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.
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!
Recently a friend of mine decided he was going to do a cleanse to prime himself for his latest fitness program "Insanity: The Asylum" (read my Asylum journey here). I have written about him before in the Body Experiment series of blogs under the alias "Noob" (Body Experiments I, Body Experiments II, Body Experiments III). Since he has transformed his body he is now comfortable dropping his alias and "unmasking" and will be addressed by his real name, Gursh. Funny how the need for anonymity is in direct correlation to his waist size and body fat percentage.
Also Day 1 of P90X as he started right on the heals of Insanity
Gursh has just completed one round of P90X and to prepare himself for the Asylum performed a 3 day cleanse. Three days seems to be a bit short for a cleansing program but his cleanse was not designed for weight loss. Gursh performed a Shakeology cleanse. The main focus of this type of cleanse is to maximize the amount of nutrients you take in with minimal calories. It is all about priming your body to accept nutrients more efficiently and reach a level of homeostasis to maximize results of an upcoming workout/nutrition program. Nutritional efficiency is the name of the game.
Despite the fact that this type of cleanse is not truly designed to lose weight or inches, Gursh did see a drop in both. In the three days he lost a total of 7lbs and about 1.5 inches around his waist as a bonus (currently 166lbs down from 191lbs in Jan, waist from 40" now at 32", body fat from 27% to about 10%). Gursh will continue to have a Shakeology shake daily as it is super nutrient dense and will help with maintaining and improving on his current results. When you focus on becoming healthy and improving physical performance rather than just "losing weight" or getting a six pack the results are life augmenting - and you end up losing weight and getting that six pack anyway lol.
By the way Gursh is not the only one to "unmask" from prior blogs. Say hello to Mitch aka "Sub Zero" and his results from his journey with P90X...and if you haven't guessed these two are both official Super Mudders!
A week after the last Tough Mudder I was still recovering from a knee injury and broken toe. A sane person would have rested and healed up but I just got Asylum in! Asylum is the bigger meaner brother of Insanity. I chose to go by the namesake, be a little crazy, and commit myself into the Asylum asap. April 17th I threw myself into the grinder.
The first thing I had to do was the brand new Athletic Assessment aka Fit Test. How bad could it be; I completed 2 rounds of Insanity, a round of P90X, a round of P90X Plus, and was currently doing a hybrid with all of the above including volume 3 of P90X one on one (workshop for the brand new P90X coming out fall 2011) right before the Mudder. That Fit Test was a huge wake up call. I actually found it tougher than some full workouts. In fact I nearly killed myself on the last test. Those 30sec-1min breaks in between exercises are a tease.
It's ok though because no matter how tough Asylum was it was a mere 30 days. Piece of cake. Wrong again. I expected Asylum to be tough but I didn't expect it to take me to the places it took me. The program introduces some new tools of destruction to the mix that really changed the game.
The first workout after the Fit Test was called "Speed and Agility" and made use of one of Asylums new tools; the agility ladder. The ladder was great because it really helped with positioning and proper form. It was a great physical guide to foot and hand placement when performing movements like squat jumps from the floor, switch lunges, and full "long jumps". Also warm-ups are now jump rope drills which is why a speed rope was included with the package.
Another new tool introduced in Asylum are power bands; essentially giant rubber bands you put on your ankles and/or grip with you hands. I used to have a ton of trouble with power jumps but eventually I got to the point where I could bang out 40-50 in a minute with no problem (used to have trouble with 20-30 lol) and some more if I really pushed. These bands slapped me back into reality and showed me that power jumps could still be brutal.
In the Asylum workout "Vertical Plyo", the bands were used on your ankles to provide resistance as you attempted to jump from a squat position and tap knees to hands aka power jumps. The resistance by those bands as you tried to perform the movements was pretty ridiculous. Even your upper body got some special treatment as you would do things like "X jumps", where you would touch your toes then jump up with arms and legs wide forming an "X", while bands were on your ankles and death gripped in your hands. "Vertical Plyo" was a test in pure power with the intensity and pace that should be illegal while using the bands. Too bad my band for your hands/wrists broke mid program.
Unlike Insanity, Asylum also included a resistance program aptly called "Strength". This workout included the use of dumbbells and the good old pullup bar. Unlike normal resistance workouts this one was paced aggressively and you end up sweating like you were doing a cardio routine. This workout actually was kind of like a cross-fit workout. The moves were all compound moves that required a lot of strength and it was all done in quick succession.
Probably my favorite of the new workouts is "Back to Core". "Back to Core" focused on, you guessed it, your back and your core. It isn't often that there are programs that specifically work the back band of your core in such a fine tuning manner. Most people think of your core as just your abdominals anyway, let alone work the rear kinetic chain. "Back to Core" is such a great tool to enhance your overall performance by focusing on parts of your body that you would normally neglect and often times is the reason we get injured.
At the end of about every week or so you build up to a workout called "Game Day". In "Game Day" you get to take your newly improved body "out for a spin". It is almost like a much longer Fit Test. "Game Day" includes movements from numerous sports and engages all your systems. To top it off at the end you get to do a bonus 10 minutes of hell called "Overtime". I had a friend who had completed Insanity try "Overtime" fresh and was getting killed. Now imagine a set of brutal movements like that stacked right after "Game Day". I used to do a P90X workout followed immediately by an Insanity workout back to back and even that was not as tough as "Game Day" plus "Overtime".
All in all Asylum was a ridiculously brutal and efficient program. You will burn fat, lean out, tone up, and improve performance overall. The gains in 30 days of Asylum have been better than gains I have seen in 60 or even 90 day programs. I am so glad I completed the other programs before Asylum; I don't know if I would have made it through Asylum had I not done so (at least not effectively). Can't wait to test the results of a few more rounds of Asylum at the next Tough Mudder! And now some more embarrassing "before and after" photos - this time comparing my oh so amazing pictures from before I started working out last April to current (May 2011)!
Friday the 13th (one week ago from yesterday) for some is a very ominous day full of dread and bad luck. For the other less paranoid folk it is just another day. As for me, my wife, my brother, and a "friend of a friend", Friday the 13th defined "Provehito in altum". If you understood that, most likely you are Echelon. Put simply - we attended the taping for MTV Unplugged featuring 30 Seconds to Mars in good ol Harlem!
Echelon Family
Now you know the "who", "what", "where" and "when". As for the "how"; we were not "caller 100" the "one thousandth customer!" nor did we find a golden ticket wrapped around a candy bar. We simply replied to a call out to the fans on facebook and sent in our mugshots. Jokes on casting as we actually participated in the performance and my singing voice is the kill. oh and not to forget the "why". "Why" is because we were the kings and queens of the selection. Also, we got to paint our faces with "war paint" as per email request and any chance to act a fool - we'll take it!
The email also requested we print out attached lyrics and learn them so the whole ride into Harlem we were reading and singing the songs in the car. We were determined, like soldiers on a search and destroy mission to get the songs down pat. It was pretty interesting at stop lights when people would look into our car at 4 face painted strangers in a strange land singing songs while reading off of lyric sheets. Only thing weirder is if we had ourselves an L490 singing bowl in the car.
Garage rehearsal
Upon arrival we caught Tomo on a little escape outside for some fresh air. We checked in and got our cool MTV bands and were led down into the bowels of the building right into the garage. I wondered if the MTV people thought "ok these guys look crazy - let's lead them out the back way and hope they don't come around to try and get in again". Fortunately we were in the right place as there was a group of other crazies (echelon) in the garage "rehearsing". By "rehearsing" I mean everyone was grouped around a radio playing the songs and queued when to sing certain parts by the sophisticated method of someone holding up a piece of oak tag with lyrics written in sharpie. Not gonna lie it was kinda cool especially since Tomo stopped in a bit for some guidance on what exactly to do and expect at the taping to come.
Tomo from Earth
After the garage session and the vox populi was prepped, we were lead up to a staging area aka mini cafeteria aka the sweat lodge. It felt like 100 suns. We did a little bit of "rehearsing" in there as well while everyone took bathroom breaks in groups grade school style. Not too many people cared to go until it was announced that once taping began there would be no breaks and immediately there was a surge and "this is war" was written on everyone's face as they fought to get to the front of the pack.
When we were finally lead up to the studio there was one final rite of passage. This is the part when the casting director points at people and the final set pieces to the stage are put in place - Us! This is also the part when everyone was separated to give the proper crowd balance. It was a beautiful lie. I was too cool so I got to go in first...well 3rd but I still got to sit right up front...on the floor...by a candle stand that probably hid me from view from any cameras. The important thing though was I was up front lol. The set was tiny so everyone was pretty close (closer than you would be than front row of a regular concert), but being up front, I was closer to the edge.
I was sitting right next to that candle stand!
In fact I was so close I could touch Tomo's pedals and he had the distinct pleasure of enduring the hurricane that was my singing voice the entire evening. I actually reached toward him to demonstrate to my brother, who was a bit behind me, how close I was only to have Michael Clarke Duncan aka security guard menacingly shout "Don't touch him!" from behind the set. I had no alibi and just laughed.
Groupies
Aww yea I got the pick!
The performance itself was pure awesome. The energy was crazy - everyone was ready to attack. We've seen them live before and heard these songs but the acoustic versions they performed were amazing. Jared was a little sick and we thought that maybe he would sound a little off - wrong. It was the best we've heard the band. It was such an experience to literally perform with 30 Seconds to Mars and have the band react and guide us through the songs and enjoy some idle back and forth chatter between sets. They also messed around with other songs like The Cure's "pictures of you" to Eminem's/Rihanna's "love the way you lie", and even some "message in a bottle" by the Police!
The end was a real treat as the band brought out a choir to finish with U2's "Where the streets have no name". Joshua Tree was one of my all time favorite albums and I remember writing about it for a project in the 3rd or 4th grade. The cover of "where the streets have no name" definitely resonated with me and brought me back (as if I am an old man now). The whole performance was epic and it was a trip to really be a part of the show rather than just sit and watch. That night WE were part of the band. It was a night of sublime adrenaline - A night of the hunter.
One year ago the Green Ranger ninja'd his way through 5 miles of mountain and obstacles with Batgirl at his side. Six months later Deadpool laughed his way through 12 miles of bitter November in the garden state. Two weeks ago Iron Man revisited the Green Ranger's 5 miles of conquered mountain and found it had taken steroids to become a beast unlike any other. No, this is not a tale out of a comic book but rather a tale of blood, sweat, and beer. What I am writing about is in fact the good ol Tough Mudder. For those of you who don't know what a Tough Mudder is, I have written about the Tough Mudder in a previous post.
On April 9th 2011, I participated in my 3rd Tough Mudder event with the team (aka "Super Mudders") at Bear Creek Resort in Pennsylvania. This was the same location as the very first Tough Mudder which we completed so we assumed we knew what to expect. We were in far better shape and survived the 12 frigid miles of Tough Mudder Tristate and were prepared to utterly crush this Bear Creek course for a 2nd time on a nice warm April Saturday. I mean, after Tough Mudder Tristate how hard could this be, especially minus the cold factor that forced many in New Jersey to be taken out of the event. Little did we know that this would be a grueling test of guts and glory; pain and more pain.
Our first surprise was provided by good old mother nature who dumped a fresh layer of snow on the mountain just a week before the event and soaked us with rain the day before. The mountain would greet us in the downcast morning with ice and slush all over it's treacherous slopes. So much for warm April frolicking.
Late. That is how we began. Our start time was 10:20 and after getting our bibs and getting numbered we found ourselves making the climb to the start line at 10:10. We took a quick snapshot and literally as I set foot at the back of our wave the gun blew and smoke bombs were set off. This was actually a good thing as I could not even stand on the slope with my Vibrams (I learned very quickly they had no grip on snow and I was immediately skiing) . Last Tough Mudder I made the mistake of wearing brand new shoes that were not broken in and ran without the insoles as I forgot to bring my custom insoles. Plenty of mud got in them and my feet were constantly sliding around lumps of mud in my shoes. This Tough Mudder I made the mistake of wearing Vibrams on a course with plenty of icy/snowy slopes and plenty of rocks. Pure genius.
We began so fast that we did not even realize three of our numbers were not at the start line yet and ended up starting at 10:40 (2nd team) and another five even later starting at 11:40!! (3rd team). I found out later that my brother (Superman) saw 2nd team still coming up the hill but it was too late as we were already underway before he realized we were not all together.
I (Iron Man) was in the lead pack with Green Lantern and Wolverine. We lived up to our goal of running straight to the top nonstop. The pace was set and we had smiles on our faces as we raced toward the Greased Lightning (a massive slip & slide into a frozen pool). Coming out of that first pool staring up at a black diamond hill complete with snow I realized I was wearing a 15lb weight vest by way of a soaked cotton Iron Man hoodie (I weighed it wet the next day). At the top of the hill the rest of the group were nowhere to be seen - we pressed on.
Green Lantern faced his redemption moment at the Berlin Walls as he was unable to overcome them at Tristate. Victory!. That is all we knew for the first half of the course. After a pretty awesome run through the woods over toppled logs/trees in our path and paths of rocks we arrived at a surprise obstacle called Blood Bath. I thought we were at a water station but found that everyone was being given a habanero pepper to eat! I bit into it and my mouth exploded and immediately I jumped into a freezing bath of red dyed pepper water. The burning in my mouth was quickly replaced by the taste of mud and rubber as I involuntarily gulped some of the water.
Meanwhile behind us was Superman and my father (Flash). My brother had the amazing luck of beginning to cramp on the 3rd mile much like my wife (Batgirl) during the first Tough Mudder who cramped up during the 1st 7 minutes! She pushed through and gutted out the rest of that original 5 mile course. She missed Tristate and this past mudder due to pregnancy but she has already signed up for 2011 Tristate at the end of the year! Superman on the other hand had to gut it out through 12 miles rather than 5. In the process he reached a redemption moment of his own. During Tristate he did not make it at the Walk The Plank obstacle. This time however he plunged into the freezing cold water and swam his way to shore with no problem. Victory!
Soon after the Plank which I once again survived (I really must learn how to swim before the next Tough Mudder), Green Lantern began to cramp up. He told us to keep moving and he would catch up as we may cramp up from the cold as well if we did not keep moving. Green Lantern was right and I fought off calf cramps as Wolverine fought off quad cramps during what seemed like an endless run up and down and up and down rock paths in the woods. As we ran I felt my calves seizing and beginning to cramp as I pressed on. Luckily I did not cramp up but I did have the fortune of breaking my toe during the 5th or 6th mile in the woods - Vibrams and rocks are not friends. Thank you for whoever turned the "6" mile mark upside down into a "9". As I said the run was endless and Superman was excited to see "9" as he was cramping from the beginning and the course was advertised as 10 miles (total lies! it was 12!). I wish I saw his face when he ran past the mile "7" marker.
Green Lantern, Wolverine, and I were still pretty much cruising along trading comments of "man we are tearing up this course" and "I wonder if they will catch up to us - Let's not let them lol". We agreed before the event that we would try to do this one to our max and we would not wait for each other. The Tough Mudder is an event where you are never alone anyway and part of the pledge is to "help your fellow mudders complete the course". There is always someone saying "good job" or "keep going". In the case of Green Lantern, there were even mudders who gave him some gels and a massage for his cramps.
My turning point was near the top of the mountain. Somehow my wife made her way up to the Funky Monkey (greased monkey bars over yet another freezing cold pool) to take pictures. I was amazed she came that far up the mountain to get shots. Our paparazzi are the best - if only we did not have to keep replacing them as they end up becoming participants. The bars were pretty easy until a few rungs away from the end. Seems I forgot to take off my wedding band and it decided to take a dip into the waters below!
My wife did not know why I stopped and was just hanging there. She was even more confused when I fell in the water a couple feet from the end of the monkey bars. When I showed here my hand she knew what happened. That was not a loving face. The water seemed the coldest of the course and I was feeling on the bottom fully submerged up to the side of my face. I pictured images of Smeagol's hand reaching in the water and grasping the one ring. My wife urged me to keep going and she would jump in to find it. She must have thought I was a fool. I knew I would not leave that pool alive without my band.
I was searching while turning away fellow mudders offering me aid out of the pool. "No no I don't need help out, I need to find my wedding band" - they all looked at me like I was a dead man and continued on. I heard a small voice say "I saw it drop over there" as a child pointed at a spot behind me. I immediately headed to the spot and soon after...Victory! The crowd clapped as I yelled "NO COUCH FOR ME!". I didn't realize what else that search in freezing water cost me until a few minutes later sliding down yet another snowy slope.
At the bottom my leg completely seized and I could not move my leg at all. Green Lantern and Wolverine ran back for me and had to forcibly stretch the cramp out. It hurt but felt great. I felt like Batman at the Tough Mudder Tristate. From this point forward I could not go more than 100 yards without my leg seizing and I would need to have the cramp stretched out (thank you Green Lantern). Wolverine had to keep going or he would have suffered the same fate. It was fine we were at mile 8-9 and there wouldn't be much more. That's when a staffer told us that the course was longer than advertised and we had a few more miles to go after that.
We found out that the last 2 miles had the hardest of all the obstacles - probably because I was cramping so bad. I should have rested for more than a minute at a time but that minute seemed so long and I wanted to keep moving. The final 1.5 miles took us over 1 hour to complete. It was like a battlefield. There were people everywhere cramping up, laid out, and being driven down the mountain due to injury. The masses were muddied and marching up and down the mountain from obstacle to obstacle which included yet another brand new obstacle. We had to climb up a 15 foot wall by means of using human ladders and having another mudder pull us up from the top. Everyone took a turn leaning on the wall and letting someone climb on top of their thighs then shoulders. It hurt.
We also had to carry a log up a slope, climb a series of nets, and across another net during a new obstacle called the Turd's Nest. This was the only real obstacle other than the Plank where we had to wait - I would guess it was about a 10 minute delay due to bottle-necking. Tough Mudder has made huge strides in decreasing these bottle-necking moments. Right before the end of the course we had to climb one more time over bails of hay. This time I had the pleasure of cramping up 4 times in about 4 minutes. Each time I jumped up to climb a level of the hay bails my leg seized. After that it was one Electroshock Therapy obstacle before free beer and glory! At Tristate I made it through these wires without getting tagged. This time however the series of wires we had to run through was longer and there were more wires altogether. I was dropped unceremoniously and pretty much face planted due to a shock to the shoulder. It happened so fast I didn't realize why I fell until I was actually getting up.
I crossed the finish with Green Lantern. Wolverine was about 20 minutes ahead of us and the rest of the pack was still to follow. I ran into 2nd team and found out that somewhere in the woods run after the plank 2nd team had a member pulled out of the event due to a severe knee injury sustained during the Berlin Walls at the 1st mile. It just became aggravated and by this point it was time to call it.
Punisher, Superman 2, and Flash 2 were next. The cramp master himself (Superman) along with Flash came after that. We did not run into 3rd team until much later when we found out they arrived at the venue late. I was actually trying to go faster thinking they were ahead of us because we didn't see them at the start. 3rd team consisted of 2 more Supermen (we need to try and coordinate these costumes better), Wonderwoman, Batgirl, and Harry Potter. 3rd team crushed the first half of the course and were trying to catch up to no avail. They did catch sight of 2nd team at the plank but did not see them again due to the early stoppage.
All in all this 2nd time out in Bear Creek was a tremendous difference from the first Tough Mudder held there. The course was much longer, the obstacles were much harder, and there were much more of them! Hats off to the team at Tough Mudder. It is crazy to think we are getting in better and better shape but each mudder just gets harder. I hope this trend continues and we'll have a grand old time at Tristate later this year. Look out for the heroes folks! The Super Mudders will make an appearance once again at Tristate! Maybe we'll have a run injury free for once, but there's no fun in that.
