Insane. Extreme. Turbo-Charged. Starting to sound familiar? These
adjectives have become increasingly associated with the at-home, 60 or 90 day fitness programs that seem to pop up like weeds on late-night, early-morning infomercials, full of promises that you too can have a ripped abs, rock-hard quads, and, guys, the tree trunk arms you’ve always wanted, all in just a few short months. You just need to learn a few air stunts, like repeatedly propelling yourself several feet off the ground, so you can land in seated squats, and perform mid-air twirls—not to mention the recurrent pull-ups, push-ups, and sit-ups. And even though it’s excruciatingly hard, you’ll somehow get a contact high from the shock of your feet hitting the floor or the pain of your biceps quivering as you attempt to continuously hoist yourself up toward the pull-up bar, like the beautifully- ripped people on the screen. So, come on. What are you waiting for?
Buyer
Beware
High-intensity, at-home fitness programs
such as P90X, Insanity, and TurboFire may seem tempting, especially when what
you’ve been doing hasn’t worked, or has ceased to be as effective. The
energy-packed infomercials almost leave you craving some sort of butt-kicking, raw-edged
boot camp. Dubbed as an “extreme home fitness” system that includes weight
training, cardio, plyometrics, and yoga, P90X, for example, boasts
incorporating “muscle confusion” to produce stellar, life-changing results. But
while they flash a few “before and after” photos across the screen, you may be
unaware of the multitude of problems
that follow programs like this.
Associated Risks:
The X Factor
Let’s
examine P90X, which consists of a 6 days per week regimen that focuses on a
different part of the body each time. One day might be shoulders and arms,
while another will focus on more plyometrics-style cardio, while another focuses
on legs and back. Equipment recommended for best results includes dumbbells, a
pull-up bar, a yoga mat, and push-up handles. That’s nothing a gym doesn’t
have, so how can it be that bad? And yet frequent
complaints of shoulder, knee, and back injuries have repeatedly surfaced
from people attempting this “# 1 Extreme Home Fitness Program” without individually
consulting with a knowledgeable source, like a personal trainer or physician.
Because this thrills and frills program is designed to keep you supposedly
“pumped”, the DVDs focus on repetition of moves, rather than pointing to proper
alignment. As with many home fitness videos, there’s very little instructional time to highlight appropriate form – quite
dangerous for a program that’s already hard on joints to begin with. “Statistically,
there is no doubt that people are putting themselves at a high risk for injury,”
says Val Fiott, a personal trainer and Director of Operations & Client
Services at PPT. “From a sub-clinical
perspective, a person's fitness first needs a proper assessment to determine
what is appropriate. P90x is a random, mixed bag where you hope for the best.
You'll usually trim and tone a bit, but with damage to joint integrity, the
muscles themselves, and, especially, the heart muscle.” Sounds a little counterproductive, doesn't it?
How Can Extreme, High-Intensity Training Affect Women?
Women
have complained
that programs like P90X only bulked them
up, causing them to build muscle, but not lose fat. Most likely
anticipating these types of results, these intense programs advertise that
they’re offering a fitness regimen, not a weight loss miracle. But whatever
verbiage they’re using doesn’t help the many women who’ve put themselves
through three months of unnecessary, overly-strenuous workouts only to feel
disappointed. "That's the unfortunate risk with an unpersonalized, cookie cutter approach like P90x and
its incompetent cohorts,” Fiott says. “Prioritization and distribution are what
make up a proper fitness program. For some, P90x offers far too much in terms
of muscle gains, and for others, it's the opposite. What a shame that people
spend so much time and money on this shortcut.”
X-aggerated Results
As
one success story boasts in a Youtube video, “There’s no way you’re not going
to get results.” We can’t help but agree. How, after 90 days of working out at
least an hour per day, six days per week, in addition to cutting
calories, could these programs fail to produce at least some results? And yes,
as with many modern fitness programs, P90X’s diet component requires reduced-carbohydrate intake. Nothing revolutionary there. Since when
has cutting carbs, counting calories, and working out daily failed to produce
at least some results? Some of you may be thinking, “Wait, can’t you lose
weight and tone up in 90 days more safely? Absolutely. And as for the science
of “muscle confusion” that these
programs seemingly imply as innovative, the fact is, any good trainer is aware of the plateau effect (in which your
muscles become accustomed to a certain regimen, resulting in lagging progress) and
operates on the knowledge that muscles need variety. Why put your body through
the ringer when you can get great results in a way that’s not only gentler on
your body, but more effective in the long run?
Speaking Of The Long Run...
Speaking Of The Long Run...
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