Hoff's P90Xperience

P90X+, 1-on-1 Mammoth UML and Total Body Solutions Showed Up Today

I'll have more detailed reports on all of these but it was like a BeachBody Christmas around here today:

1. The P90X recovery formula pouches makes it SO much more convenient to travel and have the recovery drink handy...no more explaining to the TSA what the powder is. ;) 
2. The Total Body Solutions DVD includes rehabilitation and pain relief routines for the neck, shoulders, core, hips and knees. We did the shoulder routine today and it really did a nice job of opening up all the contributing muscle groups and improved my mobility/eased the pain quickly.  I am impressed thus far.  
3. Tony Horton's 1-on-1 Mammoth UML (Upper, Mid, Lower) routine arrived also. This is a "maintenance" routine for if you're traveling, don't have bands and want a routine you can do in cramped quarters to get an OK workout that doesn't require equipment.  I tweeted that it may be better than the Road Warrior...not because you get a better workout, but because it lets you get one without a lot of fuss. Looks like mostly push-up type exercises. 
4. P90X+...These routines look like a lot of fun and promise to be ass-kickers. They have two new folks exercising with Tony -- neither of which is annoying like Drea -- and they are ripped!  I will be posting the 13 week P90X+ cycles as I couldn't find them anywhere...you will have fun with these.  Further, these routines use the SelectTech dumbbells, so a  number of the routines that I have trouble with in P90X due to the size, are adapted around these, so I am a happy camper!

More detail on each as I get more time with them to comment.

It is clear now that I understand what the P90X+ round looks like, I will actually call this last week my warm-up/rest week between rounds and transition over to the full-fledged P90X+ routine starting next Monday for my second round...can't wait! Do-over! ;) 

/Hoff

 

BodyLastics Bands - Terell Owens "Super Strong Man" Edition ;)

I've been hinting that I am going to include or transition over to bands for my next round of P90X.  As such, I wanted a good set of comprehensive bands with various resistance and anchoring capabilities.

My friend @georgevhulme (Twitter) recommended the T.O. branded BodyLastics units.  I ordered a set and they came today.  The nice thing about the bands, besides the quality construction, is that you can add resistance by clipping multiple resistance bands together at the handles, which I like very much.

Terrell Owens Super Strong Man Bodylastics Set comes complete with 7 continuous dipped elastics which create over 94 levels of resistance and up to 127 lbs of resistance per side. This means that grandparents and NFL offensive linemen alike will be able to get the best workout of their life, from one amazing system.

I'm looking forward to working out with these to see the real difference they make in, say, the back & biceps routine.

You can find more info on the bands here.  In the same way you ignore the creepy infomerical ads for the Beachbody stuff, you can ignore a lot of the fluff you'll find there also ;)

 

I have found my next (and last) pull-up/chin-up bar...

I couldn't mount the P90X/Beachbody pull-up bar once I moved my workout room location because there was no door jam to do so. 

I bought a pull-up station from Gold's (the Power Tower) instead.  I thought it would be great.  It has weighted assist, dips and ab crunch capabilities and push-up bars.  You can see what I mean here (the grips actually look nothing like that...this would be an improvement ;( )

It sucks.

Why?  Because I can't do many of the P90X pull-up/chin-up moves without modification because of their stupid angled hand-grips, the orientation of the bar and the lack of a continuous straight bar to allow for exercises like close-grip overhand pull-ups.

Oh, and per one of my other posts, the powder coating on the bars tears the skin on my hands right off...

So, I'm on the hunt for a bar like the one they use on the DVD's; basic, sturdy, well made and cost-effective.

I believe I found it.  It's called (appropriately) the Stud Bar:

If you are serious about pull ups, chin ups, or kipping pull ups, you need a sturdy fixed-mount pull up bar.

Stud Bar is a gym-quality pull up bar made from welded 14 gauge steel with gussets for added strength. The bar is 1 ¼” diameter for a comfortable grip. Stud Bar is designed to mount on 8’ to 10’ ceilings, or any wall, and is adjustable from 14” to 22” away from the ceiling or wall, and its mounting holes center on your ceiling or wall studs at 48 inches, (Grade 8 mounting hardware included).

Stud Bar’s 48” width allows for wide grip pull ups.

Hammertone powder coated finish. Lifetime warranty. Patent Pending

You can mount if from the ceiling or off a wall.  It holds 500 pounds.

The studbar website is great and has a bunch of funny spoofs (you'll see.)

$139.

I'm ordering it.  When I cop out of working out, get fat and lazy again, it will make a swell coat rack! ;)

/Hoff

Measuring Body Fat: A Tale of the Pincers & the Scale...

Preston on his blog made an interesting observation today in which he relates a startling difference between his expensive fat measuring scale and ye olde fatty pincers (calipers):

152.8 lbs
20% Body fat (Bowflex bodyfat scale)
14.7% Body fat (calipers)

Whipped out the calipers today and did the ol'fashioned body fat measurement - came out to 14.7, I like the number better but now it's got me wondering what the real number is.  Calipers are supposed to be pretty accurate, so why is the scale so higher? hmm

Um, a 5.3% body fat delta is sort of large!  Bowflex advertises that the scale Preston has is "...accurate to within 0.1%"  Well, either they are and the calipers are wrong/Preston's using them wrong, or...

These scales measure fat/water/bone/muscle content by passing a low current electric voltage through your body and deliver percentages of overall measurements by knowing your height and weight.  I read that these things (and this scale in particular) are reasonably accurate.  5% is outside of the margin of error.  Yikes.

This is the scale I have...

Time to get a set of calipers and check out the (potential) difference.

Thanks, Preston!

/Hoff

Calculating Calories Burned

One of the @P90Xtwits asked about tracking/calculating calories burned.  You can use estimates such as those on Livestrong.com or you can use any number of new high-tech gadgets to help you.

I use a device I find extremely convenient, the MioSelect Drive.

The Drive is really convenient because it doesn't require a chest strap and is always on me.  It knows my age, height, weight, and resting HR.  As I transition to/from exercises in my routines or exercises, I engage the sampling manually (reading my HR, not pulse) and it calculates calories burned.

I've worn both my Polaris chest strap unit and my Mio at the same time and found them relatively equal in accuracy...you can have really fun debates with people about the empirical/technical differences between the approaches, but it's hard to put a price on convenience.

Another nice thing is that the Mio tracks calories burned from a 3500 cal. deficit scale because 3500 calories burned in deficit = 1 pound of fat burned.  Nice to know. ;)

The Mio's are around $80 on Amazon.

/Hoff

What Equipment Do You Need For the P90X?

The great part about the P90X program is that you really don't need much in the way of equipment.

You'll need the following:

1. A pull-up bar.  Beachbody sells one that you can buy when you purchase the program.  It's nice, but you have to have traditional door frames/mouldings for it to mount.  I have it but I also purchased a full-blown pullup station with power assist because when I started I had real trouble with the pull-ups and form.  See below in the "optional" section.
2. Dumbbells or bands. If you don't have space/money for dumbbells or the ability to mount a pullup bar, you use the bands in substitution AND they take the place of dumbbells, also.  You can purchase bands from Beachbody or (see below) from other sources. The dumbbells can be the traditional individual weighted units or (see below) what I got -- the Bowflex Selecttech modular units which take up MUCH less space.
3. A Chair or stool.  You'll need this for some of the plyo moves, some general balance and the seated exercises/inverted pushups, etc.
4. A towel
   
   
5. A Pen
   
   
6. A water bottle
   
   
7. A DVD Player
   

I'll save the motivational "you need commitment!" line item...

Optional:

1. Pullup station with assist to get max. reps with good form.  I started with the power assist and now I'm weaning off it since I'm strong enough to do at least 10-15 of each type of pullup now.  I got this one from Sports Authority.  it's a dip/ab/pullup power tower that works nicely.  You might also consider the Perfect Pullup since it allows for inverted rows, doesn't need moulding to hang and allows for a greater  range of motion/exercises.
2. Selecttech dummbells. These are great.  I got the 552 which allows you to dial up to 52 pounds in a single, consolidated stack.  Saves SO much space.  They are a little more bulky so some of the exercises require some extra strict form, but I love these things.  Got my Nautilus-branded ones at Costco for $349.
3. Modular Bands. My buddy George turned me on to these.  These bands (although they have TO's name on them) look great.  The mounting options are very nice, the modularity of being able to "stack" weight is a bonus.  You can take these with you when you travel, so you don't have to miss a workout.
4. Pushup bars.  For those of you with weak wrists or a desire for greater range of motion, pushup bars are great.  I went a little different route and use the Perfect Pushup which adds additional fun to the pushup routines, helps my wrists (which are sore from BJJ) and helps isolate the chest workout more.  I believe BB sells more standard units or you can also use dumbbells for the same purpose.
5. Supplements and recovery drinks.  I take a bunch of supplements already, so I'm not going to recommend any because I'm not a physician.  I know what works for me.  I will, however, tell you that the P90X recovery drink (or one like it) is very good for post-workouts and I regularly consume Muscle Milk chocolate shakes and Fast Twitch drinks prior to working out.  More on these later.

Hope these were helpful.

/Hoff