After the workout we had very little time to clean up and head to the exclusive Diamond Coach reception.  This was an event that was limited to diamond coaches and above.  Here I had an opportunity to feel extra special as the guest trainers were Tony Horton and Debbie Siebers from Slim in 6.  I shared a beverage with Carl Daikeler and Jon Congdon the founders of Beachbody.  I hit it off really well with Debbie and her boyfriend Tom.   The poor guy was taking pictures of her and her fans for the two days.  It was comical in a way but he was being a good sport.  The night ended around 1 am in Blake Warrington’s (upline coach)suite where we discussed strategy moving forward and where we all wanted to be within the company.  See anyone can be a coach but not everyone can be dedicated so I look for people that believe in the products first.  We got about 6 hours of sleep and to be honest after having a few cold ones the night before I wasn’t looking forward to Insanity.   I was actually nervous because I was a little under the weather and I knew I was gonna get my butt kicked.  The workout was so intense that I fell to my knees during the last 10 minutes and could barely breath!  Damn I thought after doing two rounds of P90X and 1 round of RevAbs that I would be in awesome shape.  After the workout we had a chance to meet Shaun T and take a couple pictures with him.  There was about a 1 hour gap between the workout and the breakout sessions.  That morning they were letting us try Shakeology for breakfast and I have to admit it was fantastic!  The chocolate was the best because they added peanut butter and banana’s to it.  I am now a big fan and include it in daily meals.  They let you order it as a Home Direct so shipping is free!  I had a chance to shower and make it to the first session which was about Shakeolgy.  After Shakeology we moved to a few more breakouts where we learned more about the business and the opportunities in the future.  We were given about 3 hours before the awards dinner so I went up to the room and crashed falling a sleep to golf.

The dinner was fast approaching and I had an opportunity to sit at a table with Debbie Siebers and the table next to us had Tony Horton and Brett Hoebel.  I didn’t win any awards that night but I enjoyed one hell of a dinner and good conversation.  Lots of money was given out that night including 2 checks for $120k each!  Oh that was just there bonus checks and didn’t even include all the other ways they were paid.  The ceremony also included future workout programs like TurboFire and Body Gospel, the new Diamond Pack, future award trips and the 25K winners of the success club.

We stayed up once again until 1 am and got up early to make it to the last day of the summit.  This was the most important day for me because Chalean, Tony, Carl, and motivational speaker Darren Hardy spoke to us.  There were a few other key note speakers but the few listed were the most intriguing.  Chalean discussed better business practices and how social network sites can help grow your business.  Tony discussed his 11 laws and Carl closed it out with a fantastic message and gave me confidence that Beachbody is not going anywhere.  Why?  Well because Beachbody has been around for over 15 years and they didn’t even get into the affiliate program until 2 years ago.  Darren Hardy was good as well and he gave us some good information on how to keep striving for success.  The funny thing was when he presented his little package of videos and books.  I knew it was coming but I guess everyone has to make a living.  We wrapped up at noon and had 9 hours to kill before my red eye back to Grand Rapids, MI.  My friends Brad and Andrea had never been to LA so we headed to Beverly Hills for some lunch.  Sitting on the patio in the hills made me think that someday I want to live this life.  Not the rich high class life but not having to worry about money at the end of the day.  I think I counted over 100 Porsche’s, 20 Ferrari’s, 10 Lamborghini’s, and random high end Bentleys and Rolls Royce.  We checked out the Kodak theatre and the street performers before finishing off with a tour of the celebrity homes.  If there wasn’t anything more motivating then to see some of the sizes of homes and how people lived out here.  We got back after an hour and a half and headed to the airport.  Shared a few moments of the weekend and headed off home to Grand Rapids.  The red eye was not fun but the face on my little girl and boy as I approached the waiting area was amazing!  Keep pushing play and try a program out already!

Items needed to do Core Synergistic are a mat, weights or bands, and some sort of plate or cardboard.  I really never used a plate or cardboard and still got results so no worries.  The workout is approximately 55 minutes and consists of 19 moves and 3 bonus moves.  I will not explain every exercise as that would bore you and me as well so I will list a few and explain some of my favorites.  My job as a coach is to get you excited about P90X not bore you with what kind of pain you will be in.

Some P90x exercises consist of Banana Rolls, Lateral Skaters, Prison Cell Push Ups, Superman Banana and Dreya Rolls.  Now when I did this my first time through I had used some lighter weights and they were not effective so make sure you have a couple different sizes for a quick switch.  The easiest P90X exercise is probably towel hopping and I think that’s pretty self explanatory.  Put a towel on the ground and jump over it from left to right.  My favorite is Prison Cell and Superman Banana.

Prison Cell is hard as hell because you do a push up then go down but on the way up you try and touch your left knee to your head, put that back then go opposite leg and then go down for another push up.  That’s a one count folks and that’s why I love it but hate it.  Just like Ab Ripper X, you hate it but you love the results!

Superman Banana is fun but very challenging because you start out on you stomach with legs and arms raised like you superman.  Then Tony tells you to switch and you flip on your backside and make a banana shape with your arms and legs.  For a few turns he gives you 10 seconds on each but then drastically picks up the pace to every 5 seconds.  Talk about core work on your back and abs.  It definitely gets you ready for Back and Biceps!

There are so many fun exercises in this workout that you will love so get ready to engage your core.  For anyone that has never done this workout just try your best and stick with all the P90X exercises as it will get better.  I have been fielding several questions on where to get the enhanced guides from so click here if you want them.  For anyone that is still skeptical don’t be, it’s a fitness program that has been proven for more than 6 years.  Worst case scenario is look into the free beachbody account at the top left corner of my site and see what others are saying.  Here you will also be able to look at meals and win daily prizes. Good luck and let me know if you need any help.

So the workout entails lots of pull ups and curls within a 50 minute workout so make sure your chair is handy.  When I started P90X I couldn’t even do one and the majority that are thinking of starting P90X will not be able to do one either.  Sometimes I wish I would have started RevAbs first to break myself in but my results were awesome so no complaints.  By the time you start Back & Biceps you will be in week 5 so you should be used to the motion of it.  With that being said the first workout is wide front pull ups.

Wide front pull ups are one of the most difficult because your arms are spread out and you can’t keep control.  For the majority of the workout try and stick with lighter weights because you are doing 24 different exercises and half are curls.  I think 15 to 20 pound weights are safe but you can always bump up if you’re not hurting by the 7^th or 8^th rep.  Pull ups are done every 4^th workout and the other P90X exercises consist of switch grip, corn cob, towel pull ups, chin ups and a max rep pull up.  Does this sound like fun or what!

Of course in between these pull ups are curls and Tony Horton gives you 9 different moves of curls so no repetitiveness here.  They consist of 1 arm body curls, 1 arm concentration, static arm, crouching curls, corkscrew’s, hammer and in and out’s.  OUCH!  If you want huge biceps then this workout is a mans dream but for women its good for the extra arm fat.  Remember that if you do more reps (12-15) then you will lose fat but if you do less reps (8-10) with heavy weights then you will build muscle.  There are a couple other exercises that I left out but are still challenging.  You get to do lots of lawnmowers, back flies and my favorite superman.

When you think you’re all done you still get to do Ab Ripper X for another 15 minutes.  That’s why I recommend that you stick with a lighter weight even though as a guy you can probably lift more.  I think the workouts that get you prepared the most for Back & Biceps is Yoga X and Shoulders & Arms.  This is the reason why they are incorporated at the beginning of the P90X program.  If you would like more details on gaining more muscle and eating healthy meals then click here.  Remember that working out is half the battle but to look fit you have to stay true to a healthy meal plan.

Have you ever wondered what to do once you’ve conquered P90X?  Are you still skeptical about P90X? It’s easy to keep up the intensity level of P90X with the One on One with Tony Horton series.  Get up close and personal with Tony as he takes you behind the scenes to show you what he does to keep in shape in his home.   No sets, no cast, NO MERCY.   Everything you loved about P90X is here, with lots of Tony’s trademark humor that’ll keep you laughing even while he’s taking you to the limits of “muscle confusion” for more X-level results.   Plus a lot of the workouts are shorter in length, to help you create a custom-tailored schedule to get in the best shape ever.  Tony will automatically Bring It to your front door in a new and crazy way every month. You’ll get a convenient collector’s wallet to store your DVDs, plus you’ll get free surprises like cool fitness gear and other killer workouts sent to you throughout your subscription.  So check out One on One with Tony Horton for just a penny while the deal lasts—this March only.  Whatever your needs are you cant lose on this deal so try it NOW!

Mix and mash all three ingredients into a bowl. Spoon onto a sheet of wax paper. Roll up the contents into a hot dog shape.  Stick in the freezer. Ready in about 90 minutes. Cut off little bites or eat the whole thing. Eat it frozen or throw it in the microwave for 10 seconds. Serves 2.

The video lasts about 58 minutes with almost 12 minutes of warm up and 4 minutes of cool down.  The most important thing Tony Horton wants you to remember is “Don’t bang your joints”.  Some of the warming up is quite tedious but definitely worth it because its lots of movement in a short period of time.  The first round is twist and pivot with no punches but just twist your body from left to right and keeping your arms tucked into your sides.  This sets the foundation for the next 5 exercises in this round.  Each exercise in this round consists of 50 times each or 25 per side.  The next is twist & pivot with uppercut hooks.  So imagine doing a hook then a uppercut and then switching your feet.  The whole time your rotating your feet and doing one hook/uppercut on each side.  The next exercise are jabs and that’s self explanatory but your still do 25 on each side.  When I mean each side I mean that you punch 25 times leading with your right arm and right leg and then switch leading with your left arm and left leg.  Jab cross is next and its a quick jab and then a quick left punch.  Jab/cross/hook is next and remember that you are switching your feet until you hit 50 reps.  The next exercise I couldn’t grasp for a few times but it is a combo of a Jab/cross/hook/uppercut.  I think its all the switching and twisting but now I’m a pro at it and you will be too.  In this P90x workout they give a 1 min/15 second break but its not technically a break. 
Its called an active break which means your running in place and doing jumping jacks. Great time for a break Huh! Well on to round 2 which involves more punching and uppercuts. So the next series starts and your already exhausted from all of that and then Tony wants you to keep going.

I will not hit every exercise in this workout but will highlight every round with a little detail.  Round 2 is up and here your still doing some jabs and upper cuts but then the legs start getting a workout.  Knee kicks are pretty fun but there fast so keep up or get ready to hit the pause button.  Ball kicks and side kicks are also in this round and its fun and helps with your flexibility unless your already flexible from Yoga X.  The most fun in this round is the coordination you need with jab/cross switch and hook/uppercut switch.  You feel like a true fighter after this series.

After almost a few minutes of jumping jacks, running in place and X jacks the next round starts.  Back kicks  and three direction kick are pretty self explanatory so need to explain those two.  The next is high sword/low hammer which is easy.  You make your hand into a sword and swing at throat level then as you come back make a fist and punch in the stomach level for a one count.  Step drag/claw low punch is fun and easy as well.  It involves a claw to the face and then a low punch to the gut.  Its interesting because these moves seem really easy but the next day your arms are sore.  Don’t worry Beach body makes one heck of a recovery drink!

One more set break and then the best part of the whole video which involves 5 different types of block.  So you get into a horse stance and each move consists of 30 times.  High blocks is up first so imagine blocking someone that is like 2 feet taller than you and you have to block all those punches.  A series of Inward blocks, Outward blocks, Downward blocks and Star blocks follows each consisting of 30 reps.  You kind of feel like a happy monkey waving your arms all over with fast repetitions.  The good thing is that if you have done your chest and back workout this part wont be very difficult.

Last series of workouts consist of everything you just learned but in a combination move.  Kenpo X is going to teach you a lot of cool moves in  short period of time.   So after your last ”break” you do a quick 50 rep high block low punch.  Next is a knee kick combo with a back kick for 30 reps.  The next move I will explain because its easy once you get the hang of it.  Think of it as getting rid of 4 people attacking you at once.  A combo of knuckles(form at T with arms while making a fist), then ball kick(kicking in front of you), then a back kick for a one count.  Next is a hook/uppercut/ low side kick and then an elbow series which is a combo of all 5 block moves from the last round.  Last and finally the best way to end the workout is vertical punches.  Get in your horse stance cause your punching 150 times as fast as possible.   Cool down is 4 minutes and everyone is sweating like hell.

I’m a coach for several reasons and the main one is to answer any questions that you may have and teach you a life transformation.   If you do have the program and need more ideas for eating healthy then check out some meal ideas.  No more excuses!