Archive for the ‘Fitness Blog’ Category
Passing People By On Skyline Drive
Posted by: Michael R. Hicks in Fitness Blog, RV Adventures on October 12th, 2010
We enjoyed a nice little trek along the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park last weekend (Sunday, 10 October 2010). It’s another one of those “must-see” things to put on your list!
While the scenery in general and the overlooking views are spectacular, I have to say that one of the most interesting things we happened to see was the map at one of the rest stops that showed Stonewall Jackson’s various battles in the Shenandoah Valley: talk about a lot of marching!
We also stopped to take a walk down the Dark Hollow Falls trail. Like the rest of the Blue Ridge Mountain area, it was beautiful. But as we were going down the trail, it struck me just how much so many people were struggling. Yes, it’s fairly steep, if not very long – about 2 miles round trip.
But you’d think some of these folks were halfway through the Bataan Death March…on the way down. It was sort of shocking: Jan and I were just toodling down the trail, even with my right leg still causing me some problems (shinsplints, probably made worse by the car accident we were in a couple weeks ago), passing people by right and left. We weren’t in a race, obviously, but the farther we went, the more it struck me how two people who are closing in on fifty (or just departing forty-five?) were doing so much better than almost everyone, including people who were thirty or more years younger.
Once we got down to the bottom of the falls, we stopped for a few minutes to have some water and enjoy the view, then we started back up the same way we’d come, heading back toward the visitor center. We were moving at a pace that got our heart rates up a bit (mine moreso than Jan’s, because I haven’t done much exercise since the car accident), but not all that much compared to a good cardio workout. Yet we were overtaking people who had been on their way up when we were going down!
One of the most telling things was when we passed a father who was probably at least five years (if not more) younger than me, explaining to his young boy what “health” meant, as he puffed and struggled up the trail. He tried to put it simply, saying that “Health was the opposite of being sick.” I wanted to tell him no, it’s much more than that: you can be “not sick” and yet still not be healthy, and he was living proof. There were so many people who were trying to get out to see some of the outdoors and spend time with their families, but who were clearly having a miserable time because their bodies were so terribly out of shape.
If that sounds like you, I just wanted to let you know that you don’t have to feel that way, or let physical exertion (or your cholesterol, blood pressure, type II diabetes, etc.) get the best of you. You don’t have to transform yourself into a star athlete, but you also don’t have to endure the frustration of not being able to keep up with your kids, or be miserable any time you have to do something requiring physical effort: exercise and healthy eating can and will work if you do a few simple things every day.
For us success came through Beachbody exercise programs and Shakeology. My wife Jan and I are living proof, and living is the key word. I want to be around for a long time for Jan and our boys, and doing a few simple things every day – exercising and eating well – will help keep me truly healthy for many years to come.
P90X And Shakeology: Aiding Injury Recovery
Posted by: Michael R. Hicks in Fitness Blog on October 11th, 2010
My wife Jan and I were recently in a car wreck. An idiot driver (who happened to be a young kid, but age isn’t necessarily a factor where stupidity is concerned) was texting while driving and made a left turn right into us. I was driving Jan’s Nissan Quest van, with her in the driver’s seat, and the other car – a Lexus – slammed into the forward quarter on my side of the van, then hit us again in the rear side panel as he ricocheted off.
Jan walked away without a scratch, and so did the kid (I’m just glad the boys weren’t with us!). I got off really lucky, all things considered, but after crawling out the driver side window (the door was jammed shut and I didn’t feel like picking my way across the passenger side – I thought the van was on fire from the smell of the airbag deployment!), I did have a few dents and dings: bruised ribs on my left side where I slammed against my elbow as I was thrown against the door, plus a sprained right wrist from when the airbag blew. Like a dummy, I was trying to honk at the idiot when it went off. I’m lucky I didn’t get smashed in the face with my own fist!
Aside from the general aggravation and fright of the thing, I had just started my fourth round of Tony Horton’s P90X program. But the accident put a bit of a squeeze on things: I couldn’t do pushups, chinups, or move much weight with my wrist, and anything that required much core support was out because of the bruised ribs (note: if you’ve never had ‘em, and I hope you never do, bruised, cracked, or broken ribs are a total pain in the patootie!). On top of that, I think I have shinsplints in my right leg, which may have been made worse by the accident, and that’s temporarily put a stop to any running, cardio, or plyometric workouts!
So, the question has become, what the heck can I do to at least keep my edge a little bit and not turn into a blubbering blob of protoplasm?
The first thing was nutrition: I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do a ton of calorie-burning, so in order to not turn into a fatty cheeseburger I’ve trimmed down my intake a bit and have made sure to have a Shakeology ever day. That’s helped to give me the energy I need, and also gives me a lot of nutrients that’ll help my body repair itself. Plus it tastes really good!
Next is what to do for exercise. After looking through our pile of Beachbody workout programs, I finally decided to concentrate on two P90X workouts: Yoga X and X Stretch. With Yoga X, I’m going to skip over the vinyasas and other bits that put stress on the wrist and focus on the lower body and balance moves that don’t bring on too much discomfort. The same goes for X Stretch: there’ll be some moves, like the forearm stretch, that’ll be pretty hard or too painful to do, but I’ll push it until something hurts and then go around. Once we get back home (we’re out in Luray, VA right now in our RV), I’m going to start biking a bit to get in some cardio. We’ll see if my leg complains too loudly.
The most important thing, however, is to just do something! If you’re injured, be smart about it and don’t do anything that’s going to make your injury worse, but don’t feel that you’re helpless and can’t do anything at all. Aside from basic things like walking, swimming, or biking, there’s likely something in one or more of the Beachbody programs (like P90X, ChaLEAN Extreme, etc.) that can help you get back to where you want to be.
How To Succeed With P90X
Posted by: Michael R. Hicks in Fitness Blog on February 22nd, 2010
I don’t mean the title of this post to sound like I have some sort of silver bullet to help you get through the P90X program, but I did want to offer you my perspective after having started and been through most of this program twice.
I say “started” because I was right in the middle of month two of P90X when my wife and I decided to start training for the San Antonio Rock & Roll Half Marathon, and I took some major detours in my fitness journey to get there, including putting P90X on hold. I only had limited time and energy, and the running training, for someone who never liked running, was very challenging (at least before we discovered ChiRunning, which changed our attitude completely about running!).
So, I got back to P90X and just decided to restart it. Some people might feel like they hadn’t accomplished anything, and are just having to start over. But it’s not that way at all. Listen, once you’ve gotten to the point where you’re doing this level of routine consistently, it’s become more than a good habit: it’s become part of your life. You’re not just doing a 90-day workout program anymore, but are using P90X as one among many available tools to shape your body and your life.
For example, nowadays, when I want to do cardio, I usually go out and do some ChiRunning, because I’ve really come to enjoy it. But I’ll also mix in some routines from ChaLEAN Extreme, INSANITY, or some of the other Beachbody programs. And when it’s warm, my wife and I will also go out bike riding or kayaking.
My point here isn’t that you shouldn’t worry about sticking to your program’s schedule, because sticking to the program will generally give you optimal results. But don’t feel like you’re “failing” if life intrudes and you’re not able to get in a planned workout, or something – good or bad – happens and you have to put a program on hold for a while.
The important thing is just to get back into it and keep going!
More P90X Workout Sheets
Posted by: Michael R. Hicks in Fitness Blog on February 15th, 2010
Get P90X Workout Sheets!
Sorry for the extra click, but there’s a new home for the information I had here on P90X workout sheets, along with the workout plans for P90X Plus, INSANITY, ChaLEAN Extreme, and RevAbs…
Beachbody’s P90X – A Quick Overview
Posted by: Michael R. Hicks in Fitness Blog on February 8th, 2010
I’ve gotten a number of questions lately on Facebook and Twitter about P90X by Beachbody, and thought it would be worth giving you some of my overall impressions of the program (I’ll save more in-depth reviews for later).
The first thing I have to say is that the P90X program really is complete, moreso than any of the other Beachbody programs (in my opinion). What I mean by that is that it’s not just packed with great workouts and a schedule to do them, but it also has an incredibly thorough nutrition guide. And that’s something I want to emphasize right up front: while the eye-catching part is the workouts, your success is going to largely depend on how well (or poorly) you follow the nutrition part of the program. That’s hard for me to emphasize enough: if you don’t change the way you’re eating and follow the guide, you’ll get in better shape and be stronger at the end by following the exercise routine, but you won’t come close to achieving optimal results.
Both the nutrition and the workout guides are packed with good information that’s very well-structured, and there is a LOT of it: take some time to really get acquainted with both manuals before you start.
The DVDs are, not surprisingly, extremely well done, and there are a lot of them: thirteen, to be precise! I’m not going to cover all the workouts here in any detail, but I did want to make a few observations based on our previous experience with Power 90, Power 90 Master Series, and ChaLEAN Extreme.
Being a veteran of the other workout programs, I was not nearly as intimidated by the workout routines as I thought I might be. While they’re definitely extreme and really tough, the programs we’ve already done have provided us with a great foundation. We saw a number of familiar exercises – along with lots of new ones! – and that gave me a greater sense of confidence. Ironically, this was particularly the case with Cardio X: after some of the cardio workouts in ChaLEAN, this one’s not a huge deal.
To be perfectly honest, that’s probably the one major downside to P90X for me: a lot of the exercises in the cardio routines were a bit too familiar. This wouldn’t be an issue for anyone jumping right into P90X, but if you’ve done the other Power 90 series workouts, it’s something to keep in mind. The good news is that it’s easy to substitute for cardio with workouts from other programs (particularly ChaLEAN Extreme and INSANITY, if you’re in good enough condition), or any other cardio activity like running, biking, etc.
The main concern I have with the weight training workouts are simply that, in addition to being extremely intense, they’re long (a full hour, including warmup and cool down, plus Ab Ripper X), so muscular endurance is an issue. And that brings us right back around to the nutrition portion of the program: it’s very clear (over and above the admonitions in the P90X documentation) that you’ve GOT to ensure that you’re eating properly to give yourself enough fuel to do the workouts, and enough protein to repair and build muscle.
Actually, the toughest workout for me is Yoga X. If you think yoga is for sissies, you’ll change your tune after you do this workout the first time. I’m not a yoga buff, but I can’t argue with the benefits of concentration, flexibility, and control that it gives you. The big downside with this particular workout, though, is how long it is: 90 minutes. That’s really hard for me to do during the week, so when I don’t have enough time I substitute the Dynamic Flow Yoga workout from ChaLEAN Extreme, which is 40 minutes long (I really like that workout, especially the guided meditation part Chalene Johnson does at the end).
Finally, if you’ve seen the P90X infomercial and are thinking about buying it, consider this: if you’re in good shape and you exercise fairly regularly, go for it! But if you’ve been sedentary or only work out every once in a while, please consider what you’re getting into. It’s called an “extreme” fitness program for a reason! If you’re not already in good shape, you really should think about starting with Power 90, Power 90 Master Series, or ChaLEAN Extreme to build up a good foundation before you tackle P90X. You want it to be a challenge, but not so much that you get discouraged and drop the program.
And remember: as with all Beachbody programs, there is an absolutely awesome support community with on-line forums and independent coaches like my wife, Jan. Joining Team Beachbody is absolutely free, and is one of the best things you can do to help ensure your success!
Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
Posted by: Michael R. Hicks in Fitness Blog on January 29th, 2010
This is a recipe that I’ve had a lot of people ask about, so I decided to just go ahead and post a copy of it here. Before you scoff at the “whole wheat” part of it, let me reassure you that these things taste really good! We enjoy having a nice little treat after dinner, and having one or two of these cookies does the job in a way that’s healthy and not loaded with junk. My wife originally got this recipe from Spark People and modified it a bit to suit our needs better. Here is the original recipe:
Servings: 36
INGREDIENTS
1 cup all purpose flour
1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup Splenda
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter (unsalted, and softened)
1/4 cup applesauce
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
12-ounce bag of semisweet chocolate chips
DIRECTIONS
Preheat Oven to 375 degrees F.
In a large bowl sift together flours, baking soda and salt.
In a separate bowl cream together Splenda, brown sugar, butter, applesauce, egg yolks and vanilla extract.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and pour in chocolate chips. Stir until combined, don’t overmix.
Scoop onto baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
Bake 13-18 minutes.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies.
NUTRITION INFO (per cookie)
Calories: 148.7
Fat: 8.9 g
Carbohydrates: 17.5 g
Protein: 1.7 g
My wife modified the recipe by changing the Splenda to Sucanat, which is a type of Organic Cane Sugar. (Sometimes she uses Splenda instead. She switches back and forth. It doesn’t make a difference to the taste, but the Splenda cookies do seem to be a little lighter and fluffier.) Instead of butter, she uses Olivio, an Olive Oil-based margarine. And instead of two egg yolks she uses one whole egg and one egg white. She’s also been substituting 1/2 of the chocolate chips for butterscotch chips. They make a really yummy addition to these cookies.
If you want a great-tasting treat that can satisfy your sweet tooth, but won’t blow away your eating plan, give these a try!
