Extreme Fitness Results

In 2004 Beachbody released P90X, Tony Horton’s infamously tough and results oriented workout. The workout has gone to receive national acclaim and incredible success, with over 2 million people using it and constant, round the clock media coverage as pro athletes, celebrities, military officers and politicians promote their success with this program. Tony hasn’t been resting on his laurels, however; during the last 6 years he’s been working at improving his workouts, at designing new and more rigorous training exercises, all of which is culminating in a new workout slated to be released in 2011: P90X MC2 (Muscle Confusion 2).

Everybody’s goal when they work out is to get results. Sure, some people hit the gym or put in that INSANITY DVD simply for the joy of it, enjoying the exercise and sweat as its own result, but most of us (c’mon, all of us) are doing it to get results. Lose weight, gain muscle, improve health, stay young, gain flexibility, train for a sport, something, anything. Now, we know you don’t get results straight away, nobody really goes to the bathroom mirror the next morning expecting to see a radical change, but all of us relish that deep ache that we get in our muscles after a good workout. That smoldering burn that makes us wince a little as we go about our day, that we wear as a badge of honor. We love that burn, but at what point does that burn become pain? How do we know when to stop? Or should we push forward, into that pain, and perhaps get more results?

So there you are, wearing your fancy workout clothes, hair slicked back into a killer pompadour, ready to press play and get to work. You’re about to jump into your latest bout with Shaun T or Tony Horton, about to break a sweat and try to break some personal barriers. Score some new records, do more than you’ve ever done before. What can you do to help you in this journey toward excellence? Fancy kicks, check. Recovery drink, check. 72″ inch flatscreen monitor with 3D capabilities: check. What else could get your blood pumping, stir your heart, push you farther than you’ve ever gone before? That’s right, music.

Want to piss of Shaun T? I’d advise against it. Not only is the man large and heavily muscled, but he’s also really, really fast. The quickest way to get in trouble with him is to buy your INSANITY Workout from pirates and counterfeiters. How can you tell who’s a counterfeiter? Easy. ANYBODY selling for less than the full price of $119.89 is ripping off Shaun T, ripping off Beachbody, and lowering the chances that not only will Shaun T continue to produce excellent products, but that he’ll get rewarded for the excellent work he’s already done.

So why do people quit? The rewards for sticking with your workout routine are immense: you look good, you feel good, your health improves, your energy levels will go up, you’ll live longer and be happier. With such an amazing list of benefits, why would anybody ever stop? Especially when most people who start are always so fired up? They want to do the hardest workout, to adopt the most extreme diet plan, and they want to do it now. So why do they stop? Why does almost everybody quit, so that when you check back in a couple of months later they’re back on the couch, griping? What are the reasons people quit?

We’ve all been there. Sunday afternoon at a poolside BBQ, looking good, feeling good, body in the best shape it’s ever been, a month or so into your new workout regimen, and suddenly somebody shoves a paper plate loaded with potato salad, grilled sausages oozing fat, a pile of potato chips, whatever. Or maybe it’s the day of a big game, and your buddy is serving up six fresh pizzas along with soda. Or you’re driving home late, you’re exhausted, and you decide to just hit a Drive Through and pick up some junk food to go. Either way, everybody ultimately gets tempted to break their nutrition plan and eat junk. Accept that this will happen to you, accept that you’ll be tempted, and then ask the question you’ll immediately ask as you look down at that unhealthy food: how bad is one cheat day?

Tune into any sports event and you’ll catch sight of athletes emblazoned with the logos and trademarks of various companies, their shirts and equipment sporting Nike swooshes, American Express credit cards and General Motor’s initials. Endorsements are a million dollar business, with some athletes like Tiger Woods earning up to sixty million dollars per year for simply wearing a certain set of clothing or using a certain kind of golf club. Given that, perhaps it’s no surprise that a long list of celebrities and athletes have come out an endorsed P90X, citing it as their favorite means of getting in shape. What might be surprising, however, is that they’re not paid to do so; each celebrity or professional athlete that praises P90X publicly is doing so of their own free will. So who are these celebrities, and what have they said about P90X?

Pumping iron. The term is old school, and refers to the classic exercise of lifting dumbbells and barbells. In a way, lifting heavy pieces of metal is as old school as it gets (barring lifting rocks), and there’s a certain amount of revered tradition to it. Which is why these brightly colored resistance bands can strike so many of us as strange; how can you get the same ripped arms by doing curls with a bright green piece of plastic? For that reason, many people are resistant to using resistance bands, and hew to the classic dumbbells. But is this resistance logical? Can resistance bands give you the same quality workout, or an even better one? In today’s blog post we’re going to analyze their benefits and downfalls, and see if we can answer that question once and for all.

I get this question all the time. “I’m doing everything right,” they say. “How come I’m not losing more weight?” Whether it’s somebody who has been pounding away at Insanity for a couple of weeks, or who’s about to finish their first round of P90X, people will often climb onto that dreaded scale and get disheartened. Expectations run high when people start, and yearning for a total body transformation, they pour their heart and soul into their workouts, only to find themselves betrayed when they haven’t dropped the 50lbs they hoped to lose. What’s happening here? What went wrong, and why?

Is it too late for you to start exercising? Is there a certain point beyond which extreme workouts are no longer possible? How do things change when you leave your 20’s for your 30’s? What should you know about your body so that you can best train it to maximize gains and performance? These are the kinds of questions people who treat health and fitness as a life long goal have to ask, and that people who are only in it to lose 10lbs never consider. Health and fitness is a life long passion, and today we know that exercise can not only make you feel better, but even reverse aging’s effects. As such, we have to ask: how does your age affect your workout routines?