Supplements - Shakeology Review

I have tried Shakeology a couple of times since it was released.  My first experience with Shakeology provided me with some great initial results.  I first tried Shakeology before I was diagnosed with sleep apnea so this was a time when I was struggling with fatigue along with other related issues.  Upon starting Shakeology I almost immediately noticed a difference in the amount of energy I had, especially when I was working out.  Unfortunately for me this did not last.  Upon starting my second bag of Shakeology that it started to have the opposite effect on me.  Instead of having more energy I found that I had less.  When this started to happen I also found that 9 hours (give or take a few minutes) after I took Shakeology I would experience diarrhea  At first I thought I just had some kind of bug but after three days the co-incidental timing of the daily bout of diarrhea made me wonder ...  So I tried a day without Shakeology and found I was feeling better.  I then tried it again and had the same negative results.  I was convinced I must have got a bad bag of Shakeology since these symptoms started the first day I started my second bag.  Beachbody sent me a third bag but the symptoms persisted for me.  I tried reducing the amount I was using over several weeks but could not shake the negative effects I was experiencing.  Only thing I could determine was that there was something in Shakeology that I had developed an intolerance for.  At that point I gave it up.

Last year I decided to give it another try when they released a Vegan version (generally I try to limit my dairy intake).  It had been well over a year since my previous experience with the original Shakeology.  This time I did not use Shakeology every day and I did not experience the same negative effects as I had previously.  However I would also say I did not experienced the same benefits as I had from my first bag, specifically the boost in energy.  Perhaps this difference might in part be attributed to the fact that I was now regularly using a CPAP machine.  I have not used Shakeology since as I have switched instead to a multivitamin targeted at physically active individuals.  I made that change in part due to price.

I have often seen people asking on the web if there are other products they can use instead of Shakeology.  The reason I typically have seen is because of the price.  The other products I have tried are VegaOne and Amazing Grass Amazing Meal.  I could not say that I have experienced any drastic results from these products either.  I started looking for a Shakeology alternative about the time I started my CPAP therapy.  In any case it's not easy to make direct comparisons between these products as they all have so many ingredients.  The ingredients vary from one product to the next and ingredients that are in common vary by amount.  Here are some links from each company's website where you can review the ingredients in each product.

http://images.beachbody.com/tbb/store/shakeology/pdf/ShakeologyCholocateVegan_Ingredients.pdf

https://shopca.myvega.com/vega-one-nutritional-shake.html?simpleid=436

http://amazinggrass.com/product/20/Amazing-Meal-Original-Blend-30-servings.html

Comparing prices is a little easier.  Here are the prices per serving (US) based on the prices on each company's website:

Shakeology $4.33

VegaOne $2.33

Amazing Grass Amazing Meal $2.33

VegaOne and Amazing Meal can be found on other websites for less than they are sold on their corporate websites.  For example I looked them both up on a site I have recently started buying many of my supplements from, vitacost.com.  On that website you could get VegaOne for $1.83 and Amazing Meal for $1.40 (per serving).

Nutrition is a very personal thing so I have a hard time saying you have to try one of these products over another. When I say "personal" I mean that what works for one person does not necessarily work for another.  If you are already taking other supplements, it is conceivable that Shakeology might actually save money for you as it may replace multiple other products you are taking.  Alternatively, you may not need something that packs that much of a punch or you want a less expensive option.  In that case you may want to try another product, perhaps one of the other two I have tried.

What is the Best Foam Roller?

Before I even knew what to do with them, I had a foam roller sitting in my workout area.  I didn't really start to use them until I did P90X2 about a year ago. Tony provides some good guidance for people like myself who had never really done much with a foam roller.

I have had good results from foam rolling.  Having had many areas of my body worked on by a massage therapist I was already familiar with the pain experienced when my therapist found "that" knot that needed to be worked out.  I think that experience makes it easier to know what to look for when I am using the foam roller, or what a knot feels like when I am rolling.  Typical areas I find I need to focus on from time to time include my calfs, IT band, glutes, lower back, neck, lats and wrists.

My first foam roller that I really used was a small one, 13 inches.  It had black foam around a PVC core.  It looks like a Trigger Point foam roller but it is not.  This was a good little foam roller but after using it for a few months the PVC core started to crack.  I tried many times to repair that first crack using PVC cement I had around the house from use on the pool.  Unfortunately the results of doing that were not great.  I repaired that first crack many times.  Eventually cracks started to develop in other spots as well.  Eventually I came to the realization that this roller was no longer usable ...

My First Roller

Beyond Repair ...

So began my odyssey to find a suitable replacement.  I went to the store I originally bought it from and all they had in stock were the large blue foam rollers.  I bought one as they were fairly inexpensive but quickly realized that for me they do not provide enough rigidity.

Within a few weeks I knew I needed something better.  At the time I was in considerable discomfort, I honestly can't even remember what was sore but it was bad and I knew I could fix it with a good foam roller and I wanted relief right away.  I had done some research and was leaning towards the TriggerPoint but I could not find a local retailer that was convenient for me to get to.  One store nearby had a RumbleRoller so I wound up getting a RumbleRoller (blue).  This was a big step up from the blue foam roller.  However there are some things I do not like about the Rumble Roller.  Often I found that the knobs were not quite where I needed them to be when trying to hit "that" spot  Yes, you could kind of hit that spot but it was hard to really fine tune where you were applying pressure.  In addition, for some things, inner thigh for example, the RumbleRoller was just too much for me.  Sometimes it left you feeling like a piece of hamburger ...

The Search for a Successor

Last year my wife says to me that the kids want to know what I wanted for Christmas.  I can't even remember what I said first but she said something like "No, what do you really want?"  My reply was "A Trigger Point foam roller."  So guess what I got for Christmas!  Best gift ever!!

Best Gift Ever!!!

Attempting to Show the Inner Core Reinforcement

Really, 90% or more of my foam rolling I use the Trigger Point.  I find that it has a good density that allows good fine tuning to hit "that" spot with the right amount of pressure.  Reminiscent of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, this one is not too hard, nor is it too soft.  Yes, sometimes I will resort to the blue foam roller or the RumbleRoller but if I had to give up all but one of my rollers, I would keep the Trigger Point, HANDS DOWN.

Working Out and Sleep Apnea

This post kind of goes with my “Working out in Pain” post. 

What is sleep apnea?  Here is a short explanation I found online:

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sleepapnea/

Sleep apnea (AP-ne-ah) is a common disorder in which you have one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths while you sleep.

Breathing pauses can last from a few seconds to minutes. They may occur 30 times or more an hour. Typically, normal breathing then starts again, sometimes with a loud snort or choking sound.

Sleep apnea usually is a chronic (ongoing) condition that disrupts your sleep. When your breathing pauses or becomes shallow, you’ll often move out of deep sleep and into light sleep.

As a result, the quality of your sleep is poor, which makes you tired during the day. Sleep apnea is a leading cause of excessive daytime sleepiness.

Sleep apnea often goes undiagnosed. Doctors usually can't detect the condition during routine office visits. Also, no blood test can help diagnose the condition.

Most people who have sleep apnea don't know they have it because it only occurs during sleep. A family member or bed partner might be the first to notice signs of sleep apnea.

I have sleep apnea and until I was diagnosed a few years ago, working out was a real challenge.  I finally asked my doctor about it because my wife told me that I would often stop breathing when I was sleeping. 

Sleep has many benefits for our minds and body.  Basically when you sleep your body heals itself.  This is in contrast to when you work out.  When you work out you are putting stress on the muscles with results in some break down of the muscle in your body.  When you sleep your body (and the muscles) repair themselves and can get stronger.  With sleep apnea you are not getting the best results you can from working out as your body cannot properly/fully repair.  I suspect this is why I used to have so many pains from working out.  Yes, massage therapy helped me with most of them but I suspect that much of it is due to my apnea.  One day, before I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, I was working out and my sons looks at the DVD and looks at me.  He then says something along the lines of “You’ve been doing this for a long time.  How come you don’t look like the people on the video?”  I actually had no response but I was thinking “I wish I knew”.

Once I got a CPAP machine (aka Vader mask) I immediately noticed improvements in my body from exercising.  I use my CPAP every night.  It makes a huge difference in how I feel.

http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/9-reasons-to-sleep-more

Product Review - Resistance Bands

Well what can I say about bands?  Beachbody sells them and I have bought some but I don’t really use them a lot.   Sure, you can get a good workout with bands but I prefer knowing what weight I am actually using.  Gives me something more concrete to measure when tracking results.  I used to use bands for a long time to simulate pull ups but have since managed to get a setup in my basement to allow me to do real pull ups.  Real pull ups are far superior to using a band in my opinion.  The bands sold by Beachbody are good quality bands but they can be found in stores for far less than Beachbody charges.  I just compared a pink band on Beachbody’s website to one of my favorite stores, Fitness Depot.  The same band at fitness depot is 1/3 the price.  If you want to get a Beachbody program and need the equipment, and you like one stop shopping, by all means get it all from Beachbody.  In my experience their products are good.  If you want to save a few bucks, shop around.  Just make sure you are getting a good quality product.  There are lots of not so good products out there that are cheap (See my first attempt at getting some med balls for an example).

Product Review - Insanity

I have never done Insanity as a program.  Last year I was thinking about getting Insanity it so I could use the routines to replace Plyo and Kenpo in my P90X routine.  My son asked if I could get it for him so he could do it.  Since I was already toying with the idea of getting it for the extra workouts, I went ahead and bought it.  My son lasted about a week and never did it again.  I on the other hand have done every workout in the Insanity program multiple times and still find them challenging.

I’m not sure that I will ever do it as a program but I’m sure it would be a good program to do.

Product Review - 10 Minute Trainer

I bought this for those days when I just would not have the time to devote to a full P90X workout.  The workouts are very fast paced and you will very likely leave a puddle of sweat on the floor if you are going hard.  While it is called 10 Minute Trainer, the program is designed to give you your best results if you do 2 or 3 workouts in a day.  So really you are looking at 35 minutes.  I have not done this a lot but it would be a good starter program for someone just getting into fitness.

I personally found the Yoga workout to be of little benefit.  Not enough time for me to really get into a Yoga workout or feel any benefit from stretching etc.

Product Review - P90X2

P90X2 is another of my favorites.  This program challenges you in different ways.  The program is based on what they refer to as Muscle Integration.  While you are not lifting heavy weights like in P90X you will be doing exercises that require you to use more muscles at the same time like lifting weights while balancing on one leg, or doing push ups on 1, 2 or 4 med balls.  After doing P90X2 for the first time I was concerned that I had lost some strength.  However, I found when I went back to P90X after finishing P90X2 that in my first week I could lift the same weights/reps or in some cases more weight/reps than I did when I finished P90X the time before.  I was really surprised by that.

P90X2 Yoga is shorter than P90X.  I like that!  I also have really benefited from the instruction Tony gives in the recovery and mobility DVD.  I am a huge fan of foam rolling now.

There are a couple of other DVD’s for P90X2 I do not have.  I plan to get them in the future, probably next year.

Great program.

Product Review - P90X

P90X, or Power 90 Extreme is a 90 day workout system.  As with all Beachbody programs I have ordered, there is a diet guide and recommended supplements.  You also require something to allow you to do resistance exercises (bands or dumbbells) and to do pull ups (again bands or a pull up bar)  I have done P90X numerous times and could not say that I have mastered any of it.  Well, maybe Kenpo.  After one round of P90X I had to really up the intensity of Kenpo to feel like I was getting a workout.  On some sets Tony is doing 30 reps and I’m doing anywhere from 60-90 to feel some kind of burn.  I did do some martial arts when I was a kid so maybe that has something to do with it.

P90X has a “standard” week comprising 3 resistance days (Mon., Wed., Fri.), one cardio (or Plyo) day (Tues.), one day of Yoga (Thurs.) and Kenpo to finish of the week.  I used to dislike the Yoga but now I am a fan although shorter would be better.  If Tony would have cut some of the chit chat and sped up the transitions later in the program it could probably save 15-20 minutes.  Actually I have been known to do Yoga by memory and had great workouts and saved that 20 minutes.  The resistance days never really get easier.  If a resistance exercise gets too easy you just up your weight.  Perhaps that is not the case if you are really good at push ups.  I myself struggle with push ups so I have never gotten to the point where a P90X chest workout was easy.  P90X uses different resistance sets at different stages of the 90 days to introduce muscle confusion.  This muscle confusion is in turn supposed to increase the rate of change/improvement.  P90X is not a body building program but it will make you stronger and improve your overall fitness and should provide you with a challenge for a long time.  Get ready for every muscle in your body to ache!

If you get tired of Tony’s jokes there is the option to play the program without having to listen to him speaking other than the prompts as you go from one exercise to the next.  I use that option a lot.  Some of the jokes get a little tired after 100 times … 

Product Review - Regupol Aktiv

I started doing P90X in my basement.   My basement is unfinished and the floor is just painted concrete.   Originally I had some leftover carpet that I used as a workout surface.  While better than concrete this was still not great for some exercises as the carpeting did not provide much padding and was prone to slip. 

A few years ago I found some tiles at Costco that were made out of some type of foam.  I bought a couple of packages to use as a workout surface.   Using some double sided carpet tape to keep the tiles in place, I laid down a floor that seemed to be a big improvement over the pieces of carpet that I was using.  In fact it was a big improvement.  However over time I found it to be a bit too cushy for some exercises and I also found I had to be careful where I was stepping when I was doing things like lunges as I started to create some tears along the edges of the pieces.  Over time I also started to be a little concerned how well the tiles cleaned up.

Last year I found a product called Regupol Aktiv.  While not something you would probably find in most fitness stores I did find this at Fitness Depot in Toronto where I buy a lot of my fitness equipment.  This product can be bought as tiles that are shaped like the ones I found at Costco.  They are however far more durable and designed to be exercised on.  As the rolls came out to cost less per square foot, I went with a roll that was 25’x4’ by ¼ inch thick.  The tiles come a little thicker though at 3/8 of an inch.  My roll I cut in half and laid them side by side to cover an area 12.5’ by 8’.  The material is not really “cushy” but is really good for doing cardio/plyo exercises on.  It provides enough cushion but not too much.  It is also very easy to clean; I typically just use a rag and some warm water with a drop of dish soap.  I have a few pieces of carpet tape underneath to secure to the concrete but I am not sure that it is even necessary.  The product is quite heavy and movement is practically non-existent.  Over time I do start to notice a tiny gap between the two pieces.  Every few weeks I will push them back together.

If I were to buy it again I would give a little more consideration to getting the tile version as it is a little bit thicker or just buying a thicker roll although I am still not convinced I would want to pay the price difference.  Having said that I am very happy with this product as a flooring solution in my home gym.

http://shop.fitnessdepot.ca/Default.aspx?lang=en

http://regupol.com/products/sports-fitness/aktiv/

Product Review - Medicine Balls - TKO vs. FFP

I first bought some med balls when I got P90X2.  While they are used in some other exercises they are primarily used for doing push ups.  This may involve combinations of one, two or four med balls.  Originally I purchased TKO brand med balls.  I was quite disappointed in the TKO med balls.  The density of the balls was not consistent.  As a result when trying to balance on them while doing push ups, the balls were likely to collapse under my body weight. While Tony and the crew in the DVD are halfway through a set, I would often be wasting time trying to find a spot on the med balls that would support my weight.

After a few weeks of that nonsense I bought some more balls, this time a product from FFP (FFP Premium Medicine Balls).  These balls are much better.  With a consistent density I have had no problems with using them for push ups.

If you are looking for med balls you may want to check that the product you are buying has a consistent density and that they will work for whatever purpose you are planning on using them for.

Product Review - SelectTech vs.PowerBlock

OK, this is not really a "vs." review.  I have both products and for some exercises I prefer one over the other.

SelectTech 552

I have had these for a number of years.  I have read some other reviews online where people complained that the dumbbells were cheap and broke easily.  I can see how they might come away with that opinion if they were in the habit of dropping their weights when they were done a set or perhaps slamming them into the stand.  I have been a bit rough with mine at times and slamming them in the stand can cause some of the plastic spacers that hold the weights in place to shift slightly.  This then makes it difficult to adjust the weightw or perhaps to even get them back into the stand.  Manual adjustment on my part has been necessary to resolve this just a handful of times.  My kids have figured it out too.  Don’t slam the SelectTechs … Other than the fact that you need to treat them nice, I like how easy they are to adjust and have also come to appreciate that I can have more weight on one end than what I have on the other.  There is a wrist exercise I do with the SelecTechs that could only be done with that configuration.  In fact all the wrist exercises I do I would need to do with my SelectTechs as I could not do any of them with the PowerBlocks.

http://www.bowflexselecttech.ca/bowflex-selecttech-ca/products/552dumbbells/prdcdovr~100131/Bowflex+SelectTech+552+Dumbbells.jsp

PowerBlocks

While I am generally satisfied with my SelectTech dumbells I found with some exercises that the SelectTech dumbbells were not really well suited due to the dimensions of the dumbells.  Specifically for some exercises a dumbbell that was not quite so wide would allow me to have better form.  The other concern I had with the SelectTech system was that they were not expandable.   A couple of years ago I went ahead and purchased a set of PowerBlocks.  There are different sets for the PowerBlocks, with different starting weights and different expansion options. I have the PowerBlock Sport 9.0 which starts at 50 lbs each.  This year I added the expansion kit to take me up to 70 lbs.  The Sport 9.0 can be further expanded.  PowerBlocks are great when doing combination exercises like push-ups and rows.  I would not try that with my SelectTech dumbbells.  Some other exercises that require you to hold the dumbbells close together are much easier with the PowerBlocks than the Selectechs.  They are not quite as fast to adjust the weight but they are not that slow either.

http://www.powerblock.com/prod_homeuse_sport9stage1.php

Product Review - Wrist Assured Gloves (WAGS)

When I started doing P90X I started to experience a fair bit of recurring pain and discomfort in my wrists.  The workout that seemed to contribute to this pain the most would be Yoga.  Yoga is just over 90 minutes long.  The first half involves a lot of moves with repeated upward and downward dog.  Other moves that put stress on the wrists include some side arm balance moves and crane.  Typically after about half an hour the frequency of these moves would result in my wrists to becoming quite sore.  For a long time I would not even bother trying to do crane (It comes about 45 minutes in) as my wrists were usually too sore.  A few years ago while looking on the web for a solution for my wrist issues I discovered WAGs: Wrist Assured Gloves. 

http://www.wristassuredgloves.com/

WAGs have a gel pad in the palm that helps to alleviate wrist pain.  From their website “The unique shape of the gel pad supports your hand & wrist while the V cut-out eliminates compression on the median nerve where it transverses the wrist”.  I use them not only for Yoga but also for push ups (if I'm not using a bar), exercises in a plank position, or other similar exercises.  I have gone through 3 pairs of WAGs Ultra.  I usually buy a new pair once a year (when my fitness benefit at work renews).  This year I decided to try a new version called the WAG Flex.  The major difference for me was that it has a slimmer gel pad in the palm of the glove.  The price is also a bit less than the Ultra version.  So far I have found them to be working as well for me as the Ultra version although since I got them in my workouts I have not done as much Yoga as I was before.

I would recommend WAGs to anyone that experiences wrist pain from exercising.  While they used to originally target Yoga users, there are a lot of other forms of exercise that can put similar stresses on wrists.  As I said, I use them for more than just Yoga whether in an Insanity or a P90X2 workout.   

Working Out in Pain

So what kind of pain did I have to deal with?  There have been so many let's see if I can remember.

achilles tendon
knees
hips
lower back
shoulders
neck
tennis elbow
wrists

Some of these were pretty constant, others would come and go.  For example Yoga would cause me a lot of wrist pain.  Plyo was hard on the knees.  Resistance days would affect other things like my shoulder or tennis elbow.  Honestly the thing that finally let me to what was at least part of the solution was the tennis elbow.  That pain was quite crippling.  In the summer of 2008 I put a retaining wall up in my backyard.  This was a pretty substantial undertaking consisting of a dump truck full of stone blocks averaging from 200-300 lbs each.  By the time that project was done I could barely lift my arms above my shoulders.  I knew that one of my neighbors was some kind of a therapist.  I had seen him on a local TV station one day where he was giving advice on how to lift weights.   I spoke to his wife one day, found out where he worked and made an appointment.  He specializes in sports injuries.  He is a pretty busy guy so it took about a month before I could get in to see him. Deep muscle massage.  It hurts but it works.

Generally most of the joint pains I have had are caused by muscle tightness and\or muscle imbalance (more flexible on one side than the other).  Every one of the problems I have mentioned has been "fixed" by massage.  I say "fixed" because they can and have flared up again from time to time.  For example if I get sick and miss working out for a few days it's not unusual for me to start to feel a bit of tennis elbow  However I have learned to manage most of these myself using specific stretches shown to me by my massage therapist.  I call those stretches the "Dan Dozen" even though I've never counted them.  I also have some exercises I came up with myself to help with wrists and tennis elbow.

Wrists and tennis elbow.  For me the issues have been caused by the muscles and tendons in my forearms.  apparently sometimes tendons beside each other can "stick" to each other.  Getting them to release can be fairly painful but well worth the trip.

Neck. Most of the pain I have in my neck is due to muscle tightness in a shoulder or in the upper back as well as just tight muscles in the neck.  I broke a collarbone when I was a teenager.  I'm sure my shoulders are not as symmetrical as they used to be and this likely contributes to neck and shoulder pain as well.

Shoulders  For the longest time my shoulders used to click a lot.  I assumed that was just the way it was.  Over time doing P90X I developed quite a bit of pain in my left shoulder.  Again, my massage therapist has helped with that by working on the rotator cuff and all around the shoulder

Hips.  I used to have a lot of hip pain.  This was caused by tightness in the glutes causing a muscle imbalance.  Get rid of the tightness and the hip pain magically went away.

Knees.  My knees used to be quite sore from doing P90X.  I just assumed that I had bad knees and that was just the way it was going to be for the rest of my life.  I resorted to wearing knee braces to provide some support and reduce the pain a bit.  Again I was able to get rid of my knee pain courtesy of my massage therapist.  the knee pain I had was caused by muscle tightness in my hamstrings and calf muscles.  Once we got rid of the knots, the pain went away.

Lower Back.  Again, for me this is primarily muscular.  If I have lower back pain a massage can usually alleviate it.  I do however also go to a chiropractor once a month for maintenance.  I found when I have gone off that schedule with my chiropractor that my back gets worse.

Achilles Tendon. If I ever have achilles tendon pain again I will likely not tell my massage therapist.  Him working on the bottom of my foot was the most painful thing I have ever experienced.  I will just resort to stretches and using some kind of roller on my foot.

I now go and see my massage therapist every couple of months and just have him work on things that have given me a bit of trouble.  Helps keep me in pretty good shape.

My Experience With P90X

Well what can I say about P90X.  I love it!  I loved those Sunday mornings when after having done legs and back on Friday you could barely walk when you got up in the morning.  I also loved those times I had to lift up my legs by the pant leg when getting in or out of my car because they were too painful to move otherwise.  Well, OK, I didn't love that part but I was far too stubborn to quit working out because of a little (or a lot) of pain.  P90X would inflict that pain just about everywhere but the most painful for me was always the legs, presumably because they are such large muscles and you need them to get around.  I could not tell you how many rounds of P90X I have done.  Many. To be honest, I did not get the results you see on the infomercials after 1, 2, or even 3 rounds.  Yes, over time I got better but sometimes I struggled getting through workouts.  Plyo used to just kill me.  I was always tired.  I was tired when I was driving home, I was tired after I worked out.  In the evenings I was OK if I was out doing something but if I sat on the couch I was pretty much done for the evening .Yes, my body changed but very slowly.  Over time I seemed to develop more pain issues to I had to deal with.

My mantra however was this.  I never asked myself if I felt like working out because the answer would almost always be "No".  I just did it.  Typically once I got going I was OK.  So how did I overcome the pain and the fatigue?

My Introduction to Beachbody and My Pal Tony Horton

So after some time doing pilates and using my inherited soloflex I was feeling like I needed something that was a bit more challenging.

Before I continue on here let me make a disclaimer.  I am not a team Beachbody coach.  I have no financial motivation to promote any of their products (not that there is anything wrong with that ...).

One Saturday morning I was watching some more infomercials and discovered P90X by Beachbody and Tony Horton.  I was intrigued.  While I had been working out pretty regularly and always felt better when I did, I wanted more results.  The infomercial promised faster results by using muscle confusion along with challenging workouts.  Unfortunately the time required to do the average P90X workout (1 -1.5 hours) would require me to reschedule my life.  I had P90X sitting in a box for about 3 months before I was able to rearrange my schedule so that I had the time to do it.  At the time I commuted to work by public transit which took 1 hour and 40 minutes door to door.  I needed to get some of that time back to dedicate to working out.  I manged to arrange for a parking pass through my employer.  I already had flexible work hours which allows me to avoid rush hour.  By switching from public transit to driving I manged to cut my one way commute time to approximately 50 minutes.  I also no longer needed to arrange my time around subway and train schedules.  This allows me to commute and have time to workout before dinner.  This schedule has worked well for me ever since.  Honestly I am not 100% sure exactly how long ago this was.  As best as I can remember it would be about 7 years ago when I started doing P90X.

Since getting P90X I have purchased some other Beachbody programs like 10 Minute Trainer, Insanity, P90X2 and Body Beast.

Introduction

This is my fitness schlep.  A schlep is defined as "a long and difficult journey".  Over the years I've seen many infomercials for products that promise fantastic results in a short time, some even proclaiming you can get those results with minimal effort.  As I start this blog I am currently 46 years old.  As a youth I was active in several sports including hockey, lacrosse, rugby and tae kwon do.  Then I got older, married and had some kids.  One morning when I was in my mid 30's, I looked at myself in the mirror after a shower and realizing I did not like what I saw, I said to myself "enough is enough".  That was the day I began my fitness schlep ...

At the time my wife had a pilates DVD called "The Method - Pilates Target Specifics Plus".  I started to use that every morning before I went to work, usually for about 15 minutes.  It has 4 separate sections for a bit of variety.  I could not tell you how long that was my routine for.  After some time I decided that I wanted something a bit more challenging.  After watching an infomercial I purchased some Mari Winsor Pilates workouts.  These were more challenging than "The Method" DVD which was a good thing for me.  Then at some point I "inherited" a soloflex from my brother who had decided to upgrade from that to a bowflex (which I have also since inherited). At this point I started with some resistance training to go along with the pilates.  This was really just the beginning.

My main motivation for this blog is to share some of the struggles I have had with fitness along with some of the solutions.  I will also review some of the products I have used including both equipment and supplements.