New Year - New Body

Seems a lot of people are talking about losing weight, becoming more healthy, working out, etc. Oh wait that's right it's the beginning of the year. Resolution time. This is when so many lock down one of the 2 fundamentals to change their bodies - desire. The other fundamental is more tricky and usually is the reason why many of the "resolution" folk don't hit their goals. That fundamental is belief.

Often people sabotage themselves because they don't believe they can hit their goal and for one reason or another jump on the excuse train to quitsville. "I can't possibly do this or do that so I'll cut a corner here, a corner there" and then "I'm getting no results, I'll never have those massive guns or that six pack - oh look soda, oh look ice cream...oh look soda with ice cream in it!". That's about the gist of the process. Part of the problem is misinformation. We are just not educated enough to understand how the processes in our bodies work and that affects our belief in the end result. If we lose the belief that we can enact change in our bodies we will eventually lose the desire.

A good example of this is the thought that you can spot target fat loss. "Oh look at my belly, I know! I will do 1000 crunches and my abs will magic their way from under the layers of fat!". Turns out that doesn't work and all you gained is a strained neck and an injured back. Reason being, it's true what they say , abs are in fact made in the kitchen. I am a firm believer in the 80/20 rule (80%  nutrition, 20% exercise). If you eat properly (that's great tasting healthy food - it's not a myth people!) you will shed fat over your entire body.

Can't tell me this doesn't taste fantastic!

 Your last fat stores to go tend to be the exact problem area you are looking to "target", like your belly bulge. No amount of crunches are going to make that pouch budge until your other stores are depleted. And on top of that crunches are terrible for you! stop right now! Do some functional core centric routines (abdominals does not equal core btw) and you'll have much better results and avoid imbalances since you are not helping your lateral obliques or your back which can lead to injury due to imbalance, and oh wait no working out due to said injury, and eating since you are sad you cannot work out...but i digress. There is a reason that your body stored all that fat there to begin with. We cannot control which area our body burns fat from at a given time, but we can continually burn it until all that's left is that final problem area and that too will disappear.

Maybe our resolutions should be adjusted to avoid misinformation and using our brains to understand how exactly our systems work so at the end of the day, we can still believe in our end result. That way we can avoid the eventual pitfalls including losing the excitement you had on January 1st that this is your year to rule the pool! Also, maybe we can change that to the year we become more healthy so we can live better quality lives for longer than we would have otherwise, but hey if "rule the pool" gets the same results - there's your motivation. Keep the belief!

Check out the fat I didn't spot reduce - also 0 crunches. Zero!

"There's no way you can get in shape working full time raising an infant and using DVD programs" - Cool story bro

Back from the Dead

Retail holiday season is over! Now to get back to posting here, playing video games, working out, and watching movies...Well I haven't really stopped any of those activities except posting. Here's a quick update!

Life: Linkin (my awesome son) turns 1 in a few days!
Games: Skyrim all day erry day...well some days a week at least
Fitness: P90X2 in full swing - Strength phase!
Movies: Warrior - Blue Ray, We Bought a Zoo - Theater
Work: Gearing up for launch events and new partnerships this year! Mass Effect 3 is gonna be HUGE!
Food: Still killing healthy foods that taste awesome (they exist!)
Reading: Feast for Crows (still)...need to also get back on fitness nerd and steve edward's blogs

So here's to posting again! With that here are some pics from forthcoming blogs!...and also a 2010 year-in-review of sorts!

Linkin is born!

Meeting my personal trainer himself!

Tough Mudder PA 2011

ME3 Assualt Rifle (Project Triforce)

World's Toughest Mudder Beer!

The big guy's first haircut

1st Charity Event!

One of many Midnight Launches - Batman!

Mass Effect Crew post Comiccon

New Years!

A GQ Thanksgiving

Asylum 30 days done!

The Outlaw!

Pre 30STM Unplugged taping!

First Flag!

Wow Vegas Past and Vegas Present

At 30STM Unplugged Taping!

Bamboozle!

Father son time

1st Xmas Tree!

PeeWee90X

Too Skinny!

Renfaire!

Doomed! - 1st Comic Con

Halloween! they corked me!

The Answer!

Good Eatin

3 Time mudder! (4 now)

I won the WTM!...sorta

White Hawk!

Mars 300!

Tough Mudder Tristate!

Nerd Trees!

P - A - P

Don't worry this post has nothing to do with any kind of smears. What I am talking about is P.A.P. or Post-Activation Potentiation. PAP is being implemented to improve overall performance for professional athletes. Why would this matter to the average joe? Because PAP is actually going to be invading our homes by means of P90X2!!! (at least the 3rd phase).

Let me take a step back. The main idea of PAP is that heavy loads on muscles stimulates the nervous system in a way that results in improved neuromuscular efficiency which allows your muscles to contract faster and with more force. This translates to more strength and power.  The gains of PAP however are dependent on your level of fitness. The more fit you are the more effective PAP training is due to higher fatigue thresholds and better conditioning. Which is also why it helps endurance athletes who have amazing conditioning. Why is this exciting? Because P90X2 is using PAP which means they are more aggressively addressing the needs of individuals who are already fit and, because of this incorporation, also means P90X2 is designed to get you to a level where PAP would be effective. 

I have the good fortune to be a subscriber to P90X  One on One Volume 3 (essentially a set of 12 dvds that are the workshop for P90X2 - since I have them all I get a 50% discount off the upcoming P90X2!) and one of the discs is an actual PAP workout. It was very clear from the beginning that this was a much different workout than any they have ever put out. More so after completing the workout and finding that I was completely and utterly soaked as if I did an Asylum level cardio routine only without the fast paced cardio. Drenched.

The workout is divided into 3 complexes. This complex training combines resistance exercises with plyometrics which results in higher PAP responses. The first is a warmup complex which is an appetizer to the main course. You build a light sweat and get all your muscles ready for the brutality to come. This is followed by a lower body complex and an upper body complex with little break in between.

The complexes themselves are 4 rounds of multiple movements with no resting. The first movement is a strength movement followed by a power movement and finished with a stability movement. I found that the first round was kind of a calibration round to allow your body to get used to the movements, the 2nd round was actually easier, the 3rd a littler harder, and the 4th round was the grand finale in every sense. These 3 complexes (warmup, lower, upper) were a bear. It's no wonder I was sweating so much as every muscle in my body was pushed to max effort.

I can't wait to get P90X2 and reach the 3rd phase which will be the main PAP phase so I can torture myself with more complexes. It seems that P90X2 will be about improving physical performance and in doing so will transform your body into a machine. What am i gonna do with P90X2 PAP? Simple, I'm gonna use to to perform excellent flagpoles (I still need some shoulder/core strength to straighten it out) and maybe finally pull off a muscle up! lol lofty goals, I know.

ALLLMOOOSSTTT!!!

When the world went Plank

The plank has been one of the most efficient positions from which to train your core. Now in  2011, Australians have devised a real world application for the beloved plank. Well perhaps not originally devised but certainly brought to the mainstream internet the art of "Planking". Do not be fooled "Planking" may seem a bit silly but it is in fact an efficient a way to burn calories and can be  performed anywhere.

Planking involves the use of your core and your imagination. I am sure some calories are burned when straining your imagination. All those synapses firing and sending all kinds of signals must burn at least 1 calorie. If not, the activity itself does require some kind of physical movement to get into and stay in position. Don't worry about your fitness level, planking is for everyone, including infants.

You will also burn extra calories when you record and relive the event causing great laughter which contracts your abdominal muscles. Though we all know frowning involves more muscles and probably burns more calories, smiling will still give you a benefit; and whats more, I hear it is quite contagious. You will not only be helping yourself but others around you as well. So go forth and join this new fitness revolution. Go forth and challenge yourselves to master this new art and improve your fitness!...and be sure to share so everyone else can laugh will become inspired from witnessing your amazing triumphs!

Here now also - a quick tip to getting some color without harsh rays from the sun or chemical coloring! Once again using the imagination and fusing parkour skills with the enthusiasm of  a 5 year old; I give you, "the reverse corkscrew swan dive"! You may have to perform this movement a number of times to get the desired color. Enjoy! 

sorry tanning salons we have a new solution