We all love our home workout programs, but let’s face it, we need some new background music! New workout songs can really amp up your workout. It will seem like you are doing something a little different and exciting. Who wouldn’t want to work out to the best songs of 2011? Luckily for us, the top songs of 2011 are high energy, beat bumping club songs which are perfect for working out to. Here is a list of Billboard worthy workout songs that are sure to put a new twist on your every day home workout:

1:  We Found Love by Rihanna

2:  Sex And I Know It by LMFAO – also a serious confidence booster!

3:  Moves Like Jagger by Marron 5 featuring Christina Aguilera

4:  Without You by David Guetta featuring Usher

5:  You Make Me Feel by Cobra Starship featuring Sabi

6:  Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett and GoonRock

7:  Give Me Everything by Pitbull

8:  Last Friday Night by Katy Perry – a little bit slow in tempo, but that could be a good thing sometimes!

Of course there are other workout songs that will be great to mix it up with like anything from the Black Eyed Peas, LMFAO or Lady Gaga! Keep your daily exercise routine fresh with new and current workout songs you can sing along to.

For those of you who are following the meal plan approach, a list of all the ingredients you will need to make the meals would probably be handy, right? Well a complete list can be obtained by customers of Extreme Body Workout by contacting our customer service department via email. You will get an complete list of everything you will need for the entire 90 days, or as you go by each phase.

The P90X shopping list is long, but if you plan on making each meal to the T, you will need all of the ingredients! Most of the spices, herbs and sustainable items are things you probably already have or you will only have to buy once. After you get all of the ingredients you need, the second shopping trip wont be as bad!

The meal plan has some great recipes that are not your average, normal, everyday meals. This is so you don’t feel like you are on a diet. Here are some of the ingredients that you will find on the P90X shopping list, just some of the not-so- average foods you will be working with!

Mango

Hearts of Palm

Snow Peas

Jicama

Soy sausage patties

Top Sirloin

Swordfish

Feta cheese

Quinoa

Silken Tofu

Molasses

Pine Nuts

Buttermilk

Salmon

Enjoy!

For those of us who hate to diet or follow a strict eating plan for weight loss, a general healthy way of eating is more appealing and probably a lot easier. Of course we always need some sort of exercise in our lives, so lets not forget about that. A home workout is great for those who aren’t big into fitness, but would like to be fit and lose some weight. Most home workouts come with a specific diet, but can you stick to that diet forever? Most of us can’t so here are some ways to keep healthy meals on your table permanently.

Try and eat REAL foods. Foods that are as close to their natural state as they can be eaten safely. The process that some foods go through today just takes away the natural benefits and turns the otherwise healthy food into a not so healthy food. Added sugar, salt, fillers, and who know what else is just not natural and not good for you. Go for fresh fruits, vegetables, meat from animals that are fed real food from the earth, dairy that actually comes from an animal, and whole grains that haven’t been bleached or refined. Choose full-fat organic dairy as opposed to the lower fat, antibiotic filled diary. Of course if you are a vegetarian or have an allergy to gluten, a slightly different approach to healthy meals may have to be taken, but you can still eat naturally.

Avoid the “fad” diets that promise rapid weight loss. They probably will do what they promise, but as soon as you stop that particular diet, you will start to gain weight again. Then try another diet, and another one and be stuck in that “yo-yo dieting” craze. Why do that to yourself? Don’t fall for the low fat or low calorie gimmicks you see on the shelves. Low fat really means more sugar and low calorie usually means artificial sweetener. If you can’t pronounce most of the ingredients, don’t buy it!

Protein is so important for everyone, from the meat eater to the vegan. Protein based foods are the building blocks of a healthy diet. Protein aids in cell repair and regeneration, hormone production and blood sugar management. Protein should be a part of the healthy meals you eat every day, including snacks. Protein comes from many sources other than animal products so vegetarians should be able to get the right amounts of their daily protein as well.

Fats have a bad rep, but not all fats are bad. Some are horrible, like trans fat and should be avoided at all costs. Other like Omega-3 are essential fatty acids are very beneficial to your health and need to be included in your healthy meals as they are not produced by our bodies.

Having said all of that, you still need to stick to a healthy ratio and reasonable portions. Most agree that a 40-45% carbs, 20-35% protein and 30-35% fat ratio is the most healthy. Healthy meals do not have to come from the freezer section or be delivered to your door each month, healthy meals can come right from nature and be prepared by you.

There is no doubt that P90x is an extreme workout and teens as well as adults alike want to get the great results the program can give them. Some parents and teens are concerned that doing extreme exercise like P90X will stunt their growth. This is a valid question and has been asked a great deal. To give you a better perspective, here are some facts about growth in children:

Kids go through rapid change between the ages of 8 and 12, girls experiencing the change a little sooner than boys. During this time, the bones are growing much faster than muscle which causes a decrease in flexibility and also puts pressure on tendons. Also, during this age span, children have growth plates made out of cartilage, which is where the bones are growing from. Eventually the growth plates will form new cartilage that will turn into bone. Because these growth plates are made of softer cartilage at this age, they are much more fragile. If damage occurs to the growth plate during an extreme exercise or any other activity, untreatable cases can cause the child’s growth in that area to be stunted. For example, if damage occurs to a child’s growth plates in his/her feet, and this damage cannot be treated, there is a good change that this child’s feet will stop growing and they will end up with very small feet as a full grown adult.

It is not the exercise itself that will stunt growth, it’s an injury cause by improper practice of the exercise that could cause damage to the child’s growth plate, which could stunt growth if not treatable. Older teens are less at risk, especially girls, but should still use caution. Boys tend to grow throughout high school, which is where most are introduced to weight lifting, and should be especially careful not to lift more than they can handle, or when engaging in any other extreme exercise such as P90X.

Children and teens can and should engage in all sorts of exercise but need to use caution when doing certain things. For example, with children, weight training should be 100% supervised and should even be avoided until they are over the age of 12. P90X doesn’t have age limitations, but personally I would not recommend this program for anyone under the age of 12. Even younger teens should use caution and parents should supervise. Extreme exercise can be appealing to teens training for a sport or who are feeling down about their weight. A program like P90X can be a great tool, but they need to take it slow and know their limits. Going past your limits often leads to injury and if you are still in the process of growing, an injury can lead to stunted growth.

This is a tough question that has been answered in many ways. So what are you supposed to believe? Fat calories make you fat and carb calories make you even fatter? That seems to be the trend in today’s diet fads. Will a low carb diet produce better results than a low fat diet?

Here is a little science behind fat and carbs so maybe you can come up with a good answer for yourself. SCIENTIFICALLY, a calorie is calorie no matter where it comes from. Both carbohydrates and fats alike have calories. Fat actually contains more. So logically, you would think that a low fat diet would work better, right? Well consider this:  When you deprive your body of carbs, you go into a state of Ketosis. During Ketosis, you body cannot get energy from carbohydrates because you haven’t been eating any, so then calories are burned from stored fat. So maybe this is the better option?

The thing about diets very low in fat or carbs is that you will probably lose weight pretty rapidly. Rapid weight loss most often leads to rapid weight regain unless you plan to stay on that diet for the rest of your life. There is nothing worse than feeling like you have achieved you ideal weight just to go back up to your no so ideal weight in a few months time. This is where the term “yo-yo dieting” came from.

The truth is that we need both fats and carbs to stay healthy and maintain our ideal weight. It may take a little longer to get to your ideal weight, but with exercise and a BALANCED diet including GOOD fats and GOOD carbs will help you get there and stay there. Unsaturated fats can be beneficial to us by reducing the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Whole grains high in fiber have also been related to lower risk for heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

Dieting stinks and we shouldn’t have to put ourselves through that sort of torture! Unfortunately, the way we eat as a society has caused us to be heavier and less healthy. Besides the obvious need to exercise more and try and stick to real, less processed or refined foods. Trans-fat is horrible and should never be consumed, but other fats like the kinds that come from fish, avocadoes and olive oil are actually good for us. Whole gains are not evil and should be eaten as well, but like everything else, in appropriate portions.

Following the P90X Nutrition Plan can be difficult at times, especially if you are a picky eater or living on a budget. The diet is the perfect supplement to the P90X workouts, no doubt. You will get better results if you follow it. If you use the Meal Plan approach, you may have to spend a little more time and money and be open to eating things like swordfish and soy cheese. You can always substitute a few things here and there. If you feel like the meal plan is too much to handle, the best solution would be to use the portions approach. You will have to come up with your own dishes, so here a couple great P90X meal ideas:

P90X Friendly Chicken Parmesan

-Use grilled chicken breast, no breadcrumbs

-Top with marinara sauce and low fat mozzarella cheese

-Serve with whole grain pasta (1 cup = 1 serving of carbs)

Another P90X meal idea:

Pork Tenderloin

-Marinated in your favorite low fat marinade

-Served with 1 cup of Asparagus, topped with low fat melted cheddar cheese

-1 cup of brown and wild rice, seasoned to taste.

This is just an example of the simple P90X meal ideas that you can come up with if you just can’t follow the Meal Plan approach. It can be hard to all of the sudden change the way you eat. If you are particular about what you eat, the Portions Approach is the best way to go. All you have to do is pick and choose foods from the approved list and come up with your own P90X meal ideas.

Who hasn’t heard of the P90X? Not too many people now a day. The infomercials are always on, in fact, I remember seeing them when I was in college 8 years ago! I remember saying, wow, that looks like it really works. Turns out, my observations were 100% correct. P90X has been around for a while, but has recently opened the eyes of many across the country from you “average joe,” to the elite athlete.

This program has exploded in the past few years and for a good reason. It really works. You can search the Internet for success stories and you will find a lot of them. I can even tell you from personal experience. P90X does work! I am a mother of two, semi lazy, and I like to eat food that tastes good. Having said all of that, I was able to lose 22 pounds with P90X. I followed the workout schedule and the Nutrition Plan and presto! I was back to my pre-baby weight! Not only that, I was much stronger and I could do things athletically I could never do before.

This program is so dynamic and focuses on many areas of fitness as well as nutrition. The main idea of P90X is muscle confusion. This is the idea that your body will stop progressing if you are doing the same old thing all the time. P90X teaches you that you have to constantly challenge yourself by doing a wide variety of exercises and trying to do better each time you go back to something you previously worked on. Here is where the P90X Fitness Guide comes in. This guide lays out your schedule into 3 phases and you will see that it doesn’t stay the same for the whole 90 days. You schedule will be changing every few weeks. The fitness guide also has worksheets to help keep track of your progress. This is where you would try to do better each time by looking back to see what you did the previous round. This is a perfect system that completely maps your entire 90 days out so there is no confusion.

The Nutrition Plan is just as important as the workouts. Seriously. Tony Horton stresses eating clean and this plan (I don’t like to call it a diet) really reflects that. There are so many foods out there that we just don’t need to eat and really hurt our health and the P90X Nutrition Plan uses foods that will not only help us to lose weight, but also help energize our workouts. The way the Nutrition Plan works is by individualizing our caloric needs. Before you start, you will punch some numbers into the formula they give you and figure out where you stand. You will be assigned a “level.” Each level has a different amount of allowed calories. The Nutrition plan is also broken up into “phases.” These phases are a progression of your eating needs and can be followed along with the phases of you workout, or as each person sees fit.

P90X is the ultimate challenge to someone who would like to make a huge change in their health and appearance, and it is well worth the time and effort. You will feel a great sense of accomplishment when you complete that 90^th day and take your “after” photograph. This program has been so widely accepted, there are literally thousands of people online who can help inspire and motivate you to start and finish this great program. What are you waiting for? Try it for yourself and see that P90X is the ultimate at home workout.