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Is it normal for a male in his 40s to experience a rapid increase in muscle strength? I am mid 40s, and about 6 months ago I discovered by chance that I can now do one handed pushups. I just did 20 of them each hand (just to see how many I could do)just minutes before posting this. I have NEVER been able to do one handed pushups in my life. I am not working out either. In my 20s I was a fitness fanatic and did weight training, boxing, cycling, and running. I was never this strong even then....

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...

A congressional panel grilled NASA chief Charlie Bolden today (July 12) on Capitol Hill, repeatedly asking him why the space agency has yet to choose a design for its next-generation heavy-lift rocket. Last year Congress gave NASA until mid-January 2011 to pick a design for the rocket, known as the Space Launch System, that will carry astronauts on deep space missions. NASA still has not made an official decision, and members of the House of Representatives' Committee on Science, Space and Technology took Bolden to task. "We've waited for answers that have not come. We've pleaded for answers that have...

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Tony Horton used to be a stand-up comedian. Now he's the front man for P90X and a millionaire exercise guru. So is he an infomercial salesman? Or a fitness savior? ***** Beyond the compelling marketing, there are two reasons why P90X is so popular. First, Horton is the perfect front man. At 5´10* and 180 pounds with 9 percent body fat, he is genuinely ripped. He says he can consecutively do 110 pushups, 80 dips, 35 pullups, and eight 260-pound lat pulls. Plus, he can hold a handstand for a minute and even do a backflip off a wall. To...

If All My Children really does get cancelled as rumored, at least we can count on warmer weather to get ourselves (and all our children!) off the couch for an outdoor workout — like Michelle Obama does. SHAPE scored an exclusive Q&A with Cornell McClellan, fitness consultant and personal trainer to the First Family — who love to play outside. Q: How does the First Family like to work out? A: The First Family believes in working out together, outdoors, when they can find the time. They are an active family and want to inspire the whole country to get...

Michael Strautmanis had no sooner started his White House job as a deputy assistant to the president when his boss began badgering him. "Am I working out? Am I eating right?'' Strautmanis recalled President Obama asking. "And then he told me that I should use his trainer.'' The very fit president has sent other White House aides to Cornell McClellan, the trainer, a genial master tormenter who is the secret weapon behind Michelle Obama's famously toned arms and who has overseen both Obamas' exercise programs for more than a decade. Strautmanis made one — and only one — appointment with...

With a schedule as hectic as President Obama's it must be hard to stick to a training regimen without help -- but why does he insist on having his old trainer fly out from Chicago to D.C. regularly when Obama and his wife exhort the rest of us to drive less? And in a recession? According to Ashley Parker at the New York Times, Obama's fitness czar Cornell McClellan comes out to D.C. every week: Mr. McClellan grew up practicing martial arts, eventually earning a black belt, and as a college student realized that he had a knack for working...

I don't know much about proper kettle bell techniques. Neither does Jillian Michaels. I have an internationally respected fitness certification and 17 years' experience with free weights, yet I lack the audacity to pretend I am qualified to teach kettle bells. Jillian Michaels, on the other hand, is lacking in shame. At least that's what I thought until I realized Michaels is not actually a real fitness trainer — she's an actress playing the role of fitness trainer on TV and in a line of popular DVDs. It's analogous to Jesse Ventura's choice of a Gatling-style minigun to mow down...

WASHINGTON – First lady Michelle Obama says her "Let's Move" physical fitness campaign isn't about telling the American people what to do. Obama tells ABC's "Good Morning America" that improving diet and exercise habits is "a national security issue." The "Let's Move" campaign will be a year old next month, and President Barack Obama's wife has recently been taking it to military installations. She says in the interview broadcast Friday that too many young military men and women are "unable to train" because of weight, fitness and nutrition programs.

PINEVILLE, La., Jan. 25, 2011 – Army Spc. Alejandro Zuniga of the Louisiana National Guard scored 401 points on his most recent Army physical fitness test -- something even he found hard to believe, considering the state he was in less than two years ago. Army Spc. Alejandro Zuniga of the Louisiana National Guard runs four miles a day, six days a week. His workout routine -– which led to a 100-pound weight loss -- allowed him to exceed a perfect score on the Army physical fitness test. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Scott M. Mucci (Click photo for screen-resolution...

Jack LaLanne, the fitness guru who inspired television viewers to trim down, eat well and pump iron for decades before diet and exercise became a national obsession, died Sunday. He was 96. LaLanne died of respiratory failure due to pneumonia Sunday afternoon at his home in Morro Bay on California's central coast, his longtime agent Rick Hersh said. LaLanne ate healthy and exercised every day of his life up until the end, Hersh said. "I have not only lost my husband and a great American icon, but the best friend and most loving partner anyone could ever hope for," Elaine...

Jack LaLanne, the fitness guru who inspired television viewers to trim down and pump iron for decades before exercise became a national obsession, has died. He was 96. LaLanne died of respiratory failure due to pneumonia Sunday afternoon at his home in Morro Bay on California's central coast, his longtime agent Rick Hersh said. Lalanne ate healthy and exercised every day of his life up until the end, Hersh said. "I have not only lost my husband and a great American icon, but the best friend and most loving partner anyone could ever hope for," Elaine LaLanne, Lalanne's wife of...

Fitness legend Jack LaLanne died of respiratory failure due to pneumonia Sunday afternoon at his home in California. He was 96. LaLane hosted a popular workout show for several decades, opened a chain of gyms, and created a popular line of juicers. His agent said he worked out and exercised every day of his life, even up until the end.

I am curious if any freepers are doing the P90X fitness program....i have to say that it is an excellent system...chime in if you like....would be interested in your experience or maybe questions.

The weight-centric approach to health is the most common, but least effective philosophy. A healthy metabolism is more important than numbers on a scale. Despite what personal trainers, nutritional gurus and the diet industry have been telling you all of these years, weight loss and weighing less is not the key to living a healthy lifestyle. As a matter of fact, there have been studies that show weight loss can increase the risk of premature death from heart disease. But these findings haven’t dissuaded the forces that perpetuate the notion that thin is in. Rather than worry about numbers on...

SOUTHWEST ASIA, June 28, 2010 – If you walk into one of the fitness buildings for the 380th Expeditionary Force Support Squadron at an air base here and yell, "Sergeant Ramos," you'll probably get more than one person answering. Air Force Master Sgt. Greg Ramos, left, and Air Force Staff Sgt. Gavin Ramos work in the fitness center at an air base in Southwest Asia. Both sergeants are brothers who are deployed from the 154th Force Support Squadron of the Hawaii Air National Guard. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Scott Sturkol   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available....

Not all cities are equal from a fitness standpoint. In some big cities one in three people are obese; in others it's only one in five. In some cities there is one baseball diamond for every 10,000 people; in others there are five times as many ball fields. So says this year's American Fitness Index report, published by the American College of Sports Medicine. It takes the biggest 50 metropolitan areas and ranks them by fitness levels. The top city on the list, now for three years running, is Washington, D.C. The least fit is Oklahoma City, Okla.

FORT JACKSON, S.C. — (Adapting to battlefield experience, the Army nixes 5-mile runs and bayonet drills in favor of zigzag sprints and honing core muscles. ) New soldiers are grunting through the kind of stretches and twists found in "ab blaster" classes at suburban gyms as the Army revamps its basic training regimen for the first time in three decades. Heeding the advice of Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans, commanders are dropping five-mile runs and bayonet drills in favor of zigzag sprints and exercises that hone core muscles. Battlefield sergeants say that's the kind of fitness needed to dodge across...

Biologist and runner Daniel Lieberman had a simple question: "How did people run without shoes?" The answer he got is: Much better. At least running barefoot seems better for the feet, producing far less impact stress compared to feet shod in fancy, expensive running shoes, according to a study by Lieberman in the journal Nature. The study concludes that people seem to be born to run — barefoot. The research was funded in part by a company that makes running shoes that try to mimic barefoot running. But Lieberman, who disclosed the grant, said the company...didn't influence the outcome. People...