Sigh.

With P90X super-fan Paul Ryan named as Mitt Romney's running mate, I sometimes wish I was still an anonymous, snarky, super-enthusiastic P90X blogger. I'd have a field day with all this stuff:

 

I still get a kick out of knowing that members of Congress are spending hours working out with a porn star, though.

Wednesday's Workout

Strength Skill:

• Weighted Pull-ups (5-3-3-1-1, with 10 push-ups between sets)

I think I've pinpointed the reason why a dull ache still plagues my upper arms. It ain't 'cause of the gazillion push-presses from last week. It's from those damned diamond push-ups I did in-between sets of pull-ups last Wednesday.

This morning, my bad case of DOMS was finally subsiding, so despite my chronic lack of sleep, I happily drove to the gym for our morning beatdown. I enjoy doing weighted pull-ups, and was looking forward to doing more.

But just like last week, we did 10 push-ups between each set of pull-ups. Tim allowed us to pick the types of pull-up variations we wanted to do, so I did some decline push-ups, some medicine ball push-ups, some spiderman push-ups, some parallette push-ups, and some more of those nasty diamond push-ups. They didn't feel bad in the moment -- but a few hours later, I could feel the creeping ache in my triceps. And reaching way, waaaay back in the recesses of my brain, I pulled out a vague memory of how I used to do diamond push-ups as part of my P90X regimen, and how my arms always felt wrecked afterwards.

I've come full circle.

Metcon:

• 21 box jumps (24")
• 21 kettlebell sumo deadlift high pulls (32kg / 24kg)
• 21 kettlebell swing - catch - squats (32kg / 24kg)
• 15 box jumps (24")
• 15 kettlebell sumo deadlift high pulls (32kg / 24kg)
• 15 kettlebell swing - catch - squats (32kg / 24kg)
• 9 box jumps (24")
• 9 kettlebell sumo deadlift high pulls (32kg / 24kg)
• 9 kettlebell swing - catch - squats (32kg / 24kg)

What's a swing-catch-squat, you ask? Good question. It involves swinging a kettlebell up, releasing the handle and catching the kettlebell upside-down, performing a goblet squat, and then pushing the iron ball away from you and catching it by the handle to start another swing. It's both easier and harder than it looks.

On the one hand, this movement isn't altogether unfamiliar. It feels a bit like a barbell clean.

On the other hand: Holy crap. I'm not very physically coordinated to begin with, but ask me to perform anything technically demanding at 5 a.m. and you're in for some entertainment.

For today's workout, I used a 24-inch box for my jumps, but I scaled down the kettlebell weights. I used a 24kg KB for the sumo deadlift high pulls, and a 20kg KB for the swing-catch-squats. (You know who else used a 20kg kettlebell? XFitMama. She's a beast.)

It wasn't exactly a cakewalk -- I had a helluva time trying to catch the damned kettlebell -- but I got through the workout okay. Frankly, I'm just happy I didn't cave in my face with a big-ass metal ball.

Result: 8:34 as RXed.

One More Time

I woke up less sore than I thought I'd be, so I headed back to Lahaina CrossFit to squeeze in one last workout before leaving the island.

Warm-Up:

• Row 500 meters
• 20 kettlebell swings
• 20 air squats
• 20 push-ups
• 20 push-presses
• 20 wall balls
• 20 pull-ups
• 20 lunges

We had fifteen minutes to complete the warm-up, which was plenty of time to finish all eight of the warm-up exercises. I was pretty sweaty by the end, though. And while I've never been a huge fan of the "Your Workout Is My Warm-Up" line, it felt apropos this morning.

Strength Skill:

• Push Jerks (5-5-3-3-1-1)

"We're not aiming for a one-rep-max today," Anthony said at the start of the workout. "We're just working on technique."

Nice. My form is rusty, and I couldn't remember my PR anyway. Once I got close to jerking my bodyweight, I called it a day.

Metcon:

"Baker's Dozen" - AMRAP in 13 minutes of:

• 13 kettlebell swings (53lbs / 35lbs)
• 13 kettlebell sumo deadlift high pulls (53lbs / 35lbs)
• 13 toes-to-bar
• 13 burpees

Lucky thirteen. This was a doozy; after ripping through the kettlebell swings and SDHPs, trying to hang on for the toes-to-bar was a special kind of hell. It was enough to make me almost -- almost -- look forward to the burpees.

Result: 4 rounds + 40 reps as RXed.

After class, I lingered to chat with S and K, a super-fit couple in the 8 a.m. class at Lahaina CrossFit. We ran into them last night at the Old Lahaina Luau, where they work. Our family was wowed by S's beautiful hula dancing, and bowled over by K's gregarious charm. (Photos from our luau experience are on M's blog.) They're also two of the most friendly and inviting folks we've met on an island full of generous, warm people, and it was great getting to know them better.



You wouldn't ever know it from looking at him, but K told me that not too long ago, he was over 40 pounds heavier. Then, he and S started doing P90X (8 rounds!) and Insanity, and then moved onto CrossFit. Now, they're looking into Paleo. Sound familiar? I wish I could say that I'm just like S and K, but that would be wishful thinking; I could only hope to be as fit and strong (and nice!) as these two.

Maybe it's something in the water here. Or maybe I should move here to Maui and see if some of the mojo rubs off on me.

Monday's Workout: Flop & Sweat

Strength Skill:

• Cleans (3-3-1-1-1)

I'm not sure I was fully awake until I failed spectacularly at establishing a new 1 rep max squat clean this morning. The act of loading 20 extra pounds over my previous PR weight must have psyched me out; instead of using my legs to power me through the second pull, I yanked with my arms. The result: I pulled the barbell so far back that I landed flat on my back, with the barbell over my neck. (Don't worry -- there was plenty of clearance between my neck and the bar.)

I couldn't help but bust out laughing. This is the second class in a row I've back-flopped; last Friday during warm-ups, I attempted a freestanding handstand and ended up flipping all the way over and crashing down on the floor.

If nothing else, I'm quickly becoming an expert in impressive displays of physical incompetence. My next goal: Learning to fall down the stairs.

Metcon:

AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) in 10 minutes:

• 10 hang dumbbell snatches - right arm (45lbs / 35lbs)
• 10 clapping push-ups
• 10 hang dumbbell snatches - left arm (45lbs / 35lbs)
• 10 chin-ups

This looked fun and -- dare I say it -- easy! Clapping push-ups? No problem! After all, I did tons of 'em with P90X a bazillion years ago, right? And chin-ups? Piece of cake! Maybe the dumbbell snatches would prove more challenging, but I was confident I could bust 'em out, too.

And then, I had this exchange with Tim as I went over to grab a weight:

Me: "Hey, do we have more 45 pound dumbbells?"
Tim: [Pointing to my ankle] "Are you a hundred percent?"
Me: "Uh, no."
Tim: [Makes a face.]
Me: "Uh, okay." [Grudgingly picks up a 35 pound dumbbell instead.]

And of course, he was right. The light dumbbells were my saving grace, because the clapping push-ups and chin-ups ended up being a lot more challenging than I initially thought. The first couple of rounds went relatively smoothly (though in my excitement, I started doing the chin-ups out of order and didn't realize it until I was halfway through the first set).

But by the third round, I had to abandon my goal of going unbroken on the clapping push-ups and chin-ups. Each time I landed after a clapping push-up, my arms felt like jelly. And instead of flopping on my back, I now found myself flopping on my belly.

Result: 4 rounds + 23 reps.

Happy Anniversary to Me

One year ago today, I attended my very first CrossFit class.

At the time, I’d just completed a few rounds of the P90X and Insanity home fitness programs, and had managed to build up a passable level of metabolic conditioning. After months of bodyweight resistance exercises and jumping around crazily in my garage, I signed up for 5 a.m. classes at CrossFit Palo Alto expecting that the programming would be challenging, but nothing I couldn’t handle with a little extra effort.

It didn’t take me long to realize that "a little extra effort" wasn't even close to being enough. This shit was hard, and I was just plain awful at it. My initial attempts at Olympic lifting were laughably inept, and I couldn’t jump rope to save my life. I had no trouble with dead-hang pull-ups, but when I tried to kip, it looked like I’d grabbed onto an electric fence.

I SUCKED AT EVERYTHING.

I’m embarrassed to admit it, but each night before a workout, I'd crawl into bed with a pit in my stomach, scared of what evil plan Tim had in store for the morning WOD, and wondering how badly I'd perform. Once, Tim announced an upcoming workout on Facebook; I was so freaked out I couldn’t fall asleep.

But I never once thought about quitting, or even skipping a class. I was hooked on CrossFit – especially after watching last year’s Games and seeing someone my size kick ass at all the things I wanted to be able to do. I wanted to get better at CrossFit, and given my utter lack of athleticism (I’m a total nerd, yo), I knew that I wouldn’t improve unless I kept working at it.

So I did my homework. I peppered Tim with questions about O-lifting technique and studied his CrossFit "Fundamental Movements" instructional DVD (still the only one of its kind!) in an attempt to skill up. I bought myself a jump rope and made myself some parallettes -- and used 'em. I eventually amassed a nice collection of toys in my garage -- all so I could doggedly practice the same skills that XFitMama -- at that time, the only other member of our mighty 5 a.m. class -- was so easily cranking out.

Some skills took longer than others to learn, but every time a new movement clicked into place, I was over the moon. I remember the satisfying THUNK! of my heels against the floor the first time I properly power-cleaned a barbell. And I can recall exactly how it felt to complete my first successful kipping pull-up, muscle-up, handstand push-up and double-under. Each time, my excitement didn’t die down for days. Even with setbacks along the way – a failed PR attempt here, a less-than-fantastic Fight Gone Bad score there – I was gaining experience and confidence. And slowly, over the course of a year, I gradually got less terrible at CrossFit.

One year from now, if I’m still blogging away (and wouldn't that be pathetic?), I hope to be able to report that I continued to get better, stronger, faster. I’ll never truly be good at CrossFit -- but that’s the beauty of it: It'll never get easy or old. Unlike P90X or Insanity, I don’t have to pack it up (or repeat everything) after a few months. There’ll always be a new and difficult challenge to tackle.

And let's be honest: With me, there’ll always be plenty of room for improvement.

P90X: "It's Not That Special"

For you P90X-heads: There'a s big profile of Tony Horton, Beachbody, and the company's head honcho, Carl Daikeler, in the New York Times. Check it out here.

The guiding principle is to mix up routines and “confuse” the muscles so as to avoid hitting a plateau. So some days are devoted to dumbbells or resistance bands, in addition to old-fashioned push-ups and pull-ups. Other days are reserved for yoga or cardiovascular workouts that involve a lot of jumping and squats.

But Robert Marting, a personal trainer who sells his own exercise videos, says that “muscle confusion” is a time-tested principle of bodybuilding, and that the idea has been around since the early days of Joe Weider, a creator of the Mr. Olympia contest. Beachbody “kindly borrowed the principle and just retermed it as a training secret,” he says.

True enough, Mr. Daikeler says.

“Trainers love to give negative reviews of P90X, saying it’s not that special,” he said. “They are right. It’s not that special.”

[Source]

"P90X" Rhymes with "Really Nice Sex"

Sadly, my kindergartner is past his hardcore gangsta rap phase, and he's now groovin' to Top 40 pop (ugh). The silver lining: I got to hear a Bruno Mars song referencing P90X. Turns out he wasn't paid by Beachbody to do so -- which isn't surprising given what we've heard about the company's stinginess.

Although [Mars'] camp says he wasn't compensated for his reference to home exercise system P90X (he rhymes it with "really nice sex") in his hit "The Lazy Song," there's no question that he's getting a cut of another product mentioned on the same track: the Bruno Mars Snuggie, which you can buy for $25 on his website. The reference ("I'll be loungin' on the couch just chillin' in my Snuggie") slides seamlessly into the layabout anthem. "I'm not going to just take every dollar that's offered, it has to fit right with my brand," he says. "It has to be something I strongly believe in."

I love that there are people out there who "strongly believe" in Snuggies.

[Source]

You Cannot Escape Him. He's Everywhere.

Tony Horton + Kathie Lee + Hoda = splitting headache.



(But did you see the NB Minimus?)

Yet Another Reason Why I Prefer CrossFit to P90X

You don't have to explain why swinging your leg over a chair is "extreme":

[Source]

[Previously: P90X vs. CrossFit: Which Flavor Should You Choose? | Man Aerobics]

Man Aerobics

Zing!

[Previously: P90X vs. CrossFit: Which Flavor Should You Choose?]

[Source]

Confused

Watching this video reminds of how long it's been since I received a massage from a lady robot whose hands are made of lobsters.

(Source: CC Pearce)

The Joe Bovino Interview (Updated)

[4/23/12 - Content removed at the request of Joe Bovino.]

Natalie's Going to Do the Modified Version

(Source: The Lazy Caveman)

Questions for Joe Bovino?

[4/23/12: Content removed at the request of Joe Bovino]

P90X Changes You. Really.

From the looks of this ad in the current issue of Inc. Magazine, P90X changes more than just your body composition.

But for my money, I still say that this set of P90X before-and-after photos takes the cake:

(Source: Joe Petrusky of CrossFit Love)

The P90X Book Club

Quite a few of the folks in the P90X videos have made films, ranging from comedies to dramas to hardcore porn. But did you know that even more of 'em write books?

Tony Horton wrote one. (IMHO, it's not very good, but whatever.)

So did Pam the Blam (under her "Nashieqa Washington" pen name).

And let's not forget Mark Sisson.

The latest author to emerge from the P90X ranks? Joe Bovino.

I know it's been awhile, but you remember Joe from the "P90X Shoulders & Arms" video, right? The guy with fully-shaved armpits? He's written a book describing the "ethnic and regional subcultures of American women" in the format of a bird watching guidebook.

And no, I'm not making this up.

You have no idea how much I wish I had a copy of the book to review for you, but the "Field Guide to Chicks" isn't out yet. You can, however, click here to visit Joe's Facebook page and check out a preview of the book.



I swear: P90X is a gift that just keeps giving.

(Thanks to David Kohrell for the heads-up!)

Just Eat Some F%$#ing Pie

Given the lively debate over the relative merits of P90X and CrossFit, I'm sure glad (the fake) Sandy Kenyon has finally weighed in about P90X:



It's good to keep things in perspective, no?

P90X vs. CrossFit: Which Flavor Should You Choose?

Slate just published an article by Annie Lowry entitled "Work Out So Hard You Vomit: The Rise of P90X, CrossFit, and the 'Extreme' Exercise Routine."

In it, Lowrey tries to compare and contrast P90X and CrossFit, but ends up focusing most of her attention on marginal, cosmetic features -- things like the "crazy" fans who guzzle the Kool-Aid of their respective programs and "love posting homemade videos of their...insane feats of strength." Lowrey states that of the two, "P90X is the slick, camera-ready pro athlete, while CrossFit is the sweatshirt-clad, hometown college favorite" -- but this speaks only to the fact that the P90X videos are slickly-produced and "expensive-looking," whereas CrossFit is relatively "frills-free" and, according to Lowrey, "quite popular among prison inmates"(WTF?). She also touches on the ways in which Beachbody and CrossFit HQ market their products and grow their bottom lines.

But in the end, none of this provides any insight into the goals or programming of either program.

The problem, I think, is that Lowrey's limited exposure to P90X and CrossFit severely hampers her ability to assess them with any depth. She clearly hasn't done much homework about the programs, and even writes that she's done just one P90X workout and one CrossFit workout. (And whether Lowrey actually did a CrossFit WOD is an open question. She writes of having to swing a pair of "large Italian-style tomato cans" around and needing to "find a bale of hay to lift" -- and while these exercises sound...intriguing, I've never before heard of these moves in any CrossFit setting.) So in the end, her article just skims the surface (and poorly, too), and offers little about the substantive features of P90X and CrossFit.

So what are the similarities and differences between the two programs?

I have my own take on this subject. But until I can find the time to properly dig into this topic, chew on these other perspectives about the two programs:

• BikeJames.com (Anti-both -- for mountain bikers)
• CrossFit Catalyst (Pro-CrossFit)
• CrossFit Lisbeth (Pro-CrossFit)
• CrossFit Providence (Pro-CrossFit)
• CrossFit Pulse (Pro-CrossFit)
• Devin Glage (Pro-CrossFit)
• Hillis Training (Pro-both)
• LAX CrossFit (Pro-CrossFit)
• Mark's Daily Apple (Pro-both, but ultimately pushes Primal Blueprint Fitness)
• Perfect Mike (Pro-CrossFit)
• Steve Edwards - Director of Results at Beachbody (Pro-P90X)
• teamRIPPED (Pro-P90X)

And if you've tried either or both fitness programs, feel free to weigh in. I'm sure there are folks who want to hear from some those who have *actual* experience with P90X and/or Crossfit.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

I started this blog as a personal workout log. When I started P90X, I took to heart the advice in the P90X Fitness Guide to share my experiences with others, and to hold myself accountable to working out every day. So that’s what I did -- in blog form. That’s how Fitbomb was born -- way back in the fall of 2009, when I thought no one would visit the site except a few friends and family members. Happily, I was wrong.

But in the past eighteen months, a lot has changed. And now, I'm reevaluating what I want to do with this site and with my blogging.

Continue reading after the jump...

Book Review: "Bring It!"

Since the start of the New Year, I’ve been slowly making my way through a thick stack of just-published health-related books sitting on my nightstand, including:

• "The New Evolution Diet" by Art De Vany
• "The 4-Hour Body" by Tim Ferriss
• "Why We Get Fat And What to Do About It" by Gary Taubes

As I finish ‘em, I’ll post reviews of each.

But first up: Tony Horton’s first literary work: “Bring It! The Revolutionary Fitness Plan for All Levels That BURNS FAT, BUILDS MUSCLE, and SHREDS INCHES.”

Read my review after the jump.