BunkhouseBuck

Thank you for the suggestion, I googled the couch to 5k plan and it sounds like a great idea to break back in with. I was planning as you say to ease into it and I will be interested to see how it goes. I have not run since October but there is a good bit of cardio included in P90X. Not the same thing as running but I should be better off than someone just getting off the couch. I was thinking maybe add the sprints and intervals after doing the nine week build up in the couch to 5K. My doc says that my injury could have resulted from the mileage I was running but he thought it was more likely shoes. I had those shoes for a long time and even though they did not look all that worn I think they were worn out. I went to a running specialty store last week where they analyse your gait and got fitted with a shoe that is pretty firm. I was in lousy shape last April when I started back running and probably should not have built up to 5 mile runs as fast as I did. It sounds like when you do something like that your cardio improves faster than your ligaments and tendons can adjust and then you get hurt by pushing too hard. It looks like couch to 5K plan forces you to not overdo it and eases you into it. My knee seems to be healed and I have not had issues doing the plyometrics, squats, lunges, etc. that are part of the P90X program. Hopefully those cardio and leg workouts along with yoga and stretching will give me a more solid base to start with this Spring.

Hello I am an older dude at 50 and have been in really good shape at times and a slacker at others. I bought a set of the P90X DVDS off of Ebay a few months ago and have been using the discs for my Winter fitness. A little background.... I got in really good shape in my 30s running about 20-30 miles a week and doing a lot of calisthenics like pull ups, push ups, sit ups, etc. When I got into my 40s I let work and some other things get in the way of staying in shape, not an excuse just a fact. I have come around and have slowly been getting myself back into shape a little starting in April of last year and have worked my tail off to get there losing some weight and getting a little stronger and building my endurance back up. As part of that build up I had started running again and had built up to 5M cross country type runs. I got some knee tendon issues and had to stop running back in October and started using the P90X videos that I bought off of Ebay. I have to say that the workouts have been good for me and I love the upper body strength that has come from doing that along with the lean look you get from doing the discs. I do not do gyms and for me to workout like I should I need something that I can do from home like the DVDs or preferably getting outside. I have had the knee issue and my doc says I have some Osteo-arthrithus. I think my knee has rehabbed enough to run again this Spring and Summer but I do not want to overdo it. I have never run competitively and do not plan to do so. The only sport I play is golf and I look at the other fitness things I do as something to contribute to conditioning for that sport. What I want to do.... I want to keep the strength training, Yoga, and Stretching components of P90X in my routine but swap out the cardio pieces for running. What I am thinking is to do away with Plyometrics and Kenbo workouts and mix in running in their place. I am thinking on the running to do a day of sprints one time per week, a day of interval running, and one longer run (6 miles or less max). Please consider that I am not training for a race. I want to be in shape enough to have the endurance for golf and otherwise be in decent general condition. Has anyone blended P90X with something like this and if so what would you recommend? I have seen routines out there where you run on top doing all of the P90X. I am not interested in that. I think about an hour a day is plenty to work out and want to blend running with P90X by replacing some workouts to keep the average workout time to about an hour a day on average. Anything more would probably be more than my body could handle for an extended period of time. Any thoughts?.

Thank you! It will take a while to digest all of the information but I have bookmarked your links and will revisit this thread often to learn as much as possible. Lots of great questions and answers here.

Hello What might you recommend for relaxation Yoga? Would you have any links, DVDs, or wisdom to share? My wife and I work out indoors at home during the Winter and she does her routine and I do mine. For this Winter we are using DVDs and I am using the P90x program and she uses the Weider X Factor. One of the discs in her set is called Yoga but it seems to be mostly stretching. The Yoga disc in my set is very difficult and just humbles me attempting to do it through the 90 plus minutes it takes to do it. Toward the end of my disc you do some moves called Child Pose, Corpse, and do deep breathing and say Ohms. It seems very relaxing and my wife's videos have some similar relaxing things built in as well. To be honest, I dread doing the Yoga workout because it is just hard and I am not very good at it but when I finish I feel refreshed and I can see that it is improving my flexibility and balance. Could you make some recommendations for something to follow for the relaxation style of Yoga? I did not know much of anything about Yoga until I started trying to do the disc in my set. I am not looking to replace the disc that I have for Yoga but I can see some benefit from using relaxing type Yoga on a regular basis with short periods. I can see where it has helped my flexibility and endurance and would like to learn more about Yoga and the different varieties. I play golf and I can definitely see some things in Yoga that should help for that as well.

Thanks, ESPN actually has Fantasy hockey. I had noticed that the forums and even the blog comments seemed to be pretty thoughtful and not littered with all the nonsense that you often see on the interweb.

I just wanted to introduce myself and say hey there to you folks. I stumbled across Nerd Fitness a couple of months ago and seem to keep finding it when I do Google searches on fitness/health subjects. I liked much of what I saw in terms of the articles and some posts made here in your community. You have Yoga instructors, nurses, and others that apparently have very good knowledge and wisdom to share. I was also impressed that I did not see ads trying to sell me supplements, magic powders, and potions. Regardless of what it is that is truly meaningful in this world it usually takes persistence, smarts, and hard work to experience. I did not see a lot of shortcuts offered in advice that I have read so far. Bodyweight workouts, weights, exercise, don't eat junk food, drink water, take care of yourself, etc. In other words, most of what I have seen here is common sense. I am a 50 year old dude in OK shape and trying to get a little better and do the best I can. I was in pretty good shape in my 30s and on into my 40s and then life sort of caught up with me (or I let it get the best of me) and I got off track for a while. I was just trying to do too much stuff and deal with a job that in retrospect I was not really meant to do. I decided to make a change and find a career that was a better fit for me (I love the work that I do today) and am slowly getting my life back into what I consider a good balance. I went back to work on my fitness and after being not active enough for some years, I started over. I started out walking, doing calisthenics, then running, and slowly working on my eating habits. I ran, did pullups, pushups, crunches, and other calisthenics until late October when I developed some knee tendonitis. I was told to rest the tendonitis by my doc and based partly on a recommendation from a friend and partly based on other things I read I bought a set of used P90x discs off of Ebay so that I could continue doing fitness through the Winter. I am getting back to a decent state and have most of the things like cholesterol, weight, etc. back to good ranges and am feeling pretty good (including the knee). I have done about 7 weeks so far of the P90x and will probably use it until March or so to let my knee recover and then I will be back outside doing things as I prefer to workout outside when daylight and weather permits. I do not do gyms, too much time getting to and fro and a treadmill and weight machine are about as exciting as a toothache to me. It blows my mind that some gyms do not have pullup bars. I have a good one mounted on the floor joists of my garage though and a not so good one mounted to my deck. The only sport that I currently play is golf and this time of year is mostly off season due to weather. I love to play walking rather than riding carts when I can do so. I look at the P90x as a sort of off season training for golf with the Yoga, weights, and general fitness involved. I am not a Beachbody coach and have no desire to sell you anything. In fact, I had joined one of their groups before I realized their supplement and multilevel marketing business model. I think their workouts are great for Winter but I do not practice the Shakeology and all that mess. My workouts will jump around as time goes on. As soon as the weather warms up I plan to start running again and mix some body weight and weighs in with it. I try to eat decently and I like the general concept of getting most of your carbs from nutrient rich foods like vegetables, fruits, and meat but I eat some dairy, breads, and other things that would not fit the Paleo world really well but I do try to follow the general idea of at least picking the lesser of two evils and I cook much of my own food. My goals are to keep my stats in line (BP, cholesterol, etc.), keep my myself in decent shape, use fitness to the extent possible to train for golf, and in general use fitness to keep myself active for as long as I can do so and enjoy life. In terms of online gaming, I do not do much of that these days except for ESPN Fantasy leagues. I used to play Tiger Woods Golf and Quickhit Football but both of those games closed down. I played the last Madden NFL PC version online a little but it is very difficult to find people that you can connect with to play these days due to the hassles of connecting games. I do not have a Playstation, Xbox, etc. I want to ask some of you smart folks a few questions and read the dialogues that you all have to help me take decent care of myself.