Tag: Tony Horton

10.43&4 – WOD Monday and Bootcamp Weights With Balance!

Tony H bringing stability balls into the male gym rat psyche.

Monday was kind of a compromise, I asked the girls to come up with several moves and I put the numbers up. What we ended up with was a fast (sub-10 minute) workout that was appropriate given the length of training and the heat.

5-10-15-20-15-10-5
Push Ups
V Snaps
Air Squats
Double box dips

It’s 80 reps of each but for such light movements we really should have gone to 25 which would have put the total at 125 each. Even that would only have been 15 minutes. Without doing pullups, these WOD type workouts are very short, sometimes too short but like I said, given the situation, it was fine.

Tuesday bootcamp was weights and balance which meant stability ball use and dumbbells. I liked this workout, it is basic and at the same time challenging due to the balance component, especially when you alternate sides! It looked like this:

D11 4.6.1 Weights

10 Clean
10 Swings
10 Clean and Press
10 Swings
10 Snatch or clean and press
10 Swings

Sitting on Stability Balls Sets of 10 each
x2
Overhead pullover
Laying Fly face up
Sitting press
Sitting curl
Double Tricep extension
x2
Plank row
Floor laying chest fly
Low kneel shoulder press
kneeling single arm curl
football throw extension
x2
Overhead pullover alternating
face up overhead fly alternating
alternating shoulder press
alternating bicep curl
Military pushup feet on ball
x2
High Pull
Incline chest fly
Halo
Hammer double curls
Single bent over tricep extension

R9D45 Bootcamp 2.9.2 – Cardio. Plus Tony H Ditches Veganism For A Sensible Diet (Paleo)

So an interesting article caught my eye this morning, Tony Horton claiming that “Yes, I was a vegan for years — and I felt great doing it. But the problem was that I couldn’t keep weight on, eating just veggies, fruit, beans, and nuts, so I had to rethink my strategy. I still eat tons of veggies, but I’m now a free-range chicken, wild salmon and other healthy fish-eating type of guy, too. I’ve also cut back on my grains, having discovered that the less gluten I eat, the better it is for my body and brain chemistry.”

It appears that the Paleo diet is already becoming an accepted mainstream methodology in the fitness community, Tony goes on to mention that the P90X2 diet is basically a paleo approach which leaves us early adopters with that not so special feeling. I don’t really care to be honest, I have managed to get to where I want to be with my weight for the first time in my life so Paleo has worked it’s magic for me. I just would encourage everyone to give it a try, it’s really coming of age as the best way to control weight and sickness by modifying your intake.

Bootcamp on Wednesday was great, we had another visitor, a sister of one of my kids and so it was great to let the group show off what they can do. I am hoping it was tough enough for them and for her! I also was back at the gym on Thursday night to help coach the provincial kids for another 4 hours so it’s been a busy couple of days.

As for the cardio day, it looked like this:

D18 2.9.2 Cardio with blocks

2x section
20 block plank run
10 block burpee
20 block plank run
10 block pushup jacks
20 block plank run

4-8-12-16
jacks
mary katherine switch
knees up
heels up

2x section
10 step up and back
10 step up and over run around
10 block jumps
10 block jumps up and over run around
10 clear jumps run around

2x section
10 side to side step up and over tap
10 side jump up and down far side
10 grapevine up and back increasing speed
10 grapevine round the world

1x section
10 lenghtways step up step down run back
10 lenghtways jump up jump down run back
10 4 box jumps, jump up and over run back
10 4 box jumps with 4 jacks jump up and over run back

foot tap around the block each way
20 jacks
10 burpee hands on block
24 foot tap, 24 jacks, 12 burpee
12 foot tap, 12 jacks, 8 burpee
6 foot tap, 6 jacks, 4 burpee
12 foot tap, 12 jacks, 8 burpee
24 foot tap, 24 jacks, 12 burpee

4-8-12-16-12-8-4
jacks
mary katherine switch
knees up
heels up

R5D27 – The Return Of P90X Plyometrics.

plyoI started my rest week yesterday with a return to the Plyometrics DVD from the P90X series. I had expected that I would experience it the way I did when I went through the program “properly” the first and second times.

I was mistaken.

If there was ever a time when I needed validation, this was it. I have complained incessantly about not doing enough work, feeling like I am not as fit as I was or bitching about only having to work out 20 minutes a day. Well, I was wrong. I apologize unreservedly and I will cease and desist immediately. Plyometrics was a walk in the park. It is a good thing I decided to call this rest week because as Tony related his story about hiring “Hot Shots” to do the video who were unable to keep up, little did I know I would be thinking the same of him a few minutes later. In fact, I got annoyed at the length of rest he was taking, irritated by the breaks and amazed at how little work he seemed to be doing. Not only him, but his cronies as well. When the video first started, rather than silence Tony I chose “NORMAL” from the choice screen. Normal indeed, it’s amazing that I seem to have exceeded the X in P90X! I finished the workout feeling like a thoroughbred that had been loaned to a six year old for a birthday party and forced to trot around a corral instead of being allowed to gallop through the fields. It was, in a word, frustrating. It was also exhilarating to know that my fitness level is higher than it was when I finished P90X even without the hour long workouts. Maybe HIT works after all?!

I am not going to lie, it was refreshing to follow along and not think about the workout. It brought back lots of memories from the early days and the times when I crushed the workouts and felt so proud of myself. I never did rock star hops, they were always too hard and I could never keep up with Dom during the tuck jumps. Not so today, I crushed them both.

Colour me proud.

Tony Horton – Off The Vegetarian Deep End

The Facebook update from Tony today was preambled by this:

“I eat fish and chicken but 90% of my diet is plant based.” That in itself is really not that shocking, although the percentage may be scrutinized to provide enough protein and fat however, the site he is promoting goes on to say this:

“The feature film Forks Over Knives examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods.”

If you watch the preview, it makes some valid points, and exposed the correct issues, however, it draws the wrong conclusion, that the solution to everything is “plant based foods”. While I agree that plant based foods are part of the secret, the bigger piece is animal based protein. We are going to see a lot more of this now, people rising up against what is popular but at the same time rising up against the common enemy which, I think by now, most people are aware is refined carbohydrate and sugar. However, with the increase in popularity of the Paleo lifestyle, we are going to see more vehement vegan idiots coming to the fore telling us that we are herbivores, we aren’t designed to eat meat, and that meat rots in your colon. I was going to put links to all the contrary evidence here but let’s be honest, if you really think that being a vegetarian (or worse, vegan) is the way to go about your life, go ahead. Please don’t tell anyone, don’t try to push your ideals on anyone, you are just going to tire yourself out. And don’t try to lift that chip on your shoulder, you don’t have the muscle mass for it.

So it will be an interesting movie, but I can already tell that it’s sole purpose is to promote vegetarianism as a lifestyle solution which I have to say, for my own sense of justice, is not the right thing to do. I just wonder how far it will go to prove a point against the Paleo lifestyle or indeed if it will avoid it all together just in case someone notices the man behind the vegetarian curtain.

“the first generation that lives less than it’s parents”? they already are living less… and that is the previous generation’s fault for teaching poor choices, allowing their kids to be lazy and fostering a permissive lifestyle. More choice doesn’t mean less responsibility, it means more vigilance and higher awareness.

The comments section of  the post is already filled with vegetarians Vs Paleoists. It’s a fun read, both sides are equally passionate and almost as persuasive as each other, except when the vegetarians say that the human body wasn’t designed to eat meat. It should be legal to hunt and eat vegetarians… they would taste like grass fed beef but look like you were eating a giant chicken wing…

Tony Goes Off

OK I admit, Tony is a certain way on his videos that some of us find a little hard to take. However, it’s about getting the message across and in case any of you were in any doubt as to Tony’s true feelings towards you and all those P90X users out there then check out the Tony Rant from the chat room some time ago. It’s a good read and puts Tony right back at the top of the respect list where he belongs. Just until the next time he does the bait and switch with the 40lb dumbbells and hangs his participants out to dry.

TONY GOES OFF – AND USES CAPITALS THE WHOLE WAY!!!!