Day 85 - Final Week

This is it!! The beginning of recovery week #3. When this week is over, I will have officially completed P90X!! CRAZINESS!!

Today was a Yoga-X day. The Yoga workout is both one of my favorite and most dreaded workouts. The only cause of the dread is that it's so stinkin' long!! ...well, that and the Yoga-Belly-7 section of the workout. It really is incredible, though. I fully believe nothing has helped my flexibility and overall strength more than this workout...just the vinyasas alone have helped my ability to do push-ups more than I can describe. It's really pretty cool stuff. ...But when you're 30 minutes into it and you realize that you've still got 15 more minutes of working poses, plus 45 minutes of balances poses after that, it's very dis-heartening.

Day 84 - Ultimate Frisbee + X-Stretch

Today was a great day! Stuck with the diet pretty darn well (except for 4 or 5 bites of chocolate ice cream again tonight, lol...I've gotta get that finished off and out of my fridge). In addition to doing the X-Stretch tonight, today at noon I played Ultimate Frisbee with people from work for an hour. It was awesome!

Tomorrow starts my last recovery week!!

Day 83 - Moments of Weakness

This has been the toughest week for me at following the diet. I don't know what it is, but I keep getting the most intense cravings for sweet things. My sweet tooth has been begging for cookies and ice cream this week! Although to my credit (I guess...) I've only caved twice...in 3 days. Okay, so that's not such a great track record. Although really when you look at my day, having a little bit of ice cream tonight won't hurt me too bad.

Today:
Breakfast - protein shake
Morning Snack - a protein/energy bar
Lunch - a salmon sandwich on whole wheat bread
Afternoon Snack - some pistachios & string cheese
Dinner - turkey breast fillets and broccoli
Workout - Ran 2 miles at 6 mph on the treadmill, then 30 minutes on the elliptical
Moment of Weakness - chocolate ice cream

Even with that moment of weakness, today was really a pretty good day.

Day 78 - Almost to the End

I can't believe how close I am to day 90!! The other day at work somebody was asking if I was on track to have my "perfect body" by day 90...I don't really think I am. I still don't quite have the abs I'm hoping to eventually get, and I definitely would like to bulk up my chest and shoulders a little more. But still, day 90 will be a great milestone to hit.

Today was my last Chest/Shoulders/Tricep workout before day 90...all I've got left as far as resistance workouts is Biceps, Legs, and Back...then of course the weird week of Core Synergics and stuff.

In this 3rd leg of the program I've been really good about doing the Ab-Ripper-X workouts...It's brutal, but good stuff.

Day 66 - Ugh...what happened to my blogging??

The bad news: I apparently completely forgot this blog existed or something.
The GREAT news: I've been sticking to the program this whole time!!

I'm feeling AMAZING!!! I've lost approximately 24 pounds since I started and I'm fastening my belt 3 holes further-in than I used to...It's really pretty awesome!!

This week I had my end-of-2nd-round pictures taken and when compared with my Day-1 pictures it's quite amazing.

The one result I've not yet gotten that I'm hoping for is at least a somewhat defined 6-pack. I don't demand abs of steel or anything, but I do hope for visible abs by day 90.

Day 31 - Back & Biceps Workout

First day doing Back & Biceps. It's been over a week since I'd done a pull-up and it was tough. I'm still having to rely on having my foot on a chair to do them...one of these days I'll be able to do workout routines without the chair.

This is a really fun, although really tough, workout. The back exercises are basically doing a pull-up variation followed by a bent-over dumbbell raise variation. Working biceps are always a fun workout, and this routine has tons of variations of bicep curls. You don't have to be too far into the routine before you start really feeling the burn and having a crazy-tough time doing exercises that you know wouldn't normally be too hard if you hadn't been pounding those muscles so much already.

Day 30 - Neighbor issues...

So today I was 5 minutes into my plyometrics workout and I get a call from apartment management asking me to - as a courtesy to my downstairs neighbors - keep it down with whatever I'm doing up here.

Now I know that my working-out isn't silent down there (inspite of the mats I bought to try to dampen the sound), but with most of my exercises there only 5-10 minutes of warming up where I'm doing things like jogging in place or jumping jacks that they'd hear down there. And when they called it was about noon...not really a time when I'd be disturbing people sleeping. Ugh...I just really annoyed me.

I'm going to try to do my plyometrics workouts somewhere else (probably at my parent's house) from now on, since it's the only workout I do that is constant jumping around. As far the rest, I don't know...Maybe do the warming up bare-footed would help? Or I could step outside into the stairwell for the warming up jogging in place & jumping jacks? I dunno...

Day 29 - Chest, Shoulders, & Tricep Workout

Today was the first day of Round 2 and my first time with this workout. It was a tough, good workout! By the last few exercises I could hardly do them because my muscles were just so stinkin' tired.

The whole workout consists of 8 exercises for each of the 3 target muscle groups, so you end up doing 24 exercise, first a chest one, then a shoulders, then a tricep, then another chest, etc...

The last chest exercise is a 1-armed push-up...oh my goodness. Not only are they BRUTAL, but at the point in the workout I hardly had a prayer. I ended up only doing 3 on each side, and that was with being on my knees instead of my toes. Yikes...This is tough stuff.

Afterwards, though, I felt great! Seriously! I went to the mirror right after, with my muscles all full of blood like they are right after a workout, and I looked huge! lol. This may be my favorite workout.

Day 28 - Last Day of 1st Recovery Week

Well this week has been my first "Recovery Week"...and it's been really, really nice. lol. My life's become somewhat crazy recently, so this week I really needed to do all of my workouts in the morning before work (meaning I had to be done by 7:00am), and this was the perfect week for it.

This week I got to do Core Synergistics, Yoga X, and X Stretch twice each. Plus one day of Kenpo X in there. It's really been a nice change. I'm excited to go back to hitting the weights, but the more relaxed workouts have been really nice.

I really think this week was a GREAT thing for my working out. I kindof expected to feel a little weaker, somehow, but I don't. I feel really good, actually. The only thing that didn't happen this week that I REALLY hoped would was my neck/back injury healing from when I hurt it a couple of weeks ago...it feels much better generally, but it still starts aching from time to time.

I guess we'll see how the new workout goes tomorrow.

Day 23 - Core Synergistics

What a CRAZY workout Core Synergistics is!! It's not hard in the same way plyometrics or weight training is...it's something more along the lines of yoga, but not yoga. I've never done pilates, but I guess it's something like that.

Lots of endurance and core exercises. One exercise I had done in a gym class a long time ago was the Superman/Banana where you get on your belly but keep your arms and legs off the ground and outstreched like superman, then flip over onto your back still keeping your legs and arms off the ground in a superman position, then flipping back and forth between the two over and over....it's rough on the abs and back. Also things things like holding yourself in a push-up position for 10 seconds, then lowering yourself for the push-up and holding at the bottom for 10 seconds, then repeating.

I felt good afterwards. I was somewhat sore, but not at all exhausted at the end. I think I'm really going to like Core Synergistics days.

Day 19 - Pains...

Man, I don't know what's up. The whole time I've been doing P90X (in fact, starting a few days before) I've had some pain on the right side of my neck, but I was able to stretch sufficiently to make it not an issue during workouts. But then on Sunday I somehow tweaked the left side of my neck/upper back, and it's MUCH more annoying than the other pain. ALSO tonight while doing the Legs & Back workout my lower back (like, right behind my kidneys) has been super achy....SO obnoxious. I'm hoping the lower back achiness is just residual from my Yoga workout yesterday, and it's not my kidneys on the verge of blowing up or something.

I was SO exhausted by the end of my workout tonight. When it was finally done I didn't move straight into Ab Ripper X. Instead I took a break for about an hour & had my Recovery Drink (which I've grown to LOVE). Then after I felt good and rested I did the Ab workout...now I feel destroyed again.

Day 14 - The X Stretch

So I did the X Stretch workout today. It was nice. I'm serious. Calling it a "workout" is probably a misnomer...you never work up a sweat or anything, it's literally just a lot of stretching. You stretch your shoulders, arms, back, legs...pretty much you got it, you stretch it. I thought it was going to be weird and boring, but it actually felt really good to just really stretch out these muscles that I've been working out the last few weeks.

I can't guarantee that on all of my "rest days" that I'll do the X Stretch, but I don't see a reason not to do it.

Day 12 - A Tough Groundhog Day!

Happy Groundhog Day!!!

Today was VERY tough. I don't know what it was, but only about half way through the Legs & Back workout, I already started having thoughts about quitting. I'm not quite sure what brought it on...It's felt like the last few works has been becoming slowly easier, but today's seemed VERY tough. I made it through it, though!

I'm still not to the point where I can do even 1 pull-up without the assistance of my foot on a chair, but I can feel it coming! Seriously, if I could do just 1 or 2 all by myself, I'd feel great.

I did Ab Ripper X today, too! It's still BRUTAL, and I'm having to take lots of little breaks while the people on the DVDs continue to do reps, but I'm doing every exercise, which is a big step forward!!

Day 11 - Yoga!

Okay, I got to do the Yoga-X today. You may recall that last week I couldn't continue beyond 15 minutes into it...

So...the Yoga workout is long. But I have to admit that I felt really good afterwards. The first half is "Moving" poses, while the second half is "Balance" poses. I didn't think of Yoga as a sweat-enducing activity, but during the "Moving" poses section of this workout, I was sweating more than I have during any other workout I've done...I'm serious. It's tough. I ended up fast-forwarding through the last 10 minutes or so of the "Moving" section, 'cuz I was just so exhausted from doing them. The "balance" half is a much more relaxed series of poses, much more focused on stretching and flexibility rather than strength (although there definitely are some strength - especially that work the abs - poses in there).

When all was said and done I felt good about having done it and will definitely be doing it again next week. The biggest thing I learned is that my Yoga Matt is WAY too slippery! I found that when I moved to just the carpet that although I wasn't as comfortable, several of the poses (ESPECIALLY the downward-dog) became much easier. I guess when my hands were sweating that trying to hold some of those poses on the slippery surface of my Gold's Gym Yoga Matt (in spite of the little ridges in to), I was spending a lot of energy in keeping my hands stationary, whereas when I moved them to the floor my hands just stayed and I couldn't focus on the rest of the pose.

Day 7 - Rest Day

I didn't get to do the X-Stretch today. I was just so busy all day, and this seems to an optional workout that can be done on your "rest day". I'll be sure to give it a try one of these weeks and will give my input.

Day 6 - Kenpo X

Woo! I love it! Kenpo X is a cardio workout, that I'm POSITIVE had me looking like a total fool, but sure got my heart beating. It's - like most of the DVDS - an hour long, and the first half hour just flew by, then the next 15 minutes or so seems to take FOREVER. Oh man, I was tired. BUT, I think this is the first P90X DVD I've been able to do without having to pause the DVD even once, and I MOSTLY stayed right up with them.

When it was over I was very tired, but felt great about having done it as well as I did. Good stuff!!!

Day 5 - Legs & Back

Good workout! Tough, but good! And I made it all the way through it, although at several points the thought of skipping certain exercises or ending early certainly DID cross my mind.

The Legs & Back Workout is essentially a lot of leg exercises (mostly variations on squats and lunges), with varitations of pull-ups interspersed throughout. There's a couple of endurance-type exercises where you basically get in a sitting position (but without actually sitting ON anything) and just hold it for a while....GEEZ it burns!!!

I didnt' know if I was going to be able to handle doing pull-ups again already, but with the aid of my reliable chair to support one leg and give me a little assistance, I was able to make it through it.

Ab Ripper X just didn't happen. I've gotta figure out what I want to do about Ab Ripper X. I'm thinking about doing it in the mornings, 'cuz after I've been lifting for an hour, the last thing I want to do is 15 minutes of grueling ab exercises.

Day 4 - Super Weak Yoga...

Okay, so today was my weakest day yet of the workout plan. Here's the deal: Yoga's really hard. I know, I know...I sound like a pansy, let me elaborate. First of all, the Yoga exercise is 90 minutes! Yeah, a freakin' hour and a half. Second of all, I'm still WAY sore. My muscles are still trying to recover from the initial shock of starting up such an intense program, and Yoga is all about slow movements and holding poses...and I just couldn't do it. I made it about 15 minutes into it and my muscles were just aching and shaking so bad there was nothing I could do it. I REALLY feel by next week so many of these exercises are going to be just SO much easier 'cuz I'll be healed up from the original muscle pulls.

On a bright note, today was probably my best day at following the nutrition plan. I had 3 meals and 2 snacks. Diet wise...very good day.

And as follow-up from the last two days utter soreness, I'm still quite sore today, but I now have ALMOST full range of motion back in my arms. Hopefully in the next couple of days we'll be there.

Day 3 - Shoulders & Arms

I am SO sore today!! My legs, back, abs, and chest are all sore...but in a good way. What's killing me still is my triceps. I obviously WAY overworked them or - more likely - pulled them pretty bad. I noticed in the mirrow today that there's swelling and light red bruises around my elbows...which explains why I can't fully bend my arms. Last time I started working out this same thing happened, though, so I'm not really worried.

To make matters worse, today was the Shoulders and Arms workout. It's basically 4 sets (then a bonus set if you're in shape for it) of 2 reps of 3 exercises (shoulders, biceps, triceps). I didn't do the bonus set...I felt pretty good to just get through the primary ones. My arms are still so sore that I really couldn't do much weight, but I still felt pretty good about it.

Ab Ripper X, once again, kicked my butt. I made it one or two exercises further into it than I did last time, though, so there's some improvement.

Today was pretty tough to follow the diet. It's weird, though, the problem isn't that I'm eating bad stuff, the problem is eating ENOUGH. I kinda feel like all day today I was just preparing for my next meal. Part of the problem, was that I slept in until about 10:00 today...I only ended up having 2 meals (and 2 snacks) instead of the desired 3 meals, but I wasn't ever really even hungry.

We'll see how eating goes tomorrow...

Day 2 - Plyometrics Destroyed Me!!

Yeesh! I wasn't even able to make it through the whole Plyometrics workout. I made it about 3/4 of the way and couldn't jump anymore...literally. My legs just gave up. lol. It's an amazing workout, though!

As expected, I'm so stinkin' sore today! What hurts the most (not entirely surprisingly) is my triceps. Even though I wasn't targeting them, doing lots up push-ups and pull-ups is going is work them as well.

Can't type much right now. Anyway, 2 days down...88 to go. lol.

Day 1 - Chest & Back

Well, today didn't go exactly how I hoped it would. The plan was that I'd workout in the morning, then be doing the diet all day. Well, my carpool informed me last night that they needed to go in to work about 45 minutes early today, and then I was unable to get to bed until after midnight last night, so I knew that waking up extra-EXTRA early just wasn't going to happen. PLUS I'd forgotten that today we had a luncheon at work that I needed to attend. I still did good about eating good stuff, but I didn't eat nearly enough protein to consider today a successful day at following the nutrition plan.

Due to the late hour of going to bed and the early hour of going to work, I decided I could either postpone starting yet another day or I could just workout in the evening. I chose the latter. So here I go to do my first-ever P90X workout...

*** 90 minutes later ***

...I think I'm gonna barf. Oh my goodness I'm exhausted. I was beat and my muscles all felt like Jell-O, then I tried to do the 15 minute AB Ripper X workout...I made it about 5 minutes it and was sure that if I kept going I'd be throwing-up all over the place. ...It seemed like a good stopping place.

I had to have a bench under me to assist in all pull-up exercises, but I'm sure that'll go away over time. The Chest & Back Workout is mostly a series of variations on pull-ups, push-ups, and dumbell raises. And it'll work you OUT. I can't believe how many reps the people on the DVD were doing. They're doing 30 while I'm doing, like, 8. It was crazy.

GEEZ I'm exhausted. And my back & neck hurt...they've been kinda sore for several days now, though, and hadn't been getting any better or worse, so I figured I'd just go for it. I think I did good at not doing much in the way of jerky movements or anything, though, so I don't think I did anything that would have exasperated any problem....probably just now my back & neck are sore & kinda swollen from exercising, so I'm feeling the pain that was already there even more now.

Well, day 1 is nearing its end. I mostly stuck to the diet, I worked out & then drank my P90X recovery drink (which tastes kinda bizarre, by the way), and I'm now gonna kick back for a while, watch some tv, & snack on a protein bar. Good times.

...so tired.

Ready to Rock & Roll

I'm FINALLY ready to start this thing. I ended up having to spend about $200 in preparation of the nutrition plan. Of course, a good chunk of that wasn't in the purchasing of food, but rather in cooking implements. I bought a blender, a George Foreman Grill, a spatula, a whisk, a few knives, a grater, measuring cups, measuring spoons, a food scale....just a lot of stuff that "normal" people already own, but since I've done so little cooking since I moved to this apartment I'd never bought any of them.

I even swallowed my pride & had my dad take the series of Day-1 photos of me. Yeah...it's not flattering. Definitely give me something to work away from, though.

The only thing I don't have that I still want is some sort of padding to put on the floor to help muffle the noise that my downstair neighbours will hear, especially for the jump-training workouts. Hopefully with my doing those on Saturdays it won't be super-needed, but if it is, it'll have to wait at least until next week.

Postponing a little...

Well...I guess starting a little bit later than I intended is better than starting and then immediately getting distracted and having to stop. Two issues arose that prevented me from starting the P90X program this morning:

1. I feel like I'm getting sick. Starting on Saturday I started feeling achy and had a sore-ish throat. Today I'm still achy and I've got sinus congestion going on. I'm pounding the Mucinex & Sudafed so I don't get too plugged up. Hopefully this'll go away without getting any worse.

2. Saturday I didn't have time to go doing my shopping...I slept-in late, then had plans that night. I still need to pick up all my healthy food (as well as some cooking implements that I need), and I need to buy a couple more things for my work-outs.

Not only that, but my chest is feeling all tight...I had this same thing about a year ago or so and it sounds strange, but it seems like it's related to my acid reflux...getting my acid reflux under control seemed to coincide with it going away last time, and in the last few weeks I've been having horrible heart burn.

There's actually a good thing about delaying a few days: If I start the program on Friday then I can do the Plyometrics workouts on Saturdays, which means I can wait until later in the day to be doing lots of jumping during normal waking hours and hopefully not disturb my downstairs neighbors so much.

Nutrition Plan Prep

I really got a chance in the last day or two to look at the nutrition plan. It looks like I'm going to be eating a lot! Right now I don't eat that much, but when I do eat, I eat junk food. This is going to be a lot of healthy food...and it looks delicious.

I've started putting together a shopping list for stuff to buy this weekend so I'll have food for the first week and I'm wondering how much I'm going to end up spending. I intend on sticking to the nutrition program to the letter; this means that I'm even going to follow their example meal schedule (early on, at least), so I'm going to be trying lots of interesting sounding foods. I just hope there's plenty of ingredients (such as spices) that I'll be able to buy once, then use for a long time. Unfortunately my cupboards are currently nigh unto bare, so I'm going to have to lay dome some cash to start up my nutrition plan.

P90X Intro

I watched the intro video to P90X last night. My 2 biggest concerns are pull-ups and plyometrics. It appears that a big part of the P90X workout is doing pull-ups...when I was in high school (and was probably in the best shape of my life) I could do 2 pull-ups on a really good day; I doubt I can do a single one now. The issue with Plyometics (jump training) is I've got downstairs neighbors...I wonder how they're going to handle having their neighbor jumping for an hour once a week...should I do it at 6:00am, when they're possibly asleep, or at 6:00pm, when they're probably sitting down for dinner or watching tv? hmmm...

We'll see how things go...

The Plan...

Well...let's answer some questions about what I'm going to try to do over 90 days.

Who: Me.
What: Follow the P90X fitness program, including both the workout and nutrition programs.
When: The plan is to begin Monday, January 18 and to continue for the 90 days that follow. That would make day 90 be Saturday, April 17.
Where: My apartment. One of the big selling points of P90X is that you don't need a gym membership. You can do all of the exercises in the privacy of your own living room.
Why: I'm dreadfully out of shape. I've wanted for a while to start exercising regularly and eating better, and I find that if I'm not doing a strict program, I have a hard time sticking with it.
How: I CAN do this...a few summer's ago I followed another 90-day program and with only a couple of slip-ups, I stuck to it pretty darn good. I found that if I was incredibly strict with myself that I really stuck to it quite well. Also, this blog should help me further keep my commitment, at the beginning I'll trying to update the blog as I experience aspects of the program for the first time...as it becomes more routine I'm guessing that my posts will decline in frequency, but I'll try to update at least weekly at a minimum.


Excercise Equipment I've got (or will have by the time I start):
-A set of P90X DVDs and accompanying documentation
-A pair of adjustable dumbbells
-4'x8' of interlocking foam impact flooring on which to workout.
-An Iron Gym Extreme Pull-Up Bar (this will be my bane, I'm sure!)
-A pair of push-up stands

Nutrition Supplements I've got (or will have by the time I start):
-P90X Recovery Drink mix
-P90X multi-vitamins
-P90X energy bars
-Whey Protein mix

A HIGHLY recommended part of the P90X system is that on days 1, 30, 60, and 90 you take a series of 6 pictures:
-Facing Forward, hands on hips
-Facing Forward, arms raised to sides flexing
-Facing Sideways, arms relaxed at sides
-Facing Sideways with Upper Body Twisted to Face Forward, hands on hips
-Facing Backward, hands on hips
-Facing Backward, arms raised to sides flexing

I do intend to take these pictures, but alas, I will not be posting these online, at least not until I've got a picture in which results are obvious...pictures of yourself in poor shape are far less embarassing if you're currently in much better shape. I figure by not posting them it lessens my shame and lessens what anybody who reads this blog has to endure.

Backstory

I'm your average, red-blooded, 6'2.5" guy. All my life I was a tall-ish, slender guy. A few years ago, however, at about the time I started to settle into the computer science program in college I started noticing a few extra pounds find their way into my daily life. Naturally, I started thinking about undertaking a fitness program.

I'd looked at a few programs and was talking about it with some of my roommates when my roommate, Coach, told me that the fitness program he really wanted to do was P90X. I'd seen bits and pieces of P90X infomercials, but hadn't really taken much notice. As his name suggests, Coach is a dude whom I trust when it comes to athletic stuff so I decided to watch an infomercial for the product the next time I came across one. Well, I eventually saw one (it didn't take long...even now just flip around the channels on the weekend and there's virtually always one on on SOME channel), and I was pretty impressed. P90X is an exercise & nutrition program designed to be done in your home by following along with some exercise DVDs and following a specific diet. The biggest drawback at the time was I really didn't have the funds to buy the program, let alone the gear to exercise at home and foods for the nutrition program. At the time I was a starving college student, so I opted for the cheap option of simply eating better and going to the school fieldhouse to use random exercise equipment.

Well...several years have passed now and I'm once again having the desire to start a fitness program. I'm now out of college, gainfully employed, and can afford to do it, so I'm gonna give P90X a go.