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Paleo and P90X: Round 2

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Its summer and the weather here just can’t decide what it wants to do. Some days it’s hotter than blazes and some days it’s somewhat chilly. On the really hot days it’s difficult to get motivated to do anything. The heat just sucks the energy out of me and it seems like I’m tired all the time.

I didn’t manage to start P90X last week. I intended to but late nights and no motivation to make an early start kept me from starting it again. I need to get the prerequisites out of the way. Body measurements and before pictures are both really nice to have.

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Paleo, P90X and Summer

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Wow! It’s been about a month since I did a post. It’s interesting the turns in the road this journey called life takes us on. I’ve been extremely busy over the past several weekends and haven’t really had time to sit down and write a good blog post. I had the opportunity to travel again this weekend and chose to stay home instead.

Speaking of travel, I’ve been doing a lot of that over the past month. June 21st-24th I drove up to Moscow, Idaho and drove back. That’s about 1100 miles round trip. I was sick that weekend for the first time in several years. I quite literally haven’t been sick in years and the day I needed to drive up there I got sick. The following Wednesday evening I drove up to Portland, Oregon which is about a 280 mile drive and hopped on a plane for St Louis, Missouri. I drove back from St. Louis which is an 1800 mile trip. Last weekend I drove back up to Portland for the premier of a movie called “I’m Fine, Thanks”. That was another 560 miles of driving. This weekend I had the opportunity to drive another 300 miles to see family and decided to stay home instead.

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Paleo Diet and Exercise: Motivation

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I was thinking today about motivation. I’ve been lacking it the last several days and I was wondering why it’s lagging. I’m trying a new experiment this week from a pure budgetary stand point. I spend about $8+ per week on coffee and I thought I’d just try cutting it out completely and see how that goes. If it works out I’ll have $32+ per month to devote to something else.

The last two days when it’s time to do my morning exercise I’ve really just felt like going back to bed. I’m not sure if this is a motivation issue or a lack of coffee issue. I’ve switched to tea and tea also has caffeine so I’m really not sure.

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Paleo Diet and Exercise Cons?

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I came across an interesting discussion board over the weekend where a guy is working on creating a book detailing the cons of the Paleo Diet. I’ve never been a person who follows trends, diets, workout routines or any sort of fad so I hadn’t really thought about if there were any cons. The only ones I had seen mentioned previously were the caution about being grumpy the first couple weeks of the diet as your body weans itself off of the carbs and opiates in grain.

As I was reading the discussion thread what occurred to me is that some people will take anything to the extreme. It’s as if you tell them a little bit of something is a good thing and they automatically jump to the assumption that if a little bit is a good thing then a lot must be better. I’m not quite sure how that logic works. If a little bit of taxes are a good thing then a lot of taxes must be better. If a few bee stings can stimulate your immune system then walking into a bee hive must be better. If a few days a week of heavy weights is good for you then 24/7 weightlifting must be better. If a little bit of wine is good for your stomach then drinking until you have alcohol poisoning must be better.

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Geeky science behind the Paleo Diet

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Alright, so, I’ve been somewhat blindly following the Peleo Diet for something like six weeks now. I did some reading for a couple weeks and it sounded good so I decided to do it. The reading I did didn’t give me enough facts to cure my geeky curiosity and even though I’ve been blindly following the diet, with good results, I still wanted to know more.

Dr. Loren Cordain has some absolutely wonderful resources on his website that fully detail the science behind the Paleo diet. The problem is they are scientific papers and they are very dense reading. They use a lot of big words and you really have to work to understand what the paper is saying. They are certainly not an enjoyable read. I doubt people in the scientific community would even want to read these papers.

My goal with this post is to give good information on the Paleo Diet without using too much scientific jargon. Since I DO want to go into the science I’m not going to avoid all the jargon. So, without further ado… Continue reading →

P90X and Paleo

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As I was doing P90X this morning I had a sudden motivation to write a blog post. It was sort of odd. I’ve been feeling a lot more energetic lately and feeling like the general lethargy that’s followed me around the last few years is starting to slough off.

I’ve been doing P90X for four weeks and this is the ‘recovery phase’ to get ready for the next four week of intensity. Yesterday was Core Synergistics which was a new workout. I assumed since this was supposed to be an easy week that the workouts would be light and I was honestly not looking forward to an easy week. Core Synergistics kicked my butt and I’m actually a little sore again.

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P90X Gear

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I saw a post on another site the other day where someone was wondering how much gear is needed to do P90X. The forum I was on never answered the question so I thought I’d throw an answer out in case someone is looking.

The minimal gear you need is:

Chin-Up bar

Resistance Bands or Dumbbells

When you purchase from Beachbody there are certain ways you can do so where they will send you one free band. I haven’t used mine yet. The weights on your dumbbells should probably go up to 40 pounds per if you are a guy. You do need two dumbbells. I’m not sure what to recommend for girls. In most of the videos they use from 8 to 12 pounds per. I’ve known women in my life that can out lift me and outrun me both so I never underestimate. Ladies…use your own judgment.

Additional equipment you may want:

Power Stands or push up stands

Yoga Mat

Yoga Blocks

The minimal gear is fine to get you started. I do my work out on the carpet in the living room and use a towel as the Yoga Mat. It’s really easy to get started and you really don’t need much gear. Beachbody sells all the gear and they attempt to give you a discount when you sign up. If you have the money their gear looks pretty nice. I couldn’t really see spending the money myself.

Take care!

Joe

 

Paleo Exercise: Some Additional Thoughts

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I’ve spent a little time this week thinking about “Paleo Exercise”. When I created this site my intent was “Paleo Diet” and “Exercise”. I’ve already done a post that defines some of the exercise a Paleo person would get and that post can be found here.

What are some of the common activities a Paleo Person would do in a typical day? Well, there’s hunting, gathering roots, vegetables and fruits, building shelter, building tools and weapons and possibly building traps to better hunt animals. Otherwise it seems they sat around camp or the fire telling stories and just enjoying each other’s company.

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Paleo Diet week 4 Anniversary and exercise via P90X week 2 Anniversary

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Another week complete on the Paleo Diet! I mentioned in an earlier post that this week has been difficult from a temptation stand point. I’ve managed to stay to two non Paleo meals this week and my third will be today. On the overall a success but I wish it was easier to stay Paleo.

I read a post this week on NerdFitness where he mentioned Hunger Games and Katniss living a Paleo lifestyle. I haven’t watched the movie or read the book yet but I hope to this weekend. My own Paleo lifestyle will be simpler to follow as soon as the weather gets better and I can start growing some fresh veggies. I’m really looking forward to some good home grown veggies.

Fresh Veggies

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