Exercise makes us feel great. It makes us less hungry. It helps us perform everyday tasks better. Besides our health and the way we look, feeling great, being less hungry, and performing better are exactly the reasons we put ourselves through exercise. However, en route to ultimate fitness, there are some hurdles we all need to clear. Mainly, they include being faced with the opposite of our intended goals. Enter the trilogy of grumpiness: getting sore, slow, and hungry. We tend to look at these as negatives, but how about a little New Year’s spin? You want these feelings because they’re clear signs your program is working.

Before we analyze why you need to embrace “going backward,” let’s answer the obvious question: why would we design this type of program? Certainly, there are exercise programs that don’t put you through torture. Could we have chosen such a path with P90X^®?

The answer is that programs lacking this trilogy don’t provide you an incentive to get in top shape. In the early stages of any exercise program, it’s possible to structure the schedule and diet around making small improvements. I call this the Curves^® template. You push your body above its normal output, though just barely, and you keep it there. If you are greatly deconditioned, it will yield improvements. This approach doesn’t hurt, and frankly, it helps people who’ve never exercised—mainly due to the mental boost they get from feeling they can exercise. It’s a nice alternative for some people. But let’s be realistic. None of them would sit through a P90X infomercial, much less be inspired by it. › Continue reading

Today’s P90X Review will be for P90X Cardio X. This is really a great workout. It’s not super intense, and it’s not crazy hard. It has a little bit of Yoga, some Kenpo X, Plyometrics, and Core Synergistics. All of these “mini” workouts, make up the Cardio X workout. This workout is not seen in the Classic rotation. The Classic rotation uses Plyometrics instead. The Lean Version does use Cardio X, instead of Plyometrics. And the Doubles rotation (meaning you do P90X in the AM and the PM), uses it as one of the second workouts in a given day. I hope that last little bit of information didn’t confuse you. In the › Continue reading

The toughest part of the day for a lot of us is the time between meals. The temptation to graze—dipping into candy dishes, doughnut boxes, and chip bowls—can be great. We may not count these “found” calories, but our scales and measuring tapes absolutely will. The best strategy to prepare for attacks of the munchies is to have healthy snacks on hand.

Note: All nutritional information is for one serving.

Sunday: Tony Horton’s Sticky Bar

The father of P90X has created the granddaddy of all snacks as far as I’m concerned. The worst cook in the world can mash up these three ingredients for an easy-to-prepare healthy bite. The key to this recipe is the quality of those three ingredients. The banana’s pretty easy. While it’s better to look for organic bananas, most come in their own protective gear. The peanut butter should also be easy to choose. Just get the kind with one ingredient: peanuts. No sugar, no salt, no problems. Things can get crazy choosing the granola. While ostensibly a wholesome cereal, all manner of sins have been committed in the name of granola, like soaking the poor oats in high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oils. Just read the label to make sure you know what you’re getting. A good granola should be low in fat, low in sugar, and high in fiber. If your local supermarket isn’t giving you what you need, you might consider making your own so you can control what goes in. › Continue reading

If you’re trying to get in shape, then dinner can be a really dicey time. It’s when a lot of us gather with family or friends, and it can entail a large home-cooked meal, a large pizza, or a bucket of chicken. No one’s going to appreciate being served a scoop of cottage cheese and a mixed-greens salad when they were expecting lasagna or kung pao chicken. Here are some healthy ideas that will keep you on track nutritionally but won’t get you in the doghouse with your dining companions.

Note: All nutritional information is for one serving.

Sunday: Turkey Chili

Chili is one of the dishes that actually is fun to make and healthy to eat. If you check out Beachbody’s or other fast-food guides, you’ll see that Wendy’s® chili is one of your healthiest fast-food options. Tomatoes for vitamins, beans for fiber, and some kind of meat or other protein source, the myriad chili recipes out there offer lots of options for a well-balanced meal. Here’s a good basic recipe, but half the fun of making chili is improvisation. That’s why chili cookoffs are so popular. Spice it up if you have an iron stomach, or substitute your favorite lean meat or textured vegetable protein. Experiment with different beans and legumes. The chili pot also can be a great repository for soon-to-spoil leftovers. Just try to avoid certain popular mix-ins like cheese and sour cream that add more fat than flavor. Also, when buying ground turkey, look for extra-lean or all-breast meat. Many “lean” varieties of ground turkey have as much fat as hamburger. › Continue reading

In every P90X Review I write, you’ll get a fair and honest review. At least, it will be "fair and honest" in my opinion. P90X Legs and Back is not one of my favorites. But then again, I’m sure there are people out there, that absolutely love it. If you’re one of those people that love/hate this workout, comment below, all comments are welcome. I really only have two reasons for my "less than favorable" opinion. The first reason, I can’t seem to walk normal for a couple of days afterward. Sure I could back off the workout some, but I can’t seem to do that. On the bright side of that, at least it’s working! The second › Continue reading

Curiosity got the better of me, and I wanted to know just how many rounds of P90X I have actually completed. So I went and read my coach profile at the Team Beachbody website. As of my last update, I had completed 9 rounds of P90X. With this P90X Review, I am undergoing my 10th round! Time flies went your staying fit! Well, I guess with 9 rounds of P90X behind me, I feel comfortable in writing a P90X review. I guess some people could say with 9 rounds, I could be biased. I guess I am, but why would I stop doing a workout program that works so well! So I have been off P90X for a while. I did › Continue reading

Sugary treats and drinks are so prevalent in American society that it’s a real challenge to kick the white stuff, not to mention the high fructose corn syrup stuff. However, that doesn’t mean that we should totally abandon our sweet tooth. After all, how could something that tastes so good be that bad for us? Our palates are conditioned to enjoy sweets because, in nature, sweetness can attract us to some of the healthiest foods, like fruits and berries. The trick is in learning to enjoy sweet foods that are closer to their natural states before all the vitamins and fiber are extracted, and we’re left with just the diabetes and tooth decay. Here are some ideas for desserts that could actually be the healthiest part of the meal.

Note: All nutritional information is for one serving.

Sunday: Giant Fruit Salad

Sunday is a great day to make giant bowls of stuff you can eat all week. I like to make big pots of soup or other big entrées for healthy leftovers throughout the week. Fruit salad is super-easy to make; it’s just a hassle to chop everything. I find it can be a nice Zen-like activity while I’m watching the Sunday news programs or sports. The best fruit salads use fruits that are in season and contain a variety of colors. It’s not just that the colors make for a lovely presentation, but the more colors you have, the bigger range of antioxidants you have. By tossing the fruit in lemon juice, you can prevent the fruit from turning brown, so it will still be appetizing later in the week. You can layer the fruit with yogurt for a delicious parfait, or add some granola or nuts for a little crunch, too. › Continue reading

Welcome back for another P90X Review. Today I’m going to review the P90X Ab Ripper X workout. Ab Ripper X is a very thorough, well rounded, intense abdominal workout. As if the name doesn’t say it all, Tony Horton refers to Ab Ripper X as… "I hate it, but I love it". This is a quote, which in time, you will also repeat yourself. Although at first, it might just be, "I hate it". lol. Today was the first time I have completed the P90X Ab Ripper X in about 8 weeks. It’s not uncommon at all for me to cycle through several ab workouts. Beachbody has numerous ab workouts that come with their various › Continue reading

My first P90X workout was in January of 2006. After 4 years of doing P90X, I’m finally going to start my P90X Review. Now I did write a short review some time back, but it was an overall review. This P90X review will be different. I will be reviewing each P90X DVD individually. Since this is day 1 of my new rotation, I will be reviewing each DVD as I progress through the 90 day program. P90X comes with 3 rotations: Classic, Lean and Doubles. Since I have already been through these rotations, the rotation I do this time, will be in a slightly different order, but don’t worry, each DVD will be covered, › Continue reading

P90X, A Girl’s Guide, Part 2.  Fitness Myths.

In part 2, of P90X, A Girl’s Guide… let’s address common fitness myths.  I’ve noticed several of the girls doing P90X ask questions that are specifically mentioned here.  Questions about slow metabolism, more and more cardio, bulking up, and more.  If you found yourself wondering about these things, then read on.  Thank you Stephanie Saunders at Beachbody for such an enlightening article!

There’s a lot of pressure on women to look, in a word, hot. Sure, for a chosen few, curves in the right places come naturally, but the rest of us seem to spend all our time snatching up the latest fitness fad, be it the Abs-o-matic 3000, Cucumber Colon Cleanse, or Low-Cholesterol All-Bacon Diet, desperately hoping we’ll discover the new us. Instead, we usually walk away—or occasionally limp away—feeling confused, dejected, and as if we’ve missed out on the genetic lottery. › Continue reading