Health

According to Dictionary.com fitness can be best defined as capability of the body of distributing inhaled oxygen to muscle tissue during increased physical effort, as well as physical exercise. In America today there are a lot of health issues due to society’s lack of exercise and physical fitness. In order to maintain a healthy body fat as well as overall body size you have to exercise and eat healthy. “Fitness should be a key component in anybody's life simply for the fact that it makes you feel better. It is recommended that you get 30 minutes a day by most experts’ standards. But in my opinion you should do at least 40- 60 minutes of exercise a day “. When exercising and increasing daily fitness it helps an individual to feel good, and when you feel good you look good in addition to having more confidence; also, fitness/exercising increases your energy throughout the day, which will allow you to do daily tasks more efficient and more carefree. Fitness can also allow weight loss and a reduction of fat; however, this can only be achieved with a balanced healthy diet. Losing weight should not be the only reason why you resort to a fitness goal. Even skinny or small people should exercise, just because someone has a small body frame does not mean that, that person is healthy. With overall fitness you become healthy physically and in some cases mentally. To sum fitness up, fitness is a state of good health, which comes as a aftereffect of exercise and a well balanced nutrition.

Motivation

There’s one week until spring break and like everyone else I am still trying to do as much as possible to get in peak physical condition. I would like to take this time to remind everyone that even though it is great that you all are working hard to get your bodies in shape for spring break that it is important that you are careful not to over train as I have spoken on in the past. Furthermore, remember that it is important to stay in shape and work towards maintaining your desired fitness level rather than trying to hurry up and get in shape every time spring break rolls around. I myself understand that it’s difficult to stay consistent 365 days of the year. It’s understandable that everyone will take a month off but it’s important to get back into it.

No matter how hard those push-ups or pull-ups gets it’s important to remember that every repetition is getting you one step closer to your goal. Believe me, I’ve been in those situations when it seems as though you cannot finish, it feels like you want to throw in the towel, or you feel as though if you do one more rep you will die. Remember most people give up just when they're about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game, one foot from a winning touchdown. If you give up you will never achieve your goal, the only thing that will define you is failure.

Week 1 Day 1

Day one consists of chest, back, and Abs Ripper X. To start off I took my laptop to my gym. Most of you are probably asking, why go to the gym when the program is tailored for home use. Well the fact of the matter is that I already had a gym membership and I do not want it to go to waste. Anyway, my gym is Anytime Fitness and since I can go whenever I want, I usually go either really late when I can have the place all to myself. Since I am at the gym I have access to the dumbbells I will need and a pull up bar. I kept a pad and pencil as well to record my reps.

There are twelve exercises and two sets. For example, I had to start off by performing reps of regular pushups, followed by wide arm pushups, pull-ups, elevated (or incline) pushups, dumbbell rows, and then reps of diamond pushups. This is then repeated all over again. After all that you would think it was over but oh no here comes Ab Ripper X, this consists of twelve exercises that are twenty-five reps each. To start Ab Ripper X, they have you do in and outs, then forward bicycles so you are not laying on your back, this is then followed by reverses, next is a workout called seated crunch frog, then you continue with wide leg sit-ups, then fifer scissors which are like alternating leg raises, the hip rock ‘n raise, and the rollup V combo. After finishing the first session I must say it was intense.

The First Step...

In my previous blog I talked about the need for a “tester”, a person who would try out fitness programs that are advertised as being the greatest thing on the market and essentially evaluate them. As I said before, I would pick one (P90X) and order the program to begin the experiment. My order arrived earlier today while I was at work. After reading some of the material thus far, the understanding I’ve got is that the individual who has decided to undergo this process (me) will perform the exercises six days out of the week with the seventh day reserved for rest. It is somewhat similar to the creation of the world where after working hard all week the lord was able to rest on his last day. The program comes with a meal plan than lays out nutrients and their importance. The program explains how these nutrients (protein, fiber, and carbohydrates) enable the body to grow and become stronger. Furthermore, the program comes with a calendar that is used to document the user’s progress. Along with the nutritional guide and calendar comes 13 DVDs for a total cost of around $150 after shipping and tax is assessed. Shipping by itself was $24, I thought this was little over but that’s the cost. To begin, I am going to pop in the first DVD and go through the fitness test. The fitness test is used to measure growth in terms of strength, stamina, and overall fitness at certain bench marks throughout the program. I am getting started now and I will update you with my progress tomorrow.

Tester...

Today I want to talk about finding an effective work out program. I know being a fellow consumer it is difficult to find the right program because you do not know if it will work or not. Whether you have searched the internet, asked friends, late night infomercials etc. in an attempt to find a solid program I understand how nerve wrecking the process could be.

I have decided to conduct an experiment to assist those people who seem to run into this problem. Whenever I would stay up watching a little TV, I would always come across these infomercials that promised to completely transform the user’s body into something surreal. Usually, I would discount these infomercials but one has consistently stuck out to me, P90X, this program is one of the only one that seemed as though it was promising. After watching the many infomercials I thought to myself, it would be great if there was someone completely independent of the businesses who could try out these programs and let people know how effective they are. So I thought to myself once more, why not me.

I will select one program and go through it in entirety for as long as prescribed (usually 60-90 days). Throughout the entire program I will give updates as to how the program is working for me. To begin this process I have selected and ordered a program (P90X) and upon its arrival I will begin my journey to what seems like the ultimate beach body.

REST!!!

Today I would like to discuss rest and its importance when exercising. Earlier I was at my gym working out and I would see guys just go from exercise to exercise without any rest between. It probably wouldn’t be that bad if they were working opposite muscles such as biceps then triceps or quads then hamstring. Furthermore, when I talked to them about it I found out that they would fail to designate days so that their body could recover. I would advise that people do not do this for risk of causing an injury to the muscles. Rest is probably the most neglected aspect of fitness. Not only does an individual increase the chance of reducing injury but a key component of rest is that it facilitates muscle recovery and growth. Truthfully, if an individual does not rest then they might as well forget getting those big muscles they’ve been longing for and hope to show off on the beach.

If you talk to any trainer or fitness enthusiast, they will tell you that rest is probably the most important part of exercising. Regardless of what you have heard, all muscle growth takes place during the periods of rest. Moreover, after your muscles are able to rest/repair themselves following training they become stronger that enables people work harder and promote further muscle growth. Another important tidbit is that you allow muscles to fully recover (usually two to three days per muscle group) in an effort to avoid injury or retardation of the muscles. Based on the workout there needs to be variations in the amount of rest allotted.

Overuse

Today, I would like to discuss injuries that occur due to overuse. It seems that more and more people are getting injured due to overuse. The misconception or the things people concern themselves with are that they may get suffer from terrible injuries such as a tear in the Achilles tendons or some kind of tear in one of the ligaments. The fact of the matter is that the chances of suffering injuries from overuse are much higher while serious injuries prove to be more unlikely. Overuse injuries most frequently seen are of a lesser degree but none the less can cause a high enough of a disturbance (up to 40 – 50 % decrease in muscular strength) that can negatively impact one’s performance. These types of injury tend to occur due to high or prolonged stress on a particular muscle group.

Following an injury such as this, individuals can undergo a recovery time spanning up to a month depending on the severity of the injury. After injuries such as this it is imperative that those on the road to becoming fit plan workouts that are rigorous enough to increase the fitness level while at the same time avoid inducing further injury to the muscle. The issue that seems to constantly arise is that those trying to increase their fitness level tend to be unable to find programs that will properly enable them to elicit the desired results. It is important that when dealing with injuries such as this or any injuries for that matter that one takes all the necessary precaution to avoid re-injury or further injury to the muscle.

Mixing it up

Ok, I was sitting there after completing my workout for the day and noticed something, I was not as exhausted as the first few times I completed the workout. For instance, the first time I performed this particular workout I was completely exhausted afterwards. Sweat was constantly dripping from my forehead no matter how much wiped it and I had to relax for about a couple minutes before everything felt ok again. After completing the workout now it felt as though I still had energy to blow. It dawned onto me that more than likely many other individuals were possibly encountering this same issue.

The fact of the matter is that my have grown, it has become stronger, and it is letting me know that it is time to increase the intensity. More often than the reason people don’t see the desired results is not because they are not working hard but simply that they aren’t working smart. If a person performs the same routine over an extended period of time without change, after a while they will notice that rate of change seen on their body will drastically decrease. In order to avoid this plateau effect that many people fall into, the individual must in a sense “mix it up”. The human body is unique in that whatever it learns, it is able to retain that information and change enough to reduce any stress. In order to continue to see change, individuals must in a sense “mix it up” or confuse the body to force it to continually change and become stronger.

"No time...."

Hey guys, I know it’s been a few days since I’ve put up a blog but here I am with a few words of wisdom. This is my last semester here at ISU and it just seems like I am just so busy to the point that it’s hard to find time to work out each day. This got me thinking, if I’m having difficulty finding time to get to the gym then there is most likely other people out there facing the same difficulties. I found that the best thing to do is to go out and spend the few dollars you would otherwise waist on something stupid to purchase a pull-up bar, a couple dumbbells, and maybe some resistance bands (optional). I recommend that people get these things because the will allow you to do almost any workout. It’s great for those times when you only have maybe thirty minutes not including the time it would take to drive to the gym and back home.

Some people are probably asking the question, “What can I do with just dumbbells, bands, and a pull up bar?” The fact of the matter is that the possibilities are far and wide. First, pull ups are great for helping you to get that V-shape that everyone wants and works a large majority of your upper body. Second, dumbbells are great because you can work the chest with dumbbell press, dumbbell fly, etc. You can work you arms with simple curls, the shoulders with shoulder presses, lunges, etc. The list goes on and on. Third, resistance bands can be used in a similar fashion and enables you to expand range of things your able to do.

Motivation???

Last time I talked about how excited I am for my first spring break trip of my last semester in college. During the time up until my trip I talked about getting in peak physical shape to hit the beaches. I want to come clean with you all, I have not really worked out for the past month and a half. It seems as though I have hit the reset button because even it has only been a month and a half I have seen muscle deterioration and strength loss. Now it feels like I’m starting over and I am feeling all the bodily aches that come when a person resumes weight lifting after a decent amount of time. Getting the body I want will take a vigorous work ethic.

I think the biggest part of the fitness process, whether it’s with an individual that is beginning weight training for the first time or with an experienced weight trainer, the biggest problem seems to be motivation. I personally use my pass achievements to motivate myself and I focus on the thought of surpassing those achievements as I’ve done in the past. Before beginning any fitness program, I feel that everyone should find something to serve as motivation. This can be a picture of you when you were a stud in the army (positive motivation), a picture that constantly shows you in your worst physical shape as you work to never go back (negative motivation), or something as simple as thinking how many girls/guys you will attract when you hit the sandy beaches of Miami this spring break.