As I was browsing Facebook the other day, I came across a picture of 2 cartoon characters digging through a mine. The first one had his pick in his hands and was still digging his way forward, hoping to find the diamonds that would make him rich, and the other was carrying his pick and walking away. What the second character didn’t realize that just a few more minutes of digging would have led him to millions of dollars worth of diamonds. He was just minutes away from changing his life, but instead he gave up too early.

When I saw this post, it really made me stop and think about how much this relates to people looking to get into great shape or become successful with a new business venture. I’ve been a Beachbody Coach for almost 3 and a half years now, and one of the most common things I witness is people giving up way too early. You’ve heard it before, but patience IS a virtue and is a key to success, but on top of that, you have to put in hard work, experience failure, learn how to adjust, and ALWAYS push forward! Your life is in your hands. You can change if you want to. It just takes some hard work and persistence on your behalf! No matter what, you can NEVER give up!

It’s interesting to watch the process of people starting P90X or even those in my P90X Challenge Groups. They look forward to day 1, can’t wait to get started, have never been this excited and so determined to accomplish something in their ENTIRE life, and have convinced themselves that NOTHING is going to stand in their way! They push through the first workout, Chest & Back, and suddenly reality hits them that this isn’t going to be easy. They might throw up, they WILL be sore for the next week and a half, but they are still motivated to continue through the entire 90 days, or so they thought. They finish week 1, sore as heck, and are still motivated, but not as much as when they started. Their desire to workout might be less than the previous week, but they still push through the workouts. 2 weeks roll by, they are still ridiculously sore, but now they are starting to get discouraged. Why? They feel they aren’t getting results quick enough. “Am I doing something wrong?”, “Does this even work?” starts going through their heads. They are tired, frustrated, start forming excuses to justify the reasons why they shouldn’t continue through the program. “The diet’s too hard,” “I don’t have the time,” “Skipping one workout isn’t going to hurt me,” “I can’t afford healthy food,” “I probably shouldn’t work out when I’m sore,” are all excuses that run through their minds, helping themselves feel better for what’s to come, and that’s for them to go back to their old lifestyle. For the next few weeks, they might commit 70%, but then it drops down to 50%, then 25%, until the point where they stop everything, go back to living unhealthy, feeling insecure about themselves once again. I know this happens because I witness it on a daily basis! What these people didn’t know was that another 2-4 weeks of committing themselves 100% and they would have started seeing steady results, but instead, they gave up too early.

The problem with our nation is that we live and thrive on instant gratification. Look at fast food. Why do people eat it even though there are studies showing they it’s absolutely TERRIBLE for you? It’s quick and easy to get. It’s convenient, right? The same goes for getting into shape. Everyone starts a program thinking that they will magically go from a sumo wrestler to an Abercrombie model in 2 weeks. I’ve got news for you, it doesn’t work that way! Results with fitness take consistency and hard work day in and day out! It involves pushing forward when you don’t feel like pushing forward anymore, working out when you’re tired, eating healthy even though every single person around you is eating greasy pizza, NOT MAKING EXCUSES, ADJUSTING when you hit a plateau, and truly believing that you can accomplish your goals! Who cares if it takes you a year to achieve what you want to accomplish, as long as you get there right? It absolutely baffles me to watch people go through the process of starting a program, losing motivation, and quitting within the same month. What they don’t understand is that the diamonds, their ideal fitness level, is right in front of them, and all they had to do was just push forward a little longer.

What about business ventures? The same is true. I’m a successful Team Beachbody Coach. I won the Top Beachbody Coach award in 2010, was #4 in the nation this past year, and have been an Elite Coach for the past 2 years, and it’s interesting to watch so many people join this business because they feel that they can get to where I’m at in a month. They believe that they can go from struggling financially to making a six figure income in a 3 month time span, but it doesn’t work that way. It was a process to get to where I’m at today. It was hard, I struggled at times, I had to make constant adjustments, I had to do research, I had to find the best way to make this business work for me, I had to put in many, many hours, but you know what, I was PATIENT and knew that if I pushed forward every single day, if I continued to dig my way through the tunnel, the diamonds would be on the other side. After years of 100% effort day in and day out, I was able to reach my goals. I wasn’t focused on instant gratification because I knew it didn’t exist.

If you think that there is a such thing as instant success, it’s time to throw it out of your head. If you’re in the process of changing your health, make sure you commit yourself every single day to a health diet and working out, and over a period of time you will be able to reach your goals, I PROMISE! If you’ve just started your own business venture, or maybe decided to become a Beachbody Coach, and are struggling to get your business off the ground, if you continue to push forward every single day, make adjustments, learn from your failures, over time you will little by little begin to experience success, until you get to the point where your business explodes! Don’t allow yourself to be that person who gives up when you are just a stones throw away from achieving success.

If you’re going through P90X or any other Beachbody program and want to make me your coach, want to learn about my Challenge Groups, or if you have any questions or need help with anything, feel free to email me at coachspence8@yahoo.com.

Lately I’ve come across many people who complain about not being successful, but yet don’t want to put in the necessary effort to achieve success. Success will never be handed to you, no matter what you’re trying to accomplish. If you talk to any millionaire, with the RARE exception of a tiny percentage who were born into it, they will tell you that hard work is one of the keys to success, and in the beginning they were putting in countless hours, making sacrifices, so that they could get to where they are today. Success is not EASY, but attained by putting in HARD WORK on a consistent basis.

You will never find true success in life by doing just what needs to be done. You have to go above and beyond that, pushing yourself far outside your comfort zone if you want to be able to get to that next level. Understand that success can mean many different things. It could be financial success, relationship success, health success, etc., but when it all comes down to it, you have to work hard on a consistent basis to achieve each of these. With financial success, if you are working as hard as everyone else, you’re going to make as much as everyone else, but if you are working 25% harder than everyone else, guess what, you’re going to make 25% more than everyone else. Make sense? Your income is in direct proportion to your effort level. The same goes for getting into great shape. If you are eating unhealthy, not working out, you’re going to quickly fall out of shape, but if you eat healthy, push yourself outside your comfort zone and work out when you don’t want to work out, and do this on a CONSISTENT BASIS, over time you will find that you will become healthy and get into excellent shape. On top of that, if you’re able to push yourself during the workouts, maybe getting 3-4 reps after you don’t feel like you can get any more, you can speed up the success process and get into UNBELIEVABLE shape!

Let’s take my life, for example. I’m 26 years old, in the best shape of my life, and have established complete financial security for my family and I. However, go back 4 years and I was 25 pounds heavier, out of shape, and living paycheck to paycheck with $50 in my account at a time. There were times where I wasn’t sure how I was going to be able to pay my rent, car payment, and sometimes even groceries. Just a few years ago my wife and I were living in a one bedroom apartment and sleeping on the couch every day just so our daughter could sleep in the one room that we did have. Life was tough, but we did what we needed to do to make it through. However, I couldn’t accept mediocrity. It literally ate at me every day, and I finally got to the point where I made the decision to change. First came my health. I searched for something that could help me get back into shape, to increase my confidence once again, and came across a P90X infomercial. I knew it was the program for me because of how they advertised it as hard to do. I have always worked hard with everything that I’ve done, and once I commit, I go at it 100%, not letting anything get in my way, and that’s exactly what I did with P90X. After committing myself to BOTH the workouts and the diet EVERY DAY for 90 days, not skipping a workout or cheating on the diet once, I got into the best shape of my life. It was hard, but I did it.

Shortly after, the opportunity to become a Beachbody Coach was presented to me. At first, I didn’t want anything to do with the actual business side of it and just joined to help others, but I quickly found out that there was an opportunity to make it a full time career. When that realization hit, that’s when I hit the ground running. After putting in many hours, I was able to make it my full time job in January of 2010. That same year I created a goal to win Top Beachbody Coach 2010 out of over 50,000 coaches, and after putting in at least 14 hours a day, making many sacrifices, and moving forward with my business every single day, I was able to accomplish that goal. If I wanted to be better than everyone else, I knew I had to work harder than everyone else. Now, like I said above, I no longer have to worry about financial issues, and in fact, we just bought a new house, and I have created both time and financial freedom for my family and I. We are living the dream, all because we have put in the necessary work to get here.

Before I end this post, there is one more example I want to talk about, and that’s my baseball career. When I first started playing travel ball when I was 12 years old, I wasn’t the best athlete on the field. Sure, I was athletic, but looking back I felt like I was an average player at best. In order to become above average, though, my parents taught me that I needed to work twice as hard as everyone else on the field, so that’s exactly what I did. I took batting lessons each week, hit 1,000 balls off the tee every single night, got up at 5 AM to take ground balls and fly balls in an indoor facility, just so that I could improve my game. I went above and beyond what everyone else was doing, and that’s why I progressed at a quicker rate than them and eventually passed many of them up. Here’s an interesting story. One day while at a hitting camp, the instructor asked us to raise our hand if we could hit 50 balls off the tee without hitting it once. Out of the entire group, one kid raised their hand, and it was me. Surprised, he called me up and told me to show him, so that’s exactly what I did. I hit 50 balls off the tee without hitting it once. Impressed, he then told me to close my eyes and hit another 50 off the tee without hitting it once. I did it. Even more surprised, he told me to turn around to the other side of the tee and hit left handed. Now me being the one surprised, but confident, I did exactly what he told me and switched to the other side, hitting off the tee without hitting it once. He then told me he was going to turn me into a switch hitter. The only reason he had me do so was because he knew that I would work extremely hard every single day to get where I needed to be to become a switch hitter. After hitting thousands and thousands of balls off the tee from both the right and left sides, I became a switch hitter, and eventually turned into a complete left handed hitter my junior and senior years in college (I got a scholarship to play). When it was all said and done, I won national, regional, and conference first team honors my last 2 years of college.

I wanted to share my stories because I wanted to show you all that in order for me to achieve success in everything I’ve done, I’ve had to work EXTREMELY hard at it! Nothing came easy, but with consistent hard effort every day over a period of time, I was able to accomplish many great things. Remember, if you do what everyone else is doing, you will be like everyone else, but if you go above and beyond, you will take your success to the next level. Don’t allow yourself to make excuses, dig deep within yourself, push far outside your comfort zone on a daily basis, and maintain a positive attitude and you will not believe what you can achieve!

For those of you who don’t know, this past weekend we had our annual “guy’s trip,” and this time we decided to head out to Copper Mountain, Colorado for some snowboarding. I started this tradition last year because I felt I needed some time to break away from work and just hang out and relax with the guys. Throughout the last couple of years, I have discovered the importance of having balance in my life! That balance allows me to enjoy time with my family and friends, but also keeps me focused on my goals. BALANCE keeps me SANE!

Back in 2010 I worked my tail of with the Beachbody Business, there is no doubt about that. That’s the only reason I was able to win the Top Beachbody Coach 2010 award! I was putting in countless hours, making many sacrifices with time with my family and friends, and even got to the point where I was completely burnt out. I’ve always been a hard worker, but I can take it to the extremes every once in a while, just like I did in 2010. I had a goal, a vision, to win the prestige Top Beachbody Coach award, and I wasn’t going to let anything get in my way of accomplishing that goal! Thank goodness I had unbelievable support from my now wife Melinda, or she would have probably left me. She understood that success takes sacrifices, and I promised her that it would be worth it the following year, and it sure was. However, there are certain moments in my life during that year that I don’t even remember, and honestly it’s frustrating and sad. One of them was Christmas. It was a blur that year because the Top Coach award was coming down to the wire between a good friend and I, and I was so worried and focused on doing everything I could to win that I didn’t take much time to “take in the moment.” Looking back, it was a mistake, and I swore that I would never let that happen again.

2011 was a year of BALANCE for me! I made it a priority to stop working at a certain time each night so that I could spend the rest of the evening with Madison and Melinda, created a “date night” for Melinda and I each week, spent quite a bit more time with my friends and family over the weekends, and traveled as much as possible. 2011 was a STRESS FREE year for me, but what was interesting was the success I still attained. I felt like I accomplished more and developed more in 2011 than I did during 2010 when I won Top Coach, and I probably cut the amount of hours I was working by 1/3! Why? Balance. By taking breaks, vacations, establishing a date night, I was able to take my mind off of work and relax with the people I care about most, allowing me to refocus afterwards and continue moving towards my goals. That’s the reason I was able to remain in the Top 10 Beachbody Coaches in the country (#4), attain Elite status as well, and over triple my income from the previous year!

Hard work is necessary for success, but hopefully you learned that balance is as well. If you don’t have that balance, you can easily get burnt out, losing focus and motivation, which obviously doesn’t help you move towards your goals AT ALL! Take time to take your wife or husband out on a date, play with your children, or go on vacation. It will allow you to refocus and stay motivated towards accomplishing your goals!

P90X2 Review: Chest, Back, and Balance

Yesterday marked the beginning of week 3 of P90X2, and instead of following the first Phase for another week, I decided to go ahead and switch over to Phase 2, which includes more resistance training. I absolutely loved the first Phase, which included workouts like X2 Core and Power & Balance, but I already got to the point where I could complete all the reps without pausing, so I figured moving on to the next phase would be best. Plus, my

body responds better to resistance training, losing fat quicker than with mostly cardio training. Keep in mind, too, that I’m sticking to the diet 100%, meaning I’m following the P90X2 Nutrition Guide STRICTLY, and haven’t had a drink of alcohol since I started either. That’s playing a MAJOR role in my quick results! Honestly, my core is the strongest it’s ever been, and I’m just a couple of weeks into it! Anyways, here’s my P90X2 review of Chest, Back, and Balance.

I really wasn’t too sure what to expect with this workout, but I knew that it would involve a lot of balance training since that’s what the P90x2 workouts have focused a lot on to this point. I was sort of expecting something similar to P90X Chest & Back, a little tougher of course, but it was VERY different! First of all, there aren’t 2 halves to the workout, meaning you don’t go through a certain number of sets and repeat once you get to the halfway point, but rather, every exercise is something different. I enjoy that because I don’t like to do repetitive sets when working out. The chest exercises were very interesting and tough, and my chest is pretty sore today. Most of the exercises are done on either a balance ball or medicine ball(s), really forcing you to engage your core the entire time. There was one exercise that I REALLY struggled with, but I think it had to do with my form. It required you to place your feet on the balance ball and do Diamond push-ups on a medicine ball. I was up on my toes, but when I finished the workout, I noticed that their legs sort of straddled the ball instead of being on top, making it easier. Regardless, it’s a TOUGH exercise! There is another exercise where you have both hands and feet on separate medicine balls and do push-ups. It’s difficult because you really have to engage your entire core to stay balanced while you’re doing the push-up. By the time you’re on your last set of push-ups, you’re drained and just want to finish!

The back exercises are unique and tough. You probably do around 10 sets of different pull-ups, no joke! I had a hard time keeping up with my reps towards the end because I was that exhausted. You do quite a few exercises from the One on One series, including the Levers, which is where you are sort of hanging on the pull-up bar, back and legs parallel to the floor, and you swing into a pull-up. There is another pull-up where you’re body is stationary in the X position the entire time. This stops you from cheating by “kipping.” The back exercises definitely work all areas of the back!

All in all, the P90X2 Chest, Back, and Balance was an excellent and challenging workout and something I’m looking forward to doing again, just so that I can see how much I improve from week to week. Hopefully my P90X2 Review helped you out, and if you have any questions about the new P90X2 program, feel free to email me at coachspence8@yahoo.com!

E&E Review

For those of you who don’t know, Beachbody just released a new pre-workout supplement called E&E. If you don’t know me, I’m a HUGE fan of pre-workout supplements, and have been using them for many, many years, going back to my high school days! Since then, I have tried quite a few different brands and have come across a few great ones like Jack3d and 1MR, but after doing some research I found some controversial ingredients and decided to stop using them. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find one as potent as those 2, that is until I tried the new E&E pre-workout supplement! Here’s my E&E Review below.

Before I get into exactly what I thought about it, understand that I judge pre-workout supplements based on pumps and endurance. Like I mentioned above, Jack3d and 1MR were the best that I’d come across when it came to those, but I didn’t want to put crap into my body so I stopped taking them. When I heard that Beachbody was coming out with a new pre-workout, I was excited because I knew that they would come out with a quality product that wasn’t terrible for you. I got my first shipment of E&E 2 days ago and decided to try it out for the first time yesterday during my P90X2 Power & Balance workout.

The bottle says to take it 15 to 30 minutes before the workout, so that’s exactly what I did. I took 2 scoops (2 for more intense workouts, one for less intense) because Power & Balance is a tough one! Normally I have to choke down pre-workout supplements because they taste terrible, but this wasn’t the case with E&E. The flavor of it is Lemon/Lime, and surprisingly it tasted good and was smooth. I didn’t feel the “tingle” that you feel right after taking Jack3d or 1MR, but I definitely felt an increase in energy, especially when I started warming up. During the first exercise of the actual routine, I could immediately tell that the “pumps” were there, and I was able to get quite a few more reps than the last time I did the workout. The real test, though, was if the pre-workout supplement allowed me to sustain my energy throughout the entire workout, which was around an hour long, and maintain the increased pumps. It definitely passed the test, and I honestly felt that I could do another workout even after completing that extreme Power & Balance workout! The next test was whether or not I would experience the normal “crash” afterwards that are associated with pre-workouts, but I didn’t. I felt completely fine and didn’t have any issues sleeping like I do with Jack3d! Reps were up, had great stamina, didn’t crash afterwards, and had a great experience with the new E&E!

E&E is definitely a pre-workout supplement that I HIGHLY recommend, and I’m looking forward to working this into my supplement use! Hopefully you found my E&E Review helpful. If you would like to purchase E&E, Beachbody actually has it available at a great price, $29.95 per bottle (1 month of servings), and you can purchase it by clicking here!

P90X2 Review

All I have to say is WOW! I knew that the new P90X2 program would be good, but I had NO IDEA that it would be this good! I’ve been going through the workout program for about a week and a half now, and honestly, I’m in disbelief with just how fast I’m getting results. Seriously, this is THE FASTEST I have ever seen results before, and I’ve been going through various Beachbody programs for about 4 years now. I’m going to run through what I think about the program so far, including some of my favorite workouts, exercises, and the reasons why I feel the results are coming so quickly. Here’s my P90X2 Review!

I have to back up, though, and share with you that before I started P90X2 I was focused on gaining mass. I was eating mostly clean, but having some drinks on the weekends with friends, along with working out around 4-5 times per week. Because I wasn’t committing 100%, I had gotten back up to 170 lbs, which was the heaviest I had been since my first round of P90X. However, I was not real out of shape and the strongest I’ve been in a long time, so a lot of that weight was muscle. I’m not going to deny, though, that I had a little fluff covering up the abs for quite some time, but that changed quickly once I committed to P90X2. It was time to shift goals to getting lean once again.

If I was going to go through P90X2, I was going to do it right, and that meant following the P90X2 diet EXACTLY how it was set up, along with quit drinking alcohol. At first it was a big change for me because I had not followed a structured diet for so long, and I hadn’t taken in low carbs for a long time either. I decided to go through the Fat Shredder to quickly lose the fat and then focus more on building lean muscle a few weeks later, and the low carbs gave me a headache EVERY DAY for about 6 days. I sucked it up and stayed committed, though, and finally the headaches began to go away. I pretty much eliminated all grainy carbs as well, and that could have been part of the issue. Anyways, from day one of the program I started logging what I ate every day into the new MyFitnessPal app on my iPhone (which is AMAZING btw), and that helped me stay on track with my calories and ratios. It’s taken some adjustments to get everything on mark, but I feel like I got it down now. In just a week I lost over 5 lbs and am able to see a defined 6 pack again.

The workouts are unbelievable to say the least. I have been working out for MANY years, and I have NEVER come across unique exercises and workouts like the ones in P90X2! P90X focuses on muscle confusion, and P90X2 takes that concept to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL! We’re talking about balance and core moves that people have never seen or experienced before, causing you to work muscle groups that have never been worked before, which in turn speeds up the results, well at least in my experience. The muscle confusion and the increased intensity of the workouts are why I feel I’m getting the fastest results I’ve ever gotten before! On top of that, the workouts are fun and enjoyable, even the Yoga one, and believe me, I’m not a Yoga person. My favorite workouts so far are X2 Core and Total Body. Both leave me dripping with sweat by the end and feeling like I really pushed outside my comfort zone. I’m really looking forward to seeing what the Phase 2 workouts have in store for me!

One of my goals since starting P90X2 was to increase my flexibility. In all honesty, my flexibility sucks, and Tony Horton even picked on me quite a bit about it when we were filming the P90X2 Shoulders & Arms workout. Since then, I knew that was one of the areas I really needed to work on. After just a week and a half of doing all the stretching before and after the workouts, the Yoga workout, and using a foam roller, I can already tell a DRASTIC difference in my flexibility! I know this might not be anything to some people, but I can now wrap both hands around my foot when stretching out my hamstrings, something I have NEVER been able to do in the past! The one area I need to really work on, though, is my shoulders and back. The flexibility there is TERRIBLE because I used to go to the gym every day, work the back and chest heavy, but never stretched it out. Thanks to Yoga and exercises like “The Worlds Greatest Stretch” and “Roller Angels” with the bumpy foam roller, I am slowly starting to notice a difference. I know it’s going to take time, but it’s something that I will work on continuing to improve every day.

P90X2 is an UNBELIEVABLE program and something I recommend to anyone who is looking to take their fitness to the next level, whether it’s professional, collegiate, or high school athletes, or just someone looking for something else to challenge them. I’m thoroughly impressed with how advanced the workouts and exercises are, along with the structure of the new P90X2 diet! You can’t go wrong with this program.

Hopefully my P90X2 Review has given you an idea on what to expect from this new program. If you’re going through P90X and not sure what to do afterwards, the answer is now P90X2! You can purchase it from this site (I’m a Beachbody Coach), or if you already have it and want some support while going through it, feel free to make me your coach (it’s free) and I’ll be here to help you. Just click here!

P90X2 Diet

For those of you who don’t know, I started P90X2 last Monday, and so far I’m down 5 lbs! The main reason why I’m seeing such quick results is because I’m following the P90X2 diet 100% and haven’t skipped a workout. When I say following the diet 100%, I mean that I’m using the exact recipes that are in the P90X2 Nutrition Guide, and haven’t strayed off course once. What I’m going to do is share with you all a day’s log of my diet into My Fitness Pal that can serve as a P90X2 sample diet for you to follow, or at least get an idea as to what all is included in the diet.

Before I do so, though, let me briefly explain that the diet is the MOST IMPORTANT part of weight loss! You can work out as much as you want, but if you don’t combine it with a healthy diet, you’re never going to get the results you want. In fact, I tell all the people that I coach (I’m a Beachbody Coach) that the diet makes up about 80% of your results. That’s the reason why I’m following the new diet so strictly. I’m looking to get into better shape than I was after my first 2 rounds of P90X! It’s going to be tough, but with the more advanced moves in the workouts and improvements to the diet, I really think I can achieve my goal.

I decided that I’m going to follow the P90X2 Fat Shredder phase to begin with, which has a fat/carb/protein ratio of 20/30/50, and then switch it up until my energy levels start to decrease drastically or if I hit a plateau. When that happens, which will probably be in just another week or so, I’ll move to the 2nd phase of the P90X2 diet, the Energy Booster, and that will help me continue to move forward with my results. Something that I have began doing this time, though, is logging my diet as I go through the day with the new MyFitnessPal app, and it makes things SO MUCH EASIER! If you don’t have it yet, I HIGHLY recommend it, as it’s simple to use and allows you to follow your calories and ratios. There is a little pie chart that shows you just where you are in terms of your ratios, so if you’re low in protein, you know that you need to have a high protein meal for the next meal, and the same goes for carbs and fat.

Now that I’ve explained what I’m doing, here’s a P90X2 sample diet! Keep in mind that right now I’m aiming for 1,800 calories per day. With my lifestyle, goals, and height and weight, that’s a good number to aim for. This comes to somewhere around 1,600 calories, which is low, but I’m still making adjustments to both the calories and ratios.

Breakfast:

- Tomato Pesto Egg White Omelet (276 calories)

- 1 Cup Coffee with 2 packets Stevia (2 calories)

Snack:

- Chocolate Shakeology blended with ice and a banana (240 calories)

- P90X Recovery Formula Post Workout (1 scoop- 110 calories)

Lunch:

- Chicken Salad Pita Pocket (307 calories)

Snack:

- Chicken and White Bean Soup (180 calories)

Dinner:

- 2 Individual Meat Loaves (416 calories)

- 1 cup Low Fat Cottage Cheese (90 calories)

If you have any questions or need any help with the P90X2 diet or the workouts, I’m a full time Beachbody Coach, and that’s what I do, help people through these programs. You can make me your coach (it’s free) by clicking here, or feel free to reach out to me at coachspence8@yahoo.com.

What is a foam roller?

When I went out to L.A. to film the new P90X2 Shoulders & Arms video, I had no idea what a foam roller was. We were just starting the warm-up routine, and I’m sitting there, looking at this thing wondering what the heck I was going to do with it! For those of you who don’t know, it’s this long cylinder shaped foamy thing that is used to stretch out the muscles. After using it for the first time, I was impressed with how great I felt afterwards! However, I was still confused as to how exactly to use it, and all of my questions about it were answered yesterday during the P90X2 Recovery workout.

First of all, there are 2 types of foam rollers. The cheaper one is flat and the more expensive and more durable one has all these bumps or knobs all over it. My buddy has the regular one and I have the one with the little knobs. I’m not going to lie, the one I have looks like some sort of battle weapon, and it sure feels like one too, but I will get to that in a bit. For the first half of the workout we did Yoga moves, but the second half, which was about a half hour long, was dedicated to the foam roller. This is where the creepy music comes in. This thing might look like fun, but it’s not even close to it. What you do is spend about a minute or two on each major muscle group, and once you find a spot that hurts, you’re supposed to stay on that spot until the pain goes away. For example, to work your calf, you put it on the foam roller (with as much weight as you want) and move it around SLOWLY until you find a spot that is tight or hurts. When you do you hold your calf there until the knot goes away and the muscle relaxes. It’s very important that you DON’T just roll back and forth for fun, or you will be using it the wrong way.

The knobby foam roller is painful, there is no denying it. Was it enjoyable? Heck no, but I tell you what, my muscles felt more relaxed and stretched out than they have in a LONG time! In fact, when we got done and did some flexibility moves, I was shocked as to how much my flexibility had increased in just a half hour of working my muscles. For example, when doing some hamstring stretches in the beginning, I could barely touch the ground, but after using the foam roller, I was able to put more of my hand on the ground. It was a small change, but a big change for me personally because I am NOT a flexible person! In fact, Tony Horton makes fun of me quite a bit in the P90X2 Shoulders & Arms video about it.

The foam roller is a GREAT tool to use to relax and stretch out your muscles, and something that I’m going to use as much as possible. One of my goals for this round of P90X2 is to increase my flexibility, and I think it’s definitely going to be possible now that I know how to use the foam roller properly. BTW, if you order a P90X2 Deluxe or Ultimate Package, a P90X2 foam roller comes with it!

P90X2 VS Insanity

For those of you who have been living in a box, Beachbody just released the new P90X2 program last month! I pre-ordered it and got it at the beginning of December, but decided to wait to start until Jan. 2nd, which is when all of my P90X2 Challenge Group members were starting as well. So far I have been through just a few exercises, but it’s already evident that this is a LEGIT program that will really test your ability to push yourself outside your comfort zone! Lately, though, I’ve had some people wonder which was better, P90X2 VS Insanity, so I’m going to run through what I like and dislike about each program.

P90X2 is one heck out a program, there is no doubt about that! What was so great about P90X was that it had a balance of cardio and resistance training, and P90x2 is no different. In my personal opinion, having that balance is SO IMPORTANT in getting great fitness results! P90x2 is tough, but it’s tough in a different kind of way. It’s decently tough in terms of intensity (VERY tough for a few of the workouts), but what makes it so difficult is the uniqueness of each P90X2 workout and exercise. These are exercises that more than likely you haven’t done before. For example, in the X2 Core workout, there is an exercise where you start out standing on one leg (you stay on one leg the entire time) with a medicine ball in your hand, the other leg held real close to your ankle, and you jump down, do a push-up on the medicine ball, and jump back up, lifting the medicine ball over your head. Yeah, doing a push-up on a medicine ball is pretty difficult, but try doing it with just one leg on the ground! This exercise engages the entire core to stay balanced, and you’re working your legs and chest as well. That’s just one example, and the entire P90X2 program is that way! Another thing I REALLY like about P90X2 is the Nutrition Guide. They made it VERY easy to follow this time, and have some excellent recipes as well. I’ve been on the new diet for 3 days and loving it!

Insanity is a great program as well, but is very different than P90X2. In terms of overall intensity, you can’t beat Insanity! We’re talking pushing outside your comfort zone times ten! When you get done with an Insanity workout, chances are you don’t have a dry spot on your body. It’s THAT INTENSE! There are some workouts where you can burn over 1,000 calories per hour, which is crazy. When I went through Insanity, I really enjoyed pushing myself that hard, but the one thing I didn’t like was the lack of resistance training. It’s basically a 60 day high intensity cardio program. I actually ended up losing quite a bit of muscle mass since it was almost all cardio training, and had to stop following the normal routine and start doing a P90X/Insanity Hybrid so that I could put some muscle mass back on. If you’re not worried about putting on some muscle and just want to lose some body fat and want a challenge, then Insanity is a great program for you! However, it’s very important to understand that this is NOT a beginners program, just as P90X2 isn’t as well. You at least need to be in decent shape before you start.

So which is better, P90X2 VS Insanity? Really it totally depends on what you want! If your goal is to build some muscle mass and improve overall athletic performance, then P90X2 is the answer. However, if you’re not worried about building muscle and want to increase speed and cardiovascular endurance, then Insanity is the program to go with. With either program, though, you will have to push yourself because they are difficult! If you go through either program, push yourself every day, commit to the diets, then your going to find yourself in the best shape of your life by the time you finish.

If you’re going through Insanity or P90X2 or any Beachbody program for that matter and you want some help and support, I’m a full time Beachbody Coach and can help you out. To make me your coach (it’s free) just click here! If you already have a coach and want to switch, email me at coachspence8@yahoo.com and I’ll give you the directions on how to do so. If you’re interested in P90X2 or Insanity, feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions, or you can just purchase the programs from this site!

P90X2 Review: X2 Core

For those of you who don’t know, today was my first day of 90 days of 100% PURE commitment to the new P90X2 program. I’m not skipping a workout, not cheating on the diet, and am going to push myself every single day until I reach day 90! My goal is to be in better shape than I was after my first few rounds of P90X, which was back in 2008, and believe me, I was ripped! I had gotten down to about 155 lbs and 6% body fat, and finally got my desired 6 pack that I had been wanting since I first got into high school. I have lived a healthy lifestyle and stayed in great shape since then, but I haven’t committed like I’m going to do now. It’s a challenge for me, and I love challenges! Anyways, today my buddies and I did the first workout of the series, P90X 2 X2 Core, and it was definitely a tough one. I’m going to share my P90X2 Review: X2 Core below!

In all honesty, I was expecting the first workout to be tough, but not as tough as it was. It’s not too tough in terms of intensity (it is intense, though), but rather the difficulty of doing the moves and completing them with proper form, all while doing the same amount of reps as the people in the video. If people go through the workout and say they didn’t feel it too much, chances are they rushed through it using improper form. In order to really get results with X2 Core, you HAVE TO USE PROPER FORM and slow down your reps! If so, you’re going to not only be dripping with sweat by the end, but your entire body will be shaking as well. I can say that because I’m shaking as I’m typing this, and I finished it up about 45 minutes ago!

I love this workout because of it’s uniqueness. I have never done many of the moves before, and it was nice to switch things up and focus on some small muscle groups I have never targeted in the past. I can already see how going through the entire 90 days will literally get me into the best shape I’ve ever been in before! I’m already excited to teach these new moves to the Malone Baseball Players, who I have been training since November. It’s going to take their athletic performance to a whole new level! Anyways, there are a few moves that I want to go through and explain to you all, just so that you can get an idea as to what’s involved with this P90X2 workout.

The first one that really sticks out in my mind is where you are standing on one leg with the other real close to your ankle, you have a medicine ball in your hand, and you jump down, do a push-up on the medicine ball, and then jump back up, lifting the medicine ball over your head and repeating. Not only is this a very difficult move when it doesn’t involve any balance, it becomes extremely tough when your one leg can’t touch the ground the entire time! By the time rep 8 rolls around, your leg is shaking and core is hurting. The next move that really sticks out in my mind is the medicine ball Dreya Rolls. It’s just like the Dreya Rolls that you all know and love in the first P90X, but this time you are curling and then jumping with a medicine ball. If you don’t know what a Dreya Roll is, you start standing and then fall back on your butt, roll backwards while curled up, and then roll back forwards, stand up and jump, holding the medicine ball over your head. You do this for something like 45 seconds, and by the time you’re finished, you can barely breath and you have a hard time getting back up!

Those are just a few of the many exercises in this hour long workout, and you’re going to find that not only is this a challenging workout, but it’s fun to do as well! There is no doubt that after 90 days my core will be more developed than it every has been before. I’m really looking forward to the Plyocide workout tomorrow, and the rest of the workouts after that! I will continue posting P90X2 reviews as I go through each workout.

If you are interested in P90X2 or have it and want me to be your coach, feel free to email me at coachspence8@yahoo.com.