Category: Exercise

Posted on

Pay yourself first — it applies to fitness, too

Financial advisors have been telling us for years to pay ourselves first. That just means that before we pay the bills and make purchases, we put some money away for our future.

Well, guess what — that advice works for fitness, too.

The biggest excuse I hear from people — and my biggest excuse for many years — is “I don’t have time to work out.” As Tony Horton would say, “Bull-loney.” (Yeah, his humor is corny, but I enjoy it.)

It’s trite but true that we all have the same amount of time and it’s just a matter of getting our priorities in line with our goals. Well, if you think about it, unless one of your goals is to set the Guinness record for sickest human, fitness can help you achieve every goal you have.

How’s that work? Take a look at some examples.

GOAL: Be a better parent or spouse. You can’t excel in those roles if you are always sick or unable to move properly.

GOAL: Get promoted. Plenty of studies show that attractive people get preferential treatment in every area of life. You know this intuitively. Isn’t your day just a little nicer if the cashier at the grocery is attractive? (I know it’s not just me.) If someone makes a dumb mistake, aren’t we more likely to overlook it, if we think the person is attractive? (Politicians bank on this.) Get fit to be more attractive and you are probably more likely to get that promotion.

GOAL: Be more mentally alert and nimble. Working out definitely helps keep your mind in shape. “Memory retention and learning functions are all about brain cells actually changing, growing, and working better together,” says John J. Ratey, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “Exercise creates the best environment for that process to occur.”

GOAL: Reduce stress. Exercise helps tremendously with this not only by releasing endorphins, but also by giving you a break from the daily grind.

GOAL: Be healthy. Physical fitness — the ability to perform physical activity — is one thing, and it allows us to move around freely without assistance, but health — a state of being well and without disease — is another, and there is no question that being fit leads to being healthy by improving the heart and blood vessels, lowering cancer risk, building stronger bones, accelerating weight loss, keeping diabetes at bay, and more.

With all the ways that fitness impacts your life, with all the ways that fitness helps you achieve just about every other goal you may have, shouldn’t you find the time to prioritize your fitness? Pay yourself first.

Posted on

Being fat is not inevitable

Fitness is a lifelong struggle. It takes work. I tell young people all the time, “Develop a fitness habit now, because when you get older, it’s that much harder to get into the swing of things.”

How often do we not even try a fitness program, because we “know” beforehand that we will not be able to complete it? How many times has our prejudgement of the outcome caused us not to even attempt it in the first place?

We almost certainly base this attitude on past fitness failures.

You know, when we were young and saw the first signs of body bulge, we watched our calories or carbs and hit the gym. That lasted a little while, months or years even, but then our lives filled up, and fitness took a back seat.

A few years — and more than a few pounds — later, we decided that we have got to do something about all this weight we’ve gained. We joined a gym, tried to do the same routines we did back in the day, but it wasn’t so easy anymore, and, anyway, our lives kept interrupting. With our long hours at work, it was just impossible to eat right. The kids — the kids — were always needing a ride here or there. Oh, and then there was that morning we woke up and couldn’t move our neck for 2 weeks.

Now we are even older and fatter. We think about the gym — are we really still paying the monthly membership? — but we know that’s not going to work. We look around and we compare ourselves with others our age, and we come to the conclusion that, “Being fat is inevitable. Might as well get used to it.”

I was so there. That story is mine — well, without the kids — and it may be a lot like yours, too.

So what can you do? You have to do something? Or are you happy being overweight? You know that being overweight is the road to diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, so you would like to lose some pounds, but if your mindset is that the path to fatness is inevitable, then you will likely just accept that “fact” and take your chances. After all, not everyone dies of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, right?

Well, hell, go buy yourself a carton of cigarettes, then, if that’s your attitude. After all, only 20% or 25% of smokers get lung cancer.

The other day, a friend of mine was telling me that he knows he needs to find time for fitness, but he is just can’t work it into his schedule. Believe me, I get that.

Regardless of your reasons for not eating right, for not exercising, at some point, something will click. Something will change inside your brain that says, “You know what? I need to make time to get healthy and fit.”

I don’t know what it will be for you. I really don’t know what it was for me.

I mean, I know I was feeling weird pains. I know I was on medications that I didn’t want to be on. I know I was shopping for size 44 pants. I know I saw a photo of my fat self that jarred me. But I have no specific recollection of an epiphany. It just happened.

At some point, I knew I had to turn things around.

At some point I realized that being fat is not inevitable.

I hope that realization comes to you before it’s too late.

Posted on

Is muscle soreness reduced by a vegan diet?

When I switched from paleo to vegan a few months ago, I did so because in the 21 days of a vegan detoxification program I (1) lost weight that I thought I had no chance of losing, (2) my lower leg and foot cramps were gone, and (3) my eyes were not burning all the time like they used to. Given those results, I figured I’d try a vegan diet for a year or so, then re-assess at that time.

I have discovered an unexpected side effect of my plant-based diet, though: I am not nearly as sore the day after a workout as I used to be.

At first, I thought this lack of delayed onset muscle soreness — abbreviated as “DOMS”, that’s the soreness I would always feel the day after a workout and beyond — was because I was not fully recovered from The Reset, so I just wasn’t pushing it that hard. As the weeks passed, though, and the DOMS remained severely diminished, I decided to put it to the test.

One sure way for me to feel sore the next day is to do my Steve’s Chest & Back routine. I do all the exercises to exhaustion, so there is no way to dog it, and I have felt so sore from this in the past that I could barely move my arms the next day, because of all the DOMS in my chest and lats.

I did it, gave it all I had, and the next day … nothing. Well, not completely nothing, but not nearly close to any kind of soreness I’d felt in the past.

“Okay,” I thought. “Maybe there is some connection between a plant-based diet and a lack of muscle soreness.” But I was not convinced. So I waited 6 weeks and tried it again.

Again, I was barely sore the next day. Hmmmmm….

I started looking around a bit, once again, at DOMS, and there is still not a lot of consensus as to what makes us feel DOMS. Some say lactic acid. Some say lack of stretching. Some say muscle spasms. No one seems to know for sure.

I did discover, though, that Brendan Brazier, the guy who wrote the book Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life, also noticed his DOMS was much less severe when he went vegan.

Again, hmmmmm….

I will continue to test this hypothesis on myself, but I would say that my soreness is at least 65% to 70% less as a vegan than it was when I was eating a high-animal-protein diet.

And that’s a good thing.

Posted on

Is P90X2 better than P90X? (Part 2)

I’m going into my 10th week of P90X2. I’m in Phase 2.

“10 weeks?” you ask. “It’s a 90-day program. Shouldn’t you be in Phase 3, home stretch?”

Well, if I were doing P90X, which is a pretty strictly scheduled 90-day program, then, yeah, I’d be about done, but P90X2 is different. You see, there is a lot of balancing in X2 — standing on one leg, hands and feet on medicine and stability balls — and I really wanted to get a better handle on that stuff before I moved on, you know, build up my core.

Consequently, I spent 9 weeks in Phase 1, which included 3 recovery weeks that were just yoga and stretching. I put in a recovery week every third week, because I could.

The program allows for that. Phases 1 and 2 are, by the book, 3 to 6 weeks of workouts, and Phase 3 is 3 to 4 weeks. Up to you. Oh, and you can toss a recovery week in wherever you like. Or not. Up to you.

While Phase 1 was mostly about building the core, Phase 2 is working toward building overall strength. Plyocide and X2 Yoga are carried over from Phase 1, along with the Recovery & Mobility and X2 Ab Ripper routines, but now we are getting into training more targeted at the major muscle groups.

The schedule for Phase 2 is:

  • Chest, Back & Balance + X2 Ab Ripper
  • Plyocide
  • Rest or X2 Recovery & Mobility
  • X2 Shoulders & Arms + X2 Ab Ripper
  • X2 Yoga
  • Base & Back + X2 Ab Ripper
  • Rest or X2 Recovery & Mobility

There are other optional DVDs that can be swapped into some of the spots, but I did not buy them.

The workouts are still applying balancing techniques for added core strength, so there is a lot of on-one-leg stuff, particularly in the Shoulders & Arms routine, and plenty of work with medicine and stability balls.

At this point, unlike when I published my first impressions, I am prepared to say that, for me, P90x2 is better than P90X. Why do I say that? Simple — I feel stronger and more athletic during this program than I have during any other program I’ve tried, including P90X.

But, wait. Couldn’t that be because I’ve been building up over the past few years, so, really, this feeling of athleticism is a result of years of hard work toward a fitter me?

Okay, you got me, could be. But you can’t stop me from finishing this piece, so here’s the rest.

The techniques employed by P90X2 are much more unorthodox than those used in P90X, at least as far as weightlifting goes. Don’t get me wrong, P90X kicks ass, but the focus is more on simple resistance training. That will get you into shape, no doubt — it worked for me — but P90X2 goes beyond that, providing strength and balance training.

Have you tried doing curls while standing on one leg in a Warrior 3 stance? How about pushups with your hands on medicine balls and your feet on a stability ball? Let me tell you — it’s tough!

Is balance that important? Yes. Especially as we age, balance is so important, because falls can be much more destructive to our aging bodies.

I feel ready to tackle life with P90X2, because it seems to provide me with practical strength and balance that I need in my day-to-day activities. P90X made me feel “in shape”, but X2 makes me feel “ready for whatever life throws at me”.

I think a lot of the feeling of wellness I get is from the great core work. I really cannot describe how good my abs and lower back feel. Sure, I spent 9 weeks — 6 of them doing the actual P90X routines — in Phase 1, the Core phase. But it was worth it.

If you have not done either X or X2, it’s really up to you which one to select. Both are tough, but X2 may prove daunting for a newbie, because of all the balancing. If you are a seasoned athlete, though, and you want a challenging program to get you into better shape, either X or X2 will do that for you, but you may be ready to just jump into X2.

As Tony Horton says during X2 Shoulders & Arms: “Before we were working parts and getting fit. Now we’re connecting parts and getting athletic.”

Remember, no matter which you choose, there’s always a 30-day money back guarantee, so try one out. Don’t like it? Send it back. But do yourself a favor and try one of those programs. They truly are life changers.

Posted on

How thin is too thin?

I recently visited Kohl’s to, finally, get some new new shirts.

I am a t-shirt guy. I enjoy a good t-shirt. My favorite bands have cool t-shirts. I am comfortable in a t-shirt. However, there are times when a t-shirt is not appropriate attire, or so my wife tells me, anyway.

Therefore, I own several polo shirts. You know, the kind that are cotton, have 2 or 3 buttons and a bottom that you can leave untucked, which is how I prefer to wear my shirts. The untucking is not a holdover from when I was fat and just didn’t want the outline of my gut to be so well-defined. I remember being a skinny kid in high school and not tucking in my shirt. Not sure why, but I dislike it.

Anyway, at Kohl’s I found a couple shirts I liked, and on my way to the register, I saw the Levi’s. I thought, “I could use some new jeans.” I only buy Levi’s, because I like the way they fit.

The fact is, though, that I’d just recently spent a couple hundred bucks on Levi’s, and I’m not made of money, so even though the jeans I had were a bit too big now, they fit well enough, so…. But, still, out of curiosity, I thought I’d try some on.

I grabbed a pair of skinny 31s and a pair of regular fit 30s off the shelf. I didn’t really think I could fit into the 30s, but, what the heck, let’s just see.

The skinny 31 waist jeans fit well. I almost bought them.

Then I tried on the regular fit 30s. They fit, too. Okay, to be honest, they are a little snug, but I could easily close and zip them, and I could wear them in a pinch.

Size 30 waist? Really?

When I started my quest for fitness, I was wearing 42s and looking to buy 44s.

The smallest size Levi’s I’ve ever worn was 28 waist. That was back in the 70s, when the waist rode higher on Levi’s, but, still, to actually be able to close and zip a pair of size 30s today … wow, that was huge for me.

I didn’t buy the jeans, and will keep wearing my fairly new 32s, but, it got me to thinking: How thin is too thin? I mean, people develop eating disorders because they keep looking in the mirror and perceiving themselves to be fat, when they are not fat, right?

I did a bit of introspection, and, suffice to say, I am not too thin. I can still grab fat around my waist. I cannot see all my abs, so I can remain healthy and still be thinner. Will I be comfortable much thinner? Will I be able to maintain thinner if I get there? Possibly not. But I want to get there and find out — I at least want to give it a shot.

It has taken 5 years and 75 pounds for me to get where I am, so it’s not like I’m rushing it. I don’t obsess about it. But each of us must figure out  for ourselves along the way how thin is “too thin”.

I am not sure what “too thin” is for me. I only know that I have not yet reached that point.