Let me start by sharing with you MY story as it pertains to failed attempts at losing weight, gaining muscle tone, and finding something I enjoy. It’s an interesting one for sure.
In high school, I ran cross country and track, and I played basketball in the winter. But let me set the record straight: I was NOT a runner. I ran because my now husband was a runner on the XC and track teams, and I sure thought he was cute. I found myself making friends and simply attending practices and meets. I wouldn’t consider myself an excellent athlete in any right, and if I’m being completely honest, I even cheated a few courses so that I didn’t have to run the full length. I’m talking fence-hopping, people. I was that crazy.
I tell you about my high school background because it matters. When I found myself engaged to this cute runner as I neared the end of my college career, I started to look at ways to get back in shape to look great in my wedding dress, so naturally… because it was what I knew… I migrated toward the treadmill and the elliptical at my college gym.
I hadn’t moved my body in a daily, regimented way in YEARS. An occasional walk with a friend on campus was the extent of my exercise plan in college. So when I was faced with a deadlined goal, I felt the pressure to move every day in a way that challenged me.
Unfortunately, that came in the way of gym machines. I knew no different.
I would sign into the gym with sorority sisters and friends and follow them around, dabbling with the leg press machine, running for 20 minutes, and doing ab crunches with med balls. As I look back while writing this, the thought that comes to my mind is, “WTF?” What was I even doing?
Actually, the answer was easy: I was moving, which was better than nothing, but I wasn’t going anywhere.
I didn’t have a plan or a structure, so it’s not surprising that I ended up feeling better in time for my wedding, but looking no different. The toned arms I wanted weren’t there… the flat stomach… I looked fine, but in my mind, I would NEVER get back to that teenage body which I thought WAS the end goal.
Fast forward to just 4 years later, when again, my husband and I fell victim to sedentary living, working 9 to 5 jobs and rarely exercising. Taco Tuesdays were the Ortega kind, and Friday night was almost always pizza night. We had “let ourselves go,” and we were only in our mid-20’s.
That’s when a friend introduced me to the program P90X. My husband had thought about doing it before, so when I raised the idea, he was in. We bought it, along with Shakeology (I had a VERY convincing friend, ha!) and we set out to get back into the best shape of our lives.
BOTH of us were 30 pounds heavier than ever, but we were convinced that if we wanted something bad enough, we were going to have to do something hard.
Imagine my surprise when the P90X package arrived in the mail and my husband said to me, “I’ve been thinking about this, and I think I’m gonna just get back to running again.” My heart sank. The idea of running made me cringe, as it always had, and I did NOT want to start P90X on my own.
So I started running again.
We put P90X on the shelf and each of us started training again. My husband started a training plan to help him run a 5k, 10k, half marathon series, and I started training for my first 5k (this time, no cheating). I stayed late after work at my corporate job to use their treadmill, sometimes opting to get my 30 minute job in on my lunch hour. I often incorporated some ab work after the run, or in some cases, some upper body strength training with dumbbells.
I did what I knew.
5 months later, I ran my first 5k. My Mom took a photo of me after the race, which she still has framed on a table in her home, and when I look at it, I cringe.
Despite what I thought was great physical fitness for me, I didn’t look any different. My body hadn’t changed. I hadn’t lost weight. I had just completed a 5k. A great goal? Of course. Living at my most optimal fitness? Most definitely not.
Meanwhile, my husband, the All-American runner, was also struggling. Now carrying 30 pounds on his thin frame, he started dealing with hip mobility issues and low back pain after workouts, something he’d never experienced during his peak performance years.
After this 5k, we looked at each other and said, “Something has got to change.”
This, my friends, is when we opened P90X and started the program.
On the first day, we had bought new workout clothes, shoes, and water bottles, and were excited to do something different. Halfway through the workout, we found ourselves fast forwarding through every other move given the seeming difficulty, and joke now that we watched more of it than we did. But we did it what Tony says to do and we “did our best” and “forgot the rest.” And we did that for 89 more days.
We posted the 90 day calendar on the wall in our basement and we followed a PLAN.
A structured, tells-you-what-to-do-daily plan.
A food plan.
We drank a daily Shakeology shake for breakfast.
And guess what? I dropped 30 pounds, my husband lost 35, and we found ourselves in the best physical shape of our lives.
As I mentioned before, I was never an exceptional athlete, but I discovered my inner athlete with P90X. I found that with practice and persistence, I could improve. I look back at how I began and where I am now and I have to smile…
So why tell you all of this? Why share this long story? Because friends, I see people EVERY SINGLE DAY do the thing they KNOW: the elliptical, the treadmill, or even milling about the gym trying different machines and following what the bodybuilders are doing. They aren’t following a structured program, and their bodies aren’t changing because of it. And while I give them a huge pat on the back for moving their bodies, I hope that if this speaks to you, you’ll act on it.
As John Maxwell says, “You don’t know what you don’t know.”
In college, and even later in adulthood, I did what I knew. I did what I had done in high school, and what I had seen others do with setting goals to run a 5k. I didn’t know that I could challenge myself in new ways. I didn’t know that I needed a structured plan to get me results. I simply didn’t know.
At the end of every P90X class I now teach (because yes, I took my newfound athleticism and opted to open my own gym 3 years ago!), I offer a moment of silence for all of the people churning away at the elliptical. For they don’t know what they don’t know.
I support you in whatever fitness endeavor you may be… Whether it’s couch to 5k, a Beachbody program, or otherwise. But should you find yourself lacking the results you wish for, and needing structure in your life, we’re your go-to Team. We’ve been where you are, and we’re so grateful we now know what we didn’t!
Yours in Health & Fitness,
Jenny Swisher
Founder, Body Electric