What Is P90x?

Ever since Rep. Paul Ryan was selected as Mitt Romney's VP pick, there has been plenty of talk around the water cooler about Ryan's exhaustive fitness regimen which is a workout program from fitness trainer Tony Horton called P90x. Since its release in 2004, more than 2 million individuals have used P90x to reach their fitness goals.

About Tony Horton

Tony Horton didn't plan on becoming a fitness instructor, he initially wanted to become an actor. However in Hollywood, possessing a good physique can help you get your acting career started. To remain fit, he started transforming his body. He was successful in transforming himself and constructing a better image and insight to life that Hollywood began to notice. He eventually became one of the most preferred celebrity fitness trainers.

However it was when he met the CEO of Beachbody, that his cardiovascular routine, that's helping him and also other Hollywood stars and clients transform their bodies, was recognized. This signified the beginning of a profitable business relationship and more successful calisthenic workouts. He helped in creating the Great Body Guaranteed in 1998. Until the P90x, the strength 90 was possibly one of the original home training training videos.

Does P90x Work?

After Power 90, Tony Horton created a more aggressive and intense program, the P90x. It is not only those who were fighting their heaviness and curious about buffing their body more, fitness professionals, athletes and celebrities started making use of or using the P90x workout principles.

The P90x functions on a simple principle: muscle confusion. It's all about using different muscles through different workouts and routines. Before your body could conform to the workout, the person will just be shifting to a different workout method. The principle could deliver results within 90-days. In addition, it incorporates a nutritional and diet plan which balances and compliments the results of the workout.

The success of the P90x was not just dependent on luck. Tony Horton has also been studying and practicing  the best approach to further improve one's physique and overall health.

P90X is the Most Extreme Home Fitness Training System Ever! Click here to get your DVDs

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Fitness Exercises for Kids

Fitness exercises can prove to be very helpful for kids as they can help them to stay healthy and fit in the long run. With the changing trends, the kids are living more of a sedentary lifestyle these days. The kind of lifestyle they are leading presently can result in varied health-related problems for them as they grow older.

Sitting in front of the television or computer for long hours is one of the major reasons of kids becoming unhealthy and obese. Consumption of junk food while watching television is another major contributor to this. Their lack of physical activity results in the necessary calories not being burnt and this makes them overweight leading to early problems with obesity.

Fitness, as an essential part of overall health, is extremely important for kids. There are various ways in which the fitness levels of children can be raised. Traditionally, exercises and a healthy diet were considered necessary only for the adults but these days obesity levels are also increasing among the children. Thus the importance of exercises cannot be ignored.

Advantages of regular exercising for kids

Exercise can make the muscles as well as the bones of the children stronger and result in overall fitness. Along with making them strong, the children also learn how they can control the body fat so that the chances of becoming obese later in their life can be avoided.

The chances of getting Type 2 diabetes are also reduced among the children if a regular exercise regimen is followed by them. Children who undergo regular exercising also have low blood cholesterol and blood pressure levels.

Importance of exercising for kids

If exercises are not made a part of the daily routine along with a nutritious diet, it can lead to obesity in children. It is the parent’s duty to pay adequate attention for ensuring fitness of their children.

Parents should encourage their children to perform exercises such as cycling, swimming, running and walking. This will strengthen their cardiovascular systems and also establish the healthy habits of regular exercising which will benefit them and have definite positive effects on their health.

Ways of achieving health for kids

In order to ensure weight loss and maintenance of an ideal weight for their children, parents and guardians should encourage them to participate in various physical activities. The kids should regularly take part in physical education classes in order to keep themselves fit. They should also be encouraged by their parents to take part in extra-curricular activities in school or in the local community.

Since children generally get bored with routine exercises, parents can help in making physical exercise fun by organizing dancing programs and games. They can also encourage their children to undergo sport fitness programs or play various games such as softball, baseball, tennis, football and soccer. Swimming is an excellent form of exercise that kids are bound to enjoy. Initiating the kids in these games is one of the best ways of helping them to stay fit.


Article is the courtesy of: Fitness Watchers

Helping Overweight Teens Lose Weight

We all know how tumultuous the teenage years can be.  They're not an adult yet, but no longer a child. This in between status along with all the new feelings and emotions can make this time in anyone's life stressful.  For  an overweight teenager that stress is multiplied.  The good news is that they don't have to be that way. I'm not saying it won't take time or that it will be easy, but if they really want it, they can lose the weight and have a less stressful and much healthier life...and you need to help.  

Here are some things that you can do to help a teen lose weight and start living a more healthy lifestyle:

1. First and foremost anyone who wants to lose weight will need to accurately determine how much weight they need to lose.  Very often, especially for teen girls, they have a very unrealistic idea of what 'fat' is.  Many times a teen girl will think she's fat when in fact she clearly isn't.

If they really are overweight it's important to talk to their pediatrician to find out what the proper weight should be for their age, gender, height, and build.  New guidelines now ask that pediatricians check cholesterol levels in children and teens to help prevent heart disease in later years.  From that point a proper diet and exercise plan can be tailored for their specific needs and goals.

2. One really nice thing that  a parent can do is to workout with their teen.  Whether it be bike riding, swimming in the pool, or tossing a ball back and forth, this will allow the both of you the time to get some exercise while spending quality time together time. 

3. If your teen needs to lose more than 10 pounds or so you may want to talk with their doctor for a specific diet plan.  This can help teach your teen what they should eat and how much.  This can lead not only to weight loss but a lifestyle change that will ensure that once your child has lost the weight, they will never gain it back again; the weight loss will be permanent because the lifestyle changes are permanent.

4. Don't buy junk food.  If your child can't drive yet, they are pretty much 'stuck' with whatever you  buy. If you don't have a lot of snacks and processed foods in the house your kid can't eat it.  Instead of buying junk food when you go grocery shopping start buying whole, non- processed foods. 

Buy plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins.  Your teen will likely be resistant at first but you can remind them that the types of foods they like is a learned habit and they can change that habit.  If they stick with it they can get to the point where they don't even like the taste of the junk food anymore.

5. Invest in a good low fat cookbook.  It's usually pretty easy to make simple changes to not only the types of foods you cook, but also the way you cook them.  These changes can help you eliminate a lot of the fat in your diet.

If you have an obese teenager and you don't want their teenage years to be any more difficult then they have to be, you can help your child make better choices and get in the type of shape they can feel good about.  It won't be easy, and your teen will likely be resistant at first, but if you lead by example and stay consistent, more than likely your teen will come around.  This is a great opportunity for both of you to create a healthier lifestyle all while spending some fun times together, who could ask for more?

Three Easy Exercises To Lose Weight

      It's no secret.  You need to exercise if you really want to lose weight. The problem that most people have is deciding which exercises are best for their situation. The more weight that you need to lose, the more difficult it can be for maintaining a proper fitness routine.  Fortunately, most everyone can start with these three easy exercises to lose weight.

Naturally, it is always a good idea to check with your doctor before starting any type of exercise program.  Also, your health care professional should be able to provide you with some exercises for you to do. In addition, many overweight adults can benefit from an experienced personal fitness instructor. Now that we have our disclaimer out of the way, let's get started.

Walking is one of the best forms of exercise that you can do.  It helps increase your heart rate and gets your blood flowing throughout your body.  You are not going to lose weight overnight, but you will burn calories and help prevent sugars and carbs from turning to fat.  You can walk as much or as little as you want, but try to walk for at least twenty minutes per day.  A lot of people complain that they just don't have the time.  However, you can split it up by walking for a few minutes before and after work.  Also, when you drive around looking for a parking space  try parking a little farther away instead of hunting for the closest parking space.  If you invest in a small pedometer, you will be surprised how much walking you can do in a small amount of time.

Another easy and cheap exercise is stair climbing.  If your home has stairs then that is a great place to start.  Otherwise, you may find stairs at a nearby shopping mall, library or office park.  If you are not accustomed to climbing stairs, then try starting out with one flight of stairs three times per week.  Depending upon how you feel, you can increase the level until you are able to go up and down several flights of stairs five times per week.  Instead of stairs, you may live in an area with a hill which will give you a similar effect.  Whether you are walking up stairs or a hill, just make sure you are wearing sturdy shoes on a dry surface. Also, try taking the stairs instead of the elevator whenever possible.

Do you know which form of exercise combines the benefits of both walking and stair climbing?  That's right, swimming!  Swimming is the best exercise to lose weight.  If you are able to swim for at least twenty minutes per day, five days per week, you will be surprised how quickly you will burn fat and tone your muscles.  That's because swimming requires you to use all of your muscles.  It's best to start slow and build up your stamina.  If you don't have your own swimming pool, chances are good that there is a public pool nearby.

Regardless of your weight loss goals, these simple exercises will help you burn fat and lose weight.  Keep in mind that this is a lifestyle change and it will not happen overnight.  That's why it is important for you to stay motivated and dedicated to your fitness routine.
  

The 5 Main Principles To Burn Fat

Principle #1 – You must keep your body and metabolism happy.

Dieting can do a number on your metabolism by screwing with important fat burning hormones like leptin, and rather quickly at that. The answer to overcoming these adaptations lies in strategic high-calorie Cheat Days.

As you recall, leptin is heavily mediated by your calorie intake. Decrease calories and leptin levels fall off, increase calories and leptin levels recover.

And while it takes roughly a week of moderate dieting for leptin levels to fall off significantly, it only takes one day of cheating, or overfeeding, for leptin to recover back to baseline.

By frequently resetting your metabolism throughout the course of your diet with strategic high-calorie Cheat Days, you can essentially have your cake and eat it too while watching your waistline continually shrink week after week.


Principle #2 – You must create a massive calorie deficit to lose fat rapidly.

There’s no way around it, a pound of fat is 3500 calories. If you’re going to lose a pound of fat, you’re going to have to create a 3500 calorie deficit (while keeping your body in “fat burning mode” at the same time). If you want to lose 10 lbs of pure fat, that’ll require a 35,000 calorie deficit.

SIDE NOTE: Please realize that 10 lbs of pure fat loss will probably equate to somewhere between 15 and 20 lbs of actual “weight loss” due to the simultaneous water loss that occurs any time you lose fat.

After a cheat day your body is uber primed for fat loss, and it's prime time to take advantage with a mega calorie deficit. On this day, we do two things:

1. Consume minimal calories along with strategic supplementation to offset muscle catabolism.

2. Ramp up activity to burn a ton of additional calories on this day.

With this type of strategic set-up, it’s actually possible to burn a pound of pure fat in one day (considering that a pound of fat loss a week is deemed a “very good” rate of fat loss by most standards, that’s pretty awesome).

Principle #3: You must tackle your fat loss goals synergistically through diet and exercise.

When you’re talking about the most strategic set-up and the most rapid fat loss, things get a little more complex than simply “do a lot of exercise”. In fact, the type of exercise you do is just as important to your rapid fat loss goals as the frequency, duration, and intensity are.

With the Xtreme Fat Loss diet, you’ll see that there is a specific type or style of workout that we’ve purposefully chosen for each type of day to optimize and accelerate the results of that day.

Here is just one example:

Lactic Acid Training, which are very metabolically demanding, calorie-burning workouts, are performed on Depletion Days.

Because lactic acid workouts have the potential to burn more calories than other styles of training (because…they’re hard), they are the clear choice for Depletion Days when we want to create the largest caloric deficit. Lactic acid training also depletes the body’s “energy reserve”, making them the ideal workout style for Depletion Days.

Principle #4: You must avoid ANY positive weight gain.

When I first started teaching Cheat Days it was understood that there may be some positive fat gain as a result of a Cheat Day in order to yield MORE fat loss the following week (leading to a great net weekly fat loss).

For example, without incorporating strategic Cheat Days, let’s say someone is able to lose a pound a week (with each week’s weight loss becoming progressively slower leading to the inevitable plateau).

With strategic cheating that same person is able to now lose 2 lbs each week (with no drop off in metabolism and no plateau). This is a result of a half pound gain in body fat from the Cheat Day and a subsequent 2.5 pound loss (net loss = 2 lbs).

Now, the latter scenario is obviously WAY better than sticking to the same boring, strict diet every day while achieving slower results, but it still leaves a half pound of fat gain resulting from the Cheat Day, which, if eliminated = faster results.

Within muscle tissue, energy is stored in the form of glycogen (carbohydrate energy) and triglycerides (fat energy). With strategic training (like the lactic acid training mentioned in principle #3), these energy stores can be depleted or exhausted.

Why would you want to do that?

To make “room” for an influx of calories, carbohydrate and fat (for example, a Cheat Day)!

When glycogen and triglyceride stores are full, a Cheat Day is like pouring more liquid into an already full glass. Some of that liquid is inevitably going to spill over and lead to a bit of a mess (in this case, fat storage). But, if you dump out the glass and then refill it, there’s no “overflow”.

This is exactly what we do by performing glycogen and triglyceride depleting lactic acid training (while limiting carbohydrate intake) on the day prior to a Cheat Day. We empty the cup making room for the following day’s influx of cals, carbs, and fat.

The result? You get the same hormone-boosting, metabolism stimulating effect from the Cheat Day without the fat gain. Instead, the excess calories and carbs simply go to refilling your body’s empty energy stores. That, my friends, is what I call strategy.

And by eliminating any Cheat Day fat gain, you can easily increase your rate of fat loss by 25%!

Principle #5—You must maintain muscle mass to maintain metabolism.

This ties back in to some of the information I shared in Principle #3, the strategic combination of diet & exercise for optimal results, along with something else I haven’t fully touched on yet.

When faced with long-term calorie restriction, the body will choose to utilize muscle tissue for energy over body fat, leading to significant muscle loss and decreased metabolism for most dieters. Simply put, fat is more valuable to your body than “extra muscle” when it comes to survival, and it prioritizes accordingly in the face of long-term calorie restriction.

But, when you understand how to combine strategic cheat days along with high volume training to spark muscle growth even while you’re dieting, then you’ll easily be able to maintain (if not gain a couple pounds) of lean muscle throughout the course of only a few weeks.

Muscle = metabolism. The more lean muscle you have on your frame, the higher your metabolism is going to be. Muscle burns calories just sitting there. Maintaining it as you lose fat is fundamentally important to continuing to lose fat at an optimal rate.

Another way this program helps you maintain muscle is via Principle #1 – keeping your body happy. When your body remains in a “normal” state (instead of a “red alert” state like with long-term calorie restriction) over the course of a diet, there is no reason for it to resort to muscle tissue for energy. By keeping leptin levels high week after week, you maintain your metabolism and program your body to continue to burn fat, not muscle.

A Healthy Dose of Common Sense To Stay Fit

There are no scarcity of health food hype flooding today's marketplace. The challenge with these so-called fad foods is that they are just that, fads. Basically, there is no scientific records to back-up their statements.

It has always been said that it is most desirable to get your nutrition by having a variety of wholesome and nutrient-rich food items. Raw fruits and veggies are filled with vitamins and minerals. Lean protein contain necessary enzymes and other nutrients. Seafood has a high concentration of omega-3 fatty acids which is very advantageous. Sometimes, because of eating behavior, heart conditions and other ailments it is appropriate for  individuals to take natural supplements to restore nutrients that may be in short supply.

When it comes to losing weight there is no miracle elixir that will swiftly trim your waist line. The tried and true strategy that has worked for decades is still the best way. If you need to gain weight you simply store more calories than you burn. On the other hand, to lose weight you consume less calories and exercise more. To illustrate, if you consume 3,300 calories per day but burn off only 800 calories you are sure to increase weight. The more caloric content you snack, the more caloric content you will be required to exercise to get rid of the excess calories. Ingesting diets rich in complex carbohydrates and saturated fats like fried dishes and pasta slows down your metabolic process which makes it harder to slim down. Meals that are rich in healthy proteins like poultry and certain seafood can rev up your metabolism making it easier for your system to burn calories.

Finally, you need a way to flush the extra fat from your body. There is nothing better than water as it has no calories or any other chemicals that will get in the way. If you drink a lot of sugary beverages, then you are hampering your purpose. All it takes is a healthy dose of common sense and a balance of natural foods with sensible portions to stay fit.