P90X

[sephir]

Ive been doing P90X for about 2 months now. It works like you wouldnt believe. In those 2 months Ive added 50 pounds to my bench, been able to run an additional 5 miles. Its amazing stuff but it is very difficult to get into, but you feel such a sense of accomplishment once you finish an entire episode.

Its not for the faint of heart.

[Ruiner]

diet shit

This is great advice. Remember, it is ALWAYS better to get protein from food than from a supplement. Supplements should not be all or most of your protein intake. They are as the name implies, just to push your protein intake a little bit further to meet your goals.

[Alishe]

Should be eating at least 6 times a day, sizes of the meals vary on what your goals are and your daily calorie intake.

[eisenzahn]

Just like to echo that P90X is not something you jump into cold. Plyometrics alone is probably enough to kill you if you've never exercised before, let alone the hour and a half+ Yoga X routine. I'm in pretty good shape (the yoga experience I have, prior to trying out P90X, at the very least gives me the flexibility to not hurt myself), but if you're new to the whole "exercise at home" thing, Beach Body definitely has various other programs I'd suggest to wade into before splashing into the deep end.

My only gripe with the P90X system is the pull up bar they offer on their site; it's bulky and large, pretty awkward (it kinda looks like a hunting bow Rambo would use if you hold it sideways), and worst of all, for the exercises they show you on the DVD, Horton and his crew use standard, run-of-the-mill pull up bars! Just a straight metal rod like you see everywhere. No fancy grips and shit. So the instructors don't even use what they sell.

One final suggestion. I'm an old man of 30, but this applies to everyone: ice the fuck down after a workout. I exercise late, late at night, pretty much before bed. If I don't ice down problem areas after a P90X routine, I literally will have trouble getting out of bed the following morning.

[Syntex]

The problem I found is that P90X is not for people who want to get in shape but for people who are already in shape who want to bulk up.

I always felt odd exercising to something on TV even when I am alone, its like awkward and never got into it, same reason I don't go clubbing....

Dunno....

[Atreides]

Carbs are not bad unless they are bad carbs. Don't drink soda all the time, once or twice a week is fine depending on how active you are, but less is always better.

Eat legit veggies/fruit, i usually only eat pineapples and oranges, and the only juice i ever have in the house is pom juice. Juice is bad because its basically just flavored calories without any of the fiber which a lot of people underscore, but having a better digestive system is much better for overall health.

Meats - go with lean meats, avoid red stuff. Poultry and lean fish are where its at, if you like beans that is an option for you too. Try to avoid supplements if you can get whats in them in your diet.

Eat whole grain bread. Wheat is the most common, but make sure its whole grain, otherwise its just white bread that looks brown and tastes wheaty.

As a personal example, my day is usually whole grain cereal for breakfast+2 slices of pineapple, hand made chicken/swiss/tomato/whole wheat bread sandwich, and chicken breast or fish with veggies for dinner. I'm not bulking at all right now or i'd be eating more, but right now i dont really want to work out a lot anymore. I'm healthy and in shape so i just do the minimum i need to stay in shape, which usually amounts to 2-4 hours a week of exercise, but work and day to day activities keep me active, so if you're just at a desk all day it'll be way more difficult.

I eat a very similar diet to that, very clean/simple eating with very little processed food and not a lot of sugar/empty calories.

I'm in the process of putting on weight so it's obviously got some differences, im at around 3000 cals/day but I'll probably go up to 3500 cals once I get a better idea of how quickly my body puts on weight with the 3k. Supplements get expensive, right now I'm having 2 scoops of whey during the day and a scoop of casein before bed but that's only ~350 calories, since the point of my diet is to not eat a lot of processed crap I try to get the remaining 2700 or so calories from food.

I should point out that for those of you (like myself) who aren't fish fans, flaxseed meal (available at trader joes or virtually any organic food store) is a good source of omega 3s, although it doesn't really solve the dilemma of having to each chicken so often, heheh. You can make tuna salad easily without mayo (and it actually tastes good!), I'll post a recipe later I guess.

Anyway, here's my diet (about 155g protein, ~90 of them from food)
Breakfast: high fiber cereal mixed 3:1 with granola, with almonds and bananas, skim
Lunch: huge salad with soybeans, avocado, turkey bacon, chicken, flax, nuts & seeds
Post workout: Protein shake (with milk) & peanut butter on whole wheat
Dinner: chicken with yams, steamed veggies, roasted brussels sprouts
Dessert: Yogurt with honey, raspberries, and walnuts
Snacks: Apricot, Apple, Prunes (for poopin!)

Still needs some tweaking to go from a weight loss diet to be optimized for muscle growth, but I'm getting there. I did lose 50lbs in 6 months on a diet similar to Zalius's calories-wise, if anyone is interested for the full details I'd be happy to PM them.

[Atreides]

also as Maguspk said Iron Gym is a good pullup bar for the price, Bed & Bath sells them for around 30-35 bucks but you can use those 20% off coupons they send in the mail, it's well worth the investment since it's sturdier than a tension bar and won't fuck up your walls (that badly)

[Ruiner]

Should be eating at least 6 times a day, sizes of the meals vary on what your goals are and your daily calorie intake.

That depends. If you want to bulk, eat larger meals, fewer times a day. If you want to cut, eat smaller meals, many times a day, to keep your metabolism active.

[Alishe]

Iron gym is great, and ab straps are awesome too.

[Zalius]

I eat a very similar diet to that, very clean/simple eating with very little processed food and not a lot of sugar/empty calories.

I'm in the process of putting on weight so it's obviously got some differences, im at around 3000 cals/day but I'll probably go up to 3500 cals once I get a better idea of how quickly my body puts on weight with the 3k. Supplements get expensive, right now I'm having 2 scoops of whey during the day and a scoop of casein before bed but that's only ~350 calories, since the point of my diet is to not eat a lot of processed crap I try to get the remaining 2700 or so calories from food.

I should point out that for those of you (like myself) who aren't fish fans, flaxseed meal (available at trader joes or virtually any organic food store) is a good source of omega 3s, although it doesn't really solve the dilemma of having to each chicken so often, heheh. You can make tuna salad easily without mayo (and it actually tastes good!), I'll post a recipe later I guess.

Anyway, here's my diet (about 155g protein, ~90 of them from food)
Breakfast: high fiber cereal mixed 3:1 with granola, with almonds and bananas, skim
Lunch: huge salad with soybeans, avocado, turkey bacon, chicken, flax, nuts & seeds
Post workout: Protein shake (with milk) & peanut butter on whole wheat
Dinner: chicken with yams, steamed veggies, roasted brussels sprouts
Dessert: Yogurt with honey, raspberries, and walnuts
Snacks: Apricot, Apple, Prunes (for poopin!)

Still needs some tweaking to go from a weight loss diet to be optimized for muscle growth, but I'm getting there. I did lose 50lbs in 6 months on a diet similar to Zalius's calories-wise, if anyone is interested for the full details I'd be happy to PM them.

i snack a little inbetween, but im supposed to be eating 2900-3200 when i'm working out, but i'm only 5'6. I'm hovering between 18-2300 right now because im just not hungry when i dont work out. When i workout there's usually just another sandwich @ lunch and more portions at dinner, and breakfast will include some kind of protein. I'm also single right now, but when i'm in a relationship the amount of pineapple that i ingest increases fourfold for reasons unrelated to fitness or health

[Atreides]

i tend to go through "phases" with the fruit I eat but every time I try to keep more than 2 varieties in the house I never end up eating 1 of them. First I was huge on grapes & canteloupe, then clementies & kiwis, now it's apricots & apples. Kinda getting sick of the apricots so maybe I'll switch to pineapple & pears... hmmm...

and yea, I leave in about 200 calories to just snack, usually dried fruit and spoonfuls of almond/peanut butter, and I try to have a little dark/bittersweet chocolate every day because I'm a total chocoholic :<

[Zalius]

same, ill overeat a fruit and then not want it anymore. I have mixed tropical fruit too, but pineapple are good enough that i keep going on them all the time. I'll have a week or 2 where i wont eat them, but theyre canned and in my fridge so i dont really care if they're a week old.

[Maguspk]

Peanut Butter and Banana sandwiches on Whole Grain Wheat Bread, represent.

[whm_mahler]

i have p90x also.. on week 5, went from 290 down to 250. followed diet best i could, stopped drinking soda. yoga and stretch x definately made me more limber. i feel awkward doing the kenpo dvd by myself in my room .. all the kicks and punches that go nowhere

[Zalius]

i have p90x also.. on week 5, went from 290 down to 250. followed diet best i could, stopped drinking soda. yoga and stretch x definately made me more limber. i feel awkward doing the kenpo dvd by myself in my room .. all the kicks and punches that go nowhere

nowhere???? THEYRE GOIN RIGHT TO THOSE SEXY NEW MUSCLES

[Ruiner]

My fruits of choice are canteloupe, watermelon, cherries, bananas, clementines, and pineapples. The week after clementines go out of season is hell for me.

[Atreides]

Quitting soda is one of the biggest and best changes you can make for your diet, and one of the hardest, lol. If you're eating 2400 calories a day including 2 sodas, cutting out the 2 sodas will bring you low enough that you can start burning weight pretty quick. Obviously not the only change but yea...

[Zalius]

its unhealthy to lose more than 2 lbs per week anyways, small changes are where its at

edit: also, ABOLISH mayo. seriously. that one is a silent killer

[Atreides]

Oh yea, before I go to bed the way I make tuna salad without mayo:

Ingredients:
one 7oz can/pouch solid white albacore in water
juice of 1/2 lemon
4-5 chopped green olives
1 tsp capers
a dash of fat free italian dressing
1 stalk celery, finely chopped

Flake tuna with fork, mix in ingredients, stir well. Serve on whole wheat bread with some lettuce. Makes 2 servings.

The acidity from the lemon and the tangy olives/capers seem to drown out the fishyness of the tuna (buying higher quality tuna seems to help) just as the mayo would normally mask it. The celery along with the capers adds some nice texture as well. My dad makes a variation with basil and onions, I don't really like it.

I don't even remember the last time I've used mayo, as much as I love it

We need a BG exercise/nutrition thread :D

[Maguspk]

We need a BG exercise/nutrition thread :D

Tyche should make it happen, he can moderate it and stuff since he is a pretty active guy. I'd totally love a thread with concentrated talk of this kind of stuff, these threads kind of pop up occasionally but never stick.