“Hey coach. I am doing p90x and have been doing really good for the first 3 weeks. I went out of town for a few days and came back home and missed a total of 4 workouts. I’m having a hard time deciding if I should restart the program so I don’t miss any days again or if I should keep going.”

Very common question that I get, especially with p90x since its a longer program. My answer is always the same to these questions. KEEP PUSHING FORWARD.

When you start a journey of health/fitness, especially on a strict program like p90x, it’s not going to be a walk in the park. There WILL be days that you may have to miss a workout for the day. The key to this is to keep pushing forward no matter what! It is pointless to start working out/eating right, skip some days, then restart. You are only pushing day 90 back further and further with each restart. As you already know, time goes by SO quick! If you go all 90 days, skipping workouts, slacking on nutrition, you’ll be looking at yourself in the mirror on day 90 with disappointment.

There are 2 main reasons I find that people tend to skip workouts.

1st being they take a trip, get extremely busy, long shift at work, that kind of stuff. I actually had one of those days yesterday! These days shouldn’t be frowned upon. Yes it sucks you couldn’t squeeze your workout in, but you will have many more chances;) Now the key for this setup….Miss one day, GET BACK ON IT the very next day, bringing it HARD! If you’ve missed a day of working out before, you KNOW how easily it turns into a domino effect. When you know you will be skipping a workout that day, PLAN AHEAD what workout and what time you’ll hit it the very next day.

2nd reason is pure laziness or lack of motivation after a certain amount of time. When you start working out and eating right, those first 4 weeks are exciting, its all new to you, motivation is sky rocketing, then weeks 4-6 come…This is where you start to look at yourself in the mirror and wonder why you aren’t seeing the results you have pictured in your mind. After that first 4 week excitement period, that motivation starts to die off. This is when you will get those days where you wake up and just don’t feel like working out. Skip 1 workout for the week. Next week you skip 3 workouts. And the domino game is in full effect! This is when people send me questions, like the one above, “Do I restart?” “Do I keep pushing forward?” This lifestyle you are trying to achieve is not just about changing your body. It’s about changing your habits. Do 100% for a few weeks, fall off track, restart, and repeat. I’m sure we can all relate to that, I’ve played that game many times. For that reason, PUSH FORWARD! When you feel yourself start to slip and skip workouts or slack on nutrition, look at this as the time to make some change in yourself. Find that fire that got you started to begin with, remember your goals, and STICK WITH IT!

All in all, doesn’t matter the reason the workout was skipped. If you do skip 1 day or 7 days. Learn from it, and move forward, do not restart. Know your habits, and the patterns that lead you to the lack of motivation, and figure out how to rekindle that flame. As always, you have support here. Not just from myself, but my team of coaches. Any 1 of us would be more than happy to help you stay on track with your health and fitness goals. Have a great St. Patties Day everyone!

“Chaz, how do you stay motivated and on track all the time??” VERY common question that I get on a daily basis! Staying motivated, especially when going at this journey of health and fitness alone, is probably the hardest aspect of the whole thing! When I first did P90X 2 years ago, I had no idea that there was a massive community of people doing the same workout. It was simply my burning desire to get healthy and in shape that kept me going for those 90 days.

Now days, I’m in a LOT better shape and self motivation is something that I really don’t struggle with anymore. The transformation period is honestly THE hardest part of losing weight/getting in shape. It’s so easy to start working out, eating right, then 4 weeks down the road, look in the mirror, and get discouraged that you aren’t super tight and thin like you have envisioned. Here are some tips I have for staying motivated.

Goals

Hands down the most important part of any transformation! It is SO important to have a future event or goal in mind that will make TODAY accountable. The more days that pass, the closer you get to that future event, the more realistic it is that time FLYS by. Week after week can pass and your body/health will remain the same. Set your main goal. Run a marathon, lose 20lbs, get a six pack by summer, whatever it may be. From there you break that goal down into SMALLER, more realistic goals. Weekly or monthly. Example, I started my journey at 225lbs. My goal was to get below 200lbs. Looking at a 25lb weightloss goal is a huge deal. But if you break it down and make it realistic, it can be accomplished MUCH easier than you think. I knew 2lbs per week was a healthy weightloss so that is what I set my smaller goal to. Each week pushing hard in the workouts, MAKING TIME to put in the work that I knew would get me to my goal. I hit the 10lb weightloss mark. Felt amazing. 15lbs down. This is where my motivation started to dip. It was phase 3 of p90x. Last 30 days. I slacked for a week, stepped on the scale, and saw 4lbs gained:-/ Talk about a wake up call. I just simply had to remember my goal and get that FIRE burning again. Those last 3 weeks flew by like always, only difference was I DID something during those 3 weeks. And I hit my 199lb mark. Guess what you do once you accomplish your goal….MAKE NEW ONES! That is honestly the main reason I am so motivated all the time. I have a list of goals, big and small, that I know I WILL accomplish, as long as I do what it takes. Simple as that. Put in the work, see the results.

Support/Accountability

Also a huge aspect of staying motivated. Going week after week pretty much by yourself it tough, I’ve been there many times. The key here is first, find an accountability partner. Someone that you can either workout with in person, or someone you can at least talk to on a daily basis. KNOW eachothers goals, weaknesses, strengths. Simple things like a daily text asking “Hey how is your diet today?” or “Wow I just kicked butt in that workout! When are you doing yours?” These kinds of messages have helped me out on numerous occasions. If you can find a friend/family member in person to physically be there to workout with everyday, even better! As for support, make it public that you are on a mission to lose the weight, get in shape, run that marathon, whatever your goal may be. Family, friends, co workers, hair stylist, massage therapist, everyone should know what you are up to. I use hair stylist/massage therapist as examples because those are types of appointments that you have time to talk/see this person once a month or so. If you are truly sticking with it week after week and go back to see that person, they will notice the changes, they will ask you everytime, “How’s the training going??”

Plan

Have a written plan. Very simple to create, very tough to stick with. Don’t wake up everyday and ask yourself “Hm what workout should I do today” or “What should I have for lunch”. Sit down, make a written plan, and follow it day by day! For myself, I use a whiteboard that has a big calendar on it. The 1st of each month I will sit down and write out which workout I’m doing for all 30 days of that month. I wake up, look at the calendar, and know exactly what workout I need to do. Then it is just a matter of MAKING time during that day to kick some ass. As for food, one method I love to use is prepping my meals ahead of time. For those of you that follow my facebook, you’ve seen me post pics of the containers. I will grill up a bunch of chicken, make some brown rice, and steam broccoli. Then I divide it all up into 6 containers. Bam. There’s my lunches for the week.

Hopefully these tips can help you out with your journey. I know how hard it is to keep the fire alive and putting in the time to workout 5-6 days a week, WHILE putting healthy foods in my body each day. Its no walk in the park. It takes extreme dedication to accomplish weight loss goals. From here, my challenge for you is to sit down, write out one big goal that you want to accomplish in the next 6 months. Then break that goal down into smaller, more realistic goals that you can accomplish on a weekly basis. After that I want you to write out a written plan for the next 30 days. Finally, I want you to reach out to someone and ask them to be your accountability partner. Someone that will be there with you each and everyday. It can be a friend, co worker, family member, or just someone you know on facebook. Reach out. Get out of your comfort zone. To get the results, you must put in the work. Simple as that. If you need help with making a plan, setting goals, anything at all, visit the “Contact” page and get in touch with me anytime!

“I’ll just start on monday.” I’m sure ANYONE reading this has used that term before, I know I have several times. When it comes to fitness/nutrition, for some reason we look at it as a chore of some sort. Start Monday, do great for 4 or 5 days, miss one day, then next thing you know, its been a few weeks. “I’ll just start on Monday”. Breaking that stop/go habit is such a HARD task to accomplish, but it CAN be done!

One of the reasons I believe this whole “Starting on Monday” thing happens is because you need to have a future event that will make TODAY accountable. Yes we are in this to make it a lifestyle. Every single day pushing that much closer to our overall goal of being in shape and healthy. With no future event in mind, such as a wedding to look good for, a marathon, fitness event, ANYTHING, it makes it that much easier to skip days and days of no workout or eating complete junk and being relatively guilt free about it. This is such a huge reason why people don’t get the results they are looking for. Starting something like P90X for example…90 day program. You have that day 90 goal in mind, so if you skip a day, guess what, you just lost 1/90th of your opportunity to become the person you want to be. Day 90 isn’t set back by another day, it stays in place. The more days you slack on or skip, the less time you have to accomplish that 90 day goal. Make sense?

Fitness and Nutrition is not a chore, so it shouldn’t be viewed as one. It’s not  something you should have to remind yourself to do everyday. This is a lifestyle. It should be HABIT. Have you honestly ever fully committed and STUCK WITH IT for a full 30 days straight? If never, then why not? What do you have to lose? Damn, you’d have to give up some junk food and deal with some cravings. But look at how you would FEEL and LOOK afterwards!!! The first 30 days is only a warm up. But even after that warm up I can promise that you will feel amazing and unstoppable! If you HAVE stuck with it for 30 days in the past, what made you fall off track? Laziness, lost motivation, gave into temptations more than just a few times a week? True commitment will happen when you answer these questions truthfully. KNOW what your weaknesses are, then create a game plan on how to conquer them when it happens.

For those who actually have read this entire post, I challenge you to contact me. Call, text, facebook, email, whatever works for you. Contact me. Tell me you are ready to take the 30 day challenge. You are sick and tired of the typical start/stop method to your working out and eating healthy. You WANT to make the change. You WILL make the change. I will personally be here every single day to help keep you on track. Then after 30 days, you can look at yourself in the mirror and guess what….You will feel DAMN proud and accomplished that YOU did it. YOU put in the work. YOU got the results!

30 days. All or Nothing. Thats just the beginning. It typically takes 3-4 weeks for something to become a habit. These 30 days are the warm up. After, you must learn to make it a lifestyle. So with that being said…Are you ready to BRING IT???

You can visit the “Contact” page to find all of my info. I’ll be waiting to hear from you;)

FINALLY!!!! I officially have 3 months left until my VERY first MARATHON! I am registered to run in the Portland Marathon here in Oregon on 10-10-10:) I will be posting video and blog updates along the way to let you know what I’m doing for workouts and nutrition.

We’ll go ahead and cut right to it! This is the first 4 weeks of my new training schedule I put together. I wanted to put together a schedule with LOTS of variety. This basically breaks down to 5 days of running, 2-3 of those being sprints at the track, 4 days abs, and 3 days of weights. At the end of each month I’ll make the next 4 weeks training schedule and update:)

Week 1
Mon- 2 Miles, Chest/Back, Ab Ripper X
Tues- 4 Miles, Pushups/Pullups
Wed- Shoulders/Arms, Ab Ripper X
Thu- 4 Miles, Pushups/Pullups
Fri- 2 Miles, Insanity Upper Body Weights, Cardio Abs
Sat- 5 Miles, Pushups/Pullups, Ab Ripper X
Sun- Rest

Week 2
Mon- 2 Miles, Chest/Back, Ab Ripper X
Tues- 6 Miles, Pushups/Pullups
Wed- One on One-Just Arms, Ab Ripper X
Thu- 6 Miles, Pushups/Pullups
Fri- 2 Miles, Insanity Upper Body Weights, Insane Abs
Sat- 5 Miles, Pushups/Pullups, Ab Ripper X
Sun- Rest

Week 3
Mon- 2 Miles, Chest/Back, Ab Ripper X
Tues- 8 Miles, Pushups/Pullups
Wed- Shoulders/Arms, Ab Ripper X
Thu- 5 Miles, Pushups/Pullups
Fri- 2 Miles, Insanity Upper Body Weights, Cardio Abs
Sat- 5 Miles, Pushups/Pullups, Ab Ripper X
Sun- Rest

Week 4
Mon- 2 Miles, Chest/Back, Ab Ripper X
Tues- 10 Miles, Pushups/Pullups
Wed- One on One-Just Arms, Ab Ripper X
Thu- 4 Miles, Pushups/Pullups
Fri- 2 Miles, Insanity Upper Body Weights, Insane Abs
Sat- 5 Miles, Pushups/Pullups, Ab Ripper X
Sun- Rest

I am currently on Week 1 Day 3. I’ll be hitting Shoulders/Arms with Ab Ripper X as soon as I’m done with this post:)

Stay tuned for what I’m doing for Nutrition!!

My Experience with P90X

This P90X review is going to give you an overview on the entire program. I will have seperate articles that will go into depth with each workout. P90X was the very first workout program that I ever did. I started in September 2008 and finished in December 2008. I lost a total of 20lbs and 6 inches off the waist!

What is P90X?

P90X stands for Power 90 Xtreme. It is a 90 day fitness program that is based on muscle confusion. There are 12 intense workouts varying from strength training, yoga, and cardio. P90X is broken down into 3 phases. 1 month=1 phase. For the first month, a typical week will include 3 days of strength training, 2 days of cardio, and 1 day of yoga. At the end of each month there will be a rest week which will help your body recover. When the new month begins, this is where the muscle confusion takes place. There will be a new routine of workouts which will keep your body from having the plateau effect. P90X is a commitment. Both physically, and mentally. This program will require 6 days per week and about an hour each day. Because this program involves strength training, there will be some equipment needed.

Equipment

• Dumbells/Resistance Bands
• Yoga Matt
• Pull-up Bar
• Sweat Towel
• Water Bottle

The Nutrition Guide

Following the P90X Nutrition Plan is just as vital to your overall success as any of the extreme workouts in this program. Specifically designed to work in tandem with the P90X routines, this 3-phase eating plan provides the perfect combination of foods to satisfy your body’s energy needs every step of the way.

P90X is not about quick fixes or miracle diets. It’s about selecting the healthy foods that you WANT to eat, and determining the portion amounts that will provide your body with the right amount of fuel to excel during exercise.

Identifying what, when, and how much to eat so you can lose fat and still get into incredible shape is the goal of this nutrition plan.

The fact is, you are capable of achieving awesome results if you follow this eating plan as designed. For many, this may be the toughest exercise—but it is absolutely essential to succeed in this program. Once you incorporate the principles of the P90X nutrition plan into your life, you will quickly begin to feel better, look better, and without a doubt perform better. You’ll also soon discover that your cravings for unhealthy foods will be greatly reduced.

Your commitment to getting in the best shape of your life depends on your willingness to adhere to the guidelines of this 3-phase eating approach. The fundamentals are simple and easy to follow. All you have to do is make the commitment to stick to the plan and give your body the high-octane fuel it needs to get to the finish line.

The Three Phases:

Phase 1: Fat Shredder

A high-protein-based diet designed to help you strengthen muscle while simultaneously and rapidly shedding fat from your body.

Phase 2: Energy Booster

A balanced mix of carbohydrates and protein with a lower amount of fat to achieve additional energy for performance.

Phase 3: Endurance Maximizer

An athletic diet of complex carbohydrates, lean proteins, and lower fat with the emphasis on more carbohydrates. You’ll need this combination of foods as fuel to get the most out of your final few weeks and truly be in the best shape of your life!

Why Diet Matters

A large body of scientific evidence shows that diet and exercise work hand-in-hand to promote fitness and physical performance. One reason for this symbiotic relationship is the energy equation. When you expend more calories than you consume, you burn body fat (aka “stored energy”) and build lean body mass—but because you need energy to exercise, every calorie you eat must be of the highest quality to get you over the hump.