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Curious Joe's Search for a Workout That Appeals to All

Posted by Joe | May 14, 2009 | 17 Comments
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Recently, I was looking for a new workout program to help me get more fit.  I have gone to a gym for years (ever since college) and learned exercises and programs from friends, books and magazines.  I never really thought I needed a personal trainer or a set workout program, but felt like I was not really getting the results I wanted.


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Curious Joe's Workout





Last Friday, I tried a little experiment. I offered to be the "alpha-test client" for the new LIVESTRONG.COM fitness program and application.  We are in the process of defining the requirements for our new fitness application that will complement The Daily Plate Calorie Tracker.  We want to create a fitness program and app that can work for EVERYONE … no matter your age, your goal (lose, gain, maintain, be fit), or your current health profile (from fit/strong to recovering from injury, diabetic, obese, etc).

What better way to kick off the product development process than to test it on myself, and in the next week on the rest of the LIVESTRONG.COM team.  Our plan is for all of us to try the fitness program, and give you our thoughts on the pros and cons. At the same time, we want to blog about it as it happens and get your feedback on features, philosophy, exercises -- everything that will go into it.

We want the LIVESTRONG.COM fitness program to educate, demonstrate and motivate you.  We also want it to be non-intimidating and allow you to succeed at your own pace.  At LIVESTRONG.COM, we believe being healthy is a lifestyle; it is not just a diet or a fitness program that you do once in a while. It is changing your life, educating yourself to make healthy choices every day.  It is the small things you do daily that make yourself healthier and it all starts with a commitment.  Taking the first step to live a healthy lifestyle is often times the hardest.  We want our programs and tools for food (The Daily Plate) and fitness -- coming soon -- to make that process as easy as possible.


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Inflict Training's Craig Donen and Danny Nigro

We chose Craig Donen and Danny Nigro's program at Inflict Training to help guide us in this effort. At Inflict Training, they stress the importance of training hundreds of movement patterns to prepare you for any activity from basic to extreme. It can be customized for anyone, is a total body program, and it focuses on strength, agility and flexibility. The best part is that, their workouts are easy to do.LIVESTRONG.COM already added more than 100 videos highlighting many of Inflict Training's exercises, which will be part of our upcoming workout app.

My personal goal was to get more fit (strength and cardio), maintain my weight, and maybe even gain a few more pounds of muscle while working on total body strength and agility.  I did my first ever workout with real personal trainers, Craig and Danny, last Friday. And, yes, I survived. I even highlighted some details of the experience.

  • Muscle activation is key; warming up never felt better
  • Run faster in less time (I felt my body working harder)
  • A foam roller is a powerful tool for muscle activation
  • Technique is a must; you can get injured if you are not doing things right
  • You will use many muscles that otherwise never get used
  • Injury-prone areas felt much better post workout … and the following days after

In the meantime, stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes testimonials and videos.  The LIVESTRONG.COM team has already started group training sessions  … should be interesting. For now, here is a sneak peek:

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Tags: Joe

Member Comments

+1 down up

by MOTS on May 14, 2009 at 5:47 PM

I can't wait to read more. I am eager to get started on this program.

+1 down up

by Krisserin on May 14, 2009 at 6:09 PM

This warm-up was awesome! I can't wait for more. I'm pumped Joe, are you Pumped!?!

0 down up

by danbrian on May 14, 2009 at 6:14 PM

Joe, you are so curious

0 down up

by Peddieart on May 15, 2009 at 6:29 AM

I'll be following too. Thanks for sharing.

0 down up

by abetterdemier on May 15, 2009 at 11:10 AM

I am really anxious to see it all, as well. And until now, I hadn't noticed all the videos posted as well as the warm-up Krisserinin mentioned above....Thanks for putting them here - and thanks for getting me excited!

0 down up

by Joe on May 15, 2009 at 3:14 PM

Had a setback today so I could not go to the training at the Inflict Training gym in Santa Barbara where we were going to do more filming. Got food poisoning and am definitely not pumped. Will rebound strong for the workouts next week. Also on our next post you will see more members of the team doing the workouts and us making adjustments for each individual person. Stay tuned...

0 down up

by danbrian on May 15, 2009 at 3:49 PM

Awesome

+1 down up

by Joe on May 15, 2009 at 4:08 PM

Drinking my 3rd Gatorade...yes I will track it. Gotta stay hydrated when you losing fluids to stomach problems or food poisoning.

+1 down up

by Krisserin on May 15, 2009 at 4:23 PM

Sounds like Joe ate at the Excuse Buffet...

I'm just kidding Joe. Feel better soon!

0 down up

by serenaB on May 15, 2009 at 5:08 PM

This looks great (and really hard)! I would love to give it a try when the workouts are posted.

0 down up

by triplej on May 16, 2009 at 8:48 AM

Can't wait to see your progress ... good luck bouncing back from the food poisoning.

0 down up

by davidson on May 18, 2009 at 4:17 AM

Can't wait to try this workout. I'm bored with all my current routines.

0 down up

by Kateraveill on May 18, 2009 at 4:11 PM

I cant wait to try the workout. I am always looking for something fun and exciting to do.

0 down up

by somnathpost on May 19, 2009 at 7:46 AM

Its a nice post to read......hair loss treatment products

0 down up

by danielyunas on May 21, 2009 at 5:00 PM

This is really coool

0 down up

by Health_4_Life on June 29, 2009 at 4:25 PM

This is so great. I'm a personal trainer and I love to follow what other programs trainers put their clients on. Great work guys.

LIVESTRONG.COM Bloggers

Joe Perez

Co-Founder of the The Daily Plate and Head of Product, Marketing & Community - Demand Media

Susy Sedano

Community Manager

Krisserin Canary

Editor of LIVESTRONG.COM

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