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 56: X Stretch

Thanks goodness Prom (and Post Prom) is over!  Don't get me wrong, I had fun and so did the kids.  However, the lack of sleep on my part certainly made Sunday an interesting day!  I got home around 4:30am and got to sleep after 5.  I then woke up around 8:30 and of course couldn't get back to sleep.  So, I spent Sunday running on 3+ hours of sleep.  I actually didn't really start to feel it until the early evening, and I did sleep really good last night!

I did the X Stretch workout at around 9pm...mostly because we weren't home until then.  We took Brandt's prom date back home and had dinner with her parents who are friends of ours (I work with her dad).  Luckily it was just X Stretch and not something else like Plyometrics or Kenpo because I wouldn't have had the energy!

Today starts the third and final adaptive phase of the P90X program.  This time, it's 4 weeks long compared to 3 weeks the first two times.  Weeks 9 and 11 are identical to weeks 1-3.  Weeks 10 and 12 are identical to weeks 5-7.  The final week, week 13, is another recovery week.

Have a good week, everyone!

Dan

Day 55: Yoga X

It's been a busy day, but the night it still young!  In about 3 hours I'll be heading over to the high school to help out with the Post Prom party.  Brandt is a Junior this year, so us Junior parents get to help out.  I'm not sure what I'm going to help out with exactly, but I hope I get to watch the laser tag, which is the big thing this year.  Some outfit out of Kansas City brought a laser tag setup that supposedly takes up the entire gym floor.  Should be lots of fun.  Breakfast is at 4am, so I won't be home before then.  I should have napped earlier today, but I'm pretty much unable to sleep during the day.  I could try and nap now, but with 3 hours until I have to be there, it wouldn't do much good.

I did the Yoga X workout this afternoon after lunch.  As I've mentioned before, it appears to be getting somewhat easier, but it still pretty tough for me.  One thing I was excited about though...I DID WHEEL!!  Ok, so it was for about 3-4 seconds, but it was the first time I was able to get up into it.  Other than that, everything was about the same.

X Stretch tomorrow then back to "work" next week!

Dan

Day 54: Core Synergistics

You know how Tony says "Ab Ripper X...I hate it but I love it" before the Ab Ripper X workout?  Well, that's kind of how I feel about Core Synergistics.  It's the workout that I don't want to do before I start, but I'm thrilled I did it afterwards.  If I was still having the same issues with push ups that I had when I started, then I wouldn't like it as much.

Big day today!  Not only do I have the 90+ minute yoga workout, but we have Avery's dance recital and Prom today.  Avery is also supposed to have a soccer game, but the dance recital is probably going to take priority.  Also, I'm working post-prom tonight, so I'll be at the high school from 11:45 until about 4am.  Hoo-rah!  Good thing I only have X Stretch tomorrow!  :)


Oh yeah...Kansas City beat Minnesota 7-5 yesterday for their third victory in a row!  Oh yeah!!!

Dan

Day 53: X Stretch

Nice easy stretch workout tonight.  Had to do some of the workout on the laptop so I could have the TV on the NFL Draft.  (enter your favorite sports geek joke here).  The only stretch I can't completely do is Camel.  I can get one hand on my heel but not both.  Other than that, I can do them all....even Back Hero...all the way down!

I don't know if I mentioned this dish yet, but we've been occasionally having some turkey pepperoni and mushroom pizzas...had one for dinner tonight!  We take whole wheat tortilla shells (they are not round, but almost oval) and put a little EVOO on them and bake them at 350 for 7 minutes.  Then we take them out, and place pizza sauce, turkey pepperoni, mushrooms and reduced-fat mozzarella cheese on it and bake it again at 350 for another 7 minutes. They are very good!

Back to Core Synergistics tomorrow.  I may try to do it after work..around 4:00...because we have an intra-squad scrimmage until 8 and I'd rather not do that workout at like 9:00..even on a Friday.  We'll see how the day goes.

Oh!  And the Royals won again!!  2 in a row!  That's a winning streak!

I'm pooped.  Bed time!  :)

Dan

Day 52: Kenpo X

ROYALS WIN!!! ROYALS WIN!!!

Ok, wanted to get that off my chest first!  :)  If you don't follow baseball (shame on you!), my favorite team, the Kansas City Royals, snapped a 12-game losing streak tonight by winning in Cleveland 8-2.  What a relief!  Time for a winning streak!

Ok, now on to P90X.  I'm feeling great today, because I had at least three people tell me they can really tell I've lost weight!  I knew I had because the scale told me so...and I'd seen a few things in the mirror but apparently it's getting obvious now.  How exhilarating it feels to hear those things.  It really makes all of the sore muscles and late nights and sweat all seem worth it that much more.

Did Kenpo tonight...can't say too much about it.  It's an easy and fun workout that makes you sweat a lot!  I did notice one thing tonight.  When I went to do the pigeon (is it pigeon?  or some other bird?) stretch where you have to bend your leg under your torso and then stretch over it, I couldn't bend my left foot under at all.  Right leg, no problem.  Also, whenever I do side and back kicks with my left foot, they aren't nearly as good and crisp as the right leg.  Same thing with glute stretch...it's much harder to do when I cross with the left leg.  Apparently it's not as flexible or something, but this "bird" stretch really opened my eyes to it.

Oh well, on I go.  X Stretch tomorrow.

Dan

Day 51: Core Synergistics

I knew there was a reason why I use the double quotes when using the phrase "recovery" week!  It's because Core Synergistics is probably the most butt-kicking workout in the whole program!  Put it this way, I couldn't even do the glute stretch very well because my arms and legs were just covered with sweat...my crossed leg kept slipping out!

Still making quite a bit of progress on the push ups.  I can't wait until next Monday when Chest and Back returns so I can see how much progress I've made since I did it in weeks 1-3.  I really feel like I can do a lot more...we'll see.  Don't want to get too far ahead of myself!

Also, I've gotta give a shout out to my wife Wendy and my girls.  They've sacrificed a lot to allow me to spend about an hour each day on this program over the past 7+ weeks.  If I do the workout early (before the girls go to bed) then Wendy makes sure they have baths and have their homework done.  If I wait and do it late, then I can help with the girls but Wendy and I don't get the chance to have any time together before she falls asleep (she almost always falls asleep first).  I really appreciate them allowing me to do this.  Love you guys!!

Kenpo X is up tomorrow.

Dan

Day 50: Yoga X

Had a pretty good day today...day #1 of the 2nd recovery week (and day #1 of week #8 overall) of the P90X program.  This week, I do Yoga X twice, Core Synergistics twice, X Stretch twice, and Kenpo once.  You still work your butt off...just a limited number of resistance exercises...all in the Core Synergistics workout.

Unfortunately, I really see no tangible progress in Yoga X.  As I've mentioned before, I get the double whammy on this workout because 1) I'm not very flexible and 2) I have poor balance.  This is why postures like Half Moon give me fits.  A few of the postures (i.e. Shoulder stand, crane, etc.) I do see some small improvements.  However, easier postures like getting down to 90 degrees in the crescent and warrior postures sometimes seems to get worse!!  In spite of all of this, I trudge on faithfully following the program...realizing that any of these workouts I do only help to improve upon these shortcomings.

I haven't posted much about my nutrition lately...only because I really haven't eaten anything different.  I'm actually quite lucky that I'm not one of those people that can't eat the same thing every (or every other) day because I'd probably lose it.  I still have turkey bacon and cottage cheese for every breakfast during the week and most weekends.  I still have either a Boca burger or a turkey sandwich for lunch.  I still quite often have BBQ chicken for supper.  Pretty exciting stuff, huh?

Off to bed...we have early practice tomorrow, so I'm up at 4am (4.5 hours from now).

Core Synergistics tomorrow.

Day 49: X Stretch

7 weeks down...6 to go!  Today marks the end of the 2nd adaptive phase of the P90X program, and tomorrow starts the 2nd "recovery" week.

I stepped on the scale this morning, and I'm now down to 247.7 and 31.0% body fat. This is from starting values of 274.0 pounds and 33.8%.  That's a total weight loss of 26.3 pounds!  Hell yeah!

Today our Falls City Legion baseball team had our first scrimmage against another team in Auburn.  I tell you this in this blog post because I want to show you a picture:

That's me last year at about this exact time...it was taken during our first scrimmage of 2011.  Anyway, that jersey is an XL and as you can see, it didn't fit me to well.  Needless to say, I had to "upgrade" to the XXL jersey for last season.

I'm now happy to report to you that the same jersey you see in this picture, is now my regular jersey for the 2012 season, and it fits just fine!  I don't have a new picture yet , but I'll have someone take one so I can post it on here.

Oh, and we won both scrimmages...Juniors (my team) 10-4 and Seniors 9-0!  DO WORK!

Dan

Day 48: Kenpo X

Another busy day for me today.  Brandt, my brother in law Dustin, and I spend some time mowing the cemetery.  It was actually a good day for it as it wasn't hot at all.  In fact, it was cool enough in the morning that we had sweatshirts on...and were still a bit cold.  Put it this way...we had work gloves on but not because we were protecting our hands from blisters!

At 4 we had a soccer game, and when we got home from that, I should have done my workout, but I waited until about 9:30 again.  Obviously, something I really need to work on!  I noticed that my heart rate didn't get quite as high as it has in the past for this workout.  Maybe because it was too late.

Baseball scrimmages in Auburn this afternoon and then X Stretch before I begin recovery week #2. tomorrow.

Dan

Day 47: Legs and Back with Ab Ripper X

Just a short note, as I'm in a hurry to get up to the Husker baseball game.  I was able to get the lawn mowed, watch Megan at a track meet, and still get in the Legs and Back and Ab Ripper workouts!  Pretty busy day!

I really pushed myself on the pull ups (still with bands) and beat all of my previous reps on each exercise!  Yeah!  On Ab Ripper X I really pushed myself and bested my previous goal ( I was shooting for 300) by 12 reps!  307!!!  Still working on form.

Off to Lincoln!  Kenpo tomorrow!!

Dan

Day 46: Yoga X

Well, I had my first P90X program "boo-boo" yesterday.  I was so tired from the limited sleep the night before that I fell asleep last night without doing Yoga!  Around 9pm, Wendy asked me if I wanted to watch Modern Family on our DVR.  As it's our favorite show, I made the mistake of saying "yes" and got into bed to watch it with her...fully planning on doing Yoga after it was over.  Oops!  Obviously, the issue of doing the workouts as early as possible is a concern, because I don't want this sort of thing to start becoming a habit!  I need to work on my procrastination!

Therefore, I did Yoga X this morning, and will be doing today's regularly scheduled workout, Legs and Back, after lunch.  I would wait a little later in the evening, but our baseball team is going to Lincoln to watch the Huskers play Purdue tonight, and I won't be back until probably Midnight at the latest.  Don't want to wait that long.

Not much change on Yoga, though I did do Crane for a bit longer than I have in the past.  It helped to touch one toe on the floor when I felt I was coming out of it and then went back up again, which helped reduce the down time.  I also tried Wheel, and I can get into position, but can't get the head off of the floor.  I'll have to continue to work on that one.  Also, Half Moon seems a bit easier...I remember at the beginning I couldn't do it at all!

I'll be back in a few hours with the Legs and Back post!

Dan

Day 45: Back and Biceps with Ab Ripper X

Wow...busy day yesterday.  Following work we had an intra-squad baseball scrimmage from 6 to about 8:15. After cleanup, I was home around 8:45.  Then, I was able to eat my supper (chicken breast and a dill pickle).  Then, at about 9:30 I did my workouts...ending a little before 11.  I finally went to sleep around midnight.  Best of all (yep, that's sarcasm) we have early practice today so I got up at 4am so I could get to work early and leave early enough to get to practice.  Whew!  Luckily, we only have these 6-8 scrimmages once a week!

The workout went well last night.  I moved up from 20-30lb on some of the exercises and again got closer to the 8-10 rep level I'm shooting for.  The only exercise that I need more weight for is lawnmowers.  30lb isn't quite enough.

Ab Ripper was a struggle during some exercises as usual.  I did get 292 reps, which is 3 off of my max for the program so far.  I certainly feel the ab muscles working more than they seemed to when I started the program.

Yoga time!

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 43: Chest, Shoulders and Triceps with Ab Ripper X

Great day!  Full productive day at work...great baseball practice...good healthy meal (chicken breast with barbecue sauce and a bit fat dill pickle)...and a great workout!

I'm really happy with my push up progress these last three weeks.  During the first three weeks of the program, I could hardly do any push ups at all.  Now, I'm able to do quite a few.  I even did my first one arm push ups tonight, though I only went down about half way on them...at least I was able to do some!  I'm also happy that I've been able to keep moving toward finding the right weights to get me into the 8-10 rep category on a lot of the resistance exercises.

As for Ab Ripper...I guess slow and steady wins the race, right?  I did 294 reps tonight, which is one short of my record for the program thus far.  Like I've mentioned multiple times (for multiple workouts) things seem to be getting a little easier all the time.

On to Plyometrics tomorrow evening.

Dan

Day 42: X Sretch

6 weeks down...7 weeks to go.  I'll be hitting 50% complete with this program on Wednesday of this coming week!  Seems like these past two weeks have just flown by compared to the first two weeks.  I guess that's a good thing.  Also, I'm really starting to notice my "fat loss" now.  My pants and shorts are starting to become really loose now, and I'm starting to not recognize the face in the mirror!  Great progress!  Can't wait to see the Dan after day 90!!

X Stretch tonight.  It was twice as nice because Wendy did it with me!

Chest, Shoulders and Triceps tomorrow!

Dan

Day 41: Kenpo X

Much better on the food front today.  Not perfect, but improvement.  I had a good breakfast and lunch...right on track.  For supper, Brandt and Wendy decided to get some Breadeaux pizza and mexican  cheese sticks (yummo!).  I had two of the small corner pieces of the cheese sticks.  Other than that, super day!

Did great on the workout this evening.  We thought we might do some cemetery mowing today, but as some of you may know we had some strong storms roll through today and tonight.  Therefore, the mowing will have to wait until maybe tomorrow.

X Stretch tomorrow!

Dan

Day 40: Legs and Back with Ab Ripper X

Well, being away from home this past few days had it's downsides in the eating arena.  No, I didn't go to McDonald's and order two Big Mac's and a large french fries.  I did slip a bit, though.  I mentioned in yesterday's post about my meal at the Autism conference.  Today, I was pretty limited at breakfast.  The conference did a very poor job of providing food, and therefore the lines were horribly long and the food was horribly scarce.  What I ended up with this morning was some dry piece of yellow "cake".  So I had that and coffee.  For lunch, Wendy and I skipped the ling lines and went to Spaghetti Works.  I had a salad and a plate of spaghetti with regular red sauce.  Oh, and did I mention the piece of garlic bread?  On the way back to the conference we stopped at the Cookie Factory and shared a chocolate chip.  They are pretty big, but I would say my half was a little bigger than a cookie you'd get at Subway.  Tonight, we went to our hometown mexican place and I had chips and salsa along with my typical chicken taco salad with no sour cream or guacamole.  I did, however, eat half of the salad shell (I usually don't eat any of it).  I should have had the talapia with steamed vegetables I've had before.  But I talked myself into something else that wasn't as healthy.  Shame on me!

Not horrible, right?  Could have been a lot worse, right?  Right!  However, I don't eat that way anymore.  This was a regression (slight or not) to the way I was before I changed nearly 6 weeks ago.  And, as I've said in prior posts, I'm susceptible to increased regression if I give even an inch of slack.  Therefore, I'm upset about it but I will not let it affect my resolve.  Tomorrow I'll be back to my "new" way of eating.  The healthy way.

On to the workouts.  Pretty standard for me.  I'm trying to use some heavier weights where my logs show things may have been a bit too easy.  For some reason, the first exercise (the Balance Lunge with the chair) has been tough for me.  I have a hard time getting the non-chair leg out far enough so that when I lunge my knee isn't too far over the foot.  It's hard to keep my balance.

For Ab Ripper, I had 290 tonight, which is 2nd best to Wednesday's total of 295.  I really struggle with Crunchy Frog.  If anyone has any suggestions on how to make it easier, please let me know.  My biggest issue is I tend to want to lean back too far with my chest and I think that makes it tougher.  Other than that, things seem to be getting a little easier.  Still need better form across the board.

Kenpo tomorrow!

Dan

Day 39: Yoga X

Another day...another workout!  Yoga yesterday in my hotel room here in the Cornhusker Mariott in Lincoln.  Not much to say about the workout other than I still struggle with the same poses.  Last Thursday I was able to do the half moon (normal and twisting) as lot better.  Yesterday it was tough again.  That one leg that is down during that sequence gets on fire in a hurry!

For lunch yesterday I had chicken and steak fajitas with rice.  The fajitas had a little cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and salsa.  For dinner I had a salad and then a smothered piece of roast beef, mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. Obviously the gravy on the roast beef wasn't the greatest for me and the potatoes (I only ate half) busted my carb portions.  However, I didn't have a choice as to what was on the plate.  If you've ever been to any conference like this, they bring you the plate right to the table.  No worries, it was minor and it was one meal.  My goal is to continue to make the right choices when I do have a choice...which is the majority of the time.  I'm doing great on this so far, so I have no concerns.

Heading home later this afternoon and then I have the Legs and Back workout.

Day 38: Back and Biceps with Ab Ripper X

Great day!  Work was crazy busy, as I was in meetings pretty much all day.  In fact, I ate my lunch during a software demo I was attending.  This may seem normal to some of you, but to me it's a rarity.  Made the day go by faster anyway.

Not much to report on the workout, other than the new 15lb weights and the 30lb weights I made helped out nicely this time.  I now almost have everything I need to get to the 8-10 rep range I want to be in for this workout.

Set a new rep high in Ab Ripper X of 295 and I felt my ab muscles work harder tonight than I ever have.  Isn't it weird that on Monday I felt sluggish and had trouble with some of the moves, but yet tonight (2 days later) they seemed much easier.  It can't be the time, because I did them at pretty much the same time in the evening.  And I also eat pretty much the same foods everyday.  Oh well, no matter, I'm getting the work done...that's the important thing.

Yoga tomorrow in the hotel room.

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 35: X Stretch

We had a good day with both my and Wendy's families for Easter.  I had a few pieces of ham for lunch and the rest was salad (with fat-free thousand island dressing), celery, deviled eggs (without the "filling") and fruit salad.  Spent a lot of time outside at both places, hitting golf balls, shooting arrows, throwing the Frisbee and also watching a little Masters on TV.

The only real major thing to report on the X Stretch workout was that for the first time I used a Yoga block during my left leg hamstring stretch.  Of course, it was just the most narrow side of the block, but I was able to go to the heel, so I tried it.  I'm not as flexible on the other side, but I'm about half way down the foot on it, so maybe in a few weeks I can use the block on it too.  When I first started doing X Stretch, I could barely reach the left foot.  Now, I can use a block.  That's progress, folks!

On to week #2 of adaptive phase #2 of the P90X program.  Chest, Shoulders and Triceps!

Dan

Day 34: Kenpo X

We had a great couple of days in KC!  We ate at Ruby Tuesday's Friday night and I had salad bar and some white bean and chicken soup.  We had breakfast at the hotel and I had oatmeal, a banana and some yogurt.  They had biscuits and gravy, sausage patties and scrambled eggs.  Boy did I want some!  :)  Yesterday for lunch we ate at Golden Corral.  For my first plate, I had salad with some steak and chicken strips in it along with some cottage cheese. My second plate had peaches, pears and a little piece of pork steak.  For dessert I had a small chocolate chip cookie and a small vanilla ice cream cone.  Not too bad for a two day mini-vacation, right?

Made it back home about 5:30 or so last night.  After doing some mowing and relaxing a bit, I did my Kenpo X workout.  As usual, I had a lot of fun doing it and it went by really fast.  I again had sore buns and upper legs Saturday.  I guess the Legs and Back workout is doing something good!

Easter with family today and then X Stretch tonight.  Happy Easter, everyone!

Dan

Day 33: Legs and Back with Ab Ripper X

Got the workout done early today, since we are headed to Kansas City after lunch.  I did fine except I struggled a little bit with the wall squat...not sure why.  I wasn't able to hold it for the full 90 seconds today.  My legs also got a little rubbery at the end of the "marathon lunges" as I like to call them.

As for Ab Ripper X, at the beginning I really though I was hosed.  My legs and hip flexors were spent.  However, I was able set another new personal record for reps...288.  I upped my Mason Twist number to 45!  Now, as I've said before, the form still isn't there on these, so don't think I'm doing 45 like the people on the video.  I've never touched the floor on them because I can reach it.  I get by my hip and that's about it.  Also, I need to get my chest up more on the leg climbs...I barely get my shoulders up.  On the oblique V-ups, I can keep my legs together and keep them off of the ground, but I don't get my shoulders up off the floor much except for the first few reps.  In other words, I have lots of room for improvement.

Off to KC.  I don't know where we are eating, but as usual I'm going to get the most healthy thing on the menu!  I'm thrilled with my progress, and there's no way I'm reverting now!

Dan

Day 32: Yoga X

Another day...another Yoga workout.  I got some improvements in Crane, only held it for about 7-8 seconds, but it was better than nothing.  I also was able to hold half moon and twisting half moon for longer than I have in the past.  I still have trouble with plough (for reasons I have posted many times) and keeping both legs straight up on shoulder stand.  But, all in all, I'm happy with my progress.

Warrior 3	Bridge
Crane

Finally finished the mowing of the cemetery today!  I went out there for about 2 hours and man was it cold!  I almost needed a jacket.  The site is on a hill, so it's always windy up there.  (Makes it easier to blow the cut grass off of the grave markers).  Now, the part we did last Saturday is just about ready to go again!

Off to Kansas City tomorrow and Saturday to celebrate my Mom's birthday.  Luckily, I'm only staying one night, so I don't have to worry about doing any workouts away from home.  No worries if I did, though, because I have the band I can use in lieu of the weights.  Anyway, I'll be doing Legs and Back in the morning tomorrow before we leave and then I'll do Kenpo when we get back Saturday night.

Lastly, I was thrilled to hear that my buddy and co-worker Darin may be starting P90X.  I received a text from him last night that simply said "P1".  I knew exactly what he meant because people at work always ask me what P-number I'm on (how many days have I been doing the program).  He again texted me this morning and asked me what equipment he needs for Chest and Back.  I have a feeling that my progress has inspired him.  I hope he keeps with it.

Dan

Day 31: Back and Biceps with Ab Ripper X

Another great workout!  I'm really impressed with the quality of these videos.  Before I started, I was concerned that they would be above my level.  However, in every workout they show you a wide range of methods to complete the exercise from expert to novice.  They also show you how you can do many of the workouts with resistance bands if you don't have a pull up bar or weights.  And the leader, Tony Horton, is entertaining to watch.  During this last workout, he asked one of the other people if they had tickets...they said "to what"...to which he replied "the gun show".  Love it.

As for the workout, I'm still using bands in place of using a pull up bar.  I may be able to do one pull up now, but haven't tried since I did the fit test prior to starting the program.  One of the pull up exercises in this workout is called corn cob.  When you get to the top, you pull your head to the left and then back to the right before going back down.  Kinda looks like the bar is a cob of corn that you are eating.  This gives you an extra workout on your arms that I hadn't experienced with just the regular pull up exercises I had done before.

I also noticed that I need 15 pound weights.  I had many exercises where 20 pounds was a bit too much but my 10 lb weights was too little.  I also need 15's for my new Monday workout, so I'm going to need to get some this weekend.

I gained my 5 Ab Ripper X reps back, so I'm back to my high of 285.  Bicycles and Mason Twist are really coming along.  Still struggle with Crunchy Frog, Fifer Scissors, Hip Rock & Raise and Pulse Up.

Also, I'm going to try and spice up this blog a bit by having someone take a few pictures or videos while I'm working out.  Then I can add them to the blog post to give it a little more flash.

Yoga time!

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 28: Rest

Yep, you read it right!  I decided to take the "Rest" option of the "Rest or X Stretch" directions on the P90X schedule.  Now, even though my P90X result was "Rest", I worked hard today.  I spent 6 hours at the Cemetery mowing and weed eating.  And boy am I sunburned on my neck, arms and lower legs (you'll see when I take day 30 pictures Tuesday).  Given the fact that I've already done X Stretch this week, and Yoga X twice...plus the work I did today, I thought a rest today would be a good idea.  Once school is out, Brandt and Justina will be taking care of this job.  Right now there are too many things going on, so I'm helping out.

Well, I'm excited about the new 3-week phase starting tomorrow!  I'm curious to see how the two new workouts (Mondays and Wednesdays) go for me.  I always struggle the first time, but it gets better.  Also, I'm back on Ab Ripper X starting tomorrow, so I hope the Core Synergistics workouts I did this week have kept me at the same level I was at a week ago.

Also, a big day is coming up Tuesday...Day 30!  I take my second set of pictures and do an official weigh-in.  The pictures will be posted on the "P90X Pictures" link in the toolbar at the top of the page.  I'm hoping to see some differences.  Like I've said before, my belt and pants are telling me my waist is getting smaller, so I already know there is some progress.  I'm also looking for some better muscle definition.  I guess we'll see!

Dan