(Round 2.1) Day 3: Shoulders and Arms, Ab Ripper X

And I'm still sore.

Mostly in my triceps and abs. Luckily for me today, we're back to just those areas. Shoulders, arms, abs.

Back to the rotation of assorted shoulder presses, bicep curls and tricep extensions. Still only have one resistance band after snapping one during Round 1 and almost losing an eye. That was a fun day.

The one band is a little tighter than what one would want for overhead tricep moves. So needless to say I'll be sore again tomorrow. Chair dips didn't help either.

Finished up with abs. I think this might be where I lost it the most. Can barely see my abs anymore, meaning they're not ready for ab ripper x. But they weren't ready during the first phase of round 1 either, but I sucked it up then. Gotta do it again.

Mason twists sucked. Used to get through 50, then would collapse. Today, 40. Once my legs extended and hands hit the ground, I realized those actions were not my choice. My body didn't want the pain anymore and made me stop. Took a couple deep breaths and finished the last 10.

Yoga tomorrow. At least parts of it.

(Round 2) Day 58: Shoulders and Arms, Ab Ripper X

Back on track.

Nearly 60 days in I realized I never got any sort of dumb bells. Resistance band has been fine, but 1) I'm at risk of snapping it and investing in another, and 2) I don't know how much I'm lifting at any given time. I just stand with my feet on the band at a desired distance, and go with it.

Finished with abs. Yoga on the books for tomorrow.

(Round 2) Day 17: Shoulders and Arms, Ab Ripper X

Looking forward to next week to change stuff up. Pretty routine today.

Abs today were tough, finally getting over my Saturday pullup/pushup routine.

Yoga scheduled for tomorrow, we'll see what my schedule entails.

(Round 2) Day 10: Shoulders and Arms, Ab Ripper X

While my numbering restarted on day 1 of Round 2, today is officially day 100. Let me go back to Day 10:

"Double digit days. If I ever get to triple digits it means I'm doing this program (for better or for worse) a second time."

I'd say this is definitely for the better. Quadruple digits? Don't count on it. It'll be 2013 when that day comes.

Shoulders and arms today. I know I've said it before, but I should get some dumbbells. Bands are going to keep cutting up my arms, which is good, but I should add some size to my biceps.

Everything else was good today, ending with abs.

Yoga day tomorrow, we'll see what transpires.

(Round 2) Day 3: Shoulders and Arms, Ab Ripper X, Run

Busy day. Started off with a two mile run, then 40 minutes of lifting, ending with abs.

I think my lower mileage is in part due to having a week+ off from ab ripper. My core doesn't feel as strong. No excuses though, gotta keep it up.

Shoulders and arms weren't bad. Maybe need to invest in some weights (rather than my bands) if I want to put on that muscle on mentioned on Day 1.

Finished with abs. Mason twists weren't fun, but are they ever?

Yoga's (supposed to be) tomorrow. We'll see what I do.

Day 72: Shoulders and Arms, Ab Ripper X, Run

Busy workout. But pretty successful.

Shoulders and arms isn't too tough of a day. Of all the muscles I workout, I feel triceps the most DURING the workout. Chair dips, overhead extensions, and all the rest are tough while they're happening. And then yes, they get sore.

Speaking of which, my chest is still sore from Monday. Switching up the workouts on a weekly basis right now is really helping me not plateau. I wouldn't be hurting this much if I was.

Then I moved onto abs. During scissors I tried hard to straighten my legs as best I could, keep my toes down and heels up. Makes it all that much harder, as if it wasn't impossible enough already.

Then I ran (as promised). 2.25 miles.

To note: The DailyMile widget on the right only shows whole numbers. Right now my mileage has been 1.5 + 1.75 + 2.25 (which should) = 5.5

It rounds up at half miles and is currently showing 6. However, over time it will balance out and will only be +/- 1 at any given time.

Yoga (and running) tomorrow.

Day 58: Shoulders and Arms, Ab Ripper X

First time doing p90x in the morning in a while. However, it doesn't take much to dive right into this one. Plus nothing looming for later.

Seeing as how I'm down to one resistance band, today was interesting. Shoulder moves are a bit tougher because the one band I'm left with just isn't as elastic.

Bicep moves were fine. I'm really interested to know how much I'd be able to lift for each of these moves if I were using free weights.

I still hurt a lot from Monday. Triceps especially. So chair dips today weren't a whole lot of fun. Two sets of 21 and I was beat.

Finished up with abs. Amazing that these moves still kick my ass every other day.

Two more days til pictures. I'm less than enthused with results from days 30 to 60. Hence why these last 4+ weeks are really important.

Til round 2. Ding.

Day 17: Shoulders and Arms, Ab Ripper X

Today is all about the resistance bands.

Shoulders, biceps, triceps. Outside of a chair for tricep dips, every move uses the bands. They provide a unique resistance that dumbbells can't. No matter how lose or tight the band is, it obviously gets tighter the further you lift them. It's progressive weight, getting heavier throughout the move. I'm not going to say it works better than dumbbells, but the longer you stretch out each move, the more you feel it.

There's not much to report. Today felt good, probably feel the tricep moves the most. Flip grip twist kickbacks are pretty unique:

Back foot stepping on the band. Bend at the waist at about 45 degrees. Elbows close to the body. Bending at the elbow, kick your arms back with your palms up. After you complete the moves, flip your palms over and perform the move again. Flip, grip, twist, kickback.

Finished with abs. I looked ahead to next week, our "break week" which consists of cardio. No muscle building. Not even abs. That's a bit disappointing, so today and Friday I'm going to be tough on myself. Mason twists are still awful, busted through about 43 today before completely collapsing. Performing Cobras after to stretch out the abdomen is a necessity.

Yoga tomorrow. Crane? Probably not.

Day 10: Shoulders and Arms, Ab Ripper X

Double digit days. If I ever get to triple digits it means I'm doing this program (for better or for worse) a second time.

I'm pretty sore today. Legs hurt from Plyo and I think my body finally hurts from my nighttime workout from Monday.

Today was shoulders and arms. I didn't mind it during week 1, and it definitely wasn't too bad today. This is probably the one workout (thus far) that I wish I had a few dumbbells rather than using resistance bands. Many of these moves are similar to ones I've done at the gym (bicep, tricep and shoulders), but they just feel different on the bands.

Between last time and today I went out and bought a second resistance band, this one tighter than the first. Certainly useful for bicep and tricep sets. Many of the shoulder moves go over the head so that first band I bought was perfect for those.

Overall pretty good today. Kept up and even fast forwarded through Tony's breaks.

Finished with abs. There's nothing else to say. It's just not fun. I'm trying to perform the moves on a more difficult scale:

Leg Climbers: Laying on our back, one leg out on the floor, the other up in the air. As you lift your back/head off the floor, use your arms to climb the lifted leg. The way to make this harder is to bend the other leg that's on the floor. Straighter it is, the easier it is. Closer your knees is bent to your body, harder it is. Today was the first time I tried it with a bent knee. Not bad.

Tomorrow's Yoga, which I dread simply because of the length. 90+ minutes of me wobbling around doesn't seem beneficial. We'll see.

Day 3: Shoulders and Arms, Ab Ripper X

Did I forget to mention how sore I was? Yesterday my chest, back, abs and triceps killed from Day 1. Today, lower body hurts from the cardio yesterday. So, why not destroy the only things that still feels good? Biceps and shoulders.

This morning's focus were shoulders and "arms", followed by abs. The workout was good considering how much pain I'm currently in.

The program requires you to either purchase an expensive set of multi-weight dumbbells, or a 14 dollar resistance band. I chose the latter.

3 of the people in the video use the free weights while one guy does every move with a resistance band. This was my first time using one, so needless to say it was a bit shaky. What's great is that each move (15 of them in total), is repeated. They were grouped in sets of three: shoulder move, bicep move, tricep move. Repeat the set, then learn 3 new moves. The repetition enabled me to perfect the band and figure out how tight I needed it to be (step on a bigger loop for a heavier feel).

Definitely felt the tricep and shoulder moves more than I did the bicep ones. Might invest in a second, shorter band for biceps in order to get a greater range of weight.

The one thing I noticed today that was annoying, outside of Tony's banter, is the time allotted for each move. They give you about 45 seconds to a minute for each, but tell you to set goals for a number of reps. My 12 reps are done a lot quicker than a minute. Feels like a lot of moving around, ballistic stretching, while I wait. I've read in other blogs that people just fast forward through it.

Also a bit annoying when Tony counts his reps out loud. He's on five when I'm on eight. I know, just hit mute. But some of the stuff he says makes sense. There are versions I can watch where it just gives you cues as to what's next and when to switch, might try that out next time I do shoulders and arms.

My first go at Ab Ripper X on Day 1 was less than a success. Today I was set on burning through it, and I'd say I was pretty successful. I couldn't do all the moves for 25 reps each, but definitely worked a lot harder today. I'm really curious as to what won't hurt when I wake up in for Day 4.

Tomorrow: Yoga.