Tony Horton's 11 Laws.

I am starting P90X again now that my ribs have healed. I am about to be on my way toward being a bad ass again, and before you know it I will be jumping fences, humping poles, and climbing mountains. Yaya.

I follow a great Blog, Joey Petri, a Beachbody trainer whose Blogs inspire me and motivate me. Today he happened to Post Tony Horton's 11 Laws, which was exactly what I needed to jump start my confidence and motivation.

Here are the 11 Laws, with my comments in Red.

1. Variety. Variety is the spice of life and fitness. A lifetime of health and fitness is achievable when you can think outside the box. You have to mix it up all the time. Stay curious, creative, and stick with the kinds of workouts that you enjoy. A variety of exercises, workouts, and sports will allow you to avoid injuries, plateaus, and boredom.

This is not difficult for me, as I get bored quickly and have a lot of interests. Also P90X is the perfect platform for variety.

2. Consistency. Improvement and change occur when you do things often. Stopping and starting all the time will kill any momentum you need to succeed. You must find ways to stay in the game. Moderate forms of exercise, done consistently, provide far better results than the occasional full-body pummeling. A lifestyle that includes multiple forms of exercise five to six days a week guarantees results.

Consistency has not been easy for me because I keep screwing up my body. So here are 2 tips from me to avoid the same obstacles I encountered:

1. If you feel a tickling, painful sensation and you feel it gradually moving along your nerves, this is the beginning of a Pinched Nerve. This is where you STOP. Do not be like me, the masochist that I am, and keep going because "Pain is just weakness leaving the body." That Nerve kept me from going on for about 3 weeks.

2. If you find yourself in an encounter with a psychopath ex who has violent tendencies, I would suggest backing away quickly to avoid getting Bruised ribs, like I had for 3 months. They may have been cracked. I don't have insurance so I will never know. What I do know, is that I would have the body of a goddess right now if now for my inability to move properly due to effed up ribs.

3. Intensity. YOU'RE TOUGHER THAN YOU THINK. The fear of pain or injury from working out is a mindset steeped in failure. You must learn to "Find the Line." Do the extra rep or two, increase your range of motion, and increase resistance as you get stronger. Intensity goes hand in hand with Variety and Consistency. The combination of the three work together as a triad that creates a platform for success. The programs provide variety. Your plan will keep you consistent.

See above. There is a difference between Intensity, and Masochism. Key phrase in this one "Find the Line." I went over the line. Maybe you will too. But eventually, you will find the line.

4. Purpose. Your purpose is to have a better life. Exercise and eating right help you feel better. When you feel better, you do more. When you do more, you meet other people. A healthy lifestyle gives us the energy to be better than before. We want to participate, share, communicate, and build a community—have purpose in our lives. If you had never found Beachbody, you might be right back where you were—isolated, with nothing to share, no purpose, because you weren't doing anything with anyone.

The last Blog I wrote outlines my own specific purposes for this journey I embark on. read all about it Here.

5. Reality. Why do we want life to be different than it is? Why do we think about who we were and who we're going to be more than who we are? We certainly talk a good game about who we are now. Why do we try to predict the future with the hope that wishful thinking is enough to change it? Life is NOT the way it was. It's the way it is. Life is not our fantasy predictions of the future or our glory days of the past. Life is that thing that is happening to you as you read this. We fall into the trap of living in the past and future because right here is not good enough. Back then and up there are keeping you from right now.

Today, my reality is that I will be going home tonight where my mom will have 7 cheese tortellini with homemade sauce waiting for me. Ouch.

6. Sports. Take the onus off of weight, inches, and body fat percentages and put the focus on MOVING—from dancing, rock climbing, and mountain biking to table tennis. I love that ping-pong! Think in terms of "can do" instead of "look like." Sports are fun and help develop balance and coordination—which in turn accelerates your results. Jump, kick, run, spin, throw, skate, shoot, hit, score, compete . . . PLAY!

Not a fan of sports, but I am a fan of playing.

7. The Plan. SCHEDULE ALL WORKOUTS IN ADVANCE. This creates accountability. Plan an entire month ahead of time. Try to schedule as many workouts as possible with friends who have similar goals. WOWY was developed so that we could find an easy and effective way to stay accountable and work out together. Now we've got people in Trumbull, CT (my hometown), doing Power 90 at the same time with people in Hollywood. That is cool!

I am going to do this right now. I need this in writing.

8. Sleep (and stress). Stressed out, sleep-deprived people don't eat right and exercise regularly. Stress depletes energy, strength, and desire, while poor sleep habits affect your moods and immune function along with cognitive and motor performance. Burning the candle at both ends makes it impossible to be fit and healthy.

Another major goal for this week. Trying to go to bed by 10:30 every night, Well see.

9. Loving It. Exercise and workouts involve commitment, determination, planning, consistency, and intensity. If you don't like what you're doing, there's no way on earth you'll succeed. Enthusiasm is a very big piece of the puzzle. Get creative and stay curious. If you enjoy doing Power 90 exclusively and it works for you, then keep doing it until it doesn't. If you get part way through P90X and it's not your cup of tea, then stop, and do something else. Something's got to bring you back day after day, week after week. Love it (tolerate it) or leave it.

I will learn to love it.

10. Flexibility. Flexibility is the fountain of youth. Flexible people are much less prone to injury. Yoga and stretching allow you to bring more intensity to your workouts. Flexibility is the key component to becoming less vulnerable and more durable. Aging has a funny way of making everything we do harder. Staying limber and flexible is the way to prevent that from happening.

Yoga is my fave.

11. Food and Supplements. You are what you eat! Food and supplements are your fuel. The right fuel supplies proper energy and recovery through balanced brain chemistry. The right supplements simply fill in gaps in your diet.

Lifelong journey, haha.

5 Reasons and Goals for my Fitness Journey

There are Important motivating factors in why I am committing to this once and for all. There are certain goals I wish to achieve, as well as reasons why I need to be at my best. Here are the
top 5, in no particular order of importance:

1. Be able to do at least 10 Pull-ups/Chin-ups.

I have never done one in my Life. All those humiliating moments in P.E. shall be redeemed. I can already see that triumphant day when the bar flashes across my vision as my chin goes beyond....to that glorious area above the bar, the challenge which has haunted me always. It will Happen. I can't wait for the day. I will feel like superwoman.

2. Parkour/Free Running.

When I first saw a video of Free-Running, I was filled with a sense of freedom and relief. I longed to be one of the lithe, energetic jumpers and vaulters of the Urban Jungle. To overcome every obstacle, leap over every barrier, and explore the city from the eyes of a liberated lunatic, traveling the streets with cunning skill, would be a dream come true for me. The first step to Parkour? Be in shape. You need strong arms and legs, and mad jumping skills. P90X is perfect for this. By the end of the year I will be exploring the LBC a new way.

Interested? Wondering what I am talking about? Here is more Info:

http://worldwidejam.tv/pkbasics.1.jam.parkour.html


3. Climb Things.

I want to climb, rocks, mountains, and Trees. I want to be able to go on long, uphill hikes to see the best views ever. I need to be able to climb fences to trespass on abandoned and forbidden areas. I want for the world to be my playground.


4. Appearance.

Of course, Vanity plays a role in my motivation. I am not afraid to admit it. As a Violinist, and eventually a Belly Dancer, I will be on display. I want to be at my best and sexy as hell.

I also want to be a stripper for extra money. (Joking)

5. Health.

Yes, my Health is important to me. That is all I really need to say about this obvious one.



There you have it. I want to be an immortal, climbing, jumping, belly-dancing, sexy, notorious Violinist.

This is why P90x is happening. This whole thing, will be happening.

New Year, New body, more blogging.

Now that the Holidays are over, I can stop making excuses. I started the year with mostly raw food, but just today I gave in to Taco Hell and suffered the consequences for the rest of the day.

The delectable dish you see up above is Zucchini noodles w/ Raw sauce I made on New Years Day. It was simple, but I as so proud. I went in to more detail in my other Blog, link is on the right.





I was happy to discover that my mom is putting my little bro on a diet and is purchasing healthier foods. This is a great step in the right direction. Not only is it easier for me to have a healthier environment with less temptation, but I am concerned about their health as well.





This weekend I ended up with Bruised ribs, which has made it near impossible to put any stress on my body. I have heard this lasts for weeks, and I am deeply disappointed because I had planned on restarting P90x this week. I have been doing some relaxing Yoga, but I am eager to start working on my fitness.





This year I plan on blogging a lot more about my journeys and adventures. I have been seriously lagging.

I am BACK with a Vengeance! My First Green Smoothie!

My pinched nerve is gone and my body is feeling ready to get back in to the groove of P90X.

This week is crazy due to the Holidays, so I am getting in workouts when I can but I am not fully on the plan until next week. However I am trying desperately hard to control my diet.

This past week has been very interesting. My diet went from one extreme to the other, and I gained deep insight as to how strongly food affects my body and my energy.

Last week I managed to go 4 days on a mostly Raw vegan diet. I decided to try making this "Green Smoothie" deal I keep reading about on the raw food sites. After doing the P90X protein thing, I was not feeling like I was at my best, so maybe meat is not the best thing for me.

I remembered that one of my biggest problems is that I tend to do an insane amount of research, and the only thing that will propel me into Transformation is ACTION. So I took out my Blender and whatever fruit and greens we had going on in the kitchen. A handful of greens, frozen blueberries, and a banana later, I had my first ever Raw Food Green Smoothie.

I stared at the bits of greens floating around the thick, dense, purple drink I held in my hand, and took a sip.

Amazing. I had a whole crapload of Greens in there, but all I could taste was the wonderful sweet blueberries and a hint of Banana. It was better than any Jamba Juice I have ever experienced. As I drank my liquid meal, I felt refreshed and renewed. I took comfort in the raw natural fuel I was giving my body, and I took pleasure in the taste and luxury of it.

After following the wonderful tips on http://www.gorawhavefun.com/ I packaged myself a few days worth of raw salads.

After 4 days of Green Smoothies and Raw salads as an 80% raw diet, I experienced: My First Natural High.

I am sure I have felt naturally high before, I mean my life is not that depressing. But THIS was a different type of high.

I felt wonderfully stimulated from my head to my toe. I felt like my body was functioning properly and at its best. I felt like I could do anything I wanted, including going for a sprint! I felt happy and in love with life. The closest I have ever come to such a wonderful feeling was certain epic moments of my life, and a mushroom trip years ago.

Then, came the weekend. Along with the weekend came Holiday party mode, which includes an abundance of alcohol, sugar, desserts, cheese, and did I mention sugar? Just a wonderful assortment of cookies, cakes and pies to taste after I gorge myself with cheese and crackers. Friday night I did not eat so much, but I did consume more than my share of vodka and tequila.

Monday morning came. Oh Dreadful Monday morning. Only a few days before I was on top of the world, and suddenly I violently crashed and a dark cloud consumed my energy and life.

That is when I realized I had full control over the way I feel, and a lot of that control has to do with what I put into my body. This is the harsh reality.

This last week was a sort of accidental experiment that has been enlightening. I see the people around me and what they put into their bodies, and I see how they feel and how they act. People are irritated, lazy, lethargic, and unhappy. I feel that way too, when I consume the wrong things.

This has made it easier for me to continue with this transformation and change my life. While on P90x I will need to make sure I consume protein, but I really feel that a mostly raw food diet will be the best thing for me.

Stay Tuned!

Program paused for mysterious pain

The last week I have been severely pestered by pinched nerves in my neck and allover shoulder and back pain. I am irritated that this is causing a delay and hindrance in my P90X program.

My discouragement led to poor diet choices, which meant fast food once or twice, ice cream, and even some chips. (Ouch!)

THIS ENDS NOW

I did not commit to this program to so easily fall back in to my old habits. Here is my Plan:

This week: Yoga, biking, walking, belly dance. I will exercise and use my body daily, but with the focus of healing and mobility. My focus this week is not to get ripped and be all hardcore. I am going to try and do Ab Ripper a few times depending on my pain level. This works out perfectly since I have a Violin Recital this weekend and will be needing to focus on my music.

Next week: I will finish my 3rd week of Phase I. Leading up to the new year I will be doing P90X and my recovery week. The first week of the New year will be the beginning of Phase 2.

As for my Diet: Since my workout program is lacking, I need to really focus on my eating habits. This week I am going to be focusing on the Caveman approach for Simplicity sake. This means veggies, meat, fruit, and nuts.

Any Encouragement and Advice is greatly appreciated!

Slipknot during workout, Pain ensues

The Chest and Back workout is somewhat familiar to me now, and I wanted to push really hard for this week. I put my Itunes on and had Slipknot playing in the background. The aggressive music made me feel like a bad ass as I pushed my hardest through the pull ups and push ups.

Tony Horton says that most people give up before they need to. From what I understand, you are supposed to push through the pain. No Pain, No Gain. So I did just that.

Before I could proudly beam about the fact that I had drastically improved from last week in regards to my repetitions, I felt a stabbing pain crawl up my arm and in to my neck. Before I knew it I could not even finish the Ab Ripper X workout because of the pain in my neck. All night it hurt, and today it is so bad that it is difficult to check my right side mirror when driving.

I know that when I get these pains I usually have them for days or even weeks. I hope this will not affect my workouts. What to do?

My first screw up! Thanksgiving.

I wish I could say that I did a great job during Thanksgiving and stuck to my 1200 Calorie limit while consuming healthy protein and veggies. I really wish that I could.

The day began nicely with some fruit and a workout. I declined offers for Pie and I refrained from eating cookies. I made some yummy fudge for dessert later, but I did not eat any.

Then came the Croquets. OH, glorious and evil croquets. Here is what they are: Mashed potatoes w/ pieces of salami and ham. THEN you put a chunk of Mozzarella cheese in the middle. Roll into a ball. Cover with egg and breadcrumbs and then FRY. They are amazing. I had like 6. Before Dinner even began.

My dinner plate had Turkey, lots of veggies, and croquets. Later, I ended up grubbing on the fudge I had made earlier.

The rest of the weekend was a blur. I had a burger on Saturday, and Sunday I only had eggs and bacon. Not a healthy, balanced diet, and I am sure I went over my alloted calories. I also ate lots of peanut butter in a failed effort to appease my sweet cravings.

HOWEVER I did finish Week 2 of my workouts! ::::Pat on Back::::

Today I had 2 tamales and some CousCous w/ Veggies. Not too bad right? I am not sure about the tamales. Tonight I will take it easy with some tuna and fruit after my Chest + Back workout. This week I need to focus on pushing HARD through my workouts, since it is my last week of Phase III before the Recovery week.

I am also going to drink a crapload of water and green tea.

I want to feel light again, like last week. I feel all heavy and blah.