Bobby “Extremely” White is currently doing P90X, a popular 13-week work-out routine. Each week, he’ll give an update on how the workout is going, explain one of the 12 exercises, and review the best and worst foods he’s eating for the protein regimen.

DAY 28

Since I have finished the first three weeks, this week is a “recovery week,” which, if you remember, is only called a recovery week to trick you into actually pushing play on the Core Synergistics workout. We’ll talk about that workout in Week 8.

Day 1: Core Synergistics , Day 2: Yoga, Day 3: Stretch, Day 4: Yoga, Day 5: Core Synergistics, Day 6: Kempo (a martial-art type cardio workout), and Day 7: Lying in the fetal position, whimpering (rest day).

As a swing dancer, one of the hardest things to do is keep up the P90X workout schedule during a workshop weekend. When was the last time you had an hour and a half a day at an event to workout, let alone felt like doing so, between the eight hours of classes and five hours of dancing a day?

When it finally is time to workout, you usually have to pass up meals or invitations with friends—friends you never get to spend a lot of quality time with because you spend most workshop weekends either in class or at a dance. Or, you have to wake up early, which means you either have no sleep or you have to miss a bunch of a dance in order to get sleep, neither of which is good if you’re a hired teacher hoping to impress.

That said, one of the things I’m proudest of in P90X is how I’ve kept with it at long work weekends. This means that the second I arrive, I have to find time and a six by six piece of floor. My luggage now is quickly filled with a yoga mat, fitness bands, push-up bars, and sneakers.  (One weekend I forgot to pack sneakers, and so I had to do my workout in the living room of a crowded house wearing old man socks and loafers. You have to quickly not get embarrassed about working out in front of your friends or strangers).

Workout breakdown: YOGA-X

After twenty Downward Dogs (with push ups) into the Yoga-X workout, you start to wonder if your workout is going to be nothing but an hour and a half of discomfort. But, the Downward dogs, triangle poses, warrior threes, and twisting prayer poses only last for about 50 minutes of the workout. The rest are balance exercises, which are fun as hell (for me, anyway), stretching, and, of course, a Tony Horton Ab Yoga workout.

The romantic in me imagined that Yoga would be a peaceful, calming experience where I could mediatate and loose stress, but in reality, I have a few leftover traces of my 12-year-old ADD, and the sheer length of this program makes it really hard for me to enjoy it.  When I really work hard in this workout, I have to take breaks three or four times, which push the already long experience into almost 2 hours of time. And most of that two hours is holding a tricky position for many seconds and breathing. (more…)

Filed Under: Dance Advice | Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

P-LINDY-X: Extreme P90X journal
By Bobby “extremely” White

Bobby is currently doing P90X, a popular work-out routine that has become sort of a fad among Lindy Instructors. Each week, he’ll give an update on how the workout is going, explain one of the 12 exercises, and review the best and worst foods he’s eating for the protein regimen.

DAY 21

For the first three weeks, the P90X workout is this:
Day 1: Chest and Back, Day 2: Plyometrics (jumping), Day 3: Shoulders and Arms, Day 4: Yoga, Day 5: Legs and back, Day 6: Kempo (a martial-art type cardio workout), and Day 7: Lying in the fetal position, whimpering (rest day). On Days 1, 3, and 5, there is an additional Ab workout.

Now that the Week 2 energy boost has left as quickly as it came, my body is suddenly realizing what I’m putting it through. Almost every day a body part is sore, and if I don’t get eight hours of sleep, I feel beyond terrible. The five regiments of protein a day, though obviously making my performance better, are also having adverse side effects, and my girlfriend, having a sensitive nose, cannot stand to be around me for an hour or two after eating a protein bar.

It’s a tough line to walk well—you have to work hard to get the maximum results from the workout, but if you work too hard, you can’t walk the next day or you get injured and have to stop the regimen. My left arm got tweaked in a concentrated curl, and it hurt to swing-out for a week. I injured a toe (It wasn’t started by P90X, but the workout didn’t help it) and so that’s currently making life difficult. It is, coincidentally, the perfect time for a recovery week, which is happening next week. Maybe it’s planned that way?

Workout breakdown: SHOULDERS AND ARMS

Mid-week brings a welcome change of pace from the first two workouts, which give the entire body a rough beating. Shoulders and arms concentrates on the smaller muscles (guess which ones), which means the workout is less of a chore and less soreness the next day. The workout goes through five sets of exercises that target, in order, shoulders, biceps, and triceps. So there’s a ton of curls, chair dips, and exercises that work well with the fitness bands.

As Tony Horton repeats several times in the DVD, the arms start at the shoulders. “Of course, Tony,” I said. “Dur.” But when I thought about it more, and did the workout, I had a hit my-head-moment. In thinking of getting in shape for throwing women around, I envisioned in my head strong thighs and biceps; but that’s wrong. The real answer is strong thighs and shoulders. And biceps. And calves. And back. Everything, really. Anyway, ever since that realization, I look forward to this workout in getting to my goals.

Workout Song: “Outsiders” by Franz Ferdinand. This song helps me out in every workout, but is especially helpful when I do moves I dislike, like Chair dips. (more…)

Filed Under: Dance Advice | Thursday, March 19th, 2009
Tags: franz ferdinand, outsiders, p90x, tony horton, weight lifting

Dear Casey is a satirical twist on the advice columns found in news media. Here’s a recent question answered on WhiteHeat. Send your questions to casey@lindybloggers.com

Hey Casey,

I have a question under the general topic of “Dance Floor Etiquette” (which really deserves it’s own thread, methinks!).

A friend of mine who works in IT support was recently complaining about how many of his friends/family ask him to “just take a quick look” at their computer issues when he’s on his off-time. It got me to thinking about people who make their living teaching Lindy Hop/Swing dancing and how there are no distinct lines between what kind of feedback/help it’s appropriate to solicit on the social floor (after a class, when you have not paid for it) versus when you should think of getting a private lesson. It seems many lindy hop instructors are friendly folks and are happy to answer questions, but I’ve also seen some being “cornered” at dances by people asking lots of detailed questions that turn into a little mini-private lesson, which usually might cost something like $75/hour from the best instructors. It’s such a unique situation because what many dancers choose to do in their free time is, of course, dance, so the line between what is done for a living and for free time is not as distinct as, say, an IT professional who works at an office and then does other stuff in free time. What are your thoughts on this, as someone who makes a portion of her income through your teaching/dancing expertise?

(more…)

Filed Under: Dance Advice, Dear Casey | Friday, March 13th, 2009

P-LINDY-X: Extreme P90X journal
By Bobby “extremely” White

Bobby is currently doing P90X, a popular work-out routine that has become sort of a fad among Lindy Instructors. Each week, he’ll give an update on how the workout is going, explain one of the 12 exercises, and review the best and worst foods he’s eating for the protein regimen.

DAY 14

For the first three weeks, the P90X workout is this:
Day 1: Chest and Back, Day 2: Plyometrics (jumping), Day 3: Shoulders and Arms, Day 4: Yoga, Day 5: Legs and back, Day 6: Kempo (a martial-art type cardio workout), and Day 7: Lying in the fetal position, whimpering (rest day). On Days 1, 3, and 5, there is an additional Ab workout.

I had a strange day the Sunday of my second week of P90X. For no reason I could find, I felt sluggish and spacey. The last thing I wanted to do was workout, but I did it anyway. I took a ton of breaks, drank almost a gallon of water during the workout, and, oddly, did most of the workouts very well. I even finished up with one of the best ab workouts I’ve ever done.

It made me fully realize something about myself that I have noticed in my peripheral vision for awhile, but never stared in the face; What I am capable of and what I think I am capable of are often completely off. And this goes both ways. Some days I feel I will murder a workout, or clean the house, or finish the experimental pop album, and it doesn’t happen. Other days, like this one, all I felt like doing was lying in bed reading all day, but every time I went into a squat, or did a sit-up, I was amazed at how easy it felt and how little it hurt. It makes me think about similar experiences in my dancing, writing, money management, everything. It’s funny how little I know myself.

Also strange: that very night, almost in a row, I drank three glasses of water, one glass of fruit juice, one glass of recovery drink, one glass of sweet tea, and one glass of milk, with no desire to eat food at all. I guess I was dehydrated, but I’m not sure how, as I drank ample amounts of water all weekend. (more…)

Filed Under: Dance Advice | Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

WEEK 1: “Please, do NOT touch my pec.”
P-LINDY-X: Extreme P90X journal
By Bobby “extremely” White

Bobby is currently doing P90X, a popular work-out routine that has become sort of a fad among Lindy Instructors. Each week, he’ll give an update on how the workout is going, explain one of the 12 exercises, and review the best and worst foods he’s eating for the protein regimen.

DAY 7

For the first three weeks, the P90X workout is this:
Day 1: Chest and Back, Day 2: Plyometrics (jumping), Day 3: Shoulders and Arms, Day 4: Yoga, Day 5: Legs and back, Day 6: Kempo (a martial-art type cardio workout), and Day 7: Lying in the fetal position, whimpering (rest day). On Days 1, 3, and 5, there is an additional Ab workout.

After a week, I’m walking a lot easier than I suspected, though this is only because I’ve taken it easy in these exercises. As a dancer, it’s interesting to see how similar learning work-out moves is to learning solo dance steps; our bodies have to be doing exactly a specific thing in order for us to get the effect we want. A person who has never done these exercises before is going to spend awhile getting the form right, and I would recommend that anyone starting off P90X should go through each workout the first time not worrying about how many push-ups they can do, but simply making sure they’re doing the exercise right. Next week is when I really start pushing myself.

Otherwise, in just one week, I have a noticeable increase in energy (which sucked when I was chained to a desk at work, but was great for when I went out dancing) and even see a little difference in the way I look. The main conflict is still time; some days of the week I only have an hour free time, which used to be relaxation time now and is now used for working out. Though the workouts tend to energize me and help me get through the day, being obliged to do them during free time is a frustration.

WORKOUT BREAK DOWN: CHEST AND BACK
The first workout everyone in P90X does is “Chest and Back.” When you see the infomercials, it’s easy to expect P90X would start off the bat with tons of new fangled moves named after power tools. However, your first P90X experience is almost nothing but nine different kinds of push-ups and pull-ups. But around the time you begin to suspect you’ve been cheated out of your money, you start doing them, and any doubt you had in the quality of the workout leaves.

This is where you start to develop a personal relationship with P90X that no one will be able to take away from you—namely, finding out which exercises you absolutely hate. And everyone‘s different. (For some reason, I love the Dime-bomber push-ups, but can’t stand the inclined push-ups.)
The workout might not show you anything you haven’t done before, but there’s a reason why such exercises have been around since man first got sand kicked in his face.

Workout Song: I have a workout playlist, and put it on random every time I work out. Often, a great song will come on at a time when I need inspiration. For this workout, Adrenaline! by the Roots came on when I was dreading a hated set of push-ups and half way through the song I was ready to tackle anything.

The Next Day, my pecs hurt really bad. Now, my girlfriend has this way of randomly poking me, because she never had a sibling, and for some reason she chose MULTIPLE times to poke me hard in the pec despite my screams of pain and her promise that she forgot and wouldn’t do it again. I can only assume it’s because the workout made my pecs bulge in such a muscular way that her natural animalistic desire to touch my incredible body expressed themselves subconsciously in this fashion. Either that or she was getting back at me for leaving a basket of clean laundry on the floor for two weeks.

It’s still there. (more…)

Filed Under: Dance Advice | Wednesday, March 4th, 2009
Tags: exercise, fitness, p90x

Dear Casey is a satirical twist on the advice columns found in news media. During the past months, we introduced her column through archived articles from WhiteHeat. It’s now time to send in your questions - please do so at casey@lindybloggers.com

Dear Casey,

Lately, I’ve been reading about dancers moving to greener pastures for dancing. Specifically, there have been two threads on Yehoodi with people chiming in about “Pick up and move for dancing” and the “Next big dance scene“.

Many people say that Seattle is the top destination to move to. Since you live in Seattle, I thought I’d ask you for your opinion. What do you think about this discussion, and would you recommend that dancers move to a better dance scene in order to improve?

Itching to move,
Seattle Fanboy
(more…)

Filed Under: Dance Advice, Dear Casey, Travel Advice | Friday, February 27th, 2009

By Bobby “Extremely” White

PROLOGUE

“Fuck You, Tony Horton.”

I rarely cuss outside of airports, so you know I mean it. But whether I can help it or not, this is the phrase I’ll say, in my head at least, every day for 90 days. When I’ve done 80 push-ups in an hour and it’s time to do 10 more with one arm, I’ll say it.  After I have touched the floor in a squat and exploded into the air for the fifteenth time out of thirty in a 30-second-timed exercise, I’ll yell it. And when I’ve finished the final lunge exercise and can’t stand up in the shower, I’ll mention it to the cat.

Who is this Tony Horton? Aside from being a tight, bumpy pile of dyed-hair and tank tops, an ageless 50-year-old who takes being prickishly annoying to such an extreme that it often reaches a rare flavor of charismatic, he’s a professional trainer who’s developed several popular work out series. Most of them are the kind they have infomercials for at 3 in the morning in hotel rooms. His masterpiece, however, is a 12-disk set of sand-kicking sadomasochism called P90X. It is the Moby Dick of workouts.

I first learned about P90X when I noticed that my friend, professional swing dancer Nick Williams, had transformed from your generic out-of-shape American guy into a ripped Clydesdale horse over a period of six months. (more…)

Filed Under: Dance Advice, Trends | Wednesday, February 25th, 2009
Tags: exercise, Nick Williams, p90x, personal training, tony horton

Dear Casey is a satirical twist on the advice columns found in news media. During the past months, we introduced her column through archived articles from WhiteHeat. It’s now time to send in your questions - please do so at casey@lindybloggers.com

Dear Casey,

Coming from a different continent I have encountered many cultural shocks while living in North America. There is one particular thing that I still don’t quite understand in the context of social dancing which is the “hugging system”. In my country we don’t hug, we kiss cheeks to greet or say goodbye to people. So how exactly does it work and what is a “half hug”? If I dare to throw in a second question when is it ok to ask for a second dance? Since again europeans and americans seem to diverge on this too.

Thank you,
Lost-in-translation
(more…)

Filed Under: Dance Advice, Dear Casey | Friday, February 13th, 2009

Dear Casey is a satirical twist on the advice columns found in news media. During the past months, we introduced her column through archived articles from WhiteHeat. It’s now time to send in your questions - please do so at casey@lindybloggers.com

Dear Casey,

Lindy hop is a wonderful social dance which makes many different people come together for a few hours of fun and enjoyment. However all good things have a dark side; and there is one particular subject on which i would like your advice. During classes or social dances there are always a few people who seem to be oblivious to basic hygiene and prefer to harbor their natural scent to the pleasure or displeasure of others. Do you have any subtle ways to deal with this kind of situations?
Thank you,
Sensitive-Nose (more…)

Filed Under: Dance Advice, Dear Casey, Travel Advice | Friday, February 6th, 2009

Continuing with our introduction to Dear Casey (taken from WhiteHeat June 12th, 2008). For the uninitiated, Dear Casey is a satirical twist on the advice columns found in news media. Do take every word she says seriously, as your dancing and social life depend on it.

Dear Casey,

As you probably well know being my best friend and being by my side before and after recent competitions/lindy hop performances, for some reason lately my nerves have been getting the best of me…. My stomach gets all tied up in knots and I really want to hurl, especially afterwards, even if the performance went really well!

For some reason, this only seems to happen with partner dancing, not solo dancing at all…. The strange thing is, I’ve been performing lindy hop for a little over a decade now, and it’s only been in the last year that all these feelings have been taking me over….. This is all very frustrating b/c I really want to compete and love performing… I guess you could call it “Lindy Hop Performance/Competition Stage Fright”. (more…)

Filed Under: Competition Advice, Dance Advice, Dear Casey | Thursday, January 29th, 2009