Every now and then I like to mix up my routine so that I don't get complacent about my health. Why? The reasons vary. Most of my lifestyle changes are in response to some perceived shortcoming or a desire to improve myself in some way. For example, a few years ago I dove headfirst into a (mostly) pescatarian diet. At the time I felt like my diet was too one-dimensional so I wanted to force myself to sample a wider variety of foods. It worked. My tastes are much broader these days.
A little over a month ago I switched my routine up once more. I had grown frustrated with some stubborn belly fat that just wouldn't go away, and my workouts were boring me. Even more worrisome, I was just so tired all the time. I decided to shake up my diet and my fitness regimen.
The first thing I did was get rid of as much sugar from my diet as I could. That meant no pop and none of The Missus' desserts. The first and third weeks were the hardest, but now in week five most of my sugar cravings are gone. I've also tried to integrate a much higher percentage of protein into my diet. I'm not following Atkins or keto or paleo or anything like that. I'm just trying to make good choices for my body without being a religious nut about it. My weakness remains salty and spicy snacks. I haven't figured out that little hiccup just yet.
Next I addressed my boring workouts and excessive fatigue at the same time. I tackled my tiredness in a way that may surprise you: I started waking up earlier. Formerly a post-7:00am sleeper, I now get up between 5:30 and 6:00 six days out of the week so that I can do my workout and be home by 7:00 or 7:15 to help get the boys ready for school. The first week was hard, as you might expect. I may have even turned off the alarm once or twice. But these days I feel great in the mornings. I haven't set my alarm in weeks because I wake up naturally every single day. Each night I get a very restful 7-8 hours of sleep. It's a fantastic feeling.
Previously I was doing a lot of plain running. Four miles here, six miles there. Meh. I've adjusted my workouts in two ways. First, my running days are much more intense with a focus on building strength. That means lots of sprints, intervals, and hills. This morning, for example, I did my workout on the side of Holmes Lake dam. Second, I now only run 3-4 days per week. On the other 2-3 days I work on my upper body and core. That means push-ups, pull-ups, dips, and so on -- all stuff I can do using the playground equipment at the neighborhood school. It's working. In my first workout I was able to do 3 consecutive pull-ups with good form; yesterday I did 9 and I almost had 10, but my form went to hell halfway through.
The long and short of all this is that yes, I've found yet another new way to abuse my body. I've done it before and I'll do it again. I've always been the sort of person who needs that next goal to pursue. What can I say, I have fun with these little lifestyle experiments.
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Sounds like it’s about time for another round of P90X to mix things up. Or alternate, and do a week of P90X, then a week of your routine, and back and forth. Keep confusing those muscles.
I may fire P90X back up this winter when going outside at 5:30am isn’t advisable. Sadly I didn’t finish the program last time. Soccer season kicked in and it just wasn’t feasible to do P90X and soccer at the same time. I run into a similar problem over the winter—if I start P90X in November or December, it’ll bump into my half-marathon training. I’m not sure what I want to do about that.
P90X—Good? Bad? What do I need to know to get started?
I can’t have another winter camped out on the couch. The treadmill just doesn’t do it for me.
Depends on your goals. I enjoyed the program. Some random thoughts:
* You don’t need a lot of space for most of the exercises. The exception is the plyometrics workout where you’ll need some room to hop and leap.
* You’ll need weights. I bought a set of adjustable dumbbells (10-50lbs), which aren’t cheap. If you don’t already have some, I bet you could find a used set of weights somewhere (garage sale, Craigslist).
* You’ll need a place to do pull-ups. I bought a fairly inexpensive door frame pull-up bar. It worked ok, although my setup was far from ideal because of how our doors are set up and the low ceiling height in my basement.
* The workouts can be pretty intense. You can—and should—modify the intensity to match your ability by doing fewer reps, pausing the video to take longer breaks, etc. But whatever you do, don’t sacrifice your form. Bad form = bad pain.
* Tony Horton, the guy leading the workouts on the videos, is a goofball.
* Don’t expect overnight results. Depending on your starting point it may be six weeks before you feel like you can see progress. That’s normal. Not all progress is visible.
* Change your eating habits. As long as you’re trying a new program, you may as well make some positive changes to your diet. Whatever you do, just make sure you’re getting enough protein. I did Shakeology and loved it, but it’s very pricey.
I hope that helps. Fletch will have some words of wisdom too.
P90X is one of many in-home programs that I recommend and can help people with (I am an independent Team Beachbody Coach). P90X is pretty hard-core, and not always for beginners, but there are people that have had 200+ lbs to lose and chose this program first.
It’s a 90 day program based on the idea of muscle confusion. You do a similar routine for 3 weeks, then a recovery week of sorts, and then change the routine for the next 3 weeks so your body doesn’t get used to your workout. Workouts last about 1 hour to 1:15 including cooldowns, etc. Yoga is the longest workout. The program is a blend of strength training and cardio.
As Mr. Wilson said, you may want to have dumbbells, but you can also consider resistance bands.
There is also a P90X2, and P90X3 will be coming out by Christmas. The advantage of 3 is that each workout will be 30 minutes. That’s a Tony Horton version of the workout I am currently doing, which I love, which is Focus T25 by Shaun T (he of “Insanity” fame).
In T25, each workout is 25 minutes, on the nose, plus a 2-3 minute cooldown. You workout 5 days a week (Friday is a doubles day, so 2 workouts, but you can shift one to Saturday). It’s a 10-week program.
I don’t know what your current level of fitness is, or if you prefer cardio vs. strength, and how much time you have to work out. I would be glad to make some recommendations and help you if I can. You can email me at imfletcher2 (at) yahoo (dot) com if you would like. I can offer more advice one on one.
Thanks Mr. Wilson and Fletch. I appreciate the info. Both options would bust my butt. With two kids under 5, a 25- or 30-min. workout definitely is appealing. I don’t want to wait until the Christmas shopping season for P90X3. Time to commit and get after it!
If you would like to learn more about T25, which is 25 minutes a day, and is currently available, feel free to message me.
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