Personal workout regimen?

[Maawdawg]

Are you a gym rat or a workout freak? What do you do to keep fit and healthy?

I was into every sport possible for years but had to drop some of them due to injuries and for a long while was out of commission due to some heavy shoulder problems.

I was never a fan of going to the gym and hitting the machines or weights. I just don't like the feel of gyms normally, but I used them a bunch when I was competing in sports. I much prefer to work out alone and push myself.

Right now I am doing the P90X program. I had started a few months ago but fractured my big toe so I had to stop for a while. I have just started a full 90 day cycle again. I have to say, I normally laugh at workout videos and their general corniness but this system is awesome. It comes with 12 videos, a schedule of when to use them, and a full nutrition program. I am not using the nutrition program as regimented as they have it laid out. I am just trying to make good food choices on a daily basis.

The workouts are very intense. As intense as any training I ever went through in any of the sports I played, much more so in many cases. I used to laugh about yoga being easy and I will never do that again. I am not very flexible at all so it is challenging and way more physically demanding than I thought it was going to be. I thought I was in decent shape still but boy was I wrong, these workouts kick my butt. Make no mistake it is a HARD program.

All in all I highly recommend it if you are looking to get in better shape. You don't need a lot of stuff to use the program. If you have some decent free-weights or a set of resistance bands, a bar to do pull ups on, and a yoga mat you are all set. I use push-up stands as well. You can get everything you need at Walmart in one trip and be ready to go once your videos arrive. For under $200, including the whole video program, you literally will never have to pay to go to the gym again.

http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/p90x.do?code=P90XDOTCOM

Also, if you are looking for more info there are infomercials on it on TV all the time. Watch one of those, it will give you a really good idea about the program and a mess of info on it. There are also tons of testimonial vids on youutube if you search for P90X.

[Guirec730]

I work at a gym, so I pay for nada.

I try to lift upper body thrice a week and a lower body lift once a week.

I get my cardio from Kung Fu, but I don't have a lot of time for it these days, nor do I have time for spinning, which I got into last year.

I feel crappy, but I know what I need to do to remedy it.

[Batou079]

I don't get off work early enough for my gym's spinning sessions... :(
But i go about 4-5 times a week to the gym.

I do about 45 min of cardio and 45-60 min of free weight/machines.
Every other day i focus on core muscles.
Every day in between i do everything else, legs, arms, shoulders.

i always thought about trying that P90x, but timewise i can barely put in 1 hr at the gym lately.. ARGH. Guess i gotta cut back on my gaming... rofl.

[Maawdawg]

P90X runs between an hour to an hour and a half a day, depending on the video. Right now I am in this cycle for 3 weeks.

Day 1 - Chest & Back / Abs (2 videos) - 75 minutes total
Day 2 - Plyometrics (jump training) - 65 min
Day 3 - Shoulders & Arms / Abs - 80 min
Day 4 - Yoga (super hard) - 95 min
Day 5 - Legs & Back / Abs - 80 min
Day 6 - Kenpo Kickboxing - 65 min
Day 7 - Stretch video - 60 min (or rest day)

You do one cycle for 3 weeks then the 4th week is a recovery week with all cardio/low impact. Then you get a new cycle of videos from the 12 for three weeks, then a different recovery week. Then a two more cycles of different videos that you alternate for the final four weeks.

It is nice because you are always doing something different so, at least for me, you don't get bored nearly as easily.

[Batou079]

hmm that might be for me then!
Cause i really get bored and/or distracted easily when...

Man, im hungry.
wait, what?

:D

[Maawdawg]

Oh, also there are 3 different programs included, you just choose what is best for you..

Standard - which I use
Lean - more cardio based for getting the biggest fat burn
Doubles - for insane people. Doubles starts as the regular program for the first cycle. Then adds extra cardio videos to the regular program in the second cycle so you are doing an extra hour three days a week. Then in the last cycle it adds even more videos so you are doing between 120 and 150 minutes four out of the six workout days

[Bloodwrath970]

i just do whatever i feel like. i do fencing whenever i have no school, and when school is in, i go on Mondays, wednesdays, and saturdays. i run 5 miles each day that i do not fence. i do random upperbody workouts whenever i have spare time.

Edit: ill make a list of my exercises for what i work:

Triceps: concentric sets of push-ups starting at 20, and going down. add a set of 21 after you can do that. then a set of 22 after that. so on and so forth
Quads: Running 5 miles, try to keep at 8 miles an hour till the last .1 mile, then sprint sprint sprint.
Calves: Jumping-jacks, Do sets of 100, then do 200 the next time, then 300. so forth.
Abs: 200 sit-ups, hanging leg raises of a random ammount.
Biceps: Chin-ups.

I work one part at a time usually, (key word: usually). I'm going to start doing total upper, and total lower, however, on varying days.

[Bloodwrath970]

Im gonna try all my things tonight. means 5 mile run, 15+ chin-ups, 200 sit-ups, 253 pushups, 600 jumping-jacks. if i feel im going to injure myself, ill stop, but im gonna push my body tonight.

edit: Ow. hurt myself. Need to run more, so i can do it withough hurting my lower back.

[Maawdawg]

Ramping up workouts to multiple muscle groups when your body is only used to working individual ones is a good recipe for an injury. Slowly building workouts up is the way to go. If you work out everything then you will be too sore to work out anything the next day. Pick a body region or two and train it, then pick something else the next day. Cardio can be done whenever but muscle building routines should be spaced out a bit.

I am quite sore right now because I am in the first week of a new video rotation for P90X. By the end of the third week the workouts aren't that bad because your muscles get used to them being in that order. The fourth week is a cardio heavy week to let your body really recover and once your body is mostly rested you get your new video order for the next three weeks.

Just changing my first video in the order from Chest & Back to Chest, Shoulders & Arms completely changed how I feel the day after. The first week of Chest and Back I was really sore from it but by week three it wasn't bad so I thought that would hold true here. The new video works mostly the same muscles but it is 24 completely different moves so you are working them completely differently. I was more than surprised when I woke up this sore this morning because the workout felt around the same intensity level as the other video I had been using.

[Nigel]

12oz curls. that's my routine.

[Shaynard]

P90X is great.. It's VERY simular to what I was taught in Jeet Kune Do in the way it "tricks" the body by varying the workouts. My guitarist is a personal trainer and we argue over that theory all the time, but I have seen the results. Going back to my old workut regime for just one week put me back in basic form shape. So I would bet on this system working just as well as they are so much alike.

For those with injuries, this system works around them.. if say your big toe got fractured(example), you could still employ much of the upper body workouts which actually include cardio and it will help you feel better while you heal.

[Maawdawg]

It was a lot harder than you would think. That injury to the big toe pretty much kills most of the workouts in the program, and not just the lower body and cardio stuff. You can't do pushups, yoga, or balance properly for most of the upper body weight work. I just let it heal up before I did anything as I didn't want to re injure it by starting out too early again.

The theory of "plateau effect" has been around for ages, I used it in track all the time for training. We never did the same workouts on a day to day or week to week basis.

P90X is the first video program I have seen that actually gives me the kind of workout I would put myself through at the gym or when I was training for competition. It can really be tailored to the user and their goals as well with all the variations in the moves and intensities. Not to mention the 3 different video calendars for different body types. It is definitely something that requires a decent fitness level coming in though. If you started way out of shape the P90X program would destroy you and probably wear you down to the point of injury.

Are you using P90X now Shanyard? I just started week 5 in the regular program yesterday. I am focusing more on the workouts than the diet though. I try to eat pretty healthy but I can't stick to how regimented they want you to eat in it. 21oz of lean protein, 4 cups of vegetables, 3 each servings of grain and dairy, 1 serving of fruit, plus 3-4 snacks a day is just too much food for me to eat in most cases. I substitute some of the protein with a shake after working out and just try to eat reasonable portions of good food other than that.

[Shaynard]

There are a lot of things I could think of doing with most injuries. If it is your foot that is injured that leaves abs open as most do not require stress on the foot.. Pull ups off one foot for balance will work as well.. That said it's best to listen to your own body, if you don't think you can, maybe you should wait.

No I havn't bought P90X although I would like to. It's a good deal money wise as well. What I do, do and have always done uses much of the same theory or plateau effect is all. Based on the DVD for P90X (the free one that explains the system) I realised a lot of their activities were the same as what I was taught to do. The main reason I'd still want the videos is to help with Routine something I have a hard time sticking to. The diet benefits are a huge plus for me as well, becasue I have terrible eating habits I am trying to correct.. That routine and instruction would help.

I support the video regardless of having not used it for that reason. I am glad to hear first hand experience from you.

[Maawdawg]

Yeah, it is a little steep for price to go into blind. I sent you a PM with some more info about it, so check your inbox. I highly recommend it. As I type this I am in a full on flop sweat from a plyometrics workout. My heartrate monitor at the end read 55:43 total workout time (not counting cooldown), with an average of 152 BPM, 176 peak. That is really pushing at a high level, especially at my advanced age of 32. :D

[exkon]

Work out at my local gym for the last few years now, I highly doubt that I will ever change because I pay about $16 a month.

My normal routine consists of:

- Warm-up srteches
- 1/2 mile run
- Bench (just lifting)
- Then I do pull-downs/calve raises, shoulder raises, lat pull downs, and sides bends. Alternating with no rest between until I down with the entire mini-routine.
- Squats, bicep curls, push ups, and pull ups. Same mini-rountine (little rest until the end)

In between my lifting days, I usually run about 2-3 miles. I have rest day of Friday generally.

[Ender]

Back when I was going to the gym, I would start out with 20 minutes on the eliptical, bike, or treadmill and move on from there. I didn't stick to specific exercises, but I tried to get a good core workout every time I was in the gym, and the alternated between upper and lower body focus.

I did have a small number of set exercises that I would do every time, and those were leg presses and calf raises.

Haven't been working out for a while, and I'm starting to get a little soft around the middle. I'm still rather cut, but definitely not as strong as when I was going to the gym. I've been thinking about it, and I'm going to focus on running this summer. I'm going to sign up for a Judo class at school for next semester too.