(Round 2.1) Day 12: Legs and Back, Ab RIpper X

Busy evening tonight so got up early to workout.

Just not early enough.

Did all of the back exercises but not all of the legs. Pullups are starting to get easier again. Hate wide front and close grip. But the reverse grip chinups are coming along. I'd say if someone challenged me I could do about 20-25.

Finished with abs. Getting stronger ... hopefully.

(Round 2.1) Day 11: Rest

Off day. Need to find something to replace Yoga with, just not my favorite activity. Thoughts? Anyone?

I could run, but again, don't want the extra cardio. Perhaps something else that's muscle building that could fit in here. I'm at a loss.

(Round 2.1) Day 10: Shoulders and Arms, Ab Ripper X

If there's one thing I really want, it's nice abs.

If there's one thing I don't have, it's nice abs.

I do think that even after 10 days that p90x is back to getting me in shape, but abs are so tough to push through if there's fat to overcome. So ab ripper x is again my frienemy.

Typical day of arms, shoulders and triceps on the bands. Yoga tomorrow. We'll see about that.

(Round 2.1) Day 9: Plyometrics

Late workout. Not a big fan, need to try to get up earlier to do this.

Really not enjoying plyo. I know I said this round isn't about cardio, but perhaps I need to break out the runs in lieu of plyo. At least when it's not 95 and muggy anymore.

Arms and muscle building tomorrow.

(Round 2.1) Day 8: Chest and Back, Ab Ripper X

Late workout tonight. I foresee soreness progressing throughout the day tomorrow.

Same deal as last Monday. Lots of pushups. Lots of tough pullups.

I pushed myself harder on pullups tonight. I usually decide to fail before actually failing. So today I kept going til my arms actually couldn't do it anymore. Punched out a couple more than usual, but the next set of pushups was harder each time.

Finished with abs. Nothing great.

I do have to say that I think my body has come to point where just a few workouts help me get back into decent shape. I feel much better about myself due to the past 8 days. Hopefully the next 22 of this phase push me in the right direction and I'm back in the groove to finish 90 days ... again.

(Round 2.1) Day 7: Rest

Today became the off day I never wanted to have, considering I took Thursday off.

Ended up not doing anything cardio-related while on vacation, then traveled home.

Guess it gave my body some more time to heal from week 1. Time to do it all over again next week, starting with chest and back tomorrow. Actually looking forward to it.

(Round 2.1) Day 6: Cardio

As previously noted, I'm away on vacation. Similar to my last time away from home, I have cardio in store for these couple of days.

Today was strictly tennis. Little over an hour's worth. Felt good.

Not sure what my workout plan is for tomorrow. I could be back in time to do some yoga, or maybe I'll squeeze in cardio before I head back down. We'll see.

(Round 2.1) Day 5: Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X

Back to the old Friday routine.

As I mentioned I'm away from my normal workout spot so no pull-up bar. Brought my resistance band along with me so I worked off of that.

Back's still a bit sore from Day 1 of this round. Must say, that looking at my photo from Monday, my back doesn't look all that bad. Hopefully I can create some good definition this time through.

Finished with abs. Quite sore. No mas of that until Monday.

(Round 2.1) Day 4: Rest

Work and a bit of travel led today to be an off day.

I used to call my off days 'Rest, Stretch X' but I've only dond the stretching twice in my p90x career. So no more lying about that.

Legs, back and abs tomorrow. Then I'm away this weekend, so perhaps just some cardio in lieu of kenpo. I'll try to keep up with my posts via mobile.

(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 2.1) Day 2: Plyometrics

Ah to be sore again.

Really sore.

I worked out Monday evening so it took my body til Tuesday afternoon to realize how much I had put it through. Progressively my back, then my chest, then my sides, then my abs, all filled with lactic acid and decided to inflict pain.

It's all worth it.

Plyo this evening. Can't say I missed this part. Pretty exhausting, especially for not having done it for a month.

As for my diet, well it's time to set that back on track as well. I took pictures Monday evening which will be part of the new 1/30/60/90 photo collection. I'm certainly in a better place than where I was on my original day 1 in regard to body fat. I don't care too much about eating small meals to speed up my metabolism right now. Losing fat isn't my goal. Putting on muscle is. So, if I continue the 5-6 meals a day, they've got to be bigger this time around.

I don't think I was eating enough during round 1. Yes it led to fat loss, but not to enough muscle production. This time around, lots of chicken, meat, protein shakes, eggs and milk.

Oh, and time to cut out beer again too. Guess it's back to gin and tonics.

(Round 2.1) Day 1: Chest and Back, Ab Ripper X

He's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack. Where to begin?

I've been bad. Terrible. Awful. I haven't been working out. At all. Hence the absence of my blog posts. In fact, I don't know if anyone's still out there reading this thing.

Echo [echo echo echo].

Actually, my view count had run up to over 8400. I don't think I ever saw it hit 8000. That's how bad I've been.

So what happened? I took a day off. Then that turned into two. Then I felt bad about missing days on the blog and figured I'd let it slide a whole week and pick it up again. So I needed a Monday to start anew. Missed one. Then another. Then another. An awful downward spiral that resulted in poor eating habits, zero workouts, zero runs, and one other word: Atrophy.

Here's the first definition I came across of atrophy, just for you: "Atrophy is the partial or complete wasting away of a part of the body." Okay, it hasn't been that dramatic. Atrophy, from what I know, is the waste or loss of muscle tissue from not exercising.

So where do I stand now in regard to my fitness? Well, from Round 1 of p90x, and into Round 2, I lost weight and put on muscle. That muscle has been deteriorating, and some turned into some fat. But I haven't gained much weight from that process. So I'm just skinnier than where I started, but not much more muscular.

So, I found a Monday to start anew. Soooo, here it goes. A third shot at p90x. I got through round 1 in 90 days. I got through about 60 days of round 2. Now, it's time for round 2.1. Redesigned the blog, obviously. Needed a new look. That black was ominous, threatening even. I didn't want to go near it once I stopped. So here's to a new beginning.

So it's day 1 again. Chest and back. Pushups and pullups. Didn't keep track, but I don't need numbers to tell you that it hurt. Got about 10 wide grip pullups to start, felt good. Then 12 standard pushups. Then pullups. Then pushups. And so on.

Worked off the book. Once I got through everything, panting, I was pumped to blog again. Then I realized, CRAP. Ab ripper x. So I got on my back and burned through 16 more minutes of Tony. Via the book, no yelling.

So, I'm back in the game. As I set up the blog, and looked 90 days in ahead, I realized these 90 days will be complete October 10th. 10/10/10. That seems really far away. That's autumn. That's after my 23rd birthday. That's almost 5 weeks into the NFL season! Damn. But really, here's a round 2.1. Here's to eating right. And here's to putting on some serious muscle.

Comment away and yell at me for the next 90 days. Cheers.

(Round 2) Day 61: Stretch X, Rest

Off day as planned.

Probably the same tomorrow. Ready to jump back into everything Monday.

(Round 2) Day 60: Ab Ripper X

(Didn't blog for a couple days. here's a make-up post from a day I missed)

Didn't have time for Legs and Back today, but to make sure my day's not a complete waste I did the 16 minutes of ab ripper X. Might take the weekend off, family gatherings and Father's Day.

Yes, I owe pictures next time I get the chance.

(Round 2) Day 59: Yoga

(Didn't blog for a couple days. here's a make-up post from a day I missed)

Yoga today. Fast forwarded to the last 30 minutes of the p90x video to do the floor postures and poses. Still not good at Crane, decided I'm never going to be. Back to the muscles tomorrow.

(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 57: Stretch X, Rest

Okay, phase 3 didn't get off to a roaring start.

Started a new job recently, busy evening, didn't have time to workout. Back on track tomorrow I hope.

Oh, and with this new job perhaps come the morning workouts again. We'll see.

(Round 2) Day 56: Chest and Back, Ab Ripper X

Phase III begins.

Remember those 100 pushups from last week? Well a couple days after I did them, I got sore. Really sore. And haven't fully recovered. So a lot of the pushups today hurt.

Forgot how crappy this routine is when you're away from it for a while. Lots of action, pushups, pullups, pushups, pullups.

Finished with abs. Gotta love mason twists.

(Round 2) Day 55: Stretch X, Rest

One final off day before phase 3 begins.

During round one I definitely enjoyed phase 3 the most. It's 4 weeks of straight workouts, then a recovery week to finsh of the programs.

And it all begins tomorrow with chest and back. And abs.

(Round 2) Day 54: Yoga

Some leisurely Saturday yoga, back on schedule. Off day planned for tomorrow but we'll see about that.

Definitely excited for muscle-building to commence again on Monday. Enjoying recovery til then.

(Round 2) Day 53: Stretch X, Rest

It's Friday. And it's recovery week. I took today off.

Last night I did those 100 pushups rather late. I don't think my body has had time to recognize the lactic acid build up, so I'm entirely sore just yet. I expect to be tomorrow.

(Round 2) Day 52: 100 Pushups

New twist on an old favorite. Last time I tried something like this I did 100 pushups and 100 pullups. After doing today's workout, I have no idea how I got through the 100 pullups last time. Slowly, if I recall.

I switched today's off day to yesterday so I had to fill today it with something strong. I think this worked:

20 Standard Pushups
15 Wide Fly Pushups
15 Military Pushups
12 Dive Bomber Pushups
13 Standard Pushups
10 Wide Fly Pushups
8 Military Pushups
7 Dive Bomber Pushups

Those last few don't seem like much, but they were. I promise.

For instance, the second set of standard pushups, where I pumped out 13 of them. Going into it I hoped to get 18 (would have pushed my total to 80 at the time). I got going and realized 18 wasn't going to happen. Gunning for 10, and luckily got 13 complete.

Feel like I haven't tracked any numbers in a while. Someone remind me to try this again in the near future. Maybe even go back to 100 pullups one day as well.

(Round 2) Day 51: Stretch X, Rest

Switched today and tomorrow. A bit sore from biceps and triceps yesterday, and didn't have much time to work out today.

Supposed to have been kenpo today, we'll see if I do that or some sort of chest workout tomorrow.

Maybe some abs too?

(Round 2) Day 50: Biceps and Triceps

Okay, so today was a cop out from having to do core synergistics. That doesn't mean I won't do it this week, I just didn't want to today.

Decided to pick up my resistance band and do some biceps and triceps work today. Some Congdon curls, 21s, switch grip twist kickbacks and so on. Even some chair dips. Definitely feel this tomorrow.

(Round 2) Day 49: Yoga

Recovery. Although I don't have much to recover from, so we'll see how much I follow this week's schedule.

That being said, this week twice included Core Synergistics, which is anything but recovery.

Approaching 140 total day. Sheesh.

(Round 2) Day 48: Stretch X, Rest

Off day.

Went back and found where my numbering went awry. All better. Day 48, end of week 7. Day 49 and recovery week tomorrow.

(Round 2) Day 47: Kenpo

Yup, back to kenpo.

I think somewhere along the way I lost track of days. Going to have to figure that one out. Next week is a recovery week. We'll see how by-the-books I am.

Off tomorrow most. likely.

(Round 2) Day 46: Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X

Back into it.

Quick workout in the morning, didn't get through absolutely everything. But definitely back into it.

Ended with abs. Been a week since I've done that routine. Didn't lose any momentum though.

More tomorrow.

(Round 2) Day 45: Stretch X, Rest

Admittedly didn't get around to working out today. Not a great start to post-vacation p90x, but I'm still committed to get going.

In fact, being on a beach with my shirt off most of the time, and seeing other people (perhaps p90x grads?!) walking around, definitely motivated me.

Hoping to get into everything tomorrow If not, gotta bust my ass Saturday.

(Round 2) Day 44: Stretch X, Rest

Travel day number two, so considering this an off-day (plus I didn't have one on Sunday).

Back into things tomorrow, with supposedly yoga but perhaps something else instead. Feel like I haven't lifted in any regard in a while.

Overall, considering it was vacation, I'm pretty satisfied with how it went. Outside of one or two holiday-esque feasts, my eating habits were pretty good. Especially breakfast and lunch.

Add that to 25.5 miles of biking and 4+ hours of tennis and I'd call these past 5 days a success.

(Round 2) Day 43: Bike, Cardio

Another day similar to the last few. Woke up for a 10 mile bike ride. Kind of awful with the wind. Fine in one direction, absolutely horrendous in the other.

Tennis in the afternoon for about 90 minutes.

Travel day number two tomorrow. Not sure what else is in store.

(Round 2) Day 42: Cardio

Woke up for some morning tennis rather than biking. Really hot day, figured if we were going to play tennis it had to be at 10am, not 5pm after a sun-draining day on the beach.

So an hour and a half later, in 90 degree weather, and I had completed my workout before noon.

Didn't get around to abs or my chest, shoukders and arms workout today. Again, vacation's been a slightly different schedule.

Diet today wasn't nearly as heavy as day 41. Cottage cheese and peach for breakfast. Salad with turkey, ham and cheese mixed in for lunch, steamed seafood for dinner. Downfall was the boardwalk ice cream to end the night, but at least I'm honest.

More cardio tomorrow.

(Round 2) Day 41: Cardio, Bike

As I said, Sundays are generally off-days. However, I'm away on vacation so things are going to run a little differently.

Woke up at 8am for a bike ride with my dad. We just head north on our bikes until we realize that however far we ride up, we're going to have to repeat on the ride home.

In total, today was a 15 mile ride. Took about 75 minutes, so not a terribly intense pace. But 15 miles is 15 miles, so I'll take it.

Played over an hour's worth of tennis in the afternoon, so a fairly productive day considering I'm away.

However, per the diet.

Breakfast: Piece of raisin bread toast, cottage cheese and a peach.

Lunch: Sandwich, with smoked turkey, honey ham, muenster cheese, lettuce and mustard. And a couple sourdough pretzels.

Dinner (where it all went downhill): A few families and mine ordered in some barbeque food. Had about 9 ribs, large section of chicken, baked beans, string beans, macaroni salad, cole slaw and corn bread. And to top it all off, some pie.

Why did I just tell you this? Because I didn't. I don't know who's reading this, if anyone still, so this is to make me aware of how awful that was. Typing that out sucked. But hey, it's vacation. And at least there was a lot of protein built into today.

Tomorrow is the start of week 3 of phase II. Definitely doing some abs and hopefully the rest of tomorrow's Monday workout.

And perhaps better eating habits? Perhaps.

(Round 2) Day 40: Cardio

If this were the MLB, consider today a travel day. Spent most of my day in a car and eating.

Productive part was playing 45 minutes of tennis, so I'll have to consider that cardio. No kenpo today.

Tomorrow's supposed to be an off day but I'm sure I'll manage some cardio throughout the day.

Posting via my BlackBerry so hopefully this is fairly typo-free.

(Round 2) Day 39: Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X

Started my vacation, while still home, with legs and back on the resistance bands. No pullups for me today. Bands take more reps to feel that burn but I'm sure I'll be sore tomorrow.

Finished up with abs. Using the book while I'm away for everything, including abs.

As I said, hopefully I'll keep up my posts from tomorrow through Wednesday. Otherwise, talk to you in a few days.

(Round 2) Day 38: Yoga

Kept on track with yoga today. Muscle building didn't make sense cause I'm back to that tomorrow.

I'm heading away for the weekend to sit on a beach. Bringing my resistance bands and fitness book so hopefully I can keep up with it. Expect a new label for those couple of days: Bike. Going down to a rather flat part of the U.S. of A which is ideal for some 5-7 mile bike rides in the morning.

I'll do my best to keep up with the posts. Otherwise when I return I'll have to do some back tracking.

(Round 2) Day 37: Stretch X, Rest

Didn't find time to workout today so consider this an off day. Whoops.

I'll skip yoga tomorrow and make up for today's slip instead.

(Round 2) Day 36: Plyometrics

Plyo today.

Wish I had more to say about Tuesdays. Very repetitive in nature. More to say tomorrow.

(Round 2) Day 35: Chest, Shoulders and Triceps, Ab Ripper X

Late night workout. Little rough, not my favorite time to do this. But at least it got done.

Abs to finish. Hopefully by getting my act together I'll work on those the most. Summer's quickly approaching and I don't have a 6-pack. That's a shame.

Plyo tomorrow.

(Round 2) Day 34: Kenpo

Finished up the week with some Kenpo. Ready to get into a strong second week of phase two. I'll track results from my pullups to see how I compare to previous weeks, and definitely post more about my more recent eating habits.

Chest, shoulders and triceps tomorrow. And abs.

(Round 2) Day 33: Stretch X, Rest

Switched Saturday and Sunday. Off day today, working out tomorrow instead.

(Round 2) Day 32: Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X

I'm out of shape.

Well not entirely. It's just that my pullup numbers were clearly lower today than they should have been. Might be time for a 100 pushup, 100 pullup day to whip myself back into shape. Perhaps tomorrow I'll do that in lieu of kenpo.

Everything else was fine. Legs hurt in a good way, abs hurt in their usual way. More tomorrow.

(Round 2) Day 31: Yoga

A slightly abridged version of yoga today. However a productive day eating and a good start to 'getting my routines back in order.'

Legs and back tomorrow.

(Round ) Day 30: Back and Biceps, Ab Ripper X

Back and biceps today. Nothing too terrible. First time through it for round 2 so it had some challenges, but I've done it before, so not bad.

Finished with abs.

However, today is more about results than anything. Which I'm not happy about. And is of course, mea culpa.

My diet sucked these past 30 days. And as I've said repeatedly, I'm not going to see results unless I'm eating well.

So, while I've blogged every day, and worked out according to most of p90x's schedule, I think I've gotten fatter. Well, maybe not fat, but I didn't move in the right direction over the past 30 days.

I hate it. I hate how I've felt. And I hate what I've missed. I could be ____ right now. In that blank could be anything: Lacking love handles. Showing more abs. More muscular than before. Anything. But eating improperly has pointed me in the wrong direction.

So today is my vow to get back into it, full force, no more lollygagging. Get back into running. Get back into eating 5-6 healthy meals a day. Get back into having great things to say about my workout routines.

So here are the pictures I owe, but are being posted with a serious lack of pride. Here's to the next 60:

(Round 2) Day 29: Plyometrics

Back to good ol' plyo. Not a terrible day of eating either.

Tomorrow's Day 30 and some awful pictures. This will truly be a reality check and get me back into the game. Consider this my recession.

(Round 2) Day 28: Chest, Shoulders and Triceps, Ab Ripper X

Back to working out.

And back to trying to eat right.

Today: Banana, protein bar, bagel with butter, tofu chili, peanut butter, M&M peanuts.

Alright, compared to my first few weeks of p90x this is crap. But it's headed back in the right direction. And I'm trying out an online program called Calorie Count, that will analyze my nutrition over the course of a day, week, month, or however long I want to input my eating habits on a daily basis.

Today I came up short on calories, but got a ton of protein and not too many carbs. I'll dive more into that if I keep it up.

Everything else was good. Back to doing abs which is nice. Plyo tomorrow.

(Round 2) Day 27: Yoga X

Some yoga today.

Approaching phase II of round II. Really need to get my diet back together. Might jump on Calorie Count to track what I'm eating, see what time of vitamins and nutrients I'm missing, and go from there.

Not excited for Day 30 pictures. As I've said before, if the diet's not there, the workout doesn't do anything. Might have regressed a bit. But that's why I have 63 more days in round 2.

(Round 2) Day 26: Stretch X, Rest

Switched today's Yoga with an off day. Wasn't up for yoga-ing.

This week I get my routine back into gear, working out hard and eating right. More about that tomorrow.

(Round 2) Day 25: Core Synergistics

Woke up early to get this one in. Still not my favorite but at least it only happens once every 4 weeks.

Yoga tomorrow.

(Round 2) Day 25: Stretch X, Rest

Off day for me.

For as much p90x as I've done, I've came to this realization: If you're not true to yourself with the diet, you're not going to see results.

That's what's happened to me for these first 25 days of round 2. I haven't been on my game with eating, and I haven't been getting good results. In fact, I might have backtracked. I'm going to do my best to get back in the right direction, starting this weekend.

Tomorrow's core synergistics, my favorites. Expect a diet update this Sunday.

(Round 2) Day 24: Kenpo X

Sorry to all my loyal readers who woke up today to find NO NEW POST!

Well I worked out yesterday, just forgot to blog. First time in 113 days.

Yesterday was Kenpo. Not too much to report on it. Did most of it, left some kicking out of it.

Time for an off day, to which I'll have a new post. Cheers.

(Round 2) Day 23: Core Synergistics

As I said yesterday, I hate core synergistics.

This workout makes you believe there's no such thing as a recovery week.

Banana rolls and sphinx pushups are miserable. The whole routine hurts. And I have to do it again in a couple days.

Kenpo lined up for tomorrow.

(Round 2) Day 22: Yoga

Sticking with the schedule for now. Did the Ted MacDonald Yoga video again. Maybe I'll move on to Park II next time. Although I hate yoga so much I doubt that will be of any help.

Core synergistics tomorrow. I hate core synergistics.

(Round 2) Day 21: Stretch X, Rest

Day off today.

Recovery week is this week as I approach day 120 (day 30 of round 2).

Going to try to eat really well this week and see how far that, and some extra workouts, gets me.

Yoga tomorrow. Definitely doing ab ripper x throughout the upcoming week to keep that going strong.

(Round 2) Day 20: Kenpo

Yup, Kenpo today. Not much to report. More tomorrow.

(Round 2) Day 19: Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X

Feels like it's been a while since I did this routine in its entirety. Didn't track pullups as they got off to a less than roaring start.

Legs were okay. Haven't do that full routine in a while so pretty painful.

No running. Just finished with abs. Kenpo tomorrow.

(Round 2) Day 18: Yoga

Yoga today. Not p90x version but instead the "Yoga for Athletes 1" with Ted MacDonald, which I'd done before. Just under 30 minutes, nothing terrible.

Maybe I'll get back into running tomorrow. As well as legs and back. And those abs.

(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 16: Plyometrics

Back to working out in the morning. Today was pretty rough, first time in a while jumping around to plyo that early.

Still pretty sore from that Saturday routine. My body just wasn't used to that kind of routine. Which means I might have to do it again this Saturday.

Tomorrow's arms and shoulders. And some abs.

(Round 2) Day 15: Chest and Back, Ab Ripper X

Ow. My Saturday workout is still hurting me.

Difficulty with both pushups and pullups today. Even ab ripper x hurt more than usual. Not a bad thing I guess, just discouraging with my results. Going to hurt even more tomorrow.

Plyo, or some sort of cardio, on deck.

(Round 2) Day 14: Stretch X, Rest

Yesterday I made up my own chest and back routine thinking that this week was a recovery week. Wrong. This upcoming week is week 3 of phase I, meaning chest and back appears, well, tomorrow.

I'm in a good amount of pain today from my routine. It's all about shocking the body. I could have done just about anything, so long as it was different from what I'd done before, and I'd be sore today. However I think my choice of 100 pullups and 100 pushups made it all that much harder.

Stretched a bit today to try to get over my aches. Even my abs hurt today, even though there was no ab ripper x. Pushups definitely worked my core.

Tomorrow, the real chest and back and ab ripper x, should be interesting.

(Round 2) Day 13: 100 Pullups, 100 Pushups

Invented my own p90x workout today.

My goal was to do 100 pullups and 100 pushups within a reasonable amount of time, such that another p90x workout could be done in the same amount of time.

Broke it up into 8 groups of 25, alternating pullups on the bar and pushups on the yoga mat. There was to be zero assistance from a chair (pullups) or my knees (pushups). Here are the results:

12 reverse grip chinups
8 wide grip pullups
5 close grip pullups

25 standard pushups

10 parallel pullups*
5 wide grip pullups
10 reverse grip chinups

15 military pushups
10 diamond pushups

7 reverse grip chinup
12 parallel pullups
6 wide grip pullups

18 wide fly pushups
7 dive bomber pushups

8 wide grip pullups
7 close grip pullups
10 reverse grip chinups

10 floor fly pushups
15 standard pushups

*My pullup bar has two bars, shoulder width apart, perpendicular to the main bar.

I just alternated different moves. The more I could get done in the first set, the closer I'd be to 25 and less my other/final set(s) would entail.

I figure this is my own version of Chest and Back, and considering this coming Monday is the beginning over recovery week, there are no chest or back workouts for another 9 days.

There are no guarantees that this routine will do anything for me. However, it hurt like hell, so give it a shot at your leisure.

(Round 2) Day 12: Rest

Well, I didn't really mean to take today off. Hence I'm giving it a title of 'rest.'

Consider this my first blunder in 100+ days.

Gotta get my game back in gear this weekend and next week. Starts with kenpo (or some sort of cardio) tomorrow.

(Round 2) Day 11: Stretch X, Rest

Traded yoga for an off day today.

Next week I plan on working out more than giving in to p90x's recovery week, so today was an off day.

I haven't run in a while. Just haven't had a ton of time lately. Perhaps this weekend I'll try to get back into it. I've gotta say that when I was running consistently I did notice a difference in my body. Looked thinner and definitely felt thinner. Maybe my recovery week will just be a lot of running.

(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 9: Plyometrics

Plyo today, no run. 20-30 mph winds. Wouldn't have been fun.

So yea, just stuck to plyo. Nothing special, lots of jumping around.

Hoping the weather stays nice the next few days so I can get some more runs in. Shoulders and arms tomorrow, along with ab ripper x.

(Round 2) Day 8: Chest and Back, Ab Ripper X, Run

Week two has begun. Chest and back, one of the more painful and productive workouts in my opinion.

Diamond pushups are the toughest ones of the day. I've never tracked my pushup numbers but maybe I'll start. Wish I had thought of that prior to today.

In fact, I never track my numbers during chest and back, pullups included. Their tip for pullups is to go down to a full extension and then pull yourself back up. I've always come up short of doing that, I guess trying to fulfill my desire for a greater number of reps. However, today I gave the full extensions a shot. Generally I can do 16-20 reverse grip chinups. Today? 12.

After that went for a run. Stepped outside and realized it was raining. Only did 1.5 miles in the steady drizzle.

Finished up with abs. Nothing more to say about Tony and the gang other than the fact that they're still so much more ripped than I am.

Plyo(?) tomorrow.

(Round 2) Day 7: Kenpo

As I noted when I started round 2, I'm going to take some liberties with these 90 days. I took another one this weekend, switching kenpo and my off day.

So today, rather than resting, I did kenpo. It's kind of getting stale by now. Perhaps next week I'll switch in Cardio X or a long run.

No running today due to the dreary and rainy weather.

Round 2, Week 2 starts tomorrow with chest and back. And ab ripper x.

(Round 2) Day 6: Stretch X, Rest

That's right, today was supposed to be Kenpo. What of it?

Took my off day today. No running. No Kenpo. Just a day of eating right, having a baseball catch, and thats.about.it.

Kenpo tomorrow. So far, enjoying round 2.

(Round 2) Day 5: Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X, Run

Another busy and productive workout.

Started off with a 2.75 mile run. Probably my best run thus far. Stamina stayed strong for the majority of the run, even through 20mph winds by the water.

Legs and back today. Did all the back workouts and some of the legs. I was pretty drained from the run but did a number of wall sits and some of the lunges.

For the pullups, I decided not to look at what I did last time around. I just went with it til failure to see where I'm at after some time away from this routine (because of recovery week):

14 Reverse grip chin ups
8 Wide grip pullups
10 Close grip overhead pullups
8 Switch grip pullups
13 Reverse grip chin ups
7 Wide grip pullups
8 Close grip overhead pullups (assisted)
8 Switch grip pullups

Looking back some numbers were down but still pretty good throughout. Close grips were the toughest today.

Finished with abs, nothing special.

Kenpo tomorrow and perhaps another run.

(Round 2) Day 4: Yoga, Run

Started off with a run, just under 2.5 miles.

Runs are starting to feel better but I'm still not much of a runner. At all. Hoping to hit 3 miles within the week.

Came back for yoga. Tried something other than p90x's grueling Yoga X. Found a Free OnDemand Yoga video called 'Yoga for Athletes 1' with Ted MacDonald. 28 minutes long and a nice change from what I'd been doing.

The moves weren't that different, but the shorter session was just a lot better. Things I was used to showed up a lot: Crescent Pose, Warrior II, Warrior III, Half Moon, Standing Tree, Child's Pose, Bridge and Wheel.

Favorite part were Yoga Bicycles.

Yoga Bicycles: Lay on your back and pull your knees to your chest. Release your knees and place your elbows out behind your head. As you extend your right leg, bring your right elbow to your left knee. Then switch, bringing in your right leg, extend your left leg and bring your left elbow to your right knee. And switch. And switch. For a while. It's a calm core exercise not unlike some of the moves in ab ripper x.

And yes, they throw in Crane. Or as they like to call it, Crow. I think I'm getting better at it. But then Ted floats into some crazy pose after that, balancing on his hands with his feet out behind him.

Tony, I think Ted might beat you in regard to Yoga.

(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.

(Round 2) Day 2: Run

It's my plyo and I'll run if I want to.

As noted yesterday, I'm not planning on playing by p90x's rules as strictly this time around.

Yes today was supposed to be plyometrics. What I learned from round 1 was that on cardio-intensive days, a run hurt my chances of getting through the whole routine. Considering I should be training for this 9.3 mile race, I chose running over plyo.

Haven't enjoyed a run lately so today was a leisurely 2 miles. Need to get back into it. Running is going to be a staple of these 90 days:

Boiler Maker: July 11th, 2010
p90x Day 180: July 18th, 2010

So Round Two is about getting in shape for myself and for this race. Nice incentive built into my journey.

Shoulders and arms tomorrow.

(Round 2) Day 1: Chest and Back, Ab Ribber X

So it begins. Round Two. I expect good things.

I think back to 90 days ago when I was laying on my floor, barely doing any pushups, laughing at ab ripper, and thinking (as I started this whole blog) "What the heck am I getting myself into?"

Well this time is going to be different. I know what to expect. I know this can work. I know what I'm getting myself into.

So what do I hope to accomplish for Round Two? Here are my goals:

1.) Put on 5-7 pounds of muscle
2.) Obtain a six-pack
3.) Have true definition in my arms (where they look cut without having to flex)
4.) Run on at least 45 of the 90 days
5.) Be under 8% body fat

3 months from now I'll look back on these five goals and see how I did.

Back to the routine. Didn't keep track of pullups. It's been a while since I did some of these so my numbers probably weren't great. I'll get back to writing down my results on Friday.

Everything else was pretty standard. The final five weeks of this program (what I just finished) were 4 alternating weeks and then a recovery week. Now I'm back to one week of workouts, repeated 3 times over the next 3 weeks.

Finished up with abs. Those were welcomed back with a grimace. Really want to get my mid-section in shape. I think I lost enough fat the first time through that I can show some real abs within 30-45 days.

Plyo tomorrow, perhaps a run.

Day 90: Stretch X, Rest

Day 90. Finito.

That was really a fast 90 days. Time for my summary based off of self-imposed questions:

Was p90x all that it's hyped up to be?

If you stick to it, you're going to see results. For the first 50-60 days I was really into the diet. I didn't follow their plan bite for bite. I did my own nutrition plan, and during the prime of my 90 day experience, I was eating 5-6 meals a day, getting a ton of protein and very few grams of fat. Over time it got tough to keep up day in and day out. But I'd say p90x was definitely worth it.

Did you see good results?

I saw what I expected. I put on muscle, but didn't bulk up. The best thing was that I cut a good amount of fat. I didn't take body fat percentages before and after, but I'm down to below 11%. I overall just feel better. Eating right by cutting out unnecessary fatty foods, and sticking to a daily workout program, realized improved everything about me.

What's next?

Time for round two. Going through this whole process again. I saw decent enough results that I think a second time through could do some great things for me. I'm starting off with a lot less fat so hopefully my body quickly adds muscle while still trimming fat around my waistline.

Also, I didn't look at this program as a chore. It became part of my life, a real routine, which is why I'm even looking forward to doing p90x again. I thought about joining a gym but there's no way I'd go more than 3-4 times a week. This is every day for 90 days. Now, that's not to say that I'm going to be on p90x forever. Or even past round two. It's going to be about maintaining, eventually. But I'm still in an uphill battle with my body so I'm not looking to stay put, I'm looking to get more fit.

Anything different planned for round two?

I'm looking to workout every day, but I'm not sure if I'll stick to p90x's exact schedule. I might do Cardio X in lieu of plyo, or just run instead of yoga. Things like that. So if you're doing p90x along side of me, and you see that your Day 27 is different from my Day 27, it's because I'm adding my own touch to it.

Now, time for the final photos. Yes I have ridiculous tan lines on my arms (from golf):





Round two starts tomorrow.

Day 89: Yoga

One more day.

A touch of yoga today. Seemed more like stretching.

Big off day tomorrow, MY LAST DAY. Wow. Much, much more to say then.

Day 88: Core Synergistics

Luckily there's a 3 week hiatus from this DVD after today.

Prison cell pushups are miserable. I'd rather be in solitary confinement than be forced to do these on a daily basis.

Final day of any type of muscle training. Phew. Yoga, then an off day, then I do it all over again.

Day 87: Stretch X

Off day.

I wish I had more to say about my off days. Diet?

Sure, diet.

I feel as if over the past couple weeks my 'diet', or better yet my self-imposed-nutrition-plan, has slipped a little bit. Taken more liberties here and there, not eating my 5-6 meals a day.

I'm going to let these next few days be what they are, then when I start up my second round I'm going to really get back into it.

With day 90 will come an overview of what I thought of the program and what I'm expecting from round 2. And crazy enough, that's just 4 days away.

Cheers.

Day 86: Kenpo

Nothing new on this front. Kind of bored of this DVD, but it shows its ugly head every week of this program. Great.

Off day tomorrow. We'll see what I do with my time.

Currently working on touch-ups to the look of the blog for when day 91 (wow) rolls around. Nothing special.

And to answer the question from yesterday, yes I plan on keeping the blog going during round two. Kept me motivated for this first round, so why not do it again?

Day 85: Core Synergistics

Ow. I seem to always be painfully reminded just how, yup, painful this DVD can be. Especially because it only makes an appearance during recovery week.

I think this might be a good workout to use in lieu of plyo or yoga when I need a change. Maybe even instead of Kenpo.

I'll go into detail about what my second round is going to entail when the time comes. Still trying to figure out why I'm going to put myself through this program again. But it's such a great routine so why stop now?

Nope, no running today. Sshhh.

Kenpo tomorrow.

Day 84: Yoga

Yoooga. Some of it at least. Really need to find something else to use for my second round through this.

Running tomorrow. This time I'm keeping to that. Aiming for 2.5 to 3 miles. Newest goal is to reach 4 mile runs by the end of the month. Just under 3 weeks to accomplish that. Seems doable.

Core synergistics tomorrow. I forgot about this routine. Not fun.

Day 83: Stretch X, Rest

Day off.

Hoping to stay in the swing of things this coming week in preparation for round two.

Some yoga tomorrow.

Day 82: Kenpo

No more predicting when I'm going to run. Cause I've decided how I feel one day can drastically change the next.

Yup, no run today.

Kenpo instead. Nothing special. In fact, really nothing to report.

Off day tomorrow then the final week of p90x (for round 1).

Day 81: Legs and Back, Run

I've felt a bit sluggish lately. Not sure why. Just haven't been as motivated to run or workout. But I did nonetheless.

Couple miles running. The heat broke which is nice. Followed up with legs and back. Numbers were a bit down for pullups, maybe because I did it off the bands earlier this week:

16 Reverse grip chin ups
7 Wide grip pullups
10 Close grip overhead pullups
8 Switch grip pullups
13 Reverse grip chin ups
6 Wide grip pullups
9 Close grip overhead pullups
6 Switch grip pullups

Finished with my final ab ripper x of this first shot at p90x. I won't miss Tony next week during mason twists.

Muscle building is over. Recovery week starts Monday as my final week.

Kenpo tomorrow. Perhaps a longer run. Perhaps.

Day 80: Yoga

Alright this weather's starting to get to me.

No running today. Way too hot. Perhaps tomorrow I'll aim for those 3 miles.

Today was just some yoga. Pretty relaxing. I decided that for round two I'm not going to be as strict in following the days. Plyo and Yoga might be substituted by longer runs.

Legs and back tomorrow.

Day 79: Back and Biceps, Ab Ripper X

Really tired today. Probably a mix of running recently and the heat. No mood to run.

Worked with the bands today entired. Back exercises included. Nothing much to report.

Ended with abs. One more time of ab ripper x during this round.

Going to try to run tomorrow. Goal is 3 miles but I expect with 80 degrees planned for my neck of the woods, to come up a bit short. But that's why we set goals, ey?

Day 78: Plyometrics, Run

Exhausted. And starting to hate Plyo all over again.

Ran first. Figured I'd rather be burnt out for something I'm used to than something fairly new to me.

Did 2.5 miles on this hot, hot day.

Did some plyo after but I was pretty drained. Plyo is frustrating stuff. I think during round 2 I'm going to substitute Cardio X or even just a long run for plyo on days that I don't want to be working out for 2 hours.

Abs hurt today. But only two more scheduled times of doing ab ripper x.

Back and biceps tomorrow.

Day 77: Chest, Shoulders and Triceps, Ab Ripper X

Worked backwards again today. Run first then workout. Then abs.

Ran just over 2 miles on this perfect day. No excuses, just ran. Hope to get up to 3 miles towards the end of this week.

The nice thing about running before this particular workout was that the muscle building was not leg intensive. Meaning my reps didn't suffer (too much) due to my cardio.

Workout wasn't bad. Today began the final muscle week of p90x. Not awful.

Finished up with abs. Mason twists are killer. Amazing that they still hurt 77 days later.

Plyo tomorrow. I'll probably run first. Not going to be as fun considering it's a whole day of cardio.

Day 76: Stretch X, Rest, Run

I've been keeping constant with titling Sundays as 'stretch x, rest, run', but today was anything from rest.

Ridiculous weather calls for me getting my arse outside.

Took a short run, just over a mile. Tried out my new running shoes. It's like running on air, very big difference. My old shoes were very worn down, wearing them felt like running on the asphalt. These have some nice bounce to them.

Really hot out, after having an hour long baseball catch, so a 1.25 miles run seemed suffice. Weather's supposed to hold up this week so I hope to get my total up to 20 miles by next Sunday.

Last week of muscle building for this round of p90x. Then recovery week. Then the final pictures.

Day 75: Kenpo

For as gorgeous as the weather is, how relaxing my day was, and for how pumped I have been about running, today was a low in my working out.

I didn't run. The most productive thing I did for my cardio routine was buy new running shoes which I'll put to use tomorrow.

I did an abridged version of kenpo off the book. I can really speed through a lot of it without Tony yapping away.

How many p90x bloggers do you think rip into Tony? Rather, how many don't?

Off day tomorrow during which I vow to run if the weather stays this nice.

Day 74: Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X

Did the back part today actually. After a morning of 5 hours on the golf course my legs needed a break. Back's going to be very sore tomorrow.

15 Reverse grip chin ups
8 Wide grip pullups
12 Close grip overhead pullups
8 Switch grip pullups
16 Reverse grip chin ups
6 Wide grip pullups
10 Close grip overhead pullups
8 Switch grip pullups

No assisted pullups today. Did as much as I could on my own.

Finished with abs, nothing too remarkable.

Kenpo tomorrow.

Day 73: Yoga, Run

Decided to run first today and use yoga as a cool down.

The past few runs I've been pretty beat because I did them after working out. Especially yesterday when I did it after a big muscle building day.

Well today's run wasn't great. 2.25 miles again. Beautiful weather, wasn't tired, but my abs felt really strained. Not sure if that's attributed to ab ripper x yesterday, or this new running routine. But they really hurt throughout today's adventure.

Cooled down with some yoga. Just the parts I like. And can manage.

Took some photos today to compare to day 60, just for the heck of it. I think there's a noticeable difference even after just a couple weeks.

On March 2nd, Day 44, I noted how crazy it was that it was March already. Well holy cow it's April already. And apparently I can't count:

"The next time the month changes, I'll be on Day 74 and just a couple weeks from the end."

Yes I'm just 2+ weeks away from being finished, but it's Day 73. Oops.

One final note: My friend mentioned a race that I should run with him in July. Up in Utica, NY called the Boilermaker. It's a 15k (9.3 mile) race that ends at a brewery. If my running continues I'm going to set that as my goal. Need to quadruple my mileage output within the next 3 months.

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 71: Plyometrics

Alright after raving about how much I'm going to run, I've now gone two days without it. I'll blame the weather. My body will blame me though.

Today was Plyo, nothing special. Very used to this workout by now after complaining about it my first time on Day 2.

Tomorrow I run. It's supposed to be 60 and sunny.

Also, I've added a new widget to the right side of my blog. It's from DailyMile.com and it allows you to track your mileage, training, etc. I'm not training for anything so I just added the small widget. So every time I run I log on, put in the mileage, and it adds everything up.

My goal for tomorrow is 2+ miles.

Day 70: Chest and Back, Ab Ripper X

Worked off the book today. And with resistance bands.

I have no reps to report today because I did the pullup moves on bands. It took a lot more reps to feel the burn, generally 20+, but in the end it's certainly working.

There are no substitutes, however, for pushups. I feel like I did a lot today, and I really felt it.

Standard pushups, military pushups, wide fly pushups, diamond pushups, decline pushups and dive-bomber pushups. Six different moves, each done twice until failure. My strongest were probably standard pushups, putting up 25 the first time through. My weakest were probably diamond, where I did up to 8 each time.

Diamond Pushups: Hands under your heart. Hands together so the thumbs and pointer fingers are touching, respectively. Elbows flare out to the side.

Dive bombers aren't as terrible as they were the first few times I did this workout. I've also gotten better with decline.

Finished up with abs. Also off the book, no Tony. Well, really no book. I've done it so many times now that I've completely memorized the order. I even find myself thinking of everything Tony says at certain points of certain moves. Scissors ... get it?

No running today due to the miserable weather. Perhaps tomorrow I'll hop on a treadmill.

Day 69: Stretch X, Rest, Run

Why did I choose to start running right when the weather turned crappy again? I thought winter was over.

From yesterday: "So on this chilly 37 degree day, I began."

Today's running weather: 44 degrees ... feels like 37. Net gain? 0.

In fact, today felt even colder. That 'feels like 37' is from the wind of course. And running by the water makes it even windier. My choice of long-sleeves today did nothing to soften the blow.

Another 1.75 mile run. I know it's rather unimpressive, especially considering I should be in pretty good shape from nearly 70 days of Tony's boot camp. But let me restate this: I'm not a runner. I've never been a runner. It's probably been 5 years since I decided to take a leisurely run. So it'll take some time, and some nicer weather, to get that mileage up.

I used my heart rate monitor yesterday and today. I stayed between 175 and 200 beats per minute during my excursions. Not sure if that's good or bad. But it was certainly nice being able to keep track.

My goal over the next 20 days is to have my Run label rocket up to the top 3 of my list. Here's how I see it:

Ab ripper x (24) is going to hit 30, unquestioned.
Cardio (18) will go up with the running, so I'm not going to jump that.
Reps (14) is currently third on the list. I think that will hit 18 or so at the end.

So that means to reach 3rd on the list I need to run on more than 16 of the final 21 days of p90x.

Yes, 3 more weeks to go.

Day 68: Kenpo X, Run

Yes, there's a new headline to my workout: Run

I decided that what's deterring me the most from enjoying my p90x results is my abdomen. I really wish I didn't have love handles. The problem? I can't wish them away. I've done my research and I've said this before: You can't target fat loss. If I did a thousand side crunches and torso twists, I would burn calories, just not necessarily on the sides.

What I've also learned is that love handles are generally the last things guys will get rid of. Meaning I could be stuck with these for a long time. It took me 22 years to build them, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be able to desert them in a couple months.

That being said, I'm going to start running. Probably the best way to burn calories, it's outside, it's free and I can track my progress via distance. So on this chilly 37 degree day, I began. From my estimation, it was between 1.5 and 1.75 miles. A bit too cold out to do any more, but for a first day of running in who knows how long, not bad.

Before the run was Kenpo. Nothing special, just a lot of wishing I was punching Tony in the face.

Rest tomorrow. Maybe stretching.

Day 67: Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X

Ah legs and back. Another staple to every muscle building week. Maybe my favorite back routine. It's all on the pullup bar, and most of the moves I can put up good numbers (by my standards, that is).

16 Reverse grip chin ups
15 Wide grip pullups (9 unassisted, 6 assisted)
12 Close grip overhead pullups
12 Switch grip pullups
17 Reverse grip chin ups
12 Wide grip pullups (7 unassisted, 5 assisted)
13 Close grip overhead pullups
8 Switch grip pullups

While some were assisted, if you add that up it comes out to 105. That's a lot of pullups. Especially considering Day 1 I struggled to do just about any beyond the first couple of each set.

Legs were fine. Wall sits don't feel at lethal as they used to. Calf raises are still getting my derriere in shape. And Tony is still his usual self during Groucho Walks.

Finished up with abs. Remember my percentages rant? Well I've completed ab ripper x 24 of the 30 total times I'll do it over these 90 days. So 80%. Meaning I should have 4.8 of my 6 pack. Not quite. When I do p90x the second time through I'm going to set some goals and after my 90th (well, 180th) day, see if I've achieved them. Topping that list is going to be a 6-pack.

Kenpo tomorrow.

Day 66: Yoga

Yoga is such a letdown compared to the rest of p90x. Every Thursday based on my schedule. What a waste.

I fast forward through a lot of it so I can get to the stuff I can manage. Which isn't really all that much. Maybe next time through I'll invest in a more compact yoga routine to substitute in sometime.

Legs and back tomorrow.

Day 65: Back and Biceps, Ab Ripper X

Let's work backwards. I was going to end my workout with a run. It's about 60 degrees out, seemingly perfect running weather. But after ending with ab ripper x, mason twists and a protein shake, I'm in no mood.

Abs continue to jolt me. I think my stomach's getting flatter, and love handles are become a bit slimmer, but my actual abdominal muscles are struggling to show through. Well let's not personify them, I'm just having trouble getting them to show through. Any tips? Maybe I shouldn't skip the runs I look forward to.

Back and biceps is a good day otherwise:

12 Wide grip pullups
12 Switch grip pullups
9* Corn cob pullups
12 Towel pullups
17 Chinups
20 Chinups (max pullups)

*Back of a chair for assistance

Don't let that asterisk fool you. Corn cob pullups are ridiculous. I keep one leg on the back of a folding chair, come all the way down so my leg flexes as far as it can, then use my upper body to pull myself up. The chair helps while I'm keeping my body up, to move side to side to complete the move.

Asides from corn cob, today was successful. My numbers were up in most moves.

My tip for today: It might only work for me, but I like to approach reps with percentages, not straight counting numbers. For instance, for max pullups I wanted to do 20. Instead of counting 1, 2, 3... I find success in seeing that 2 of 20 is 10%. So every two I'm 10% closer. So it's easier (for me) to get through 14, 15, 16, at 70...-...80 and so on. Maybe it's just me, but try it out. 100% is more achievable than 20 straight.

Oh, and last time I did this workout I broke a resistance band. Not this time.

Day 64: Plyometrics

So I thought I'd be sore from yesterday's chest and upper body workout.

I was right.

But it's not my chest that's the most sore. It's not my shoulders either. Nor is it my triceps. Actually, my lats are the most sore. Somehow my sides, towards my back, are in a lot of pain. Didn't think the moves from yesterday were supposed to target that area. But it hurts.

Today's plyo was nothing special. Waited a bit too long into the day to do it. I think I need to go back to my morning routines, especially for today's workout.

Tomorrow is back and biceps. Hopefully my lats are prepared for the hell I'll put them through on the pullup bar.

Corn cob pullups, towel pullups and max reps. Going to be fun.

Day 63: Chest, Shoulders and Triceps, Ab Ripper X

Okay I forgot how awful today's pushups are. Ow.

I won't go over the moves again as you can read descriptions of most from Day 29.

3-in-1 pushups, plange pushups, wide fly pushups, clap pushups. And those were only a fraction of the pushups. And pushups were only a fraction of the total workout.

This is one of the more brutal DVDs in p90x. But that has to mean it's working, right? Tomorrow my chest should be very sore.

Tricep and shoulder routines aren't as bad. Scarecrows are the hardest shoulder moves in any workout we do, and it's not even with heavy weights. It's with resistance bands. Crazy.

Finished up with abs. Not sure why but today was tough. My legs have never felt so heavy during mason twists, but I pulled off all 50 with Tony the steroid-infused Tiger.

In fact, after ab ripper x Tony says something along the lines of, 'if you stuck with us you just did 349 ab ripping exercises.' I think I do just about all 349. Maybe lose a couple during bicycles.

Plyo tomorrow.

Day 62: Stretch X, Rest

My off day.

I was very pleased how the past 6 days went. It was great getting back into the workout groove, and I'm excited for tomorrow. It's back to week 4's routine, starting with chest, shoulders and triceps. That wasn't fun the first time through on Day 29, but that's simply because I wasn't used to it.

Shock. The. Body.

Four more weeks until I'm done. Sunday, April 18th, FINITO.

I'm very excited to be able to say I've completed p90x, but I'm also looking forward to going through it another time. Still debating it, but I think it'll happen.

And for the question posed, yes I'm a Syracuse fan. Recent graduate and very pumped about this year's tournament so far.

Lifting, abs and perhaps a run tomorrow if it doesn't rain too much.

Day 61: Kenpo X

First off, thank you to the handful of new found followers I have. From what I've gathered, most p90x-ers have come to my blog via Fitbomb.

I'm sure I've mentioned his blog before. He's the reason I finally decided to go out and get the DVDs, as he seemed like he was doing this for himself, not because p90x was paying him to do it. Which is exactly what I'm out to do as well. He keeps a list of other p90x blogs, found mine, and put it up on his site. So thanks to those who have been to my site (3000+ visits), and thanks to those who regularly follow along. And for the encouragement.

Onto the final 30 days. Wrapping up the first of four tough weeks. This week (week 9) and the week after next (week 11) are the same routine. Next week (week 10) and the final week of muscle building (week 12) are the same. All do abs 3 times during the week, and no recovery week til the very end.

I'm still pretty sore from this entire week. First time doing a couple of these DVDs in a long, long time. I've certainly shocked my body. And will do it again come Monday.

Kenpo is one of the constants throughout each of the weeks. This is the 9th time I've completed the workout according to my labels. I think I've got the hang of it by now.

With the slew of nice weather in the northeast, I might throw in some running on top of p90x for these final few weeks.

Rest tomorrow. (Go orange)

Day 60: Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X

Two-thirds of the way through. Solid.

First time doing this back workout with a pullup bar since Day 40.

Not too shabby. Actually surprised myself with some of the numbers:

15 Reverse grip chin ups
14 Wide grip pullups (9 unassisted, 5 assisted)
12 Close grip overhead pullups
12 Switch grip pullups
14 Reverse grip chin ups
12 Wide grip pullups (7 unassisted, 5 assisted)
10 Close grip overhead pullups
8 Switch grip pullups

Wide grip are really tough. But to think of how far I've come since day zero, it's pretty cool.

Abs to finish. Oblique v-ups are my new fr'enemy. I feel them after, but they hurt so bad while doing them.

Everything else was standard today.

Alright, Day 60 also means it's picture time. Results are OK. Wish my abs were coming through a bit more, but I'll place blame on myself and a few stumbles in the diet for that one. Here it goes.




Guess what goes in that bottom right corner? I was thinking of filling it with a picture of Sean Sherk, but I hope to be in better shape than him in 30 days.

Day 59: Yoga

No fun, soooo, no comment.

Legs and back tomorrow, and more abs. And perhaps some pictures. Fuuudge.

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 57: Plyometrics

Plyo day. Forgot how much fun this is.

Eh not really. I was so excited for this week to begin for muscle building, and all of the sudden it's day two and I'm running it circles. Literally.

Circle Run: Place a towel/any random item on the floor, and run in a circle around it. Basically you're always facing in one direction, and your legs are moving beneath you. Clockwise for 30 seconds, then counterclockwise for 30 seconds.

Tomorrow's shoulders and arms. And abs. We'll see how that goes considering just how incredibly sore I am from yesterday.

I can only hope tomorrow's better. I tried to do a couple pushups to no avail. Started in plank, went down so that my chest hit the floor, and didn't get back up.

Day 56: Chest and Back, Ab Ripper X

Back to the routine from Day 1. And back to the pain from Day 1.

Standard Pushups: 18 / 12
Wide Grip Pullups: 10 / 10 (assisted)
Military Pushups: 12 / 10
Reverse Chinups: 13 / 12

Wide Fly Pushups : 12 / 12
Close Grip Overhand Pullups: 8 / 21 (bands)
Decline Pushups: 12 / 7
Heavy Pants: 14 / 14

Diamond Pushups: 10 / 8
Lawn Mower: 15 / 15
Dive Bomber Pushups: 8 / 8
Back Fly: 12 / 10

Compared to the third go-round of "week 1", my numbers were down. But compared to the first go-round they were probably up.

It's just so much. Pushup, pullup, pushup, pullup. The bands are a nice break both for back workouts such as lawn mowers, as well as when I used them for Close grip at one point. Took many more reps to feel a burn, but useful.

Dive bomber pushups are still nuts. Not sure I've explained them before. Unless you're ever going to try them, it's not worth going through. Just understand that it'll hurt once you go for it.

Finished with abs. Did this whole workout with my friend. After 50 mason twists, both of us hit the ground hard. Tony's grabbin' his knees.

Plyo tomorrow. Really excited to get back into this muscle building after a seemingly very long break.

Day 55: Stretch X, Rest

One final day off. Now comes the home stretch.

Four weeks of muscle building, alternating every other week.
Four weeks of ab ripper x.
Four weeks of Tony and the gang.

This is why I took today off.

Four weeks ... begins.

Day 54: Yoga

I ate too much today. Then I tried yoga. Not a good combination.

For as much as I hate yoga, I blame myself for today's unsuccessful adventure. Remind me not to do that again.

Tomorrow's a day of stretching and resting before we dive into week 9. Weeks 9, 10, 11 and 12 are four consecutive muscle building weeks. And the routines don't repeat each other like weeks 1-3 and 5-7. I'm really excited to dive into that.

One more day to 'recover.'

Day 53: Core Synergistics

Just as the first recovery week, the second attempt at core synergistics went better than the first. But not by much.

Prison cell pushups might be the worst part of p90x. They're cardio intensive, they work every muscle I have or hope to one day have, and it seems to last forever.

I took a midset break. Possibly even two of them. Those are tough.

Then there were the ones I could do the full time, like towel hopping. And the Lunge kickback curl and press moves. Still need some weights for that. Maybe for my next time through this program. What?

Yea I was thinking about it today. From what I've read in other people's blogs, it seems like the second time through is where the money is. So assuming I can bear about 37 days of this, I think I'm going to give round 2 a shot.

Yoga tomorrow. Ohm.

Day 53: Stretch X

Stretched on my own. No DVD necessary.

Tomorrow's core again. Really not too thrilled about that.

I've been pretty terse with my posts lately. Just haven't been too enthralled with the workouts. I'll talk in greater depth tomorrow after PRISON CELL PUSHUPS. Who's excited?

Not me.

Day 52: Kenpo X

Jab Hook Cross Uppercut.
Jab Hook Cross Uppercut.
Jab Hook Cross Uppercut.

Kick.
Kick.
Kick.

Luuunge.

You get the picture. Another day in the life of a p90x-er.

Apparently not only Doug Gottlieb from ESPN is doing this workout now, but as are Mike and Mike [In the Morning]. Well they probably do p09x at night, considering, you know, their show.

Day 51: Core Synergistics

It's baaaack.

And not in a good way.

It's been 25 days since I've performed this DVD. And my body only vaguely remembers the pain I put it through then. And it hates me.

It's a nice mix of a lot of core workouts, but it's really no fun at all. My body gets a couple days' rest before I make it do Plank to Chaturanga Runs again. Man I hate those.

I'll elaborate more next time through.

Day 50: Yoga

Recovery week #2 begins.

Began with yoga, which to me is no recovery.

Tried my best to get through the whole thing, but it's really frustrating. Still. And repetitive. Still.

Only thing I like about this yoga workout, asides from the once-mentioned pushups, is how much it works my core. Definitely feel the abs towards the end. Outside of that, I'd rather be doing pushups and working real muscles.

Recovery week continues tomorrow with Core Synergistics. Remember how much fun that was last time? Actually, I'm pretty excited for it.

Day 49: Kenpo X

Worked off the book again today. Definitely the way to go for Kenpo.

A bit bummed tomorrow starts a recovery week. I feel like I've been a bit behind on everything for some reason, but nothing I can do now. Gotta take yoga seriously. Exited for Core Synergistics to whoop my arse this week.

It all starts with yoga tomorrow.

Namaste.

Day 48: Stretch X, Rest

Consider this to be the one snag in my routine.

Taking today off and doing Kenpo tomorrow. Today's exercise included carrying two kegs up two flights of stairs.

As you might have guessed, today's diet wasn't too spectacular either. First beer in 50+ days.

Tomorrow's gotta be a strong Kenpo workout and for recovery week it's tofu and spinach every night. Feel like I'm lagging a bit.

Day 47: Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X

Tried this workout with the bands rather than the bar today.

Make that the band. Considering my mishap.

Either way, today was interesting. Certainly a more relaxing workout with not having to dread hopping back up on the bar for switch grip pullups.

The band was much easier. Tony's always talking about feeling the strongest burn on the final three moves. It took 18-20 on most of the moves to get to that burn.

Other than that today was fine, legs were good.

Ended with ab ripper x. Oblique v-ups hurt. Mason twists weren't too bad. V-up roll-ups are my favorite move. They're challenging but in a good way.

Tomorrow might be the rest day and I'll do Kenpo Sunday. Busy day lying ahead.

Day 46: Yoga

Still not flexible.

Still can't do crane.

Still not a fan of this DVD.

Get to do it a few times next week during recovery.

Ooohhhmmmm.

Day 45: Back and Biceps, Ab Ripper X

The good news is... I've gotten so strong that I snapped my resistance band.
The bad new is... I've gotten so strong that I snapped my resistance band.

Crap.

First move using the bands, Lawnmowers. Reached down, went to pull up with my left hand, and the band, right near the handle, made a clean break.

So I'm down to one band that's not as elastic. Need to figure something out for the next time I do triceps because this one's not going to reach over my head. I made do for today, but it was a bit tough considering the weight is off from what I've been accustomed to.

As for pullups:

10 Wide grip pullups
10* Switch grip pullups
8** Corn cob pullups
12 Towel pullups
16 Chinups
16 Chinups (max pullups)

* Chair used simply to switch grips, but not to help myself up
** Used the back of a chair to help with these

Pretty similar to last week. Towel pullups felt better today, maybe I was just re-energized today for some reason.

Finished up with abs. Today was the first time I completed 25 reps on both sides of oblique v-ups. Getting those knees up starts to kill towards the end. So yes, 16 attempts later and I've finally mastered that move.

Which brings me to this: It's Day 45. I'm halfway there. That's a pretty damn good feeling. After next week's Recover Week, there are 4 straight workout weeks where Weeks 9 and 11 are the same, and Weeks 10 and 12 are the same. So switching up the routine a lot, should be the toughest 4 weeks of this program. Those are book-ended by recovery weeks. Pretty excited to hit the second half.

Yoga tomorrow.

Day 44: Plyometrics

I can't believe it's March.

I know, that change occurred yesterday. However it didn't really hit me until after I posted and saw Day 43 wind up under March on the right side of my blog. The next time the month changes, I'll be on Day 74 and just a couple weeks from the end. Crazy.

Plyo today wasn't bad. My abs and triceps hurt the most from yesterday.

Pretty tiring, but it's the last time I do plyo for a couple weeks. Next week is recovery, so this is a whole bunch of 'lasts' for me for a while.

Looking forward to Back and Biceps tomorrow. I feel like my arms are seeing the quickest results so I'm eager to get to work on those again.

My posts have been getting shorter only because there's nothing new to say. I don't feel the need to go over moves I've mentioned before. If you've been following my blog you understand what I've been going through. If you're just stumbling upon it now, I recommend reading up on week 1 and week 5 when the routines were brand new to me.

And thanks for those who have been avid followers. Approaching 2000 visits. I know a lot of those are my own, but it's good to know at least someone's out there reading along.

Day 43: Chest, Shoulders and Triceps, Ab Ripper X

Certainly no master of this routine, although today began the final week of this workout.

Getting better with the pushups but I'm not sure even if I did this workout for 10 weeks if I'd be used to Plange Pushups.

Really not much to say for today. In a pretty good amount of pain after that one, and completely collapsed at the end of ab ripper x. Today was the 16th time I've done that workout, meaning the 1st day of the 2nd half. Hopefully that means only 14 more times til I'm chiseled (doubt that).

Plyo tomorrow.

Day 42: Stretch X, Rest

Using my Sunday as an off-day again. Maybe I'll do some stretches later, but nothing too intense.

I felt something today I basically haven't felt at all over the past 40+ days: Being overly full.

By eating small meals I've remained satisfied, but never uncomfortable. I had a slightly larger meal today, including half a rotisserie chicken and some olives. I know it doesn't sound like too much, and you know what, it probably wasn't. I'm going to take an educated guess and say that my appetite has grown smaller over the past 6 weeks.

For the past few hours now I've really been angry about how full I am. This has to be just the second or third time since I began p90x that I've been this way. And I really don't like it.

As for everything else, I'm pretty excited for tomorrow. It's the final time we complete this 'week', meaning I should be a master of the routine. Doubt that will be the case, but should certainly be better with everything.

Abs looked good today (before becoming overly full). Going to work on them as hard as possible this week because next week is for recovery, meaning no ab ripper x.

Maybe once I digest I'll go stretch. Maybe.

Day 41: Kenpo X

Did Kenpo off the book today. Two advantages:

1.) No Tony
2.) Go at my own speed.

It's too nice of a Saturday to be slowed down by those two factors.

I've done these moves enough times now to understand what I'm doing. While the DVDs set a nice rhythm, I just didn't feel like it today.

Worked about 20% quicker than the DVD. Also not restricted by the number of punches and kicks to perform.

Nothing like a little System of a Down to go with side-step, high sword low hammers. Only band I seem to enjoy when working out. Suggestions for others?

Day 40: Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X

Day 40.

forty

Wow. This has been flying by.

Now I'm not Christian, but I know lent is 40 days long. So what did I give up for my p90lent?

In the past 40 days I haven't had:

-A single beer
-Soda
-Greasy bacon
-Any fast food

Not that the latter two were really staples of my life, and I haven't had soda in about 6 months anyway, but it's all pretty noteworthy to me. And yes, a 22 year old has gone 40 days without a beer. Can't say the same about wine or gin though.

To celebrate the end of p90lent, today came on strong with legs and back:

14 Reverse grip chin ups
12 Wide grip pullups (8 unassisted, 5 assisted)
12 Close grip overhead pullups
12 Switch grip pullups
13 Reverse grip chin ups
10 Wide grip pullups (8 unassisted, 2 assisted)
10 Close grip overhead pullups
12 Switch grip pullups (assisted)

Surprised myself with reverse grip both times as well as the first go around of wide grip. Everything else was pretty standard today. Standard considering where I am. Day 1 these would have been stellar.

Those calf raises still beat the heck out of me. Better be working. I know my quads feel a lot stronger compared to when I began.

Finished up with ab ripper x. I'm halfway through with this routine (15 out of 30 times complete). Abdominal region feels so much harder right now. Just bit of fat left on top until these burst through. Hopefully before Day 60 so I have some results to show.

50 days left.

Day 39: Yoga

Alright I gave it another go. I figured the core workouts would be worth it.

Some of the warrior poses are repetitive to the point of anger. If I was more flexible, which I'm happily working on, it'd be a more enjoyable workout. But as I've said before, I'm not. So the fast forward button was used a bit more than usual today to get to the seated, more balance focused poses.

One thing I do enjoy about the first half of the workout, is that amidst the warriors and runners poses are a handful of pushups. After plank to chaturanga to upward dog, you come back to plank, perform a pushup, and go into downward dog. The pushup is optional, but considering it's the lone time we work a specific muscle group, I do it and enjoy it each time.

Then there are some moves in the abs series that are stunningly hard. Boat is a pain the ass. One legged boat is even worse.

Crane? Getting there, but certainly no extended balance.

Legs and back tomorrow. And more glorious ab ripper x.

Day 38: Back and Biceps, Ab Ripper X

Second time through this routine. Didn't make pullups any easier.

10 Wide grip pullups
12* Switch grip pullups
8** Corn cob pullups
12 Towel pullups
15 Chinups
17 Chinups (max pullups)

* Chair used simply to switch grips, but not to help myself up
** Used the back of a chair to help with these

Corn cob pullups are so tough. I hope later on in my 90 days I can get 6-8 of these without the assistance of a chair.

Compared to Day 31 my numbers are up, but I'll attribute that to being weak after my recovery week.

Numbers were up in chinups and max pullups which is good. Everything else was pretty standard.

As for biceps, today felt strong. Never seen the veins in my forearms bulge as much as they did today during some moves. I'd be interested to know what weight I'd be comfortable with at the gym on some of these moves. Bands obviously don't tell you the resistance in pounds.

Finished up with abs. Pretty good today, got through all of the mason twists, almost all of the bicycles, and getting a lot stronger with the oblique v-ups.

Yoga scheduled for tomorrow. Maybe I'll give it another go.

Day 37: Plyometrics

I'm sore.

Warmups today hurt. Any kind of stretching that included arms and/or chest were a struggle. Luckily, plyo's intent is not to destroy your upper body.

It destroys your lower body. Great.

No worse than any other day, but still less than a joy to perform.

I'm getting pretty good at the 360 degree torso twists. Basically you stand with your feet shoulder width apart, jump and spin all the way around, land on your feet, and repeat. First time I tried these I nearly slammed my head into my dresser, but a bit more balanced now.

Outside of that everything's pretty standard. This 'week' is certainly more difficult than the first 'week' that was repeated 3 times. I'm almost midway through round 2 of week 2, and already I'm unexcited for the pain from tomorrow's back and biceps.

Bring on corn cob pullups.

Day 36: Chest, Shoulders and Triceps, Ab Ripper X

Every single move today ended with a wince.

I guess that's a good thing. I'll give whoever created this routine credit, cause this workout hurts.

Pushups, tricep extensions, shoulder presses. Just make slight variations for each workout and you have a 45 minute ass-kicking session.

I like the pushups where you move your hands out to the sides, but really despise to the slow ones. I'm sure it's working wonders, but it's similar to resistance bench press, and that was never enjoyable.

Chair dips last week really hurt. Only got through 16 before failure. Today I struggled through 20. Considering triceps make up 60% of your upper arm, it's definitely important to get these strong. Chair dips, throw the bomb, and all the other extensions must be working. Cause they hurt.

As for shoulders, they do some moves in this that I've never heard of / seen / tried anywhere.

Scarecrows: Stand with feet apart, arms out parallel to the ground. Bend the elbow at a 90 degree angle so your knuckles face the ground. Light weights / bands in each hands. Pivot at the elbow so your knuckles face away from you then up to the ceiling, mimicking the stance of a scarecrow. That's one. Then keeping your arms up, pivot back to the starting position, and repeat.

Fly-Row-Press: Arms at your side with weights / bands in each hand. Keep your arms straight and come straight up until parallel to the floor. Bring them back down, then perform an up-right-row. From the peak of this move, pivot on your elbow so you're in a bicep-flexing positiong. Then pressing the weights / bands over your head, a shoulder press. That's one. Bring it back down and repeat.

Honestly felt every single move today, which means tomorrow should be lovely when it comes to my level of soreness.

Finished with abs. I'm amazed that I'm still not entirely comfortable with this whole routine. Plyo tomorrow.

Day 35: Stretch X, Rest

Off day. Enjoying it.

Decided not to pursue yoga today. Seeing that tomorrow we dive right back into pushups, I don't need to be sore going into that.

Today I just sat around and tried to eat healthy:

-Nature Valley bar
-Pistachio nuts
-Jack Link's nuggets (look up the nutrition, not bad at all)
-Can of tuna
-Perhaps some eggs later.

Feeling like eating light today, no heavy meals.

Oh, and lots of water.

Day 34: Kenpo X

Outside of those five moves during Cardio X, I haven't done Kenpo in 10 days. So today really felt good.

I decided I hate the music in most of the videos. This program's 'Normal' videos have Tony talking, with slight beeps to indicate a new move, and their version of workout music playing in the background. They creators are nice though as they also give you the option to watch the videos without the music (and Tony if you really want silence).

The worst music is actually in ab ripper x. I don't know why, but there's one move, I think during hip rock and raise, where both Tony and the music increase in intensity at the same time. My guess is that it's supposed to motivate you. However, its incredibly discouraging for some reason. So while abs weren't today, moving forward I'll make sure to supply my own tunage.

So yes, I did kenpo sans the music. For one, it's a bit more calming. However, the greatest benefit to me is that there's no music aligned with the moves. Yes, they set music to the rhythm of the punches and kicks that Tony and the gang throw. It's much easier to add reps when you don't find yourself inclined to punch with the drum.

As you can tell there's not much to talk about today. I've done this routine 5 times now so I'm comfortable with all the moves. My kicks are getting noticeably prettier, and I definitely picked up the intensity and did a handful more punches than what's performed in the video.

Abs hurt like hell today. I guess seeing that yesterday was the 3rd time doing abs this week, after a week of rest, they're not too happy about their return to boot camp.

Perhaps some yoga tomorrow. Or I'll just enjoy my day off. We'll see.

Day 33: Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X

I can understand why this program is supposed to get your back ripped. This is the second back workout this week. I tracked my results, as usual:

12 Reverse grip chin ups
10 Wide grip pullups
11 Close grip overhead pullups
10 Switch grip pullups
12 Reverse grip chin ups
10 Wide grip pullups (5 unassisted, 5 assisted)
8 Close grip overhead pullups
12 Switch grip pullups (assisted)

Looking back to Day 19, the last time I did this routine, my numbers got a bit stronger. My numbers never dipped, I used less assistance from a chair, and in some cases even added a rep. Last time I went through this I used bands for that final switch grip pullups set, but today I burned through as much as I could unassisted, then used a chair.

I haven't discussed the leg workouts too much. I guess definition in leg muscles doesn't come through as noticeably as the upper body, so outside of my calves I'm not too concerned of the physical appearance. That being said, I definitely feel stronger. Wall sits aren't as dreaded as they used to be. Lunges of all sorts hurt but in a good way.

The move I felt the most were Calf Raises: Stand with your legs shoulder width apart, feet pointing out. Lift yourself up onto your toes, hold for a second, then down. Repeat 15 times, then do 10 quick ones. Then make your feet run parallel to one another, and repeat, 15 slow, 10 fast. Then point your feet in towards one another, and perform 15 slow, 10 fast. At the gym I was used to doing 3 sets of 10-15 calf raises with a minute break in between. This was 75 total reps with no breaks in between. Felt this from my Achilles heel all the way up to my arse.

Finished up with ab ripper X. "I hate it ... but I love it"

Here's my math:

Ab ripper X is 16 minutes long. It's done 3 times a week, for 10 of the 13 weeks. That's 30 times, at 16 minutes each, or 480 total minutes. 8 hours. If I told you that you could have a 6-pack 8 hours from now, wouldn't you work as hard as you could for those 8 hours? It's really not that long, so I'm trying my hardest to get the most of this workout. And yes, I think it's working.

Tomorrow's Kenpo. If anyone would like to find me a life-size cardboard cutout of Tony, I'd love to use him as a target for that routine.

Day 32: Cardio X

Yes, my schedule says to do yoga.
Yes, I changed my schedule.

I tried out Cardio X today. I've now officially tried each of the 12 DVDs. I liked this one. It was constant movement and only 45 minutes long.

Cardio X is a mix of everything. The first five moves are part of yoga; the next five moves are part of kenpo; the next five moves are part of plyo; the final five moves are part of core. And there are no breaks in between.

Part 1, Yoga:

Moves from the first half of the yoga DVD. Each move starting with plank with pushups, downward dog, upward dog, and all turning into poses such as warrior one, reverse warrior and runner's pose. Heart rate was pumping between 130 and 140 for this. A 10 minutes taste of yoga seemed a lot better than 90 minutes of balancing like a tree.

Part 2, Kenpo:

A good mix of moves from the kenpo DVD. Three-way kicks, jab/hook/cross/uppercut, hook/uppercut/sidekick, among a couple others. Heart was between 140 and 155 for this. While it's more movement of the limbs, you do come to complete stops between each.

Part 3, Plyo:

They chose a few of the easier moves from the plyo DVD for this. Swing kicks worked my heart the hardest, up to 165 beat per minute. Airborne heisman and jump shots are mediocre in difficulty, and wacky jacks are just plain, dare I say it, wacky. I'd rather do jumping jacks or the X-jacks instead.

Part 4, Core:

My least favorite due to the intensity, but certainly beneficial. 50 steam engines. A steam engine is a standing crunch. Hands behind your head, lift a knee and bring the opposing elbow to it. Then the other elbow to the other knee. That's one. Fifty of those. They also decided to incorporate Dreya rolls and superman/bananas. Definitely a tough finish.

But definitely better than Yoga. Maybe I'll try parts of yoga on my off day this Sunday, but definitely going to come back to this one on a regular basis.

Day 31: Back and Biceps, Ab Ripper X

All of Monday's moves pushed away from the body. That's how one strengthens the chest and triceps, as well as the shoulders. Today, towards the body for the back and biceps.

This is how I used to group muscles at the gym, so it's a bit more familiar of a pain. That doesn't mean it was easy.

Today's workout went: back, back, bicep, bicep. One move on the pullup bar, the next using resistance bands/dumbbells, then two bicep moves with bands/dumbbells.

Pullups were terrible, and it's a combination of the toughest moves and being week and a half removed from any pullups:

9 Wide grip pullups
8 Switch grip pullups
10 Corn cob pullups (assisted)
12 Towel pullups
12 Chinups
12 Chinups (max pullups)

Corn cob pullups: Wide grip pullups, then while above the bar, move your upper body to the right, then to the left, then center, then pushup your body away from the bar, then down. 1. Then repeat. I did two until I needed help from the chair. That's awful.

Towel pullups: Take a hand towel and wrap it over the bar. Grab the towel in one hand while the other holds onto the bar. Pull yourself up three times, come down, then switch the towel to the other hand. Repeat.

Max pullups: Choose any pullup move and perform until failure. Two guys in the video chose wide grips while the gal chose corn cob. I tried straight chinups, which are narrow grip with your palms towards you. Even the 'easiest' ones for me were a struggle to pull off 12.

As for the biceps I really enjoyed today. It was the first day that really targeted just the biceps. The arms part of Shoulders and Arms works on the triceps and biceps. However today was a ton of different standard curls, hammer curls, supination curls, etc.

Finished up with abs. Got through all 50 mason twists. Then my body crumbled into a mold of jello.

Tomorrow I'm going to try out Cardio X in lieu of Yoga.

Day 30: Plyometrics

I thought I'd dread plyo days when I began this program. But I don't. In fact, I look forward to it now.

Tonight was good. It's so much different than anything else they have you do, including core synergistics. Cardio X is one of only two DVDs I haven't tried yet, but I don't think it could match plyo.

I tried to work hard through moves I had trouble with before. Went pretty well, outside of almost collapsing from 360 degree torso twists.

As for my pain level from yesterday, it's pretty high. My whole front upper body hurts. Chest, triceps, shoulders. They're all connected and during the middle of the night they banded together and decided, 'we're going to provide a lot of pain tomorrow.'

What's good, however, is that the pain in those areas didn't hinder any moves during plyo. The only thing that might have been affected was my arm swing during my Rock Star Jumps. But that's all.

Now, seeing that today's Day 30, I must provide photos. Let me start by saying this:

You can't target fat loss. If I could have lost more around my love handles than I could have around my ribs, I would have. But that's not my decision. More oblique exercises would only have strengthened muscle but not burned away that fat. That's a shame.

Want to feel terrible about yourself? Go take a picture of yourself, and trace (either in Photoshop or by hand) your love handles. That'll motivate you to get your ass in shape.

I blurred out my face because while most of you who follow this know who I am, I really don't need my face (or back of my head) associated with this blog.

Okay, enough procrastinating, here it goes:





Am I happy so far? Well if I wasn't doing p90x I'd be in the shape on the left, today. So yes, I've made progress. I really hope Day 60 is a much more drastic of a change than this.

And no, my room is not purgatory. I cut myself out of the backgrounds to clear the clutter of my room.

Tomorrow Back and Bis. Gotta get those arms ripped.