Thursday, July 29, 2010

Day 24+ BEACH HOUSE WEEKEND!

I got some offline feedback about the whole educational blog thing... turns out people aren't diggin' it. They'd rather hear about my daily boring life and how I screw up and make mistakes. So perhaps I'll hold off on any more learning material for the time being.

In the mean time. I get to tell you about the wonderful thing that happened to me yesterday (I really wish I had some photos). Around 6:00pm, a storm hit my town and the wind/rain was so powerful that limbs were being RIPPED off the trunks of trees. When I say limb, I don't mean branch or twig... I mean LIMB about 1ft in diameter 10 to 20ft long with branches + twigs connected to it, coming down from 30+ feet in the air. I'd estimate some of these limbs weighed as much as 500-600lbs each. And I had 4 large ones in total and countless smaller branches.

Needless to say, I was basically outside from 6:00pm to 10:00pm picking up, sawing, carrying, rolling, dragging, and chopping. Thankfully I have a really nice neighborhood and had many people stop and help, even in the rain, to help me move these things.

Before I started moving stuff, my yard and trees look like a war zone. But now it's like a really organized war zone, with thousands of pounds of wood lined up along my curb (corner lot too). The only available space I have to get to my house is via my driveway - even my mailbox is blocked, it's just that much tree!

So needless to say, I didn't get the full filled afternoon of Starcraft 2 I was hoping for... and was probably one of the worst activities I could have been doing with sore shoulders/upper back. On the bright side, I did get to use a chainsaw for about 1hr. That's pretty uncommon for me.

But from about 3:00pm-onward, I have no time to think about anything else but the BEACH! Headed up for a good 5 day stint up at Wasaga beach. Gonna get rowdy, gonna get hyper, gonna party like crazy. Then reality will sink in and I'll have to stop and come back to work and my post-apocalyptic lawn. Which makes me think - so glad that didn't happen while I was away!

I'll be returning to P90X in 5 days! In the mean time - Congratulations to anyone finishing their respective rounds of P90X this week. I know there are a few of you out there!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Day 23+ YogaX now with Shoulder Pain

Pretty sore from yesterday's C/S/T workout (plus I mowed the lawn, and didn't stretch). So I'm not 100% sure of the origin of the pain, but I know it's my upper back and shoulders. Perhaps yoga is exactly what I need right now - but who knows if I can even make it through the suffering.

I thought about a topic for today's science related post... I figured I'd start off simple with something everyone doing P90X can relate to. Proteins (polypeptides). I just want to talk a bit about them - what they are, why our body needs them, which ones are essential/nonessential, types of proteins, etc. Let's see how this goes. Please leave your comments below if you enjoy reading about this kind of stuff.

Most of you probably didn't know this, but proteins make up about 50% of our non-water body mass. They are a macromolecule that regulates our bodys, as well as repair, protect, and reproduce (via DNA).
Proteins:
1. are required for building and repair of body tissues (including muscle)
2. are enzymes, hormones, and many immune molecules
3. are involved in essential body processes such as water balancing, nutrient transport, and muscle contractions require protein to function.
4. can be a source of energy .
5. helps keep skin, hair, and nails (keratin) healthy.
6. are absolutely crucial for overall good health.

Most of you probably remember from highschool biology that there are 4 distinct protein structures: Primary, secondary, tertiary, quarternary. The simplest of these structures is a linear sequence of amino acids -Arg-Thy-Cys-Ala-etc... The most complex being the 3-dimensional structures of many proteins mixed together that have active-sites and can perform complex actions/synthesis. These molecules (in most senses) aide in having the body-chemistry work faster. Life without proteins would be very slow.

Amino acids are what we commonly refer to as "proteins" when we think workout drinks/protein shakes and food. Amino acids are just molecules that contain an amino group (R-NH2) and a carboxyl group (R-COOH) *where R is the rest of the molecule. The simplest amino acid is Alanine (H2N-COOH, simply combining the amino and carboxyl group). The remaining amino acids are more complicated and contain ring structures and or long chains of carbon atoms. Amino acids come in two types for the human body; essential/non-esscential. Essential amino acids are only called "essential" because our body is unable to produce them on its own. They are not more important for life functions (persay) than the non-essential type, just we need to consume them to have them. But I'll list the 22 amino acids below by group.

Essential: Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Methionine, Phenylalanine, Threonine, Tryptophan, Valine
Nonessential: Alanine, Asparagine, Aspartic Acid, Cysteine, Glutamic Acid, Glutamine, Glycine, Proline, Selenocysteine, Serine, Tyrosine, Arginine, Histidine, Ornithine, Taurine

Protein powders are made from four basic sources: whey (from milk), egg, soy, and rice. Let's take a look at whey protein (because it's probably the most common). The protein fraction in whey (approximately 10% dry solids within whey) comprises 4 major Branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) and six minor BCAAs (we'll ignore). The major protein fractions in whey are beta-lactoglobulin (162amino acids), alpha-lactalbumin (14178amino acids), bovine serum albumin (66382amino acids) and immunoglobulins (varies in size). Together these supply high amounts of cystine and leucine, but should provide most of the other amino acids.

Most people don't require protein shakes. The only ones who really should be concerned with not getting enough protein are vegan/vegitarians, senior citizens, and annorexics. That being said, working out hard and wanting to rebuild muscles faster, protein shakes are probably a good idea. Many health studies are showing that protein shakes also raise the immune system (immunoglobulins!) and provide cancer fighting anti-oxidants. So having a few glasses a week could be benefitial, regardless of workout schedules.

Let's call that a day on Proteins and we can pick up class sometime next week, whe we can discuss something a bit more interesting like complex carbohydrates!

Today's weigh in: 147.0lbs.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Dat 22+ C/S/T abs coreplus

So today is the big day - Starcraft 2 hits the shelves!! Technically, I've already purchased it... it won't be arriving at my door until Tomorrow sometime since I had it delivered (silly me). But the good news is, I'll be able to put in another solid workout before the game sucks my life away and I become a fat slob mindlessly clicking Drones and SCV's to build units and take over enemy forces...

On a completely different side note, I was talking to a guy at the gym (one of the biggest guys there) who was doing these bizarre kettle-bell exercises. Turns out he's in the USA Strong Man competition and he is one of the top 5 kettle bell lifters in the nation (for StrongMan). He was telling me how I should try it. But I think he was more interested in the fact that most of the strongman lifters are so big... there are almost no "light weight" strongmen. His thinks I should compete! I sorta laughed, but I don't know. Perhaps I'll give it a try at the gym? Maybe it'd be something I like? If not, oh well no big deal.

Listened to a song last night by Bob Sinclaire and Ben Ohono called "Rainbow of Love" was the most trippy experience of my life - but I was SO HAPPY when it was over. I don't know if it was the music or the video or both, but the whole package was just a smile-creating experience.

In the next couple of posts, I think I am going to try to do some research on different diets and exercises and talk about the physics, chemistry, biology of things. I don't know why I want to suddenly start talking about this stuff, but I feel the need to utilize some of my biochemical engineering background and share that with everyone... Not 100% sure what I want to talk about yet, but I'll come up with something, do some extra research on the side then piece it all together. Maybe I can do one a week for everyone to learn a little something. On slow weeks maybe I'll paraphrase an article on a fitness product and why/how it works.

In the meantime. I'm going to listen to some Bob Sinclaire!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Day 21+ Chest and Back

A couple things today... First, let me introduce you to P90X+'s idea of a rest week... Chest+Back, Plyo, C/S/T, StretchX, Back&Bicep, YogaX. Seriously!? This is standard P90X as a rest week. Joy, I can already see the how pace of the next 69 days are going to go - TOUGH. Not only tough because of a lack of a true rest week, but so much is happening in the next 2 months! I'm going to do my best to stay on schedule.

My weight this morning was 148lbs. I'm very surprised that I did not tip the 150lb mark over the weekend. I ate quite a few carbs and sweets, I even recall a soda in there. But it was the workouts that saved me. Specifically Kenpo Cardio X Plus.

The routine was short. 40minutes to be exact. The moves were fast! The breaks were short and the sweat was flowing! All I could do was try to keep up. A lot of the moves were very strange. Previously I was used to Jab,cross,hook,uppercut. But now the moves are Jab, Knee, Uppercut, back-kick, front-kick, pivot, stab, impale, roundhouse kick to the face, doublebackflip, kidney-blow. Among other things.

And the shuffling of the feet between moves keeps the blood pumping.

Only downside? The whole warmup and cooldown is basically 10minutes of yoga! Which could totally turn me off if I'm not in the mood for it. Nobody wants to taint KenpoX (a fun exciting fast paced workout) with yoga, eww!

Going to be an interesting week for me. Tomorrow, Starcraft 2 hits the stores (already bought my copy). And then Thursday, I take the afternoon off to go to a beach-house up in Ontario for the weekend. I'm going to sum this week up in 2 pictures:


Friday, July 23, 2010

Day 18+ Kenpo Cardio Plus

I'd like to draw your attention to my counter! I added this little feature the other day in hopes to monitor just how many people visit my site and read my nonsense. Well as it turns out, everytime somebody clicks a link or is redirected on the site I get another tick on the counter. So, the reality of it is: Take whatever the counter reads and divide by 4 or 5 to get a true understanding of how many readers visit this site. (Plus probably half of them are me trying to make posts, which ultimately yields a ton of clicks).

Today will be Kenpo Cardio Plus day. Right on schedule with P90X+ program. Next week is my 4th week, but I plan to get back into early workouts (5:00am) I'm tired of having to go to the gym in the afternoon, so now I think I am going to flip back to morning workouts, which worked so well for me for so long. I'll let you know how the transition goes.

My first successful completion of "Abs Core Plus" yesterday, it's a hell of an ab-workout! 25 minutes long, intervals, leg raises from the pullup bar, cherry bomb, Russian twist situps, you name it and it's in there.

I really hammered through Legs&Back. Perhaps it was the hulk-drink talking, but I know some people at the gym and we were having chin-up competitions. In a 5 minute spurt I think I put up 45chinups. 21,8,6,6,3,1? Something like that! Very proud of myself. And then I continued to go through the Legs&Back stuff.

After work: Kenpo+ (and perhaps an ab routine).

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Day 17+ Legs and Back

I'm on week 3, headed into week 4... and just to get a feel for P90X+'s rest week, I took a glance at the schedule. To my surprise, the rest week for P90X+ is basically "regular" P90X! So much for having a nice and easy week 4.

I am really excited about tomorrow's Kenpo+! I think it'll be amazing! I really like the original kenpo, so I hope I get blown away by this one.

Apheresis went spectacularly uneventful - watched a terrible movie "Transylmania" and got a coupon for a free 1/2 gallon of Friendly's Icecream (WOOHOO)!

Got my hulkamania drink all lined up for today's workout. Gonna take it to the next level, adding heavier weights perhaps.

Weigh in for this morning: 150lbs (up about 3lbs from the start of P90X+, but mostly due to last weekend).

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Day 16+ Apheresis (no workout)

Wednesday... always a potential that I'll be donating blood. Looks like today, after work, I will be hitting the apheresis clinic again. This means I will lose today's workout, and depending on how it all goes, I might lose tomorrow's also. At least on the bright side is this is happening on Yoga-Day, which makes the whole experience that much better. I'd be pissed if I lost a legs&back day or chest&arms.

P90X+ is brutal. Monday and Tuesday I did the "PLUS" workouts and holy cow. 90 seconds of Sphinx pushups!? 60 seconds of in and out shoulder flies!? Then 90 seconds of L-chinups!? Whoa! It's not a stroll in the park.

Turns out that there are only 2-Kids in the videos though. Traci Morrow and Mark Briggs. Both are absolutely jacked and ready to kick-some-ass. And the Ab-Plus routine is brutally long (25mins) and you have to record how many reps you do - which makes it even more a pain in the ass fumbling around trying to find your workout sheet, completely exhausted.

Everyone should check out Jaked's new background we whipped up yesterday, it's a pretty nice Tony collage for the world: http://p90xadventure-jaked.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Day 15+ Upper and Abs Plus

Have you ever had a bad fitness weekend? Ever spend the weekend eating junk food for meals and snack regularly in between? Ever skip 3 days worth of exercises in a row? Ever gain 4lbs in 3 days? Ever drink soda and alcohol instead of water and protein shakes?

If you've said "Yes" to any of those questions above - congratulations, you're human. If you've said "Yes" to all of them, welcome to my world.

Parents were up, we ate, we drank, we relaxed, we partied, we certainly didn't work out. I think the biggest contribution to my miserable state was the soda/alcohol that I heavily consumed. Oh rum and coke, why are you so delicious? And why are you even more delicious immediately following a couple slices of pizza and wings?

On the bright side, I do plan to be right back up on my horse! Yesterday, after they left I was able to do my workout and plan to do more today - tomorrow - and the next day. I just know looming out in the not so distant future is the cottage weekend, which will be another large upset in the routine. (Crossing my fingers I'll be better during that one).

Friday, July 16, 2010

Day 11+ KenpoX to be Axed?

Before I get to today's workout plans, I just need to talk about yesterday's Legs&Back workout. HOLY COW. I did it at the gym and man-o-manchevits (and you thought I wouldn't be quoting Tony anymore) was it TOUGH! I did more pullups/chinups than ever before. I added curls to all the lunge sequences and half the time I was wondering if I should stop and let my body catch up or keep going to get it over with. I found that minute or two breaks were the key to making it through. Plus I saw some PSYCHO-LADY at the gym doing leg-raises (the ab kind) on the dip machine, but once her legs were raised she turned it into heels to he heavens. Not only did it look absolutely dreadful, but it looked physically impossible.

Oh well, back to today... Parents are arriving at 2:45pm, which means I get to leave work a bit early to go pick them up (YEAH!). But it also means I probably wont have any time this afternoon to do KenpoX. I guess I could have gotten up early and done Kenpo before I left for work... but there's a problem with that too. I just started played the Starcraft 2 Beta on my friend's account and I was up until 11 playing 2 rounds which I got absolutely annihilated. Everyone's a newb once right?

So we'll see. Perhaps my parents will be interested in knowing what I have been doing for the past 120+ days and will do Kenpo with me or watch me do it... but as far as I can tell at this point, Kenpo is going to be axed.

Tomorrow is rest day, Sunday is Upper and Monday is Plyo. And my parents leave Monday, mid-day. So I might lose 1 additional exercise.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Day 10+ Legs and Back and Wonky

I am so tired today (granted it's still morning). I woke up with some serious conjunctiva in my right eye, so because of the eye gunk, I am wearing my glasses for the first time in nearly 3 years. Feels like I am looking through a carnival mirror (where everything gets distorted). Almost makes me feel nauseous.

Legs and back today (if I can survive til this afternoon without hurling). I'll be doing the workout at the gym, so I'll need to look up the leg exercises since my workout sheets only have the upper-body portion. Shouldn't be too hard.

I've been adding some food to my diet, especially right before workouts. It'll give me that extra boost to make it through some of the tougher workouts (today's and plyo - come to mind immediately).

I haven't gained any weight yet. Still hovering around the 146lbs mark. Which I am not complaining about, but it just means I haven't put on any size yet.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Day 9+ Back and Biceps - Screw yoga!


Best meal ever. Tuesday night dinners (sometimes referred to as TND) happen every Tuesday with a group of friends from work, some of which might actually read this blog so I won't name names. But the two girls were absent and it was yesterday's plan to have a "MEATATARIAN" night. Oh my goodness it was absolutely fantastic. The menu consisted of Pork Kabobs, Steak wrapped in bacon, and fried chicken. I probably had 2lbs of meat in 20minutes. All of it was marinated overnight to perfection and cooked fantastically. If I am ever on death row and offered a last meal, I want exactly what I had last night, only more!

Not that it matters too much, I've decided to do Back and Biceps today instead of yoga. Mainly because I have been enjoying the whole weight lifting so much, and with the creatine monohydrate I haven't had any problem recovering overnight. It's quite amazing! It takes me longer to get sore while working out, then when I finally reach my limit, I'm back up and ready to go at it again the very next day! I just have a feeling that yoga will slow my bulk-up process down. Thus today will be yoga-free.

Sorry yoga maybe next week. (secretly congratulating myself on this evil scheme).



On the downside, I forgot my HULK-A-MANIA drink at home. I even measured out the 2 scoops and put it in my shaker container. I just left it sitting there on the counter. Looks like I'll be using that TOMORROW for legs&back. Not a huge deal.

Last night I purchased over $50.00 worth of tuna/salmon. It's unlike me to spend a lot of money (esp. at the grocery store), but I was tired of going to the store every week to get aluminum-sealed bags of fish. So I just went all out and bought like 25 of each. Well, without counting, it was more like 20 tuna and 15 salmon (I think the salmon is like $0.50 more expensive). So now I have enough for a month, shouldn't be a problem anymore.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Day 8+ Chest/Shoulder/Tris

Couple things today.

1. I want to direct some of my readers to the person who introduced me to P90X, and who did it with me in round 1. He's doing round 2, but this time with a blog:

http://p90xadventure-jaked.blogspot.com/

2. I also want to say "Welcome back" to a fellow P90X blogger who pounded through his first round without any problems, was steam rolling through round 2, then sometime in late phase2 (early phase3) he vanished for a few weeks. Well, HES BACK!

http://brettsp90x.blogspot.com/

3. My initial update on JACK3D: I took it about 30minute before leaving work yesterday. I took the half-dose and was expecting great things. I did workout pretty hard, but I had my typical highs and lows. I didn't become superman (although I was starting to believe I should have). I did about 152 pullups/chinups in the hour, not including the 12 I did at the end to prove to some Goons/Gymbos I could do rope pullups (where you dangle two ropes down, and do a pullup between them). It was a solid workout, but I don't think I can attribute much to the special drink, at least not yet. TODAY WILL BE FULL DOSAGE! If you don't hear from me in the next few days, I want you to call the military because I'll have likely turned into the Mighty Hulk and will be rampaging through cities.

4. Parents are coming this weekend. Hopefully I'll have time to make some posts and update my pictures (first picture since I've started P90X+). We'll see what happens, it might be a bit crazy at my place, who knows.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Day 7+ Chest and Back

This week I was supposed to begin the P90X+ program. Okay, I'm a big stinking liar (I'm not really stinky). I thought the schedule would work out in such a way that I could begin doing the Upper/Abs workout today, but alas I am wrong! So today I will just be doing Chest and Back. Tomorrow I will continue with Plyo and the regular P90X workouts. My apologies for guiding you astray!

However, I DO plan on getting the P90X+ program started ASAP. I just have some schedule conflicts this week because my parents are visiting over the weekend (lots of cleaning and house-preparations required).

Today will be my first workout where I take JACK3D before hand. I am a bit nervous. The stuff seems pretty potent. The warning label is larger than the rest of the packaging. You must be 18 years old to consume, don't take 3hrs before bed, don't take more than 1 scoop if you weight less than 125lbs, don't take if you have heart problems, don't take if you are easily affected by caffeine, don't take more than 3 scoops in any one 24hr period, don't snort JACK3D, don't smoke JACK3D, don't take while doing a cartwheel, don't feed it to your cat. Okay, I made some of those last ones up, but still! I'm having a scoop today before my workout. I bet I'll be wired the rest of the month.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Day 4+ KenpoX

I've reached 100 POSTS! Woohoo!

So looks like next week will be my official start to the P90X+ routine which has all new workouts and doubles and interval training and craziness that I can only imagine.

The past couple of weeks I have been doing P90X routines at the gym, since it's nicely air conditioned (and heck I'm paying for it). Well a lot of people have been asking me "Oh what's that you're doing?" or "What's a good stretch for (insert your favorite muscle group here)?" or "What program are you using?" and I tell them. But yesterday was a bit strange because one of the TRAINERS came up to me and was like "You'd make an excellent fitness trainer, have you ever thought about it" and I told him NO, because really I have a pretty good job and I don't think I'd switch to become a trainer. But the gears were turning in my head if I should take the course that certifies me... probably not my thing. Besides half the stuff I tell people to do is verbatum from Tony Horton, the other half is my crazy pre-P90X stuff I used to do.

Oh well, Kenpo tonight! Gotta get those 2.5lb weights out!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Day 3+ Chest Shoulders Tris

So far everything seems normal. I was at the gym the other day and a middle-aged woman (who introduced herself as Jan) was asking about my ab routine - which I was doing reverse abripperX (with reps of 30 instead of 25). After I finished I showed her; fifer scissors, oblique V-ups, leg-climbers, and mason twists. She was very impressed with the difficulty of the moves. I told her it was from P90X and she instantly knew what I was talking about. I thought the whole experience was quite nice.

Today will be another muscle training day, chest-shoulders-tris (CST). Definitely one of the better workouts. It's not super hard, but you feel the burn after your couple hundred pushups. I like doing this one at the gym because you can use free weights for things like Pour-Flies and weighted circles.

It's going to be a rough first week with P90X+. I think the interval training is going to spank the crap out of me. I think it will be harder than plyo (and oh, plyo is still in the rotation). Other than that - woke up a bit late for work this morning, so I skipped my shower.

I've started to take the creatine monohydrate in the mornings and afternoons. I was informed I need to load up my first week. Then once the stores of ATP have been generated I can start relaxing the dosage - perhaps one scoop/day instead of the two I am taking now. And I haven't taken the workout drink yet, but I assume it will give me a much needed energy boost to get through some of the more difficult workouts (I'm talking about you Legs & Back).

It's been hot as hell where I live, been sweating like crazy during workouts, even in the air-conditioned gym.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Day 2+ Back and Biceps

I've decided to mix things up for round 2. First, I went ahead and changed the layout of my blog, some of you have already noticed. I'll probably play around with some of the gadgets in the near future to provide links either to other blogs I read, or a counter, or current pictures (all of which are from other blogs/people and I want to give you all credit for giving me design ideas).

Second, I have decided to get away from the "Au naturale" approach to P90X. What I mean is I will be introducing a little more chemical-engineering into my second round in hopes to boost my performance through supplemented protein, caffeinated workout drinks, and creatine monohydrate. I guess the idea here is to give these products a try, do they work, which work the best, and which taste the best.

I did a little shopping at vitamin shoppe (a good store for many reasons - especially if you are into organic things) and I purchased:



Designer Whey Protein (chocolate): Regular whey protein for mixing with milk/water. This had the highest servings per container of any whey this size (67 servings) and it wasn't terribly expensive ($19.99)



















Jack3D (lemon flavor): designed to supply caffeine and energy for your workouts. It's like a recovery drink, but supposedly it's the best ($24.99) for 30 servings.



















Creatine Monohydrate (flavorless): This, like the Jack3d, I have never used before. I'm very interested to see how it will work. Dissolve in water, consume daily. ($19.99 for 40 servings)













and a Shaker Cup: Because I will be consuming so many different beverages, I needed something to mix on the go ($7.99 for infinite servings).

I am pretty excited about P90X+ and my new chemicals! But again, this week is going to be odd because I want to start on a Sunday. Plus I need to watch the videos!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Day 1+ Chest and Back

So I spent my whole weekend eating, drinking, and partying like Lindsay Lohan... So now the question is WHAT'S NEXT? I'm thinking another round of P90X is in order, but do I modify? Do I add doubles? Do I do P90X+? Do I do "Insanity"? Do I just redo the whole thing with a backpack?

I'm leaning more towards P90X+, not only do I have those videos, I figure it will provide just enough modifications for me to keep my interest. I really want to continue with the weight-lifting routines, ab ripperX, and the harder cardio, so hopefully P90X+ will provide that.

There are some modifications to the schedule which I will have to get used to. I'll do my best to describe them when I have a chance. However, this first week (Tuesday - Saturday) I am going to simply do regular P90X, because I want my routine to start on Sunday, giving me Saturday as my StretchX day.

Do I even have any goals yet?

1. Really nice 6-pack
2. Gain some bulk-back (arms + shoulders)
3. Try to incorporate some lifting. If I do doubles, instead of doing cardio on lifting days (doubling my cardio), I'll do weight lifting on cardio-days (doubling my strength training).
4. Stay within the 150-160 weight range while bulking up.
5. Take photos as frequently as possible and post.

P90X+ Schedule:

Weeks 1-3
Monday: Upper Plus and Abs/Core Plus
Tuesday: Interval X Plus
Wednesday: Total Body Plus
Thursday: Yoga X
Friday: Upper Plus and Abs/Core Plus
Saturday: Kenpo Cardio Plus
Sunday: Rest or X Stretch (or die)

Week 4
Monday: Back & Biceps/Ab Ripper X
Tuesday: Core Syn
Wednesday: Chest, Shoulders & Triceps
Thursday: X Stretch
Friday: Legs & Back and Abs/Core Plus
Saturday: Yoga X
Sunday: Rest or X Stretch (or die)

Weeks 5-7
Monday: Upper Plus and Abs/Core Plus
Tuesday: Plyometrics
Wednesday: Total Body Plus
Thursday: Yoga X
Friday: Upper Plus and Abs/Core Plus
Saturday: Kenpo Cardio Plus
Sunday: Rest or S Stretch (or die)

Week 8
Monday: Chest & Back/Ab Ripper X
Tuesday: Core Syn
Wednesday: Shoulders & Arms & Ab Ripper X
Thursday: X Stretch
Friday: Legs & Back and Abs/Core Plus
Saturday: Yoga X
Sunday: Rest or X Stretch (or die)

Weeks 9 & 11
Monday: Upper Plus and Abs/Core Plus
Tuesday: Interval X Plus
Wednesday: Total Body Plus
Thursday: Yoga X
Friday: Upper Plus and Abs/Core Plus
Saturday: Kenpo Cardio Plus
Sunday: Rest or X Stretch (or die)

Weeks 10 & 12
Monday: Upper Plus and Abs/Core Plus
Tuesday: Plyometrics
Wednesday: Total Body Plus
Thursday: Yoga X
Friday: Upper Plus and Abs/Core Plus
Saturday: Kenpo Cardio Plus
Sunday: Rest or X Stretch (or die)

Friday, July 2, 2010

Day 111: StretchX + Final Week Review

Well boys and girls, I posted my results and the last-day photos. Now it's time to look back and write any final thoughts, anything I failed to mention or anything that's just now cresting the mountain which is my brain.

After looking at my final photos compared to my originals, I clearly got in great shape. Probably the best shape I have been either in my life or in a long-long time. So I have to admit, P90X did deliver! But I am still a little disappointed that I did not gain the size I was looking for. Perhaps now that I am better accustomed to the diet and the workouts, I will be able to fine-tune and raise the weight/lower the reps to build some bulk.

I am almost certain I am going to go for another round. I definitely would like to take a few days off, really enjoy my sunny afternoons. So I would expect that in a few days you'll see an updated post Day 1b, Phase 2-Day 1, or day 112, I'm not yet sure how I am going to word it, but I'll think of something.

The end results:
Waist reduced from 31" to 28.5"
Weight reduced from 168lbs to 145lbs (23lbs lost)
Chinups increased from ~20ish to ~30ish
Pullups increased from ~15ish to ~25ish
Pushups increased from ~25-30 to 35-40
Confidence increased 100% - content with my new shape
Pride increased 100% - very proud that I finished
I don't trust the %bodyfat measurement enough to post it

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Day 110:FINAL PHOTOS



As promised, no alterations, no trick photography, no fake-bake, no tattoos, no new facial hair, no olive oil, no workouts prior (I did mow the lawn), nothing out of the ordinary... these are the GRADUATE P90X PHOTOS:




Day 110: CoreSynergistics + Final Week Review

"Party's almost over, makes me sad" -Tony Horton- Ab ripper X

HAPPY CANADA DAY (FOR ALL THOSE CANADIANS)!!

1.Thursday - P90X Diet
2.Friday - P90X Exercises (Cardio)
3.Monday - P90X Exercises (Weight)
4.Tuesday - P90X Dedication
5.Wednesday - Tony Horton
6.Thursday - Results
7.Friday - Final thoughts (last day)

Lets go back to one of my first posts...GOALS

March 12, 2010:
Old Me: - - - - - - - - - - - New Goal: - - - - - - - Current Status:

Wake up: 6:45am - - - -5:45am - - - - - - - - - - - 6:45am
Breakfast: Bagel - - - - -Egg Whites - - - - - - - - -PowerBar
Lunch: Sandwich - - - - -Bag o'Tuna - - - - - - - - - Bag o'Tuna
Dinner: Salad - - - - - - -Salad w/Chicken - - - - -Salad w/Chicken
Gym: Run 40mins - - - - P90X for 1hr 15mins - - -P90X + Running
&Lift for 20mins
Go to bed: 10:30pm - - - 9:30pm - - - - - - - - 10:30pm
Weight: 168lbs - - - - - - -158lbs - - - - - - - - -145lbs
#Chinups: 22 - - - - - - - -30 - - - - - - - - - - - - 28 (during P90X)
#Pullups: 15 - - - - - - - - 25 - - - - - - - - - - - - 24 (during P90X)
#Pushups: ?? - - - - - - - -45 - - - - - - - - - - - - 35 (during P90X)
Stomach: Flabby - - - - - -Six Pack - - - - - - - Something's there...
(ADDED)
Waistline: 31" - - - - - - No Goal - - - - - - - - - 28.5"

So I am sorry that this post will be short, but I really want to go home this afternoon and before doing coresynergistics try to pump out 30+ chinups, 25+ pullups, 35+ pushups, and take some "Day 89" photos. Currently the only numbers I have to justify my goals are those from the workouts, designated by (during P90X). Clearly I have resorted back to my original sleeping times and some foods have changed over the course of the program. But my overall fitness goals are really close to my current condition. I SMOKED my weight goal by nearly 13lbs. It was no my intent to lose a crap ton of weight during this program, but clearly it happened. But Like I said, short post for now, tonight I'll take pictures and update the results.

And Susan, I will do larger photos for day 1, 30, 60, and 90. But it might take me a little while to get those up because I have the photos on 4 or 5 different computers.

Oh and by the way for the day 90 photos I WILL NOT go out and get a fake-bake, cut my hair, shave my chest, grow a beard, shave a beard, put on makeup, work out right before, or anything that some people do to boost their appearance. I am going to post pretty much what I look like today photos. Unbiased. Talk to you again tonight.