FItness

P90etc… A Review

Posted on December 26, 2011 by Alvin Reid in Blog, FItness | Leave a comment

On Sunday, January 1. 2012, I officially start P90X2, the latest in the fitness revolution led by Tony Horton, who by the way is my age (52). Because I have several friends beginning one form or another of the fitness programs offered by Teambeachbody (Horton’s helpful online community) I thought I would offer a review of the major programs.

Note: by signing up for a free membership at teambeachbody.com you have access to all kinds of helpful info on diet and fitness.

I hit 50 in 2009 and did the mid-life male evaluation. I was overweight, out of shape, with an artificial hip and a travel schedule that gave the added excuse of lots of meals in restaurants. I was also sick and tired of being sick and tired. I have no idea where or how, maybe an infomercial, but i saw this Horton fellow advertising the Ten-Minute Trainer. I figured that was about all I could handle, so I tried it.

10-Minute Trainer: it is what it says it is. 10 minutes a day. I was not a big fan as I had no experience at that point with exercise bands and thought they were for sissies who could not handle free weights. Yes, I was an idiot. I began to like the program just about the time I lost the DVD. But I was hooked to the idea that one could use exercise bands and a DVD and get in shape even if you traveled and stayed in hotels a lot. That summer I bought Power 90, or P90.

Power90: This was the first generation of what has become P90X and now P90X2. Still out of shape but more motivated, I got the DVDs, the right bands, and got serious. I was going to finish all 90 days, and I did. This plan is FANTASTIC for those of you who are not in very good shape but are ready for a change. Do NOT jump into P90X or X2 if you are seriously overweight or out of shape unless you can really modify dramatically.

Power90 offers a good, basic weight training and cardio routine. two basic workouts, one called Sculpt (more weight training) and one called Sweat (cardio), in tw2o stages. Stage 1 is for the first 45 days, Stage 2 the last half. It features basic exercises like pushups, situps, curls, military press, etc. One thing I noticed about the program is how it takes stretching far more seriously than I ever did.

My ego took a blow early as I could not do all the exercises the first time through. If you cannot humble yourself and take a 90 day look at these routines you will just become one more quitter. Check your ego and buy into Tony’s littles sayings like “just hit play” and “do your best and forget the rest.” I did. And I finished. And I lost over 15 pounds. I had to modify the cardio. NOTE: this is key to all these workouts. Unless you are an elite athlete who actually does not need this, you will have to modify something. Because of my hip I had to be careful on the cardio, taking breaks, substituting stepping for jumping, etc. But I did finish the program. In fact, the following fall of 2010 I led an exercise group at Southeastern where we did Power90 as a group, and we did it again in spring 2011. This program requires only bands or dumbbells and can be done with a group. I highly recommend this.

P90 advertised this new program called P90X on its DVDs. Christmas 2009 our son Josh bought it for me. That was the next big challenge beginning 2010.

P90X: This program is brutal. You will modify. You will not finish it the first week. Most people I know failed to get past week 3 because they felt success meant competing with the people on the DVD. No sir. You do your best, take breaks, and modify. But if you set as a goal to finish all the workouts by the last week, you can do it. Be sure you get a physical before trying these programs, by the way.

P90X requires a pullup bar (I still put my foot in a chair) and weights or bands. I used bands the first time through and weights after. There were many times the first few weeks I stared at the screen incredulously. LIke when I tried and failed Plyometrics the first time, even though one of the athletes in the video had a prosthetic leg. That will mess with your head. But my artificial hip simply could not do it for about 6 weeks. So I did Cardio X instead. The first time I tried Core Synergistics I was at a beach house doing a DNow and I literally wanted to cuss. Superman and Banana looked impossible. But now I can do them without a problem! Think tortoise not hare on this program.

I kept pushing play. I told too many people I mentor I was doing it so I had no choice but to finish. I learned to modify often. But when finished I had lost another 15 pounds, and could do something I thought I would never do again: I could jump. I can now jump rope and do jumping jacks, things I thought I would never do with a fake hip.

I had to sit down and plan out my schedule to complete the 90 days. It was not easy doing 6 days on and 1 day off. But I did it and have done it again.

Which leads me to the mother of them all, P90X2. I begin January 1, but I have begun doing the exercises at about 75% so I could be prepared to modify. P90X2 is amazing. SO focused on the core, on whole body health, and especially helps me with my hip. It requires the large stability ball which is amazing, some smaller medicine balls, and a foam roller. You can get all of these and the program for under 200 dollars, and it is worth it.

I learned something the hard way in my early efforts: my hands, and especially my thumbs, have issues. I tried putting my hands on the med balls which works amazingly, but it caused a lot of hand and thumb pain. So for me, at least at first, I will use pushup bars and other means besides the med balls to avoid being sidelined. I also have weightlifting gloves and some athletic tape. This is frustrating but I will not be deterred!

P90 is 13 days on, 1 day off. P90X is 6 days on, 1 day off. P90X2 is 5 days on, 2 days off, making it more manageable for your schedule. It also offers more helps on modifying for those like me who travel.

I have not spelled out all the workouts, the meal plans, etc because they are easily accessible online. I have not followed the meal plans as I should, but I have cut out a lot of sweets, fried foods, and bread. I do plan to follow the diet much more carefully these first 90 days in 2012.

In summary, if you are in pretty good shape and want to push hard and get stronger, jump in with P90X. If you are a beginner or just starting back exercising, by all means get Power90. But if you are in good shape and want to get whole body health like never before, jump into P90X2. And if you try these or other beachbody products like Insanity (I did it for a while but it simply was not wise with my hip), buy though me as your teambeachbody coach and I will donate the profit to missions!

Your body and mine are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We should take care of the temple, and these programs can help.

Bring it!

Want a Stronger 2012? Start NOW

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Alvin Reid in Blog, FItness, Vision | 1 Comment

It is coming.

It is near.

2012.

January 1.

The time of we lie more to ourselves than any other time of the year. You know, those New Year Resolutions.

I like to set goals. I like a new challenge, so I always enjoy the turning of the calendar and the beginning of a new year. Like you no doubt, I have set my share of resolutions only to cave in and fail.

I want to give some simple, practical advice about starting the New Year better. It is the advice I am following as well.

But first a vital disclaimer: if you follow Christ, you are already accepted by Him. You don’t need to be better in 2012 to earn His favor, or to impress others or yourself. But, as Paul in Phil 3:1-13 made clear how the gospel changed everything in his life, including his ambition, he then wanted even more to “press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (v 14). So, it is normal and expected to want to be more effective, have more character, and make a greater impact for the gospel. But our motive for doing so is to bring glory to God, not to fill some void in our life Christ has already more than satisfied.

Therefore, I want to know the Scriptures more. I want to be healthier. I want to reach more for Christ, mentor better, and more than that, be a better man to my wife and dad to my children. And I am guessing you do as well. So how do we do that?

Here is the simple advice. Start now. Not on January 1. And not as some are on January 2–starting the year with a day off is hardly a good beginning, after all. Here is my process, with a few tweets thrown in for encouragement:

First, the Scriptures. Over 20 times in my adult life I have read the whole Bible in a year. I have found this to be helpful to me as a Christ follower and as a professor. It has given me a greater affection for my Lord and a greater appreciation for the centrality of the gospel in all the Bible, as this recent tweet testifies

“@PastorTullian: The Bible tells one story & points to one figure: The whole OT predicts God’s Rescuer, the whole NT presents God’s Rescuer.”

This year I did not read the Bible in its entirety and wanted to do so in 2012, so I started my one-year reading plan—last week. I am already over a week ahead. I am using the Read the Bible for Life plan you can see here. This way if I miss a day here or there, as I know I will, I will not fall behind, but will still be ahead!

In other words, I prefer setting myself up for success not failure.

Next, exercise. I am committed to doing P90X2 for 90 days beginning January 1. I have a couple of groups going for accountability, so if you want to do some form of rigorous exercise for 90 days beginning January 1 email me at areid@sebts.edu.

I officially start January 1. But I already started, sort of. I got the P90X2 package a week ago. I have started working through the exercises, not all the way through them, but to get acquainted. I have an artificial hip and have to modify some, so I am already working on that. This workout is very different, very brutal, and I love it already! If you are not in really good shape or able to check your ego and modify, stay away from this beast. But find some form of consistent workout and do two things: 1) get someone to hold you accountable. I am a coach for the social media site run by the P90X folks here, so join up for free and let me coach you. And 2) start NOW.

If you plan to exercise and/or diet (you should do both) with more diligence in 2012, by no means should you start in January. Start now. You can enjoy your family and all that food, but begin now teaching yourself that gorging is not to be confused with being godly. Get some confidence and momentum. Pick a plan (I will be reviewing P90, P90X, and P90X2 shortly) and start early.

Here is another practical tip that has been revolutionary for me: if you have a smartphone, get a calorie counting app . I use loseit.com. It allows you to have friends and hold each other accountable. Note this tweet from my friend Matt:

“@mhenslee Matt Henslee Getting healthy a goal in 2012? Join @dwpoyner, @alvinreid, and myself over at loseit.com. I’ve lost just a hair under 130 pounds.”

There are other examples of starting early, such as my efforts on a new book already begun ahead of schedule, and more importantly, a couple of major trips planned with my wife to have time with her.

Want to read more in 2012? Read that first book in 2011. Want to be more of an encourager? Intentionally encourage someone daily, and start today.

My pastor recently tweeted:
“@pastordavidsims David Sims The largest “nation” on the Earth – procrastination!”

Don’t set yourself up for failure by procrastinating the start of the new year. Start now. Get ahead. Gain momentum. Be the change you seek.

And take a few others with you.

Friday Is for Fitness: Don’t Waste Your…Mind

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Alvin Reid in Blog, FItness | 1 Comment

“Your brain is the command and control center of your body. If you want a better body, the first place to ALWAYS start is by having a better brain.”*

After his magnificent description of the amazing gospel of Christ in chapters 1-11 of the book of Romans, Paul turns from this weighty biblical dogma to more practical matters. He begs us in Romans 12:1-2 to be consistently in the practice of presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice. Then, he exhorts us to refuse the world’s seductive tendency to squeeze us into its mold, but instead to be transformed. And how are we to be continuously being transformed?

By the renewing of our minds. Not by our experiences, or our community, or our efforts, although all of these have value. Our minds are key. It is in our minds where temptation begins that can flourish into a weedbed of sin. It is also in our minds where we can be increasingly conformed to the image of Christ.

We too often separate our minds from our “spiritual” experiences, and from our bodies. So we can be passionate about our devotions while being negligent in our dining. We can sing zealously in a church service about reaching the lost and then treat an actual unsaved person like dirt in the restaurant after the service. We can have our quiet times daily and yet loathe reading good books, which is vital to our growth as well.

Do you value spiritual growth while ignoring intellectual growth?

Years ago a commercial focusing on funds for minority colleges reminded us, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” True that. But the other side is true as well—a mind is an incredible tool to develop.

The mind actually has a lot to do with so much in life more than just the knowledge we acquire. Recent research finds the mind plays a a significant role when it comes to our physical health. Note the findings of psychiatrist Daniel Amen in his book Change Your Brian, Change Your Body:

“I
saw dramatic evidence of this a few years ago when I created a home study course for treating anxiety and depression. To test the course, we enlisted the help of ninety people to take part in the pilot program. The results were astounding. As I expected, most of the individuals experienced significant improvement in their levels of anxiety and depression. But that’s not all. A number of the people told us that by following the twelve-week program, they also lost twenty to thirty pounds. This surprising result showed us that when people help their brains, they help their bodies, and they were finally able to lose the weight they had been trying to shed for years.”
(Amen, p. 4)

We have known for years that exercising our bodies can help to overcome depression. What we now see is that exercising our minds can help our bodies overcome obesity as well.

In other words, holism trumps compartmentalization.

What if we focused less on segmented parts of our day, like checking off a few spiritual activities while ignoring mental or physical growth, and instead sought to grow physically, mentally, and spiritually, valuing all of them as crucial and as interrelated? And, what if by doing this we have the compounded effect of growing in all three areas more substantially? Remember that Luke 2:52, the verse that describes our Lord from age 12 to age 30, says he “increased in wisdom and statue, and in favor with God and man.” Maybe that is why Paul said in I Thessalonians 5:23 “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We need a “through and through” view of discipleship.

What if we spent more time reading books and thus acquiring knowledge, and in prayer and Bible study developing our spiritual intimacy, and eating well and exercising to strengthen our bodies so we could do the first two things well?

I know this: when I am more focused physically, I am more focused spiritually, and I have a greater appetite for learning. And perhaps it works the other way as well: my appetite for learning can motivate me to be fit and to grow spiritually as well. Research seems to point that way.

After all, a mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Friday Is for Fitness: Our Beasts of Workout Video

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Alvin Reid in Blog, FItness | Leave a comment

This fall we created our own program for the Beasts of Workout, including a 30 day challenge. One guy lost 10 pounds in that span, others talked about the change in muscle definition. Some are continuing the workout. Give it a try if you dare!

Want to Be a Better Student? EXERCISE

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Alvin Reid in Blog, FItness, Student Ministry | Leave a comment

In his fascinating book The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century author Thomas Friedman decries how American students have fallen behind other nations in such fields as math and engineering. At the same time students in the U.S. have excelled at becoming couch potatoes: 65% of Americans are overweight, but this has become an epidemic among young people. “We are literally killing ourselves,” John Ratey says in his book Spark, adding, “What’s even more disturbing, and virtually no one recognizes, is that inactivity is killing our brains too—physically shriveling them.”

Enter the Naperville School District near Chicago. In this single district of the 19K sophomores, only 3% were overweight (compared to 30% nationally). But the students in this district are not only more fit. In 1999 their 8^th graders took the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study test, an international standards test taken by 230K students globally. Ratey observes that in a time students in China, Japan, and Singapore rank consistently above American students, the Naperville class ranked 6^th in math and FIRST in science globally.

What happened in this school district? Several factors, as one reason hardly ever explains such a remarkable performance. But one issue stands out: the beginning of school each day in Naperville called Zero Hour in which students begin not with study hall but with a fitness class. Ratey observes:

“The essence of physical education in Naperville 203 is teaching fitness instead of sports. The underlying philosophy is that if physical education class can be used to instruct kids how to monitor and maintain their own health and fitness, then the lessons they learn will serve them for life.” Imagine that, expecting young people to be responsible for developing their own fitness goals for a lifelong trajectory.

Sounds rather like raising the bar to me.

He continues: “What’s being taught, really, is a lifestyle. The students are developing healthy habits, skills, and a sense of fun, along with a knowledge of how their bodies work.” You mean you can teach young people that fun is not separate from learning responsibility?

Now, there is a novel thought for student ministry. Just saying.

The Naperville school district ranks consistently in the top ten in Illinois even though the amount of money it spends per pupil is considerably lower than other top Illinois schools. Could it be that fitness is the most inexpensive means to raise test scores?

What has happened in Naperville did not begin with a brilliant educator with a mensa-level IQ. It started with a PE teacher who read about the growing unhealthiness of American students. But you can read Ratey’s book to get the details, and I encourage you to do so.

For the Naperville students they no longer take gym classes with inane topics like learning the dimensions of a volleyball court. They start with first period and heart rate monitors running a mile. What they discovered: learning is significantly enhanced when preceded by exercise.

If you are a student struggling with academics, and sometimes discouraged or even depressed by your setbacks, try exercising. Get up, get active, start your day by getting your body going. Just do this for a while and see what happens. More studies than can be counted have noted the positive, ripple effect of exercise on dealing with depression, on eating better, on developing discipline, and on one’s general disposition.

Now we know that it also can directly affect academic performance.

So, students, if you are serious about becoming better in your studies, don’t start in the library at a desk with a stack of books–start at your home with some running shoes or a set of weights.

You may discover you are smarter than you thought.