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What I’ve learned about fitness and nutrition over the past few years

I’ve been on my fitness quest for about four years now. I went in with with an open mind, wanting to find out as much as I could, experiment on myself, see what works and what doesn’t.

Here are a few of the things I think I know, subject to change as I learn more:

  • It’s more about what you eat than what you do. You can lose a lot of weight by eating properly. Without exercise, though, you will lose muscle along with the fat. You have to work out to build that muscle. Still, if your only goal is to lose weight, know that how you eat is responsible for about 80% of how your body looks.
  • Carbs are not evil, but sugar is, and grains are not far behind. Fruits, vegetables, those are carbs. Eat ’em up. Anything with added sugar in it, though, is just asking for trouble. Then if you add grains, wow, you are really packing a caloric punch. By removing sweets from your diet, you can much more easily find your way to healthy eating habits. Not only that, but when you get used to eating less sugar, naturally sweet foods like fruits will taste sweeter to you.
  • P90X is a great way to dive into a fitness-oriented lifestyle. It got me motivated, took me from a terrible diet to a pretty good one, and from walking/pushups/crunches to real, structured workouts. The main thing P90X did was show me that even people over-40 can get into shape. I’d just about given up, but now I am in the best shape of my adult life.
  • Insanity is a great way to continue that fitness-oriented lifestyle. I lost some of the muscle I’d built with P90X when I went through Insanity, but did I really need all that muscle? The only part I regret is that I lost a lot of pullup (back) strength, so when I am doing a round of Insanity, I add pullups. Insanity doesn’t focus enough on the back muscles and I think the body needs that balance. I add yoga, too, just because I like starting the day with yoga.
  • Insanity: The Asylum is just too much. Maybe I feel that way because I don’t have enough space to do all the moves conveniently, but….
  • You have to warm up first, no matter what it is you are going to do. Unless you are going for a walk, which is not really a workout, you gotta warm up. I have hurt myself doing impromptu pullups. True story.
  • Insanity is good for my knees! I was shocked by this. Before I started P90X, my knees were okay, presenting minor problems when I tried to run, but they didn’t pain me much. A couple months into P90X, my left knee started bothering me. Not enough to make me stop, and the pain was not there when I exercised, but it was there from time to time. The pain was bothersome enough that I mentioned it to my doctor. He took a look and told me I had arthritis in that knee. I continued on with my P90X and One-On-One workouts. I didn’t start Insanity, because I figured if my knee was bad now, Insanity would put it over the top, right? So I put Insanity off for a few months. Then I took some time off to just do yoga and walking, give my body a rest, and my knee pain subsided considerably. When I went back to working out, it came back. At that point I said to myself, “If the pain can go away, then come back, that probably means it can go away again, so I’m going to go ahead and dive into Insanity.” After I started Insanity, my knee pain gradually diminished and has now disappeared. So … I stay away from Tony Horton (P90X) leg routines and stick with Shaun T (Insanity) ones.
  • Yoga is one of the best things you can do for yourself. It is so all-around fitness-increasing, affecting breathing, balance, and strength. Your whole body is engaged in yoga moves. It inspires discipline. And, you know what? It ain’t for pussies. Yoga is hard. Don’t skip it. In fact, I added more.
  • I much prefer body weight or band resistance training to working out with weights. Weight training is cool and I know it helps build strength and balance, but it’s a hassle. I guess that’s another reason to really like Insanity. I am not about building too much muscle, preferring a lean look, so it’s all good.
  • If you can perform a fitness routine completely without breaks the first time through, it’s not a very useful fitness routine. You need something that challenges you. Any of the aerobic workouts in P90X and Insanity definitely qualify as useful, by that definition. Plus, here’s the thing, take, for example, the P90X Plyometrics routine. Man, that is a monster. I was stopping the DVD for extra breaks a lot when I first started it. Then not so much. Then, on the day I was able to get all the way through it without stopping, I had such a feeling of accomplishment. Rightly so! As for Insanity, I still have not got all the way through any of those routines. Close. But not quite. But I will.
  • With that in mind, accept the fact that Insanity is (almost) impossible.  I say “almost” because, I suppose, anything is possible. For Insanity, unlike for P90X, I say take breaks without pausing the DVD, but don’t dog it. Get back in as soon as possible.
  • You can build great abs without doing any crunches. That is a fact, and Shaun T (Insanity) knows how to do that. Insanity is great for abs.

I’m sure I’ve learned more than that, but those are a few good lessons that came to mind pretty quickly.

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Keep your workout results expectations realistic

You may see commercials on tv or  ads in magazines that show ripped guys who got that way in only 30 or 60 days!

“Yeah, right,” you say to yourself. “But, maybe….”

I’m not Fire Marshall Bill, but LETMETELLYASUMTHIN! If you’re a regular person in regular shape, it ain’t gonna happen.

I have no doubt (well, I do have some doubt, but I can see how it could be true) that the people in the commercials and advertisements really did achieve the looks they display in the promised number of days. But they started the program a lot closer to that shape than you will.

Let me be clear. I am not putting down these exercise/diet programs. They do work.

I’m just saying, don’t expect to go from 40 pounds overweight to washboard abs in 60 days. Or 90 days. Or 120 days.

You’ll get some great abs, sure, but seeing them will be the problem. Those last 10 or 15 pounds are a bear to lose. Trust me. Been there, still doing that.

Unless you are absolutely fanatical about calorie restriction and/or doubling up your workouts, you ain’t gettin’ there.

Here I am 21 months into it, and I am still stuck with the fat that covers my six-pack. Now, I look great (and that is not just me being vain, I have been told this by many people, even those I don’t know very well), but I am not ready to hit the runway for a pose-off anytime soon, nor do I ever expect to be that ripped.

Don’t get me wrong. This is a subject of some soreness for me, because I really want to see the six-pack. But I have to be pragmatic about this. If it were my job to get ripped, I mean, if I were getting paid to get ripped, you had best believe I’d get there. That is not the case, though, so I still enjoy ingesting comestibles that keep my waist from shrinking any farther. I still enjoy taking days off from workouts that might burn those extra calories.

I am a regular human living a regular human life.

So, really, it’s all good.

I’m just saying, don’t get all disappointed with your program, when you don’t see that muscle definition you were looking for. That’s the way it is. Either work harder, eat less, or just accept the fact that you will be in great shape, but maybe not with as low a body fat percentage as you’d like.

And if you are dedicated enough to be able to put that six-pack on display … well, good for you (you bastard!)

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How to survive the holiday food fest

The holidays are upon us, with Halloween just past, and Thanksgiving and Christmas right around the corner.

I don’t know how it is in other parts of the world, but here in the United States, mid-November through New Year’s Day is prime eating season, with large family gatherings that include lots of food, including pies, cakes, cookies — everything you may be trying to avoid.

One way to deal with this time of year is to just say, “Screw it! I’m going to eat whatever is put in front of me, and then I’ll get back on the wagon in January!”

Okay, you can do that, but wow, putting on 10 to 15 (or more) pounds doing that is not out of the question, if you are also lowering your number of workouts, and that can be disastrous. Well, it would be for me, anyway.

Another way to handle the holidays is to eat your way through it, but increase your number of workouts. That is not a bad idea, but remember, an average-sized slice of chocolate cake will run you 500 calories. Ten Oreos have about that same number of calories. A couple cups of mashed potatoes have that many, too.

It doesn’t take long for those calories to add up, so I hope your extra workout is one helluva good one!

The way I choose to survive the holidays is to do nothing out of the ordinary. Just because it’s the holidays, doesn’t mean I have to go off the deep end. Really!

So, as usual, I won’t eat any sweets. I don’t want them, I don’t need them. My blood sugar rides the fine line between okay and trouble, so I don’t want to shoot it over the top. That’s a personal choice for my own health — yours may not be so strict.

I will overeat at a meal or two or three (or four or five). That’s normal for me, and it’s one of the reasons I can’t see my abs as well as I’d like to. But remember, I am a regular guy, not a fanatic.

Will aunt Gladys be upset by the fact that I won’t eat her pecan pie? She should know better than to try to feed me that stuff.

Will mom be pissed because I won’t eat a second helping of her sausage dressing? Sorry, mom, it’s great, but one serving is enough.

One of the reasons I was overweight for so long was because I sacrificed my own health to keep order in the family. I didn’t want to upset aunt Gladys or mom. It was not until I broke that control others had over my diet, sacrificed their feelings rather than my body, that I was able to get into shape. Once my family saw the results of my new way of eating, their hurt feelings were salved.

Am I oversimplifying? Sure. My life is pretty simple.

You may have more pressure, because you are around more family than I am. Eat everything but in smaller portions. Make the right choices for you.

Most importantly, develop a strategy that will work for you, before the holidays start, and then stick to it. Believe me, you will be happy you did, when you start next year without the extra fat.

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Ain’t that a pain in the glutes!

I woke up this morning with soreness in my glutes. I expected to wake up that way, and I was not disappointed. In fact, I would have been disappointed if I were not sore.

What is the physiological/biological cause of soreness in the muscles? I’ve searched for a definitive answer and haven’t found one. If you find the answer, please post it here or let me know.

But I do know what activity causes soreness in the muscles. Simple. All I have to do is work the muscles out in a way they have not been worked out in a while, either by doing a new exercise, or doing a usual exercise slightly differently or more intensely.

And that’s what happened yesterday.

I did “Back & Base” from Volume 3 of Tony Horton’s One on One, which was the precursor to the soon-to-be-released P90X2. It’s a good series of exercises that alternates between pullups and plyo lower body moves, and it’s one of those routines where I do every move to exhaustion, until I can’t do any more.

Going to exhaustion virtually ensures that I’ll be sore the next day. Think about it. If every move ends because you can’t do any more than you’ve done, that means that you are taking your muscles to their absolute limit, breaking them down, getting them ready to rebuild themselves even stronger.

And, therefore, they are sore the next day.

I’ve written about muscle soreness before, and how I enjoy it, because the soreness lets me know I didn’t dog it during the workout, and also that I’ll be stronger when the soreness subsides.

Soreness can be annoying, though. Like, for example, when earlier this week I did my “Steve’s Chest & Back” routine on Monday, and the next day tried to do jumping jacks along with a Shaun T Insanity cardio workout. I was barely able to make my hands meet above my head!

I suppose I could take some Advil or something, but I really don’t like to put that stuff into my body, so I’ll just live with it, and write the occasional article, when I’m particularly sore, to remind myself — and you — that muscle soreness is a good thing.

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What you need to know before you start P90X – Part 4

This is Part 4. You can read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, and Part 3 here.

RULE #12: ADJUSTABLE DUMBBELLS ARE GREAT.

When I was preparing to start P90X, I didn’t even know about adjustable dumbbells, nor was I aware that regular dumbbells cost so frickin’ much!

I was torn, because either way I was going to be shelling out a few hundred bucks. I was going to be working out  in my living room, though, and the space saving nature of adjustables came into play.

Still torn, I walked into my Costco just to have a look, and I found some great adjustables for only $300, including stand. They don’t have them at Costco anymore, and they are a bit more than $300 now, but they are called Ironman Leverlock Adjustable Dumbbells, and they have been great. (Great, that is, as long as you ensure the levers are indeed locked before you pick them up. You should do that anyway, but I’m just sayin’, because I remember reading bad reviews about these things, probably from people who did not bother to check the locks.)

I did an online search and I see these things are available at Sears and Kmart, so check ’em out. Here’s a link so you know what they look like. They come with the stand, which is great, because when you are picking up a dumbbell, it sure is nice not to have to go all the way to the floor to get it.

And, yes, in case you are wondering, I found the 55 pounds per side to be more than enough for my current strength level.

Another thing to keep in mind is the ability to adjust throughout the set at 2.5-pound increments. I found that to be useful. Adjusting in 5-pound increments would have been too much. Stepping up from 15 to 17.5 to 20 pounds works very well.

As I said, I’ve heard great things about the Bowflex ones, and they have come down in price, so here’s a link to them, if you want to check them out. I’m sure others have hit the market in the couple years since I’ve shopped for them, so shop around.

RULE #13: USE A HEART RATE MONITOR.

P90X is an extreme exercise program, so you should get a checkup from your doctor before you start it. Did I do that? No. But I should have, I guess.

What I did do, though, was get a heart rate monitor and use it to decide when to slow down. Those first few weeks of Plyo and other aerobic/anaerobic activities will send your heart rate through the roof, if you are not in top shape, so the heart rate monitor made it easy for me to gauge my exertion level.

To figure out your max heart rate, just subtract your age from 220. If you are 50-years-old, your max heart rate is is 170, so I figured about 80% of that as an initial target. 170 * 0.8 = 136. I rounded to 140 and kept an eye on that. Once my heart rate went over 140, I slowed down a bit, then picked it back up to try to stay in the 130-140 range. After a while I raised that high target to 150, and after another while I stopped using the heart rate monitor altogether. But it was a valuable tool at the beginning to keep me informed about how hard my heart was working, because it was often beating much harder than I realized.

There are many models out there, but I wanted to go cheap, so I went with this one from Omron, and it’s served me very well.

ADDED SEPTEMBER 2, 2012: When my Omron gave out, I bought a Polar. I like it better than the Omron. It’s better constructed and easier to wear, but, of course, it’s a lot more expensive. Check it out here.

RULE #14: IF YOU FIND PULLUPS TO BE VERY DIFFICULT-TO-IMPOSSIBLE, TRY AN ALTERNATIVE.

Pullups are hard for most people, because we just don’t use our backs that much. Of course, that is the root of many of our back problems, so pullups are important to work through, even if you can’t do more than one right now.

During P90X, Tony offers a couple of alternatives to pullups.

The first pullup alternative involves using a chair to assist with the pullup.

I tried this. It was problematic for two reasons:

  1. The chair would slip often on my tile floor, and
  2. I found myself using the chair and my legs far too much.

I don’t recommend chair-assisted pullups, but please give it a shot, so you can decide for yourself.

The second pullup alternative Tony recommends is using a resistance band. So you attach the resistance band to something above you, then from your knees or your butt, pull the band down toward your chest, arms spread, in a pullup motion.

I tried this, too. It was better than chair-assisted, but was problematic for three reasons:

  1. It was a pain in the butt to get the band looped around my pullup bar so it would provide enough resistance to make the exercise worthwhile,
  2. You really need a heavy-duty band to get enough resistance, and I didn’t have that, and
  3. I pulled the pullup bar down on top of myself one time doing this.

Again, you may want to try this — maybe you’ll love it — and I used it for a long time, actually, before coming up with what I do now.

The third pullup alternative is one I came up with myself, and I think it works great. It’s this — DO PULLUPS! Okay, that’s not really an alternative to pullups, but the methodology is different than what goes on in the program. When it’s time to do pullups, you simply set a timer — I use our kitchen timer — for one minute, and do as many pullups as possible in that one minute. Take all the breaks you need during that minute, but always keep working to get one more pullup until the timer goes off.

You may need to pause the DVD while you do your minute, but it’s worth the small hassle, because the only way to get better at pullups is to do pullups. Do as many as you can in a minute.

ADDED AUGUST 22, 2012: There is yet another way to do pullups now, and it is with the Beachbody Chin-Up Max. It hooks over your pullup bar, you slip your foot into it, and you get pullup assistance. The Chin-Up Max is adjustable, so you can get just as much assistance as you like. Check it out here.

RULE #15: BE SAFE

Safety is very important when you are engaging in any kind of physical activity, not only because you need to understand the limitations of your body, but you need to also, if the activity is new, be aware of any issues you may not already know about.

When you are in program like P90X, a program that is designed to get you into better shape, it’s natural for you to want to overwork. You’re feeling good. Surely you can lift more weight than that. And. Then. Uh oh. Down for the count.

But you already know that, so here are a few safety tips you may not be as aware of.

Keep your core tight. Tony does not mention this much in P90X. Shaun T harps on it, though, in Insanity, and it’s really important, not only because it helps build your abs, but also because it keeps your back safe. If you just keep those abs at least somewhat engaged, no matter what you are doing, you’ll notice the difference in performance, balance, and muscle tone.

Lift and replace the dumbbells gently. This just means that you need to not yank at the dumbbells when you pick them up and you should place them back carefully. In other words, stay in control. There are some exercises that are exceptions to the “placing them back carefully” rule — sometimes you have to just let them drop, but the key is to not hurt yourself. Yanking at them when picking them up can strain your arms, shoulders, and back, while dropping them can damage your feet and toes, when the dumbbell bounces from the floor onto them. Trust me, this one I learned from experience.

Watch out for equipment and furniture. Really, this is a no-brainer, but those are the ones that get you. Don’t be lazy about putting dumbbells back, because, sure enough, at some point you’ll stub your toe and that can put you out of commission for the day. If you work out in your living room, coffee tables, also, can be dangerous, especially once you lose that layer of fat you have on your shins. You may not know it’s there, but, believe me, when you hit your fat-free shin on the coffee table, if you catch it just wrong, it’ll bleed like a sumbitch, and leave a permanent scar, too. Been there, done that.

Make sure your pullup bar is secure. Many of those over-the-doorframe pullup bars have little clip to help keep them in place. Use it. This is especially important if you are wrapping exercise bands around the pullup bar to do band pullups from the floor, because that can cause the pressure on the bar to be different from the manufacturer’s design, and…. Okay, yeah, been there, done that, too. Mine doesn’t have the clip to hold it in place, but I am much more careful with it these days.

And that about wraps up this 4-part series. I’m sure I didn’t cover everything, but this should be enough to get you started.