Friday, June 30, 2006

Law # 9 ~ Loving It

Your workouts involve commitment, determination, planning, consistency, and intensity. If you don’t like what you’re doing, then there’s no way on Earth you’ll succeed. Enthusiasm is a huge 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 don’t know about you, but if I don’t like or love something, then I don’t do it. Period. On the other hand, I’m extremely motivated when it comes to doing the things I love. Folks always ask me what I think are the best ways to get into shape: “Is Power 90 really the best program for me?” “What do you think about spinning?” “I hear that kayaking is the fastest growing sport in America, will that get me in shape?” “If I run more, will that help me burn off extra fat?” The truth is, they’re all great ways for losing weight, getting in shape, and living a healthy lifestyle. If any of these things feel like work to you, then they won’t work for you. Especially in the long haul. People fail to finish fitness programs because they don’t enjoy what they’re doing.

It boggles my mind why anyone would continue to do anything they don’t enjoy. Call me crazy, but I believe that loving what you do is the key to joy and happiness in every category of life. If you’re dealing with a lot of emotional drama, slaving away at work and eating junk food, then how in the hell will you stick with a workout program that you dread before starting it? It helps to be enthusiastic about what you’re doing. It’s a thrill for me to see the thousands of folks start and complete my workout programs. It means that “fun and variety” are key components to people’s success. Power 90 and P90X work because Beachbody supported me in my quest to incorporate the things I love.

The formula for figuring out what you love (this applies to everything in life) is simply being creative and curious (see Variety). Curiosity and creativity involve finding ways to modify, integrate, and alter your workouts so that you can incorporate the things you love into your daily routines. I’m at the point in my fitness journey where I’m not exactly sure what my workout is going to look like ten minutes before I start it. I often develop my workouts on the fly. This approach allows me to be creative as I make my way through it. I do this when I ski and rock climb, so why not with my workouts? I’ve been noticing lately that some people in the Beachbody community have been combining different programs to create personalized workouts. This is genius! They’re mixin’ it up and finding ways to enjoy it. Loving it helps you stick with it. Sticking with it will happen when you find ways to make it interesting. I recommend this strategy only after you’ve completed a full round of Power 90.

If you’re anything like me you’ll discover that the same thing over and over doesn’t work over time. FIND OUT WHAT YOU LOVE (no matter what anyone else says) and do that. If you stay curious, try new things, abandon the exercises you dislike, and stick with the ones you love, then you’ll discover a fitness philosophy that you’ll stick with for a lifetime.

1 comment:

Howtobefit said...

Hi Tony,
I'm a coach and of course love your program. I am writing because one of my customers who is 60 or so just finished the program and he is proud as a peacock. He just wrote and asked, "Is there any kind of memento that says "I completed 90 days of P90X"? I'd love to have something in my office that caused people to ask, "What's 90X?". Something neat looking would be awesome. Food for thought." He is a great ambassador for P90X and has gotten a lot of his friends to purchase it. He also just wrote, "I have a good friend down at CNN. He's a sports announcer for CNN en Espanol. He's from Argentina, originally. He and his wife both appear on CNN en Espanol almost every day. He was kind enough to take one of my college mentees and me on a nice tour of CNN recently, so I told him I wanted to give him P90X. I'll place my order now. His name is Diego Bustos. I'll tell him about your website in case he wants to order anything else."