Week 11 done! Only 2 more to go!

by Jessica Watters

It feels like yesterday that I saw the UPS delivery truck back into my driveway on that Friday afternoon. 11-1/2 weeks ago my P90X was delivered. I remember my excitement as the UPS man walked up my driveway with the Beachbody cardboard box. Nestled inside, was another box with the P90X logo on top. As I opened the box, I saw the picture of the P90X set and the words "This is your gym for the next 90 days..."

There I found my dvds packed ever so carefully in a dvd wallet and my nutrition and exercise guides. Everything looked so cool. I couldn't wait to start.

I had been using a borrowed copy and now I finally had my very own. I promised myself I was going to stick with it and do everything right.

For years I had been a personal trainer, group exercise instructor and Pilates instructor. I used to teach 12 classes per week, plus train private clients 6 hours per week. I loved it. I was finally living my dream, not working in an office anymore. No need to dress up. I could take the kids to the gym with me, and my clients came to my home in the wee hours of the morning.

I was in the best shape than I had been in long time. But this all changed when I got pregnant with our third son. Suddenly training clients at 5 am wasn't so appealing or even felt possible. My 12 classes got tough to handle, so I cute them back to 5. I was in great shape for being pregnant. My plan was to get right back to where I left off after the baby arrived.

The funny thing about our plans is that they always seem to get changed though. My plan of having my baby start taking a bottle, along with being breastfed, backfired. He wanted nothing to do with the bottle at all. This left me in a quandary of how I could take him to the gym with me. If he got hungry, they couldn't interrupt my class and bring him to me. The gym I worked for had strict rules about no children in any areas except for the babysitting room.

So I had to drop my classes and stick to private clients who didn't mind me bringing an infant. This turned out to be a good arrangement, but when you train clients, you really don't get to work out. Its more of you helping them with exercises and coaching them.

I managed to squeeze in some walking, I also started teaching a baby & me Pilates class. And even though this helped get rid of the baby fat. I still wanted more.

As my son got older, it became more difficult to bring him with me to clients' homes. So I started teaching classes at night again and during the day, where he could come. I just started teaching a Pilates class at the gym, when I found out I was pregnant again. Normally, I would have continued teaching the class, but it was far, and it wasn't paying very well. So I wound up leaving in order to train private groups and a dance class I was teaching at my friend's studio.

After the birth of my daughter in 2008, I really wanted to get back in shape again. She turned out to be another baby who refused to take a bottle, so I knew that going back to teach classes in a gym was out of the question. I continued teaching baby & me classes at my friends studio, but again still wanted more.

I always saw the commercials for P90X and really wanted to try it, but my excuse for not buying it was that I was a personal trainer and exercise instructor, I should be able to design a routine for myself.

Its funny, but after you are done teaching others how to become fit, you just blank out when it comes to you. I wanted someone to do the thinking for me, but I would quickly put that idea out of my head.

Again, its funny how life works because if I had stayed with just two kids, I would have never left teaching the 12 classes, and I would never have been looking at P90X as a workout. And I would have never became a Team Beachbody Coach.

P90X has been a "God-send." I was going through a rough winter, my mood was dark and gloomy. My diet started getting too high in carbohydrates. Doing these workouts and following the nutrtion guide has not only brought me back to the shape I was in in 2004, but has also made me feel better emotionally by lifting my spirits.

Making it to week 11 has been a big accomplishment for me. I almost thought I couldn't make it through week 1 because of the kids. But each week got better and better, and I have been able to get my workouts in without skipping one.

I am totally looking forward to doing another round of P90X. Just because you finish your first round doesn't mean its the end. You can keep bringing it and keep pushing play.