P90X Status

It's day 45 of my second full P90X program, and I'm still going strong.  In my last blog post, I mentioned that Wendy and I were doing P90X Lean together.  Well, she decided after a few weeks into the program that it wasn't for her, so I've been continuing the same program by myself since.  I considered going back to the P90X Classic program, which I did the first time, but decided to continue this one....just for something new.  Basically, you do one less Ab Ripper workout per week, and for the first two three-week blocks, you substitute Core Synergistics for Chest & Back or Back & Biceps.  Lastly, you do Cardio X instead of Plyometrics.  It's easier than what I did before, but that's ok.  I'm still working hard, and over half of the workouts are the same, so it's not that much easier! :)

The weight isn't coming off as fast as it did last time, but the eating hasn't been as "intense" as before either.  I've been eating very good, just not 100% of the time.  I've lost about 7 pounds in the first 6+ weeks, so that progress...even if it slow.  Can't complain, right?

Dan

P90X: Round 2: Week 2

I had an OK week this week...still not eating nearly as good as I'd like to be.  As I said last week, that 6-week in-between period really screwed me up and had my mind telling me it's OK to eat that way...I've already lost 50 pounds!  True, but I really want to get down below 200 and that will take another 27 pounds.  I don't think I'll get there eating like this.  I'm not sure how to fix it...but I need to...soon.

As for the program, I had to adjust again.  Monday was our last Senior legion baseball game so I missed that workout and moved everything out.  Then, it was so hot Wednesday night (when I was supposed to do Plyometrics...which I have to do in the garage) that I did Kenpo inside instead.  This was supposed to push Plyometrics to Friday but it was 100+ degrees again and I decided to do Yoga...hoping it would be cooler on Sunday...which it was.

Basically, as you can see below...I did no workout on the day it was originally scheduled.  :)  Oh well, I got them all done, so that's the important thing.

Monday: Chest and Back No Workout
Tuesday: Plyometrics Chest and Back
Wednesday: Shoulders and Arms Kenpo
Thursday: Kenpo Shoulders and Arms
Friday: Shoulders and Arms Yoga
Saturday: Yoga Legs and Back
Sunday: Stretch Plyometrics

I think I'm going to try to do Stretch tonight if I have time to (which I should).  I really enjoyed it last year, when it was the only workout on Sunday and especially after I did Legs and Back, which leaves me sore every time.

Dan

Round 2, Day 2: Plyometrics

Well, it's day 2 and I've already had a schedule adjustment.  Last night, we had Senior Legion baseball games (we won both!) so I didn't get any supper after work and didn't get home until after 10pm.  Since I was doing Plyometrics, I also didn't want to workout too soon after eating.  So, I went ahead and did the workout on Wednesday morning.  I was a little worried about not having much energy, but it went pretty good.

Speaking of the workout, I experienced the same slight decline in performance in Plyometrics that I saw in Monday's workout.  Not much...probably just a few percentage points...but it was noticeable.  I again chalk this up to being off from this workout for a few weeks.  I expect next Tuesday's workout to be back to where I was when I ended round 1.

No baseball tonight, so Shoulders and Arms should go off tonight as scheduled.

Dan

Round 2, Day 1: Chest and Back with Ab Ripper X

Feels great to be back doing P90X again!  As you know by now, I'm starting up sooner than I had expected, but I had to make an executive decision before all of the work I put into round 1 was put into jeopardy.  What thrills me the most is that I now have friends doing the program too!  I can't wait to see how Day one went for Kyle and Carly and how Day 3 went for Darin tonight!  Best of all, Wendy did the workout with me tonight!

As for me, the Chest and Back went pretty good, considering I hadn't done this workout in nearly a month (May 14th to be exact).  Most of the number are down slightly from that last time, but that's OK.  Shortly, I'll be back to those number and will be exceeding them.

Ab Ripper was a little off as well.  I could also tell it had been nearly 2 weeks since I last did it.  I did 343/349 reps, so not too shabby for Day #1, right?

On to "the Mother of all P90X workouts" tomorrow.  Plyometrics!

Dan

Days 90 & 91: Yoga X and REST!!!

Sorry for the last post, folks, but this was an extremely busy weekend.  Falls City hosted a 6-team American Legion Junior baseball tournament.  3 teams from Nebraska (Falls City, Auburn, and Tecumseh) and 3 teams from Kansas (Sabetha, Holton, and Doniphan County).  The teams from each state played each other on day 1 (Saturday) and then today we had the 5th, 3rd, and 1st place games pitting teams from each state against each other.  We were fortunate enough to not only win the tournament (we beat Doniphan County 10-6), but Auburn and Tecumseh also won, so it was a clean sweep for Nebraska.

Because we hosted the tournament, we all spent all day Saturday there, and all Sunday afternoon and evening as well.  Therefore, I got up early Saturday morning the completed my final Yoga X session for this round of the P90X program.  It really feels good to get the workouts done in the morning, and not have to worry about doing them so late at night.

For Sunday, I fully planned on doing X Stretch when I got home from the games, but I'm spent, folks!!!  I'm going to go ahead and take option #1 of that "Rest or X Stretch" wording in the P90X workout guide.

As for final results, I had a slight problem with my scale.  It decided to crap out on me with dead batteries, and it uses the watch battery style.  Therefore, I fell back to the Wii Fit scale.  While it does read about 10 pounds light compared to my regular scale, I did have an early March (when I started the program) weigh-in on the Wii to refer to.  Therefore, according to the Wii, I lost 46.1 pounds total (265.7 to 219.6). Awesome!!!  Of course, it doesn't measure body fat, so I'm going to have to replace the batteries in the regular scale to get that.

Also, I have updated the final pictures to the website as well, and they are accessible from the "P90X Pictures" link at the top.

What a ride this has been for me.  I've been looking so long for something to help me get in better shape and lose weight, and this program nailed it for me.  I'm so happy that I stumbled upon those commercials way back when.

Where do I go now?  Well, I can pretty much guarantee that this will not be the only time I follow the program. As for when I start again, I was first considering the end of baseball season.  However, the nuclear plant I work  at has a refueling outage coming up in October.  As I work 60 hours a week during an outage, I don't want to be spending an additional hour doing workouts.  I then considered just starting up again, but baseball keeps me so busy that I really need to conserve my free time.

Therefore, here is the current plan:

1. Do Plyometrics, Kenpo, Cardio, or Core Synergistics 2-3 times as week as time permits
2. Eat the same healthy foods I ate during the program.
3. Start up with the next round of P90X after the refueling outage.

This plan should help me to still drop weight (slower of course) until I'm ready to start up with the program again.

Thanks for following me throughout this journey!

Dan

Day 87: Kenpo X

Well, I got the workout in plenty early tonight!  Our baseball games were postponed due to rain, so I was home nice around 7:30 and got to spend some time with the family.  I still have difficulty doing side and back kicks with my left leg, but it's been that way the whole program.  I feel like my ball kicks are higher than they were when I started, and the (right foot) side and back kicks have much better form.

Still eating healthy meals, but haven't kicked the habit of snacking on not-so-healthy stuff every now and again.  This is something I really need to bear down on now because when I go off of the program in a few days, it's going to be that much harder, I'm afraid.  I have to believe that the progress I've made and the great comments I've been getting from people will help keep me true on my diet.

I'm still trying to decide what I'm going to do for exercise starting next week.  I've considered walking, running at the high school track, or even doing Kenpo X and Plyometrics on nights that I don't have games.  I definitely want to ensure that I'm exercising at least 3 times a week during my P90X downtime, because I certainly do not want to regress.

4 days to go!

Dan

Day 79: Plyometrics

Great Plyometrics workout tonight!  The heart rate was really good (between 80 and 90% of max) and I continued to do some more double-time exercises (Mary Katherine, Knee Tucks, Rock Star).  Unfortunately, this was the last time I do Plyometrics for this round of P90X.  Really?  Why couldn't it have been my last Yoga?  :)

Eating has been OK, but still doing some snacking.  It's got it's foot in the door and it's been a bear getting it back out.  I'm sure I won't match the monthly weight loss average I obtained in the first 60 days of the program, but I'm still going to lose 40+ pounds, so how can I be upset about that?  :)

Back and biceps (for the last time) tomorrow!  We also have baseball games at 6 and 8, so it's going to be a late workout!

Dan

Day 78: Chest, Shoulders and Triceps with Ab Ripper X

Big day today!  Not only did I "retire" another workout, but I reached my Ab Ripper goal of 349 reps!!  For the Ab Rippers, my last couple of reps for pulse-ups were weak, but my legs were off the ground and my butt also came off the ground, so I counted them.  I really pushed myself vocally before each of the exercises where I'd been short recently, and apparently it helped!  My goal now is to maintain the 349 reps for the last two times doing the workout.

On the resistance workout (Chest, Shoulders and Triceps) I did about the same as in week 10 (Day 64).  Some I did better in, like the pike presses and the side-to-side push-ups.

My favorite, Plyometrics, tomorrow!  It will also be the last time for that workout!  :(

Dan

Day 72: Plyometrics

Much better Plyometrics workout last night than last week, as this week my heart rate was up higher (around 160-165) and I felt I had more energy.  I have been getting a little more sleep the last few days, so that's probably part of it.  During last night's workout, I actually started the jump knee tucks doing double-timers.  I didn't end the 30 seconds that way, though!  I don't do Plyometrics during the recovery weeks, so I only have one left!  Makes me sad, because it's my favorite!

I'm thinking I may do a weigh-in here in the next few days to see how things are going.  I'm still eating well, but have been eating small amounts of not-so-healthy foods here and there.  Not whole meals or anything....just "snacks".  I've stopped that in the past few days, but for awhile there it was becoming a problem.  Therefore, I expect the weight loss will be a bit less than it was before.

My last Shoulders and Arms is tonight!

Dan

Day 71: Chest and Back with Ab Ripper X

Today I "graduate" from my first workout as this was the last time I do Chest and Back.  Looking back on how I started this workout on day 1 (Day #1 Blog Post) it's pretty amazing how far I've come.    One Day #1 I did 9 standard push-ups total in 2 rounds.  Tonight, I did 32.  Now 32 is one round for the guys on the video, but that's a huge improvement for me!

How about some of the other push-up exercises:

Military push ups?  I did one rep (non-knees) in the first three weeks!  Tonight I did 8.
Wide fly?  Three total (non-knees) the first three weeks.  24 tonight.
Decline?  1 rep total the first three weeks.  10 tonight.
Diamond?  Averaged 7 (non-knees) per week in weeks 1-3.  Did 19 tonight.
Dive bomber?  Averages 11 in weeks 1-3.  15 tonight.

As for the pull-ups, I'm still using the band, but have moved back to get more tension and am now doing the same amount I was doing with less tension earlier in the program.

Ab Ripper was a new rep record again tonight...332/349.  Getting there...want that 349 by day 90!

Plyometrics tomorrow!

Dan

Day 65: Plyometrics

Another Tuesday...another round of Plyometrics.  As I was yesterday, I felt a little fatigued before I started the workout.  However, I had no problem completing the exercises.  In fact, I did better than usual on the rock star jumps and the jump knee tucks.  As usual, the exercise that left my legs the most fatigued before the exercise was complete was the squat switch pickups and the 180 jump switches.  These are basically the same move, with the latter going 180 degrees and the former just switching which leg is in front in the run stance.  I did them all, but boy were the legs crying before it was all over.

Wendy made turkey burgers on the grill tonight for supper, and they were great!  I had one of those (and some of Avery's too!), some salad and some reduced fat baked beans.  We'll have to have those again soon!  I love burgers!  Last night and tonight we ate on the patio table on our deck.  The weather has been so nice that it was a pretty easy decision.

Break from baseball practice tomorrow, but now my sister has busted the screen on her laptop, so I'm going to have to work on getting that replaced.  Some "day off", huh?  :)

Back and Biceps tomorrow!

Dan

Day 64: Chest, Shoulders and Triceps with Ab Ripper X

Got the workout started at a "better" time tonight...9:15.  Better than 9:30 or 10, right?  Well, my "scores" for this workout were a step back from week 9 for some reason.  Almost across the board they were the same or a little less.  Less energy?  Mowing yesterday?  Who knows.  Doesn't matter...I did the best I could!

As for Ab Ripper, a new record for reps again!  330 tonight after setting the previous record on Friday of 325.  I really think me pushing to beat the rep count has me working that extra bit to get those few extra reps.  I'd like to say that my goal is to hit 349 by the end of the program, but those damn Crunchy Frogs are really tough for me.  I did get 18 tonight, which is 1 better than I had been doing for the past month it seems.  Progress, at any speed, is welcome, right?

Well, another 4am rise tomorrow, so I'm off to bed.  Night all!  Plyometrics (aka SYAO) in store for tomorrow!

Dan

Day 58: Plyometrics

Wow!  I guess 4 hours of sleep last night didn't really help me out during Plyometrics tonight! I did about the same as I always do, but my heart rate was up higher than it has been the past few times.  Also, the legs seemed a little "rubberier" (is that a word)...more rubbery too.  At any rate and like always, I pretty much was drenched in sweat when it was all over.

Two days until day 60, which signals another round of pictures and another official weigh in!!  I'm excited to see how much more progress I've made!  I know I promised I'd put pictures into some of these posts to break up the boring text, so here's one I took with my iPhone after cool down tonight:

No, I didn't oil up...that's real "DNA removal" as Tony Horton would say!

Back to Shoulders and Arms tomorrow!

Dan

Day 57: Chest and Back with Ab Ripper X

Ok, so recovery week is nice and all..and I really do like the Core Synergistics workout...but it feels so good to be back doing resistance workouts again!  Tonight was Chest and Back..the first workout I ever did almost 2 months ago.  Remember when I couldn't do any push ups?  Well, I can do more now.  In fact, here are some stats from the first 3 weeks and tonight.  The numbers for each week are the average number of reps per set (2 sets per workout).  A push up from the knees counts as 1/2 of a rep.

Standard: W1-8, W2-5, W3-7, W9-12

Military: W1, W2-2, W3-2, W9-6

Wide Fly: W1-4, W2-3, W3-4, W9-11

Decline: W1-0, W2-0, W3-0, W9-3

Diamond: W1-3, W2-5, W3-7, W4-9 (many of these were 1.2 way down the first 3 weeks)

Dive Bomber: W1-6, W2-5, W3-6, W9-7

Decent improvement.  I'm sure it's a mix of less weight to push up and stronger muscles.  At any rate, I'm happy about that progress.  As for pull ups, I'm still using bands and I pretty much did the same, though now I've moved back farther to get more resistance in the bands.  I'm not going to do a "real" pull up until the post program fit test to see if I can do some.  I'm hoping for similar improvement here that I've had in push ups so far.

For Ab Ripper, I set another record for reps...316 this time.  I was able to max out on bicycles for the first time, and got 45/50 on mason twists again.

Eating I've kind of fallen into a little snafu where I've told myself it's OK to eat more carbs.  I've also caught myself having a small bite of some other foods that I probably shouldn't.  Nothing major like 10 cookies or anything like that.  Just little stuff that I need to correct.  I'm really overall very happy with my eating.  I've never done this...EVER...so anything like this is going to be tough.  Like I've said before, I'm going to make this a life habit and not just "during P90X".

Time for bed.  Plyometrics tomorrow!

Dan

Day 44: Plyometrics

Another pretty good day today!  I had a small issue with some crackers and peanut butter before dinner, but I handled the situation the best I could!  :)  I have to remove this little "it's OK to eat just a few of these" voice from my head right now, before it gets too loud!  Curse you peanut butter!!

Beside the issue above, the only other concern right now is the fact that I've been doing the workouts late in the evening.  I knew this coming in, but I believe that I'd have more energy doing them earlier.  But, with baseball practice four days a week now, there's no way to do it...at least on days that I work.  I guess all I can do is continue to "Bring It" the best that I can every day with nutrition and that day's workout!

Pretty standard Plyometrics workout tonight.  Still struggle a little with the knee touches and the rock star jumps.  I also experience some pretty good fatigue in my legs during the run stance moves where you squat and then jump and turn for each rep.  Doing much better than the first few weeks, tho.  I can do almost all of them now.  BTW, in case you are wondering my heart rate maxed at 172 (a little more than 90% of max).  This has been the norm for at least the last 3-4 times I've done plyo.

Back and Biceps on the menu for tomorrow, which is day 45...the half way point!

Dan

Day 37: Plyometics

Not too much to post today...it was a pretty typical day for me.  Plyometrics seems to be getting a little easier each time I do it.  Tonight, I was able to do both of the high impact jumps (rockers and knee touches) for the entire duration...even a few double-time knee touch jumps!  There were just a few seconds during the entire workout where I took an "unofficial" break.

All in all, I'm feeling great about my progress in the exercises, on the scale, and in the mirror!  For the longest time, I've wanted to do something about it, and I just never was able to get motivated enough to do it.  Thank goodness I saw those P90X infomercials...and also for the "wardrobe malfunction" at work.  Without them, I'd be the same old Dan, and not New and Improved Dan!  :)

A first is coming on Thursday...my first P90X workout away from home.  Wendy and I have an Autism Conference to attend in Lincoln on Thursday and Friday (our middle child, Megan, has been diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum).  So, I'll be doing Yoga in the hotel room!

First things first, though.  Back and Biceps tomorrow.

Dan

Day 36: Check, Shoulders and Triceps with Ab Ripper X

Started the 2nd time through the 2nd "adaptive phase" yesterday, and Chest, Shoulders and Triceps was the workout.  I did about the same as last time....some exercises were a little better and some not quite so good.  Having the new 15lb weights helped a lot on some of the triceps exercises...getting me to that "8-10" rep area that Tony keeps mentioning in the video.

Ab Ripper was tough for me again.  I dropped about 12 reps from last week, with the same exercises (fifer scissors, crunchy frog, hip rock and raise, pulse up) giving me fits.  Again, on the scissors and pulse-up exercises, I can't even get my legs up to 90 degrees...let alone keep them there during the exercise.  The legs get fatigued in a hurry.  I guess the ab muscles are still just not yet strong enough to get (and keep) them up where they need to be.  I'd really like to see me get to 20 reps on these.

Plyometrics tonight after our first "official" baseball practice of the season.  I'm now the Head coach of our Legion juniors baseball team, so I'll be pretty busy this summer. Baseball is by far my favorite sport, so I love this time of year!

Dan

Day 30: Plyometrics

Welcome back, Plyometrics!  I've missed you!  Seriously!  If Kenpo is my favorite workout, Plyo is #1a.  It's tough, and I still have a few moves that I can't keep up with the video, but I really like it!  I even did some double-time knee-ups (trying to be more like you, Cleveland!)

I weighed myself this morning, and I'm down 17.9 pounds (from 274 to 256.1) through the first 30 days of the program.  That's over 4 pounds a week...awesome!  Again, I'm not setting any weight goals for this program, so whatever I lose I can't be disappointed.  Ok, I'd be mad if I gained weight, but that's not going to happen.  The only 2 goals are: 1) Complete the scheduled workouts EVERY DAY (I might rest on Sunday of recovery weeks...but that's still legal!) and 2) Stick to the nutritional program EVERY DAY.  If I do those two things, this program will be a huge success, regardless of my weight or how much better I look.

Speaking of looks, Day 30 pictures were taken tonight, and are posted at the "P90X Pictures" link in the menu bar of the blog.  While the differences are not drastic, I can certainly see progress.  I think the most noticeable differences are in the Back Flex (better muscle definition) and side (smaller "gut").  Let me know what you think.

On to the 2nd new workout tomorrow, Back and Biceps.

Dan

Day 29: Chest, Shoulders and Triceps with Ab Ripper X

Back to work!  After my first day off of my P90X journey yesterday, I'm back to work today.  As I've mentioned in a few of my previous posts, I'm starting tow new workouts this week.  Today's new workout was Chest, Shoulder and Triceps.  If you've been paying attention to my other "Chest" posts, this workout had a lot of new Push Ups.  I'm happy to say that I believe I'm improving in the push up area.  I can't say for sure, but based on how I did tonight (and also during some of the push up exercises in Core Synergistics), I believe I would see some improvement over my numbers from the Chest and Back workouts I did during weeks 1-3.  I guess we'll see in week 9.  By then, I hope for some significant improvement.

Besides the push ups, there were also a lot of weight exercises for the Shoulders and Triceps part of the workout.  I found, however, that my 10 and 20lb weights weren't always ideal.  I could really use 15lb weights.  Maybe I'll check WalMart again before next Monday and see what they have.  I tried to order some 30lb weights online from Dick's Sporting Goods and realized when I got to checkout that shipping 60 lbs costs quite a bit.  Needless to say, I didn't order them.

As I expected, I regress a small amount on the Ab Ripper X repetitions, doing 5 less than I did 10 days ago.  I did seem a little tougher, but I was pretty close to the number and actually tonight was my 2nd best output so far for the program, so I can't get too upset, right?  Form still stinks on a lot of the workouts, but I'm doing my best to improve there too.  I expect a downturn in reps as I work to improve the form.

Still plugging away on the healthy eating.  Had some pork tonight that had a bit of fat in it, so that wasn't the greatest, but I'm not too worried about it.  I had steamed broccoli and cauliflower with it.  Very good.  For dessert I had a little rainbow sherbet, which is fat free of course.

Back to Plyometrics tomorrow.  One of my favorites.  I also do the official day 30 weigh in tomorrow morning and I'll do pictures tomorrow evening before Plyometrics.  I'm hoping for 20 lb, but if I get a little less, I'm cool with it.  I'm doing things the right way, so the weight and the muscle definition will come.  I refuse to get impatient or put expectations on the results.

Dan

Day 16: Plyometrics

Another day, another new food I ate last night.  This time it was whole wheat spaghetti with Hunts spaghetti sauce.  It was really good!  We usually eat Hunts, but before we would add ground beef.  Not now!

The workout was great last night!  Some of the exercises that I had to stop short before, I was able to do all the way through this time.  Probably did between 90 and 95% this time.  This is a fun workout, probably #2 for me behind Kenpo.  Unfortunately I don't to this workout next week during the recovery week of block 1 of the program.  I do get to introduce a new one next week, Core Synergistics.  Interested to see how that one goes.

Shoulders and Arms tonight!

Dan