Day 59...Shoulders/Arms/ARX

After a long break I went back to Shoulders/Arms today and it was a fantastic workout! I increased my weight and reps for most of the exercises and was especially feeling good about putting up 25's on the Deep Swimmers press...10 more than I did the last time. I noticed I was sore after Friday's Chest workout so it will be interesting to see how I feel tomorrow. 

Today's Meals

Breakfast: Cheese Scrambler with turkey bacon. Wheat bagel, Juice and coffee black. (It seems like a lot but the nutrition guide says I have to eat 3,000 calories a day now...and when I don't I feel light-headed during the workout)

Snack: Accelerade

Lunch: Grillin' Beans with applesauce (I'm running out of food again)

Dinner: I'm going to grill something...possibly burgers. 

Tomorrow is Yoga and that makes me happy. Sorry for the absence between posts...I'll try to keep that to a minimum. Later.

Day 57...Chest/Back/ARX

This is it...one more phase to go! This weekend is going to be very hectic with work, Memorial Day, beginning this new phase, and my wedding shower tomorrow. I have a lot on my plate and I want to post for last night's workout before I forget.

After a 5 week hiatus I had to do Chest/Back again, and I will have to say that I was excited for it! That seems weird to say after how much I used to dislike this workout but that was only because it was very hard back then. Yesterday I KILLED this workout! I increased my rep counts on all of the exercises...some by 10 reps! It was amazing to see the differences between my first week rep counts and last night...I'm doing over double the amount! And those damn Diamond Push ups? Killed them too! Surprisingly the most challenging exercise for me last night was the Military Push ups. I did many unaided pull ups and the workout ended on a high note with a great Ab Ripper session. I felt great after this workout!

Yesterday's Meals

Breakfast: Wheat English Muffin with jelly and juice. Coffee black.
Snack: PB&J sandwich
Lunch: Turkey sandwich with an apple
Snack: Protein shake and 2 pieces of string cheese. Accelerade after workout
Dinner: Pizza

If I get the time to post tonight I will, otherwise I will see you in a couple days.

Day 47...Legs/Back/ARX

Let me just go ahead and say it...Jury Duty is one of the most inane, mind-numbing, complete wastes of time. Sitting around for almost 8 hours with nothing to do is a serious test of your patience. I completed my vows in about 2 hours and suffered until the lunch break, after which I brought along a book to read. However, an hour after that I actually got called into the courtroom with a group of 30. The judge interviewed the prospective jurors and either approved or dismissed them based on their answers. You could tell the people that didn't want to do it...they were the one's coming up with some whoppers. One girl even played the damn race card...seriously how f**king desperate to not get picked do you have t be to claim that you are racist in front of a group of 30 people?!? I bet she was proud of herself after when the judge dismissed her. Anyways, I wasn't picked so I went home stressed and in need of a workout.

Legs/Back was good this week. This being my last resistance training day until Phase 3 I really tried to use perfect form, increase pull up rep counts, and increase weight on the lunges. It was tough because I didn't eat much at friggin' jury duty, and what I did eat was Taco Bell because our break was short. Thus I was really struggling to keep up the intensity for the workout. I never realized how hard it is to do these workouts when you don't have a proper nutrition plan for the day. I can say that I am doing more unaided pull ups now and when I do use the chair I push it way back to make it harder. I was happy to do Ab Ripper and get off my feet for a little bit. Reverse bikes killed but I did full Fifer Scissors and V-up/Roll ups. My improvements are very evident during ARX.

Today's Meals

Breakfast: Wheat bagel with peanut butter and coffee black

Snack: No snack...damn jury duty

Lunch: Taco Bell...damn jury duty

Snack: Accelerade after workout. I was starving at this point!

Dinner: Grilled sirloin burger with peas. Absolutely delicious after how little I ate today!

No more jury duty for at least a year so that's nice. I can't handle that crap!

Day 45...Back/Bi's/ARX

Alright...it's time to stop, take a deep breath, and take in the fact that I'm officially HALF WAY through P90X! 

And to mark this auspicious occasion I had to endure Back/Bi's/ARX again today, and boy do I hate those Corn Cob Pull ups! Considering this is the "Mastery" Week I was increasing my rep counts for the exercises when I could but this is one of the harder workouts so it's a challenge just getting through it. My first day of P90X I was using 20 lbs. for the Lawnmowers and I increased that to 40 today...and I will go higher the next time. The improvements are no longer subtle, it's like my body is really starting to adapt to these moves and **gasp** become Stronger! I've never had the muscles that I have now so needless to say I'm pretty happy with how things are going. 

Today's Meals

Breakfast: Cheese Scrambler with turkey bacon, wheat toast, and juice.

Snack: PB&J Sandwich

Lunch: Turkey sandwich with Wheat thins

Snack: Protein shake and Accelerade after workout

Dinner: Salmon fillet with corn.

I only have a few more days and then I'm into the second recovery week. Then I get to do Chest/Back again! Diamond push up...I'm going to conquer you! Have a good night!

Day 43...Chest/Shoulders/Tri's/ARX

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGxL5AFzzMY

Click the link and take a gander at Jack Palance at the Oscars for a second. I'll wait................


.....So yeah, I had to do these again on Friday and trust me I can't hold a candle to Jack Palance. Of course who can? Palance was a man's man, old school Hollywood, and a helluva host for Ripley's Believe it or Not in the 80's. But I digress...

I went over Jason's for this workout and it definitely went better this time. I increased rep counts on a lot of the exercises and the one's that I didn't I increased my weight. The Pike Press was still a downer and the One Arm Push ups were almost impossible, but on most of the other exercises I made some improvements. There's just no getting around the fact that this workout is the most challenging because of the wide variety of hard ass push ups and shoulder exercises. Well, at least I have a three week break before I have to do it again.

Friday's Meals

Breakfast: Cheese Scrambler with turkey bacon. Juice and coffee black.
Snack: PB&J Sandwich
Lunch: Chicken pita with an apple
Snack: Protein shake and Accelerade after workout
Dinner: Grilled Smoked Sausage

Day 40...Legs/Back/ARX

So today I had to sit at a work meeting for most of the day...I guess it was my penance for a Monday off. I didn't eat that well today because the corporate trainer supplied pizza for lunch and it looked a little more appetizing than my Turkey Sandwich. I need more self control. As the day went on a pretty bad headache formed and I just felt like going to bed when I got home. So that's what I did. I got home around four and took a 45 minute nap. When I woke up my headache was there to greet me! There is nothing worse than waking up with a f**king headache and I had two options for the rest of the day. I could take Excedrin and kill the headache fast and pretty much take a rest day because I can't workout on a diuretic, OR I could suck it up, push play, and BRING IT!!

I chose option two because....umm...I don't know why. I guess I would hate myself for missing my scheduled workout. My head was pounding for the warm up and the first 20 minutes of Legs/Back, but somewhere around the Sneaky Lunges and Single Leg Wall Squat my headache magically disappeared! The relief was AMAZING and I pushed hard through the rest of the workout...upping my rep counts on all the exercises including the pull ups. I ate an apple before the workout but I hadn't eaten a proper meal since noon and that was crap pizza, so I was feeling quite famished and a little dizzy when I started Ab Ripper. It went fast though and I was happy to finish all 25 reps on Crunchy Frog for the first time! So that leaves the reverse Bicycles and Fifer Scissors as the only two ARX exercises I have yet to complete in full...but I'm close!

Today's Meals

Breakfast: Cinnamon Wheat Waffles with light syrup. Juice and coffee black.

Snack: 2 pieces of string cheese

Lunch: Pizza...I need to get back in the Nutrition plan without these slip-ups. 

Snack: Apple and Accelerade after workout

Dinner: Turkey Sandwich

It's hard to believe that I'm almost half way done with the program! These first 40 days have gone by relatively quickly and I'm liking the results. I'm not going to toot my own horn here but I will say that today is proof to myself that no matter how terrible I feel, I still find the determination to push play and Bring It again! To anyone reading this I hope that if you're doing P90X as well, you continue to push play and stick with the program no matter what. The ends definitely justify the means...but the means are pretty damn rewarding as well! Later!

Day 38...Back/Bi's/ARX

Missed a post again...I apologize. After work, working out, then hauling the remaining parts of my fence into the dumpster, I was a bit whipped and not really wanting to jump on the computer for a blog post. But I'm here now soooo...

...Today was Back/Bi's/ARX and it was tough. The second week of these phases seems like it always a challenge and today was no exception. One of the main problems I run into is that my dumbell set is one that has removable plates and I hate having to spend extra time switching for every exercise. When I did this workout at Jason's last week he has the solid hexagonal dumbell's which are exactly what I want. Anyways, I matched or increased my rep counts this time for most of the exercises but as the workout progressed I really started to struggle with some of the curls. It was either muscle fatigue or the fact that I didn't have a protein bar before...I need to order another box. I struggled with the Crunchy Frog and Fifer scissors on ARX again but completed FULL reps on the rest! I'm very happy with my Ab Ripper progress over these weeks and I feel like 100% completion is much closer than I thought! 

Yesterday's Meals

Breakfast: Wheat Bagel with peanut butter. Juice and coffee.

Snack: Apple

Lunch: Turkey sandwich with Healthy Choice Garden Veggie soup. Yogurt.

Snack: Accelerade.

Dinner: Ground Sirloin burger with Grillin' Beans and a pickle.

I have a day off today! So I can do my Yoga without feeling rushed. Hopefully this will allow me to have a better session than last week. Later!

Day 36...Chest/Shoulders/Tri's/ARX

Oops, forgot to post yesterday. Considering the amount of work I did you can't blame me.

As previously stated I am in the process of removing my old fence and putting up a new one. Yesterday our dumpster was delivered so Steph and I spent most of the day hauling heavy ass wooden fence panels...if it was a P90X workout it would be called "Fence X." We spent all afternoon doing that and then I had to go and do my workout, which I hate. This one kicked my ass again. I just cannot keep up the intensity and push for full reps on all of those push ups. My arms are completely wasted by the time I have to do the One Arm and Plyo push ups and I can barely do a full set. After all of the progress I have made in this program and the changes I've seen with my body, this F'N workout knocks me down a few pegs every time...and by "few" I mean it makes me look like a complete asshole. Seriously, there were a couple times yesterday where I just shook my head at the screen wondering what the hell was going on. Forget what I've said before about Plyo, Legs/Back, Core Syn.....Chest/Shoulders/Tri's is the HARDEST P90X workout! End of F'N story! I'm going to try to workout with Jason for next week's session, so hopefully that will motivate me.

Yesterday's Meals

Breakfast: 2 Wheat waffles with light syrup. Juicy juice and coffee black.
Snack: Protein Shake
Lunch: Sonic Popcorn chicken....oops...don't think that's in the Nutrition Guide. Sorry Tony.
Snack: Accelerade.
Dinner: Turkey Tom sub from Jimmy Johns. Once again subbed the Mayo for the Vinaigrette.

I have Plyo in about an hour or so and then I get to go outside and do more fence clearing! Yayyyy!! I'm going to be a zombie tonight! Later.

Day 33...Legs/Back/ARX

This has been an exhausting day. I spent most of the day outside tearing down our decrepit fence. It is 30 years old and since we bought our house last year, it has been collapsing in a few places. It also doesn't help that the fence was being completely taken over by vines...not small little branches but HUGE, fuzzy, Prehistoric branches that in some places were the only things holding up the fence panels. Needless to say it was an eyesore that had to be removed. So Steph and I busted our asses ripping out all the panels and sawing away every vine. It's done and we are waiting on Waste Management to deliver our dumpster on Friday.

After such hard work it was not the most pleasant decision that I made when I willed myself into doing the workout tonight. I made sure I ate my protein bar before (my last one), and then I lunged and lunged for an hour. I kicked ass on the pull ups, upping my rep counts by 2-3 on every one. The ISO toe roll was still a very painful exercise but I was able to conquer the wall squats this week. Overall it was one of the better Legs/Back workouts. 

Today's Meals

Breakfast: 2 Whole Wheat Waffles with light syrup. OJ and coffee black.

Snack: Protein shake

Lunch: Vegetarian Chili.

Snack: Protein Bar. Accelerade after workout.

Dinner: Tuna sandwich with a pickle.

Kenpo Kenpo Kenpo....tomorrow is another sweaty day of fighting imaginary people. Then it's another week down. Have a good night!

Day 15...Chest/Back/Ab Ripper X

"Today was a good day."

-Ice Cube-

Work, the workout, Guitar Hero...just an all around great day! I sold a TON of stuff at work, made some great commissions, and inhaled my P90X Protein bar on the way home in preparation of tonight's workout. 

I went over Jason's tonight because I felt that I needed someone to push me during this workout. Although I busted my ass in the previous weeks I still felt that I could have done more. And considering this would be the last time I did Chest/Back until Week 7, I was determined to push myself to fail every exercise I did. I have to say that I just plain KILLED tonight's workout! I increased my rep counts by at least 3 on all of the exercises and I had energy left over for ARX. I think eating the Protein bar before the workout makes a HUGE difference, because tonight and my first Shoulder/Arms night were the best...and that was also a Protein bar night. The great thing is I don't have to do this stinkin' workout for a few weeks...so that's nice. 

Ab Ripper is always tough but I was able to increase my reps on the wide leg sit ups as well as the V-ups. Mason twist was hard because I was completely out of energy by then. Only did 38 continuous reps.

Today's Meals

Breakfast: Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal with skim milk. Juicy Juice Berry.

Snack: PB&J Samich

Lunch: Chicken Pita and an orange. I love this meal!

Snack: P90X Protein Bar

Dinner: Turkey Tom Samich from Jimmy John's. I substituted Mayo with the Vinaigrette and declined cheese. No chips or pop either. This is the healthiest sub they have next to the Veggie sub.

Today was great but I have to suck it up for Plyo tomorrow. It is never easy. Later.

Day 3...Shoulders/Arms/Ab Ripper X

Alright folks, onto Day 3. 

Woke up with soreness in the Tri's and shoulders still. It's probably going to be that way for at least a week because of the shock my body took doing those exercises for the first time. Ab's hurt a little more than yesterday but legs were not that bad. I'm hoping the soreness doesn't creep up on me for my Plyo workout. After a great day of work I got home and made my Recovery Drink, which I drank half of before and the other half after the workout. My friend Jason had me over his house for tonight's festivities because he is on the same schedule, just a week later. 

I liked today's workout a lot! It was nice to be doing exercises I was familiar with like bicep curls and tricep extensions. Don't get me wrong...I worked my ass off tonight and was definitely BRINGING IT! Absolutely KILLED the Chair Dips exercise which surprised me. A few of the shoulder exercises, the fly's in particular, were very hard and some I resorted to using Jason's bands to maintain good form. It actually felt good to do these exercises because they loosened up my sore muscles a lot. Ab Ripper followed and once again it was a very unforgiving 16 minutes. Some of the moves I can do for 3 seconds and then the burning in my core becomes unbearable. I really tried to Bring It this time but it's still a killer workout. My new yoga mat made it bearable because I wasn't getting rug burn tonight...so that's nice.

Today's Meals

Breakfast: Scrambled Egg Beaters on Wheat Bagel with Turkey Bacon and Berry Juice. I also had a cup of coffee black. I tried to make a cup yesterday but I forgot to run water through my new coffee maker before brewing for the first time. I was left with plastic-tasting coffee. MMMM!

Snack: 3 Pieces of String Cheese...2 just doesn't cut it.

Lunch: Turkey samich on wheat with romaine, tomato, and mustard. Apple on the side.

Snack: Recovery Drink before and after workout. Used it to boost my energy without eating food.

Dinner: Boneless Chicken breast with Cajun rub. Peas on the side.

Special Note: I don't drink anything but water for my meals unless noted. 

I just want to say that even though I'm sore as hell, I still feel great after working out and eating well. I'm starting to see the slightest bit of definition in my arms and that is very encouraging. I was telling Jason tonight that every morning I wake up and say to myself "There's no way I can work out today." And every day I suck it up and BRING IT! If any of you are trying P90X and are struggling through the early days, I will say take it one day at a time and stick with it because nothing worthwhile is ever easy.......I freakin' sound like Tony Robbins. 

See you tomorrow for Day 4...Yoga X! Dhalsim would be so proud!