Round 3 / Day 94: 2K5 Turbulence Training Workout A + RKC Man Maker + P90X Ab Ripper X

For Memorial Day, I took a day off from watching any workout DVDs. Of course, I didn't get a break from actually working out, but I did get to watch regular TV while exercising. ("Hoarders" is horrifyingly compelling.)

I'm trying to gain a little more weight, so I'm trying to lift heavier and eat more. I'm super-sore from the former, but pretty happy about the latter. With the start of summer, I should have lots of opportunities to throw meat on the grill and dig in with gusto. Tonight, we cooked up some grass-fed beefalo rib-eye from Pampero Longhorn Ranch, and it was all kinds of awesome.

Look Slimmer! Feel Younger!

Guys: Got some flab to hide? Why go through the effort of dieting and exercising when you can encase yourself in "shapewear"? Man-Spanx have been available for months now, and along with competing products like Equmen's compression T-shirts and Ript Fusion undershirts, are "a huge retail hit" and selling like hotcakes.

Men’s torso-enhancing T-shirts are part of a revolution in men’s underwear that has been taking place over the last decade, [Michael Kleinmann, the president of underwear-maker Freshpair] said. Another popular but hush-hush product is profile-enhancing underwear, which he called “the equivalent of a push-up bra” for men.

Like porn and Viagra aficionados, however, "bashful shoppers are going online."

“We’ve noticed, as good as in-store sales are — and they are good — the online sales are better,” said David Witman, the men’s general merchandise manager for Nordstrom. Men “might be embarrassed to ask for it, but they want it,” he said.

Some claim they need to don these high-tech sausage casings because "they’re 'self-conscious about their nipples' and buy Equmen tops for camouflage." Others claim they need Spanx to alleviate back pain. But come on: It's clear that men are just as interested in girdling their guts as women.

Still, underwear makers say that their products aren't "aimed at men with beer bellies and women with muffin tops. Stars as lean as Gwyneth Paltrow wear Spanx, said [company founder Sara] Blakely, who says she was a Size 2 when she invented it. The brand was never for 'the hugely overweight,' she said." Plus:

[U]ndergarment trickery has its pitfalls, especially on dates. Men have been known to express surprise when a Spanx-compressed woman disrobes in the bedroom only to reveal a less svelte figure. Now women can complain, too.

“Spanx for Men is all good, until you meet a chick,” one skeptic warned on Twitter. “You gain 45 lbs when you get naked.”

(Source: The New York Times)

Is A Cereal Box More Nutritious Than The Sugary Cereal Inside?

Adam Savage and the "Mythbusters" gang tried to find out, but got some unexpected results.

Round 3 / Day 93: P90X Plyometrics

Jesus. I mean, jeepers. This workout certainly isn't as hard as it used to be, but it still makes my legs burn.

It's been awhile since I broke out the Plyometrics DVD. Doing this session again is like encountering someone you used to really hate -- but now that you're back together, you kind of feel nostalgic and weirdly affectionate towards the person.

Round 3 / Day 92: P90X+ Total Body Plus + ChaLEAN Extreme Dynamic Flow Yoga

Total Body Plus offers a ton of variety, but -- true to form -- I've found a nit to pick: Many of the names Tony assigns to the exercises are totally non-descriptive, and he doesn't bother to give detailed instruction. If you've never encountered this workout before, chances are you have no idea what Tony's talking about when he tells you to crank out sets of "O-Crunch Push-Ups," "Chuck-Up Xs," "Bella Twists," and "Kid Plays." Even more confusingly, the "Plyo Push-Ups" in Total Body Plus are totally different from (and much easier than) the ones Tony does in P90X Chest, Shoulders & Triceps. Since I only dust off this workout once every month or so, I find myself frequently stopping just to watch the video to figure out how to actually perform a "Lara Lunge Crunch," and to ponder whether Tony's reaching too deep into his bag of tricks in an attempt to keep things interesting. Who's Bella? And Chuck? And Lara?

I don't need oddly-named exercise variations in order to stave off boredom. This evening, in the aftermath of a too-big barbecue dinner, I joined M as she did the Dynamic Flow Yoga routine that came in her ChaLEAN Extreme Deluxe Upgrade Package. We each strapped on a pair of hand weights and started doing Vinyasas and Warrior poses, and pretty soon, I was sweatier than Ed Asner in a sauna. It was a great change of pace -- and I appreciated the fact that Chalene Johnson didn't go out and name a bunch of moves after her mailman and her next-door-neighbor's ex-boyfriend.

Exercise Helps You Sleep (But Only If You Think It Does)

According to the New York Times:

Most of us think that exercise improves sleep. But it may be that thinking that exercise improves sleep improves sleep. That, at any rate, is the provocative finding of a new study completed recently in Switzerland and published last month in the journal of the American College of Sports Medicine.

(Source: The New York Times)

Round 3 / Day 91: One-on-One with Tony Horton - Recovery 4 Results

Even though I feel kind of guilty for not pushing myself harder on recovery days, I know I need a break. Between work and kids and chores and everything else, I just don't have the energy to go balls-out to-the-wall seven days a week.

By the way, did you know that "balls out" has nothing to do with testicles (unless you're playing beer pong)? Because I didn't.

"Fish" vs. "Fish"

What contains more calories: A McDonald's Filet-O-Fish or a bag of Swedish Fish candies?

Take this quiz by Mental Floss to test your calorie-estimating abilities.

(Source: Mental Floss)

Textbook Example of Functional Strength

But why's that fridge out in the woods in the first place?

Round 3 / Day 90: 2K4 Turbulence Training Workout B + RKC Get-Ups + P90X Ab Ripper X

This morning, for the first time in a week, I really enjoyed working out. Part of it, I think, is that I wasn't sweating alone -- M was next to me, lifting weights in sync with her ChaLEAN Extreme Push Circuit One video. Even though we didn't say a word to each other, it was great having company.

Another reason I dug my morning workout: I didn't have to turn on the TV to do it.

Round 3 / Day 89: Insanity Max Interval Circuit

I admit it: I cheated today during Max Interval Circuit. Instead of repeating the circuits three times each, I only did 'em twice.

And yet the workout was still crazy-hard.

(Thankfully, this was the last "Max" Insanity session of Round 3; I'm not sure I could have handled many more.)

Lamb Kofta Kebabs

I love ground lamb kebabs.

• 1 pound ground lamb
• 1 1/4 tablespoon salt
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed
• 3 tablespoons grated onion
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 1 tablespoon chopped mint
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
• Ground black pepper
• Olive oil

Sprinkle 1/4 tablespoon of the salt on the garlic cloves, and mash/smear 'em into a paste. Mix it with the ground lamb, onion, cilantro, mint, coriander, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, and remaining salt. Divide the mixture into 8 long, oval-shaped portions of roughly 2 ounces each, and skewer them lengthwise.

Fire up the grill or heat a grill pan to medium, and brush the grill or pan with the oil. Grill the kebabs for about 6 minutes or until they're just cooked through, turning occasionally. Serve with Greek style yogurt or tzatziki.

Makes 4 servings.

What's Your Excuse?

For those of you who think you have valid reasons for weaseling out of your P90X workouts, I want to introduce you to Cammie Lusk.

The Ingredients in a Ham-and-Cheese Hot Pocket

Poster available here.

If I'd seen this when I was at Maker Faire this past weekend, I would have totally bought a print.

(Source: BoingBoing)

Kung Fu vs. Yoga

Just because.

Round 3 / Day 88: One-on-One with Tony Horton - Fountain of Youth

Yoga yoga yoga yoga yoga. Yoga yoga. Yoga yoga yoga yoga; yoga yoga (yoga!) yoga yoga.

Yoga yoga yoga, yoga yoga -- yoga yoga yoga yoga. "Yoga," yoga yoga. "Yoga yoga yoga yoga, yoga yoga yoga yoga yoga yoga."

Yoga?

Yoga.

A Farewell to (Fat) Arms

Is the extreme weight loss approach used on "The Biggest Loser" extreme, unsafe and ineffective (in the long run)? Yes, yes, and yes.

But am I going to tune in for tonight's season finale? Totally. To miss it would be un-American.

You'll find me on my couch tonight, BodyBugg strapped on my arm, gnawing on a Subway sandwich dipped in Brita-filtered water, and fondling my collection of Ziplock bags, Extra Sugarfree Gum and Fiber One cereal.

This is Problematic

I'm about to head out for lunch with a bunch of co-workers to welcome a colleague returning from maternity leave, and somehow, it's been decided that we're eating at Gordon Biersch.

In my estimation, Gordon Biersch ain't known for much other than beer and garlic fries -- preferably together. Granted, I'm a food snob, and there are lots of (alcohol- and/or taste-impaired) people who love the place. But in San Francisco, home of a crapload of fantastic dining alternatives, Gordon Biersch is not high on my list of favorites. It's not even allowed to hold hands with my list of favorites.

But whatever. I'm going to be a team player and find something to chew on while I'm there. So I go online and pull up Gordon Biersch's lunch menu. It looks like pretty standard fare -- sandwiches, pizzas, burgers, pastas. Nothing jumps out at me, and I know (from experience) that nothing at Gordon Biersch is going to blow my mind with its utter deliciousness, so I figure I'll just try to find something that's at least marginally healthy. Hmmm. The Hummus Salad sounds decent, and you can have it with some chicken or salmon. That can't be too bad for you, right?

I don't count calories, and I enjoy (good) fats, but I do try to avoid garbage carbs (sugar, bread, pasta, etc.), so I thought I'd give the Hummus Salad a quick look-see to validate that it's not a nutritional disaster. Gordon Biersch doesn't list its nutrition data online, but a quick Google search pulled up a photo of this placard:

(Click for larger photo)

(Photo: AdonisPhotos/Flickr)

[UPDATED: Gordon Biersch has since updated its website with nutrition information.]

Turns out the Hummus Salad with either Chicken or Salmon contains 2000+ calories. And 85+ grams of fat. And 200+ grams of carbs. All in one serving.

I think I'll pass.

Finally: Yoga Mats for Manly Men

You know the thing that keeps most guys from doing yoga? It's not just the perception that yoga is "weird" or "new age-y" or "girly." It's the fact that yoga mats aren't printed to look like basketball courts.

Or football fields.

Or weirdly rectangular baseball diamonds.

Thankfully, Kent Katich -- real-life husband of George Lopez's TV wife, owner of All Sport Yoga and "yoga guru of the NBA" -- is marketing these desperately-needed goods to those unwilling to give yoga a shot without making damn clear to others (and themselves) that they're doing Downward Dogs only because Dirk Fucking Nowitzki does 'em. I can't wait for the NASCAR version, because my kids'll also be able to use my mat when they're playing with their Hot Wheels.

I have to give Katich credit: Making accessories for yogaphobes is a great business idea. Don't tell anyone, but I have an idea for découpaging photos of Chuck Liddell, B.J. Penn and Rampage Jackson to yoga blocks and selling them to MMA fans secretly yearning to do sun salutations.

The Twitter Diet

Drew Magary at Deadspin lost 60 pounds in 5 months. How'd he do it?

With something Drew calls "The Public Humiliation Diet." He bought a scale, weighed himself daily, and posted/tracked the results on Twitter:

But it doesn't matter where. It can be on Facebook or your blog or whatever. Shit, you can print it out and stick it on your office cube every day. What I found doing this is that it 1) gave me a public incentive to stick to a goal; 2) garnered support from people. Most Americans struggle with their weight, and most of them sympathize with someone else trying to get healthier. Support helps. Maybe some people will tease you, but that's its own incentive anyway. Part of losing weight is acknowledging the fact that you have issues with food. And holy shit, do I have issues with food.

I know where he's coming from. When I began P90X -- and launched this blog -- last August, one of my primary goals was to keep myself accountable to my new fitness routine, or risk looking like an ass in front of however many friends, family and strangers visited this site. As I put it:

I'm going to use this blog to keep myself accountable to the program. And I'm going to do my damnedest to post every single day. I've seen other P90X blogs that trail off after a while; they're like ghost ships sailing around the Internet, waiting for their captains to reappear. I'm determined not to abandon ship. I doubt anyone will ever read this, but I know I'll be more likely to keep P90Xing if the alternative is potential public humiliation.

Drew crafted some other diet rules for himself. I especially like (and agree with) these:

6.  I didn't eat sweets. This is kind of [a] lie. I did have the occasional cookie or ice cream sandwich. But I used to eat a bowl of ice cream and then have half a package of cocoa almonds for dessert. My dessert came in stages, usually followed by Cocoa Puffs. This is unwise. Cutting out sugar pretty much guarantees weight loss. I didn't drink anything with sugar. No regular soda (now addicted to Coke Zero). No juice. None of that shit.

7.  I avoided carbs, but didn't go nuts about it. I didn't do Atkins or any of that shit. I couldn't live without sugar, cereal, bread, and pasta. But those are foods I used to eat a fucking lot of. Whole bread baskets at the restaurant. Three bowls of pasta for dinner ("I'm carb loadin'! Gotta stay huge!"). Two jumbo bowls of cereal for breakfast. Triple helpings of rice with my Chinese food. I could eat 90 pounds of plain white rice in one sitting. Golden House apparently steams it in cocaine vapor. Anyway, I'd still have pasta for dinner every week or so. But one bowl at a meal. No more. I also got rid of sandwiches for lunch and had egg white omelets with feta cheese, but that's only because I work from home. Not so easy if you work in an office.
...

10.  I made sure everything I ate was fucking AWESOME. If I'm only getting three legit meals a day, they better be fucking good. So I made sure of that. Did you know two slices of bacon only have 70 calories? Combine that with a fried egg and you've got a breakfast of less than 200 calories, far less than a bowl of granola or some shit like that. So I went the bacon route. And I don't give a shit about my cholesterol. They can just Lipitor that shit. I'm in this for the sexy. I also learned to braise short ribs, make my own pulled pork, make Thai steak sauces, and all this other crazy shit because I wanted to lose weight and still enjoy what the fuck I was eating. None of this grilled-chicken-breast-every-night crap that NFL players do. Fuck that. I still love food and I LIKE it that way. People who don't love food are fucked in the head.

The "Fucking Awesome Food" rule is one of my dietary rules as well: If it's not worth it, don't eat it.

I just wish I'd thought of punching up my rules with more liberal use of the word "fuck."

(Source: Deadspin)

Round 3 / Day 87: 2K4 Turbulence Training Workout A + RKC Man Maker + Insanity Cardio Abs

When the alarm went off this morning, I turned it off and fell back asleep. An hour passed before I groggily peered at the clock again, it was 6:40 a.m. -- only twenty minutes before the kids would pop out of bed. No time to fit in my entire scheduled workout.

Still, Man Maker training takes only 12 (interminable-seeming) minutes, so I knew I could squeeze in some kettlebell swings.

I'm glad I did, because after dinner tonight, when I finished the rest of my workout, I could feel the fatigue setting in. I'm not sure I would have had the energy to heave a kettleball around after lifting weights and doing Insanity-style core work.

Plus, I still had to take out the garbage. Garbage night is the bane of my existence.

I Am The Great Cornholio

I’m not all that surprised that “Cornhole” is an activity involving the consumption of alcohol, but I had no idea that it’s technically considered (by some) to be a sport. (I've lived a sheltered life.) But sport or no, it doesn’t qualify as exercise.

According to Heather Hausenblas, a University of Florida kinesiologist, "you'd have to be doing … a lot of cornhole to get much benefit.”

(Source: L.A. Times)

Round 3 / Day 86: Insanity Pure Cardio

I kept telling myself: This video is only 37 minutes long.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem to help make this workout go by any quicker.

Sugar in a Bottle

What are the 20 worst drinks you can buy in the U.S.? Men's Health lays it all out:

Worst Water: Snapple Agave Melon Antioxidant Water (1 bottle, 20 fl oz)

• 150 calories
• 0 g fat
• 33 g sugars
• Sugar Equivalent: 2 Good Humor Chocolate Éclair Bars

I disagree. The worst water I ever had was during a trip to China, after which extreme (and extremely explosive) gastrointestinal distress ensued.

Worst Bottled Tea: SoBe Green Tea (1 bottle, 20 fl oz)

• 240 calories
• 0 g fat
• 61 g sugars
• Sugar Equivalent: 4 slices Sara Lee Cherry Pie

Nobody does it like Sara Lee. Except for SoBe Green Tea.

More after the jump...

Round 3 / Day 85: One-on-One with Tony Horton - 30-15 Upper Body Massacre + Killer Abs

Arms. Too. Sore. To. Type.

Plyo Primer

Want to learn more about the jump training featured in P90X Plyo and just about every single Insanity workout? The Art of Manliness just put up a lengthy post (with photos and videos!) entitled "Beginner's Guide to Plyometrics":

Plyometrics were developed by Soviet Bloc scientists during the Cold War. The leading researcher of plyometric training was a Russian scientist named Yuri Verkhoshansky. Dr. Verkhoshansky developed a system of exercises called “Jump Training” that used repetitive jumping in order to increase the speed and explosiveness of Russian track and field athletes. He published the results of his studies on this new form of training in 1964.

During the 1960s and 70s, Soviet Bloc countries dominated the Olympics thanks in part to Dr. Verkhoshansky’s exercises. Seeing that the Americans were getting their asses handed to them by the Commies, American track and field coach Fred Wilt started to investigate how they were training. He saw that the Soviets were doing a bunch of crazy jumps from boxes and skipping around like school children. Wilt took some notes, went back to America, slapped the moniker “plyometrics” on these new exercises, and started implementing them with his athletes.

Since then, sports teams across the U.S. and the world have incorporated plyometrics into their training regimens to help their athletes become faster and more explosive.

Read the complete article here.

(Source: The Art of Manliness)

Round 3 / Day 84: P90X X Stretch

This morning, I couldn't decide whether to stay in bed to catch up on some Zs or to get up and squeeze in a much-needed hour of stretching.

So I split the baby in half: I did X Stretch in my garage with the lights off, in my pajamas, and with my eyes closed.

Egg + Avocado

I always keep a bunch of hardboiled eggs in the fridge, and we always have a ton of avocados on hand. I love both, and I love 'em together (usually as part of my breakfast, but there's no reason you can't eat this any other time of day as a snack or side).

• 1 hardboiled egg, peeled & cubed
• 1/4 medium Haas avocado, cubed
• Salt & pepper to taste

Put the egg and avocado in a bowl, and season to taste with salt and pepper (or a squirt of Sriracha chili sauce). It's fast, easy, tasty, filling, and good for you (yes, even the egg yolk). Plus, the clean-up's a breeze.

Makes 1 serving.

145 cal. | 11g fat | 5g carbs | 7g protein

Biggest Loser: Behind the Scenes

It's not all about peeing blood!

Following up on yesterday's post about "The Biggest Loser," I think you should also check out Lyle McDonald's Q&A with a former contestant on the show. I found this nugget to be particularly fascinating:

While a TV episode [purports to cover] 7 days in length that is not the case behind the scenes. So some ‘weeks’ the [weight loss] numbers are larger because some weeks we had 14 days between weigh ins. My season if you lasted until the final day you would be on the ranch 101 days (I got voted off on episode 7 and lost 83 pounds in 62 days). This season is like 121 days start to finish. And all that gets condensed into a 12-14 week show-airing schedule.

(Source: Body Recomposition)

Round 3 / Day 83: One-on-One with Tony Horton - Just Arms

No Turbulence Training for me today. My legs are beat, and I felt the need to rest 'em for a while. So this morning, I decided to try the "Just Arms" workout from Tony Horton's One-on-One series.

 It's just as advertised: Nothing but exercises for the arms. The session consists of 47 minutes of bicep, forearm and triceps exercises, broken up into three supersets and a bonus round.
  

None of the bicep or triceps moves are new to P90X grads, but for the first time in any of the workout videos I've seen from Tony Horton, he throws in a bunch of wrist and forearm exercises. (Good thing, too -- my forearms are puny.)

Without further ado, here's a list of the sleeve-busters Tony leads us through:

Superset One:

• Seated Bicep Curls
• Seated Forearm Curls
• Lying Triceps Extensions

Repeat the superset.
 

 Superset Two:

• Seated Incline Curls
• Reverse Forearm Curls
• Triceps Kickbacks

Repeat the superset.
 

Superset Three:

• Twenty-Ones (just like in P90X Back & Biceps)
• Three-Way Forearm Curls (rotations, standard curls and reverse curls)
• Side Tri Rises

 Repeat the superset.
    

Bonus Round:

• Crazy 8's (just like Static Arm Curls from P90X Shoulders & Arms, but you do 8 bicep curls before switching to the other arm, and each arm goes twice, for a total of 32 curls while the other arm is held at a 90-degree angle)
• Back Forearm Curls
• Hammer Curls
• Tricep Throws
• Crazy 8's (again)

And that's it.
  



Overall, this isn't a bad workout. It's standard, straightforward isolation weight training, pumping up your arms while still allowing the rest of your body to rest and recover.
   

But in the end, I felt a little unsatisfied in a way that I don't when I'm doing interval training or compound bodyweight exercises. Perhaps it's because I'm not looking to be a bodybuilder; working just one series of muscles in isolation doesn't hold much appeal for me.

     

But it's also because I feel totally inadequate watching Tony and coming to the realization that I can't lift nearly as heavy as he can. And he's in his 50s.
     

Exercise and Weight Gain Go Together Like Daris and Orange Afros

On Tuesday night's episode of "The Biggest Loser," the final four contestants -- Michael, Ashley, Daris and Koli -- were sent home and given a month to train for a marathon.

After shedding 150 pounds (and trimming back his Chia curls), Daris appears to be in the best shape of the bunch. He's under 200 pounds, and can exercise like a maniac. During his training runs, he must have pushed himself harder than anyone expected -- Jillian Michaels circled in a helicopter for what seemed like an eternity before spotting Daris running around the open fields of rural Oklahoma in his orange t-shirt.

But as NBC's eerie-green night camera footage shows, intense training for a 26.2-mile footrace makes Daris hungry. He raids his kitchen late at night (but remembers to turn on the videocamera and aim it at the refrigerator first), and confesses that he can't help himself.

His hardcore training paid off, though: Daris broke the "Biggest Loser Marathon" record by finishing the race in just 4 hours and 2 minutes -- more than 2 hours ahead of second-place finisher Koli, who looked like he was going to seriously fucking die of cardiac arrest when he crossed the finish line. Michael and Ashley strolled in sometime after everyone stopped caring.

At the weigh-in, however, our man Daris was the only contestant to have gained weight, going from 195 to 197 (even after the removal of 65% of his hair)! Cue the flabbergasted stares and accusatory WTFs from Jillian and Bob, whose eyes looked like they were going to shoot across the stage and riddle Daris' naked torso with holes. Daris, you sabotaged yourself! You have no self-control! Stop eating like you're stoned! AAAAAAGH!

But let's take a deep breath and consider: Was Daris' weight gain all that unexpected?
The guy trained for a marathon by busting his ass. You don't go from looking like a life-sized Cabbage Patch Kid to running an almost sub-4:00 marathon by kicking back. And guess what exercise does to your appetite?

As I've mentioned before, intense physical activity makes people hungrier. I know: This isn't rocket science. But for some reason, the "Biggest Loser" trainers appear to pin the blame on Daris' lack of willpower rather than on the physical demands he put on himself in order to kick everyone else's ass in the race. The harder you train, the greater the likelihood you're going to eat more. As Time Magazine put it:

"In general, for weight loss, exercise is pretty useless," says Eric Ravussin, Chair in Diabetes and Metabolism at Louisiana State University and a prominent exercise researcher. Many recent studies have found that exercise isn't as important in helping people lose weight as you hear so regularly in gym advertisements or on shows like "The Biggest Loser" -- or for that matter, from magazines like this one. The basic problem is that while it is true that exercise burns calories and that you must burn calories to lose weight, exercise has another effect: it can stimulate hunger. That causes us to eat more, which in turn can negate the weight loss benefits we just accrued. Exercise, in other words isn't necessarily helping us lose weight. It may even be making it harder.

There are plenty of reasons to squeeze in some vigorous physical activity. But on a show like "The Biggest Loser," where the name of the game is pure weight loss (and not setting marathon records or even achieving optimal health, for that matter), simply cranking up the intensity level of exercise isn't going to do the trick.

Round 3 / Day 82: Insanity Max Interval Plyo

I'm so, so tired. Looking back, I can't believe I used to do multiple Insanity "Max"-series workout each week -- especially given my current inability to finish one without feeling like I just got hit by a truck.

Meat: It Does The Body Good?

A new Harvard study confirms -- in part -- what Gary Taubes has been preaching all along: eating (unprocessed) red meat -- despite its high saturated fat content -- doesn't increase the risk of heart disease.

So go ahead and order that steak. (But hold the bacon.)

Another Reason To Work Out At Home

Your trainer at the gym thinks you're annoying.

Round 3 / Day 81: One-on-One with Tony Horton - Fountain of Youth

Unbelievably creaky/rickety this morning, and even 45 minutes of yoga didn't loosen me up much. I guess there are limits to even Tony Horton's abilities.

I kind of need a break.

Except You Don't Get Pregnant or STDs

This isn't exactly why I advocate running barefoot, but whatever:

"Without shoes, it's a little like unprotected sex," said San Francisco writer Hank Pellissier, who regularly runs barefoot along the Marina waterfront. "It's a very lively feeling, a heightened awareness, much more sensory."

Does this make Vibram FiveFingers the ultra-thin condoms of running shoes?

(Source: San Francisco Chronicle)

Your Guess Is As Good As Mine

It looks like the jury's still out on whether warm-ups are as useless as cool-downs.

(Source: The New York Times)

Bulletpoints Say It Best

By far the most concise (but still lengthy) list of fitness tips and insight I've come across is contained in Fitness Spotlight's "Trainer Tells All" blog post, and now, the writer, Mike O'Donnell, has followed it up with Part Two. Check both of 'em out -- I certainly learned a thing or two (or fifty).

(Source: Fitness Spotlight)

Round 3 / Day 80: 2K3 Turbulence Training Workout A + RKC Man Maker + Insanity Cardio Abs

I worked my ass off this morning, cranking out pull-ups and push-ups and dumbbell rows and kettlebell swings and tuck-knee jumps. I went all-out, and completely wiped myself out by the end of my hour-long workout.

Why?

Because I knew we had dinner reservations at a Brazilian churrascaria this evening, where we had a rodizio-style chowdown, cramming into our open maws as many different cuts of various meats as our distended stomachs would allow.

And even now, hours after my last slice of lamb off the server's big-ass skewer, I'm way too uncomfortably full to go to sleep. Which means I'm not going to get enough shut-eye before tomorrow morning's yoga.

Sad but true: Outside of family and work, my life revolves around eating, sleeping, and making time for exercise.

McDonald's Cheese Katsu Burger

I honestly haven't eaten a single bite of McDonald's food since 2001. After reading Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation," I swore off the Golden Arches for good.

Still, McDonald's Cheese Katsu Burger is strangely alluring. After all, I love cheese. And katsu. And burgers.

Thank God it's available only in Japan.

(Source: This Is Why You're Fat)

Is Low-Carb the Way to Go?

Could low carbohydrate diets be the antidote to the ever-growing obesity epidemic?

Gary Taubes thinks so, and I, for one, am now rooted firmly in his camp. But Taubes' book, "Good Calories, Bad Calories," can be a difficult read for those whose eyes glaze over when faced with chapter upon chapter about complex biochemical processes.

Enter Adam Kosloff, whose new website, Why Low Carb Diets Work, is sort of a Clif's Note version of Taubes' tome. It's perfect for anyone who's interested in Taubes' work but intimidated by the density of his prose.

Round 3 / Day 79: P90X+ Interval Plus

Every time I do Plyo Lunges (a.k.a. "Mary Katherine Lunges"), I have to suppress an almost overwhelming urge to yell out: "SUPA-STAH!!!"

Less Is More?

Oh, Canada.

Some Canadian researchers are recommending that the government lower its minimum guidelines for exercise.

While Canada's Physical Activity Guide recommends "at least 90 minutes of physical activity daily for youngsters, and 30 to 60 minutes minimum for adults, most days of the week," researchers from the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP) say that kids can cut down their exercise to an hour a day, and adults need only about 150 minutes per week -- just a bit over 20 minutes daily.

Why?

"The fact of the matter is that the activity levels, and the health of the population, has declined across the last 60, 70 years such that it takes a fairly low dose of movement to start to see change, for the body to recognize, 'Oh, this is an overload to our system,' " says Dr. Mark Tremblay, chairperson of the group's Physical Activity Guidelines Committee, which released its recommendations yesterday with ParticipACTION.

"What the evidence is showing is that we've become so inactive, and fitness levels have declined so much, that it takes very little introduction of movement to produce improvements" in health, Tremblay said, such as lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, better blood sugar regulation and improvements in other markers of chronic disease.

...

But the current recommendations of 60 minutes per day for adults, or 90 minutes daily for youth, might be intimidating and seem out of reach for many, especially for people who are inactive, the Canadian researchers say.

In other words, folks have become such fat, lazy pieces of poo that by moving around just a little bit, they can go a long way to improving our health. And, according to CSEP, telling people to exercise more than 20 minutes a day is counterproductive because it just discourages them from doing anything at all.

This approach isn't new (remember this?), but I'm not a fan. To me, this approach is akin to throwing up our hands when we learn that our kids aren't excelling at (or enjoying) school; instead of fostering a love of learning or encouraging/supporting/exhorting them to do better, why not simply tell them it's enough to squeak by with a barely passing grade and no more? The risk of lowering standards is that those who can excel may very well be persuaded to settle for just meeting those expectations rather than doing their best and striving for more. While that may be fine in some contexts, I'm fairly certain that settling for the bare minimum activity level isn't exactly a recipe for optimum health.

I'm not saying that couch potatoes need to immediately start killing themselves with Insanity workouts, but the bottom line is this: Less isn't more, and "good enough" isn't good enough.

14 Bizarre Diets & 1 Unsurprisingly Effective One

Can you guess which one of the "15 Most Bizarre Diets in History" (according to Woman's Day, at least) I don't find all that weird?

Hint: It's not the Cigarette Diet, which I'm sure was something Don Draper dreamed up.

(Source: Neatorama)

Round 3 / Day 77: P90X Chest & Back + Ab Ripper X

Back to the workout that kicked off all this madness -- and while Chest & Back's not quite as challenging as it once was, it still manages to beat me into a sweaty, exhausted mess.

I'm definitely going to feel this in the morning.

Round 3 / Day 77: One-on-One with Tony Horton - Recovery 4 Results

I know I shouldn't, but I kind of feel guilty about not going balls-out on recovery days.

Going Nuts

I can't stop eating nuts.

I know they're good for me -- in small doses. Nuts lower total cholesterol, and they're chock-full of protein and good-for-you fats.

But for the life of me: I. CAN'T. STOP. EATING. NUTS.

Especially my latest favorite trail mix, which consists of equal portions of raisins,  cashews, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower kernels (all the nuts and seeds should preferably be roasted and unsalted), all mixed together. I'm wolfing this shit down like crazy.

My Eyes Are Up Here

You know I love my Vibram FiveFingers, right?

The Vibram FiveFingers Bikila running shoe is finally out, but right now, my local Vibram outlet (which is awesome, by the way) currently stocks only the conspicuously bright aquamarine blue version.

With summer around the corner, I'm looking forward to running again, and the Bikilas look great for pounding the pavement. I put a pair on hold, and plan to pick 'em up tomorrow.

Still, I already get funny looks from people when I wear my comparatively tame-looking black KSOs, so I imagine these fluorescent-hued Bikilas are going to draw even more unwanted attention to my feet. People are going to think I'm a crazed Avatar fan who's bummed out because he's not a "real-life" gigantic barefoot blue jungle alien running around atop a big-ass tree.

Round 3 / Day 76: Original Turbulence Training Workout B + RKC Get-Ups + P90X Ab Ripper X

I can finally do pistols! (Sort of. I need to hold onto the toes of my upraised leg to keep my balance.)

"You Can Put Your Shirt Back On If You Want To"

Tony popped up on Kirstie Alley's reality show to put her through a P90X-esque routine:



Incidentally, the body paint on her "chubby buddy" looks awesome, but I wonder if it sweats off.

Horrifying Pec Implants, Anyone?

I'm pretty sure I'm going to have nightmares about this:



(Source: Buzzfeed)

Round 3 / Day 75: Insanity Max Cardio Conditioning

Holy shit. I'd forgotten how agonizingly hard -- and utterly humbling -- this workout is.

But I still love it.

Crab Cakes

M's made these crab cakes a couple of times, and they're pretty awesome:

• 1 pound crab meat (we buy one-pound cans of crab claw meat from Trader Joe's)
• 1 egg
• 2 finely chopped scallions
• 1/2 cup whole wheat panko breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup light mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons Sriracha chili sauce
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
• Salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons unsalted butter

In a big bowl, mix together the crab meat, egg, scallions, panko breadcrumbs, Sriracha, mayo, mustard, lemon juice, onion powder, pepper and salt. Use a 1/3 cup measuring cup to divide the mixture into 8 patties, and flatten them a little.

Stick the oil and butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until the butter stops foaming, and then cook the patties for about 4 minutes per side or until they're golden brown. (Don't move 'em around too much while cooking -- they're fragile until they set!) Makes 4 servings.

8,000 Calories a Day

Legendary ultrarunner Scott Jurek (whom you may remember from Christopher McDougall's "Born to Run") somehow manages to eat up to 8,000 calories a day on a vegan diet.

“The first thing to worry about isn’t so much what you eat, but how much you eat. You have to take the time to sit at the table and make sure your calorie count is high enough. And when you’re a vegan, to increase your calories as you increase training you need more food. This isn’t an elimination diet but an inclusion diet.”
...

He focuses on three main meals. Breakfast is key: it might be a 1,000-calorie smoothie, with oil, almonds, bananas, blueberries, salt, vanilla, dried coconut, a few dates and maybe brown rice protein powder. Unless he is doing a long run, which for him is seven hours, or about 50 miles, he eats after his first workout. Lunch and dinner are huge salads, whole grains, potatoes and sweet potatoes, and usually beans of some sort or a tempeh-tofu combination.

“None of this is weird,” he said. “If you go back 300 or 400 years, meat was reserved for special occasions, and those people were working hard. Remember, almost every long-distance runner turns into a vegan while they’re racing, anyway — you can’t digest fat or protein very well.”

In case you're keeping score, Jurek ingests fewer calories than Michael Phelps, but more than Rex Ryan.

And "none of this is weird"?

Round 3 / Day 74: One-on-One with Tony Horton - Fountain of Youth

The power was out when I woke up this morning in pitch darkness. No electricity = no TV or DVD player = no Tony Horton = more sleep for me.

This also meant having to squeeze in a session of yoga after dinner, when I'd rather be watching "Lost" or reading one of the many unfinished books gathering dust on my nightstand. But the silver lining is that like most people, my body's a lot more flexible at night than it is in the morning, and I ended up with an unusually satisfying and super-stretchy workout. I'm a Tin Man in the A.M., and Gumby in the P.M.

Paleo Man vs. Vegan

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That settles it. If a paleo diet can help me become a better all-around Jenga player, I'm in.

Kale Kale Kale Kale Kale

Does your preferred workout style reflect your core personality?

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, Robert Downey Jr. employed a highly improvisational, sledgehammerific, crazy/weird/fun-sounding training program to prep for Iron Man 2, which seems to fit his reputation as an outsized, off-the-wall actor.

His co-star Gwyneth Paltrow, however, followed an achingly strict and monotonous regimen that involves doing black & white workout DVDs from an oddly silent Tracy Anderson and ingesting massive amounts of kale. I wish I could spend the rest of this post speculating about what this narcolepsy-inducing routine says about Ms. Paltrow's personality, but...can't...stay...awake...

Zzzzzz.

Round 3 / Day 73: Original Turbulence Training Workout A + RKC Man Maker + P90X Ab Ripper X

Tony Horton is full of douchey mottos, dripping with chest-out machismo ("BRING IT!" and "X ME!" come to mind), but there's one that truly resonates with me: "Don't just kind of do it."

Before P90X, I was just kind of doing it. I dutifully but half-assedly climbed onto my elliptical or lifted weights each night, but on a scale of 1 to 10, my exertion level rarely rose above a 6.

And even now, there are times when I suddenly realize that I've been dogging it. This morning, for example, I was in the middle of my Man Maker kettlebell routine when I noticed that my form was shit. I wasn't pushing my butt back far enough when I lowered the kettlebell, and my knees were drifting in front of my toes. On the upswing, my pelvis wasn't thrusting forcefully forward, and my arms weren't locking out completely. I was phoning it in. Sloppily.

It's been nine months since I started P90X and holding myself accountable to daily workouts, so I suppose it's not surprising that I'm prone to occasional lapses in attention. But I need to keep reminding myself to not just kind of do it.

Maybe I should tie a string around my finger. Or tattoo a message on my face like this gentleman.

Yoga Overdose

Yoga's taught in prison. Yoga mats are being donated to Haitian earthquake victims. Some yoga instructors will (allegedly) molest you. Some yoga enthusiasts are super-old, and some are enormous douchbags (and I'm not talking about Tony Horton). Stuck at an airport and upset that you're not the center of attention? Stand on your head. Are you obsessed with Star Wars? Try the X-Wing Pose. Want to learn about the father of yoga in America? There's a book for that.

Yoga's everywhere these days. As Gawker put it, yoga is "out of control":

Laughter yoga. Nazi yoga. Donation yoga with Dave Matthews playing in the background. Thank you, yoga. That's enough.

Hippie yoga. Celebrity yoga. Charity yoga. Yoga books. Yoga while eating. Yoga on the road. Yoga in the park. Yoga as a nontraditional workout for athletes in traditional sports.

Yoga people have become the new "Let me tell you about my workout" guy. And nobody likes that guy.

(But...but... I'm that guy.)

Round 3 / Day 72: Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit

I finished Plyometric Cardio Circuit without taking any mid-set breaks -- not even during the dreaded Ski Abs / In-Out Abs sequence!

It's kind of pathetic of me, though, to point to "not taking extra breaks" as some sort of awesome fitness milestone.

Round 3 / Day 71: P90X+ Upper Body Plus + Abs / Core Plus (+ ChaLEAN Extreme - I've Got Abs!)

I struggled a little bit during my morning session of Upper Plus. Every time I cycle off of a Recovery Week, I come back feeling a little...off. This was most evident in my pull-up sets -- I petered out much sooner than I expected. After finishing the workout, I decided to take a raincheck on Abs / Core Plus.

But feeling guilty, I decided to knock off Abs / Core Plus tonight, after the kids had gone to bed. I felt much better this evening; not only did I find Abs / Core Plus to be less than challenging (I much prefer Killer Abs from Tony Horton's One-on-One series), I joined M as she did the "I Got Abs!" workout from Chalene Johnson's ChaLEAN Extreme program. You wouldn't know it from Chalene's exercise garb (she's clearly a Bedazzler fan) or from the cheesy name of this video, but it delivered a pretty damn decent core workout.

Iron Man's Low-Tech DIY Training Equipment

For his starring role in Iron Man 2, Robert Downey Jr. put on 20 pounds of muscle in just one month using DIY gym equipment. (I'm surprised it was necessary for him to bulk up at all, given that his body's hidden under a big metal costume much of the time.)

Examples: "Instead of doing regular bench presses, we used a bamboo bar... and we would hang plates on rubber bands off the bar... so it was like trying to bench press a snake!" [trainer Brad] Bose explains. "It bounced all over the place."

Downey Jr. also pushed "a custom-built wheelbarrow that we modified with 600 to 700 lb. weight stacks" around an obstacle course.

"We went out and bought truck tires, and we used sledgehammers -- anywhere from, two 4-lb. sledgehammers in each hand, all the way up to a full 20-lb. sledgehammer -- and we were just beating tires with it. We used fire hoses that we filled with sand and water... and we'd drag and whip them to build the shoulder muscles and pecs back up."

They also juggled "weighted Indian clubs," hauled around kettle bells and even used a war machine, which Boyes explains is "like a rope with handles on it with a pulley -- you suspend yourself from it," says Bose.

"We tried to find the most unique, and yet funnily enough, inexpensive training stuff to use," he says. "You couldn't find more practical stuff to use."

(Source: US Weekly)

"Dynamic Inertia" is a Euphemism for Sweet, Sweet Love

Yes, Shake Weight infomercials are hilariously porny. But do these thrusting, phallic dumbbells work as advertised? The L.A. Times did some digging:

Daniel Cipriani, an associate professor of exercise and nutritional sciences at San Diego State University, says the device can definitely give a person a good workout and probably would tone and strengthen arm and chest muscles, especially in people who are fairly new to strength training. People who already lift weights regularly "probably wouldn't see much benefit," he says.

Cipriani led the study mentioned in the TV ad. With funding from the company, graduate students in his lab measured the muscle activity required to use a Shake Weight and compared it with standard curls with a dumbbell of the same weight. (Cipriani says he has no current financial ties to the company.) As the ad claims, the Shake Weight did, in fact, require about 300% more muscle activity than the dumbbell. "Using the Shake Weight really got muscles fired up," he says. He adds that not many people can use the device for long without getting exhausted. "I could see someone using it at their desk for a three-minute break. I don't see it as a main form of exercise."

There's no doubt that moving a Shake Weight is hard work. But David Swain, a professor of exercise science at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., isn't convinced that it's really an exercise breakthrough. In his opinion, it's "unrealistic" to think that a person could get a full upper-body workout in just six minutes a day. Even if a person used the device that long, there's no evidence that it would provide anything close to the benefits of a 30-minute workout with normal weights, he says. Users hoping to get rid of arm flab will be disappointed, he adds. "Spot reducing — losing body fat from a particular region by exercising that region —is a myth."

And "dynamic inertia"? Swain had never heard of it. "It's obviously just a phrase they invented for marketing the device," he says.

Nutrisystem Wasn't Quite Enough to Satisfy LT

It makes perfect sense for Nutrisystem to dump NFL legend (and Dancing With The Stars veteran) Lawrence Taylor as its spokesman after LT was charged with raping a child prostitute.

But I bet Nutrisystem's secretly feeling pretty good about how trim LT looks in his mugshot.

Round 3 / Days 69 & 70: One-on-One with Tony Horton - Killer Abs + P90X X Stretch

Sorry about not posting for the past couple of days -- I've been traveling for work and insanely busy.

In any event, I'm happy to report that my hotel room not only has a DVD player, but also ample room in which to exercise. (Thank you, W Hotels -- but free WiFi would have been nice, too.) Also? It's the end of my Recovery Week, and my low-key workouts haven't required any extra equipment. I didn't even need to venture down to the hotel gym.

Business travel is unfun, but there is a silver lining: I was able to treat myself to a deep tissue massage at the hotel spa today. The therapist told me that my back is waaaay too tight and that I need more frequent massages. I'm skeptical -- she also tried to sell me a pair of $30 acupressure balls that look no different than the little super-bouncy rubber balls you get for 25 cents each in supermarket vending machines -- but I'll use any excuse to indulge in a monthly massage.

Round 3 / Day 68: One-on-One with Tony Horton - Power 90 Road Warrior

I've read that the Power 90 Road Warrior video in the Tony Horton One-on-One series isn't super-intense, so I thought I'd check it out as part of my Recovery Week.



Now that I've completed it, I can confirm that: (1) Power 90 Road Warrior is nowhere near as challenging as many of the workouts we've seen from Tony, but (2) it's tough enough to rival Core Synergistics as a damn satisfying, full-body Recovery Week session.

More after the jump...

Round 3 / Day 67: Jillian Michaels' Yoga Meltdown - Level 2 Workout

It's my Recovery Week, and I wanted to do some yoga this morning, but wasn't exactly champing (chomping?) at the bit to do yet another session of Fountain of Youth or Yoga X. M suggested that I try her Jillian Michaels' Yoga Meltdown video, so I gamely popped it into the DVD player and selected the "Level 2" workout, guessing (based on nothing at all) that it was the more advanced of the two 30-minute sessions on the disc.

This workout's perfectly fine -- it features Jillian Michaels (the tougher/meaner of the two "Biggest Loser" trainers) front and center, doing an interesting hybrid of Ashtanga yoga moves (done faster than typical) and mild cardio. Most of the moves involve holding a yoga pose (Chair Lunge with a Twist, for example, or Half Moon) for a moment or two, and then quickly moving in and out of the pose to give your blood a little pump.

Michaels doesn't establish much of a flow between exercises or poses, nor does she bother with setting any sort of serene or zen-like atmosphere. Instead, the focus is clearly on power and movement rather than flexibility and balance (though she does spend some time trying -- and sometimes failing -- to stay balanced on one foot). I, for one, didn't mind it. It's definitely not "yoga" in the traditional sense, and I don't think I "burn[ed] mega calories" as indicated on the cover of the DVD box, but it was a good change of pace. Plus, while the session required more than a modicum of effort, it was low-key enough to qualify as a recovery workout.

One other thing I liked about this workout: We did Crane.

I kind of wish Michaels didn't keep referring to the audience as "girls," though. I already felt girly enough without the reminder that this DVD is targeted at women, thankyouverymuch.

Gary Null's Ultimate Power Meal Almost Kills Gary Null

Gary Null is an author, an outspoken promoter of alternative medicine, and a self-styled expert on health and nutrition. He also says he needs only two hours of sleep per night, and is an AIDS denier, claiming that HIV doesn't exist -- and that even if it does, it's harmless.

And that's not all: Null sells a line of supplements called "Gary Null's Ultimate Power Meal," a powder which -- after it's mixed with water -- is supposed to be ingested twice daily.

The problem? According to Null, after downing two "Ultimate Power Meals" a day for a month, it almost killed him. His body became overloaded with Vitamin D, causing kidney damage, extreme fatigue, and intense pain. He's now filed a $10 million suit against Triarco Industries, the company that manufactured the supplement, claiming that Triarco put a thousand times the amount of Vitamin D in each serving of "Ultimate Power Meals" than Null intended.

To treat his Vitamin D overdose, I wonder if Null went to a medical doctor or an alternative/homeopathic therapist.

(Source: The Consumerist)

Round 3 / Day 66: One-on-One with Tony Horton - Killer Abs

I bought the entire Volume 1 set of Tony Horton's One-on-One series, but I wonder if anyone who made a standalone purchase of the Killer Abs DVD feels gypped. Including shipping and handling, it costs about one-fifth of the price of the entire P90X set, and consists of just two of Tony's previously-released ab workouts -- Ab Ripper 200 and Ab Ripper X -- back-to-back. (And he manages to forget to do one of the exercises to boot.) Don't get me wrong: It's a good, gut-churning session and all, but couldn't Tony (and BeachBody) have thrown in a few new moves just to lend this disc the illusion of being different enough to justify the $23 price tag?

Stand Up

I don't typically take health cues from ex-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, but as noted previously (here and here), we all need to get rid of our office chairs:

Frequent TV and Web surfers (sitters) have higher rates of hypertension, obesity, high blood triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, and high blood sugar, regardless of weight. Lean people, on average, stand for two hours longer than their counterparts.

The chair you're sitting in now is likely contributing to the problem. "Short of sitting on a spike, you can't do much worse than a standard office chair," says Galen Cranz, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley. She explains that the spine wasn't meant to stay for long periods in a seated position. Generally speaking, the slight S shape of the spine serves us well. "If you think about a heavy weight on a C or S, which is going to collapse more easily? The C," she says. But when you sit, the lower lumbar curve collapses, turning the spine's natural S-shape into a C, hampering the abdominal and back musculature that support the body. The body is left to slouch, and the lateral and oblique muscles grow weak and unable to support it.

This, in turn, causes problems with other parts of the body. "When you're standing, you're bearing weight through the hips, knees, and ankles," says Dr. Andrew C, Hecht, co-chief of spinal surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center. "When you're sitting, you're bearing all that weight through the pelvis and spine, and it puts the highest pressure on your back discs. Looking at MRIs, even sitting with perfect posture causes serious pressure on your back."

Hypocritically, I'm writing this while seated.

(Source: BusinessWeek)

[Related: Don't Sit Down]