Starting T25 on Monday. Any advice?

russellvolk
russellvolk Posts: 102 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everyone,

I did Power 90 couple of years ago and had great success. Then life got in the way and I gained some of the weight back, but not all of it. I tried starting Power 90 several times over the past couple of years, but keep getting hurt and injured. So I decided to try T25. I did several exercises in the Alpha phase and they seem doable.

Any advice? I need to nail it this time.
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Replies

  • niuturtle
    niuturtle Posts: 4 Member
    Don't know what T25 is but good luck!!
    Is it a DVD series or an app?
  • evab25
    evab25 Posts: 9 Member
    T25 is great!!! I had done p90x when it came our and bought another one of the beach body programs a few years later (the name alludes me). I also had knee surgery around that time and found I got frustrated & hurt when doing some of the p90x exercises.

    My husband is a firefighter and one of his coworkers had lost around 90 lb & literally transformed his life and body with t25, so that motivated my husband to try it last year. He is a fairy trim fellow but he stl lost 25 or 20 lb by doing the exercises religously AND eating healthy (he eliminated most carbs). He looked the best he ever has & felt great!!

    We both started this year and I think the first few weeks are the hardest. ..just stick with it! My goal was to not hurt myself, so in beginning I usually set my goal of completing 10-15 minutes; I often surprised myself by completing the whole thing! 25 minutes really is very do-able!! :)

    Just listen to your body is the best advice I can give. I followed the modified version (they always give you someone to follow, which is wonderful and helps with my knee problems).

    Good luck and I hope you enjoy it!!!
  • evab25
    evab25 Posts: 9 Member
    Oh...and don't skip to the beta phase too early or you will get hurt! Just follow the program guidelines :)
  • fiddletime
    fiddletime Posts: 1,862 Member
    I did alpha, beta and gamma last year. Am on body beast now. I had been out of shape for 4 months when I started so it was a great way for me to get fit. I had to use the modifyer for the first 2 weeks.
  • jeremywm1977
    jeremywm1977 Posts: 657 Member
    evab25 wrote: »
    Oh...and don't skip to the beta phase too early or you will get hurt! Just follow the program guidelines :)

    Don't skip the Beta or Gamma phases, but you can skip the Alpha.
    For me, I found the Alpha to be a waste of time.
  • jdhcm2006
    jdhcm2006 Posts: 2,254 Member
    I would stick with Tanya, the modifier, for the first few times. Follow the program as outlined and you'll have success. It's a good program.
  • russellvolk
    russellvolk Posts: 102 Member
    Thanks for the advice guys. Today is the first day. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
  • msangelaf
    msangelaf Posts: 4 Member
    russellvolk wrote: »
    Thanks for the advice guys. Today is the first day. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.


    good luck Russell - I'm on week 4 now and love it! I actually find myself looking forward to doing it when I get home from work - unheard of previously :)
  • Soundwave79
    Soundwave79 Posts: 469 Member
    The Alpha is very heavy on lower body. You're calves, shins, and arches are going to ache ridiculously. But I don't concur with jeremywm1977 above. The Alpha serves an important purpose of building up your lower foundation and core for the Beta phase which starts to incorporate much more upper and weights. During the Alpha you just need to make sure you are stretching ALOT. Before the vid, during the vid, and after. I tweaked an achilles doing the switch kicks and ended up limping around for weeks because I try to do Alpha cardio cold without stretching first. I learned a hard lesson. It's a great program but the lack of warm up/stretch phase like Insanity has is dangerous for people just jumping into fitness.
  • jeremywm1977
    jeremywm1977 Posts: 657 Member
    Soundwave79 wrote: »
    The Alpha is very heavy on lower body. You're calves, shins, and arches are going to ache ridiculously. But I don't concur with jeremywm1977 above. The Alpha serves an important purpose of building up your lower foundation and core for the Beta phase which starts to incorporate much more upper and weights. During the Alpha you just need to make sure you are stretching ALOT. Before the vid, during the vid, and after. I tweaked an achilles doing the switch kicks and ended up limping around for weeks because I try to do Alpha cardio cold without stretching first. I learned a hard lesson. It's a great program but the lack of warm up/stretch phase like Insanity has is dangerous for people just jumping into fitness.

    I guess skipping Alpha is just my personal preference. It's not something I would recommend to everyone. If you are just starting with T25, or just starting with exercise altogether, then go ahead and do Alpha. Even with that said, I wouldn't do Alpha for more than 2 weeks, as opposed to the 4 weeks if you go according to their included calendar. If you're somewhat in shape or if this isn't your first Shaun T rodeo, then you might find Alpha kind of slow and boring.

    Beta and Gamma is when *kitten* starts to get real, and the *kitten* kicking begins. Believe me, there is plenty of lower body workout stuff going on in Beta and Gamma that you won't really miss Alpha.

    Again, this is my two cents from my experience with not only T25, but also Insanity, Insanity MAX, and both volumes of Asylum.......results may vary.
  • russellvolk
    russellvolk Posts: 102 Member
    Thanks for your advice. I finished Day 3 today of Alpha, which is Total Body Circuit. That routine totally kicked my *ss. Even the modifier was tough for me. I succeeded maybe at 25% of the workout. I'm hoping to get stronger as the time goes on and it will get easier. I can't imagine myself moving to Beta anytime soon, because I'm struggling big time with Alpha. But I do like the workouts and I do love the fact that it's only 25 minutes.
  • sxymom99
    sxymom99 Posts: 41 Member
    You will get stronger. Just do the best you can every day, and you will be surprised by the end of Alpha how much more you can do! :-) I started very modified since I was only 2 wks after having a baby. But I gained muscle like crazy! I have done all 3 rounds, and am 20+ lbs bellow pre-pregnancy weight now! Stick with it.
  • gunrock1970
    gunrock1970 Posts: 45 Member
    Total Body Circuit kicks everybody's *kitten*. I have seen a Shaun T youtube video where he claims it's the hardest workout in T25. You will get better at it but having done a couple of rounds of T25, TBC still kicks my *kitten*.
  • russellvolk
    russellvolk Posts: 102 Member
    Thanks for encouragement. I look at it this way. Even if I do 25% of the workout initially, it's still better than doing nothing at all. Hopefully once I get stronger, that percentage number will go up. I did Ab Intervals today and I probably succeeded at about 50% of the workout. I'm not striving for perfection. I'm striving to be consistent and give it all I got. Progress will come with dedication... I hope.

    What if after 5 weeks, I'm still struggling with these workout and using the modifier a lot, should I still move on to Beta or continue with Alpha until I can nail it?
  • sxymom99
    sxymom99 Posts: 41 Member
    Move to Beta! I was scared to move up a level too, because I was still dying with Alpha I thought. But I was glad I did, because it almost seemed easier. As weird as that sounds. It's just different is all.
  • russellvolk
    russellvolk Posts: 102 Member
    I guess since the workout is pretty difficult for me now, I have a hard time envisioning myself moving on to Beta, but hopefully in 5 weeks, it will seem move feasible. Thanks.
  • gunrock1970
    gunrock1970 Posts: 45 Member
    When you get to the end of Alpha move on to Beta (I dare you not to freak out the first time you do Speed 2.0!).

    When you get onto the end of Beta, try Alpha again; you'll be able to do more of it without modifying and if you go harder at it, you'll still be getting a good workout.
  • russellvolk
    russellvolk Posts: 102 Member
    gunrock1970 wrote: »
    When you get to the end of Alpha move on to Beta (I dare you not to freak out the first time you do Speed 2.0!).

    When you get onto the end of Beta, try Alpha again; you'll be able to do more of it without modifying and if you go harder at it, you'll still be getting a good workout.

    That's a good advice. Thanks.
  • SparklySarah412
    SparklySarah412 Posts: 74 Member
    gunrock1970 wrote: »
    Total Body Circuit kicks everybody's *kitten*. I have seen a Shaun T youtube video where he claims it's the hardest workout in T25. You will get better at it but having done a couple of rounds of T25, TBC still kicks my *kitten*.

    This is so true! I've just started week 5 of alpha and I have to do 3 rounds of TBC this week. Imo it's by far the hardest workout of the whole program.

    I love T25, this is actually the second time I'm doing it, I completed last summer and loved it. So a few weeks ago when my office gym flooded and I had to start working out at home instead I decided to start T25 again from the beginning. I think once I finish the this time I will probably buy the gamma.

    I must admit I prefer the beta to the alpha because alpha is very Cardio based, but it gives you a great level of fitness. My running pace has definitely improved since starting T25 again for example. I was very tempted to skip to beta this week especially with there being 3 lots of TBC in week 5 but I can't bring myself not to do it properly lol

    My favourite workout of the whole program is speed 2.0, the time just flies by on that one. Really looking forward to it next week!
  • ehrenlynae7
    ehrenlynae7 Posts: 63 Member
    No advice but I started this program today as well. One workout is in the books. I have had some knee issues so I stuck with the modifier most of the time.

    Good luck!

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