OT | Official Fitness & Health Thread

[steger_3434]

I'll say this about insanity. Those that know me know I'm in pretty damn good shape. I lift regularly and I play recreational soccer a few times a week and also in a very very competitive state wide league once a week. With that said, I tried insanity a couple of times and it KICKED MY ASS!!

[-Kees-]

For those doing Insanity, is there any place to get it without paying the full price, if you know what I mean?

Don't tell anyone, but I didn't exactly pay full price (or anything...cough cough) for it. Google the pirate bay if you haven't used that site already and just search insanity from there.

I've done it 3 days now and my feet hurt more than expected, don't usually use those muscles haha. Haven't had anything with the knees yet though, but time will tell.

[bigkurty]

Anybody catch Gym Rescue on Spike last night? Our company got a nice plug from Randy Couture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8825JBC ... e&t=37m23s

[jimmybones]

Insanity is hilarious.

[Thunder Muscle]

I kinda want to try DDP Yoga. I've heard nothing but positives about it and think it would help with my core which is where family genetics is against me. I feel my family holds their weight in the belly. Anybody try it? I'm just looking to burn 5-10 lbs and feel a little better. For me I'm happy being in that 185-190 range and in the past half year have creeped into the 195# range. Having a pregnant wife has been tough, just snack alot haha.

I do own Insanity and may just start that again. Its been 3+ years since I did those workouts, but I don't know if I want to buy DDP Yoga when I have Insanity sitting around. I remember Insanity being tough as hell though. I saw results but it was tough. I really only did the first 30 days and repeated as the hour workouts were tough from a time standpoint and just very hard. Plus I'm 31 now and not 27/28, haha.

[emunney]

My wife decided to do t25, so I'm doing it with her and have lost 14 lbs. Currently halfway through the 4th week.

[Nebula1]

This great old thread... good to see again. Have to say I've been aggressively hitting the weights all summer and I'm in peak shape. I still play ball about 2 hours a night with another hour of lifting and an expanded program over the weekends.

Now that we're entering autumn, this is my favorite time to really buckle down and go to the next level. Up your weight!

[Thunder Muscle]

My wife decided to do t25, so I'm doing it with her and have lost 14 lbs. Currently halfway through the 4th week.

Nice work! Have you dieted in addition or strictly been losing due to t25? I need to clean-up my diet slightly. I've been doing a little more fast food for lunch and snacking more than I should. That's fine if I am working out in addition, but I haven't really been. Is t25 pretty hard? I believe that is the one that the workouts are 25 minutes or less which would be great.

[emunney]

My wife decided to do t25, so I'm doing it with her and have lost 14 lbs. Currently halfway through the 4th week.

Nice work! Have you dieted in addition or strictly been losing due to t25? I need to clean-up my diet slightly. I've been doing a little more fast food for lunch and snacking more than I should. That's fine if I am working out in addition, but I haven't really been. Is t25 pretty hard? I believe that is the one that the workouts are 25 minutes or less which would be great.

Not really dieting, just being a little more mindful about the amount of garbage I eat and when I'm eating it. For a while, I was having late night snacks pretty much every night, and they were never healthy snacks. I haven't stopped that, but I've made it more of an exception.

I've also tried to make lunch my biggest meal of the day. That's more a functional thing as I've been doing t25 at night, and it sucks to try to do it on a full stomach.

T25 is challenging without being murderous. If you've done the more advanced beachbody stuff like Insanity or p90x, it would probably seem like an easier version of those. The workouts that include a bunch of different pushup and plank varieties are still, in week 4, too taxing on my shoulders for me to do every exercise. But I'm getting better at it. What I've been doing is, when I have a workout that I don't do really well at, later that night I'll hit those muscle groups again in a different way to try to kind of expedite the muscular endurance gains a bit. Seems to be working.

[Thunder Muscle]

Seems intriguing. I may have to try to barter my Insanity for t25. Thanks for the feedback.

[Nebula1]

I actually go with a hamburger bun for a snack. I found some natural buns that are about 170 calories and really take the edge off a craving. If I'm really hungry for carbs, I go with a heavier bagel and it's pretty easy to run either of those off.

[Thunder Muscle]

My wife decided to do t25, so I'm doing it with her and have lost 14 lbs. Currently halfway through the 4th week.

Nice work! Have you dieted in addition or strictly been losing due to t25? I need to clean-up my diet slightly. I've been doing a little more fast food for lunch and snacking more than I should. That's fine if I am working out in addition, but I haven't really been. Is t25 pretty hard? I believe that is the one that the workouts are 25 minutes or less which would be great.

Not really dieting, just being a little more mindful about the amount of garbage I eat and when I'm eating it. For a while, I was having late night snacks pretty much every night, and they were never healthy snacks. I haven't stopped that, but I've made it more of an exception.

I've also tried to make lunch my biggest meal of the day. That's more a functional thing as I've been doing t25 at night, and it sucks to try to do it on a full stomach.

T25 is challenging without being murderous. If you've done the more advanced beachbody stuff like Insanity or p90x, it would probably seem like an easier version of those. The workouts that include a bunch of different pushup and plank varieties are still, in week 4, too taxing on my shoulders for me to do every exercise. But I'm getting better at it. What I've been doing is, when I have a workout that I don't do really well at, later that night I'll hit those muscle groups again in a different way to try to kind of expedite the muscular endurance gains a bit. Seems to be working.

Ended up selling Insanity and buying T25 off eBay with the money. I've just about finished with 3 weeks and its a nice program. I don't weigh myself often, but the last I checked I was approx 5# less but definitely have noticed my clothes are less tight - which is more of my goal, just feeling better & more comfortable. I started about 198# and ideally would like to be back in the 180s. I think if I stick with it I can easily hit that goal. I've also been a little more mindful of my snacking, etc but haven't drastically changed my eating.

As for the actual program, I love that its 25 minutes. Its challenging for sure but it eliminates the excuse I don't have time. I also struggle with the plank stuff and probably do the best in the cardio. I just try to follow the modified person if I burn out. I have noticed I can hang much better now than I did in Week 1. Honestly to me its like a condensed Insanity. I have a kid on the way in the next couple weeks so that may take me away, but I hope to finish the first 30 days and then see how the "Beta" program goes. It seems like it may be a little tougher.

[Sauce Boss]

Saw this got kinda bumped recently so I thought I'd throw in what I'm kind of doing right now.

Long story short, in high school I weighed probably 230lbs at my highest after I stopped playing sports and kind of vegged out. My senior year I walked a lot, didn't really work out, and cut snacking to get myself to 190. Early years of college, I did some P90X mixed with watching what I ate to get to 170. In my last year of college (my fifth year, which I finished in May) I drank more than my previous years and ate a lot of fast food during my victory lap, went back up to about 190.

Last month and half I started a 'nutrition log' (basically just counting calories) to make sure I wasn't over indulging. I cut snacking completely, I only drink soda when it is mixed with alcohol at a bar (which isn't often), and really limited my intake of sodium and sugar (no chocolate or chips). I mainly eat fruit, greek yogurt/fruit based smoothies, lean cuts of meat, cheese, and sometimes wheat bagels. I usually have a cheat day every week where I go out to eat with a friend, but I usually only eat that big meal for the day with sometime minor in the afternoon to keep it within reason. I added doing Ten Minute trainer videos and 10 minute Bodyblade workouts every day for the last two weeks. I'm down to 169 this morning, my lowest weight I can recall since high school.

Thing I'm still trying to work on is how to get my core stronger. My worst section is from my waist to right above my naval. Not sure how to cut the fat there and really get rid of the love handle look. I'm usually strapped for time, I work essentially 9am - 8:30pm everyday, so I haven't been lifting any weights at a gym (most I know that are nearby are usually closed by then) or doing a full routine like P90X. And while P90X is great, and I love it, I've done the 3 month program twice in the past and it is kind of old.

If anyone has any suggestions on good way to push myself, I'm all ears. At 5'10", I'd like to get to 160lbs and stay lean there, but I'd be fine being 180 again with muscle instead of fat. I was reading in the past few comments people were talking about Insanity, so maybe that is something to look into if I crank up to an hour or so routine at night instead of 20min one I am on now. Any little bit would help, as well, its nice to talk to people to about it to help motivate myself and hit goals.

[Jez2983]

This great old thread... good to see again. Have to say I've been aggressively hitting the weights all summer and I'm in peak shape. I still play ball about 2 hours a night with another hour of lifting and an expanded program over the weekends.

Now that we're entering autumn, this is my favorite time to really buckle down and go to the next level. Up your weight!

How's the knee travelling, mate? Obviously you're back playing, which is awesome. Surfing?

I'm just running heaps lately. At least 1x 1/2 mara a week. Lots of quite early mornings coz of the young kids

[AussieBuck]

Going to give intermittent fasting a go. Seems like the best lazy way to get rid of some fat.

[LUKE23]

Saw this got kinda bumped recently so I thought I'd throw in what I'm kind of doing right now.

Long story short, in high school I weighed probably 230lbs at my highest after I stopped playing sports and kind of vegged out. My senior year I walked a lot, didn't really work out, and cut snacking to get myself to 190. Early years of college, I did some P90X mixed with watching what I ate to get to 170. In my last year of college (my fifth year, which I finished in May) I drank more than my previous years and ate a lot of fast food during my victory lap, went back up to about 190.

Last month and half I started a 'nutrition log' (basically just counting calories) to make sure I wasn't over indulging. I cut snacking completely, I only drink soda when it is mixed with alcohol at a bar (which isn't often), and really limited my intake of sodium and sugar (no chocolate or chips). I mainly eat fruit, greek yogurt/fruit based smoothies, lean cuts of meat, cheese, and sometimes wheat bagels. I usually have a cheat day every week where I go out to eat with a friend, but I usually only eat that big meal for the day with sometime minor in the afternoon to keep it within reason. I added doing Ten Minute trainer videos and 10 minute Bodyblade workouts every day for the last two weeks. I'm down to 169 this morning, my lowest weight I can recall since high school.

Thing I'm still trying to work on is how to get my core stronger. My worst section is from my waist to right above my naval. Not sure how to cut the fat there and really get rid of the love handle look. I'm usually strapped for time, I work essentially 9am - 8:30pm everyday, so I haven't been lifting any weights at a gym (most I know that are nearby are usually closed by then) or doing a full routine like P90X. And while P90X is great, and I love it, I've done the 3 month program twice in the past and it is kind of old.

If anyone has any suggestions on good way to push myself, I'm all ears. At 5'10", I'd like to get to 160lbs and stay lean there, but I'd be fine being 180 again with muscle instead of fat. I was reading in the past few comments people were talking about Insanity, so maybe that is something to look into if I crank up to an hour or so routine at night instead of 20min one I am on now. Any little bit would help, as well, its nice to talk to people to about it to help motivate myself and hit goals.

You probably already know what it is since you have done P90, but Ab Ripper X is amazing for core. Right now I a mixing in two days of lifting a week with three days of that. I've been doing Ab Ripper X consistently for probably three years now. It keeps your core tight, assuming you eat reasonably well.

[Thunder Muscle]

T25 is a mix, but Shaun T does really stress the "core". Insanity is similar from what I remember. I can tell my ab area is stronger than it was 3 weeks ago. If I committed to a nutrition plan, I probably would see even more results. I still like to have a few beers on weekends and haven't changed what I eat other than portions. But if you're looking strictly for the core, something like that Ab Ripper X seems more up your alley.

[emunney]

Should be mentioned though that exercising a particular area isn't going to make the fat on that area go away any more than burning the same calories exercising another area would.

[Nebula1]

This great old thread... good to see again. Have to say I've been aggressively hitting the weights all summer and I'm in peak shape. I still play ball about 2 hours a night with another hour of lifting and an expanded program over the weekends.

Now that we're entering autumn, this is my favorite time to really buckle down and go to the next level. Up your weight!

How's the knee travelling, mate? Obviously you're back playing, which is awesome. Surfing?

I'm just running heaps lately. At least 1x 1/2 mara a week. Lots of quite early mornings coz of the young kids

Appreciate you asking... I'm officially 10 months removed from surgery and probably 90% at this point. Occassionally I'll get some soreness and I still lack some jumping explosion but I feel pretty great. Good news is my jumper has improved quite a bit since I worked on it so much early in the rehab process.

Surfing will have to wait until next summer since I couldn't handle swimming the waves safely... in due time.

However, I've gotten really aggressive in the weight room and with my diet and both have made me a better basketball player. My range has increased, my form is better and my endurance is back. All in all, the injury has actually made me a more-rounded and stronger athlete.

Are you running outside or treadmill? I've been doing a quick mile or two on the treadmill before lifting to get my heartrate up and get a nice sweat. Are you lifting too?

[Sauce Boss]

Should be mentioned though that exercising a particular area isn't going to make the fat on that area go away any more than burning the same calories exercising another area would.

Pretty much my understanding from working out prior, that said since I'm not really lifting I'm trying to figure out the best way to do that. I figure that regular cardio would be a good start and then move to like some sort of circuit training or a dedicated program. I'll look into trying to do ab ripper x again though during my week, I know I struggled with it in the past so staying dedicated to it for an extended period of time should help too.