Quick 2009 Summary

  Well, I told you I was going to summarize my 2009 for you, so why not over breakfast.  Let's get it over with.

  So, as mentioned, I started 2009 weighing around 230 lbs.  A friend of mine told me about the Men's Health Belly Off! diet.  I had great success with this program.  It was basically a nutrition plan which provided great food, recipes and a shopping list every week.  It involved 3 workouts a week which were very doable and not overly long.  I really enjoyed this program, and followed it to a T for about 3 months, and had amazing results.

  After getting into a little bit better shape, I was told about a DVD home fitness program called P90x.  This program was a MAJOR increase in the intensity and frequency of the program, but I fell in love with it and jumped in head first.  It is a 91 day program during which you workout 6 or 7 days a week for 13 weeks.  This program is incredible, and I still do some of the workouts from time to time.  I found that, though, after a while, I didn't want to put the 1:20+ a day, 6 times a week into the program.  It got to be cumbersome, and it seemed that I was spending all my life outside work at the gym.  I will go back to doing some of the workouts, but I don't know if I will do the program all the way though again, despite having a lot of fun doing it, and amazing results.

  At the end of the summer, I decided to invest in a program, again for Beachbody, called Insanity.  This program lived up to its name.  The workouts are short and sweet (the longest one is MAYBE an hour), but they get the job done.  The programs are body weight and cardio based, which I liked, because it meant that there was no need for weights, bars, bands, or anything.  There were a LOT of push ups, squats, jumps, burpees, etc.  I don't think I have ever sweat as much as I do/did when I do these worktouts.  I plan on interspersing the workouts through my Ironman training.  I may, actually, try to include the workouts in the mornings for the first 2 months of my training (as it is a 60 day program...)

  So that was my 2009.  I managed to drop from a max of 230 lbs down to a minimum of 180 lbs.  After not working out for most of October, November and December, I was back up to 190 lbs, where I am now.  Ideally, for my first triathlon (details to follow), I will be down to a race weight of around 175-180 lbs.

  As I said, more information about my first triathlon to follow...  later today.