Variety is the spice of life...

....and to me fitness as well.

I have recently come under fire from some people when they hear that I am not following the P90X schedule to a T.

They wonder how I expect to get results or know that the program is working when I don't follow the design of it and do the workouts as laid out. My answer..."I've done it for 90 days and it works!"

Without a doubt P90X is like a well oiled machine! Follow the workouts as laid out (you gotta BRING IT here), truly follow the nutritional guide (which is a must if you want to succeed) and you will see amazing results!

However, I am in Round 2 now. I know what my "trouble areas" are and what I need to do in order to address them. I know that I have some nutrition weaknesses and I am making strides to correct them as well. I also like to change things up and keep my workouts interesting so I incorporate different programs into MY routine based on mood and time.

Beachbody offers a wide variety of programs and I am curious about them. If I see something that looks challenging and fun I want to try it. I don't want to get stuck in a rut and reach a point where I dread certain days of the week because I HAVE to do a certain workout.

Over the past year I have figured out the I love martial arts based routines. I LOVE Kenpo in P90X and have recently tried the Kenpo Cardio+ from the P90X+ series. I have looked into TurboJam and ChaLEAN Extreme more because they seem to be a Cardio Kickboxing type of program and those are fun to me.

My overall goal in my fitness journey is the keep moving, keep burning, challenge myself and most of all HAVE FUN!

This morning I was going through my 10 Minute Trainer stuff and came across Tony Horton's 11 Laws. This is a condensed version of it although I typed out the full REALITY card cause to me it is the most important one. I found it interesting that the first one was VARIETY and thought I would share them all:

Law 1: Variety. Variety is the spice of life and fitness. A lifetime of health and fitness is achievable when you can think outside the box. You have to mix it up all the time. Stay curious, creative, and stick with the kinds of workouts that you enjoy. A variety of exercises, workouts, and sports will allow you to avoid injuries, plateaus, and boredom.

Law 2: Consistency. Improvement and change occur when you do things often. Stopping and starting all the time will kill any momentum you need to succeed. You must find ways to stay in the game. Moderate forms of exercise, done consistently, provide far better results than the occasional full-body pummeling. A lifestyle that includes multiple forms of exercise five to six days a week guarantees results.

Law 3: Intensity. YOU'RE TOUGHER THAN YOU THINK. The fear of pain or injury from working out is a mindset steeped in failure. You must learn to "Find the Line." Do the extra rep or two, increase your range of motion, and increase resistance as you get stronger. Intensity goes hand in hand with Variety and Consistency. The combination of the three work together as a triad that creates a platform for success. The programs provide variety. Your plan will keep you consistent.

Law 4: Purpose. Your purpose is to have a better life. Exercise and eating right help you feel better. When you feel better, you do more. When you do more, you meet other people. A healthy lifestyle gives us the energy to be better than before. We want to participate, share, communicate, and build a community have purpose in our lives. If you had never found Beachbody, you might be right back where you were isolated, with nothing to share, no purpose, because you weren't doing anything with anyone.

Law 5: Reality. If you want positive, long-term change in life, accept the truth of your situation. Let go of your ego and find ways to love who you are right now. Living in the past, the future, and for others destroys your ability to stay in the moment. Life has peaks and valleys, ups and downs, lessons and celebrations. This is how we grow and learn. The way to live in this world is to live in the real world. Lift the burden of having to "keep up with the Joneses" all the time. Stop lying to yourself and everyone else about what you're doing, what you've done, and what you're going to do. Stop telling others about your hard workouts and clean diet while pretending that what you are saying is true. If it is true...guess what? We'll know. Reality is about discovering the truth about the here and now. Reality is the ability to accept your present situation and love who you are through the process.

Law 6: Play. Take the onus off of weight, inches, and body fat percentages and put the focus on MOVING - from dancing, rock climbing, and mountain biking to table tennis. I love that ping-pong! Think in terms of "can do" instead of "look like." Sports are fun and help develop balance and coordination which in turn accelerates your results. Jump, kick, run, spin, throw, skate, shoot, hit, score, compete . . . PLAY!

Law 7: Plan. SCHEDULE ALL WORKOUTS IN ADVANCE. This creates accountability. Plan an entire month ahead of time. Try to schedule as many workouts as possible with friends who have similar goals. WOWY was developed so that we could find an easy and effective way to stay accountable and work out together. Now we've got people in Trumbull, CT (my hometown), doing Power 90 at the same time with people in Hollywood. That is cool!

Law 8: Stress and Sleep. Stressed out, sleep-deprived people don't eat right and exercise regularly. Stress depletes energy, strength, and desire, while poor sleep habits affect your moods and immune function along with cognitive and motor performance. Burning the candle at both ends makes it impossible to be fit and healthy. Don't waste your time on gossip, ridicule, envy, self-pity, anger, guilt, arrogance, impatience, regret, manipulation, jealousy, fear, worry and anxiety. It's too stressful, and it destroys the energy you need to stay healthy and fit.

Law 9: Loving It. Exercise and workouts involve commitment, determination, planning, consistency, and intensity. If you don't like what you're doing, there's no way on earth you'll succeed. Enthusiasm is a very big piece of the puzzle. Get creative and stay curious. If you enjoy doing Power 90 exclusively and it works for you, then keep doing it until it doesn't. If you get part way through P90X and it's not your cup of tea, then stop, and do something else. Something's got to bring you back day after day, week after week. Love it (tolerate it) or leave it.

Law 10: Flexibility. Flexibility is the fountain of youth. Flexible people are much less prone to injury. Yoga and stretching allow you to bring more intensity to your workouts. Flexibility is the key component to becoming less vulnerable and more durable. Aging has a funny way of making everything we do harder. Staying limber and flexible is the way to prevent that from happening.

Law 11: Food and Supplements. You are what you eat! Food and supplements are your fuel. The right fuel supplies proper energy and recovery through balanced brain chemistry. The right supplements simply fill in gaps in your diet. You cannot substitute good exercise for a bad diet. A good diet and exercise have to happen at the same time. If you bring the same level of consistency and discipline to your daily fuel intake as you do the workouts, you'll greatly reduce a lifetime of health risks, improve your overall quality of life, and see greater physical change in a shorter period of time.

I hope reading these 11 Laws helps you on your journey as much as they have helped me on mine!

Why do we want life to be different than it is? Why do we think about who we were and who we're going to be more than who we are? We certainly talk a good game about who we are now. Why do we try to predict the future with the hope that wishful thinking is enough to change it? Life is NOT the way it was. It's the way it is. Life is not our fantasy predictions of the future or our glory days of the past. Life is that thing that is happening to you as you read this. We fall into the trap of living in the past and future because right here is not good enough. Back then and up there are keeping you from right now.