DVD programs like Insanity and P90X

[StandUpChuck]

Does swimming appeal to you? I don't care for hotel weight rooms, but sometimes the pool can be a good option.

 

[bicycleman]

Does swimming appeal to you? I don't care for hotel weight rooms, but sometimes the pool can be a good option.

It would be nice if the hotel had a weight room, but weights have been known to develop legs and run away. They used to have Universal sets, but they have gotten rid of them because they make too much noise and wake up the hotel patrons. I always want to get into the fitness room by 5 or 6, and many places don't open their fitness rooms until 7. I have to be on the job by 7:30 so I seldom use them. I can see why the hotels got rid of the Universal equipment and substituted tread mills and exercise bikes, no noise. I go for the heavy iron, but the cable set I have can substitute for the weights. It's one of the "Fabled Cable" sets that you can find on a great website

Captains of Crush Hand Grippers®, IMTUG, SUPER SQUATS, Just Protein®, MILO®, IronMind®.

They also have an interesting catalog that tells good stories of old time strongmen. It's a combination of things to sell plus stories of "what ever happened to so and so".

 

[StandUpChuck]

My dad used to have those hand gripper things.

 

[bicycleman]

My dad used to have those hand gripper things.

I still have a pair, but i don't know what I did with them. They are probably in some drawer somewhere in the house. Glad you reminded me of them.

The hand grippers the website talks about are tiny little grippers. That's why it takes a man to be able to close them. They use a lot of finger strength as well. You should read all about them, especially the stories of the strongest men in the world.

I don't know if he is mentioned, but there was one guy back in the 60's billed as the strongest 18-year old in the world. He routinely trained with 200 lb dumbbells in each hand. He died of cancer several years ago. He always claimed he never took steroids, but I know several guys who got cancer, and it was because of the steroids.

Back when I was coming up, the steroid, Dianabol was popular with bodybuilders and weightlifters. All you had to do to get it was go to a doctor, get a physical, be ruled in good health and you could get a month's supply. Then you'd stay off it a month and go back on it a month and alternate. I saw guys get huge and lift some incredible poundages. Their bellies bulged out from all the water they were retaining, though. Then when they stopped taking the steroid, they lost muscle mass and strength they had before they started taking it. One guy got severe kidney damage from it. I used to subscribe to Strength and Health, and they were deadset against steroids. Thank God, I listened to what the magazine said and didn't take the stuff. Now, all that stuff is banned, and if you're taking it, you're doing it illegally.

 

[Zyphlin]

I think they're helpful for people that need structure in a workout but don't want to do a class or a personal trainer. Unfortunantly with the two you mentioned they do require you to be in at least decent shape initially and they take a large time investment. P90X basically takes up close to 1.5 - 2 hours (counting shower time) a day for me when I did it. Which was really my biggest issue and why I've not made it through all 90 days.

I decided to grab the Power 90 (the precurser to P90X) and shrink it down into a 30-45 minute workout. Unlike P90X its not as big on muscle confusion, having just one cardio and one weight day really. So I took the exrecises from the tapes, wrote them down, and ended up creating little note cards with each circuit of exercises. I give myself less downtime between reps and less time to do the reps for the weight lifting, and for the cardio I do 30 seconds segments of each exercise. For the Yoga I go through the basic movement once, and then go through each addition once on each side, up to 3 additions to it. It basically allows me to get the whole thing done in about 30-45 minutes which lets me do it on my lunch break at work.

I'm hoping after my wedding to do P90X again. I won't have as much things that HAVE to be done during the week since weekends won't be as busy either, so hoping time wise it'll work better. I think I'm going to have to start looking into some easy and quick to make dinners or things I can make/prep the night before and cook while working out or within 30 minutes of finishing as that's the other issue. I get home before my fiance and I do all the cooking, and her entire family has issues of turning into giant face eating monsters if they're not fed on a regular interval

 

[Slartibartfast]

These things really bug me, and I'm not exactly sure why. :thinking I am thinking that they are just too extreme. Do people really keep up with that kind of intensity when the 90 days are up? Is working your body that* hard good for your heart? Is it really all that wise to keep pushing your body when it's screaming for a brief rest?

I have this feeling that sooner than later, there's going to be a lawsuit because someone listened to the prerecorded trainer telling them to keep pushing, and they had ended up having a heart attack.

*I work hard, but I know when to back off a bit.

My brother in law does the insanity thing and has lost 40 lbs in the last 3 months. I guess it works for some people.

 

[StandUpChuck]

My brother in law does the insanity thing and has lost 40 lbs in the last 3 months. I guess it works for some people.

Oh, I'm sure it does. But what do you do next? Ya know?

 

[political_signs]

well i have them both.. i do them both almost everyother day i just use them to keep me in shape all those dvds are is just cardio..... yueah keep pushingyourself but learn your limits take your breaks... dont do the whole segemtn at once when i first tried p90 my ass was handed to me..... lol but now i can do it with ease and they do work if your overweight and want to loose wieght me and a friend sarted last year in November... and now he lost about...... 60 pounds and we did NOT do the diet plan we ate like pigs but did the videos everyday again im not fat i just do it to keep myself fit i wiegh 160lbs and am 178cm