Day 11: I'm still here!

Work has been busy, I apologize for missing some posts in the past few days. I haven't exactly been doing P90X since my last post where I swapped out YogaX for weight lifting + cardio. I've actually been hitting the weights a lot recently.

I've been asking around and a lot of people think I need to bulk up a bit more, so I am taking that advice to heart and I am hitting the weights more and more each day. I'm finding that the Jack3D is a huge bonus supplement to have right before a lifting workout. I find I can lift more, for longer, with less recovery time than if I just wing it on my own.

My current benchpress "Max" (I say max in quotes only because it's not a 1-rep max) around 195lbs. We'll see if I can get that number up to the 250range. I've gotten back on the chinup/pullup bandwagon. I've been doing brett's patented 100's. Which is 10 chinups followed immediately by 10 pushups until 100. I typically skimp a bit on the pullups, but I maintain good pushups the whole way through.

Last weekend I cheated a little on the diet. I had my parents come up to visit so we had some food that I wouldn't normally eat: Pizza, scones, muffins, etc. But my weight spiked, and then came down once I got back onto my normal diet.

Day 3^3: Would be yoga - but its not!

Since I am still going for the more-bulky, less-skinny, look. I think today I will pass on YogaX and perform one of the many other weight-lifting workouts today. I know I know, I'm bad. I keep saying I'm going to go back to the basics - legit P90X, but I just can't abandon my desire to get a bit larger muscles. I think that is still my "weakest link" so to speak.

I do want to incorporate some non-weightlifting activities again though, I don't think I will cut out plyo and kenpo like I did last round, since I do really want to solidify the six-pack that is kinda there, in the right light, from the right angle, if you know what I'm saying. So cutting the % body fat for this first month is still super important. I figure if I can drop below 10% I'll be golden. But it's definitely hard!

I don't know if I have talked about cold-water yet on this blog. I know I toot my horn all the time about REALLY COLD WATER and how good it is for you. Not only is water better than juice/soda/milk, but cold water is better than warm water. At least for the sake of dieting/fitness it is. Perhaps I shall explain.

It's quite simple in theory, the cold water being good for you stems for the whole definition of a calorie. Or as chemist and physicist think of it "The amount of energy it takes to raise 1cm^3 of water 1degC" And a Calorie (notice the subtle capital C) is the same but for 1000cm^3 of water = 1liter. So drinking 1 liter of body temperature water (37degC) burns 0 calories. But drinking a liter of water that's 1 degree cooler than the human body (36degC) burns 1 calorie. This is because your body cools down when you drink the water, and your body expends energy to heat everything back up to "normal" temperatures. Okay captain science, that seems pretty measly for 1 liter of water. I'd have to drink 50 liters of water to burn 50 calories...or, let's add a ton of icecubes to that water, shall we? That makes the water approximately 0degC. Which means for each liter of water you consume, you're effectively burning 37 Calories! Drink 2 liters of water a day? I know I do... that's 72 Calories burned! Drink 3... you get the idea. The point is, you never pee cold urine, so that water needed to be heated by something. And that something is energy, in the form of calories. Go and impress your friends, and tell them how many calories you're burning without lifting a single dumbell!

P90X Round 3! Bring it! Day 2^3

So yesterday I started round 3 of P90X. I did not put out a post, as recently I have been getting into work early to work with Germany/Belgium on some upgrades, and my work-load has been particularly high. It's amazing how hard it is to blog when you're actually busy at work! Who would have thunk?

I took a nice long, well deserved, 1-week off after finishing P90X round2... It was fantastic. I ate whatever I wanted, drank copiously, and I didn't once lift up a weight. Spectacular. Well, all of that changed yesterday. I started with a 30min run @6.5mph and then busted out a chest/back. Numbers were a bit lower than normal, but that's okay.

My diet has changed a little bit again. I am eating home made trail-mix (nuts+raisins) for breakfast instead of the regular almonds, instead of the powerbar, instead of egg whites. That's the breakfast progression. Almonds are PRETTY EXPENSIVE. So I'll have to see how long this lasts. But they're easy to prepare and are very portable for those swing-days when I need to come into work early.

I do feel like I should get back to the core of P90X and start watching the videos again. I feel as if my timing is getting too lenient and I'm not working as hard or fast as I could be, but I do prefer the gym weights and company that I have been getting at the gym, so again, it's up in the air as to how things will pan out.

Halloween? For Halloween I was a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger (the black one) I have pictures somewhere, I'll have to upload them for everyone to see. I think my costume came out really good, I put a lot of effort into it, so hopefully posting any pictures is justified.

My starting weight and photos are my Round 2 finish photos + weight (153lbs).

Pictures! Sorry they took so long to post

Picture pretty much says it all - you might need to click on it to see the whole thing properly.

Game plan is take 1 week off - celebrate - then back on the band-wagon, just as hard or harder than before.

Final Day 90+

It seems like it has taken forever to get here, but today is my last day of P90X round 2. As I sit here eating my almond and water breakfast, I'd like to look back and reflect at what's changed since the beginning of round 2.

Well... food wise, I've swapped out fruit on the bottom yogurt for plain yogurt. Which, by the way tastes nothing like flavored yogurt and is sometimes a challenge to eat (-25g sugar). I've swapped out peanuts for almonds (I don't know the real benefit, but it sure is costing me a lot!). I've replaced my morning power bar with almonds, also.

Fitness wise, I've increased some weight, but reduced in reps in many categories, namely biceps and triceps, most of the other weight stuff is body weight and I've stayed approximately the same size (150lbs). I had some gains earlier in the summer, but recently I have fallen back to my starting weight. Foolish me for not taking my weight this morning, I was late for work, so my final weight might have to be yesterday's which was 152lbs.

Exercise wise, I started out doing P90X+ but after about 2 weeks, I started to resort back to regular P90X. Then sometime in I swapped out Plyo + Yoga + Kenpo for all weight training. And then I enlisted about 4-5 people into P90X, 2 of which work out with me at the gym so I began to do the regular program again. But then I realized some of the workouts were too hard for "beginners" so I made my own workouts that were not easier, but certainly more diverse, allowing for completion. And very recently I have been adding 3-5mile runs to my workouts, not really considering it doubles because somedays I'd swap out ab-ripperX for a run. We'll call it even.

Overall, I can definitely say the 2nd time through I was not as disciplined and/or dedicated like the first time. I think a lot of that has to do with the novelty of a new fitness program. Having done it before, I wasn't quite as "Lets do it" as I was in round 1. Also in round 2 I kept my weekends workout free. Saturday and Sunday were both rest-days, and I tried to accomodate the schedule as such. Obviously losing out on those workout days could mean lost potential results. I was okay with that.

Looking forward, I definitely want to continue with the diet. I've become 100% accustomed to it, which is fantastic because it's so simple. I don't cook anything. Ever! I'm eating mostly veggies, salad, nuts, and tuna. It's wonderful. As for exercise, I'll definitely keep helping the P90Xers that I convinced to start. Again, I still want size, so I might start doing weight lifting, we'll see. I still plan to do semi-regular or daily posts.

Tonight I will post some final photos. I'll have to take them after my final workout this afternoon which I think will be Run,Chest+Back,AbripperX "The gauntlet"

Day 88+ Keep it simple (apheresis today)

I love this cartoon. It holds a lot of truth to many of us. And it doesn't always reflect just a diet, and certainly not always all at once. But I find a lot of people lack the focus to stick with something for a period of time that will show results. Is this human nature? Is it the digital generation? I'm not sure.

I do know that many people often find themselves frustrated after a week or two of a diet (or exercise plan) and say "Oh, this and that don't work" or "It's not working for me" and quickly hop off the band-wagon or find another wagon to hop on that might be completely opposite.

Don't get discouraged people. Stick with the game plan. Often one or two weeks is not nearly enough time to see good results. Sometimes dieting takes months (depending on who you are and your dedication level). Just because it didn't work immediately, doesn't me quit or drastically change your strategy. It means figure out if you're really being honest about your commitment and say to yourself "Just a few more weeks... it's still early"

For those of you who have been following regularly (I KNOW you're out there, because my hits/page has gone from 1600 to 1770 since my last post, and I've been too busy at work to maintain daily postings...which I contribute MOST of the hits) today's P90X round 2 day is 88+ and I will ABSOLUTELY 100% be posting pictures on Friday. For whatever reason I have been slacking with photos (perhaps it's partly in fear that I haven't gained much muscle and that I haven't lost much fat) I almost feel like I am the same size. But let this be my confession to the world - FRIDAY OCT. 22nd, afternoon, I will have pictures posted, for better or worse.

And I will probably start yet another round or perhaps some kind of hybrid P90X/Training system with my co-workers who have been working out with me. I'll also continue to be very active on Yahoo! Answers. I really enjoy posting solutions to people's health problems.

Anyway! Apheresis tonight, so no workout schedule for this afternoon.

Day 84+ Wrist problems

I've been doing a lot of running + legs lately because of wrist problems :-( When I say WRISTS, I actually just mean my left wrist. It's just really tender. I don't know where it came from, could be driving, could be pushups, could be burpees, I don't know. But I think this week I'm just going to have to lay off the arms...

It's a rest week anyway for my final P90X week, so it's not a huge deal, but sorta sucks to round out the end of the 2nd P90X on an injury. I weighed in at 150lbs this morning, no news flash there. I don't appear to be much different than day 30ish... but I guess in 6 days we'll find out how different I look.

Other than that, I got top contributor on Yahoo! Answers again. That's always nice!

As for what I will do next, I might do 1-2 months of just training my co-workers at the gym. Sort of consider it as Carl's Boot-camp. I already pretty much work out with them at least 3 times a week. I could bump it to 5 and raise the intensity. The only downside to training is I spend a lot more time going over form and convincing people to KEEP GOING, and I end up doing less than if I were to do it on my own. So we'll see, it's certainly more fun... but I can't let all my hard work go to waste.