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Get A Free Week Of P90X

Get A Free Week Of P90X

There’s nothing better than free, especially when it’s a valuable commodity. There’s also nothing more valuable than being your fittest and healthiest. Now you can get a free week of P90X, at the WorX in Alexandria, VA. There are no strings attached, just a week of a great workout and fun. That’s right. P90X is short for Power 90 Extreme. Originally, it was meant as an at-home workout program, but let’s face it, when you work out alone it’s not only hard to stay motivated, it’s not nearly as much fun as doing it in a group. You’re more likely to stick with it and the cost is far less to try it out…free is about as inexpensive as it gets.

You’ll work hard, but never be bored.

The program is varied. It’s based on a wide selection of different types of workouts. The originator, Tony Horton calls the mixed workout, “muscle confusion” because your muscles never get to settle into a repetitive movement and you keep them working hard. It’s a circuit style training that moves you quickly from one workout to another and has parts of other fitness modes lie kickboxing, cardio, yoga and plyometrics.

There’s a wide variety of workouts focusing on different types of movements and different body areas.

While the exercises may be traditional, the manner you carry them out aren’t. If you’re working on back muscles, you might start with pushups, move quickly to rowing with dumbbells or using resistance bands. Another reason it’s better to do the workout with us is that even though you can spend quite a bit to order it, when you need equipment, it doesn’t come with the course, so you have to invest even more. We supply all the equipment you need.

You get more from a workout when you vary it frequently.

Studies show that varying your routine often helps build muscles faster and prevents plateauing. Plateauing occurs when the muscles become adept at doing a specific move, due to repetition. As it becomes more efficient, you’ll burn fewer calories. That’s why you only do routines for three weeks and switch to a new workout program on the fourth. After three weeks of that, you switch to another, then four weeks later back to the first.

  • P90X isn’t for the faint-hearted or anyone that wants to glide through their workout without breaking a sweat. It’s tough!
  • You can’t out-exercise a bad diet, so there’s nutritional advice ready if you need it.
  • When you workout at The WorX, you get the advantage of an accountability program that helps you clarify your goals and stick with it.
  • You’ll love the changes you see in such a short time and be ready to take up the challenge and go for more. It’s a perfect example of how much fun getting fit can be when you’re working with others who have similar goals.

Get An Accountability Partner

Get An Accountability Partner

What is an accountability partner? In fitness, it’s someone you workout with that holds you accountable for your workout. It’s not that you make them your boss or your guardian, it’s just the courtesy you extend to a friend. If you know you’re meeting someone at the gym, you’ll be more likely to go. They’re also accountable to you for the same reason. There are huge benefits from working out with another person, besides the fact that you’ll be more accountable to go to the workout.

Personal trainers act as accountability partners.

You make an appointment with a trainer, just as you do with other professionals, and you’re more apt to go to that appointment than you would if you were simply going to the gym. Besides the fact that the trainer has a great deal of knowledge that helps you get fit faster and creates the right workout for you, it’s one of the reasons people are more successful when they use a personal trainer. He or she is that person’s accountability partner. Yours could be a friend or a family member. You could also have more than one. If you’re going to group training, find a friend to go with you, then you’ll have both the trainer and the friend.

You can have fun with an accountability partner and still get a good workout.

If you’re the competitive type, you might find yourself working harder or pushing further just to get one up on your partner. It’s healthy, friendly competition that will drive both of you. If you’re not competitive, you might find that commiserating together over tough workouts or cheer each other onto to a successful completion.

An accountability partner can provide more safety and some good insight into a workout.

You can’t be perfect at everything, that’s why four eyes and ears are better than two and two heads are better than one. If you’re working with an accountability partner, he or she can often fill in the gaps on anything you missed while watching a workout or learning a routine. You do the same for them. They also provide more safety for sports like weight lifting or a safety net when running early in the morning or at dusk.

  • You’ll be more likely to push harder and accomplish goals when you have an accountability partner. People tend to do more when they know someone is watching.
  • Not only does an accountability partner provide an appointment for a workout, they make a workout more fun. Time goes more quickly and you barely notice how hard you’re working, so you tend to work longer.
  • If you’re working out at a gym on your own, an accountability partner can provide interesting input on exercises they’ve tried, for more variety.
  • Working with an accountability partner makes you more adventurous. You tend to try new types of workouts and alternative methods of exercise.

How To Stick To Your Diet When No One Is Supporting You

How To Stick To Your Diet When No One Is Supporting You

Whether you’re eating healthier for weight loss or to become fitter, it’s hard to stick to your diet, especially if you don’t have anyone supporting you. If your family insists on sitting at a table filled with fried or fast foods and your whole goal is to eat fresh and healthy, you find yourself struggling with your resolve, at best, feeling disdain for your family or at worse, giving up entirely. There are solutions to this problem.

Remember, it’s your decision, and not theirs to make.

People may not be ready to eat healthier and you’re reminding them with every bite that they should. They may feel threatened that if you change, you’ll leave them behind in the dust, change your overall relationship—especially true where the other person is the dominant one—or simply don’t believe you’ll stick with it. You must remember, no matter what they THINK, ultimately you decide whether you’re going to eat healthier or not.

You might need to ask for their support.

Some people just aren’t aware that you need their help or are in the dark why you made the decision to eat healthier. Share your plans with your family and tell them that you need help. Approach it as a healthier eating style, rather than a diet and see if they’d like to join you in it. You may get some moans and groans, but if you focus on yummy recipes, fixing your food separately and only sharing a bite after they beg, you’ll often find each one slowly jumping on the bandwagon of healthy eating.

Find people who do offer support.

Your healthy eating family doesn’t have to be your immediate family. It can be friends who share your interest or are just super supportive or a group class at the gym. You’ll often be surprised that most of these people would love support from you, too. That’s one reason I’m proud of the program we have here. Not only are the trainer’s super supportive, all the members are too.

  • Plan, plan, plan. To make it easier, create menus for yourself, shop and prepare a week’s worth of meals over the weekend. You won’t have to rush around when you’re exhausted after work and be tempted to stop at Burger Quickie.
  • Eating healthy doesn’t have to be an all or nothing thing. Start introducing your family to healthier foods, supplementing their meals with traditional favorites. Eventually, change those recipes to healthier ones. Be careful, do it slowly, or they’ll notice.
  • Focus on flavor. Learn to add more herbs and spices to create new, more exotic tastes.
  • Have snacks ready to eat. If you have a bowl of cut up watermelon in the refrigerator, you’ll be more likely to eat it rather than searching for a sugary treat. Have healthy snacks like veggies, dip and nuts and seeds ready.

Male Eating Disorders

Male Eating Disorders

If you though only women were prone to eating disorders, think again. Today, the rise in male eating disorders is disturbing. In fact, one in every three people with an eating disorder is a male. It occurs for the some of the same reasons female eating disorders occur, but many have the added burden of trying to hide their disorder and avoiding seeking help, since it’s often thought of as primarily a “problem faced by women, not men.”The type of disorders are the same and include binge-eating disorder, anorexia and bulimia. These, especially anorexia, can affect males as young as 8.

Just like their female counterparts, it starts with societies vision of the perfect body image.

You don’t find overweight and flabby men who flaunt sex-appeal and attractiveness in commercials. Check out GI Joe action figures. They’re buff with the perfect V and if they were human, would have no body fat. Little boys look at the images presented by society as the ideal physique and hope to achieve those unattainable results. It’s similar to young girls idealizing the bodies of Barbie dolls, who would have a bust line that’s 39 inches, a waist that’s 18 inches, hips that were 33 inches, a shoe size of three and she’d be 5’9″ in height if you used the same proportions of her body.

Men have another disorder that’s more a male thing.

Men who have eating disorders may also have an unsatisfied need to develop huge muscles. I use the term unsatisfied, because no matter how buff they are, it’s never enough. They may even see themselves as skinny or underweight. This dysfunction is called muscle dysmorphia and is seem often in body builders. It reflects a compulsion to build muscle tissue, spurring the individual to spend hours at the gym bulking up, eating an odd selection of foods specifically to build muscles, spending far too much on supplements and even taking dangerous substances to enhance muscle building, such as steroids.

It’s not just how those with eating disorders view the media hype that causes these problems.

While media hype may put the “perfect” body in front of men, there’s more going on than just blindly following society’s perception of perfection. Many of those suffering from it have other issues, like lower self-esteem and feeling out of control and helpless. Controlling their weight and the way they look may be their way of regaining control of their life. Perfectionism tends to be a trait that these men have in common.

  • Eating disorders are linked to depression and other mental issues. While it’s unclear, which came first, the disorder or the depression, one thing is certain, those with eating disorders have a disproportionately higher incidence of anxiety disorder, depression and substance abuse.
  • Watch for signs of danger, such as extreme dieting, weight loss and over exercising for those with anorexia and bulimia. Anyone who binges frequently, may be the start of binging. If you notice the obsession with food has affected other areas of life, that man may need the help of a professional.
  • People with bulimia don’t necessarily share an issue of perfectionism with anorexics, but rather have a more spontaneous and impulsive nature.
  • If you recognize yourself or others in any of the descriptions, seek help. These disorders can damage organs, like the brain, heart and bones. Karen Carpenter, famous for her singing in the 70s and 80s both solo and part of the group, the Carpenter’s, died of heart damage attributed to anorexia at the age of 32.

How To Get Past Your Biggest Fitness Hurdles

How To Get Past Your Biggest Fitness Hurdles

No matter who you are, there’s always a voice in your head giving you reasons not to workout that day. Sometimes, those voices are barely perceptible and don’t affect your dedication. However, at other times they scream and are your biggest fitness hurdles. Some of these seem like legitimate reasons, but they fall apart when you actually analyze them.

Time is a huge factor for many people, but it shouldn’t be.

No matter how busy you are, getting in shape should remain a high priority. Good health allows you to remain on the job, beat the stress of the day and enjoy your life more. One method of battling this block is to consider the extra energy that exercise and healthy lifestyle brings, you realize getting fit can actually be a time saver, helping you get through tasks faster and having energy left at the end of the day to enjoy.

Self-consciousness and embarrassment can stop you from exercising with others.

Whether you should feel embarrassed or not about your body image or understanding of fitness doesn’t make a difference. Almost everyone feels awkward and uncomfortable the first few times at the gym. Even if it nobody judges, the potential it might happen could stop you from working out and shouldn’t. At the Worx, everyone is friendly and that comradery makes it fun. The best way to overcome this hurdle is to remember that these are strangers and you don’t need to impress them or worry about what they say. Of course, it only takes a week or two of working out to realize nobody is judgmental. In fact, our one week free trial is a good way to do it.

Financial reasons may seem legitimate, but not if you look at it closely.

Look at your budget closely and see if you spend slightly over a few dollars a day on unnecessary items. The price of a Starbucks grande coffee that many people pick up on their way to work is a few dollars and that candy bar you pick up at the gas station counter or grocery on the way home adds another few. We offer an online service to guide you that’s just slightly over $2 a day, making it very affordable and another hurdle breaker is realizing it costs you nothing to workout at home.

Sometimes people think exercising is boring. That’s only because they haven’t been challenged with exciting programs like Group Fitness P90X.

Sometimes health conditions or fear of injury can stop people. If your doctor said it would be bad for your health, then it’s a definite NO. However, most people simply worry without basis, particularly if they have personal trainer that considers their special needs.

Eating healthy shouldn’t be a problem, but when you’re first learning what to change, a sample diet is helpful.

Running out of day before you exercise is a hurdle many people face. That’s one reason signing up for boot camps or using a personal trainer is so effective. It’s a scheduled appointment. You can do the same even if you workout at home by putting your workout in your schedule and make it an appointment with good health.


Great Apps To Help You Stay Fit

Great Apps To Help You Stay Fit

You don’t spend yur entire day in the gym or with your personal trainer, so for the times you’re on your own, consider using technology as an aid. There are great apps to help you stay fit that can track your food intake or steps, help you make smarter choices in food and provide a host of other help. One of my favorites is RunKeeper. This app tracks you as you run and gives you information about things like distance, pace, number of calories burned and time. It offers audio coaching with a tool to share socially.

Fuducate helps you make smarter decisions when it comes to food.

Just like a personal trainer, this app doesn’t provide a diet, but teaches you how to make smarter decisions when it comes to buying food. What’s even better is that it makes label reading easier by providing a tool that scans the bar code and instantly provides all the ingredients, healthy alternatives and nutritional facts about each product on the shelf. There’s a database of 200,000 products, so it spans most of the choices available. It also has food tracking tools as well as a grocery list.

Get the beat to keep you moving.

Some of my clients love to exercise “freeform” on the days they’re not at the gym. Some do simple calisthenics at home, others run, while many often dance to fast music putting their heart and soul in each movement. There’s nothing wrong with those options. Just walking is good for the heart, so you can imagine how great boogying down can be for cardio. Fit Radio provides non-stop streaming high-energy music that will make your workout easier and fun.

Paprika helps you eat healthy and is good for your budget.

Do you find yourself stumped when it comes to grocery shopping and even more confused when you’re trying to decide what to eat. This app helps you plan meals and even helps you shop. You can save recipes on it and make a record of the food you have already. That way when you choose the recipes you want to make, it can tell you the ingredients you need. You can plan meals for a week or for as much as a month, so there’s no last minute quest to figure what’s for supper, which might otherwise end up as less than healthy.

IEatWell is an app that focuses on how well you eat providing rewards for eating healthy judged by what you tell it you’re eating or the photo you provide.

Fooducate helps educate you on how healthy food is, grading it on its nutritious value. It also helps you find the healthiest foods.

Eat This Much first learns your eating goals and food preferences, then makes suggestions with recipes also based on the number of meals you eat daily and the amount of calories you want to consume.

If you want help creating workouts at home, the Johnson & Johnson Official 7 minute workout app will provide them. It not only has the original 7-minute workout, it also has many others that vary in length and intensity.


See What Happens If You Don't Give Up

See What Happens If You Don’t Give Up

Too many people get discouraged when it comes to achieving their fitness goal. They don’t see the results in the first few days, so they give up. If you keep the prize in mind, your goal, and persevere, you’ll be amazed to see what happens if you don’t give up. You’ll achieve far more than you ever expected possible, while looking and feeling fitter than ever.

Becoming overweight and out of shape didn’t occur overnight.

You didn’t go to bed one night and wake up the next morning 20, 30 or 40 pounds heavier. It happened over time. Don’t expect the change to be sudden. However, it can be quicker than you think to see some results from your efforts, especially if you follow the plan we created together to a T. The amount of rewards you get back are directly proportional to the amount of effort you put into anything. Keep at it and you’ll achieve any goal you really want.

Never quit believing.

The power of belief can take you a long way toward success. When you first start working out and eating healthier, you may so no improvement for a few days. Suddenly, as if by magic, you’ll shed a pound or two. The belief in a program of healthy eating and regular exercise, plus the belief in your own abilities to change your future kept you going until you saw the results you hoped to achieve. YOU CAN DO ANYTHING!

If you doubt anything can help, use that to your advantage.

Sometimes, everyone gets discouraged. I see it all the time with people who come to me for help. They’ve tried to lose weight before and either didn’t succeed, quit after a few pounds or lost the weight they wanted, then regained it again. They never made the changes in their daily habits that are necessary for permanent success. I tell those doubting people they have to follow my instructions to the letter in order to prove me wrong. If it doesn’t work when you do that, you can say, “I told you so.” In fact, I even recommend they take the special 21-day training, follow everything and see what happens. I know they can succeed, just like you can, because I believe that everyone has the ability to get back into shape.

Drink plenty of water on your way to fitness. That may sound odd, but water not only helps you lose weight, with your new workout plan, you’ll need to replenish and rehydrate.

Make smarter choices when it comes to food. I won’t give you a diet, but help you learn how to eat healthier. The combination of healthy eating and regular exercise takes weight off faster.

Always believe you can achieve. Don’t weigh yourself every two hours to see if you weigh less. Weigh yourself once a week at the same time. Even if you don’t shed a pound, you’ll probably lose inches.

Take note of other signs of improved fitness, such as more endurance, strength and flexibility. Appreciate every gain you’ve made on your road to getting fitter.


Reasons To Workout In The Morning

Reasons To Workout In The Morning

There are good reasons to workout in the morning. That doesn’t mean that if morning is an impossibility for you that you should skip the gym and give up, just that if you’re one of those people who have the ability to choose between a morning workout and another time of day, choose the morning. Normally, the gym is less crowded and you’re not yet wound up in the dramas of the day, so it creates a peaceful atmosphere, like a mini vacation with sweat.

You’ll jump start your metabolism for the day.

Whether you’re a morning person or not, an early morning workout gets your body going. I’ve had clients that told me it takes several cups of coffee and about two hours before they could mumble cohesive sentences whom I convinced to come to the earliest session. Their day was already hectic and a workout became harder to fit into their schedule as each hour passed. Each one of them took me up on the challenge and each one of them were amazed at how different they felt once they did. One study at Brigham Young University showed that when people worked out in the morning, they were more active the rest of the day. Another showed they burnt more calories throughout the day than those who didn’t exercise early.

When you workout early, you’ll be more likely to be consistent.

You know it yourself, as the day wears on, there are new demands on your time. A project can run overtime and before you know it, you’ve missed your workout session. Getting an early bird start avoids many of the conflicts that occur throughout the day. If you’re the checklist type of person, you’ve checked it off your list and can focus the rest of your day on other things.

You’ll become a human dynamo.

Even though you go into the workout with one eye closed, it will soon change before the end of the first set. While you might want that first cup of coffee to make it to the workout, once the workout begins, your body will provide the wake up call and become the source of energy. Studies show that exercise is a better stimulant than even coffee. It gets the blood circulating and wakes up the mind. That super zip to your step is one reason you shouldn’t exercise at night or you’ll find it hard to fall asleep. The water you drink to rehydrate also provides more energy than coffee.

You’ll do a better job throughout the day and be mentally quicker. One study shows that a brisk workout can boost your cognitive abilities by 12 percent. Coffee only gives a 6 percent boost.

Do you shower in the morning? Then a morning workout actually saves you the time it takes. You’ll get your after workout shower/hair/make-up prep and morning shower all at the same time.

Start your day with a smile. Sure you’ll face many challenges and rigors of the day, but you’ll have the happy hormones on your side that the body creates during a workout.

You’ll get many health benefits, one of which is lower blood pressure. One study at Appalachian State University showed that people who worked out in the morning had the benefit of lowering their blood pressure by 10 percent and that not only stayed lower throughout the day, lowered to up to 25 percent at night.


Stay Mentally Motivated

Stay Mentally Motivated

%image_alt%If you’ve worked out before but found it almost impossible to stay mentally motivated, which ultimately led you to quit, you probably had the wrong workout program. While any program for getting into shape will help if you follow through diligently, it’s not always that easy. Having one that’s made specifically for your needs will give you the best results. It should be hard and challenge you, but not so hard that you get discouraged and give up in the process. That’s why using a personal trainer can be so helpful. Trainer’s make sure the program works for your level of fitness and fitness needs.

You should have fun with your workout.

One of the reasons I recommend group training is that it’s so much more fun than working out alone. You have the group energy that helps boost you up when you’re down and drives you harder when you’re feeling your best. Having fun while you workout makes you look forward to the next session and that’s a huge part of recipe for success.

Learn to do just one more.

Most of the people I work with are happy when they’ve accomplished their goals, but some of the most successful people that get the biggest results are those with the “one more” attitude. Whether they’re struggling to achieve their goals or mastered a workout, they use the attitude of just one more. Before they give up they focus on doing just one more and do the same after that. Tackling the last few push-ups, weights or other exercise with the attitude of just one more gets you to your goal before you know it and then helps you surpass it.

Keep your exercise program varied.

One reason we vary the exercise programs so much is to prevent plateauing. Plateauing occurs when your body becomes too efficient at doing a specific movement. While efficiency is normally good, when you exercise it means you don’t burn as many calories. Of course, varying your workout also helps keep you mentally focused and prevents boredom that can occur from doing the same routine repeatedly.

When you workout, keep your mind focused on the movement of each muscle and muscle group. You’ll be amazed at how much command you start to develop over your body.

Have big goals, but also break them down to smaller ones. While your overall goal may be huge, having smaller, more easily accomplished goals can help keep your head in the game.

Check out your progress in other ways besides loss of inches or weight. When you realize you can workout five minutes longer than you did a week before without getting winded or are able to lift five more pounds, you’ll get a boost of satisfaction to keep you mentally focused.

Keep your eye on the prize. Always keep your goal in mind. It helps you stay more mentally motivated.


Is It Time To Get Back On The Fitness Wagon?

Is It Time To Get Back On The Fitness Wagon?

%image_alt%You can get back on the fitness wagon, but the longer you wait, the more difficult it becomes. It’s not impossible, but don’t expect to pick up where you left off when it comes to fitness. Every week you don’t workout, your level of fitness goes backward. A study at the University of Copenhagen tested not only how much muscle mass was lost by inactivity, but also how long it took to regain it. After having one leg immobilized for two weeks in a knee brace, men in their 20s lost between 22 percent and 34 percent of the muscle strength, while those in their 60s and 70s lost between 20 and 26 percent. It took six weeks of regular exercise to regain muscle mass, but their leg strength was still 5 percent to ten percent lower than when the study began.

It may take a little longer than planned but you can do it.

Don’t expect to hop of the couch and run a marathon, but do expect to see results quickly with the right program. As a personal trainer, I create programs that help people maximize the time they spend working out and get the most from each session at the gym. You’ll build muscle mass while you shed pounds. The longer you workout, the better your results will be.

Losing weight is easier with a program of regular exercise.

One of the reasons that exercise is so beneficial to weight loss is that it builds muscle tissue. Increasing muscle tissue not only tones your body, it also burns calories faster. That’s because muscle tissue requires more calories than fat tissue does, so you’ll be boosting your metabolism and burning extra calories 24/7. You’ll look slimmer too, even if you never lost a pound. One cubic inch of muscle tissue weighs far more than a cubic inch of fat, so it takes up less space. It’s like comparing the container for a pound of metal to one for a pound of feathers. The feather container will be much larger.

Find out that working out can be fun.

You may start out dreading your new journey back to fitness, but you shouldn’t. It actually can be a lot of fun. It doesn’t have to be all calisthenics and push-ups. There are many new ways of exercising that you’ll enjoy and even look forward to doing. Working out with a group also increases the fun and motivation. Everyone supports one another and cheers each other on to victory.

You’ll burn off the hormones created by stress. That clears your head and leaves you feeling far better. One of the hormones, cortisol, is associated with the accumulation of abdominal fat, so you’ll shed fat there too.

You’ll improve your posture quickly. That improved posture also makes you look thinner and more confident.

When you combine a healthy diet with regular exercise, you’ll see dramatic results quickly and watch pounds seem to fall away.

No matter when you start a fitness program, it can help you live longer and healthier. One study noted that for every minute you workout, you’ll get seven minutes more of healthy life.