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.

Day 29: Chest, Shoulders and Triceps, Ab Ripper X

Child's play.

Phase I, that is.

What a start to Phase II. I guess those first four weeks were to weed out the weak. Now it's gametime. Wow.

First move after 9 days of no muscle training:

3-in-1 Pushups: Wide armed pushups, 4 seconds to go down, 4 seconds to get up. Then standard pushups, also with this slow count. Then military pushups, yes, slowly down and slowly up. Then at the end, fast pushups until failure. Welcome back pecs.

Chair Dips: This is when I realized that tomorrow's going to be painful. Only pulled off 16 of these before failure, then finished up with five more. At the end of week 3 I was burning through 20 to 25 of these with ease. Welcome back triceps.

Pike Press: Wide pushup stance but with a big arch in the back. Press your chin towards your chest, and dip the crown of your head to the floor. Perform until failure. Welcome back shoulders.

Wow.

Nothing was repeated during the hour long routine. Some other insane moves from today:

Two Speed Fast Twitch Pushups: Four fast pushups, followed by three standard pushups performed slowly, taking four seconds to go down and four seconds to go back up. Repeat.

One Arm Pushups: Wide legs, one arm in the middle under your chest. And perform a pushup. Or try to perform a pushup. Even while balancing on my knees these were next to impossible for me.

Clap Pushups: I actually enjoyed these because it's a move I've tried before. Wide grip pushup, and on the upward movement clap your hands together, land and go back down. I got about 8 done before burning out.

'Wow' is the best word to sum up this workout.

Then we welcomed back Ab Ripper X. Also showed how much the absence of muscle training affects the body. Really tough to work through all 16 minutes. I pulled off 30 mason twists before resting my legs for a bit, then finished up with 15+ after. But before the recovery week I was able to complete all 40 strong.

Tomorrow Plyo. I expect to be very sore in the morning.

Day 28: Stretch X, Rest

An off day. Entirely an off day.

While I know numerically I'm a few days shy of being 1/3 of the way finished, based on stages it feels like I'm that far in. Finishing week 4 means it's the end of Phase I. With two more phases to go, I say I'm a third of a way in a sense.

I'm actually really excited for tomorrow's workout. A new DVD that I'm sure I'll struggle with. Again, that's the whole point of this workout. Shock the body. Tomorrow should feel like I'm starting over, which means Tuesday I'm going to be really sore.

I'm even excited for Ab Ripper X to return. While my abs literally feel firmer/stronger than before, I've got to say that this recovery week has made me believe that I've lost some of my muscle there. 349 reps here I come.

Day 27: Yoga

Oh yoga, how I hate thee.

Everytime I perform this DVD I seem to come up with a new qualm about it. I don't mean to nitpick the routine. I'm sure for those who really enjoy yoga, 90 minutes of this would be a thrill. And if I could perform all these moves as I should, it'd be a thrill for me too. But it's not.

My new qualm is where this plays into the whole mix of getting in shape. I just don't believe that these stretching and balancing poses are going to get me toned. Success in doing pullups equates to building muscle. Success in royal dancer does not. Unless you'd like to somehow prove me otherwise.

In 63 days, when I complete p90x and I'm hopefully in better shape than I am now, I doubt I'll be able to get any lower on prayer twists. I hope I'm wrong, but that's my problem with yoga. Next time this comes up in the workout routine I might substitute it with Cardio X, a routine that makes sense for what I'm trying to achieve.

As for Crane, it doesn't hurt my wrists as much as it used it, but my balance just isn't quite there to sustain the move for an extended period of time. I took Tony's advice and surrounded myself with a couple pillows in case I should fall forward. Which I did. Gave me a bit more confidence to go full steam ahead. Pillow > Bed Frame.

Stretching tomorrow and a whole new workout on Monday.

Day 26: Core Synergistics

Synergy is when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Hence core synergistics. It's many different things that separately are pretty good for you. Together, they kick the living daylights out of you. Especially when you incorporate beer and batteries. What?

The nicest thing about p90x is the fact that I can, and in fact do, each workout at home. There's no need to mope about going out to the gym. All it takes is some space and a play button. But when it's time to incorporate other materials like towels and weights that one might have at a gym, well that's when you improvise.

Today was much better than Day 23 when I struggled with this routine. Maybe it's because it's Friday. Maybe it's because I had music overriding Tony the Tiger. I don't know, but today was much more fun.

Some of the moves are just ridiculous still:

Banana Rolls: Start off on your back, in the banana position. Legs straight and off the floor, arms straight, reached back over your head and off the floor. Then roll on your right side, still keeping legs and arms off the floor. Then onto your stomach, the superman position, with yes, arms and legs off the floor. Then your other side, then reverse and repeat. The good thing about this exercise? Rarely do I roll around on my living room floor, so I did get to see how dirty it is underneath my couch.

Plank to Chaturanga Runs: While in pushup position (plank), run by kicking your knees in underneath you. Then drop your elbows in close to your body, dropping close to the floor while still supporting yourself with just your hands and feet (chaturange). And try to run. Felt like a Cadet trying to run underneath barbed wire.

Then came some more enjoyable moves:

Lunge Kickback Curl and Press: With a light weight, lunge forward. With a flat back, kickback your arms to work your triceps. Bring them back to your waist. Lift your chest, curl the weight followed by a shoulder press. Stand, lunge with the other leg and repeat. Now, this is where my makeshift workout began. I don't have weights, I have bands. Those don't work for this. So what can I grasp in each hand that will at least add some resistance? Two bottles of beer. While they weren't heavy they did in fact make the nice 'clink' noise weights make. Maybe for more resistance next time I won't use a Light beer [ba-dum-ching].

Towel Hopping: Place a folded up hand towel on the floor and for 60 seconds, hop with two feet back and forth over it. I didn't feel like stopping my workout and finding one. However, an 8-pack of AA batteries worked just as well.

Prison cell pushups are still ridiculous but I definitely got a few more sets in than last time. Dreya rolls, or as I like to call them Reverse Wonka Rolls, look easy. Until you realize that Dre, the ripped gal who made these up, has 16 ab muscles bulging through.

Tomorrow's Yoga, a Saturday disappointment compared to Kenpo. Perhaps a few seconds of proper crane? Ehh we'll see.

Day 25: Stretch X

I said I'd take stretching seriously today, and I did.

While I procrastinated all day to do it, once I got the mat out it was really enjoyable. This is only the second time I've done the DVD, as the other stretch/rest days I've done some stretching on my own.

Tony's bearable in this one. He doesn't expect 25 reps of wide grip pullups. He understands you're not flexible, and respects grabbing your ankles while the rest of his crew grabs 6 yards beyond their toes.

Arms circles kill. Yes, arm circles. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, arms out parallel to the ground, and make small circles. Then reverse. The make them bigger, but cup your hands down like a pterodactyl. Ow.

Then there are so many great leg stretches built into this routine. By contorting your body in manageable ways, reaching through space your legs create, and pulling, you can really stretch anything from your quad to your glutes to your calves.

There are more difficult moves, like shoulder stands to plough. Or the lovely yoga move 'bow'. There's always something to work towards with the moves I struggle with, so hopefully I'm getting better. And perhaps more flexible.

Overall I think today was pretty productive for simply stretching.

Tomorrow's core again. At least I know what to expect this time.

Day 24: Kenpo X

I woke up today and was definitely sore from Core. I couldn't tell exactly where I hurt. But I hurt.

After rest, yoga and then core, Kenpo today was a nice change back to something I've enjoyed before.

Not too much to report. I burned through it trying to focus on the space I was punching and kicking. It's one thing to focus on the wall or tv out in front of you, but it's another to focus on punching as if someone is right in your face. It helps me think about what I'm doing, which means my moves are delivered better rather than just flailing my limbs.

Tomorrow's a stretch day for which I'll follow the DVD seriously. Followed by core then yoga.

Off to a nice can of sardines to get the post-workout protein.

Day 23: Core Synergistics

Holy ____.

Recovery week my ass.

The whole point of p90x, as I mentioned in my prelude to this blog, is to refuse your body the ability to plateau. There's no hitting a mark and sitting there. It's all about progressing. Today was a prime example.

Core synergistics focuses on, you guessed it, your core. Tony defines this as the area located between your pecs and your waist, front and back. Every move targets that area. It's not that big of a region, yet we didn't repeat a single move.

They have you start this week 4, and not week 1, because there's no way in hell week 1 was I going to complete any of these moves. Easiest thing we did today was a couple normal pushups mixed into their insane routines. I wish I could explain them all, but here go a couple:

Started with the easiest of all the moves, Stacked Foot / Staggered Hands Push-up: Pushup position, but one foot on top of the other. One hand further in front of you than the other. The front arm bends so the elbow flares out, the back arm bends so the elbow stays tight next to your body. Switch arms every 5 reps. Heck, this won't be so bad at all.

Until the minutes ended and it came time for banana rolls. And leaning crescent lunges. And squat runs. Then it was back to pushups. So chest/core, abs/back/core, legs/core, quads/arms/core. And repeat.

Sphinx Pushup: Laying on just your toes and your forearms, use your arms to push yourself up until your arms are straight. Lower and repeat. At this point I was praying to go back to diamond pushups from Day 1.

Then they mixed in some yoga moves, which I already have trouble with. Bow to Boat: Start on your stomach, reach back and with legs bent, grab your ankles. Pull legs to raise your chest. I know it doesn't sound like it makes sense. But it's doable. Then flip over, lift legs about 60 degrees off the ground, and raise head to work the abs. And flip over to repeat.

And so on and so forth.

Remember squat thrusts from gym class (start standing, crouch, kick out legs into pushup position, bring legs in, stand and repeat)? That was clearly inspiration for Prison Cell Pushups.

Just watch (unfortunately Tony's version is not on youtube, so I found this guy):



Honestly, this is not a break week. And, this 110% shut me up for whimpering about not doing Ab Ripper X.

Tomorrow Kenpo, a nice step back to something I can do.

Day 22: Yoga

A new week and a new set of workouts.

Only one new routine, Core Synergistics, which shows up tomorrow. Today? Back to Yoga.

Trying to take yoga this week a bit more seriously considering this is a staple of these 6 days' workouts.

However, considering it's yoga, there's not much to say. There are so many moves where i constantly look up to the video, cock my head, and say 'what'? Just not my thing.

Still no success with the crane either and it's beginning to get frustrating.

Tomorrow's my first go at Core Synergistics which I'm pretty excited for.

Day 21: Stretch X, Rest

A final day of rest before recovery week begins.

Stretch X is required during this week, so I'll skip it today and look forward to it in the coming week. I'll do some stretching today, but overall it's an off day. Which means there's not a lot to report. So unless you care about granola bars, stop reading now.

Yes, granola bars. Protein bars. Any of those types of bars, I have been trying them all. I'm looking for one that meets all my wants/needs that I can stick with, and perhaps buy in bulk for the next 70 days. Here's what I've come across:

Protein bars suck. They're dense, generally high in carbs, and while they're about 25g+ of protein, they taste like a mix of sand, chalk and chocolate.

Kashi bars are good, supposedly good for you, but not high enough in protein. It's almost a waste when looking to pack protein into your diet.

Cliff bars are too sweet. They're okay for you, also a bit heavy on carbs. While they've got some protein, they taste like they have 3x more sugar too. Tasty, but not worth it.

Nature Valley bars are pretty damn good. They're very flavorful while not being loaded with sugar, have a decent amount of protein, and are pretty filling for a snack. These have been one of my go-to.

Finally, Balance Gold bars. For protein these have been my favorite. They're about two-thirds the size of the dense protein bars, don't taste like a sandbox, and have a ton of vitamins, most at between 25%-50% of your daily value.

Now, why did I just go through this? Cause I have nothing else to say, that's why.

Oh, so after a few days of measuring at different points of the day, right now I'm at about 11% body fat. I really wish I got that device before Day 1 to see what my body fat was then. Considering this is the fat burning phase I'd like to hope I've burned some off already. Can only hope it goes down from here on. My goal is 8% or lower by Day 90.

Day 20: Kenpo X

Let the cardio games begin.

It's not officially week 4 yet but I don't do any muscle training for nine more day.

Kenpo's still pretty enjoyable but a bit repetitive now. I fast forwarded through all the breaks today, trying to keep my heart rate up throughout. It was pumping between 110 and 150 beats per minute pretty much throughout.

Kicking is still not my forte but I don't think I'm as awkward now as I was the first time around.

Certainly looking forward to next week. The new DVD that's incorporated is core synergistics. From what I've read it's a mix between legs, back, abs and overall core.

Day 19: Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X

Overslept a bit. I worked out, but jumping directly into it to make sure I completed every move led to a much tougher morning.

Legs weren't bad, lunges are lunges. One-legged wall sits weren't easy today, but overall the legs and calves weren't the issue.

The back was. Pullups were tough. I have a theory outside of my rushed workout as to why this was the case: Today was the last day of muscle building during Phase I. Next week is cardio, yoga, etc. No muscles, and as I said, even no abs. So my guess is that I'm just burnt out. The week off is to let your muscles rest and fully recover. Then we destroy them again from weeks 5 through 7. So I'll attribute my lower numbers today to a combination of both those things:

12 Reverse grip chin ups
10 Wide grip pullups
10 Close grip overhead pullups
10 Switch grip pullups (assisted)
10 Reverse grip chin ups
10 Wide grip pullups (assisted)
8 Close grip overhead pullups (assisted)
16 Switch grip pullups*

*Resistance band instead of pullup bars

I've used the term since Day 1 but never explained what 'assisted' means. It means I use a chair to help my balance as I pull myself up. It's about 2 feet in front of the pullup bar, and it makes it a bit easier because you're not using just your back (or chest depending on the day) to pull yourself up.

Finished with abs. Also the last day for 9 days. The usual, which is a good thing. When I would do 8 minute abs I got used to the workouts. You don't get used to most of these moves. Also doing it every other day, rather than every day, makes it tough each time.

11 more days til I view side-by-sides of Day 1 versus Day 30. Should be good.

Kenpo tomorrow then 'recovery' week begins.

Day 18: Yoga

I figured out my problem with Yoga:

You're supposed to clear your mind for the whole session. Think about nothing except, umm, how balanced you are. I picture people doing this in a padded room with no windows, no people, and maybe even no Tony.

Well I don't have that. I've been doing Yoga at night, after I come home. I have the entire day on my mind, as well as getting through these stunts, and what I'm doing after it. Morning was no better when I tried that. Too much strenuous stretching for 7am, and the calming ones put me to sleep.

Put it all together and it's just not the most productive routine for me. Maybe next week, when we do it twice within 6 days, I'll try to clear my mind more. But not tonight.

I might be a bit more flexible than I was day one, but I certainly wouldn't call myself flexible. At all. Some stretches feel like I'm reaching further. I can just about grab some toes when sitting with a leg extended. Then I look up and see the 4 of them reaching past their toes, to the end of a yoga block pressed to the sole of their foot. And that just makes me feel great.

I found the position today that is the encouragement any guy needs to go to a yoga class full of girls. It's called Frog. I don't make it down very far. The ladies in the video do. Just look it up.

Per Crane: Nope. Still can't find a balancing point. It kills my wrist and I truly feel as if I'm just going to collapse on my head. As I did last week. This is why performing Crane is my goal for week 12, not week 3.

As for everything else, I invested in two things: A bathroom scale and a body fat monitor. I'm about 15 pounds lighter now than when I was at my peak while working out at school. I'd like to hope that a lot of that is fat but I know most of it is lost muscle.

I'm going to give myself a couple days of weighing and gauging body fat before I post the numbers.

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 16: Plyometrics

Remember Jimmy from Seinfeld?

Jimmy's under the boards.
Jimmy's in the open.
Jimmy makes the shot...

Jimmy's going into shock.

That's Tony. Well he doesn't always speak in the third person, but there's one move where after he's beat, he bends over and goes:

Tony's grabbing his knees!

And he sounds exactly like Jimmy.

As for the workout, today was the first Plyo day with my heart rate monitor. I made note of just some of my numbers:

140/161 run stance squat switch pickup
150/163 circle run

179/170 jump knee tucks
178/165 twist combos

160/155 run squat 180 jump switches
158/154 monster truck tires

147 throw and catch
150 catch and shoot
154 football heroes

Beats per minute. First set / second set.

At first I recognized that the second time around my heart rate was higher. Figured that was going to be the case throughout, considering the first set is done after a break, the second is the repeated time sans break. But as I continued I noticed two things: The second set ended up being lower, and I wasn't reaching 160/170/180 as much. Here's my explanation, and there's zero scientific backing to it:

At first it took a while for me to get going. The repeated efforts became exhausting. Eventually, my body got used to the movement, and so I stayed more constant around 150. Also, heart rates are generally lower in the morning. My guess is that most, if not all of these numbers would be higher in the evening.

Plyo's one of the DVDs that doesn't go away when we switch routines. That means I'll be able to track my heart rate next week compared to these results.

Brett's grabbing his knees.

Day 15: Chest and Back, Ab Ripper X

Ow.

Let's work backwards. Today ended with abs. If there's one thing I really want to get out of these 90 days, it's to lose my belly fat and to show some abs. 2-pack, 4-pack, 6-pack. I don't care if it doesn't end up being perfect, but I'm going to push through these 16 minutes, 3 times a week, to get as close as possible.

Pushed through some moves today I've had trouble with, including the scissor exercise I've touched on before, and mason twists.

Mason twists, or as I know them 'Russian twists' (cause they're as insane as Russian Roulette), are as follows: Sit on your butt. Feet off the ground. Hands clasped together, and twist left then right, touching the floor each time. That's 1. Tony does it 40+ times, all in a row. The first two weeks I would do 20, then pause, then 20, then collapse. Today I pushed through all 40, then collapsed. Tony does 50. His bonus ones are obviously put in to make you feel like crap.

As I said yesterday, this is the third time we repeat the same 7 days of workouts. This is the week we master what we've done. I wouldn't say I've mastered it by any stretch, but compared to week 1, Day 1, this was great:

Standard Pushups: 20 / 12
Wide Grip Pullups: 8 / 8 (165)
Military Pushups: 14 / 10
Reverse Chinups: 12 / 10 (162)

Wide Fly Pushups : 12 / 10
Close Grip Overhand Pullups: 8 / 8 ( 173)
Decline Pushups: 10 / 10
Heavy Pants: 15 / 14 (145)

Diamond Pushups: 10 / 8 (160)
Lawn Mower: 14 / 14
Dive Bomber Pushups: 8 / 8 (175)
Back Fly: 12 / 14

(Numbers in parentheses indicates my heart rate after one of the two sets)

Yes, my heart rate monitor finally arrived. I think it'll be great for cardio heavy days, such as tomorrow's Plyometrics. However I tried it out tonight to see how I do with pushups and pullups. Really high intensity workouts should be around 200-220 beats per minutes (BPM).

One-sixth of the way through this program.