Fitness Destinations

Every year around New Year’s Eve, people start thinking about what weight loss program they are going to use to get into shape in the New Year. Although there is absolutely no logic whatsoever in waiting until some random date on a calendar to start taking care of your body and losing weight, it happens every year just the same.

Photo Courtesy of Stefan Krilla
So, for those of you who want to make some positive changes in your life in the coming year, here is a list of the Top 5 Best New Year’s Weight Loss Programs. Choose a program that is realistic for YOU based on your interests, your goals, your present abilities, or where you will be working out, and then take action to make your weight loss happen this year!

1. Indoor/Outdoor Running

So many people say “I can’t run” or “I don’t like to run” but here’s a newsflash: Running is one of the most effective ways to lose body fat!

Even if all you do is a steady jog, you can’t deny the raw calorie burning effect of continually putting one foot in front of the other and keeping your heart rate up into the moderate to high-intensity range. You run, you lose weight. It’s just that simple.

Running Workout Program Resource:

My Treadmill Trainer – Interval training iPod workouts to help you run faster, farther, and longer. Includes iPod/iPhone running workouts; 5k, 10k, and marathon running programs; stretching, nutrition, strength, and conditioning for runners.

2. iPhone Applications

Apple’s iPhone has successfully become not just a telephone, but an all-in-one tool that has applications for pretty much any lifestyle need that you have, including health, fitness, and weight loss.

There are many, many iPhone applications that can help you to attain your weight loss goals by giving you specific instructions, motivation, information, and tracking ability, and many of the applications even let you program your own workout and then take it with you.

iPhone Application Workout Programs:

Fitness Builder – Contains a large database of workouts and exercise images & videos, as well as an entire suite of fitness tools built from a personal trainer’s one-on-one guidance.

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Gym Buddy – Simple and effective way to record and track your workouts so that you get the maximum benefit out of each and every workout.

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Absolute Fitness – Log and manage food intake, exercise, and weight, and also have access to the nutritional content of over 10,000 foods, and the calorie expenditure of almost 200 exercises. Can also set and track customized diet goals.

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Workout of the Day – 365 separate workouts, each needing absolutely no gym membership or weight training equipment of any kind.

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iStayFit – An easy to use interface with a well designed workflow so that your focus is on your workout. Fully customizable software that can be geared towards YOUR needs and specific exercise requirements.

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iPump Total Body – Includes over 400 ready made workouts, as well as the ability to drag and drop to create your own custom workouts. Includes add-on modules for many different specific fitness or weight loss goals.

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Yoga Instructor – Gone are the days of needing to go to a gym or yoga studio and listen to the same boring yoga instructor over and over again. Just turn on this app, program in the type of yoga workout you want to do, and the application does the rest.

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3. In-Home Workout Videos

You can’t beat the convenience of working out at home, and with companies like Beachbody on the scene these days, you could just give up your gym membership completely.

Beachbody has dozens of incredibly effective exercise programs, and you can check them all out at the Beachbody Store. Some of their most popular in-home workout titles are below.

Beachbody In-Home Workout Videos:

P90X- Extreme Home Fitness Program – Probably the most well-known and effective fitness program ever created, there is a reason why P90X has an almost cult-like following – because it works! Click on through to see my personal P90X results.

Insanity 60-Day Total Body Conditioning Program – This program lives up to its name, and if you like cardiovascular training (or even if you don’t!) Insanity will push you to limits that you’ve never even dreamed of, and you’ll have the results to show for it after only 60 days.

RevABS 90-Day Ab Solution – A program that is based solely on abdominal work doesn’t seem like it would be very effective, and it probably wouldn’t. RevABS, however, is not just based on ab work, but rather it is an intense, overall fitness and weight loss program that makes sure that you can SEE the abs that you work so hard for.

Brazil Butt Lift – This is probably the first fitness program that targets – and successfully builds – one specific area of the body; the butt! However, just like RevABS, Brazil Butt Lift incorporates total fitness and weight loss, not just creating a nice backside.

4. Effective Gym Workouts

If you have worked out a gym before, but didn’t get results, what makes you think that this time is going to be any different? If you are going to the gym now, or have in the past, nothing is going to “magically” change just because you have a New Year in front of you.

If you want results at the gym, you need to make sure that you are doing what you’re supposed to be doing while you are there, rather than just wasting your time.

Effective Gym Workout Resources:

Fitter U – A series of weight loss workouts that can be loaded onto your iPod or mp3 player to motivate and guide you through time-efficient and results-producing circuit training workouts.

Custom Fitness Programming – If you want results at the gym, why not have a program created JUST FOR YOU that is custom-built for whatever your personal fitness and weight loss goals are?

FitterUFitness – An exclusive monthly source of time-efficient portable athletic workouts to help you burn fat and get into the best shape of your life.

5. Clean Slate Nutrition

Nutrition and exercise go hand in hand if you want to lose weight, and if anyone ever tells you otherwise, they are straight up lying to you. You cannot lose weight and keep it off by dieting alone, just as you can’t lose weight and keep it off by exercising intensely yet not cleaning up your nutrition.

For many people, their nutrition is way out of whack from years of eating junk food, processed sugars, and chemicals in manufactured foods. Starting with “a clean slate” is a great way to kick-start a rapid weight loss program. Get all of the sludge out of your intestines, clean up the toxins that are clogging up your body’s ability to function properly, and then start eating cleaner, more natural foods in addition to an effective exercise program.

Nutritional Cleanse Resources:

Total Wellness Cleanse – A holistic cleansing plan which gives you day-by-day support, as well as a detailed dietary, exercise, and lifestyle action plan.

Beachbody 2-Day Fast Chocolate or Vanilla Shake – Lose up to 7 lbs. in 2 days with chocolate or vanilla shakes that reduce cravings and start burning off hard to lose body fat.

Click here to see my 90 Day P90X results!

In this 30-Day review of P90X, I am sharing the P90X results that my wife and I got after finishing the first of the three P90X phases.

During Phase I of P90X, you do a 6-day workout program that is the same for three weeks, and then you switch to a recovery week for Week 4. The P90X before and after pictures below were taken at the beginning of the program, and then after the final workout of week 4, which was actually Day 27.

Overall, I am very satisfied with the results, although I have already modified a few things in order to get even more out of Phase II, which is also 4 weeks long. After the pictures I will detail how to increase the effectiveness of P90X.

My Pictures

Click Picture to open up a full-size, high-res version

In this picture, you can clearly see that not only is my waist smaller than it was on Day Zero, but the lines on either side of the soon-to-be-revealed 6-pack have already started to show. Also, the glare from the camera flash off of the sweat on my chest is there because there is now an indentation there that was filled with body fat in the Day Zero picture. Click on through to see my 90 Day P90X After Pictures.

Click Picture to open up a full-size, high-res version

This picture shows so many changes, and it’s great to see all of those pull-ups and chin-ups paying off, even though I am using resistance bands instead of the pull-up bar. Notice that every visible muscle on my back is bigger, and more pronounced, and body fat that was in the Day Zero pictures is simply not there anymore. Click on through to see my 90 Day P90X After Pictures.

Click Picture to open up a full-size, high-res version

In these side pictures, you can see that the distance that my stomach sticks out from my body is visibly less than it was before, and also that the line on the left side of my stomach is getting bigger as more and more body fat gets eliminated from that area. Also, my chest is firming up as body fat goes away, and in this shot you can also see how much bigger the muscles of my upper back have become. Click on through to see my 90 Day P90X After Pictures.

My Wife’s Pictures

Click Picture to open up a full-size, high-res version

I love this picture because it is often harder for women to see results as quickly because they don’t have the larger, metabolically active, fat-burning muscles that men do. However, in only 27 days you can clearly see that my wife’s mid-section is significantly smaller than it was on Day Zero. Every area of her mid-section has become smaller, and the body fat deposits are melting away.

Click Picture to open up a full-size, high-res version

This picture clearly shows the definition in my wife’s back and shoulders, and she has also added a bit of sexy size to her back and shoulders. As a female, she won’t have to worry about getting TOO big, but continued body fat loss during the rest of P90X will ensure that all of those muscles become more defined as we move forward with the program.

How to Increase the Effectiveness of P90X

Even a program as effective as P90X can be changed up a bit in order to maximize your results. We will take what we learned during Phase I to make Phase II even more effective.

• Modify weights/resistance bands as needed – Even during a tough exercise program, you can “dog it” and not get as much out of the program. P90X is tough, and the tougher that you make it on yourself, the more you’ll get out of it. Modify the weights or the resistance bands so that on every single exercise, the last 3 or 4 repetitions are very, very challenging.
• Increase the Cardio – P90X has cardiovascular training built into the program, but if you already have a baseline level of cardiovascular fitness, you can modify, substitute, or add in cardio workouts so that you are still challenged. My wife and I are both graduates of the Insanity 60-Day Weight Loss Program, so our cardio-fitness is pretty high. We are adding in 2 additional cardio workouts each week during Phase II, and we are also substituting an hour-long, very difficult Insanity workout DVD instead of doing the Kenpo X cardio DVD that comes with P90X.
• Maximize your Calories – The P90X nutrition guide is all-inclusive and is probably one of the best nutrition planning tools that you’ll ever see. Use the guide to plan your caloric intake so that you get the most out of every calorie. For my wife and myself, we are switching from Beachbody’s whey protein supplement to their Shakeology Meal Replacement Drink. Shakeology gives you A LOT more nutritional bang for your buck, but it is still very low in calories.
• Make every workout Count – Even though P90X is 90 days long, the program is set up so that you don’t do the same workouts over and over again. There are some that you do every week, but there are others that you’ll only do 5 times during the entire 90-day period. If you want the benefits from those workouts (and you do!) then you need to make sure that every SINGLE workout is done to the absolute best of your ability.

I will be doing a 60 and a 90-Day review of P90X as we continue through the program, but I can tell you right now that P90X  is worth every dollar, every ounce of sweat, and every bit of effort.

Buy P90X Now!

I am a 2-time P90X Graduate and a Certified Personal Trainer. Purchase P90X now and I will Coach you to success through the entire 90-Day program – FREE of charge!

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Become a Beachbody Coach and save 25% off of P90X and all Beachbody products, supplements, and equipment!

If you want to workout at home, but don’t like home workout videos, then how about home workout video GAMES??

You get to burn calories while playing video games. It doesn’t get any more entertaining than that! Check out some of the home workout video games below:

Debbie Siebers is the creator of the enormously popular Slim in 6 weight loss program that has been helping overweight, non-athletic people lose weight in only 6 weeks. It is a great program for people just getting started on their weight loss journey who aren’t yet ready for something as intense as P90X or Insanity.

Debbie has increased the weight loss power of Slim in 6 by now adding the Shakeology meal-replacement drink to her 6-Day Express Slimdown program. In a nutshell, it is using Shakeology combined with Slim in 6 to lose 6 lbs and 6 inches in only 6 days.

Plus, by using the Shakeology recipe that Debbie created, your meal replacement shakes taste like a chocolate peanut butter fudgesicle! If that’s not tasty weight loss, then I don’t know what is!

By Steve Edwards, Director of Results

The whole Team Beachbody® community is abuzz about Shakeology and all the health benefits it provides. Steve Edwards answers some of the most common questions about how best to incorporate it into your diet.

Can Shakeology replace one of the meals in my workout program’s meal plan?

In general, meal replacement shakes are designed so that you drink them instead of a meal in order to lose weight. Of course, Shakeology fits into this mold just fine. In fact, given how nutrient-dense it is, I’d say it’s better than anything on the market. But even though it contains an entire day’s worth of many nutrients, it’s still only 140 calories. So, you’ll want to figure that into the equations.

Can Shakeology replace one of the snacks in my workout program’s meal plan?

This is its wheelhouse. Shakeology is formulated as a ridiculously nutrient-rich snack. Because it doesn’t have much fat, its nutrients are put to use very quickly by your body. This makes it a perfect pick-me-up snack when you’re on the go. Better, in fact, than a lot of energy drinks. It won’t have the up-front punch of, say, a Red Bull, but its sustainability should be much greater because it’s not giving you a quick mental boost; it’s providing nutrients that your body needs to get things done.

Its macronutrient ratio—the amount of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and fiber—somewhat splits the difference between a sports drink, protein shake, and recovery drink. As you know if you’ve read the label, it’s loaded with micronutrients, which are things like phytonutrients, adaptogens, and other scientific-sounding stuff. We refer to these as “micro,” but, nutritionally, they are anything but small. Many of them are absolutely essential for a healthy existence. Shakeology speeds these micronutrients into your system, which enables you to perform better.

Why don’t we hear more about the importance of micronutrients?

Not to dwell too much on conspiracy theories, but, “Big Food,” as we call the American food industry, doesn’t want us focusing on micronutrients because they’ve been destroyed in most of their foods. Things like food processing and pasteurization kill most of the micronutrients in food. These processed foods are then sprinkled with what have been lobbied to be “important” ingredients, which in reality only provide enough nutrition for survival, as opposed to thriving. This, as you can observe by watching society grow larger, is leading to all sorts of problems.

In nature, food doesn’t come this way. It has a balance of nutrients that help sustain life. It’s possible for food scientists to recreate this balance in processed foods, but this is expensive. Essentially, if it doesn’t fit the numbers that shareholders want to see, it doesn’t happen. So they make cheap food and keep us in the dark about nutrition. This is exactly why we’re in the predicament we’re in today—with obesity—because we can make calorie-rich but nutrient-poor food cheaper than we can produce natural food.

This is why Shakeology is designed the way it is. There is no single food in nature with its abundance of ingredients, but we’ve got a lot of ground to make up in our diets and, at its core, this is what Shakeology is doing.

Can Shakeology substitute for something like the P90X® Results and Recovery Formula™ (RF)?

It’s not an exact swap, but you could do a lot worse. When you’re training very hard, like those times when your body is shaking during, say, P90X Chest & Back, RF is better because your body is bonking—essentially out of glycogen, or blood sugar. Anytime you’re in this state, the quicker you can recharge your glycogen the less damage you’ll do to your muscle cells and, hence, the faster you’ll recover. It’s the one and only time sugar is a preferred nutrient in your diet.

Shakeology doesn’t have nearly as much sugar as RF. It only has a little for nutrient transport. But because its other ingredients support your digestive process also, you have rapid assimilation of nutrients. The science from the ’90s showing a small amount of protein can “piggyback” sugar and be put to use more rapidly, during or post exercise, holds true for Shakeology. It’s not as effective as a sports supplement for your hardest workouts, but at any other time, it’s pretty darn good.

How about as a protein shake?

Shakeology has an ample amount of protein. Not as much as many traditional protein shakes, but it has its advantages over many of those. The knock on protein shakes is that they digest slowly, so you can’t drink them when you’re active. Shakeology uses whey protein, which is one of—if not the—most bioavailable sources of protein there is. That means it absorbs quicker into the system than other proteins. Most proteins, especially when you get them in a whole food, take forever to digest. This means that eating protein before, during, or right after exercise is generally a waste because your body is using energy it could be using to exercise to try to digest something that won’t help you for hours. But when you combine whey protein along with Shakeology’s other nutrients, you have a high-protein shake that can fit into many different nutritional slots in your day—something lacking in a standard protein drink.

Should I still bother taking my other supplements if I’m drinking Shakeology every day?

It’s great to take your supplements along with Shakeology, because they will digest more easily. One of the limiting factors with supplements is how well your body can assimilate them, so adding them to something that you know is broken down easily by your digestive system is a plus.

We get the vitamin question a lot because Shakeology has so many vitamins in it already. However, using my above example of processed foods, most of us only get a fraction of the nutrients that we should consume on any given day, even when we’re eating more calories than we should. This is exactly why we have vitamin supplements in the first place. Throw exercise into the equation, which accelerates your body’s usage of nutrients, and you can see why we recommend so many times the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for many vitamins.

It’s important to mention two other variables here as well. First, many—if not most—of our customers are trying to lose weight. This requires reducing caloric intake while adding exercise, which increases our nutrient requirements. Starting to see an equation where multivitamins and supplements make sense? The body can be a complex organism, but this comes down to simple math. The key to losing weight is not about just reducing calories; it’s about finding a way to reduce your caloric intake and still get enough nutrients to keep your body functioning at its highest level. The key to doing this is to seek out nutrient-dense foods. As I said before, you’d be hard pressed to find something as nutrient-dense as Shakeology.

I should also point out that the RDA for vitamins is for everybody, which likely has little to do with you. Imagine one number for every person on the planet, from a 100-pound computer programmer who sits all day to a 350-pound NFL lineman. How absurd is that? Anybody, no matter how big or small, who is doing P90X is no longer an average individual. So chances are the RDA won’t fit the bill if you want your body to perform to its maximum ability.

Remember the movie Super Size Me? The average American only takes something like 600 steps a day, total! That is horrible. You do more than that warming up for a P90X workout! And then you have to consider that the agency responsible for the RDA is lobbied by those giant food companies who are trying to put as few nutrients in their foods as possible. Anyway, I don’t want to get in trouble for recommending that you consider governmental nutritional standards suspect, but do think about what you’re subjecting your body to during P90X when you make your nutritional choices.

Is there anything else you’d like to add about Shakeology?

Price holds a lot of people back, and I can understand that; it looks expensive on the surface. We tend to look at foods in a cost-to-calorie ratio, instead of a cost-to-nutrient ratio. Sure, you can buy a Big Gulp, and you get 800 calories for a dollar (or something like that). But what good are they? There are no micronutrients. It’s man-made sugar, chemicals, and byproducts of genetically modified corn and soy production—no nutrition whatsoever. Whereas if you tried to find all the nutrients in Shakeology in various foods, you’d spend forty bucks.

If you’re serious about your health, you should consider what you spend your money on. People drop three to four bucks a day on things that are a detriment to their health, without batting an eye. We’re talking the price of a latte or smoothie or any number of things that are much worse than that. The consumer is at war with a lot of corporations that are trying to poison them in order to make a quick buck. The obesity trend will only stop when we take some responsibility for our health and begin to make better food choices.

Get with the Shakeology program and start getting RESULTS!