Tony Horton's response about Plateaus and how to overcome them

Greetings earthlings,

About six weeks ago I was in a state of boredom with my then current fitness level.. I had lost considerable amount of weight and body fat percentages over the past five years but I wanted that extra kick in my routine, especially muscle strength wise.

Now before getting towards my main topic, I want to note that there is a huge difference between muscle strength and muscle size, as you can grow a muscle all you want but that does not really mean that it has been strengthened. On the other hand, a smaller muscle does not mean it's a weak one. Strength training trains the muscles to recruit more twitch fibers in the same amount of time which means three months of hard work you maybe able to double the pull ups you can do now, and still (averagely) have the same body frame you currently have.

Back to the main topic, PLATEAUS.

Now a Plateaus in my field of study, Geology, is a high plain or a high area. In the field of fitness, which I also happen to practice, it is a point where a fellow practitioner like myself  may feel him or herself not advancing or leveling up anymore. Six seeks ago I felt like I was really hitting a plateaus and I need a tweak.

So I decided to step into Tony's world.. I decided to start P90X3, the third and latest installment of the world famous Power 90 Extreme series, or shorthand, P90X.

What's wonderful about P90X3 is the diversity of its nature of workouts, and the fact that it JUST 30 MINUTES A DAY!

Word of advice: If you feel like you're doing everything right, and somethings aren't changing, than you might as well make the change. It sure helped me!

Finally, Tony Horton was kind enough to answer my question about Plateaus on his personal YouTube channel. Watch out for the 4th minute of the video.

Enjoy,

Harith.

NutriTip (2): KALE

Greetings better health seekers,

Today's post will feature the best healthy food for P90X's creator's, Tony Horton and it's Kale.

Kale is a vegetable that typically has green or purple leaves. Considered “the queen of greens” and “a nutritional powerhouse”, Kale packs numerous health benefits in such small caloric density (49 calories per 100 grams)

Now for all the folks that might be reading from Muscat, I know it can be a hustle trying to find such items, but every week (Monday's if I remember correctly), Al-Fair major branches will have a bunch of stocks imported from the USA and they sell out quiet quickly.

Kale is best consumed steamed rather than other cooking methods.

However, if you are on the run and want a quick green refuel, here's what you can do:

- 1 cup of skimmed milk (almond milk, soy milk, or any preferred type of milk)
- Handful of Kale leaves
- 1 cucumber, sliced
- 1/2 Avocado, sliced
- Mint leaves
- 5 Ice cubes

Wash vegetables, slice them and add to blend until smooth. I added a scoop of Amazing Grass Chocolate Drink Powder

and viola,

Note that you can play with recipes according to tastes and allergies as you may, this is merely an idea.

Enjoy :)

Muscat runners: HYDRATE!

Greeting fellow runners who mile up their running shoes every time they hit the roads of Muscat,

Today's post is a very brief, plain yet very important advise: HYDRATE!

I went for a run on Athaiba beach road yesterday in the pm with a planned distance of 6 kilometers, but had to eventually cut down my mileage to 4 kilometers only. Why? Because I felt dehydration building up, although I drank a can (355 ml) of organic coconut water and yet other cups of normal water on the side.

Yahoo forecast as of 5th of June, may god help us!

Click here for a good article on preventing dehydration.

Don't cut your runs short, hydrate proper and reach your goal.

Stay safe.

NutriTip (1): SEEDS

Greetings fellow human beings,

So as a part of my promise to provide new content I will be posting a new series of posts called "NutriTip" which are nutritional information and advise that can be of interest to any one aiming towards enhancing their every day life, whether be it for fitness or just the soul purpose of eating and feeling better.

Today's tip is where every fruit sprouts from, SEEDS.

I came to realize that while my diet has been fairly well-rounded, I was lacking the input of seeds in my digestion system.

Why have them?

Let's take the flax seed for example, which I will start incorporating to my diet starting today:

Flax seed is an ancient crop that dates back to the Mesopotamian times, so even humans from such ancient time realized its health benefits.

Flax seeds are an excellent source for dietary fibers which we may sometimes neglect or forget about. They are also rich in Omega-3 fatty acids which aid lowering blood-pressure, prevent colon and prostate cancer and increase bone mineral density.

Not only that, but they are also an excellent source of vitamin E which is a powerful antioxidant.

When can you have them? 

Flax seed can be found in super markets all year round because they are easy to cultivate. Storing whole seeds can be done in a cool dry place for months, but ground seeds should be kept in an airtight container or jar in the fridge to avoid spoilage.



I am going to start having those today, what about you?

Cheers

New content coming soon!

Hello there,

So I came to realize that my last post was published last February, and a very close fitness partner noted that I should get back into blogging after stumbling on my humble electronic blog, and that I shall get back to in the very near future.

I am currently doing a hybrid program of road running and Asylum volume 1&2 workouts (done by coach Brandon) , as well as playing football twice a week.

Post MRR half-marathon hamstring injury and recent ankle strain were minor obstacles in the past few months to my ever growing quest towards having a healthier, fitter physique but I like the way things are flowing at the moment.

I'm eager to see how things will turn out, for me and for you.

All the best,

Harith.

2014 MRR Half Marathon results

Hey fellow fitness maniac,

Yesterday the 31st of January 2014 marked my very first competitive running race, in which I took part in the 2014 MRR Half Marathon in Muscat, Oman.

Initial running gear plan

As I mentioned earlier, I never came close to the distance of the race which is about 21.1 kilometers. My longest run during my training in the last few months was a 14.1 kilometers in 1:20:02 with a pace of 5:41 min/km.

Of course with this being my first race and with no prior experience I did not set a real time nor pace goal, but you and I both know how the ego inside us works.

I did a little research and came to conclude that the average finishing time for a half marathon was in the range of two hours, so I wanted to finish mine in less than that, even if it meant hitting the cross line at 1:59:59.

The running course had signs each kilometers for distance reference, but no timers, and my Polar FT7 heart rate monitor's main screen only shows the current heart BPM, so I had no idea about the elapsed time, which was a good thing if you asked me, because this way I could concentrate about just running my own race without feeling the necessity to speed up or slow down.

The real pain started at kilometer 15 if I'm not mistaken, that's when I started feeling the blisters forming and the muscles started aching, but there was no way on earth that I would stop or slow down, I kept going.

I picked up my pace and hit the gas on the last kilometer to make it count, and after passing the finish line I hit the stop button on my HRM to check my time and I was shocked by the what I saw:

Calories bye bye!

The ChampionChip used during the race revealed that my chip time (net time) was actually 1:49:02 and my gross time was 1:49:12 which meant I was averaging about 5:11 min/km.

I know that's not fast or anything, but it meant the world for me because it was way more than what my ego would even dream of.

It's important to mention that I did not incorporate enough running mileage into my training, as I was mainly using Beachbody workouts as training methods.

 I will definitely run more in the future.

First finisher medal, hopefully more to come!

BEACHBODY Agility Ladder dimensions/measurments

Hey everybody,

As I mentioned in my previous post, I received my BEACHBODY® Agility Ladder yesterday and I'm extremely anticipating using it for the first time with one of the THE ASYLUM's workouts, but that I have to do after my half-marathon and final exams.

The reason for me making this post, is that I still can't find a source on the world wide web that states the 100% exact measurements of the agility ladder sold by beachbody.

Why is that an issue?

Well, I for starters, don't live in the U.S. and so do many others. That means, for many of us, most of the beachbody gear and supplements and whatsoever products are inaccessible, which in turn means that we have to find substitutes for these products that are implemented with the workout DVD's.

After graduating from INSANITY, I made the life changing decision of stepping up to THE ASYLUM, but what held me back from starting it as early is the gear required.

Myself being in the middle east, decided to look online for agility ladders on amazon, but meant that I had to find something similar in size and shape to the original beachbody ladder, but I never found two sources that gave the same number, so I went ahead and ordered myself an Erima agility ladder that had more rungs but that was ok, because I did not open them all.

But still, the distance between the rungs was not the same both in length and width, the length of the plastic between the rungs is also longer, which overall meant that the quality of the workout would be different. Some of the moves were easier and some were harder. I did not want that.

Although the two ladders look identical, the yellow plastic on the top (Erima) is longer, which means more overall lateral length, and the rungs are 17' in width, where as the BB ladder is 14.5' 

Where are you heading with this?

Well after getting my official beachbody agility ladder, I thought I would assume the responsibility myself and share precise, accurate documented measurements of the ladder, for those in need of some sort of reference.

1) Firstly, the ladder measured from end to end, the tape shows 61.5 inches or 156 centimeters or 5'1.25".

156 centimeters/61.5 inches 

2) Secondly, the length of one rung measured in two ways, with plastic 40.6 centimeters/16 inches, without plastic 36 centimeters/14 inches:

A)

Length with plastic: 40.6 centimeters/16 inches

B)

Length without plastic: 36 centimeters/14 inches

3) Finally, the width of the rungs measured within the the rung without the black rubber connector, to give 37 centimeters / 14.5 inches

Inner width: 37 centimeters/14.5 inches

So there you have it, I hope you have no reason to delay ordering or constructing your own DIY agility ladder, and you simply start pressing play!

If you have found this information of any help, please share and subscribe or comment.

Take it easy,

Peace.

POST THE ASYLUM - VOLUME TWO UPDATE!

Hello ya'll,

So I promised myself to write a final review about NSANITY: THE ASYLUM - VOLUME TWO after having finished the program earlier this month, but I was busy with field trips and university and well, life, so I'll eventually get to that soon enough.

But since I finally got my official Beachbody Agility Ladder and my brand new Polar FT7 heart-rate monitor today I felt that I should get back to this blog, because even if nobody reads or cares, it is the way in which I feel the application of my commitment.

Say hello to the new ingredients of my fitness gourmet recipe

I've been taking it a bit easier ever since I finished the volume two, mainly between running, football (soccer) and beach volley ball. I also tried one of P90X3's cardio workout, "Accelerator" and it was no joke, and also did a couple Beta T25 workouts.

It all comes down to one very special event that is taking place on the 31st of January, which is my very first Half-Marathon race.

This being my first race my main concern and target is just finishing, but my ego wants to do that in less than two hours, which is very far away from happening by the look of my average pace during my previous runs which did not come close to the 21.1 kilometers mark.

My first recorded workout using the FT7

Today was my last training session in which I ran a light 5K, tomorrow will be "Relief" which is just stretching, followed by an off-day before the race.

See you afterwards,

Peace.

INSANITY: THE ASYLUM - VOLUME TWO: Day 27 - CHAMPIONSHIP (SUDDEN DEATH OT)

INSANITY: THE ASYLUM - VOLUME TWO:  ☑

Yes, I'm extremely and sincerely glad and proud that I managed to complete my first round of the second volume of Asylum without skipping a day, missing a workout, or changing any thing on the schedule.

However, this post will be about the day 27 workout itself, the CHAMPIONSHIP and I will post a whole review about the program sometime next week.

Today's last workout was the highly anticipated grand finale, the mother of all sports. 

I did very good throughout the workout, pretty much like last week. I had better form on the speed skating exercise, that I can say.

The Olympic weight lifting round 3 and round 4 remains my hardest enemies, due to my weakness to anything upper-body strength related.

The final SUDDEN DEATH OT fit test was awesome, I managed to get all the sequences correct with no mistake at all with minimal mess to the agility ladder, and I broke my record and met my goal of doing 9 solid rounds.

I really wish I had my Polar FT7 heart rate monitor already, because I felt like my heart was going to pop out of my chest after I was done doing the fit-test.

This concludes what I have to say about today, it was a great ride with this program and I'll definitely get back to it.

Write you soon.

Peace.

Video highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MG2SXWIhnc

INSANITY: THE ASYLUM - VOLUME TWO: Day 25 - BACK & 6-PACK and PURE CONTACT

Hello everybody,

Working out on the first day of the new year. New year's resolution? No, just me continuing my quest towards getting fitter, every day. 

So I'm sitting down sipping my post-workout milk shake (Avocado, Kiwi, Skimmed Milk and Strawberry protein powder if you want to know) and writing this post after the second double workout day in a row. 

Now BACK & 6-PACK is a really strange workout when it comes to duration, in the sense that it is not a short workout but time flies by so quickly because you're constantly changing from working on your back to working your abs. 

Today was without doubt the best time in which I performed this workout, I got more reps in and had better form. 

The PURE CONTACT was also better because I knew what was coming and I did not need to look at the screen so often, but those damn pike up routines are hard as hell!

Volleyball practice did not take place, and I'm still thinking on whether I'll join football later on.

Tomorrow will be the blessed OFF-DAY STRETCH.

See ya'll after tomorrow.

Peace.

Video highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQQ7RQeOAQg