amazing change.
My amazing change started the day my sister told me she was doing a new workout called P90X. She claimed it was the most challenging workout series she had ever done. She invited me to try a workout and it absolutely humbled me. At the time I thought I was in great shape. I may have been in good shape but I was far from P90X shape. I was hooked! Where do I sign up how do I get my own P90X training systems? I ordered that day and I would drive to use my sisters P90X until mine showed up. My dream was alive again the body of Atlas and the elusive six-pack would be mine!
I started training with a very sore shoulder and I could not even do more than one pull up. I followed Tony’s advice: Do your best and forget the rest. I could only do a few push-ups and then drop to my knees to get some more repetitions. After the first thirty days my shoulder was getting much stronger and I could do more and more push-ups. I was starting to get more definition and for the first time my elusive six-pack is starting to show. I have just finished sixty days and my dream is getting clearer every day. I have my elusive six-pack and I am ripped. I have never looked like this in my life ever. I could barely do a pull-up and now I can do ten pull-ups per set and that is a personal best. I am just starting the last phase of P90X and I don’t know what to expect. I really thought that I would never get to this level and now I am going to improve from here. When I started my 34 inch waist pants were tight and now they are quite loose. I started at 222 pounds and I am still at 222 pounds. My chest, arms, and legs have all increased in size. My body fat has dropped and I have added lean body mass to replace it. For the first time in my life I have been able to get lean and not loose muscle.
I am so thankful for Tony and the Beachbody network. All the tools and the workouts you have given me work beyond expectation. I have achieved my goals and will be surpassing them soon. The way P90X is balanced with many types of workouts is the reason my shoulder has recovered and I am experiencing no joint pain. My lower back pain is gone and I feel like a new man. Thanks for bringing it! You changed my life!
James “Fitnessgiant”