IS IT NORMAL...

Is it normal for a male in his 40s to experience a rapid increase in muscle strength? I am mid 40s, and about 6 months ago I discovered by chance that I can now do one handed pushups. I just did 20 of them each hand (just to see how many I could do)just minutes before posting this. I have NEVER been able to do one handed pushups in my life. I am not working out either. In my 20s I was a fitness fanatic and did weight training, boxing, cycling, and running. I was never this strong even then....

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P90X2: Taking workouts to the limit

To give you a sense of what you’re up against if you attempt to make it through P90X2, the sequel to the phenomenally popular P90X fitness program, here’s a sample exercise: the four medicine ball push-up. Yes, that means having a ball under each hand and foot. “It’s like doing push-ups during an earthquake,” says Tony Horton, the 53-year-old former stand-up comedian who created the original program eight years ago. That 90-day, 12-DVD regimen has sold 3.5 million copies, spawned an astounding number of before and after photos, persuaded politicians from both sides of the aisle to sweat it out...

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Congress Grills NASA Chief Over Next Big Rocket Design (Answer was due in Jan of 2011)

A congressional panel grilled NASA chief Charlie Bolden today (July 12) on Capitol Hill, repeatedly asking him why the space agency has yet to choose a design for its next-generation heavy-lift rocket. Last year Congress gave NASA until mid-January 2011 to pick a design for the rocket, known as the Space Launch System, that will carry astronauts on deep space missions. NASA still has not made an official decision, and members of the House of Representatives' Committee on Science, Space and Technology took Bolden to task. "We've waited for answers that have not come. We've pleaded for answers that have...

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ACSM American fitness Index™ --

Read the AFI Report

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The Power of P90X

Tony Horton used to be a stand-up comedian. Now he's the front man for P90X and a millionaire exercise guru. So is he an infomercial salesman? Or a fitness savior? ***** Beyond the compelling marketing, there are two reasons why P90X is so popular. First, Horton is the perfect front man. At 5´10* and 180 pounds with 9 percent body fat, he is genuinely ripped. He says he can consecutively do 110 pushups, 80 dips, 35 pullups, and eight 260-pound lat pulls. Plus, he can hold a handstand for a minute and even do a backflip off a wall. To...

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Get Fit Like the First Family: Q&A with Michelle Obama's Trainer

If All My Children really does get cancelled as rumored, at least we can count on warmer weather to get ourselves (and all our children!) off the couch for an outdoor workout — like Michelle Obama does. SHAPE scored an exclusive Q&A with Cornell McClellan, fitness consultant and personal trainer to the First Family — who love to play outside. Q: How does the First Family like to work out? A: The First Family believes in working out together, outdoors, when they can find the time. They are an active family and want to inspire the whole country to get...

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President Obama Making Sure His Employees Work Out

Michael Strautmanis had no sooner started his White House job as a deputy assistant to the president when his boss began badgering him. "Am I working out? Am I eating right?'' Strautmanis recalled President Obama asking. "And then he told me that I should use his trainer.'' The very fit president has sent other White House aides to Cornell McClellan, the trainer, a genial master tormenter who is the secret weapon behind Michelle Obama's famously toned arms and who has overseen both Obamas' exercise programs for more than a decade. Strautmanis made one — and only one — appointment with...

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