P90X

Plyometric 90 Extreme
Length: 90 Day Weight-Lifting/Cardio/Plyometric/Yoga based program
Developer: Tony Horton
Science: Muscle Confusion
Equipment: Pull-up Bars, Weights: 10-30 pound dumbbells, & Yoga Mat

Towards the end of last summer I had lost 25 pounds of fat, so of course the next stage was to get fit and gain some muscle. So I tried P90X.  Now the secret behind P90X is muscle confusion.  Tony Horton, although sometimes bringing corny lines to the workout routine, has you working hard for a full hour on different muscle groups every single day, so that your body has to adapt to the changes in the work outs.  As a result the muscle groups get confused and build faster.
The great thing about P90X is that it can satisfy both goals of target body types.  If you want to cut fat, P90X is a great fat cutter. It has great plyometric jump training that is intense cardio training to maximize calorie burning to lifting weights so that your body can burn calories throughout the whole day.  But if you want to gain muscle, P90X has routines also help in this process, just add more weight and less reps so that your muscles will tear and reconstruct faster.
In my personal opinion, if you had to compare P90X to Insanity, I would have to say P90X is more effective to cut weight/muscle, however the program is not as fun and is much longer then the Insanity routines.  P90X is very structured, which makes the programs for myself personally somewhat boring.  However some people enjoy the structure that it provides.  In the end, if you work hard and commit yourself to the program you will absolutely see results, like the Beachbody Coach above in the video.







Pros:
Great fat-cutter
Enthousiastic Trainer
Anyone can do it:

• Unlike Insanity, anyone can do P90X if they try.  Tony Horton adapts every single exercise so that people with weak knees or people who can't lift enough weight can adapt to the workout routine.  Tony Horton that everyone has to work their way up, and provides three levels of difficulty. Honestly, anyone can do it, I even did one workout with my mom, she's 4'11''.
  

Convenient

• P90X allows you to take a gym to your own household, with just a couple of weights and a pull up bar.
• You will see better results with just the three items and the P90X workout regime than going to the gym just on your own
• Only takes one hour out of your day 6 days a week

Cons:
Sticking with It!

• One of the hardest things about doing this workout plan, was doing every workout plan every single day.  If I were to go out on a weekend, I would have to complete my workout plan before that time.  If you want to see result, you just gotta stick with it!
  

Psychological Services at Santa Clara

Here at "An Apple A Day" we are dedicated to all things "health". Lately, I've been writing a lot about physical health, but keeping mentally healthy is something that I think is even more important. SCU really does a great job of providing it's students with convenient access to mental health services. The Cowell Center (you know, where you go when you are sick and they send you home with cough drops, crackers, and painkillers..) also houses CAPS which stands for Counseling and Psychological Services.

DID YOU KNOW? That every student can receive 10 sessions with a licensed psychologist per academic year.. FOR FREE.

There are many services available for students, including individual and group therapy, educational testing, mental health screenings, and 12 step intervention programs and support groups. If you or someone you know is struggling whether with relationship issues, grieving, depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, mental disorders, stress, panic, and anxiety issues, or just needs someone to talk to, there are people there. And everything is 100% confidential.

If you are worried about another student, take some time to read up on ways to help them or refer them to CAPS. (here)

To learn more on the services provided and to make an appointment, visit their website.

Is Gluten Free The Way To Be?

It seems like more and more gluten free products have been hitting the markets lately, because more and more people are being diagnosed with celiac disease, gluten allergies, or gluten intolerance. Gluten is a kind of protein that tends to exist in wheat, barley, and rye among other carbohydrates and many people have issues digesting it. Even though we are getting better at recognizing and diagnosing these health issues, millions are still under diagnosed in America (more). To learn more about the difference between the three types of sensitivities or allergies and to read up on symptoms click here.

Over Christmas break, I was diagnosed as having gluten sensitivity (along with a number of other food allergies that I was unaware of). Since then, maintaining a gluten free diet has been really challenging, especially because it is in so many foods that we eat everyday. Even if you have not been diagnosed, but think you may be sensitive, you can try to cut gluten from your diet and see if you notice a difference in your digestive health and even your energy level. If you want to try out some gluten free recipes at home Trader Joe's has a pretty expansive list of gluten free foods that they regularly carry on their website.

I am always looking for new recipes to try out so if you have any I would love it if you posted them in the comment box! Here are a couple that I want to try out soon
GF Pumpkin Pancakes
GF Fruit Bars
Also, grocery stores are starting to carry Betty Crocker Gluten Free dessert mixes.

Anyone out there have experience with this? I want to know what you think!

Haters Gonna Hate

I recently got the shake weight over the break as a Christmas gift.  And the honest truth?  This thing actually works.  There are those of you who look at this thing and, say its ridiculous.  Probably like the Saturday Night Live Skit posted below, you think it's useless.  The shake weight has been getting alot of crap for the suggestive way it looks when your using it.  But I'm here to say its a good addition to your workout repertoire.  It's only 7 pounds, and according to the science the vibrations that it makes is equivalent to curling 65 pounds.  Sure laugh all you want, I may look ridiculous but I'll be the last one laughing when I get the arms that I've been striving towards.
.

 

Pros: Great Workout for your Arms
          Short Workout that you can accomplish once a day
Cons: You look like a fool doing it

Cut The Fat!

So in a previous post, I told you that the most efficient way to show off those muscles is to cut your body percentage down.  This is no small feet, on top of high intensity exercise and cutting down your diet to a small amount of calories you have to get through your day drained of energy. There are easy things you can add to your diet and workout routine that can boost your metabolism and help you cut fat faster.
Check it out this website for more details: http://www.brighthub.com/health/fitness/articles/91386.aspx

The 3-Day Diet

There is a new diet that has recently gotten extremely popular, the seemly magical 3 Day Diet.  Where you can diet for 3 days lose 10 pounds and then go back to your regular eating habits, and essentially lose 30 pounds in three weeks.  Does is sound to good to be true?  Well check it out:

DAY 1
Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Black coffee or tea (Sweet & Low or Equal) or water 1/2 Grapefruit or Juice 1 slice toast with 1 Tbsp. Peanut Butter	1/2 Cup of Tuna 1 slice toast Black coffee or tea (Sweet & Low or Equal) or water	3 oz. any lean meat 1 cup green beans 1 cup carrots 1 cup vanilla ice cream 1 medium apple Black coffee or tea (Sweet & Low or Equal) or water
DAY 2
Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Black coffee or tea (Sweet & Low or Equal) or water 1 egg (any style) 1 slice toast 1 banana	1 cup cottage cheese or tuna 5 saltine crackers Black coffee or tea (Sweet & Low or Equal) or water	2 beef franks or hot dogs 1/2 cup carrots 1 banana 1 cup broccoli or cabbage 1/2 cup vanilla ice cream Black coffee or tea (Sweet & Low or Equal) or water
DAY 3
Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Black coffee or tea (Sweet & Low or Equal) or water 5 regular saltine crackers 1 oz.(slice) cheddar cheese 1 apple	1 hard boiled egg 1 slice toast Black coffee or tea (Sweet & Low or Equal) or water	1 cup tuna 1 cup carrots 1 cup cauliflower 1 cup melon 1/2 cup regular vanilla ice cream Black coffee or tea (Sweet & Low or Equal) or water

According to the "experts" the combination of the food and liquids in this diet causes a "unique metabolic reaction" that shocks your body and causes a drastic weight loss.  And because of the bounce back to the regular diet your metabolism retriggers, and you start the shock in your metabolism at the beginning of the week again. But I'll give you my experience with this diet.
It was a quick weight loss program that was working for a while.  While undergoing this diet I lost a total of 20 pounds, but it wasn't from the "unique metabolic reaction" it was from the sudden cut in calories.  I would cut calories for three days, lose 10 pounds and in the next four days gain five pounds back.  This diet is an unhealthy that causes an unhealthy routine called yo-yo weight, the quick and sudden changes in your weight is unhealthy for your body because your body will never become regulated to a weight.
Although it is okay to do in the short run, it should not be done in the long run.
For more information check out:
http://www.everydiet.org/diet/3-day-diet

Pros:

• Decent weight loss in a short amount of time.
• You can go back to a normal diet after three days of torture.

Cons: 

• Yo-Yo Weight
• Three Days of a hard Diet
• You have to be extremely careful, after the three days of dieting, because if you let yourself go on the next four days, you can gain back all of the weight you have worked so hard to lose.

Can you Cut Fat and Gain Muscle at the Same Time?

When people have a specific body goals there are always two achievements that they are trying to strive towards: to cut fat and gain muscle at the same time.  But can it be done?
Unfortunately the answer is no.  The diet demands for cutting fat is a lower calorie intake, and trying to burn more calories with cardio and lifting weights, then the calories you consume in a day.  Bottom line you not going to be eating much. On the flip side while you try to gain muscle you have to overfeed your body.  While lifting extremely heavy weights and cutting all of the cardio out of your workout regime, you need the extra energy and calorie intake to feed your muscles to build muscle tissue.  Obviously the problem with these two diets is that they are polar opposites.  Simply put trying to gain muscle and cut fat is like trying to sit down and stand up at the same time.
So how do you lose fat and gain muscle.  Well simply put the only way you can do it is if you do them at different times. If you asked my opinion the easiest way would be to cut the fat and gain the muscle after.
Where is that question how to people get so ripped in such a short amount of time?  The thing about cutting fat is that it makes you look extremely more muscular.  For example take Rain, the Korean Pop Star, who made it big here while filming Ninja Assassin:

Within six months Rain got from skinny and flabby to wash board abs.  Now these before and after pictures can be deceiving, ask yourself the question did Rain gain muscle during these six months?

Although you may think yes, the answer is shockingly no.  During this time he had a pure raw fish and vegetable diet, and did high intensity cardio and weight lifting workout routine, that kept him extremely busy.  During the six months Rain actually lost 12 pounds and cut down his fat percentage to 2%.  So essentially what he had done was cut his body fat down to such a low degree so that all his muscles could be shown.  So in affect Rain is actually CRAZY skinny.

I'm sorry for bringing down all the hopes of some that may have tried to gain muscle and cut fat at the same time, but now you can bring a more realistic goal into fruition.  If you are looking to have your muscles look bigger, you have to cut fat.  And if you want to get that desired bigger look you have to cut weight and then gain it back in muscle.  I'm sorry doing both at the same time is simply impossible.