The Shaun T Experience

Last Saturday about 500 people got up real early and drove to Arlington to work out with Insanity's Shaun T. It was a blast!

This was the largest Beachbody event of the year outside the annual coach convention.

Arlington Convention Center, Pre-workout

Beachbody sent members of their Success Story team to interview people who have completed Insanity: The Asylum. Zach gave a lengthy interview about his experience with the program, and I chatted briefly with someone else. So look for us in a future infomercial or online segment on TeamBeachbody.com!

Group workouts this large are a lot of fun. There is so much energy in the room and everyone is excited to be there and work out with the person that's been screaming at them from the television screen all this time. Saturday had a concert atmosphere, with people fighting to get to the front of the stage where Shaun T would be.

But Zach and I have done Asylum, so we knew the last place you want to be is within arm's reach of someone while they're doing Asylum moves. So we parked ourselves at the back where there was plenty of room. And also...I knew that people in the back always get a visit from the trainer. We were in the middle of our basketball jump shot move when Shaun T came by to give me a pat on the back and tell me good job.

This was a tough, tough workout. Asylum is all about sports conditioning, so we were acting like quarterbacks, diving to ground like goalies, and jumping up from plank position to a surfing stance. The scissor kick/Simon Says game just about killed everybody in the room (if he didn't say "jump" and somebody jumped, you started over. And over. And over. It was supposed to be 4 sets of 10 and 40 total jumps, but it was probably more like 60 or 65).

Then we did a pushup pyramid where you had to do 16 military pushups, 16 standard width, 16 wide, then 16 "spider" pushups (stay in plank, alternate bringing each leg up outside your shoulder). Then repeat in reverse, with another round of spiders thrown in at the end, just for fun. I did most of those on my knees.

One older (but fit) lady in front of us was spending quite a lot of time on the ground in child's pose (kind of like the fetal position, for those of you who don't do yoga). Zach walked up and asked if she was alright and she replied, "Hell no I'm not alright!" Then she laughed and got back to it.

Shaun T saved the core moves for the end. I was physically incapable of doing it! Not because I was tired (even though I was), but because core is still a weakness of mine and I cannot hold my legs out in front of me for 30 seconds at a time, like so:

Get after it, people!

After the workout, there was a 45-minute Q&A with Shaun T.

He answered questions about workouts and nutrition, and about how to keep your workouts interesting so that you can keep at it day after day. 

One lady asked how to tackle changing her diet, and he gave some sage advice: Take a piece of paper and make two columns. On one side, write down your favorite foods that you couldn't live without. On the other side, write down the "OMG, I would have to eat that" foods. When you plan your five meals per day, make sure it's mostly from the "OMG" list, but one or two things can be from your favorite list. But you need to cut the portions of your favorite foods in half. 

He said that when he walks down the street in NYC and has to have an ice cream cone, he gets one. But as soon as they hand it to him, he takes a napkin, grabs about half of the giant scoop they gave him, and throws it in the trash. His point? It's not the 1 slice of pizza that's going to do you in, diet-wise. It's the 3 or 4 slices, multiple times a week. Don't deny yourself anything, but eat in moderation.

My other favorite part of his discussion was when he described his complete disbelief at being mistaken for Tony Horton. "He's a 50-year-old WHITE GUY!" he said incredulously. "I give the guy mad props, and I hope that I can do what he does 17 years from now, but c'mon."

And he's right -- even though they're both trainers, and both super-fit, they could not be more different. And that's a good thing! I like both of them, but they appeal to a very different set of people. I'm glad Beachbody has so many different trainers to choose from, because (as Tony says) "variety is the spice of fitness."

We wrapped up the day with a meeting about what Beachbody has planned for the last few months of the year. I'll write more about it later, but it involves Challenges...and discounts on the workout programs. Cool!

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Workout of the Day

P90X One on One, Vol. 3: V-Sculpt