That skinny blonde could get it. The workouts in those videos are like a really, really low intensity Insanity

2/29/2012 1:03:16 AM

when you actually do the workout it is a lot more intense. I've "battled" the guy in the first video before and it was the hardest workout to date I've had. In 20 minutes we did:

10 reps military press, static hold while he did 1 rep of a chest press
9 reps military press, static hold while he did 2 reps of a chest press
8 reps....etc until I do 1 rep and hold through his 10 reps etc

reverse crunches :: hanging leg raises

cable tricep :: cable bicep

front db raises :: lateral db raises

machine rows :: pec dec

then reversed it - he did all mine and I did all his, so 10 diff exercises all with the same 10-1 or 1-10 static hold counts in 20 minutes....his VTX-Storm I believe...could be on par with "insanity" but I remember that workout as one of the toughest I've had.

Back in high school I remember out "power drills" at the end of football almost making me pass out. I was already pooped at the end of practice and they made us run 16 x 100yds x 10 burpees. Took about 20 minutes IIRC

2/29/2012 12:55:52 PM

yeah, I've done a few insanity workouts and I can say without a doubt that insanity was easier.

2/29/2012 2:14:07 PM

porcha and i battle during begonias' bikini/speedo boot camp class

"hey Will get your knees off the floor!"

2/29/2012 2:55:08 PM

2/29/2012 4:00:39 PM

I swam a mile in a flight suit today without touching the walls or the floor (if you did, they failed you). I completed it in 55:06. I could have swam faster, but there were ten of us per lane. Needless to say, I got stuck behind someone every now and then.

2/29/2012 5:57:10 PM

Quote :

"How to get a decent work out in Surf City"

[Edited on February 29, 2012 at 6:12 PM. Reason : ^what a beast, g]

2/29/2012 6:11:48 PM

So who's serious about getting ripped for this beach season?

I'm starting my rapid fat loss program on March 19th. My goal is to lose 15-20lbs in 6weeks, with body fat below 10%.

I'll be documenting it pretty well and I'm willing to help anyone who is interested in setting up a similar program for themselves.

2/29/2012 8:32:35 PM

I'm ramping up my cardio and cutting down my calories along with a DC program with a goal of getting down around 6% bodyfat by the end of May. I'd estimate that I'm currently at 15%bodyfat at 255lbs, based on definition in my chest, shoulders, and abs.

Once I get down around 235, I'm going to evaluate where I'm at and potentially sign up for a show once I know where I need to be.

2/29/2012 9:00:45 PM

Matt, would be will to do some consulting on diet? Like instead of doing actual PT, I pay for a consultation with you to make sure my diet it on track. I'm getting married this summer and want to make sure I am on the right track still

2/29/2012 9:05:55 PM

Yes, I can help you with that.

Although, I recommend coordinating your diet and training program. To get the highest rate of fat loss, strength training is required.

2/29/2012 9:31:45 PM

I did squats today

2/29/2012 9:48:36 PM

My bf had a friend who was not overweight but just out of shape that started doing the P90x a few yrs ago. Got ripped and started doing all sorts of marathons and shit. He dropped dead in a gym today. It almost makes you wonder if it's worth it, did his commitment to getting healthy ultimately kill him? Sucks, he was 48 and had a wife and daughter.

2/29/2012 10:43:26 PM

2/29/2012 11:12:41 PM

It's a huge leap to blame his death on overtraining. Could be any number of causes.

2/29/2012 11:12:56 PM

sooo excited...I have my follow up appointment on Monday

hopefully I can get back to working out on Tuesday

I will say my knee is super happy I had surgery lol

3/1/2012 12:19:15 AM

I'll agree it's a leap but it's still pretty shitty. Guy gets his life in order and boom. Gone. At the gym. Sad

3/1/2012 12:48:34 AM

Yes, it's a well known fact many more people die from working out and keeping an active lifestyle than being sedentary and overweight.



[Edited on March 1, 2012 at 6:31 AM. Reason : derp]

3/1/2012 6:31:10 AM

Dude was probably addicted to some hydroxycut ephedrine type shit after seeing his weight loss results.

3/1/2012 6:39:27 AM

It could have been a million different things...

But, if he was addicted to chronic cardio (long distance/ultra endurance type stuff) that takes a pretty big toll on the body and is a big stressor.

3/1/2012 8:33:29 AM

Sounds like he could have had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

3/1/2012 8:42:38 AM

is maintaining "marathon" endurance bad for the body? I've made huge gains in my health over the past few months... for example:

Weight: Started at 310 in October, down to 234 today...

Strength: In the process, I have increased my bench press, squat, and many other lifts. I haven't taken measurements, but I can visibly see my muscle mass has increased (which honestly is surprising... I committed to losing weight, and my goal was to maintain muscle mass as opposed to gaining)

Cardio... have increased my cardio, but I'm not exactly sure the best way to quantify this... I know that it takes significantly more effort to raise my heart rate during cardio workouts... I've been mainly using the elliptical machine for cardio, but also throw in a walk/run/interval either on pavement or the treadmill to mix things up. I've never been a long distance person and usually do cardio for between 30-45 minutes after lifting.

Anyway, all of that is to say that despite these gains, I never see myself becoming a long distance runner. I might get to the point where I can knock out a 5k or two, but never a marathon. Is marathon running something I should strive for anyway, or is it increasing my middle distance times a better bet for me?

3/1/2012 9:21:39 AM

not a direct answer, but NOVA did an episode taking a bunch of non runners over 40 weeks to running the boston marathon. They point out and you can see for yourself that body composition wasn't effected terribly by their training i.e. the big ones lost weight but no one was deathly thin/frail.



[Edited on March 1, 2012 at 9:46 AM. Reason : .]

3/1/2012 9:44:53 AM

you people seem like a good crew to ask. what kind of tennis shoes should I get? I want a pair that I can wear to work and chase after kids and play outside in, ride my bike, and also do so minor workouts in.

3/1/2012 10:26:19 AM

He definitely worked out HARD, his goal was to do a marathon in all 50 states before his 50th birthday and he started that in 2009. He was running all the time and gymming it up a lot too. Just really sad though cause that was a loving family.

3/1/2012 10:58:14 AM

anyone know some good calf stretches? I've tried everything I know but both my calves are every tight.

So I guess this is more for the running thread but I wanted to share that I shaved a minute and 10+ seconds off my mile. I hope my run today can replicate it-- I'm doing 4 miles per my training plan, so we'll see. I'm trying to incorporate a shorter gait and a higher cadence and I'm back into doing yoga so I wonder if that helped.

3/1/2012 11:06:14 AM

People, people? What sort of foods do you prefer that keep you fuller longer? I'm having a terrible time finding food that will keep me full, I often feel starved right after eating which can potentially lead to binging if I'm not careful.

I have oatmeal for breakfast which does pretty good, sometimes a banana, for lunch I ate chicken breast leftover from last night, 1 tbsp of hummus with 3/4 whole wheat pita loaf and some carrots and I felt damned starved right after. I ate 1/2 cup nut mix weighing in at 300 calories just to get my belly to shut up.

So what say you?

3/1/2012 3:10:45 PM

one thing you can do is drink more water

I get wicked hungry when I'm trying to limit my calories, too

3/1/2012 3:28:29 PM

Replace your oatmeal breakfast with 3eggs and 3slices of bacon.

3/1/2012 3:48:11 PM

hmmmmmmmmmm bacon?? Isn't that bad? haha sodium, fat, calories, etc? I see bacon as a treat not a staple. I can't wait til I'm over this losing weight process and can begin maintaining, I feel like I am ALWAYS trying to lose weight, I want it gone for good!

I just went to the local Y for the first time and they have this free program called Activtrax? Dont know if any of you have heard about it but it creates work outs for you based on your fitness test, goals, and current abilities. I'm excited to try it out!

3/1/2012 3:57:22 PM

Sodium isn't a huge issue unless you have high blood pressure or if you are sensitive to it.

Bacon is high in fat. But fat isn't bad for you. It is an essential nutrient.

Bacon is surprisingly not that high calorie. One medium slice of bacon is like 35-40calories.

3/1/2012 4:02:19 PM

But too much sodium can lead to water retention and bloat, I assume, and not so happy numbers on the scale. I know we need it but Americans as a whole take in way too much of it so I try to keep an eye on it. I just always had a stigma with bacon for being bad. When you only get 1500 calories a day you cut the crap out real quick.

3/1/2012 4:24:30 PM

I can make an argument that bacon is more nutritious for you than oatmeal is.

The fat phobia that started in the 90s is completely false and has been refuted. Plus, Americans get WAY too much sugar, not fat. Fat can be an issue, especially when it is combined with sugar because it's so delicious. The bottom line is that Americans consume too many calories because of processed foods.

When taking in only 1500calories a day, you want to focus on foods that provide you with nutrition, satiation and satisfaction. IMO, bacon and eggs does this very well at a low price point.

Water retention can be an issue with high sodium foods. But, if your calories are right you will still lose weight/body fat and water weight is easy to lose.

[Edited on March 1, 2012 at 4:32 PM. Reason : ;]

3/1/2012 4:31:33 PM

1 more month of strength training to go. Getting kind of sick of all the food I'm chowing down. actually looking forward to dieting in April

3/1/2012 4:48:29 PM

Quote :

"So who's serious about getting ripped for this beach season? I'm starting my rapid fat loss program on March 19th. My goal is to lose 15-20lbs in 6weeks, with body fat below 10%. I'll be documenting it pretty well and I'm willing to help anyone who is interested in setting up a similar program for themselves."

Im actually interested, very interested.

3/1/2012 7:58:18 PM

me too

3/1/2012 9:29:16 PM

Cardio is very taxing on your body and more importantly it is terrible for weight loss.

When you start running you will lose 5 lbs pretty fast and then you can expect to lose almost zero fat after that. It's literally one of the least effective ways to get a better body.

3/2/2012 12:55:28 AM

your body just gets more efficient at burning fewer calories with cardio

3/2/2012 2:43:22 AM

Broscience overload

3/2/2012 7:11:29 AM

Quote :

"Cardio is very taxing on your body and more importantly it is terrible for weight loss. When you start running you will lose 5 lbs pretty fast and then you can expect to lose almost zero fat after that. It's literally one of the least effective ways to get a better body."

ok this gets a

it's very irresponsible to label a very broad category "CARIDO" and say it's "BAD"
Some forms of cardio are very GOOD for weight loss. Everything that I've read (and experienced personally) has led me to believe that shorter, higher intensity (or ideally interval) cardio for < say 30 minutes is very effective, especially when paired with weight training before-hand.

going out and running long distances every day isn't going to be as effective as your body gets used to that type of exercise, true, but it's not BAD for your body... it's just not as good for fat loss. A lot of that reason is that if you spend so much time on long duration cardio, you typically neglect hitting the weights, therefore you aren't going to build muscle, which DOES help fat loss.



[Edited on March 2, 2012 at 7:51 AM. Reason : ]

3/2/2012 7:40:40 AM

cardio burns calories, and yes your body will adapt some if you continually do the same thing over and over again for long periods of time, but by no means will it become a 100% efficient machine, i.e. you run a mile and burn zero calories.

i like interval training, and I tend to do that more than just run. Usually run for 2-3min, walk for 1-2min. I let the heart rate go up and down between 130-160 (have a HR monitor watch)


but I never saw such good results with my fat loss, body shape, and the ability to control my weight, with cardio as I do with lifting weights and eating properly.

diet and lifting are my #1 and #2 most important for me. Cardio I still do of course, but it is more like a supplemental workout to my main routine. I imagine that will change in the next few weeks as I switch from a strength gaining mode to cutting phase. 206.5lb this morning, I need to gain about 4 more pounds and then Ill switch over. Should take me a couple weeks

3/2/2012 8:08:49 AM

^sounds like we are on the same page.

3/2/2012 8:37:13 AM

I like to run a couple miles and then do an intense workout. Burn some calories, get my heart rate up, then do some high intensity training.

Works every time. Only thing I have to worry about is wearing myself out during the run. But even if I do that, I'll just rest a few extra minutes and I can still get in a decent workout.

3/2/2012 8:39:40 AM

Quote :

"Broscience overload"

3/2/2012 8:55:14 AM

Last year I dropped about 25 lbs from just running and slowly learning to eat better. Would there have been a more efficient way for me to lose the weight? Sure, I guess, but this is the path I chose for myself. Now I'm running and then strength training on my off days and I'm much better at eating better.

I love this saying (that I think I got from H8R) "You can't out run a poor diet"

3/2/2012 9:05:53 AM

Down almost 10 lbs and my bloating is almost completely gone

3/2/2012 9:20:09 AM

^^minka running and dieting for a long time was the only way i'd ever lose weight, but it never turned out to be a long-term working strategy for me. I'd drop the weight, eat better, but as soon as I'd stop it'd be right back to where I was or more. Weight lifting and adding muscle actually has made things very steady for me and it feels great. And more importantly, I look forward to it. I got used to running but never really liked it. Lifting weights actually excites me and makes me happy to the go the gym. The other week I hit a new high in my bench press max and I was so freakin excited I ran a mile as soon as I got home. I've never run a mile in record pace and got so excited I wanted to go do some squats. lol

3/2/2012 10:11:27 AM

yeah I'm glad I've been adding in strength training. Both are very addicting.

^^awesome job samwise! what foods have you had to eliminate? or what was causing the bloating?

3/2/2012 10:13:13 AM

Dairy. since I have gone dairy free not only has the bloat gone away (and I gained weight from it too, so I have been losing weight in general) but the crazy dry skin patches and my sore throat are gone, too :/ and my skin has cleared up a lot as well

[Edited on March 2, 2012 at 10:44 AM. Reason : And thanks ]

3/2/2012 10:44:33 AM

decided my back needed some work. changed programming three weeks ago. seems to be going ok. took a pic last night. what's the thought?

first pic was from january, second pic last night. 12-14 lbs lighter in second pic. width is coming out. first pic has some super awkward shoulder blade pinching to get the traps to pop i guess. too bad i dont have one from three weeks ago to do a real comparison.


http://www.thewolfweb.com/photos/00525731.jpg 1
http://www.thewolfweb.com/photos/00525732.jpg 2

went from doing bent over rows 3x5 with some power cleans once or twice a week and shrugs when i felt like it to 5x12 high or low iso hammer rows, 5x12 tbar rows once a week, then 5x12 facepulls or 5x12 wide lat pull downs and 5x12 shrugs once a week. seems to have liked the higher volume. will be interesting to see what happens if i keep it up like that.


[Edited on March 2, 2012 at 11:11 AM. Reason : i should start doing some arm work too.]

3/2/2012 11:05:58 AM