Why do I do it?

Recently I’ve been leading a group of people through Insanity at work.  This has generated more conversation than normal about my physical transformation, what Insanity is like, and why the heck do I do it?  When do I get to enjoy the fruits of my labor?  What’s the payoff?

There are many reasons why I enjoy being in shape.  Unfortunately most of my reasons are rather vain, and I shy away from talking about them in person.  But to be honest, the main reason I continue to punish my body is because I like the way I look in the mirror.  I like having confidence that I look good and that I can hold my own in almost any physical challenge.  The remainder of this post exists as part of my BeachBody.com profile, which I had to fill out in order to receive my free “I earned it” Insanity t-shirt.  Unfortunately I did not think to make copies of the prompts/questions, but each paragraph is pretty cohesive.  I thought my answers to these questions also help answer the question “Why do I do it?”  Enjoy:

I wasn’t so much concerned about my weight as how easily I was winded. And I didn’t like how uncomfortable it was becoming to tie my shoes. My knees had pain and swelling after doing anything athletic. There were times when I could hardly walk my knees hurt so much. I’ve always had knee pain, even when I was a prime-athlete in high school. I was sad that my wife was becoming concerned that my knees would become a challenge for us in our future, especially during retirement. I have 4 young kids and I want to be able to play *with* them, hard, not just watch them play. And I want that to continue with my grand kids. With the amount of pain I was having, and how weak my heart and lungs were, that didn’t seem like it was going to happen on its own.

I started praying for healing of my knees, and seeking prayer from others. In one of these prayers, God told me he would “heal my wounds completely”. It wasn’t an immediate transformation of the body, but it was shortly after that when I started P90X and pretty quickly the knee pain started going away. I give God the glory that my body is healed! I look good, I feel great, I am 100% pain free, and I’m doing things I thought I’d never do like distance running. Certainly P90X and Insanity have played a big part in that transformation, but the DVDs are only part of the equation. The real battle is in the mind: deciding and committing. In order to get into a routine that didn’t take away time from my family I had to start doing my workouts at 5:30 in the morning. I have never been a morning person! Getting up everyday at 5:30am knowing that Tony or Shaun T was going to kick my butt, I consider that to be divine strength.

Deciding to start was the first challenge. Kind of like admitting you have a problem. Sticking with it is the second problem. Especially because I used to be an athlete in high school, it’s easy for me to become discouraged. “Do your best and forget the rest” was critical for me overcoming that hurdle. Didn’t matter how poorly I was doing compared to the people on the video. Very quickly I was encouraged by the numbers on my workout sheet. I was no longer competing with the people on the video, I was competing with myself. Taking the before and after pictures was huge. Having an honest snapshot in time, not the way I choose to remember myself but the way other people actually saw me. For fear of vanity, I normally wouldn’t have done this but Tony stressed it in the P90X getting started disk. The music in Insanity and the occasional encouragement to “dig deeper” is also motivating to push beyond the temporary discomfort.

P90X looked cool on the infomercials, well done. What really sold me though was the fact that my neighbor had a copy that he wasn’t using. I borrowed it for a few weeks to evaluate it. In reality I wasn’t evaluating the disks so much as my ability to incorporate a workout program into my life. I enjoyed having that full-body soreness feeling again, something I hadn’t felt in 15 years. It became a personal challenge, something new to conquer. And even after doing P90X 3 times, the disks continue to be challenging enough to stay motivating. I’m doing Insanity for the 2nd time now.

Always a challenge, but yet not too discouraging. What I didn’t like about P90X was the length. Doing an hour workout + ab ripper X is too long. 60 minutes is the max I can justify before I start to feel guilty that I’m taking away time from my family. That’s my favorite part about Insanity is that very few days go beyond 60 minutes.

http://www.themoehrings.com/index.php/2012/05/dianosis-i-am-insane

http://www.themoehrings.com/index.php/2012/02/ragnar-relay-i-still-dont-like-running
http://www.themoehrings.com/index.php/2012/02/super-spartan-race-been-there-done-that-got-the-t-shirt
http://www.themoehrings.com/index.php/2011/06/p90x-round-2

I look and feel better than I thought I ever would again. People complement me all the time, which is a nice side effect, but was never a motivating reason. I play with my kids in ways that surprise other parents. I experienced first hand that God keeps his promises. And yes, being in shape does make sex even better.  : )