We’ve talked recently on the SeenOnTV Express blog about ways to look slimmer with no effort (Kymaro Body Shaper for women and Slim T for men) and ways to improve muscle tone with little effort (Flex Belt and Flex Mini).  Though there are many As Seen On TV exercise videos and equipment that are low-impact and moderate intensity, perhaps the hottest selling infomercial exercise videos are the extreme workout routines from Beachbody.

Among the best selling Beachbody videos are Insanity with Shaun T. and Tony Horton’s P90X.  Recently, Shaun T. released a new version of his popular Insanity workout entitled The Asylum, a thirty-day sports training workout.  Now, Tony Horton and Beachbody are expanding their offerings for die-hard P90X fans with the release of P90X2.

P90X2 is more than just a new set of workouts to replace P90X; it is designed to build on the successful transformation of those who have completed P90X by increasing agility and athleticism.  P90X was created to transform bodies into the best shape of their lives, replacing fat with muscle through a technique of Muscle Confusion.  P90X2 continues with Muscle Confusion but also incorporates Post-Activation Potentiation (P.A.P.), a groundbreaking exercise technique based on two additional years of research and development by the fitness experts and sports scientists at Beachbody.

P.A.P. essentially combines heavy strength training with plyometric exercise to engage more muscles during and after a workout.  This explosive combination increases stamina, agility, core strength, and overall athleticism.  P90X2 is not designed as a replacement for the original P90X; it is not simply more of the same.  Rather, P90X2 takes fitness to the next level.

In this video, Tony Horton explains the difference between the original P90X and the all new P90X2:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubc1AQwSi1k

Because the P90X2 workouts are completely new and different from the previous series, new equipment may be necessary.  When you order the P90X2 workout kit, you have your choice of three packages, depending on what equipment needs you may have:

• P90X2 Base Kit:  12 workout DVDs, 1 How to Bring It Again DVD, P90X2 Workout Guide, P90X2 Nutrition Guide, P90X Workout Calendar
• P90X2 Deluxe Kit:  everything included in the Base Kit plus a foam roller, two 8-pound medicine balls, a premium stability ball, and two additional extreme workouts:  V-Sculpt and Chest + Shoulders + Tris
• P90X2 Ultimate Kit:  everything included in the Deluxe Kit plus Tony Horton’s PowerStands

The twelve P90X2 workouts use strength training, plyometrics, yoga, and core strength exercises and routines based on Muscle Confusion, but they incorporate P.A.P. to take your workout beyond the original transformation of P90X and into increased athletic ability, stamina, strength, and agility.  P90X2 workouts include:

• X2 Core
• Plyocide
• X2 Recovery + Mobility
• X2 Total Body
• X2 Yoga
• X2 Balance + Power
• Chest + Back + Balance
• X2 Shoulders + Arms
• Base + Back
• P.A.P. Upper
• P.A.P Lower
• X2 Ab Ripper

Staff members at SeenOnTV Express who have used the original P90X saw phenomenal results with the original program and look to build on their efforts with the all new P90X2.

Look out now.  SeenOnTV Express is going to be too hot to handle and too fast to catch . . .

As the SeenOnTV Express blogger, I’m constantly being made aware of the newest, hottest As Seen On TV products.  While some of the products don’t necessarily appeal to me, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t frequently stumble across a product that I just have to have.  As Seen On TV beauty products, kitchen products, exercise equipment, fitness videos, and comfort items all make my list.  With the holidays just around the corner, I thought it would be a perfect time to share some of my favorite products–the ones I hope show up under my Christmas tree.  After all, Santa knows I’ve been very good this year.  Well–at least he knows I tried.

As Seen On TV Christmas List

• Forever Lazy – I’m not gonna lie.  This looks super cozy and comfortable.  For someone who works from home, this would be the perfect gift.  I may never wear actual clothes again.  At least until spring.
• Instyler – If I’m not mistaken, this made my list last year, but I didn’t find it in my stocking.  I think if I’m going to be spending my days in a giant, adult sized onesie, at least my hair should look good.
• Flex Seal – I know–household products shouldn’t really be on a Christmas list.  Next thing you know I’ll be asking for a blender.  But I really, really want to make a boat out of a screen door.
• Ninja Kitchen Blender – Yep.  I told you I’d be asking for a blender next.  I have a blender already.  It even has a food processing bowl.  But it is not this cool.  Not. At. All.
• Flex Mini – Seriously.  I can tone my butt without ever doing a single squat?  Sign me up.
• Any of the Beachbody videos - I don’t really like to work out, but I do really like to eat.  If I’m going to work out, I want it to be worth my time and energy.  I want it to feel like a workout, and I want results.  Beachbody workouts like P90x, Insantity, TurboFire, and Chalean Extreme are effective workouts for people who aren’t afraid to work hard to get results fast.

If I’ve been good enough this year, expect to see me in January, recovering from my Insanity workout by mixing up a healthy detox smoothie in my Ninja Kitchen Blender while wearing Forever Lazy and getting a workout boost from my Flex Mini.  And, gurrrl, my hair will look goooood.

One of the really, really hard things about working for a company that offers As Seen On TV products is that you want to buy almost everything you see.  We’ve discussed before how infomercial products are designed to fill a need that you may not have even realized you had, so when I see a product that solves any dilemma in my life, or that looks fun, or that will make things easier, or . . . well, I just want it.  A lot.

Of course, money does not, in fact, grow on trees, so I have really worked to curb my impulse spending.  Instead buying the things that I oh-my-goodness-have-to-have-now, I have started keeping a mental As Seen On TV wishlist.  Here are some of my top picks on infomercial products that I desperately want (and will only be able to refrain from buying for so long):

1. The Instyler – Smooth, shiny, and bouncy hair?  Eliminate frizzies in less time?  Straight hair that isn’t smashed flat and limp?  Using one tool to curl or straighten?  Who wouldn’t love this?!  Sign me up.
2. The Flex Mini – Okay, seriously.  A butt workout without working out.  A lunge-free and squat-free way to get firm thighs and rounded glutes.  It’s on.
3. Big Top Cupcake – I don’t honestly know why I want this so badly.  I just do.  I think it would be fun to make these for my son’s birthday parties.  Or maybe it’s just the idea of a ginormous cupcake sounds so heavenly.
4. Luminess Airbrush Tan – I was raised in the era of the “healthy glow” by a mother who ingrained in me that “tan fat looks better than white fat,” but am now forced to face the facts about the sun’s damaging properties.  With an airbrush tan, maybe I could have that sunkissed look I love without those pesky wrinkles and melanoma.
5. Gyro Bowl – I have a toddler.  End of story.

Of course, this is an incomplete list of Stuff I Want.  I pretty much want every Beachbody exercise DVD program and all of the plants that let me grow my own cherries/blueberries/peppers/insert-produce-here at home.  As long as I’m doing this, I know my As Seen On TV wishlist will continue to grow like grass on a Canada Green lawn.

On a side note, a few of the products to which I’ve already succumbed include Strap Perfect, Kangaroo Keeper, Emery Cat, Snuggie, and Bare Lifts–all of which have been well worth it!

What’s on your infomercial wishlist?

Smooth, tan, hairless legs?  Check.  Toned, shapely legs?  Mm . . . not so check.  As my get-ready-for-Spring plan develops, I’m now saddled with the part I like the least.  Working out.  Time to get a beach body before I have to actually hit the beach.  Or the kiddie pool in my back yard.  Whatever.

Now, I know that working out releases endorphins, improves energy, promotes cardiovascular health, boosts metabolism, builds muscle, and all that good stuff, but the truth is, well, I’m really pretty lazy.  Some people enjoy working out, some people work out for better health, but me?  I work out so I can eat cupcakes and still button my pants.  Of course, with as seen on TV products like the Big Top Cupcake,  I may have to step up the workouts a little more (or buy the Perfect Fit Button, whichever).

In the SeenOnTV Express neck of the woods, Spring Break will be here next week.  That means that it is just a matter of moments, practically, until I will be forced to publicly unveil my legs below the knee (even possibly *gasp* above the knee) and my batwing arms will be displayed for the world as the tank tops come out of storage.  Because of the rapidly impending fabulous weather, I need a fitness program that works and works fast.

This?  This ain’t going to cut it:

I mean, sure, I could cover my calves and ankles with leg warmers, put a thick leather belt on over my briefs to try to camouflage my waist, and divert the eye of the beholder with the sheer height of my hair, but that would be cheating, right?

(And oh-my-goodness, is that guy wearing spandex capris?!)

As much as I dislike working out, I hate working out ineffectively even more.  If I’m going to go to the effort of exerting myself in any manner, I want to feel like I’ve accomplished something, I want to look like I’ve accomplished something, and I want to see results fast.  Luckily, Beachbody Fitness understands that some of us don’t want wimpy, spandex-wielding, 80′s style bending and stretching.  Instead, we want hardcore workouts with hardcore results.  P90X is designed to give you an amazing transformation in just 90 days (in other words, by the time summer vacation hits).  Insanity is a high-intensity total body conditioning program created by expert Shaun T. to give you amazing results in only 60 days.  For those intimidated by P90X and Insanity, Shaun T. brings Hip Hop Abs, because dancing sounds a lot more fun than a workout so intense you have to be “insane” to try it.  Beachbody trainer Chalene Johnson leads ChaLEAN Extreme and TurboFire–personally, I’m leaning toward one of these two fitness programs.

For those of you who spend your workouts calling on a Higher Power to help you through (and with these intense Beachbody programs, that includes me) Beachbody also offers BodyGospel, combining spiritual and physical fitness.

Now, if I can just get the motivation to actually get off the couch and DO the workouts, instead of sitting on the couch and writing about them, I may just be able to take my legs from this:

to this:

Help me get a beach body, Beachbody!

Today’s workouts for men are all about working hard and getting ripped.   The hottest–and hardest–workouts include boot camp workouts, P90x, and Insanity.  The infomercials for these video exercise programs show men dripping with sweat, groaning in agony, and pushing themselves to the limit in order to get the lean, muscular, rippling body I enjoy ogling they want.

But things were not always so difficult for all of these poor men in pursuit of fitness.  Enter the manliest man of them all–Richard Simmons.  Our dear Richard is generally known for cavorting around with the ladies, dancing with them on stage in malls all across America, giving them the confidence to be seen in public “Sweatin’ to the Oldies.”  But Richard knew that men were not immune to the perils of low self-esteem from a less than stellar body.  Because a full THIRTY FIVE PERCENT of his letters come from men, he decided to create a program to help these poor men achieve weight loss results without resorting to grueling, painful workouts.

Enter “Farewell to Fat.”  Today’s seen on TV workout videos are all about feeling the burn and taking your workout to the extreme, and the titles prove it.  TurboFire and Chalean Extreme are only two examples that showwomen aren’t immune to this phenomenon of working out until you drop.  But with Farewell to Fat, the title reflects the softer side of working out.  You can practically see Richard’s wrist a-fluttering as he waves buh-bye to that unwelcome fat.  “Toodle-oo and farewell, fat, old friend!”

With Farewell to Fat, Richard Simmons invited men into his world of booty-shakin’ workouts.  Mall stages weren’t just for women anymore:

Richard Simmons:  The Great Equalizer

(I can’t let this post go without drawing your attention to the spectacular molestache at 0:58.)

P90X and Insanity have just been added to our product line-up, and we have more BeachBody products coming soon.  P90X and Insanity are some extremely intense home exercise programs.  I should know – I’ve done them both (actually, just about to finish up the Insanity program this week).

They are tough, but if you really want results you’ve got to work at it.  I struggled a lot through both of the programs.  With Insanity, even after 2 months, the warmup still feels  like a pretty good workout, and I am absolutely wiped out and sweating like a horse after the complete workout.  And while I can’t speak for everyone, I’ve have been extremely pleased with my results on these 2 programs.

P90X is geared more toward building strength, while Insanity is to build cardio endurance and help you tone.  I didn’t stick to the diet very well (the programs come with a very detailed diet plan in addition to the exercise), or I would probably have had phenominal results, but here’s what I did experience:

• Lost 20lbs
• Went from a size 40 waist to a 36
• Went from doing 2 pullups to 15 (plus more curls, pushup, situps, increased resistance, etc)
• More definition in chest, biceps, triceps
• Better abs (still have a little bulge to get rid of right in the middle, but I can see abs and obliques now with some definition)

I did lay off the soft drinks quite a bit – still have 1 or 2 a week, so I am sure that helped as well.

Both P90X and Insanity are great programs, but you really do have to be determined and committed to get through them.  I’ll wrap up Insanity in a few days, take a little break for the Holidays, and get started again in the New Year.