During my senior year in college full of too much studying, partying, overeating and not exercising regularly, I put back on 20 of the 30 lbs I had previously lost from my small 4’11″ frame. I got back into working out in August of 2004 and within 6 months, I was back down to my old “after” weight and back in my gym habit. I maintained this weight for over a year and 1/2.
July, 2006, I decided to finally try O15 since it was available at the gym I worked. I figured I would try it for a month or so and then go back to my old workout, maybe incorporating some of it into my routine or when time crunched, do only the 15 minutes. If my body and strength stayed the same after a month of swapping up to an hour in the weight room for a 15 minute workout, that alone would have been enough for me to feel comfortable recommending it to others. I honestly never expected to really like it or to see a change in my body.
Since my old 45 to 60 minute strength routine was 5 days per week (on top of 30 to 45 minutes of cardio), I did the O15 workout 5 days per week. I was always very careful with form in my old workout, but until I tried this, I never realized how even using “perfect” form in most traditional exercises doesn’t demand as much from your muscles as doing the exercises correctly in the positions from this workout. The challenge was so much more than what I was used to that I was hooked from the start.
After 2 months of doing this workout, I realized that I could take off my pants without unbuttoning them and later realized I had dropped a whole size. I had taken my measurements the day I started, and since beginning the O15 workout I lost 2 inches from both my waist and hips, an inch from my thighs, and 1/2 inch from my arms. My weight stayed the same the entire time, meaning I gained muscle and lost only fat.
I’ve maintained since, even after quitting all the cardio years ago. I never get bored with O15 and still find new challenges, now years after starting. For anybody looking to push past a plateau or try something new, there couldn’t be a more challenging and safe workout!
