Posts Tagged ‘Beachbody’
How To Succeed With P90X
Posted by: Michael R. Hicks in Get In Shape 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!
Beachbody’s P90X – A Quick Overview
Posted by: Michael R. Hicks in Get In Shape 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!
Getting In Shape – Why Bother?
Posted by: Michael R. Hicks in Get In Shape on January 26th, 2010
As I write this, I’m forty-six years young and in the very best shape of my life. I make posts on Facebook when I work out, and one of my friends there said that my wife, Jan, and I definitely had her beat on the physical fitness thing. I told her that it wasn’t always that way, and she and another friend (Florian, that’s you!) wanted to know more. So here’s my little story, and why I’m into fitness just as much as I’m into writing novels.
Wind the clock back to April 2008, when I had to go in to see my doctor for a routine checkup. I knew I was a bit overweight at 220 pounds (to put that in context, I’m six foot one inch tall) and wasn’t in very good shape, and hadn’t been for quite a few years. Like most guys my age, I sort of let things go a bit, although I liked to think I wasn’t a poster child for Weight Watchers or anything. I didn’t worry about what I ate, and while we got outside a bit, I didn’t exercise regularly.
When the doc came in, he gave me one of those looks, the kind you definitely don’t want to get. He had my blood test results, and as he went over the figures with me, he told me that he’d never personally seen anyone with numbers that high. My scores? Total cholesterol was 301 (the high end of normal is 200), and my triglycerides came in at almost 1200 – the high end of normal is 150. My cholesterol had always been a bit high, but this was ridiculous. Not only that, it was potentially lethal, and the men on my mom’s side of the family have a history of heart disease, with her father and his brother both having died of heart attacks in their fifties.
I got the message. Starting that day, my wife, Jan, and I sat down and started sorting things out: exercise and nutrition. The doctor wanted to give me some medication, but I told him I wanted to try and deal with this first on my own. We looked at a variety of exercise options, and finally settled on Beachbody’s excellent workout programs to get us started (if you’d like more information, feel free to get in touch with my wife – a Beachbody coach – through her Beachbody coach page). While I originally tried to order P90X, which you’ve probably seen advertised, the order didn’t go through, which was a good thing. Had we started with P90X, I think we would’ve tanked right away, because P90X is not for beginners! Instead, we started with Power 90 – which was just right for us – and worked our way up to Beachbody’s tougher (and toughest) programs, including P90X and Insanity. Throw in a lot of ChiRunning, and you get an idea of what our current routine fitness activities are nowadays.
The other thing was nutrition: it goes hand in hand with exercise. We went through the house and literally threw out the junk. All of it. If you want to see something disgusting, look at just about any ingredient label on the food we eat: it’s packed with sugar, high fructose corn syrup, fat, and chemicals. Yuck. More on that later, but the bottom line is that we replaced everything with healthy food, and organic food as much as possible. Doing yourself a huge favor (and one for your family) and get rid of all that garbage. We still go out to eat and even have pizza a couple times a month (and yes, the new Domino’s Pizza is really good! LOL!), but we do it with control and don’t go overboard.
Anyway, after four months of consistent exercise and eating good food (in reasonable amounts), I returned to see the M.D. to go over my latest blood work. The results, I’m happy to say, were nothing short of phenomenal: my cholesterol was down from 301 to 178 (the lowest it’s ever been), and my triglycerides were down to 109. On top of that, I’d gone from 220 pounds down to 190. My friend, that ain’t half bad for only four months and no medication! Since then, we’ve gone on to do things fitness-wise that I’d never imagined, including running in a half-marathon (which was tough, yes, but an incredible experience!).
Let me also say that I can’t exactly be called a fitness fanatic. I have tremendous respect for people who are, but it wasn’t my goal to get down to 5% body fat and be totally ripped: it was to stay alive and stay healthy. Looking better, even if I’m not ripped (I’m at around 12% body fat right now), is a great side benefit, though!
So, there’s my story! Hopefully there will be something in there that might help or motivate you. And with that, I need to get back to working on the next book!
