I decided to rest yesterday so if you're wondering what happened to yesterday's post... I didn't do one.

But today.... I BROUGHT IT! Great work out today. I feel like I have made so much progress since day one. Today's workout was Chest and Back and ABX. I remember doing this workout on day one and how much trouble I had. I felt GREAT today. Because of the way P90X rotates routines I have not done this workout in a few weeks. I was surprised at how many more reps I could do today compared to P90X day 1. I doubled my reps in some exercises. Got a fantastic pump out of the workout too. I look in the mirror and like what I see.

I just took my body fat measurement and here are the stats.

Day one - 21% - 25% Body Fat  (I was not that good at working the calipers when I started but it was somewhere between 21 and 25%)

Phase One completion (Day 28) - 15.3%

Phase Two completion (Day 56) - 14.8%

The numbers don't make it look like I have lost a lot of body fat but it just may be that me and my calipers are not that accurate. What matters is how I feel and how I look and how my clothes fit. And the answer to all of those is... great!

Injury update - Elbow is fine today, I don't feel a thing there. My left Glute is another story. I had thought that I was suffering from ITBS but that may not be the case. After doing some more research today I have come up with a new "syndrome of the day" to call my own. It's called Piriformis Syndrome. And it sounds closer to what I have. More info about it here at the Wikipedia Piriformis entry.

I think it's from a lot of sitting combined with ramping up the jumping and squatting exercises too quickly. I will take it easy during PlyoX tomorrow and make sure I stretch during the day until better.

Till next time... Bring it!

YogaX today. Felt like I was really able to bring some intensity to it today. Maybe because it was later in the day when I did this workout and I always feel like I have more energy when I workout later in the day.

My knee tweak, that I described in an earlier post, is MUCH better, I'd say back to 100% on that.

New issues - My left leg has always been tighter than my right for some reason. But now I am feeling tightness in my Iliotibial Band and it's very painful at times. I'll have to do some extra stretching I guess. I'm hoping that tomorrow's X-Stretch workout will help some.

Next issue, right elbow. I'm pretty sure that this one is caused by my computer use. It seems to flare up when I spend some extra time on the computer. Which I have been doing lately. Feels like tendonitis. I don't think that it is from P90X because it just started to flare up during recovery week and recovery week is mostly low impact/no weights aerobics. Nothing really to stress the elbow.

Hopefully it will clear up as quickly as my other injuries!

Till next time... Bring It!

Core Synergistics today. The knee that I tweaked in yesterday's CardioX workout felt a bit better today but I was still a bit tentative with it. I'm sure that by tomorrow it will be fine.

A good workout today but I felt that my intensity was lacking just a tad. Not enough sleep last night maybe?

After work today I may do the XStretch workout that I was supposed to do yesterday. I'll see. It's a very easy workout.

Till next time... Bring It!

I decided to sleep in today. I stayed up too late the night before and just could not get up this AM. So when my alarm went off at 5AM I reset it to 7AM. The scheduled workout was supposed to be XStretch. I was going to do XStretch in the AM and then do a second workout of CardioX in the PM. Since I slept in I decided to skip the scheduled XStretch and just do the CardioX. I am a cardio junkie lately.

So right at the beginning of CardioX, when Tony says "Let's start out by warming up with a little light rope jumping" and goes through the motions without the rope. I decided to get fancy and pull out my real jump rope and do the real deal instead of warming up with a little faux rope jumping. I should NOT have done that. On the first or second jump I came down wrong and tweaked my right knee a little bit. Not horribly bad, just a little tweak. So now I'll have to baby that knee for a couple of days. I need to listen to and trust Tony. Warm up mean WARM UP, not go crazy!

Another great day of double workouts. I did the scheduled KenpoX in the AM and then after work I did CardioX. Felt GREAT!

Also, I came to the realization today that I am not going to look like Tony Horton at the end of this 90 days. And that I will probably not be able to do all the reps in all the Ab RipperX exercises, or all the pull ups that Tony can do, or be perfect at YogaX. I am a realist, and I realize that I may get a bit leaner in the next 38 remaining days, but I will not end up looking like Tony. I'm OK with that. I feel great. All things considered I think that I am close to being in the best shape of my life. I'm not as lean as I was when I got out of Air Force Basic Training 20 years ago, and I can't run 26.2 miles like I could 7 years ago. BUT... I am more flexible than I have ever been. I am stronger overall than ever before. And my kicks and punches are better than ever. And kicks and punches are important to us guys.

So although I will not look like Tony in 38 days I will feel great about myself. And I will continue to do P90X as long as I can handle it mentally and physically.

I'm looking forward to Round 2 already. And then... P90X Plus!

Till next time... Bring It!

Day 51 and another double workout day. The P90X workout was Core Synergistics, I really like that one.

Then after work I felt the need for more sweat so I did 30 mins on the treadmill and then about 20 minutes on the heavy bag.

Two great workouts!

Till next time... Bring It!

Decided to do a second workout today to make up for some of the garbage I ate on Sunday. I did 4.38 miles on the treadmill and then some work on the heavy bag. It was a great workout and I plan on doing more double workouts like this over the next week during "recovery". I also plan on doing some doubles during Phase III.

Wow, 50 days. I'm feeling GREAT today! Lots of intensity in YogaX this morning. I really felt like I Brought It today. Still struggle with some moves but the hour and a half workout flew by today. I must have been having fun.

I feel like I need some extra cardio today to burn off the bad stuff I ate over the weekend. Hopefully there will be time for a run in the evening.

This is recovery week for Phase II so no heavy weights this week. I want to focus on cardio all week.

Till next time... Bring It!

Easter Sunday!

Today was rest or XStretch and I chose to rest. Ate waaaay too much Easter candy today. And felt like crap for it.

Tomorrow is a new day!

A great KenpoX workout today. I really brought the intensity, it felt great. My shirt was soaking wet and must have weighed 5 lbs when I was done. I'd have to say, that of all the P90X workouts, KenpoX goes by quicker than the others. Its probably my favorite.

Till next time.... Bring It!

Another fully drenched T-shirt kinda workout. Felt pretty good today. Made a few gains in the # of reps that I could do for some of the exercises and held steady on the others. That was my last weight lifting workout before recovery week next week. And then..... PHASE III, the final Phase.

I really want to concentrate on my diet and do extra cardio workouts during Phase III. I want to get max results during that Phase.

KenpoX tomorrow. Till then.. Bring It!

Today was YogaX. I'm beginning to think that it may take me 2 or 3 rounds of P90X before I feel like I have mastered many of the moves and exercises. Oh well, I guess that'll keep it interesting.

As usual, there are still many moves in YogaX that I struggle with. I'm sure if I keep at it that one day they will all be relatively easy.

Not much else to add today.

Bring It!

Woo Hoo, I'm 1/2 way there! 45 P90X days under my (formerly tight) belt. I'm 1/2 way done, so if I look and feel twice this good in another 45 days I will be ecstatic.

I am in so much better shape than I was just 45 days ago. Stronger, more flexible and better heart and lungs. I feel great.

And aside from a little excess phlegm (YUK!) I feel fully recovered from this cold that I had.

It's a good day. Bring It!

It's a Miracle! I think P90X cured my cold! Amazing. Just do these workouts and in one week your cold will be gone.

Yes that's right, I feel very close to being back to my old self as they say. Today was PlyoX and I'd say that I was 95% to 100%.

This reminds me of the 121st episode of the Beverly Hillbillies and Granny's cure for the common cold. It works without fail: take Granny's corn squeezin's, stay in bed, drink lots of fluids, and in about a week you'll be right as rain!

Anyway.. till next time... Bring It!

I'm feeling MUCH better today. I'd say that I'm running at about 85% to 90% today. The workout was great as usual. Although about 3/4 of the way through it I felt like I tweaked an upper back muscle doing the Lying Tri Press (I think that's what it's called). I tried stretching it out a bit and that helped. It's not a spinal thing, just a muscle tweak. I'm sure I'll be OK by tomorrow.

I feel like I really need to concentrate on my diet this week. Being away from home and sick last week did not help my diet at all. I need to crack down this week.

Tonight at 8:00 PM Eastern there is a live Chat session with Tony Horton at the BeachBody site. I think I'll try to tune in for that.

Till next time... Bring It!

KenpoX today. This cold is still kickin my butt. between the cold and my sore legs from yesterdays Legs and Back workout I felt like I was somewhere between 85% to 90% capacity during today's workout. It felt good to move and sweat but I was pretty wasted afterwards.

Well, tomorrow is another chance to BRING IT!

Getin close to being 1/2 way to 90 days!

I did the Legs and Back and Ab X workout that I was supposed to do yesterday. I am still pretty sick but I waited until later in the day so I had the chance to get some food energy in me before the workout. Seemed to help, I was able to bring some pretty good intensity but had to hit the Pause button a few more times than normal cause I was running out of breath. I'm sure that was due to the cold.

I felt like I made some progress on some of the exercises. AB X is getting easier. I still can't do all the reps in all the moves though. Hard stuff. Some day.

Well, KenpoX tomorrow. I'll BRING IT!

Traveling back home today. My plan was to workout this (Friday) evening when I got home. But... too sick. And too tired from traveling. So NEW PLAN! Swap Friday with Sunday and do Friday's workout on Saturday. So this week Friday is my rest day and Sunday will be KenpoX instead of rest. That makes sense.

Hopefully I have enough energy to do Legs and back tomorrow (Sat).


Another rough day away from home. Still sick, did YodaX today. Didn't really feel like I could bring it with the intensity that I know and love. Kinda just went through the motions. Felt VERY stiff at beginning.



Can't wait to get back home and get back into my routine.



OK, today was rough. I am away from home and full blown sick with a cold.



I stayed up late Tues night with friends from work and then woke up at 5:30 AM for my P90X workout. I did Plyometrics in the hotel room. When I checked in I asked for a ground floor room (so I would not disturb anyone during Plyo) but the best that they could give me was a 2nd floor room. the good new was that directly below me were conference rooms and I would probably not have to worry about noise during Plyo.



So I woke up at 5:30 AM feeling pretty sick but decided to work out anyway. For the most part I had enough room (I'm in a suite) but I was still a little tentative becuase I was worried about the noise and tried to be as quiet as possible. That meant modifing some of the moves. I still got a great workout but definitely felt like I could have done better if I was not sick.



That's about it. Tomorrow is YogaX and that should not be a big problem.



 Till next time...



Bring It!  



Today was a rough one. I am traveling to Dallas, TX today so I decided to not do today's scheduled Plyometrics workout and instead do tomorrow’s workout, Back and Bi’s. I wanted to do the back and Bi’s workout at home because it relies on pretty heavy weights and pull ups, both of which may not be available in a hotel gym. I figure that I’ll try and get a hotel room on the ground floor and do Plyometrics in the room. Well, at least as much of it as possible in a hotel room. Then I will run afterwards.


 


Here's why today was so rough. I was flying out on a 7:10 AM flight which meant that I wanted to get to the airport at 6:10 AM. Which meant that I had to leave the house at 5:40 AM, which meant that I needed to get in the shower at 5:10 AM, which meant that I had to start working out at 4:10 AM. WOW, that was the long way to say I HAD TO GET UP DAMN EARLY to make this plan work. And to make matters worse we just had the time change to daylight savings so at 4:00 AM my body feels like it’s 3:00 AM.


 


So I went to bend at 8:00 PM last night in an attempt to get enough sleep. Between dealing with kids, etc. I didn’t get to bed until 8:45 PM. Remember, with the time change my body felt like it was 7:45 PM so it was not too tired. I felt like I was JUST falling asleep at about 9:30 PM when my wife notified me that the hot water heater was on the blink and that I could expect a cold shower in the AM if I did not get up and fix it. It was an easy fix so I got up and did it. Back to bed. Woke up many times throught the night burning up for some reason. Finally getting the cold that the baby has?


 


Anyway, woke up on time, a little groggy but not too bad. Chest and shoulders sore from the previous days workout, but I BROUGHT IT! Had a great back and Bi’s workout. When it came time to go up and shower my arms were so toasted that I could barely raise them to put the shaving cream on my face. And once I did get the cream on, shaving was even harder than putting the cream on.


 


So long story longer… I’m tired but had a great workout. I love it when a plan comes together.


 


Till next time… Bring It!






UPDATE: I'm blogging this for a very nice and open atrium at the hotel in Dallas. I got to the hotel, changed into my running gear, went down to the hotel gym and ran 4 miles. Workout # 2 for the day was awesome!


Chest, shoulders and AB RipperX today. It was the second time doing the chest and shoulders DVD and it felt more comfortable this time. Another great workout and my arms are like limp noodles right now. Also, I was a tad tired this AM due to the time change but I still BROUGHT IT.

ABX was great too, I can do more reps of each move every week. Slow but steady progress. Love it.

I may be imagining it but I swear I can see my upper abs when I flex them now. Six pack on it's way?

Till next time... Bring It!

Today was a rest or StretchX day and I chose to rest. My legs are killin me STILL from the legs and back workout 2 days ago so I am takin it easy today.

I'll it it hard tomorrow.


Not too sure if you've noticed (like anyone actually reads this) but I have posts that duplicate themselves and then dissappear. So if you are reading the blog and one day the posts go from 32 to 34 and the next day a 33 slips in there, that's what's going on.



Windows Live Writer dupes my posts sometimes. Then when I delete the dupe it actually deletes both copies. No good. So I turned of the "View in browser after publishing" options cause it's my hunch that is what is causing the issue. We'll see.


Day 34 was a kickin workout. Literally. It was KenpoX day. Sorry for the bad pun.

Great workout, although my Glutes are KILLIN me from yesterdays legs and back workout. My but and legs are sooo sore. I really BROUGHT IT yesterday.

Brought it today too. Heck, I BRING IT everyday!

Diet has been good. Seeing big changes already.

Till next time... Bring It!


I over slept today so I didn't get a chance to workout in the morning. So, after work I did the P90X workout for Day 33, Legs and Back. I really like that one. And it's a shame that I can't work out in the afternoon everyday, I have so much more energy when I workout in the afternoon. I really feel like I can BRING IT with more intensity in the afternoon.



Great workout. I really feel like I have made some progress. I can do a few more pull ups now that when I started and wall squats were easier.



Another great P90X kinda day.



Till next time... Bring It!



YogaX today. I still struggle with many of the Yoga positions. I do notice improvement in some but some are just so damn hard for me.



But... I did manage to get into Crane for a whole 10 seconds today. The most I managed in the past was a second at a time.



 And, after my sister sent me a picture of her doing the plank to side reach (or whatever it's called) and she was stacking one leg on the other... I JUST HAD TO DO THAT TODAY. So it's a first for that too.



And that damn pose where you're supposed to be in a lunge and put one arm behind your back and one arm under your leg and grasp your arm... Fuggetta Bout it!



Also, as I expected today, my biceps are killin me! Great workout yesterday.



It may sounds as if I am complaining but all in all it was another great workout.



Till next time... Bring It!


I can now say that I have done all the P90X workouts at least once. I'm not saying that I've done every rep on every exercise, and done them perfectly. I'm just saying that I have worked out while watching the videos. ;o)

Today was Back, Bis and ABX. The first day of a new workout is a bit awkward for me. Lot's of stopping while I figure out which weight is right for me.  But wow what a workout. If my biceps are not killin me tomorrow I'll be very surprised.

HRM says 1044 cals burned today. Nice.

I see that I will have to modify P90X next week. I was going to do the scheduled Plyo workout on Tues, the day I leave for Dallas, and then do Back and Bis my first day at the hotel. I don't think that I will be able to BRING IT with the intensity that I know and love if I am working out with the bands in the hotel room. So, I will swap the two workouts. I will do Back and Bis a day early (the day I leave) and then do as much of the plyo workout as I can do in the hotel room, and then go for a run outside. The second day at the hotel is YogaX which should be no problem in the room. Then I'll be home on Friday and can do Legs and Back in the eve.

That's my plan anyway and I'm stickin to it.

Till next time... Bring It!

Well I have made it through 30 days of P90X workouts. An achievement of sorts.

My Triceps are very sore today, I guess yesterdays Chest, Shoulders and Triceps workout really got me.

Today was Plyometrics. A great workout as always, one of favorites. Because of the recovery week it had been a bit since I had done Plyo and I could tell that I had made some progress. Some of the moves were easier today.

After the hour of Plyo I still had 30 mins left over before I needed to get in the shower so I decided to do 30 minutes on the treadmill.

With the two workouts combined I burned 1666 calories according to my HRM. WOW! That's a lot.

Well, that's all for now.

Till next time... BRING IT!

OK, so as mentioned in previous posts, I completed Phase I and then added a modified week after the official Phase I recovery week. I did this because I was traveling that week. So even though I have been at this for 36 days, I'm still at P90X day 29.

Now I am back on track! Today was Phase II Week 1 Day 1 and the workout was Chest, Shoulders and Tri's. Phew what a workout. By the end of the workout my arms were TOAST! There is one exercise, One Arm Balance Push-up, near the end of the workout that was a killer. My arms were so shaky that I could not support my own weight in the reach portion of the exercise. Toast!

Next week when I travel I think I will be able to stay on track and not have to repeat the week. I will have to do YogaX one day in the hotel room and then Legs, Back and ABX the second day in the room. Legs and Back may be a challenge in the room but I'll have my bands with me. I should be able to make that work. It will be great if I can do that and not have to repeat that week.

Well, till next time... In life and in exercise... BRING IT!

WOW! Burnt some calories toDAY.

Went for a nice run, 35 min and according to my new HRM burned 701 calories.

Then did KenpoX and according to the HRM burned 1200 calories. KenpoX was so high partly because it is an intense workout and also because I did some work punching and kicking my heavy bag and boxing dummy. So a total of 1901 calories burned. Woo Hoo!

BTW, here is a funny pic I took back in early Jan (before P90X) of the boxing dummy.

DummyChoke

Tomorrow it's back on track for P90X. I start Phase II. I'll be home and able to "Bring It" for a week but then I have to travel the week after that and probably will not be able to give Phase II/week 2 the proper intensity that it deserves. So my plan is to repeat Phase II/week 2 if needed.

Here are a couple more pics of my workout space.

Boxing Area 
The Boxing area

 

Workout Space 
Funny annotated pic of my workout space. It's not as cramped as it looks. Also, I changed it a little since I started P90X. The area that the picture is being taken from (and not seen in this pic) is a nice open and carpeted space. The big screen is angled towards the carpeted area. The dumbbells have been moved to the carpeted area. I gotta tell ya... it is Sooo nice to have P90X up on a big screen. I almost feel as I'm there with the "Kids."

Till next time... in life as well as in exercise... "BRING IT!"


 



Not very pretty but here are the Day 1 vs Day 30 photos.



You can also get to the before and after page using the link on the right side of the page in the "Pages" area and clicking on "Before and After".


So I think today was all about trying to make up for not being so good last week.

I worked up a good sweat shoveling snow for an hour today. Then I ran for 45 minutes. Then I did (for a change of pace) Rodney Yee's Power Yoga. It was a great one hour workout. Not as intense as YogaX but more technical. It focused more on the breathing and keeping the moves very fluid. It also focused on maintaining a rhythm throughout the entire workout.

YogaX was definitely more intense in a physical strength way but Power Yoga threw in a couple of pretty tough moves that I had a hard time with. It was a nice workout that I think I will do again if I need a light second workout some day.

Also, I was surprised at how much P90X YogaX had prepared me for this new Power Yoga workout. It got me thinking that I would like to take a Yoga class sometime. Maybe where my wife works out or at my Mom's friends Yoga Center. Sounds like fun although I am sure I would struggle with some of the moves I am learning that Yoga is about doing what you can do and being happy with that while working to be better.

Well, till next time... Bring It!