Archives for January 2012

Two And A Half Weeks Down On P90X. How Many More Are There?

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post on this site talking about how I was considering starting the P90X® workout program because I needed some structure in my fitness life, and I thought this looked like a good program to try.

I got some great feedback from some friends and colleagues online, many of them saying that they had done P90X® previously, and that they highly recommended it. Most of them said the program was tough, but that it was ultimately worth it for them.

With all the great feedback I decided to jump in and give it a shot. I bought the program and was hoping to start the first Monday of the new year. Unfortunately our family had a flu bug and I ended up getting sick as well. I pushed back my start date one week.

P90X program

Getting Started On P90X – Bring It!

I finally got started on P90X® one week into the new year. The day before I started I did the fitness test to make sure that I was “ready” to do the program. Most of the things I didn’t have much problem with, but a couple of them, including the pull ups and push ups, I struggled with a bit. I did enough to be OK to start the program, however.

Week One Of P90X

That first night doing P90X® was a bit of a struggle, but I managed to make it through that chest and back routine. What was involved? A whole lot of pushups and pullups. The first week I did actual pull-ups, aided somewhat by a chair as beginners were instructed to do in the video. The two following weeks I had actually purchased these resistance bands (highly recommended – good quality), and used those for the pullup portions instead. The pushups have been tough as well, and during some reps I’ve had to go from my knees – especially in later rounds. I especially hate the decline pushups, and have failed on those a couple of times.

The following nights of the first week were also tough. I was still struggling with that initial soreness that you get after you haven’t worked out for a while, and it was tough doing the plyometrics, shoulders and arms, and other workouts when I was so sore.

Week Two Of P90X

The second week was still tough, but I wasn’t quite so sore – which made it easier. Our family also had another bought of the flu pop up (again!), and so I was only able to workout 4 out of the 6 days because i was busy taking care of the family. My eating wasn’t nearly as good week 2 either. I had some nasty food (as Tony Horton would say), and I think that wasn’t helpful in my weight loss goals.

Another thing that I noticed was that while doing the P90X workouts you are working hard most of the time. They give you chances to catch your breath during the workout, but you’re always sweating and huffing and puffing. I have never been as drenched with sweat as I have been after doing these workouts – even and especially the yoga workout. Make sure to bring a towel!

Week Three Of P90X

With the first two weeks in the bag (with mixed results), I started week 3 on Monday of this week. It does seem like I’m slowly starting to be able to do a little bit more in the exercises, and without quite as much soreness afterwards the next days workouts are easier to complete.

Week three I also started doing the workouts in the mornings, getting up early so that I could complete them before going to work. After doing it for 4 days this week now I have to say I prefer working out in the morning because you feel good all day, you get it out of the way and then you can relax at home at night.

Today I did the yoga workout and had to cut it a bit short because I got up late – and the yoga workout is almost an hour and a half long. Tonight I’ll either finish that or do some other form of exercise.

P90X So Far: Tough But Worth It

So I’m just over 3 weeks into the P90X program, and I have to say – it is tough! I’m not sure I’ve ever sweated this much or worked this hard since I was in high school football. The workouts are tough, but you can feel your body getting stronger. I’m still fudging it a bit on some of the exercises, especially the pushups, but I’m getting better every week.

Now that I’m almost done with 3 weeks, I really think that I can stick with this for the entire 90 day – I can do this!

Are you considering starting P90X as well? Have you already started – or completed a round? Tell me about it in the comments!

How To Exercise While On Vacation Or On The Road For Work

By Peter 1 Comment

One thing that can be extremely difficult to do is continue exercising or working out while you’re on the road. Often the places you’re staying may not have adequate workout facilities or weights that you normally work out with.

What is a person to do when there just aren’t many great options for exercising? It’s time to get creative!

how to exercise when traveling

Exercising On The Road – Get Creative

When you’re on vacation or on the road for work it can be tough to maintain a regular workout schedule. If you plan ahead, however, it can be done.

So what are some things you can do to make sure you maintain your regular healthy lifestyle while on the road?

Stay at a hotel with workout facilities: When you’re booking your hotel make sure that they offer some sort of a workout facility with weights, treadmills and so forth. Most hotel booking sites will make a note of hotels that offer those types of amenities.
Go running: One thing you can always do even if your hotel doesn’t have a treadmill is to go running in the area that you’re staying. It can be fun to go out and see the area where you’re visiting – and see it early in the morning before things get busy. Just don’t get lost!
Do body weight exercises: You can do body weight exercises in your hotel room. Things like pushups, pull-ups, sit-ups or squats. Check out a program like Crossfit.
Bring your own workout gear: You can bring lightweight exercise gear like resistance bands in your suitcase and get in a good weights workout routine. Put video workouts on your ipod or laptop!
Go hiking or walking while sightseeing: When sightseeing do plenty of walking while you’re checking out the sites. Or if you’re in a more natural setting, go for a hike! You’ll be exhausted at the end of the day!
Incorporate fun healthy activities like golf or tennis: Take time for golf breaks and check out the local courses. It can be fun to see a course you’re not used to. Or play some tennis with a friend.
Do Yoga: Yoga can actually be quite strenuous, so try doing some while on the road.
Play beach games: If you’re on the beach at a tropical location, get in on a beach volleyball game or play frisbee on the sand.
Take a bike tour: Many popular tourist locations will do bike tours, or allow you to rent bicycles by the hour. Go out for a spin!
Swimming: Go for a swim in the hotel pool or the ocean. Swimming can be great exercise!

So as you can see there are a myriad of ways to stay on your fitness regimen while you’re out on vacation – or on the road for business. Just get creative and you’ll come up with a bunch of other ways as well!

How do you stay fit while you’re away from home? Tell us in the comments!

Can Playing Golf Help You To Get Fit?

By Peter Leave a Comment

A while back I wrote an article on this site talking about how running can be a great cardio exercise, but how there are so many exercise alternatives for people who don’t enjoy running (of which I am one).

Among alternative exercises that we listed:

Doing a workout video
Playing basketball
Rowing machine
Hiking on local trails
Spin classes
Stationary bike
Roller Blading

The alternatives are really numerous and you’re really only limited by your creativity. There are a ton of exercises out there for non-runners.

One of the alternatives that I didn’t list, but that truly can be great exercise, is golf.

golf and fitness

Golf Can Give Great Exercise

One thing a lot of people really don’t realize is that golfing can be great exercise. I think people have an image in their heads of a bunch of old fat guys riding around in a cart and stopping off for drinks and food at the clubhouse. But the truth is that golf can help you to burn hundreds of calories. Playing 18 holes of golf can be about the same as walking 3.5 to 6 miles!

Research conducted by Neil Wolkodoff of the Rose Center for Health and Sports Sciences in Denver found the following statistics:

Golfers who walk and carry their own bag burn 721 calories, golfers using a pull cart burn 718 calories, golfers walking with a caddie burn 613 calories and golfers riding in a golf cart burn 411 calories on average.

So if you carry your own bag and walk the course when you play, you can burn in excess of 700 calories. That’s not too shabby! Even those who rode a cart still burned more than 411 calories by golfing 18 holes.

Not only does golf give you some great exercise, it can prolong your life! A Swedish study by the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports and based on data from 300,000 golfers found that golfers have a a lower death rate than others:

The death rate for golfers is 40 percent lower than for other people of the same sex, age and socioeconomic status, which correspond to a 5 year increase in life expectancy. Golfers with a low handicap are the safest.

They found that those with a lower handicap – those who typically play more – had better health. Also, because golfers tend to golf into old age, they will enjoy the health benefits for longer as well. So start golfing and add years to your life!

Of course in order to enjoy the health benefits you have to be a regular golfer, and not a once every 3 months type golfer.

Conclusion

Golf is another great exercise alternative for those who don’t like to run, bike or do workout videos. It will help you burn hundreds of calories while being low impact and doing something you enjoy (if you’re good enough and not hitting it into the sand traps!)

Next time you may think twice about taking your buddies up on those golf offers because you’re in fact improving your health and prolonging your life. So go hit the links!

I Started My P90X Journey Last Night. Do Your Best, Forget The Rest!

By Peter Leave a Comment

A few weeks ago I talked about how I was considering jumping in full bore and trying P90X. I had heard it was tough, but when you think about it – so many things in life worth having aren’t easy to achieve.

After considering all the pros and cons and hearing from several P90X graduates (and P90X evangelists!) I decided to give it a try.

I got the class materials a couple of weeks ago and delved into them. The class takes a whole life approach to losing weight, eating healthy, and exercising to become fit. They give you a full nutrition and exercise program when you sign up, not just a workout program.

Nutrition Is Important

One thing that becomes apparent when you watch the introduction video is that the exercise in the course is not going to help you to be fit by itself. In fact they stress that the diet and nutrition portion is also an integral part of the plan.

Quite honestly I think the nutrition portion is the part that I’m probably going to have more trouble with. No, not because I’ll find the exercise easy – because I won’t, but because this is usually where my fitness plans break down – on the eating side. My love of donuts and sweets always seem to do me in.

So I’m looking at the nutrition plans and hoping to carve out some sort of routine so that I can do this thing the right way. All I do know is that I’ll be going to the grocery store later this week to get some better foods than what we have now. Lots more protein rich meats like chicken and turkey, more veggies and fruits.

Last Night’s Workouts – Night Number 1

So yesterday was my first day doing the P90X program. I followed the nutrition portion of the program pretty well, eating healthy foods all day. I had a salad for lunch, healthy snacks in between and then grilled chicken, broccoli and rice for dinner. I plan on trying to do the workouts in the morning once I adjust to it, but this week I’ll probably be doing the workouts at night.

Last night I did the first workout, the chest and back workout, and then the ab ripper workout. Let’s just say it wasn’t pretty.

I struggled my way through the chest and back workout first. There are lots of pushups and pull-ups in this routine. If you want you can modify the pull-ups a bit to use a chair if you’re not confident in your pull ups – or use bands to simulate pull ups. I used a chair part of the time as my pull ups have never been very strong. Something to work on. I think I was still able to get in a pretty good workout. The pushups near the end I had to modify a bit and do from my knees – as I started getting pretty tired. Just goes to show how out of shape I am!

I was able to complete the hour long routine though, despite having to keep my number of reps significantly lower than the folks on the video. As they say in the video, however, doing less reps when you start out isn’t a problem, just “do your best and forget the rest“.

On several days of the week you’re supposed to also do the ab ripper workout after your initial workout. So that’s what I started to do. Let’s just say that I made it through about 3-4 of the exercises in the ab ripper workout before i was complete toast. I didn’t complete it. I was so sore from the first workout that I was just spent.

I have a feeling it will get better over time as my body adjusts to working out again, but let’s just say it was rough that first night. The question is – did I miss something in the manual? Are you supposed to split the two workouts out – one in the morning, one at night?

Sticking To It

So tonight I’ll be moving on to workout two – Plyometrics. I hear this one is also good but will leave you exhausted. I can’t wait – my tired sore body and all.