Posted on 12/31/2011 7:26:54 PM PST by Altariel
To give you a sense of what you’re up against if you attempt to make it through P90X2, the sequel to the phenomenally popular P90X fitness program, here’s a sample exercise: the four medicine ball push-up. Yes, that means having a ball under each hand and foot. “It’s like doing push-ups during an earthquake,” says Tony Horton, the 53-year-old former stand-up comedian who created the original program eight years ago.
That 90-day, 12-DVD regimen has sold 3.5 million copies, spawned an astounding number of before and after photos, persuaded politicians from both sides of the aisle to sweat it out together at the House gym and become shorthand for “really hard workout.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
What exercise regimen(s) (Beachbody or no) will you use in 2012?
I just run long distance and lost 30 pounds last year. I know people that like it though.
I have Insanity. I haven’t used it because I can run 5 or 6 miles with no problem, but I couldn’t make it through the first 10 minutes of Insanity.
Ugh. I really need to bust out that set of DVDs & get moving. Moo.
It works. So does running. No iso in running though.
Someone told me I am not in good enough shape for P90X....that I should do the BeachBody first, then P90X.
I like Supreme 90 Day, same concept
I do 10-20 squat thrusts after my shower each morning. My doctor disparages this amount of exercise as useless, but my body tells me it does wonders. AFAICT, a lot of people my age ( 63 soon ) couldn’t even think about doing a squat thrust.
Exercise is like golf ( not surprising since almost everything is like golf, ) everybody talks a good game, but go out there and you’ll see the sad truth.
I know a guy who tried insanity. He lost about 15 pounds (he wasn’t really overweight though anyway) but experienced very little muscle-mass increase.
Do you mean Power90? P90x is shorthand for Power 90 eXtreme.
Beachbody is the company’s name.
The 90X program is a very good program, with a couple of caveats.
1. Depending on your own level of fitness, do not expect similar results anytime soon. These guys are fitness fanatics who have been exercising intensely all their lives. They are capable of getting good results with almost anything they do, because they are so used to the level of intensity.
2. Your weight loss will depend on how much you cut back in calories combined with your physical activity. What most qualified experts in the fitness field recommend is losing one pound a week. Do not believe anybody who says that you can lose 5 pounds a week. It may be possible to do that, but for most people, the amount of calories would have to cut out combines with the amount of exercise you’d have to do would be simply punishment. On shows like the Biggest Loser, they use experts that can watch and measure everything. The average person doesn’t, so if you’re losing a pound a week, you’re doing well.
Keep in mind, you are trying to create a lifestyle, not just simply lose weight or become fitter. If you do not learn how to create that lifestyle, you will probably eventually quit this. If you do create a healthy lifestyle for yourself, you will attain and maintain your goals.
Thank you for your response. Do you have P90x2? Or do you just have the original P90x program?
I’ve done P90X and it was awesome. Just got P90X2 and am starting it Tuesday.
You can still do 90X.
It will just take a while for you to build up to the point where you can do a similar intensity.
Don’t expect to work where they are at. Work where you’re at and work into higher intensities as you’re able.
If the host can do 90 pushups in a minute and you can only do 5, do that five and work in to 6, then 7, then 8, and so on.
I do other things, but I’m familiar with the concepts it teaches.
I’d be interested in hearing how it goes for you.
Losing my 30 pounds last year ny running about 30 miles per week anf several half marathons, I have been eating like an animal. I am not convinced eating matters all that much in the larger puzzle.
p90x + motivation works.
Correct....P90...the original. They used to call it "Beachbody". I have both DVDs from a cousin.
I train bodybuilders and power lifters, so I have no use for it...
Your eating habits don’t matter too much, beyond that you’re eating as healthy as reasonable.
But weight gain and weight loss do depend on how many calories you’re taking in as compared to you basal metabolic rate and activity level.
If you take in 3500 calories less than you burn, you will lose 1 pound. If you consume 3500 calories more than you burn, you will gain one pound.
I used P90x in addition to a quick morning jog and it will destroy you unless you destroy it.
Even the yoga section is hell after 30 minutes.
I was doing Insanity for about 5 to six weeks and...hit the wall...stop...I’m 54...stop...have a low testosterone level according to my doctor...stop...I really need to get back on the Insanity workout or something to drop about 15 pounds...stop...need help...before I...stop...
I understand the theory, but I dont know a single person that has lost a significant amount of weight without vigorous exercise. Wish I could convince my wife. She needs to lose about 50 pounds and eats almost nothing... but I cant get her to so much as walk the dog around the block.
I was doing Insanity for about 5 to six weeks and...hit the wall...stop...I’m 54...stop...have a low testosterone level according to my doctor...stop...I really need to get back on the Insanity workout or something to drop about 15 pounds...stop...need help...before I...stop...
I was doing Insanity for about 5 to six weeks and...hit the wall...stop...I’m 54...stop...have a low testosterone level according to my doctor...stop...I really need to get back on the Insanity workout or something to drop about 15 pounds...stop...need help...before I...stop...
Muscle mass.
If a person doesn’t have a lot of muscle mass in relation to their weight, they don’t necessarily have to eat a lot and gain weight. Fat self-maintains. You don’t need necessarily a lot of calories to maintain a heavy weight, if you’re not exercising.
“If the host can do 90 pushups in a minute..”
If the host is doing 90 in 60 secs, he aint doin em right!
Gotcha... I dont mean to come across as a cheuvanistic ahole, frankly I dont care that she is overweight (not obese by any means), just tired of spending hundreds on drugs and docs and hearing the complaints all day that it isnt coming off when the solution is so simple.
It’s good to keep a training diary. If you’re not keeping track of what you’re doing, it can be discouraging if you think you might be wasting your time.
But with a training diary, when you see how much more capable you’ve become over 6 months, it becomes self-reinforcing to want to continue.
I was just making the point to not worry about the level of workout you see on the tv screen, but just keep track of what you’re doing.
Even a couple of months into the program, a person will see considerable improvement.
The entire yoga workout is hell. I'd never done it until P90X, and I'm pretty sure only genetic freaks can do that entire workout. The 90-minute length wasn't helping matters either. Thankfully, P90X2 has reorganized things to get yoga down to 60 minutes. I'm sure it'll still be brutal, though...
As far as P90X I can tell you that I definitely got stronger and more toned, but I didn’t lose a pound. That, combined with the LOOOONG yoga workouts every week (and every couple of days during the “recovery” week), combined with my stupid lack of writing things down, led to me not doing a second iteration.
Now, I’m going to write things down to track progress, go from P90X2 back to P90X (substituting the new 60-min yoga for the old 90-min yoga), and add running at night. I think that’ll help considerably.
You should probably make the point to her that exercise will increase her ability to be independent and will delay the time when she gets sent to a nursing home.
It also allows her to be more steady on her feet and reduces the risk of falls, which is the biggest reason why old people end up in nursing homes.
That might work, except for the fact she just turnrd 30 yesterday!
Well then, she should know that good exercise will give her ass back. :)
Don’t tell her I said that.
Are you trying to be healthy and toned or are you trying to be an athlete? There is a world of difference.
You don’t need to abuse your joints to be healthy, have real endurance and look toned.
Go get on one of those elliptical running machines. Now, set the machine to show you calories burned based on your weight and age. Start at 200 calories, i don’t care how long it takes you to do it each workout as long as you do it 3 times a week with at least one day between workouts NEVER back to back days. No more no less. You need time to heal and form muscle.
Work your way up over several months (we are trying to build a lifestyle here, no need to rush things) to where you are doing 500 calories each workout, then once that is getting easy begin to work on how long it takes you to do it. Push this as far as you are willing to go, but there is no “final” destination. You just don’t want to burn out and quit. The goal is to keep doing those 500 calorie workouts 3 times a week. Over time you will find where your plateaus in fitness are. It’s up to you to set your goals and how fast you want to complete the 500 calorie workout. But you will be fit and have dramatically more endurance no matter how hard you push the time.
This way you are getting an output based workout. I don’t believe in the calorie totals as they relate to food nor do I watch what I eat. The calorie output total simply provides a more useful frame of reference for the total work done during the workout rather than only time and distance. In this way, you don’t feel like you failed because you couldn’t do x in y time. The primary concern is COMPLETING the 500 calorie workout first, and how fast you did it second. Some days you just won’t have the energy, that’s fine, but you will suddenly wake up one day and realize that you just completed that 500 calorie workout twice as fast as you did the 200 calorie version when you started.
Combine this with a little bit of gentle varied upper body workout after each session and you’ll be both losing weight and gaining lean endurance muscle.
Mix weight training, running (or elliptical or biking or walking), and diet and you get the same results. More than anything it’s our habits that shape our bodies and our souls.
For 90 percent of the people, that’s where you start. If you’ve cut your calorie intake by a sufficient amount and are exercising reasonably and not making progress, then you gotta look at what works for you.
But the cutting of calories is the starting point.
Great post. I think I will try that, as it sounds “easy” (yes I know it isn’t, but it doesn’t sound intimidating at first) but has a nice build to something better.
Is she tired or get tired very easily?
Does she not like being outside?
Does she not want anybody to see her?
This is very, very good advice. I’m 5’5’’, 120 pounds.
It really doesn’t take that much exercise, and you don’t need to do high impact.
A half hour every day doing something that you enjoy will do wonders for you in terms of fitness.
crossfit.com
It is like the strength and conditioning programs used by professional and olympic athletes, but targeted at general fitness rather than a specific sport. It is based on the best practices for strength and conditioning, and has selected the cream of the crop of the most productive exercises, from those disciplines (like olympic weightlifting, sprinting, gymnastics and rowing) that have produced the most exceptional physical results (peak power output, max VO2, etc.).
I've done it for six months and have had great results. At fifty years old with multiple joint problems, I have experienced significant rehabilitation from the full range of motion functional movements upon which they base the program. I am down twenty pounds of fat and up seven pounds of muscle - looking and moving a lot better. Bottom line: crossfit has been way more effective than the typical gym program of cardio and weight machines.
Cons: There is a learning curve with many new exercises and concepts. It is important to scale the weight and reps down to what is appropriate to your current ability. If you are going to do the program on your own, you'll need the kind of equipment that they use, like a barbell and pull up bar. Otherwise, you can go to a nearby Crossfit gym and get some good coaching as well as the full suite of gear (like kettlebells and rowing machines).
Pros: The program never ends, and you can follow it for free by doing the daily workouts posted on their website (3 days on, one day off).
Even though there is a lot to learn, you'll be glad that you did, because training their way is so much more effective.
You can scale the weight and reps to whatever your fitness level is. The optimumally effective training methods are essentially the same for olympic athletes and the elderly and disabled. They vary in degree rather than kind. Why waste your time with less productive methods?
Check out Crossfit:
crossit.com
Laziness. There isnt so much I can do. Needs self-motivation.
That’s the most important point, enjoy the exercise.
There are those of us who like our exercise hard and intensive, where when we’re done, we are flat on our backs and just plain out of it.
Then there are those of us who need something far less intensive, but still gets results to keep motivated.
Whichever works for you, as long as you’re motivated to get out and do it again.
She should try different things. Not everybody gets a kick out of repetitious exercises.
There are many kinds of physical activity that she'd probably enjoy if she gave it a try.
We got the Power 90 program and it is doable, but still a challenge for us. My goal is to use it as a precursor to P90X.
We got the Power 90 program and it is doable, but still a challenge for us. My goal is to use it as a precursor to P90X.
We got the Power 90 program and it is doable, but still a challenge for us. My goal is to use it as a precursor to P90X.
We got the Power 90 program and it is doable, but still a challenge for us. My goal is to use it as a precursor to P90X.
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