T25 and Working Out at Home

   At the end of high school I enjoyed running. I went three times a week with my good friend Lisa, and we both got really good at it. Being able to run 5km without stopping to take a break just felt awesome. I had never felt so good about myself. 
    Winter then came, and the next summer I didn't run as often, and then of course came college, and working out just happened to be, well, work. So I didn't really do it unless it consisted of dancing mats in front of the TV. (DDR, in case you were wondering.)
    It wasn't until a few years later, when I went to my first Zumba class, that I realized working out can be fun. I really had no idea what to expect, and I was really just going for moral support for my friend Jen who didn't want to go alone.
    Turns out it was AMAZING. Not only was Zumba itself fun, but the instructor ROCKED. She was so energetic, positive, and had such amazing, contagious energy that spread into the audience, making everyone have a much better time than any other Zumba class put together. I was addicted. I went to Zumba twice a week for almost 2 years, and it was even better than running. It was fun, and it made me sweat. Awesome. 
I began feeling that I wanted to work out more than twice a week, but I didn't want to have to get a gym membership, or run outside in the winter. The only other option that I could think of was just go to more Zumba classes, but um, that's expensive.
    My friend Lyndsay told me about Beachbody, and its amazing workout-at-home programs you can do. I was skeptical at first, but decided to purchase the Turbofire DVD set, as it seemed to be similar to Zumba, so I thought that I would have fun with it. And I did have fun with it. It was great, it was an awesome workout, and some of the classes did in fact have a Zumba feel to them. I was able to work out every day, and it was great. But I didn't stay in the routine as long as I anticipated, and I actually got almost completely out of the workout groove.
    That's when Lyndsay, again, introduced me to T25. A 25 minute workout program with Shaun Freaking T. I wasn't sure if I would like it; I was afraid it was going to be crazy hard like Insanity, but since all of my friends were getting it, I thought being able to share our progress throughout it all would make it easier and a hell of a lot more fun. And let me tell you, I don't even need my friends' support and progress updates to make this easy and fun. Not that it doesn't make it MORE fun, but um, no, Shaun T is all I need to get through this program. I instantly fell in love and I am more addicted to T25 than I was to Zumba when I first stepped into that rec centre. 
   T25 is NOTHING like Zumba. It isn’t dancy, and really, it isn’t “fun”. It’s a hard, intensive workout that requires a lot of dedication and personal drive. But because Shaun T is the one telling me what to do, I think it’s fun. I like his attitude, and the way he stares at me through the TV like he is actually in my basement, making me push it as hard as I can.  I feel like a bad ass when I do these workouts, and I am always proud of myself for completing them and showing them who’s boss. I am a new, better me with these workouts.
    The thing that I like about DVD workout programs, is I can do them whenever I want. Sure, you drop 100 to 150 bucks on a set, but you only pay that once. And then it’s yours forever and you can do it every day if you want, for as long as you want. Plus you have the freedom of being able to workout WHENEVER you want. You can get up early the in the morning and do it before work. If you’re too tired to get up, you can do it after work. If you have to go grocery shopping after work, and you’re starving when you get home and need to make a dinner, that’s ok too, because you can do it before bed! And if you are too sick or tired or busy to do a workout at all, you can just do it the next day! You don’t have to worry about missing a day on a limited membership, because the DVDs are YOURS.
   For some people, this cuts the motivation, and they can’t bring themselves to workout, since it’s at home, and no one is there to see whether they actually worked out or not. When I went to Zumba, I thought that I would never be able to do a workout at home. I always said that if I was tired at home, I would just stop, but because I was in a class, I didn’t want to stop when I got tired and have everyone in the class watch me give up. That was another reason why I went to Zumba. Support and motivation. But now that I have found a workout program that am IN LOVE WITH to no end, I don’t find it hard to motivate myself. It’s easy to pop that disc in the DVD player and hit play, and work out with Shaun T. And if there comes a day that I can’t work out, I do two workouts the next day to make up for it. Because, sure, it’s not a class that people can notice me missing from, but it’s MY class. It’s MY workout that I care about, and I know that I have missed a day. So I make it up to prove to MYSELF and no one else that I can do this. That I am dedicated. That I can be a better person. A better person with a tight stomach. :p

Pickle Out