Friday, November 26, 2010

P90X - The Day After

Well I survived the holidays and it wasn't as bad as I thought. Usual holidays for me was overeating and and drinking - especially the alcohol. But this year I stayed on course with my diet and treated myself as well. I made sure I timed my eating with the rest of the family and swapped my fish meal with turkey. I did sample the other foods like stuff shells, stuffed cabbage, stuffing, mashed potatoes but just about a fork full of each - again a taste. Desert was 1 SMALL Italian cookie (I wished the cannolis were there!). The alcohol was 2 SMALL glasses of wine and 1 lite beer. That was it, I SURVIVED!!!

Getting through Thanksgiving will help me with Christmas and back to back meal days. Christmas Eve (for me) was for the party and Christmas Day was the food. I'll still be watching myself very closely since I'll have about 10 days to go to complete my 90 day program. Man this has flown by by the complements I'm getting now is making this trek well worth the while. Thanks to Beachbody and Tony Horton for the program; Glenn Glaser my Beachbody coach for the guidance; and Matt Noyes for turning me on to P90X and his guidance and motivation to bring it!!

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Thursday, November 25, 2010

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating this holiday. It's time to take a moment and reflect on what you have. Hope all enjoy their day!

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Saturday, November 20, 2010

P90X and the Holidays

As we in the United States get ready for the Thanksgiving holiday it will be my first real test to put my will power to work. Now I'm not making it sound like it's been a cake walk so far sticking to the nutritional plan that comes with P90X program, there have been some tough days especially over the last couple of weeks. I have felt my body change - looking for fuel to burn. The first 5 weeks I was burning off the fat that I have. Now I'm starting to burn what I take in and can tell when it's been about 3 hours since the last time I ate.

I did talk about my fall off last Saturday eating outside my diet (but that fried calamari was DELICIOUS!) and a stretch of over 4 hours. The time may not seem much but when you get your body on a schedule it's expecting t0 get replenished.

I'm not much of a sweets person but my Aunt will be bringing over Italian pastries and my favorite - cannolis!!!! I just might take one of those. My thing will be to stay away from the wine, but I haven't touched any since October 6th so I think I'll be good. I 'll be adding some cardio this week for insurance.

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Friday, November 19, 2010

P90X Day 45 - Fighting Through the Pain

Still going strong through the 2nd half of Phase 2 but almost a set back this week. I went and picked up our Christmas tree this week and when I was bringing it downstairs I slipped and went about half way down on my butt. I tried to brace myself with my left arm as I initially slipped but it didn't stop me. At the time the only thing that hurt was my butt and pride.

I did my workout that day and the next but Wednesday's was tough to get through. When I went to brace myself I must have jammed my shoulder and whacked the back of my arm. Even the heel of my hand was sore. Since this was Shoulders, Back and triceps there was a lot of push ups in this routine and I really struggled to keep up with the last round. I ended up moderating a lot of the moves, mostly starting out in a regular push up form and going to my knees to take the pressure off my left shoulder.

I came too far to use that episode as an excuse to skip a couple of days. Moderate your moves where you have to and push more where you can. You'll feel great that you did.

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Tuesday, November 16, 2010

P90X Day 42 - Week 6 Completed

Week 6 is now in the history books and today is rest. I was going to do a cardio workout but getting home late didn't help the cause. I wanted to take this posting to review what happen Saturday. I went through my regular Yoga workout, had my breakfast and snack and got ready to go to a Christening. Unfortunately I forgot a snack as emergency food and I should have brought it. First day I broke my diet.

By the time we got there I was starving. Appetizers came out and I broke down. It was fried calamari and I had my share. You talk about guilt, sheezzz! But it was good! No bread, no alcohol and no dessert. Baked fillet for the main meal and lots of seltzer water!

That ride home I could feel the grease sitting there, or at least I did. I think it was more on my mind of breaking the diet than actually eating the food. I skipped supper and had a protein bar as a snack.

My point here is you can go off the diet and not feel guilty. Stay within reason, don't over indulge. I was right back on track the next day making sure all my food is correct and the workouts were more intense. With the holidays coming up this will be my biggest test.

I didn't lose any ground this week which I'll take away as a positive. Clothes are getting looser and that is the big measuring stick. I can start to see more definition in the mirror, another motivation point. I'm looking on line to find body calipers to see what my true body mass is.

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Wednesday, November 10, 2010

P90X - Day 36 - 2nd Week Begins

Today began the 2nd week of Phase 2 and another intense workout on the shoulders, chest and triceps. Intense because of the push ups. I have a weak left shoulder from an injury when I was younger and it limits the amount of reps I can do on certain exercises especially when you get half way into the workout. No excuses - I still push on, moderating more than I like but working to almost fatigue on those last reps. That's the key to growth. I should have done the pictures tonight or Friday after a good pump - nah, that would defeat the purpose.

I welcome comments and feedback on what I'm doing or your own P90x experiences.

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Tuesday, November 09, 2010

P90X - Day 35 - Rest and Recap

Today is rest day and it's timing was perfect as I could use the break being the 2nd one I have taken since starting the program. As I look back on the past 5 weeks I'm impressed what the program has done. I took my 30 day results and pictures and there is a difference. Here are the improvements I made:
I've also seen a drop of weight this past week getting to 213 where I haven't been for a while. I thought I would have been further along - about 10 pounds lost - but as my coach and friends tell me, don't get hung up on the weight. If the clothes are fitting better you're going in the right direction. Watching yourself move down the belt loops is a rush. It pushes me to keep going.

As far as the pictures I see a difference but that was mostly the reduction in the fat I had accumulated. Phase 2 you begin to work on increasing muscle size by the weights you use and really isolating the muscle groups.

I'm looking forward to completing the next 30 days to see how much more I progressed.

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Sunday, November 07, 2010

P90X - Day 32

Yesterday was my Yoga workout and I'm getting more comfortable with the core moves. First time I was able to do all the push ups required from plank to upward dog. The first couple were tough but the shoulder joints loosened up it was fine. I'm getting at the balancing portion but still have trouble with the flexibility. Overall I was pretty impressed with the overall workout. Today is Legs and Back with a dash of Ab Ripper X.

Of note: I'm glad I started on a Wednesday which lines the yoga workout on a Saturday. With this being the longest workout and requires a lot of concentration to move into and hold the poses, a Saturday workout fits this bill nicely.

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Friday, November 05, 2010

P90X - Day 31 - Back and Biceps

Sorry about the missing a couple of postings but had some issues the last couple of days but didn't miss any workouts.

Today was back and biceps and I followed the suggestion in the book - this is the time to build size so up the weight. And I did. And boy do I feel it. This workout out today focused strictly on these 2 groups and you really worked them. My biceps, back, shoulder joints are still sore still sore from this mornings workout. I did get a great pump out of it. The toughest part is trying to figure out the weights to use since this is a new routine. You start at one weight and then try to adjust up or down and then catch up. Suggestion: Look back to Phase 1 and find the same types of routines and use that weight as a gauge. It will at least get you in the ball park and cut down the time of adjusting the weights.

Tomorrow is the day to the measurements. I know I'm a couple of days off but time didn't permit it. I've got my photos from the day before I started and I'm anxious to see the difference.

Yoga tomorrow - I've got to really get my head into this one. It's the longest workout and still tough without the flexibility. I'm hoping to get over this hurdle to really start to get the benefit from this and the Ab Ripper X workout. For now, I'll do my best and forget the rest.

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Wednesday, November 03, 2010

P90X - Day 29 - Phase 2 Begins

Today was the first day of Phase 2 and I get the muscle confusion. Today was chest, shoulders, and triceps. I can really feel today's workout in the shoulders, even when doing the triceps. A lot of pushups isolating the chest where you didn't do "normal" ones. I like the variety Tony brings into the workouts. One example is starting off in a normal pushup position and then sliding one arm to a wide stance, doing the pushup, sliding that one in and the other out and doing another. You work the same muscle groups but attacking them from a different angle.

This is also grouping the muscles differently. Phase 1 grouped chest and back then shoulders and arms. Not letting the muscles get used to a routine forces the muscles to work differently and promotes growth. I'm enjoying this and looking forward to what the next 30 days bring.

Do you're best, forget the rest!!

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Tuesday, November 02, 2010

P90X - Last Day of Phase 1

Today marks the completion of Phase 1 and I must admit I am surprised at the results. Tomorrow I weigh myself and take the measurements to see how I did. I know I'm on the right track just by going by my clothing numbers don't lie.

I'm looking forward to changing the routine and getting back to the workouts using weights and changing the diet around. This was starting to wear on me a bit and temptation to grab a cheat food once and a while was growing. Hopefully adding new foods back in will take the temptation away.
I do hope everyone in the United States exercised their right to vote today. God bless our troops for fighting for that right!

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