Feeling the burn while in the comfort of your home

It’s been awhile since I’ve been to the gym. With such a busy school schedule it gets hard to make that trip. I plan to go an hour and I end up spending 2 hours by the time I get there and back and cleaned-up. So instead of going to the gym, I’ve decided to work out at home with Beachbody’s P90X extreme home fitness program. This work out is a butt-kicker. It works using muscle confusion to ensure your body pushes past a plateau in your workouts and moves beyod boring workouts. That means when you’ve worked out the chest you then go ahead and work on your back. The program includes 13 DVDs to work out the butt, the back, chest, arms, cardio, abs and flexibility in all sorts of different ways while pushing your body to its limits. The DVDs focus mainly on using your own body weight as resistance to build strength, power and endurance, and every once in a while throws in dumbbells for a little something extra.

Now these workouts are tough. The toughest I’ve ever done. I’ll admit I’ve never had the guts to push my body to the extent P90X does, but now I’m willing to try. I’ve just finished my first week of the program and I was sore every day. But I pressed on even if I couldn’t finish all the different moves or had to modify some of the exercises so I could actually do them. 6 days a week this program works you out hard. In the first week I kinda dreaded doing the workouts, but after I finished I felt awesome and glad I got through it.

The creator behind P90X is Tony Horton. He’s a great guy to have around when I really want to quit. He keeps me motivated by yelling through my TV: telling me to keep going, add more resistance or that I’m half way there. Before P90X I would go to the gym to do my thing and get out. I never had anyone but myself to get motivated and work hard, and now that I think about it I may have just half-assed it.

So I know I just started, but so far I love using this program. I get my hour work out done and then can get right into all the school work I need to do - this is the best thing about it. P90X may not be the workout for you, but I think the important part is to make time anyway you can to get some exercise into your life. Home workouts are a great idea, because they give you freedom and flexibility to workout any time you want. There is lots of great workout DVDs out there to help you burn calories and build strength at home, so give one of them a try. It can be cheaper than joining the gym, and if you don’t like one just switch to another with no cancellation fees.