Started ROUND 3 of P90X! First 3 Days Review

After MONTHS of working out with ChaLEAN Johnson (ChaLEAN Extreme and TurboFire) - I missed Tony. And since I have all but ONE of the new P90X One on One Volume 3 DVD's (which are Tony's "practice" for P90X2 workouts) - I decided to follow the P90X Classic schedule using the One on One workouts.

Day 1 was Chest, Back and Balls (he he) which has apparently been renamed Chest, Back and BALANCE for P90X2 (I guess "Balls" was a little too risque!) LOTS of pull-ups, which I had to do using bands and the door attachment because I let a friend borrow my pullup bar. And for me, those are never as hard as doing actual pullups, even if I have to use a chair. The push-ups are pretty much impossible using a variety of balls (including doing push-ups with your hands AND feet on basketballs...WTF????) Needless to say, I modified alot of the moves. After that I did good old ARX, which I pretty much know by heart.

Day 2 was PLYOCIDE. Honestly, I never really did Plyo X because my first round I did the Lean schedule, and Plyo is not included in that schedule. My next round I did Classic but substituted Insanity for all the cardio workouts. SO, I can't really compare the two. But it's a tough workout and feels like a very intense leg workout. The last time I did it I could barely walk for DAYS, so I hope a longer stretch and a full dose of Results and Recovery formula will help ward that off this time.

Today was Shoulders and Arms. It's a great workout. Three sets of heavy shoulders, followed by three sets of lighter shoulder work. Then three set of heavy biceps and triceps, followed by lighter bicep and tricep exercises. I'm going to do a different ab routine, probably one from DirectTV, just because I like to mix it up.

Tomorrow is yoga. I'm probably going to do a yoga routine from DirectTV as well because I'm not a fan of the lack of instruction on the One on One Yoga DVD. Tony says he's not going to talk much because it's "his" workout. What's up with that Tony?? I can't do yoga if I have to keep looking up at the TV. Duh!

Anyway, my whole body hurts. That's why I love P90X!!

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How Fitness Changed Tony Horton's Life

By Tony Horton, creator of P90X®
I'm learning that when you decide to eat right and exercise regularly, the person you become will have it pretty easy, and life will no longer seem quite as hard. Until I got really fit, I used to have so many problems. Everything seemed difficult and daunting. There was a lot of drama and conflict. I was lazy, tired, and overwhelmed. I didn't have the feel-good brain chemistry of a person who was firing on all cylinders from making better choices. Life was a struggle. But I had no clue that my poor diet and erratic physical activity were the reasons for my misery.

In my late twenties and early thirties, I began to eat better and work out more regularly. Oddly enough, new opportunities began to come my way. My confidence improved, and the drama began to fade away. It never occurred to me that healthier food and physical activity were responsible for the shifts in my life. I chalked it all up to luck, nothing more. Sometimes, for brief periods of time, I'd get lazy, eat garbage, and blow off workouts. And guess what? Life got hard again. But I still hadn't put two and two together.

By the time I made fitness my true vocation 13 years ago, I was in much better shape—not perfect, but pretty good. Those early days of creating my at-home DVD routines were fun and exciting. I was in the right place at the right time with the right experience to be able to help my business partners create something different and better when it came to at-home workouts. We were striking gold where it had never been found before. You'd think by then I'd have a clearer understanding that my regular exercise and healthy eating had something to do with my early triumphs, but the answer was still no. More great luck, right?

Turns out the more consistent I was with my workouts and the better I ate, the more opportunities came my way. Only in the last 2 or 3 years have I truly begun to appreciate that by exercising 6 or 7 days a week and eating wholesome foods, I have the energy and enthusiasm for a life I enjoy.

I'm not telling you this to brag—I'm sharing this experience because I want you to realize that life can be incredible, and not through luck or upbringing or even education. I know plenty of people who have degrees from top schools and who make tons of money—and they're a mess. Joy, happiness, opportunities, success, and the life you want come from switching to a lifestyle that involves regular exercise and whole foods. What seems hard as hell at first will turn your life into a carefree world of endless experiences and plenty of opportunities, and will give you the energy and enthusiasm you need to enjoy life for the rest of your life.

5 Things to Cut Out of Your Diet

By Tony Horton, creator of P90X

When I begin training new clients, the first thing I do is ask them about their diets. Because if you want to get major results, you have to cut out what I call "food porn"—food that's doing nothing to fuel your body, and in some cases is actually doing more harm than good. To keep things simple, I tell them there are 5 things that they absolutely, positively, MUST stop eating and drinking if they want to achieve their fitness goals:

1. Processed sugars. I'm talking about white sugar, high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, or pretty much any kind of sugar that came from a factory instead of a piece of fruit. Processed sugar negatively affects your metabolism, your insulin response, even your mood—and all for totally empty calories. Cutting sugar out of your diet means you're going to have to read some labels, because it is by far the most common food additive in the U.S.

2. Alcohol. Calories that are as empty as sugar, and at 7 calories a gram, booze can really pack it on. Alcohol also dehydrates your body, which compromises muscle growth. Plus it slows your metabolism, so you burn fewer calories. In short, drinking gives you less muscle and more fat—you're just undoing everything you're trying to achieve with your workout.

3. Caffeine. I know there are a lot of people out there who say caffeine can give your workout a little extra "oomph." Obviously, it can give you some extra energy to make you push harder, but the cost is that it increases cortisol levels in your body, which inhibits lean muscle growth. Plus, it can negatively affect your sleep patterns, and you're better off working out when you're rested than when you're juiced.

4. Anything with a face. It used to be that you could find some decent lean meat sources, but in the last few decades, the hormones, antibiotics, and chemicals that have been used to process meat and fish make them pretty worthless as a source of protein. There are plenty of excellent vegetarian protein sources, like beans, tofu, and nuts, so you can eat clean while you get lean.

5. Gluten. Gluten is a grain-derived protein found in lots of different foods, mostly wheat, rye, and barley products. The name comes from the Latin word for "glue." You don't need to eat glue. Even if you're not one of the millions who are sensitive or allergic to gluten, you'll be operating a much cleaner machine if you cut it out of your diet. There are plenty of other healthier gluten-free alternatives, like millet, amaranth, quinoa, and oats.

By eliminating these empty or harmful "foods" from your diet, you can start turning your body into the well-oiled machine nature intended it to be. By eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, you can give yourself the premium fuel to get into the best shape of your life.

Peace,
Tony

The Way of the 6-Pack by Tony Horton

In the land of last hurrahs, the infamous 6-pack is high on the list. The feeling out there is that if you've got a 6-pack, you've arrived. I have a 6-pack and love handles. What does that say about me? I've arrived at needing to eat my cake/cookies too. Owning a 6-pack (or even an 8-pack) is a result of three key components: diet, cardiovascular exercise, and core/ab work. What most people don't realize is that the core/ab work is last on the list when it comes to how your abs rise to the surface. That's right—last! Once they begin to show, the way you work them will influence their aesthetic appearance.

If you had stayed active and ate well early on in life (and stayed that way), your stomach muscles would be as easy to see as your head. That stuff covering up your abs is fat. Fat that has accumulated from a life of poor diet and inactivity. Your abdominal muscles are buried far beneath the surface. Ninety-eight percent of humans who attempt to bring the 6-pack to the surface with just crunches, ab lounges, and any other silly low-calorie-burning repetitive motion will fail. That fat is unburned fuel. Cardiovascular exercise involving your legs and a diet low in fat, sugar, and sodium is the way of the 6-pack.

Talk to anyone who has had great results resurfacing the 6-pack from doing Power 90®, and they'll tell you that eating in the top two tiers of Michi's Ladder and three solid cardio days a week (done consistently) had more to do with it than crunches alone. Do your Ab Ripper routines, Cardio, and Sculpt three days a week. Eat the kind of food seven days a week that doesn't add to the unwanted fuel that keeps "The Pack" from rising to the surface.