Day 12...Legs/Back/Ab Ripper X

The days are just flying by aren't they? Not really, but I'm trying to forget the fact that it's snowing outside today...in April...technically Spring. When I'm at day 90 it'll be summer and I will be much happier. Just have to take it one day at a time.

Today was Legs/Back/ARX again and it was easier this week. I think all the Plyo and Yoga is increasing my leg strength because I was able to complete most of the exercises with full rep counts. Two position wall squats were still very challenging but at least I was able to push through the pain this time without taking a break. The good news is I only have to do this workout one more time next week and then I get a couple weeks of break from it...which is nice.

Ab Ripper went great today! I struggled in the beginning because the bicycles use the legs and mine were feeling the burn from the workout. However, when it came time to do the Mason Twist I was FINALLY able to do all 50 reps!! I collapsed to the floor and yelled out in triumph! HEYAHH!!! Great feeling indeed! I had my recovery drink as a reward and I will chill out tonight with Steph and a glass of wine...I love days off!

Today's Meals

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

Snack: Protein Shake (Whey and Skim milk)

Lunch: Vegetarian Chili. Steph's recipe and it's delicious!

Snack: Accelerade and 1 piece of string cheese.

Dinner: Chicken Pita from the Nutrition guide. I love it!

I received my P90X protein bars today and I will use them as my a.m. snack here and there. I needed more protein so this will be a great addition to my plan. Tomorrow is Kenpo X again, which I am looking forward to, and then I will only have one more before I get the rest week. Later.

Day 11...Yoga X

Namaste everyone! You can call me Dhalsim tonight, if you wish, because I completed my first full Yoga X workout! I find it amusing that every time I post on here it seems like I'm always saying "Tonight's workout was hard...I'm exhausted." Which leads me to believe that an "Easy" day of P90X doesn't really exist. 

Yoga X is an amazing workout! Serious willpower and determination needed to get through all the Downward dogs and Half moons...it was tough. When I did Yoga last week, I had to cut the workout short because Steph asked me to go with her and her parents to Olive Garden, and you know how that ended. So tonight was my first full Yoga x workout and I loved it! Of course I stumbled more than a few times and my legs were absolutely BURNING during the Half Moon's, but I felt very refreshed afterwards. This is an intense, sweaty, somewhat uncomfortable workout that doesn't pull any punches until the last 15 minutes or so. All the moves flow into one another with little to no break, and it took a lot out of me. Nonetheless, it was a nice change of pace from the resistance training and the manic action of Plyo. Tomorrow is Legs/Back again and that makes me sad...I really despise it. Oh well.

Today's Meals

Breakfast: Whole Wheat bagel with peanut butter and a glass of Juicy juice berry.

Snack: Activia Raspberry yogurt and a cup of diced peaches.

Lunch: Chicken Salad (Romaine, Spinach, Tomato, Cucumber, Dressing) with an apple.

Snack: Baby carrots and hummus. Accelerade after Yoga.

Dinner: Broiled Salmon with peas.

Salmon has become one of my favorite meals after starting the Nutrition plan. All I do is buy the 3-4 oz. fillets and broil them in my toaster oven for about 12-14 minutes. I put a tbsp. of Olive Oil on it and season it with Cajun rub and a little garlic powder. It is delicious! I will usually eat it with brown rice or peas, and possibly my Sun Dried Tomato Dressing as a dipping sauce if I need more flavor. Great protein and Omega 3's in the dish and it very easy to make. Highly recommended if you are doing these workouts!

My legs will take another beating tomorrow, but maybe I'll do better after the workout they've been receiving through Plyo and Yoga. We'll see. Good night!

Day 9...Plyometrics

"The room is starting to spin...I think I need some air."

Those words were uttered by yours truly tonight right around the beginning of the cool down portion of today's Plyometrics workout. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I pushed as hard as I could tonight and the result was a slight wave of nausea and tilted vision. I had to step outside and get my bearings because my living room turned into a sauna...a sweaty sauna...with no ventilation, and I was huffing and puffing through the last 15 minutes. 

No one says Plyo is easy...at least no one I know...and frankly I wouldn't want to meet the person that does think it's easy because they're most likely an alien or at least a mutant of some sort. Either way they'd be weird and distrustful. As far as the workout is concerned, the damn Mary Katherine Lunges and the Squat Jacks are the absolute worst, and pushing through them with full rep counts takes serious will power and a smidgen of masochism. 

Even if I WANTED to go out tonight, I don't think I would stay out late because I'm completely drained. The most activity I have done tonight was making my dinner and typing this post. I watched MSU defeat UCONN (Not that I really give a crap about college hoops...because I don't) and I will be taking a much needed shower in a few minutes. I can give you a quick update on my progress in P90X so far.

I have lost 5 lbs. and 1 belt notch. I am starting to see some serious definition in my chest and well as the delts, bi's, and tri's. During Plyo today I was able to stay with the group for most of the exercises...excluding MK Lunges...and I increased my rep counts yesterday during Chest/Back. I am VERY happy with this program so far and I can't wait to see the end results.

Today's Meals

Breakfast: Bowl of Multi grain Cheerios with a cup of skim milk. Protein Shake (Whey, Skim Milk)

Snack: 2 Pieces of string cheese

Lunch: Chicken salad (Romaine, Spinach, Tomato, Cucumber) with an Orange.

Snack: Celery sticks with Peanut butter. Accelerade after the workout...MUCH needed!

Dinner: Tuna Samich with 2 cups of Bush's Grillin' Beans, Steakhouse Recipe.

It's shower time! Tomorrow I have Shoulders/Arms/Ab Ripper X and then I'm going over a friend's house to watch Wrestlemania 25. I don't even watch wrestling anymore but I always get together with friend's for 'Mania...it's a tradition. Later!

Day 5...Legs/Back/Ab Ripper X

Hello again. Day 5 is here and it's time to tackle the workout I was fearing the most...Legs and Back. Duh duh duhhhhhh!!

When it comes to leg workouts I absolutely despise lunges. So you can imagine my dismay when I saw the exercise guide for Day 5. Lunge after lunge after stinking lunge, and a little bit of pull ups on the side. I wasn't going to workout until mid-afternoon but as I was drinking my coffee while watching TV, I came across the P90X infomercial again and it made me want to workout. This workout is HARD on your quads, especially during the wall squats which nearly killed me...the two position wall squat is quite the challenge. Today's workout consisted of doing two leg exercises followed by a pull up for your back. Now you know that I suck at pull ups after reading my post about the fit test I took, so I have to use the chair when I do these. Problem is that you use your leg to assist the pull up, so with today's workout being leg-heavy I was feeling the pain during the later sets. Dead lift squats were painful today as well as the 80/20 Cyber Speed squats when they started going airborne. Just a tough workout through and through, and I was sweating through my shirt something fierce! 

Ab Ripper...what can you really say about it? That sucker is a challenge every time. Steph joined me today and both of us grunted, yelled, and swore at the TV together trying to achieve the rep counts. Hardest exercises for me are still the Roll-up/V-Up combo and the damn Wide Leg Sit-up. I'm getting better at the Mason Twist...45 reps here I come!

Today's Meals

Breakfast: 2 Whole Wheat Waffles with light syrup. Glass of Juicy Juice. Cup of black coffee.

Snack: Recovery Drink. Celery with peanut butter.

Lunch: 2 Tuna Samiches with pickle stacker's on wheat bread. Apple on side.

Snack: Protein Shake (Skim Milk, Berries, Whey, Ice). Cup of Pistachios.

Dinner: 5 Potato and Cheese Pierogi with reduced fat sour cream. Green beans on the side. 

I was very hungry today and nothing I ate really satiated me. Maybe it's because I worked out so early or maybe I just didn't eat enough protein. It's about 7 pm right now and I am going to have a Protein Shake as a snack. I already ate dinner but that was almost 2 hours ago. I ran a bunch of errands today and it screwed up my schedule so I never ate my 2nd snack. Anyways, tomorrow is my final day of week 1! Kenpo X awaits and I am looking forward to this new challenge. Thursday is my rest day and I am going to do X Stretch in preparation for Week 2. I felt that week 1 was just me getting acclimated to the program and just surviving. I am going to really try to BRING IT for week 2 as my muscles stop aching and I know the workouts better. I am almost done with the hardest part of the entire 90 days, the rest will be about concentrating on the task at hand and BRINGING IT every single day! I can't wait.

Day 2...Plyometrics!

Day 2 is in the books and I am exhausted. Before I get to the workout let me just give you a little insight into my morning.

Woke up around 5 am...NOT my scheduled wake up...could not get back to sleep for almost two hours thanks to a persistent burning pain in both my triceps and a little in the shoulders. Definitely not a "Oh shit I'm injured" kind of sharp pain, just dull, burning, irritating pain that would not stop. I rolled out of bed and noticed that when I bent over to pick up some socks...oh yeah, I also did Ab Ripper last night and here's the reminder! Trying to suck it up and head to work I found that turning the steering wheel was a challenge. No heavy lifting for me today, just walked around stretching as much as I could. Tri's and Delts are still feeling the most soreness, but after today's workout I imagine my legs won't be far behind. 

Plyometrics is dynamic jumping cardio and you will ping pong in front of your TV for about an hour with only a few 30 second water breaks...I took a couple more though...thank you pause button! My fiance Stephanie agreed to join me for today's workout and we both huffed and puffed through each lunge, jumping squat, and hot foot that was thrown at us. REALLY sweat today! Plain and simple, I've NEVER sweat that much in any workout. I took Tony's advice and made my well-earned Recovery Drink and guzzled it down. Made some dinner and after this post I will hit the shower and then the bed. Saturday night party? Nope, working out and getting to bed early. Like I said I am here to make a lifestyle change and it doesn't make sense to do all this work only to get drunk and consequently hungover and miss a day of my workout. Screw that! I'm Bringing It!!

Today's Meals

Breakfast: 2 Whole Wheat Waffles with light syrup and light Country Crock. Juicy Juice Berry to wash it down.

Snack: 2 Pieces of Low fat String Cheese....not enough food! Need bigger snack. Me growing boy!

Lunch: Turkey Sandwich on Wheat Bread with romaine, tomato, and mustard. Apple on the side.

Snack: Cup of baby carrots with hummus...tasty!

Pre-workout snack: 1/2 an apple with 1 TBSP of Peanut Butter. (I only did this to give me more energy for the workout...I was feeling very hungry. Next time I will drink my recovery drink throughout the workout period as recommended by Tony). After Plyo I had my Recovery Drink which I needed badly.

Dinner: 3 oz. Salmon Fillet with a side salad. Salmon was broiled with Olive Oil, Rosemary and Garlic powder on it. Salad was 3 leaves of romaine with 2 slices of tomato and 1 TBSP of Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette. Very tasty!

It's time for my shower. Tomorrow I will join my friend Jason for Day 3 which is Shoulders and Arms. I think my arms might actually fall off or at least explode due to the stress they've already been under after yesterday. We have Tri exercises tomorrow...WHOOPPEEEE!! Can't wait for THAT pain! The only way to get through this is one day at a time so I will suck it up and Bring it for another day. Have a good night!

Day 1...ouch

Day 1 of P90X is done...and I can hardly lift my arms above my shoulders. 

A lot of anticipation leading up to today's workout and it was pretty much what I expected...a lot of hard work. I am doing P90X Classic with the Energy Booster Nutrition Plan. The nutrition has been easy to follow and the meals have been great tasting, but I have noticed that I still feel hungry a lot. I think I am going to increase my calories per day to prevent any out-of-plan snacking. On to the workout...

Day 1: Chest and Back

I drank a few glasses of water and ate an apple about 20 minutes prior to the workout in preparation. Friends have told me they ran out of steam halfway through because they hadn't eaten enough and I didn't want to make that mistake. I set up my Iron Gym pull-up bar, got out a couple dumbbells, and my newly-acquired push up bars ($14.95 at Dunham's and worth it!). Day 1 is all push ups and pull ups, with a couple of back exercises using dumbbells. Using the push up bars was great because it reduces stress on your wrists while giving you about 6 more inches of motion in the move. I tried pacing myself for the first set of 12 exercises but I still felt wasted during the second half. The highlight...or low light...was when I tried doing the second set of decline push ups and face-planted on my rug....where's a camera when you need one...that is a $10,000 AFV winner! So yeah, I hate declines and diamond push ups with a passion thanks to this workout. 

After Chest and Back, I had to pop in the Ab Ripper X and grit my teeth through another 16 minutes of hell. No breaks, no warm up, just Tony Horton and his physically fit lackeys rocking through each core exercise and proving to you how much of an out-of-shape asshole you really are. All the while spouting out phrases like "Just keep breathing, that will get you through these moves." Bull-fucking-shit! Breathing will not help me get my "heels to the heavens" or "V-Up" any better. It didn't help that I didn't have an exercise mat yet and I was getting rug burn. Ughhhh...Ab Ripper X sucks. But I am feeling great..weak...but great.

Today's Meals

Breakfast: Egg Beaters and Turkey bacon sandwich on Wheat Bagel and Juicy Juice Berry.

Snack: Protein Shake (Whey, Mixed frozen berries, 1/2 cup skim milk, water)

Lunch: Chicken Salad

Snack: Accelerade Recovery drink and pistachios

Dinner: Healthy Request Grilled Chicken and Sausage Gumbo Soup with crackers

So that's that. Day one is over and tomorrow will be a challenge...I have Plyometrics. Otherwise known as "The Beast." And I will most likely be very sore from today. To get my mind off of that I am going to have some beers tonight with friends. I have promised myself I will only drink once a week and when I do no shots and no heavy beers. Either wine or a very light beer with the lowest possible calories. It's okay to treat yourself once in a while, because if you didn't you are more likely to get off track with the plan. At least that's my excuse for drinking. 

See you tomorrow for Plyo! BRING IT!!!

17 hours and counting...

Pretty sad sight huh? Trust me, I won't look like this in 90 days! As of right now I am 17 hours away from Day 1 of P90X. Getting a little nervous about it. After reading and hearing soooo much about this program it's very strange that I am so close to actually beginning the plan. 

Last night and this morning I did the P90X prep work, which consisted of taking pictures of my flabby body, weight and body fat checks, and a surprisingly tough Fitness Test. I say surprisingly because I didn't know I sucked so much at doing pull-ups. If I struggled that hard on the fit test, I cannot imagine how bad it's going to be tomorrow as I dive head-long into Day 1. Damn you Tony!! I did 2...yes 2 pull-ups, 15 push-ups, 29 in-and-outs, and lasted a minute on the Wall Squat. I am not a fan of working out in the mornings and that test is proof of that. 

Today's meals:

Breakfast: 5 egg whites scrambled with 2 pieces of Turkey Bacon and a glass of Juicy Juice Berry...delicious!

Snack: Cup of Activia Raspberry Yogurt and Cup of Diced Peaches

Lunch: Chicken Salad with Sun Dried Tomato Viniaigrette and one Orange

Snack: 2 Cups Baby Carrots with 4 Tbsp Hummus

Dinner: 2 Tuna Sandwiches on Wheat Bread, pickle stacker's, 3 cups Peas.

Well, hopefully I will be able to lift my arms and type my next post tomorrow after Day 1. But I probably won't and will have to post with my tongue or something. Raise a glass and toast to pain, suffering, and getting ripped! BRING IT!!!

Program begins in 2 Days!

Okay, so I received my P90X package today! With my work schedule the way it is I will start the program on Friday with Thursday's being the rest day. I work 12-8 on Thursdays, I don't have quality workouts early in the day, and I really don't like working out that late in the night. 

Yesterday I borrowed my friend Jason's Nutrition Guide so that I could shop for groceries that would fit the plan and get my supplements. I went to Vitamin Shoppe and picked up a 5 lb. barrel of Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Whey Protein (Double Chocolate...not a fan of Vanilla). I also needed to pick up a Recovery Drink that would be comparable to the one designed for P90X. The clerk suggested a product called Accelerade which he said had similar ingredients to the P90X Recovery Drink and it was the one his friend was using for his P90X. Total sale of about $85...buying supplements sucks. I dropped an additional $80-$100 at Wal-Mart for groceries which were straight out of the meal plans. 

Today's Meals:

Breakfast: Toasted Wheat Bagel with Peanut Butter and cup of Berry Juicy Juice

1st Snack: 2 Pieces of Low Fat String Cheese

Lunch: Turkey Sandwich on Wheat bread (2 slices Tomato, 2 leaves of Lettuce, Mustard) and an Orange

2nd Snack: Celery sticks with Peanut Butter

Dinner: Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast with Cajun Rub. Peas and glass of water. 

The meal plan is really easy to follow and I prefer it because I have a hard time planning out my meals in general...which is why I lived on carry out and fast food for a long time. I never once got tired from overeating and crashing. I still think I need coffee in the morning though, but I will drink it black from now on. Tomorrow is another day of work and more of this meal plan. I am going to do some stretches with a piece of rope tomorrow in preparation for Day 1 of P90X which is going to kick my ass if everything I've heard is true. And yeah...I can't wait!