Getting into shape

[cardsfantx]

Yeah, sorry. It was a joke I'd usually make myself; I've just been touchy this last week (and year) as people in general haven't taken me seriously when I talk about changing from a barfly to a fitness/diet addict. For good reason, no one really remembers Mac when his life didn't generally revolve around the consumption or sale of alcohol.

High five! Go cards! I royally failed my arm routine today. Just uselessly sore. Methinks I'll have to add off days in this first period here, even though it's supposed to be a daily thing.

no prob, been there....so since you're just starting the p90x, how good of shape do you think the person needs to be to actually begin it?

[Maclowery]

It has a fitness test you do to make sure you're noy going to hurt yourself. Basically, if you can do a few pullups, 25 situps, and a leg endurance, you're probably okay.

My biggest limitation is shortness of breath; I get exhausted before I really push my muscles into max effort. So I think the cardio/plyometrics will quickly force me into better endurance. The 2nd day I only made it through about 20 minutes of the hour of lunges/jumps before I had to give up. Got a long ways to go till my body circulates its oxygen better.

Ya, luke, bars everywhere are missing my insightful babbling, drunken dancing, and failed pickup lines. But I'm getting really efficient at wrap production.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

The problem I had with p90x was you had to do it daily and that takes way more planning than I cared to do. I'd much rather go to the gym 4 times a week and lift then run. And take the weekends off. P90x definitely works a few muscles that you won't get at the gym.

[clevername]

I love p90x, but always end up stopping it for that reason. I can get a good run together for a while, but inevitably the 1 hour a day thing catches up to me with a bad week of other commitments, then I never end up restarting it because I feel like I've gotten out of rhythm with it too much and by the time I catch back up it's changed schedules or ended. I have the same problem with Insanity (in addition to it really being freaking insane and burning me out quickly).

I still do ab ripper x 3 days a week and incorporate some of the plyo into my cardio, but I've fallen back to just straight lifting for now and am actually pretty happy with it.

I'm going to try to tackle Insanity again around July during the relative dead period for work.

[JCShutout]

I thought I had responded to this thread awhile ago. Weird. I wanted to check in and [expletive] because I tweaked my knee yesterday at Taekwondo and probably can't workout for the rest of the week (was planning on today, tomorrow and Sat). [expletive] that.

Jim's description is similar to my preferred workout. Jump rope/shadow sparring for 3-6 minutes, then punches and kicks to a bag while moving around the bag. Then some stretching for my hamstrings. Then class starts.

Years ago I went from 330 to 250lbs, before slowing getting back up to about 275 or so. Since February or so I've been trying to track calories and I've been in TDK class 2-5x/week since then (2x/week before Feb). I haven't weighed myself since the start, but I look and feel smaller, and my stamina is double or triple what it was 6 months ago. The goal is to be 225lbs by the end of January.

[Donnie Ebert]

Speaking of getting into shape, marathon training for the Go! St. Louis marathon starts today.

[phins]

It's amazing how much better I feel when I keep up my workout routine rather than getting comfy during the cold months.

I need to cut back on the soda and get my core in better shape and run more. I'm just not the same anymore athletically and I hate it. Can't run as fast, jump as high, or bounce back as quickly.

[jim]

Donnie - that's incredible that you are doing a marathon. I could never do it, and honestly I wouldn't want to. I like variety in my workouts - a couple of days of weight lifting, a couple of boxing days, a couple of long runs, a couple of sprint days (this morning was sets of 30 stairs down at the local college football stadium) ... a game of basketball, a bike ride.. I also feel that this is healthier, and in fact anyone planning on doing a marathon are almost certainly not doing something healthy. That just tears your body up big time. It's like saying football is good for you ... yeah there are elements of it (cardio, strength), but overall it just beats the [expletive] out of you.

[Freed Roger]

Been tempted to race a road marathon, but have stayed away from it so far-inevitability of injuries. I've run enough to know I could do it, but not at a pace I would be happy with.

I'm finding us old goats need to cross train, as jim describes -though it sounds like he mixes it up much better than I.
If going full tilt (which is rare -but about to start up again) will run 4 times per week(weekend on trails, 1 track- speedwork, throwaway run in the hood, fartlek run). I put a couple days in the gym (circuit train, with elliptical or climber at the end) but do not look forward to heading indoors with a bunch of weirdos. I just do it to minimize injury, and enhance the running.

The trail running is the best, probably the only reason I do the other stuff. I haven't gone all-in , but am probably close to becoming legitimate cult member, considering I've injured myself enough out there, and I find nearby trail runs to do whenever I'm traveling -like this weekend in CA.

jim, is your son still doing the xc?

[Numbers]

I was on my way to a January 10k, stretching from 3 miles to 4 this week. The last two days though, after 1 mile my left shin gets really tight and left foot goes numb. Looks like I'm out for a while, it's no fun trying to drag what feels like a dead stump a few more mile.