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 7: X Stretch

As usual, X Stretch on Sunday evening was just what I needed.  As I've mentioned numerous times on this blog before, my glutes, hamstrings and quads are always sore on Saturday and Sunday after Legs and Back on Friday.  I feel so much better after doing this workout.

Also, this workout produced two firsts:  1) I touched the floor with my toes on plough for the first time and 2) I was able to do Camel by going back onto both feet for the first time.  This may not seem like much, but to me it's more evidence that this program is still producing steady improvements.

Well, one week of round 2 down, and it went very well.  I've got new batteries in the body fat scale, so I'm going to take a peek at that and see where I'm at.  It will be interesting to see, as I've not been as "straight and narrow" with the eating as I was the first 2/3 of round #1.

Off to bed, as I have a busy week ahead of me (big surprise, right?).  Baseball games tomorrow, Tuesday and Thursday.  Avery also has at least one game this week as well.

Dan

Round 2, Day 6: Kenpo X

Didn't get up early Saturday to get this workout in, but I did have some good luck...for P90X anyway.  We were supposed to have a Senior Legion tournament in Falls City Saturday starting as noon, and just as the first game was winding down, we got about 1.5 inches of rain...in the span of about 30-40 minutes.  Needless to say, the tournament was cancelled so I had all kinds of time in the early afternoon to workout.

Kenpo...well, it's Kenpo.  It's a fun workout and I have a lot of areas to improve.  For example, my side and back kicks with the left leg are still ugly and wouldn't be very effective in a real situation.  I also need to try and improve my hip and feet movement during some of the punch sequences.  All in all, though, the goal is to burn calories, and I certainly did that.  My heart rate monitor showed 75-85% max heart rate most of the time, so that's very good.

I'm just getting ready to do my X Stretch, so I'll be shooting off a post on that later this evening or tomorrow.

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 89: Core Synergistics

Another workout retired...this time it's Core Synergistics.  I've really kind of grown to like this workout!  Not that I don't like the resistance workouts...trust me, I do.  But the cardio workouts (Core Syn, Kenpo, Plyometrics) really make me sweat and work off those extra pounds I've been keeping around for all of these years.  So, they have an extra-special place in my heart!

Actually, I'm considering doing each of those 3 workouts once a week during my down-time after this round of P90X is complete.  I want to make sure I at least maintain my new weight, and don't gain any back.  Continuing to eat well (with reduced snacking) and doing these cardio workouts 3 nights a week should do the trick!

All I have left is Yoga and X Stretch.  Since we have a baseball tournament all day tomorrow, I'm getting up nice and early and getting Yoga done.  I need to be at the baseball field by about 7:30 or 8:00, so I'll probably start about 5:30 or 6am tomorrow.  This will work just fine, because I should be able to get to bed plenty early tonight...I've already done today's workout!

Dan

Day 88: X Stretch

Actually had a day off from baseball on Thursday!  Got home from work and had a nice walk with Wendy, Avery, and Bingo (the Jack Russell).  Megan didn't want to go, so she stayed home!  It's been cool here the past few days, so we had out jackets on during the walk...it felt great!

I did the X Stretch workout about 9:30pm or so (guess I'm just getting used to doing these late!)  I was still a little sore from the Core Synergistics workout I did on Tuesday, so again the X Stretch workout was just what Dr. Horton ordered!

Just three workouts left until I "graduate" P90X!  What a great feeling!!!

Dan

Day 84 (part 2): X Stretch

Late night stretching!!!  Started after midnight tonight!  Had baseball today and then a family get together with the in-laws on the back deck with a fire in the chiminea.  After that I compiled some baseball statistics so I could send them to the boys and coaches tomorrow.  So, X Stretch got pushed way back.  It's ok, though, because tomorrow is a holiday and a day off so I can sleep in!

Well, today ended Week 12 of P90X, and al I have left is a recovery week next week.  2 Yogas, 2 Core Synergistics, 2 X Stretch and a Kenpo.  It's pretty amazing to look back on all of the work I've put into this program over the past 3 months!!

Off to bed!  I really need my beauty sleep...ask anybody!  :)

Dan

Day 84 (part 1): Kenpo X

Did Kenpo X this morning, as I had hoped to do.  Forgot to put on the heart rate monitor, so I don't know how that was, but I'm pretty sure it was good as I really "brought it" during the workout.  I still have trouble with kicks with the left leg for some reason.  It's been that way the entire time.  I also have trouble with glut stretch when I cross the left leg across my right thigh.  Also pidgin is hard for me when I tuck in the left leg.  I think that leg is either just really badly inflexible or there's some sort of physical issue with it.  Another odd thing...I'm left-handed but kick with my right foot.  Most left-handed people kick left, so it could be that this issue (whatever it it) has been with me since I was young and caused me to learn to kick right instead.

I'll be doing X Stretch tonight when I get home from the baseball games.  That will catch me up from the missed workout I had on Wednesday of this week.

Dan

Day 81: Back and Biceps with Ab Ripper X

Back on track tonight...because there's no late baseball!  :)  Did the final Back and Biceps workout tonight, and it went pretty good.  I'm up 10-15 lbs in almost every exercise in the workout, and the new band is really giving me some extra resistance I didn't get with the old one.

I don't think I told you about the band...I was working out to one of the back exercises a little more than a week ago and my band broke!  Luckily it broke right by the handle and not in the middle.  Gave me a little scare for a split-second there, but nobody was hurt!  So, I got a new band at the new Dick's Sporting Goods that opened up in St. Joseph about a month ago.  It's one that has the handles that can be placed on any band.  I'm using the green band, which I think is 80 or 90lb of resistance.

As for Ab Ripper, I barely made 349/349 again.  During the pulse-ups, my last two "reps" were done after Tony and the gang were done.  Not exactly what I wanted, but I did do 25 reps!

OK, on to Yoga tomorrow.  Again, a good day for it because we have no games or practice tomorrow.  Saturday (Legs and Back with Ab Ripper) and Sunday (Kenpo & X Stretch) we have a tournament in Auburn.  I'm hoping to get the workouts done in the morning so I don't have to worry about them.  Doing that last Saturday made such a big difference!

Dan

Day 77: X Stretch

Not much more to report since I just posted a few hours about about Kenpo and how the weekend went for me.  I did X Stretch and my post-Friday soreness feels better.  :)

Last week of Adaptive phase work next week.  Then, the following week is the recovery.  It's been a long journey and it's nice to finally see the end of the tunnel.

Chest, Shoulders and Triceps on the schedule for tomorrow.

Dan

Day 76: Kenpo X

Well, I did it!  I actually got up early yesterday morning and did my P90X workout!  I went to sleep about 1am the night before, and was up at 5:30am to do Kenpo.  I was a little tired, of course, but the workout went really well.  Besides X Stretch, Kenpo X is the easiest workout to keep up with, but it does work you pretty well.  I had plenty of energy to "bring it" the whole time.

I'll be doing X Stretch here in a bit and will post on that soon.

Baseball-wise, the Juniors team I coach is now 3-0, as we beat Tecumseh 10-5 on Saturday night, and then defeated Syracuse 4-0 this afternoon.  Very proud of those guys so far...great group.  The Seniors team, which I help with also, were "lightning-ed out" last night and lost a tough one to Syracuse 3-1 today.

Dan

Day 70: X Stretch

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
I guess this is some proverb that is believed to have originated with a Saint many many years ago.  For me, it had to do with that missing Ab Ripper X workout from Wednesday.  If you read my post from yesterday, you'd know that my intention was to do it yesterday morning before we headed out to Central City.  If you've been reading my posts, you'll also know that I've been really struggling with getting adequate sleep lately...with the late workouts and the 4am wake ups.  Well, in the internal struggle between an extra Ab Ripper X workout and extra sleep, the extra sleep came out on top.  Live and learn, I guess!

Had a great day in Central City. I'd never been there before, but it is actually a pretty nice little town.  Very clean from what I could see.  We got there early, so we took the girls to a nice little park by the county courthouse and let them play for awhile.  The middle school where the commencement was held looked brand new.  I didn't see the population of the town, but for reference the senior class size was 54 students.

On the way back, we stopped at Grisanti's for a Mother's Day dinner.  It was good!  I had a Mediterranean Salmon Salad (with feta cheese crumbles and cucumber).

Again, I was pretty sore in the backside and legs yesterday.  My back was also pretty tight.  As usual, the X Stretch really made me feel better!

10 weeks down, 3 to go!  I'm ready to tackle week 11!  Bring it!

Dan

Day 63: X Stretch

Apparently something in the Legs and Back workout really works my glutes, hamstrings, and quads...because for the past few weeks when I've done that workout, they have really been sore Saturday night and into Sunday.  This weekend was no exception!  I would have thought by now that those muscles would be used to those exercises and wouldn't be as sore, but it's a good thing that X Stretch is on Sundays because stretching it out really helps!

For the workout, Camel and Plough are the only two stretches I'm still not able to fully complete.  I did touch both heels in Camel tonight, but couldn't hold it for more than a few seconds, so I just stayed in the "Phil" position (if you've seen the video, you know what I mean!).  I think I'm getting closer to touching the floor with my toes in Plough, but not yet.  As the gut gets even smaller, this should be one I can do.

Ate great today, and had a pretty good weekend.  Really happy with the choices the past few days.

9 weeks down...only 4 to go!  90 days seemed so far away on Day 1...now it's less than a month away!!!

I have Chest, Shoulders and Triceps tomorrow.

Dan

Day 62: Kenpo X

Kenpo!  Great workout tonight...started after 10pm!  :)  We spent quite a bit of time chatting with the family at my grandfather's 80th birthday party and didn't get home until around 9.  Having said that, it was a good workout!  Even if it was done late, I felt great!!

I got a lot of great compliments from family tonight who hadn't seen me since I started the program.  It feels pretty good and make all of the hard work, sweat, and healthy meals worthwhile!  By the way, I had 3 smoked ribs, 4 small pieces of pork loin, some lettuce salad...another broccoli salad and fruit salad.  Very good...great job on the meat, dad!!

Unless we get rain, I'll be mowing at the cemetery tomorrow.  I'm going to attempt to do my X Stretch workout before I go so I don't have to worry about it tomorrow night when I'm spent from all that mowing.

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 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 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