Back to back......and chest

Two days into my last training phase of P90X so I only have a little more than 4 weeks to go. The last phase starts by doing the first set of workouts the first week then switches to the second set of workouts the second week and back and forth for four weeks. I started the weekend looking forward to yesterday because I wanted to see if at all how my numbers compared to the last time I did the exercises since I had a month of weight training under my belt since doing them last. I am happy to say that all of my numbers went up for the most part. I think on one the number of reps I completed stayed the same and on one they went down like one rep but  I think it had more to do with how hard I pushed myself in the exercises leading up to it.I took my pictures on Sunday and was happy with the results, I am still not quite where I want to be yet buy I have another 4.5 weeks to get there so I am confident I will be even closer when I finish this last set of workouts and take my final after pictures. Tomorrow is arms and shoulders and I plan to really bring it on that exercise as well. One more thing to mention is that I have also upped the intensity level on Ab Ripper X. I did the first four moves holding 5 lb weights in each hand (not all the bad on the in and outs and bicycles but really hard on the crunchy frogs) and held a 5 lb weight during the last exercise, the mason twists. I tell you what, 5 lbs in not a heavy weight when you are just holding them but using them with Ab Ripper X they feel like some of the heaviest things I have ever held. That does not phase me thought I plan on doing it again tomorrow but this time since I have finally got to 25 reps with the wide leg sit ups I am going to switch to cross legs so I know I won't be able to do as many but yet again it is raising the intensity bar and I can work to get to 25 by the time I am done with the program. This morning when I was getting ready I was seeing the muscle definition that I have been hoping for and yet again had wished I had not let myself get as heavy as I did otherwise I think I would just about be at the body that I want. Not that I am all that far away from it now but I would be even closer if I didn't let myself get so fat. I made a mistake on when the Tom King run is, it is actually next Saturday so I have an extra week to get ready for it so I am trying to do some running when I can to get prepared because I am still a bit worried that I am not going to make it through. Yesterday I got a late start on my day so I couldn't do my Ab Ripper at the end of chest and back so I had to do it in the office. I used the time to run a mile to warm up and get the heart rate going then I did the workout with the weights like I mentioned and ran another half mile to finish up the workout. All that really did was remind me how much I am not a fan of running on a treadmill, it feels like I land harder and it adds much more stress to my feet and legs. Tomorrow I am not going to the office so I might have time to get my workout done then do a short little run before getting ready for work and starting my day. Keep an eye out for a post tomorrow on how arms and shoulders went and if I was able to run, and just hope with me that I will be ready for the Tom King next weekend.

Bring It to the end

Well yesterday I did my Yoga X, I even set my alarm to wake up before the family and get it done so that I didn't miss too much time with them. As it has been going the last few times I have done Yoga, it was not all that bad. Going into the right angle poses and the half moon poses really still put a good hurting on me but I can still get through it without too much of a problem. When I was going thought the DVD yesterday I focused on really getting low in my squats and keeping my back leg in the correct position to really get the most of out my workout. As always when I was done I was covered in sweat and felt really good. I finished and went out to the family while they were having breakfast and was in a really good state of mind and knew that it was going to be a good day and that is exactly what it was. As I was going through the day yesterday a thought came to me and it was that Saturday is the half marathon I am planning to do and so far the longest I have ran has been just over eight miles so I still need to find five more miles in my running distance so that I can get through the run. Today I am going to work through that and try and get six laps around the neighborhood which should be around 10 miles or so. If I can do that then I think I should be in pretty good shape for this weekend. I am trying yet another pair of socks in hopes that I don't blister on the bottom of my right foot like I have been doing. I am also going to swing by Fleet Feet some time this week and get a pair of the socks they say you should run in so that I can get thought the run without little discomfort. As for the name of the post, tomorrow starts my last training phase of P90X, I have four weeks of strength training and then a recovery week. According to the calendar my last day of P90X is on the last Saturday of the month. Today is picture and progress day. The first thing I did when I woke up was go and weigh myself and I gained about .3 lbs, not a whole lot but a gain none the less. One thing that didn't make me happy was the body fat calculators I have all said that my body fat percentage went up but I know just by looking at myself in the mirror that is not the case. I have been seeing more of the lumpy start to smooth out and according to the tap measure I lost about a half an inch from my waist line this month so it seems that the body fat calculators I have been using are not the most accurate. When I stop being cheap and at the end of the program I am going to get one of the calipers you use for skin folds to check body fat percentage so I can get an accurate account of  my body fat percentage since I really have no idea what it is right now. I excited to go back to the original set of workouts next week but also worry about how Plyo is going to go since my legs are sure to be a little sore after today's run. One more thing I am worried about this weekend is doing the legs and back workout Friday morning and doing the 13.1 miles Saturday. I am sure there is going to be some soreness in my legs when I wake up Saturday so if I can get thought the run after doing that workout I will be very proud of myself then I can make up my missed Kenpo on Sunday. Crazy I know but I want to say I did the whole P90X workout without missing one.

Somewhere between Gumby and the Tin Man

Today I got to sleep in a little bit since I decided to work from home, when my alarm finally did go off this morning I got out of bed and went ahead and got my Stretch X done first thing in the morning. When I started the first few stretches I was pretty tight and was really having to breath through the stretch in order to get limber but as I started to get further into the DVD it started to loosen up. Now that I am all done I am feeling much better and am looking forward to remaining limber and stress free for the rest of the day. Depending on how things go with clients and test study we will see if that really happens. I know everyone (the one person that viewed the site yesterday) is wondering if the Mega Man Energy vitamins did the trick yesterday and the answer is yes, I have to say that I am sold on them and even if Sam's starts carrying the ones a was taking again I think I will stick with these, they have made a huge difference in my energy level throughout the day. Tomorrow is another cor syn day, last one for about a month, I am going to make sure I push really hard tomorrow and try and get some of the numbers up to end my strength training of training block 2 on a high note. Anyway, don't have a whole lot to talk about today it was just stretching but just like the DVD says it is a pretty important part of the program and I wish I had started doing it sooner rather than running on those day.

Kick and punch to a better body

Halfway through my second recovery week and everything is moving right along and I am already looking forward to tomorrow's stretch x DVD and even more excited to start the last training phase on Monday. Today was Kenpo just like I said yesterday and the alarm went off at a good 5 AM after getting home at a little after 11 PM yesterday but I jumped right out of bed and got to it. As I was getting into the workout I thought the same thing I have thought the last time or two that I did it, which is that I was not pushing hard enough because I was not getting a good sweat on but my mind quickly changed, as it always does, about 15 minutes or so into the workout when I start throwing the 3 and 4 punch combos. When I was done I was just as covered as I normally am and felt great. It always amazes me just how fast Kenpo seems to go by. Another interesting note, I changed my vitamins up since Sam's no longer carries the one that I use so now rather than using Mega Man sport I am using a little pack of Mega Man energy.I have to tell you if you are a guy I would totally recommend this since I started taking them only three days ago I totally have more energy as the day goes on and I don't hit the 3 o'clock wall like I used to. Today will be the real test of that since I did teach yesterday and had a shorter amount of sleep than I normally would but so far I don't feel too much different than I have on previous days since being on these vitamins so I think they will be fine. Tomorrow is Stretch X day and I have been looking forward to that most of the week since I have had a bit of soreness in the joints and hamstrings, I think spending an hour getting loose will really help that out. Keep a look out tomorrow for the verdict on the energy vitamins and if the Stretch X limbers me up a bit. I am sure that it will.

Core Syn out of the way

Day two of recovery week is out of the way and it started off good. I woke up at 4 AM to get the workout in before going to bible study and although I did not remember all the moves when looking at them on the workout sheet it did not take me long to remember them while I was doing them. Today really reminded me of the whole muscle confusion that P90X is built on, I sweated harder today than I had in several of the previous workouts that I have been doing over and over again. As a matter of fact I didn't look too much different than I look when I finish a round of Plyo so I would say it was a pretty darn good workout. When it comes to the numbers of reps for each of the moves some of them stayed the same, some went up and some went down but I know why that is the case for each of them. Most of the ones that stayed the same had everything to do with the amount of time given to do the move or that you are only supposed to get the same number as the people on  the DVD get. The ones that went up I think is because I knew the moves from last time and I have gotten stronger since the last time I did the workout a month ago, and the ones that went down had to do with concentrating more on keeping the correct form, or the additional weight that I added to the move or just that fact that I was tired leading up to the move due to previous moves having more weight than the last time I did them, it also helps that I didn't snap any bands this time around although I thought I was getting close on one of the moves today. I am most likely going to change to the EA bands I have for one or two of the moves since they are long, still offer good resistance, and I should be able to really extend with them without worrying about snapping them. Tomorrow is another round of Kenpo, and as always I am looking forward to it, it is a good calorie burning workout and I seem to be getting better at it the more I do it. Tomorrow will be more about getting the kicks higher and engaging the body more to really up the intensity and get the most out of the workout that I  can. Keep an eye out for the post workout post tomorrow I think it should be a good one.

The recovery part two

Today was the first day of my second recovery week/ week 7 of P90X. Like I said yesterday it starts with Yoga X so I was looking forward to it most of the weekend since my legs have been pretty tender in the hamstrings. When I was done with all the motion poses I was surprised that it went by as quickly as it did. I still had a good workout going but it was not nearly as hard as it has been in the past. It seems that all this working out is really beginning to pay off when it comes to workouts like this one. I was talking to a co-worker today and he mentioned that he had switched from doing the Yoga X to doing Bob Harper's Yoga DVD and says that it is a bit more fast paced and is an hour long. He also told me that it comes with a 15 minute ab workout that is pretty intense. For only about 8 dollars it seems like it will be a good investment, I am not going to look into doing it yet but I just may get it before starting a second round of P90X which I plan on doing shortly after I finish this one. I am thinking I will take a week off when I am done to let my body recover then I will start the next round, but who knows I have 7 weeks to change my mind on that. I don't remember if I mentioned this before or not but something good happened to me over the weekend, many good things happened actually but this is fitness related. I was getting out of the shower and when I sneezed I actually saw some ab muscles. I don't have a six pack yet but I know there are some firm muscles in my stomach area I just need to burn off the little bit of body fat that is hanging out around my stomach and I should be able to see them. Leading me to my next point, tomorrow is Core Syn so I should be getting a pretty good core workout which will help get those muscles showing. It has been such a long time since I did this workout that I don't quite remember all the moves but I do remember it not being as difficult as I was lead to believe it was. I am going to take a look at the band strength I used the last time I did the workout and move them up a little bit where I think I need to. Now that I am getting into the last set of workouts and going into the last phase of the program I don't want to hold anything back and I plan on really working harder in order to get the best results possible on this last phase of the program. I am also pretty excited that I am less than a week away from my next set of pictures and I can't wait to compare them with the before and phase one pictures. I really do think there has been even more change since the last set of pictures but would love to see the visual confirmation and I should have that on Sunday. I really hope there is more difference I would had to see little to no difference as it would make it difficult for me to remain motivated to push. Don't get me wrong I am sure there are differences and I can't wait to see them but the fat kid in the back of my mind still has not gone away totally so the fear is still there.

It's more fun with friends

So I know it has been a while since I have posted anything, it just has been a pretty busy few days. This week I finished up the third week of weight training in the second phase of P90X and will be going into recovery week tomorrow. I am pretty excited about it, I like starting the week with Yoga it seems to put me in a pretty good state of mind. I did what I normally do on the last set of workouts for a training phase and really pushed to get the weights and numbers up and for the most part I was able to do that too. The only thing that I am a little disappointed about is I wish I was able to do more pull ups than I can right now. I can do about 2 more than when I started but it isn't as much as I would like. I am exactly one week away from my next set of pictures and can't wait to see what they look like compared to the first two sets of pictures. I can see even more of a difference between how I look today and how I looked just four weeks ago. I am sure that I have said it before but I am going to say it again, P90X really does work and if you come across anyone that tells you it does not they are not putting in the effort it needs or are not sticking to the diet plan. I am sure by now you are wondering what the title of this post is all about so let me tell you. This morning I used my rest day to workout with my wife and do her new Jillian Michaels DVD with her. I am pretty sure that it is called Ripped in 30. It was a really good workout and I was able to get a good burn on some of the moves. I do have to hand it to her she puts a good workout together in a short amount of time. That is a nice change of pace to the hour long workouts you do in P90X and doing this workout made my legs feel a little better. The reason I wanted to check the workout out is because I want to support my wife in her fitness as she has supported me since I started a little over a year ago. One thing I can say is that it is much easier for me to support her than I am sure it has been for her to support me since all these programs I do come along with crazy diet and nutrition plans that she gets to deal with all the time. Another thing that was fun about doing the workout with her today was I think we were really feeding off each other and pushing the other to try harder or to make it to the end of the set. Another great thing about doing it was we were doing the workout in front of our daughter so that she could see just how serious we are about trying to stay healthy and that it does take work not to become another statistic of being fat in the US. Well anyway tomorrow starts my recovery week like I said and I plan to "Bring it" something kind of fierce in the Yoga and really get into the poses and loosen up to get the rest of this soreness out of my legs. This week I plan on getting back to my normal posting routine so you should see something about how it went. One last thing I will say is that I am getting close to thinking about ordering some Yoga blocks to get a little more stretch on the poses since I continue to become more and more flexible but we will just have to wait a little bit and get some new bands that will not snap on me first.

Just takes a little planning

Well, I am out of town like I said I would be and they have me staying in a pretty nice place although the shower is not very good. When I was done packing it dawned on me that I used to be one of those people that made fun of folks that packed way more than needed on a trip and I usually packed much less than most. Pretty much clothing and that was it. Well this time around, since I didn't know what to expect when it came to food and other accommodations and I wanted to make sure I stayed on my P90X routine I ended up with this packing list. P90X DVD's, resistance bands, pull up bar, protein powder, creatine, elite recoup, cooler full of; turkey sausage, frozen dinners, yogurt, peanut butter, protein bars, apples, three laptops, iPad, Kindle, oatmeal, lunch box, and clothing. It was the first time in my life that I actually needed the hotel card to get everything out of my car when I was traveling alone. I am out in the field doing a penetration test on a very popular snack maker in the area and it is becoming difficult to to give into temptation, I am all of about 200 feet from the manufacturing plant, and every room you go into seems to have the products out for you to help yourself to. As a matter of fact I was caught looking at some of them and they were very insistant that I take all that I want. I have been good and have not touched any of it yet so I am pretty proud of that. I will continue that trend some more today and tomorrow. I did find out there are a few people back at home that would be very interested in my bringing home some of the delicious treats so I am going to grab some today and tomorrow so that I can them home to them and make them happy. I know it is a small gesture but if it makes them happy it makes me happy. Yesterday when I got into the hotel room and got unloaded I got to my P90X workout. On tap for the day was back and biceps, a workout that I alos look forward to doing since that is were I think you see the most results. The last time I did the workout I thought the bands I used were pretty good but knew I could go higher so that is just what I did yesterday. I was able to get the same number of reps with the higher bands for the most part and in a couple of places I got a few more reps with the higher bands. As I was getting to the end of the workout some of my numbers in the pull ups started to slide but it was because of how hard I worked leading up to the end of the routine so I am not all that concerned about that. Since I worked out later than I normally do the soreness has not quite set in yet but I expect to start to show up as the day moves forward. When I was done with the workout my biceps were so tense from getting worked out as hard as they did that it looked like my arms were huge. I was pretty excited about that, this morning they don't quite look the same but still I look like the results are still paying off and next Wednesday I will be halfway through the program. Today I will be doing the Yoga X DVD here at the hotel and and going to work hard to get really flexible and hold the poses longer and cleaner. I keep getting better each week and I hope that today is no different. Well It seems like I have been going on for a while so I am going to wrap up and see how today and tonight goes. I don't know if I will have time to post anything tomorrow morning since I have to workout and get packed and ready to go before I make it to the client in the morning.

Can't believe it happened again

No I am not taking about the Giants beating the Pats in the Super Bowl, I pretty much saw that coming since the matchup was set. I broke a resistance band again this morning and it is really starting to get on my nerves.I am not doing anything I shouldn't be doing with them it just seems like I am having bad luck with the. It is too back because I like these bands better than the last ones so I am going to get them again but I need to find a time where I can send them back. I am going to need the remaining non broken bands for my workout on Wednesday morning but after that I should be able to send them back and us my EA bands until new ones come in. The last bands I bought I couldn't get an exchange because I didn't get them from Amazon but I hope that is not the case with these ones. I would much rather just send them back for new bands rather than have to get a refund and buy them again. Yesterday I went for a run on an indoor track rather than outside just because the weather was so gloomy and I didn't want it to change my mood. I ended up going just over 8 miles but my pace slowed down pretty good by the time I was done. I still have 5 miles to go before getting to a full half marathon distance. I am starting to think it might not happen but I will keep trying, at the very least I will get the exercise in. This morning was the second run at the chest, shoulders and triceps. Now that I have the moves down I tried for more reps and higher band resistances. I did a really good job at meeting that goal and know that I got a good workout. The only real problem was that I used so much energy trying to work harder on the first part of the workout that I had almost nothing left in the tank for the Ab Ripper X part and my numbers showed that. I am not too concerned about that since the added intensity of the first workout caused it. Tomorrow is Plyo again and as you all know I look forward to it each time. I think that I am going to be able to do a better job than I did last time since even though I went on another long run yesterday my legs are not quite as sore as they were last Monday do I don't expect them to be as sore tomorrow which means I should have a little bit easier of a time with the workout. I say easier because I don't think the Plyo will every be put in the category of easy but you know me  I will continue to up the intensity as much as I can. Progression is the key to gains. Well until next time

Fighting in an office

That is what I was doing today, anyone that has been following along knows that today was Kenpo X day. Finishing today's workout wrapped up week 5 of P90X so I am moving right along. While I was in the car today it dawned on me that a week from Wednesday I will already be halfway through the program. You know you are enjoying the workouts when it goes by as fast as these weeks are going by. Like all the other workouts I have done more than once today I focused on upping the intensity as much as I could. Since this isn't a workout that has any types of weights or modifications that means I had to focus on moving my hips more, throwing harder punches and kicking higher than I have in the past workouts, and that is just what I did. My punches were harder I moved my hips more on each of the punches with the same hand as my back leg, my front kicks were almost to eye level, my back kicks were just over parallel to the floor, and my side kicks were higher than they have been. There were a couple of times that the additional effort on getting the kicks higher made me fall behind the pace of the video but I was able to catch back up and next time I am going to work on keeping pace as well. Tomorrow I am going to try and run if the weather will allow it, if not I will try and go to the rec center and get on the treadmill, even though that is not my favorite way to run. If I am able to go around the neighborhood I am shooting for 6 laps, which would be around 10 miles. If I can get that done then I would say I am in pretty good shape for the half marathon next month, if not then I will just have to keep training harder until I am ready. This week I may have a little extra time to train for it as well as get my workouts done so I may run for an hour or so in the mornings and workout after work to help continue to get ready for the run. I don't know that for sure as I am afraid the additional calorie burn will cause me to lose some muscle mass but that is kind of my idea for the week. I guess we will just have to see how that plays out. Keep an eye on the blog to see if I was able to run and if I got the 6 laps in. I have the best chance of doing it as long as I don't wear the same socks I wore last weekend since it was the pain in my foot and not my tiredness that caused me to stop running last week. Wish me luck on the run. I know if I tell myself I can do it I will be able to.

Legs of Fire

As it turns out the Friday workout is the same in Training phase 2 as it is in Training phase one so today was a legs and back day. It would not have been so bad if my back and arms were not still a little bit sore from the back and biceps workout on Wednesday. If there is one thing you should know about me by now it is that I will push through and give it a go anyways. I am happy to say that I got through the workout without too much trouble and worked hard to add more resistance where I could and more reps where I could. In case looking at the sheet when I was done recording all my reps didn't prove it then my shirt would have. I was sweating like crazy and felt like I got one of the best workouts since starting P90X. I got more lunges on all the exercises and more pull ups on almost all those moves as well. Another thing that made me happy was that I was able to get more pull ups done before having to go to the chair for help. I still can't do a whole lot of pull ups before I need some help but seeing as I can do more than one when 4 months ago I could hardly do any is a big win in my book. Tomorrow is Kenpo and the end of my first week on phase two. It is funny that after six weeks of Body-for-Life I was ready to throw in the towel because the nutrition plan was such a pain in the rear and the workouts were not giving me the results I was hopeful to see. P90X on the other hand kicks you butt everyday and you start seeing results almost right away. Each day I look forward to the workout and as soon as it is done start getting my mind ready for the next one. I am even starting to keep up with the people in the Ab Ripper X video and putting my arms up on each of the moves that the arms can go in the air on. Even in Yoga I have moved on to two lock on the leg extensions, I don't have to get out of my warrior pose at the end of the final set of salutations, and I was even able to go up into wheel rather than staying in bridge. I couldn't keep it the entire time but I was able to do it and that is a big win for me. As a matter of fact if my hands were not sliding on the carpet I may have been able to hold the pose the entire time. I will just have to keep working on it to find out for sure. I totally feel like I am on the verge of seeing huge gains and that is exciting to me. The biggest challenge is coming next week when I will be out of town for work, I am going to have to find places to eat that keep me on my diet. I will also need to remember to pack my P90X stuff and all my supplements so that I can stay on track while away. Seeing as my desire to see the best results possible is greater than my desire to eat bad food and not exercise I don't thing there will be a problem there. The problem is going to be what food I have access to when there. I guess we will just have to wait and find out.