Defeated

Bob 2 Justin 0. I went after the ultimate cardio body DVD again today and went in with a mind set that I was going to kill it this time. The first time was learning the DVD and the second time was mastering it. I would not call what I did today mastering the DVD at all. It opened with the same 10 solid minutes of lunges and squats but this time I knew it was coming and was ready for it....so I thought. I did have to pull up and rest during the opening again but this time it was only once and for a shorter amount of time. As the workout moved on I did all that I could to keep up with the moves and was doing a really good job of it, there were a few times when I wanted to take a quick breather but didn't and was happy with myself for the decision. Then the end of the DVD came and the extra effort I put in the start of it really started to show, when there was about 10 minutes left  I was pretty much spent. I had to walk away from it for a minute and get a glass of water before going back into it. When I got back we were on the last 8 minutes or so that is filled with jumping and if they say white men can jump, this guy is not one of those men. I was getting about an inch off the ground because my legs were so worn out. I finished the workout and was ready to move on to my abs. I figured since by this point I was totally spend and there was not a dry part of my shirt left I would go after the Yoga Abs....why not right? I got started and even though just putting the DVD in and pressing play is an improvement over the last time I did the Bob cardio, I just could not make it through the 15 minutes of abs. At about 5 minutes in my abs were burning like they had never burned before and at about 8 minutes I had to call it, I could not get my shoulders off the mat to do a single crunch. It seems I used my abs a lot more than I thought I did during the cardio portion of my morning. If I had to put a number on it I would guess that I burned off around 700 calories or so this morning. I packed up my lunch and it was off to work. As I sit here waiting for my first client visit to start my abs are on fire and my chest and shoulders are killing me from yesterday's workout. Saturday's X stretch could not come soon enough I tell you. Tomorrow is legs and back and I am thinking my leg rep count might take a hit tomorrow since I will be using a little more resistance and this mornings cardio may still be hanging around when it comes time to start the workout. Remember it is not about the numbers and the ego it is about progression in your program so if some of my numbers take a hit I am not going to be worried about it because I know I am still doing my best and working to get closer to the results that I want. Come back tomorrow to see how the workout goes.

Bring on the resistance

Today was back to resistance training after a week of recovery and I was excited to have at it. After the way last week went I decided that I would be adding weights to each of the exercises today and that is just what I did. Let me tell you it really made a difference, I was able to get more reps on just about every chest exercise today but my reps did go down on the shoulders and tris workouts. I guess you would expect that when you add more resistance. This weekend I did something I never thought I would be able to do for the first time and tried to do it again today but it didn't happen that late into the workout. What is it you ask, I was able to do a couple of one handed push ups, I wanted to do them today but when they are the 6th or so chest exercise that you do in a workout they are quite a bit more difficult but I think I will be ready for them when I go for this workout again in two weeks. I am now on alternating workout weeks until the end of the program. The cool thing is I am already on day fifty and am seeing great results. I even spent a whole 4.95 on Amazon yesterday to buy a body fat tester because I am tired of not knowing what my percentage is and figured five dollars was worth it in order to get and maintain an accurate number. I want t a good base line and want to see some serious progression as I continue to stay fit and move through this program. As with all working out, it is not about the numbers or ego it is totally about seeing progression, progression equals progress and progress is the key to moving forward. I was going to try for a run this morning but by the time I was done with the workout I had nothing left in the tank which is a good workout in my book. I can see myself having a bit more energy over the next two weeks since this is the last week of classes and I have two weeks off before starting them up again. I can't wait because it is going to let me focus on some things I have had to put off in order to get everything done for school. I am even planning on going on a run or two with the local runners group here in Spring Hill. I am pretty excited to get to a normal life even if it is only for a few week. Tomorrow is my next run at Bob Harper cardio and after it kicked my but last time I have been waiting for this up coming rematch and know I am going to own it this time. Check back tomorrow to see how it goes. Well until next time.

Tip of the day:
Like I said up above your workouts are about you, don't worry about the numbers of the people on the screen if you are at home or the people around you at them gym. Worry about your numbers, watch them grow and enjoy the results.

Burned all kinds of calories today

I would not of thought that I would have burned the number of calories I did today. I kind of had a thought that I might try to run today but that did not happen. Here is all that I ended up doing today. I woke up nice and early, but not to an alarm which was good. I had breakfast with the family then it was off to Lowe's to pick up some things. When I got back from shopping I got started, first it was water proofing the deck, then it was weed eating the lawn, followed by mowing the lawn, and finishing up with doing some pest control around the house. Once all that was done it was off to shopping around outside and finally back to the house for some X Stretch. When I got started I was in all kinds of pain and was pretty stiff, my back was killing me from the work in the yard but by the time the stretching was done I was feeling much better and have been feeling great ever since. Tomorrow is a rest day and I really think that I am going to get some kind of run in tomorrow to work on getting my cardio back in line before I loose it all together. Then back to resistance training and some Bob Harper Cardio on Tuesday. Don't have too much to say today. Hope that everyone had a good time doing whatever it was everyone did with friends and family. Come back tomorrow to see if the run happens.

Best Sunday in a long time!!

Today has been a great Sunday, I started the day but waking up early and getting my workout in. Today is was Yoga so I went with Bob Harper Yoga and I followed it up with my wife's new 10-Minute Trainer Ab workout. I have to tell you, every time I think I am getting in pretty good shape I try a different DVD and end up getting humbled very quickly. You end up doing 20 different moves in the 10 minutes and you get one heck of a good workout. I was feeling it in my abs most of the day. When all that was done and everyone was done with breakfast we all went to the pool. It was a lot of fun, I did a little swimming and found out that it is pretty funny that I can run a half marathon but almost didn't make it two laps in the pool. I am loving the P90X schedule I am on right now but the lack of Cardio is starting to really show, with school stopping next week I should be able to work on that a little bit and get some extra cardio in each day so I don't loose it completely. Tomorrow is Stretch X followed by lawn mowing, weed eating, weed pulling, and deck water sealing so it will be a full day. I was quite proud of myself today, I went with the family to the in-laws house for dinner and was able to be good. Trust me most of the food they serve is very good but most of it is not all that good for you. I had a few ribs, some brisket, baked beans, and some melon and I passed on desert so I stayed within my meal plan. I am pretty darn excited about tomorrow and having the day off, it is the first time in 10 weeks that I have had two days off on a weekend in a row. Next week is a big week, I have alternating schedules for the rest of this round of P90X and Thursday I get another crack at the Bob Harper cardio DVD, this time I will master it and it will not master me!!! After that it is just a push to the end and then deciding what program or workout routine I want to do next.

Tip for tomorrow:
Most people have all kinds of fun and go to BBQs etc, feel free to enjoy yourself and if you want to eat some of the not all that great foods for you go ahead just do it in moderation and you should be fine.

Hello old friend

For the first time in a while I was able to get a full nights sleep, as a matter of fact I got more sleep last night than I did the last two days total. I don't feel tired at all for a change and I was ready to go for the workout this morning. This morning was core syn like I had mentioned yesterday and I forgot just how good of a workout it was. I have been getting stronger and know I have had really good gains in my strength but truth be told, more core is not as strong as I would like it to be. This mornings workout was a reminder of that, I have been feeling the workout all morning long and expect to feel it the rest of the day which is exactly what I want. I was able to do all the moves with more reps and better form I concentrated on keeping my core engaged and focused on my form throughout. I almost want to do the whole workout again later today but that would be stupid, I wish that I could do it again before the end of this cycle but it isn't on the calendar. However, that does not mean that I can't do the workout while I am on my rest week when the workout is done, and I think that is just what I am going to do. Tomorrow is Kenpo and I am going to go after that full force tomorrow as well. Keep an eye on the blog tomorrow to see how the Kenpo goes.

Tip:
By the way I found this great little fitness myth blog post that I thought I would share.
http://www.angrytrainerfitness.com/2011/10/top-ten-fitness-myths/

Much better state of mind now.

Ok well I got home a little late last night I had a few students hang out pretty late to get a much work as they could done before I cut off taking assignments so I didn't get as much sleep as I would have liked. I finally got eight hours of sleep, the problem is it took two days to do it. This morning was Yoga X and remembering how my last yoga x worked pretty hard to keep my head clear and in the state of mind I want to be in for yoga. After two nights ago when I couldn't sleep because of how fast my mind was running it was very important to me to stay in the moment today. I spend the first part of the DVD doing what I always do and just listened to the queues as I went from pose to pose. I find this helps me in a few ways, it keeps me focused on the pose, helps me concentrate on my breathing, and keeps me in the moment. If I have to make sure I am listening to each of the moves I remain for focused rather than when I watch the screen for the changes. When I do that I find myself watching the timer for each of the poses and it just makes the DVD seem to take longer to finish. I had to take it easy on my right leg on some of the stretches, it seems that knot I had from Monday is still lingering a little bit. It is not as bad as it was but I still have some work to do in order to get it feeling 100% but I am almost there. Tonight I am going to be doing a little walking around at a place called Cheekwood checking out the tree house display they do every year so that should help loosen the hamstring as well as keep me sane. Spending time with family always helps me when I have had a rough week. Tomorrow I am saying hello to an old friend, that friends name? core syn, it is the one time in this cycle that I will be doing this workout so I am going to smash it and get the most out of it that I can. Then Saturday is the one Kenpo workout, followed by stretch and yoga and back to the last six weeks of resistance training. Time to bring it home.

Tip:
Fitness isn't just about getting giant muscles or getting really skinny, it is about strength, balance, flexibility and endurance. The last thing you want is to be skinny and can't lift a bag of cat food or so huge you have to walk around like a robot. This is why stretching and yoga are so important while building your body. It isn't for everyone but the results are more than worth the work 

Not the best day for this to happen

So yesterday was my rest day and I took full advantage of it. I didn't wake up early, I didn't run, nothing I rested like I am supposed to and enjoyed it. Now I know I said I was going to make sure that I only did what was listed in the schedule but I had such a stressful day at work I really needed to let some of it go my mind was running at 100 miles an hour and I felt very tense and just needed a way to release it. I decided the best way to do it would be go on a run. Well I went to bed pretty early knowing that I was going to need to get up a little early in order to get some kind of run in. I ended up waking up right before 11 last night for just a minute and when I tried to go back to sleep I couldn't fall back to sleep until almost 3 AM when the alarm went off in order for me to get up  I was working on about 3 total hours of sleep with even more time being up throughout the night. I decided not to run which was a good choice since I have a long day in front of me but now I still have that stress built up in me and I can feel it. I felt a little better after today's X stretch but still don't feel great I wish that I got some good sleep and was able to run. Tomorrow is Yoga and depending on how tired I am tonight will decide if I do Yoga X or Bob Harper Yoga, I would like to do Yoga X because it is longer and the other yoga workout is scheduled for the weekend but if I need the sleep then I will take it and do the shorter workout tomorrow. I guess we will just have to wait and see how I feel. One thing I am happy about is that there are only two weeks of class left before we are off for two weeks and I am really looking forward to having my Saturday's back. One last thing, I know I have been brought it up before but I have been looking at becoming a Beachbody coach again and after doing some research and I am starting to think I want to do it again. I am going to give myself a deadline for the decision and will make the decision at the end of the week.

Tip for today:
Find someone, anyone, with the same fitness goals as you regardless if that is losing weight, getting strong, or both. If you find someone that has the same goals as you, you can work together and compare results to motivate each other and stay on track. Several studies show that if you have a workout buddy and someone that holds you accountable you are more likely to stick with your plan and see it to the finish.

Week 6 part 2

Today was the last workout for week six of this second round of P90X I started the work week/finished the workout week with a little Bob Harper Yoga and Yoga Abs. I got very lucky this morning as I set my alarm last night but forgot to actually hit the save button so my alarm was still set for the time when I should have been finishing the workouts. It seems I was being looked after because I ended up waking myself up three minutes before the alarm I thought I set would have sounded. I guess it has gotten to the point now where my body just wants to wake up and workout. Everything went pretty well today except I was having a little bit of an issue with the half moon pose on the right leg, for the life of me I could not find my balance and fell out of the pose twice before I nailed it for the short amount of time that was left. Tomorrow is a rest day before going into recovery week and I think I am going to take full advantage of it. I might wake up a few minutes early and go for a short run but that will depend on the hamstring in my right leg, right now it has a killer knot in it and is a bit tender so if it is still has a knot in it tomorrow morning I will be taking it easy. The ab workout went well today, for a minute I was thinking about skipping it all together but I remembered my see my abs before vacation goal and went for it. I was glad that I did because that Bob Harper Ab workout is a killer but I am getting a little better at it, I actually got 4 or the boat crunches done before I had to go to putting my arms on the ground behind me so that is an improvement of one rep over the last time through. Progress is what we are looking for in the workouts progress is what I got here. Well I have to get to working it is already a pretty busy day and I have to go and give blood here in a minute.

Tip of the day:
If you want to lose weight and add muscle you need to add water to your diet, not just a little bit of water but a lot work your way up to a gallon of water a day and take out the soft drinks and diet sodas.

Legs and yard work

Well I learned something today, getting up at 6:10 on my day to sleep in order to get my workout in before Haley woke up is not quite early enough. I still had a little more than half my workout left today when she woke up. I was able to finish it before she was ready to get out of bed so it was OK. It did end up causing my workout to get broken up a little bit which hurt the intensity but still a good workout none the less. One thing I have kept saying today was that I didn't know what got into me during the workout but I was crushing the pull ups today, on every type of pull up I was getting at least two extra reps before having to go to the chair for help. I was very excited about that since pull ups have never been my strong point and 6 months ago I could hardly do one pull up now I am doing seven and 8 before needing to stop.  I did make one mistake today and grabbed the wrong bands for the first exercise and did way more resistance than I normally would, I thought that might be a bad thing but I almost got all the way to the 25 reps per leg so I am going to stick with the resistance that I used today until I get to the 25. When I was done I got to put in about 90 minutes of work in the yard so I think that was a pretty good double. workout. I am pretty excited for the next week because looking at the calendar, over the next eight days I have 3 yoga sessions, and 2 stretch sessions so I should be felling great and ready for the second half of this round. Well it is late and I am pretty tired and don't have a whole lot to say. Tomorrow I will be giving blood and getting my yoga on so you can't ask for more than that.

Thank you thank you

Yes, I am thanking the folks that come and read this each day but I am also thanking Stretch X for making me feel much much better. When I woke up I was pretty sore still but a good hour of stretching out every muscle I have seems to have made it much better. Before I go any further something happened to me last week that has never happened to be before and I keep meaning to write about it. I was teaching the other night and one of my students bumped into me while I was leaving. I was messing around and said if he did that again I would make him pay. He replied with please you are about 150 lbs soakin' wet. That is the first time anyone has ever made a skinny joke about me rather than a fat joke so that makes me pretty happy. So after stretching I went on to ab ripper X it is going to be my last ab ripper X for a few weeks because I am going into recovery week and will be doing the Bob Harper abs when it is time for abs again when the workouts start back up. When recovery weeks come I won't be doing any kind of running or extra work, I actually want to give my body a rest and let it recover as much as it can before going after the second have with everything I have. Since I have the best wife in the world she has been spending the last few weeks telling me how solid all this working out has made me but for the first time I am starting to believe it. I was getting ready the other day and was actually happy with what I saw in the mirror when I didn't have a shirt on. I am still no quite where I want to be but am very close and as long as I keep at it I think I can get there by the end of the year. Merry Christmas to me!! Anyways if you are still working towards your goals keep it up, it isn't easy but if you do the work it will happen.

Tip:
Stop looking for the quick fix and find the life style change.....you will find it by looking into yourself.

Upper body crush

Today was arms and shoulders and it was a good one. I used the same resistance that I used the last time I did the workout since I have not quite gotten to the 12 rep number I am shooting for in order to up the resistance yet. Since resistance was the same the goal today was more reps to get to those 12 reps that I am looking for. When I finished I was feeling pretty strong and my arms looked rather firm. One thing I was worried about when I woke up this morning was if I was going to be sore from the Bob Harper butt kicking I took yesterday but I came out of that OK. I have a little bit of tenderness but nothing that slowed down my workout today. I even found time to get my ab workout in last night so I didn't have to make it up today and do two days in a row of ab ripper x so that was another win. Tomorrow is stretch and abs and it could not come at a better time I am pretty sore from this weeks workouts so far and still have one more strength workout to go before going into recovery week so I am going to take advantage of every stretch tomorrow.

Quick tip of the day.
Mix things up, if you constantly do the same things over and over your body will adapt and you will stop seeing results. Changing things up will keep the body guessing and will not give it time to adapt to what is happening this will keep your results coming. This is what P90X is built on and trust me it works!!

Fast effective weight loss

I finished my workout today, had breakfast, and made my way to work. As I was making my way in I heard a commercial for the "Fastest most effective weight loss supplement on the market." Well jokes on them because I already found the solution for that it is called eating right and working hard. Hate to tell you this but any of the miracle weight loss gimmicks are just that, You might lose weight fast but you can expect it to come back just as and you might even gain more weight back than you lost. If you really want to lose weight and keep it off you need to stop dieting and start changing your life. This means find healthy alternatives to the foods you are eating now, instead of french fries have a baked potato, if you have not yet take a look at Michi's ladder it will show you different alternatives to the foods you are already eating, when most of your foods go from being on level 4 and 5 to level 1 and 2 you will be losing weight without "dieting" you are changing your life. Ok off the high horse, today I changed up my workout and did the Bob Harper Ultimate Cardio Body DVD rather than Cardio X. I was supposed to do Cardio and Ab ripper but by the time I was done with the Bob Harper DVD I was spent and just didn't have the energy to get Ab Ripper in. Not a bid deal I will make up workout tomorrow and do Ab Ripper X after my shoulders and arms workout. Let me tell you a little something about the Bob Harper DVD, I expected it to be hard but not all that hard since it was cardio, he also has you use weights but all I had was my wife's 5 lb weights and let me tell you that was plenty. By the time I was done with the workout that was the heaviest 5 lbs I have ever lifted. The workout started with about 2 minutes of warm up and stretch and then you go into lunges, and lunges, and lunges, and squats, and lunges, and jumps for the first 10 minutes of the workout. For the first time in a long time I had to pull up and rest in a workout, not just once but three times I think was the total when I was finished. When the workout was done I looked like I had done one of the Plyo workouts from P90X I was sweating so much. I can 100% tell you if you want a hard workout that is really going to burn the calories and shed the fat than this one is for you. It is only about 8 bucks on amazon and I thing it is even less expensive on mytrainerbob.com. Check it out if you want to work

Feeling really good today

Today was day one of week six and I only have a few more workouts before my only recovery week. I am looking forward to that week so that I can do some workouts I have been missing, core syn and kenpo x. Today's chest and back workout went very well today, since this is the last one for about 3 weeks I really wanted to see some improvement over the last two times I did it. The first round that is pretty much exactly what happened I was able to do more pull ups and chin ups before going to the chair and did either the same number or more total pull ups on the exercises. Once or twice the number of pull ups when down but that was because of the extra time I used to pull one more rep without the chair so I was ok with that. I know I brought it pretty well because my back is already beginning to get a little tender and it has only been a few hours since I finished, normally the soreness does not kick in until the next day. The push ups was kind of the same thing, I worked hard to get the numbers up so on the second round I was about the same or one or two less on some of the exercises. The good news is on the exercises where the total number went down I went to my knees a little later than I did last week so there is still progression there. I know my chest is one of the muscle groups that I need to workout and want to see the results from so I really try hard on the chest days. Once I was done with the workout I had a little extra time so I decided to go for a run, I even wanted to push those numbers a little bit so I tried to run a little faster than I normally would and ended up doing 2.3 miles in about 19 minutes. When I finished all the working out I was feeling really good and am in a real good head space right now and hope that it carries through the rest of the day. Tomorrow is a cardio day with Abs and I have been really looking forward to this one because I am going for a new workout rather than the Cardio X, it is going to make the workout about 15 minutes longer but it is more of a strength and cardio workout which is what I am looking for. Also mixing things up really helps me not get board or phone in the workouts but really go after them each time. The workout I am doing tomorrow is the Bob Harper total cardio body workout it has some leg, back and upper body cardio strength moves so I am excited to see how it goes. If I like it and feel it gives me a better workout than cardio X I may use it for the remainder of the program or I might mix it in like I do the Bob Harper Yoga video, we will just have to wait and see. Check out the blog tomorrow and find out how the workout went.

Tip today:
Mix things up, I can't speak for everyone that reads this but I can speak for me on it. When doing a workout program I really need it put out in front of me rather than picking what I am going to do each day. This normally leads to my choosing sleep over working out and being mad at myself the rest of the day. When going for fitness if you don't have a plan in front of you such as P90X or one of the other BeachBody programs, take a minute to plan a week of workouts before the week starts and the times that you plan on doing them. Don't just put it in your head but write it down so you can mark them off as you complete them. This helps with accountability and motivation to finish the workout.

Not as bad as you would think

Ok well today was the dreaded yoga x after legs and back day that I had been worried about for a week now. I had to get up nice and early this morning to give myself enough time to get it taken care of without feeling rushed. Once the alarm went off I went right to the office and got started. My legs were stiff this morning but not all that sore so the worst thing I had to deal with was getting the hamstrings loose. A few start up stretches and  I was pretty good to go. I did get fully flexible in my right hamstring until about 30 minutes from the end of the video. The only thing that I was really upset about was for some reason this morning my mind was going 100 miles an hour thinking about everything I had to do today the rest of this month. Because of this I was spending more time thinking about what was on my mind and less time just focusing on the poses and good form. Don't get me wrong I still got the same great workout and felt great at the end of it like I always do but I wish I could have shut my mind off long enough to get into a better state of mind. Today finished up week 5 of this next round so I only have 8 weeks left. Tomorrow is a rest day an I go into my first and only recovery week for this round. When I woke up this morning I did feel a little gross from some of what I ate yesterday and it was the first time I had a  little bit of remorse about what I ate yesterday but I am starting to get over that since I do know it was not all that bad. Well not all that exciting of a post today and I don't really have a tip but I will have one tomorrow or the next day. Keep working hard everyone and reach those goals.

Happy Mother's Day and what tomorrow brings

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there, I truly think that all of you need more than just a day and a card for all that you do. Today my wife got up early like she always does and went  to the store to get food for the week so that she would have the day to spend with us. Once she came back she gave me time to get my workout in while my daughter was still sleeping and even went and got her when she woke up while I still had about 25 minutes of workout left. Speaking of workouts, today was legs and back and I did all that I could to add some intensity to it again, this time I  added weights to the groucho walk and to the three way kicks. Next week I am going to try and add the weights to the dead lift squats and if that goes well then even add a weight to the super skaters after recovery week. For the most part my legs felt OK all day long but now that the night is coming to and end they are starting to get a little tender. If they are sore in the morning I am thinking it is going to really make Yoga a challenge which I am OK with but it does make me a little timid about it. Needless to say since it was mothers day today I didn't really bother tracking my calories and didn't stick to my nutrition plan 100% we went to a brunch today and for the most part I stayed in the plan but did go off the path by having a seven layer bar for desert and having a few pieces of bacon and sausage as well. All of it was in moderation so I don't feel bad about it. It is OK to take care of some cravings every now and then in order to stay on your diet the rest of the time. Keep an eye out tomorrow for how Yoga goes the day after legs and back I am sure it is going to be interesting.

Part 3 of 3
Working out at the end of the, I have not seen a whole lot on this timing for workout out but here is a rational that I have come up with. Everywhere you read talks about rest being the most important part of a fitness routine because that is when the body works the hardest to repair damage from a hard workout. If you workout at the end of the day and give yourself the proper post workout nutrition I suppose it will give the body the fuel it needs to kick it into high gear and really repair those muscles you have a pounding to during your workout. Again, I have not seen anything on this out on the web it is just an assumption that I am making based on related articles I have seen.

Even more moving forward

I woke up today and got ready for Stretch X and abs nice and early in the morning so I could get it done and spend time with the family. So fare it has been a whole lot of fun spending about an hour in the bathroom waiting for my daughter to use the potty but hey time with family is time with family. I woke up this morning and everything was still a little sore and pretty stiff from the workouts so far this week. The stretching could not have come at a better day by the time it was over I was feeling much better and the stiffness had gone a way. Then it was moving on to abs, the last day of Bob Harper abs before moving back to Ab Ripper X next week. I am happy to report I finally had some progress with the Bob video. Since getting the video one of the moves that has been hard for me and I have not been able to do without putting my hands behind me were the boat crunches. Well today I was finally able to do them. I was only able to do three before having to put my hands down but I was just happy to finally be able to do it. Tomorrow is mothers day so I am going to get up early for legs and back so that  I can get it done and spend the rest of the day pampering my wife since she is the best mother on the planet and deserves it. I am hoping that my legs won't be as sore all week this week like they were last week but we will just have to wait and see.

Tip:
Yesterday I was taking about when to workout and when I do my exercises. Here is another look, some folks like to get there workout in mid day or after work. From what I have read and talking to friends that workout here is the reasoning behind that. Working out mid-day allows you to get your pre-workout nutrition in 1.5 to 2 hours before the workout so that the food can get into the blood stream and fuel the workout giving you more energy for more reps and weight. It alos keeps your metabolism up for hours after the workout so that you can use the food you eat for dinner more affectively and lessen the chance for storing fat. 

What adding yellow can do

I didn't do everything I was planning on doing this morning but I will get into that shortly here is how the morning has gone so far. The alarm went off and I went ahead and hit the snooze button one time for a little more sleep because this has been a pretty long week and there really is not an end in site for me until about next Sunday. I got going on my arms and shoulders workout and was excited to see what the added resistance would bring to the table. Here is my explaining the title of today's post. I added another band of resistance to each of the exercises today, if you have not guessed yet that band was the yellow band. I can't speak for everyone's band set but in mine yellow is the lightest of the five colors so I figured that would be a good place to start and if I still needed more resistance than I would move up to the green bands for the next workout...I won't be moving to the green bands yet! Adding the yellow moved all my rep counts down to the 8 to 10 range before failure (where muscle build happens the most) and by the time I got to the last set of exercises, the ones Tony calls the bonus round I was pretty much spent and all those numbers where way down but I was really feeling the work by the time I was done. When it got to the cool down I was putting forth some major effort just to keep my arms above my head during the stretches, as far as I am concerned you can't ask for much more than that. Now that I am good with the resistance it is time to focus on getting the numbers up so we will he how today's workout compares to last next weeks when the time comes. I didn't run this morning because I didn't have the energy to do it and I didn't want to hinder the muscle development I created today. (More on that in a future post) I may try and run tomorrow after stretch and ab we will just have to see where my energy level is when the time comes.

Today's tip topic:
When to workout, in all my reading it seems people are always asking each other when the best time to workout is. Some say it is first thing in the morning some think right after work and others right before bed. Since I am no expert I just had to make a decision based on each of the arguments I have seen. My decision is, I like to workout first thing in the morning. The theory there is if you workout first thing on an empty stomach you body is forced to use its stored energy (fat) to get through it, there for you have the best chance of burning access fat if that is your goal by working out in the morning on an empty stomach. In a later post I will explain the theories for the other workout time but for now that is the theory for morning workouts and why I choose to workout first thing.

Did the best thing for muscle building

Ok well in all my reading and research about getting in shape one thing I have learned is the correct way to continue to make progress towards but I will get into that a little later. Today was cardio x day with some abs thrown in for good measure. When I started the cardio x for some reason I felt like I was just going through the motions rather than giving it all I had like I have been doing on the other workouts but that quickly changes as I got to about the halfway point and was sweating pretty good. Once I was done it was time to move on to abs, I went with Bob Harper abs today and before it started I had decides that I was going to focus on getting my shoulders higher off the ground during the crunches and pulse moves and tried to keep my legs up higher during the lower body work. It paid off, I was feeling the workout for a good two hours after I had finished and I expect to be pretty sore in the mid section tomorrow. Speaking of sore, if you didn't read yesterday it was chest and back and I totally went after it and today was the proof, my chest and back are almost as sore as they have ever been I mean to the point that it hurt a little just to open doors, yet another worth it in my book. Tomorrow is shoulders and arms and I will be adding resistance to pretty much all the exercises tomorrow so I totally expect to have the same sore results come Saturday morning but I am sure the stretching will help it out. I am also planning on running a quick 5K (two laps around the neighborhood) after the workout since the smaller muscle groups that I will be working don't quite burn the same number of calories as the some of the other workouts. When I am done I will have my normal post workout stuff but I am going to make my protein shake with a little bit of almond milk to add some additional carbs post workout. (Someone told me it helps the muscles use the protein you are giving it better.)

As for doing the best thing for muscles, I have been reading and everything I read seems to say the same thing, when trying to build muscle the workout itself is has the smallest impact on how you develop. Think of the workout as the spark that starts the fire it is what happens after the workout that make the growth. In this case it is rest, it is a good idea to get plenty of sleep because that is when the body does the most muscle repair and building so if you don't give it enough time to repair you might not get the best results. The other aspect of rest is making sure you don't over work you muscle groups when you finish a workout you have broken down and torn muscle fibers, growth of muscle mass happens when the body repairs the muscle so if you work them out again too soo you are not giving them enough time to repair and grow.

That's my tip....uptil next time

On to week five

WooHoo start a a new week and now there are less than nine weeks to go and I can't be happier. It seems that this run through P90X is going by just as quickly as the last time so that really speaks volumes to how it makes you work and continues to challenge. Today was another round of Chest and Back and I was determined to bring it and get the number of reps up. For the most part that is exactly what I did but there were some exercises that the numbers went down or stayed the same. I am guessing it is because I worked harder on my back this week than last, I had my pull up bar back today so I didn't have to use the bands and the moves that need bands  I added more resistance to them so the added back may have taken away from the chest a little bit. When I was done with the workout I went on a short little run and banged out about 1.2 miles just to burn a few more calories before going back to the house and getting ready for the day. All in all it was a good morning and a good way to start the day. Tomorrow I want to do the same thing with the next DVD and maybe run a little further since I am able to leave a little later tomorrow I should be able to get in the extra little run without having to wake up too early. One thing that has surprised me is that my legs are still a little sore 3 days after my legs and back workout and I don't remember the last time they were sore for this long but I guess that is a good thing, I must have really worked the muscles Sunday. You may start to see a little bit of a change in the way I post in the future, I had someone call my little blog here self serving and that is not what I intended it to be by any means I wanted to to be a record of the effort and work that a 265 lb guy can put in to lose over 100 lbs in order to show people that if I could do it anyone could. I think I may start spending a little less time on talking about my workouts and how they went and a little more time giving tips and advice as well as tricks that I have been using for the last 15 months. That may make the blog seem a little less self serving. Well until next time.

So I tried but it didn't happen

Today I set my alarm nice and early in order to get a short 2 to 3 mile run in before leaving for the men's bible study I go to on Tuesday mornings although I had good intentions running did not happen. When I rolled over to turn the alarm off my legs were wailing from being sore so I decided it best to let them rest and recover rather than push them even harder. It has been a good day to rest and get to feeling better before starting week 5. Tomorrow I get to go for the chest and back workout again but this time I get to use my pull up bar rather than the bands so I am hoping the bump the intensity a little more and really get a good workout in. I am also going to make sure I at least get a little bit of a run in tomorrow to start building my cardio back up so when I start training to run the full marathon next year it won't be quite the up hill climb I am thinking it is going to be now. I had a pretty good day with my diet but did go over the calories a little bit but that is cool since I need to take in more calories than I burn in order to build muscle so I am calling it a win. Lastly, I have been doing a little more digging on being a team beachbody coach and now I am leaning a little more toward perhaps not doing it, only because in order to be an "active coach" you need to have $50 dollars in sales a month and  I don't know that I want to be a sales person I want to help people and I can do that without a title. I guess when I talk to my coach and ask him some questions I will have a better idea on a decision but right now I am thinking I may not be doing it. Keep an eye on the blog to see how tomorrow's workout and run go.

Never thought I would say this

I am not looking forward to Yoga X next week, not because I have gotten tired of yoga or anything like that but for the next two weeks like today Yoga is going to come after legs and back. Let me start by telling you about yesterday, as I am sure you have gathered by now it was legs and back day, it changed now that I am in week four from Friday to Sunday. I did it in the afternoon once my daughter was down for a nap so by the time I did it I had already ate twice, had a protein bar, and mowed the lawn. When I got started  I was feeling good and ready to go. Most of the workout went well except I was having an issue trying to balance with some of the one leg moves so I don't know what that was all about but it didn't affect the workout too much. On the back exercises, I did the same or more reps on most of the pull ups but on one or two of the exercises I didn't get as many unassisted pull ups in as I did the time before sand I don't really know what to thank for that but I do know I am going to be working harder next time. The leg moves went well and I have decided that next week I am going to focus on getting lower in the lunges and keeping the for as best I can. The tip of the day for legs and back is quality over quantity so that is the route I will be taking next week. I used the weights again just like I did last week for the tow iso lunges and wall squats, I know Tony says not to use weights for the three way lunges but I think I am going to give it a shot next week and see how it goes. I also plan on holding one of the five lb weights while doing the groucho walk. If I was hurting by the end of the workout this week I am sure it will be nothing compared to next. On top of that I will be doing Yoga X rather than Bob Harper Yoga next week which means I will be putting more work into my legs the day after that intensified leg workout but I will get though it. Like I said today was yoga and I went with Bob Harper DVD as it was his turn, I got a really good workout this week with it and when I was done I had some time for the Yoga Ab workout as well so I went for it. During the ab workout I tried to move up to some of the more advanced moves where I could and really felt it today. I am still a little upset that I can't to the boat crunches without putting my arms behind me but  I will just keep working on my ab strength until I can. I am guessing that if I can get through the first rep I should be able to use that momentum to do the rest of the exercise, the only problem is by the time you get to those crunches you have been holding your abs in a contracted state one way or another for about 8 minutes so they are pretty darn tired by that time. When I started Ab Ripper X I never thought I would get through all the moves and now I am doing most of them with weights so I am sure the boat crunches will come. Tomorrow is a rest day and if I feel so inclined I might go on a short run just to keep my cardio in line but I don't know about that yet. One last thing, today I started a new protein flavor of the elite gourmet that I use, it is chocolate peanut butter and so far it has been my favorite one so if anyone is looking for a good flavor I would go with this one. Dymitize makes it and you can get it at a reasonable price at muscleandstrength.com. Until next time

A blogger for the people

Ask and you will receive, I decided to post two pictures of me today, one if from before I started losing weight and what I consider to be the largest I have even been in my life. The other if from easter this year, I know you can't see any muscle build or anything like that in the picture but like I said in my comment yesterday I can give a before and during shot, the after shot will come when I have finished my goal and have the build I want. Now that you have seen the pictures let me tell you a little bit about how today went. I work up a few minutes sooner than I normally would so that I could get started on Stretch X an abs early to give me enough time to go out and run for a little bit. The alarm went off and that is exactly what happened. I went right to the office and put my DVD's in (I put one in each computer to save a little time) I started off with Stretch X and really had to work to get loose, for some reason I was not very limber to start. Once I finished I went directly into ab ripper x. I did the same thing with the weights this time as I did the last time I did the workout an only this time with the leg climbers I didn't grab my leg at all and I still held the weight. I am pretty sure I got a good workout this morning with that. When I finished I put on my running shorts and shoes and made my way outside. I decided to go a full lab round my neighborhood and another lab around the block which turned out to be about 2.2 miles. I finished in 20 minutes so I was running an 8.5 minute mile. One thing I noticed while running is that strength training really does take a toll on your cardio endurance, the first mile of a run is always the most difficult in my opinion but today's first mile just seemed really hard. It looks like if I don't want to lose my cardio endurance while on this muscle building plan I am going to need to suck it up and do a little more running than I have been doing. I will work on that next week don't you worry. I don't think that I have mentioned it yet but I am considering becoming a beach body coach, it only costs $40 dollars and gives you the ability to make a few extra bucks if you put forth the time. The extra money would be nice but I am more interested in doing it for the same reason why I have been writing this blog for the last year and a half or so. I would like to help motivate and encourage people that want to get in shape as well. I figure if I can do it and have the results I have had anyone else that is willing to put in the work can too. I guess I have some thinking and research to do on that before I make my decision but if I decide to do it I will let everyone know. Until next time

That was good to see

It looks like the last three weeks of this hybrid program has really paid off for me. Yesterday was cardio x and ab ripper x and today was shoulders and arms. I could tell yesterday that I still was not 100% back to myself since I was feeling pretty beat about 2/3 the way through the DVD and that has never happened before. I am guessing that it had to do with not being back to my normal nutrition and eating plan yet but that has since changed. Yesterday was a great day in the way of nutrition I got just about all my calories in for the day had my 40/40/20 split pretty close and didn't miss any meals or snacks. When I did ab ripper x I decided I wanted to make it a bit harder and rather than try and do the moves with less help I decided to do them with more weights. Here is how it went down, I held a 5 lb weight in each hand during in and outs, bicycles, and crunchy frogs which started the burn in my abs. I then held one of the five pound weights while doing the v-up roll ups, the wide leg sit ups, and mason twists. The only exercises I didn't get to hold weights on was the heels to heaven, wide leg ups, and the side v-ups and that is because none of those exercises really have a way to hold weights with. I did pretty good and was able to get to 25 on almost all of the exercises even with the weights so   that is a will in my book. I woke up today excited to get my workout done since it was shoulders and arms. A lot of the moves are the same from two DVD's that I was doing last week so I figured that keeping the shoulder and bicep resistance the same would work just fine. As it turns out I was incorrect about that. I got a good workout this morning and I am feeling it but throughout the entire DVD I felt like I could be getting more of a burn than I was so when I do the workout again next week I will be adding more resistance to the moves and seeing what type of results I get then. I couldn't believe how much easier moves I was doing just a week ago seemed today even though I was using the same resistance. When I look in the mirror I can see my arms and shoulders getting bigger and I am starting to see some ab lines as well. I am almost to the build that I set for a goal by the end of the year, I just have a few more % body fat points to get rid of and some more muscle mass to put on and as long as I keep pushing the way I have been I have no doubt that I will get there by year end. Tomorrow is a day I look forward to, Stretch X and Abs so it won't be too hard of a day and will give my muscles some time to recover before going into legs and back on Sunday. Until then.

Just about back to normal

Today I got back from a four day trip to south GA and I can't tell you how happy I am to be back. Don't get me wrong the trip was great and I was glad to go, it was the right thing to do, but it was a bit challenging. First of all I had to bring all my workout stuff with me so I didn't miss any of the workouts and I had to  make a few changes to the schedule but I am glad that I did. Here is how the last few days went down. Sunday we left for the trip so I work up around 4:45 so that I could get my workout in and still have time to shower and be ready to go for the nine hour drive. I had my normal breakfast then got on the road for the drive. We ended up stopping at a Panera where I was able to get a salad that I like and that does fit pretty well into my nutrition plan. I ended up having peanuts for a snack in the car and drank plenty of water. When we got to our final destination I ended up having two lean pockets for dinner so my sodium and fat levels were higher than they should be but for the most part not too bad a day. The next day came along and I had to fit in my Yoga X  which I was able to do after breakfast. My breakfast was not my normal and was about half the morning calories than I eat so I was pretty hunger most of the day. By the time the day was over I was about 600 calories under my goal so when I woke up the next morning I was starving. Tuesday came along and the day started out OK but kind of went down hill from there. I had a good breakfast and got as close to my normal meal as I could after I worked out. I got to do my first chest and back of this second round and I added intensity by using bands for the back exercises since I didn't have my pull up bar and used my new push up bars. When I woke up this morning I was a little disappointed since I didn't have as mush soreness as I would have expected but that has since changed. When I was done with the workout we got to have family time and we went to a buffet for lunch but I had green beans, black eyed peas, a salad and lots of baked chicken. So all in all a good meal I even took the skin off the chicken to make it better. Then dinner came, we went to Pizza Hut Buffet which as you can imagine there was nothing good there. I did make a big salad with low cal dressing and plenty of chick peas and kidney beans to fill up a little but I did hit the pizza twice (abotu 3.5 slices worth) and I even had two chocolate chip cookies when I got back to the house so that was not a good day but once in 5 months is OK in my book. We left today and I had an apple, some turkey sausage, and yogurt for breakfast. I had a protein bar a little later and for lunch I had a huge cuban sandwich with broccoli salad, and I even tried a few spoonfuls of strawberry ice cream. I skipped a snack and had an early dinner of chicken salad, steamed broccoli and carrots, an apple, and a fiber one 90 calorie bar before coming to school. All in all considering the challenges with the travel and where we were staying I didn't do too bad but I look forward to being able to workout at home again and getting back on track with my eating. Today I took a rest day due to the travel so I have not missed a workout and tomorrow will be cardio x with some ab ripper x so I will be totally back on track with the workouts. I even scheduled my day so I can sleep in a little bit and still get my workout in so give me tomorrow and all should be right in my fitness world again. Can't tell you how happy that makes me.