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My Mid-Life Crisis — Getting Super Fit

The last time I posted about my workout regimen, I was afraid I might not be able to complete the Insanity workout. Well, I pushed through, and I’m now “certified insane.”

Oh my God! Insanity is hard. It’s not even fun, it’s so hard. The P90X workout was extreme, but Insanity is just brutal. After each P90X workout, I felt good, on an endorphin high. But the Insanity workouts are sheer punishment to be endured; afterward, I was just completely worn out. But there is no denying that it can make you fit, super fit. Both regimens work well for getting real fit, real fast. (If you’re interested in learning about them, go look them up. I’m not selling or representing for the company. I’m just a very satisfied customer.)

See these pics for my results:

The thing that really surprised me the most about this whole process was how much fat I had on my body. I knew I was a bit overweight; I figured I could loose at least 10 pounds, maybe even 15 pounds. But at the end of my first 13-weeks round of P90X (the 1.0 pic above), I had lost 18 pounds of padding. I could tell I had more to loose, but I thought maybe just 4 or 5 more pounds.

After finishing about 8 weeks of a second round of P90X (the 1.5 pic above), I had lost a total of 24 pounds — 6 more beyond the 1.0 round. I was astonished at how much fat I had apparently been carrying around on my frame. I never thought I was 20+ pounds overweight. But still, I could tell I had a little more fat to shed to find my six-pack abs. But I seemed to have hit a plateau in my fitness climb; I went some weeks without loosing any fat weight.

I really, really wanted my six-pack abs. A simple desire to “get into shape” became a hard drive to get ripped; it had become the object of my mid-life crisis. Some men buy a sports car, some men pick up a girlfriend, some men run off to “find myself.” My MLC took the form of wanting a hardbody — a body as good or better than the one I had at half my current age. I wanted to be able to keep up physically with my young sons. I wanted to be able to run, jump, and climb faster, easier, and for longer, (without it costing 6 million dollars).

So in hopes of breaking my plateau with P90X, I started Insanity. Taking on a regimen of straight cardio did, indeed, overcome my plateau. In the 9 weeks of Insanity, I lost another 15 pounds for a total loss of 39 pounds. Look at those pics above, again: the “P90X 1.5” pic is 15 pounds heavier than the “Insanity 1.0” pic. That floors me. When I was at the “P90X 1.5” stage of my effort, I would have thought 15 less pounds would make me just skin and bones.

In the couple of weeks since finishing Insanity, I’ve lost another 2 pounds just because my metabolism is much higher revved than it used to be. Human physiology just amazes me.

I’ve lost 41 pounds of fat. Forty-one pounds! That’s three to four times more than I expected. And I’m not skinny — I’m lean. P90X and Insanity are not “just” weight-loss programs, they’re full body fitness. Hell, half of the P90X regimen is weight training to build muscle mass.

I feel freakin’ fantastic! I don’t want to sit on the sofa and watch TV, anymore. I want to move. I want to run, jump, and climb.

But I feel kind of weird about all this. At my core, I’m a nerd, a gamer geek. Have I turned into a jock? Well, I’m still not particularly interested in sports — watching or playing. I still like to read comic books, play RISK, and watch Star Wars.

I don’t have any urge to throw a ball, but I do enjoy push-ups. I haven’t a clue what the infield fly rule is, but I do know how many carbs I need in a day.

I want to play Dungeons & Dragons, but I don’t want to consume the Mountain Dew and Doritos that stereotypically go with a game. I’ll buy a comic book, but I’ll also flip through a fitness magazine for a couple minutes.

Well, whatever strange culture mutation I’ve become, I kind of like it. I’m having a great mid-life crisis.

Bullgrit

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