Posts Tagged ‘Shakeology’
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.
