R11D15-18 – Work Rate, MMA and Sick Child Obstacles

tapoutxt vs p90x2 days off with a sick child could drive anyone crazy. Hours on hours of Timmy Time and Shaun The Sheep interspersed with bouts of a bored 3 year old trying to find something to do which in case you are wondering is a VERY dangerous proposition. I am glad to say though that I managed to work out both days after taking Sunday off with several localized sore patches. Monday I did T25 Lower Body Focus which was a very good workout, as you can imagine it’s mostly legs, squats, lunges and plenty of cardio. In fact, it’s a workout that I plan on doing again only once I have compared it with the P90X3 Lower Body workout. On Tuesday I was going to do the upper body P90X3 but instead since I knew exactly what I wanted to work I did a bench and curls workout to hit the body parts that I felt were getting a little neglected. Wednesday was a forced rest day with gymnastics coaching and daycare pick-up leaving no time for a workout. I was going to do some conditioning with the girls at the end of class but since I have been a little tired and sore all over I opted for the rest. I feel like it was a quality decision too since on Thursday I was able to crush the P90X3 MMX workout. In MMX, there is a lot of similarities to Kenpo X but with added sprawling (or burpees if you like). The advantage I have is that I have a heavy bag in the basement so the limp jabs and punches that you ordinarily associate with any martial arts workout are replaced by actual physical contact punches and kicks. Believe me when I tell you that the difference is night and day. I was drenched with sweat when I finished and my legs and shoulders really got a fantastic workout. However, since I have a copy of Tapout XT I am not so sure that this workout will ever see the light of day again. It’s OK, just not a really involved or accurate MMA workout. That said, it’s far better than George St Pierre’s Rushfit which is, in my opinion, a complete waste of time.
Today I plan to do T25 Ab Intervals and then coaching, and maybe take the workout with me and make the kids do it if it is any good.

In case you are wondering, it’s now Day 19 and I have managed to keep my percentage (days on vs days off) up above 85% until my forced rest on Wednesday. Mostly due to the 100% start but also my commitment to the high work rate required for me to have any hope of weight loss. I have dipped down to 83% (16 of 19 days) but after the weekend I should be comfortably over the mark. Remember working out 4 days a week is only 57% and 5 days a week still only 71%. If you are truly focused on weight control and long term health and fitness then 6 days a week (85%) with one day of Yoga or Pilates or Isometrics is what you should be aiming for. I know people have a problem with working out 7 days a week but if you are balanced in your approach and build low effort days into the mix you will be fine.  Here’s what I have done so far and I am moving towards Month 2 workouts in P90X3 and Beta workouts in T25.

Monday, 01/06/2014 1 T25 Cardio 100%
Tuesday, 01/07/2014 2 P90X3 Total Synergistics 100%
Wednesday, 01/08/2014 3 P90X3 Agility X 100%
Thursday, 01/09/2014 4 T25 Speed 1.0 100%
Friday, 01/10/2014 5 Oly Lift 5×5 @ 95 DL SQ PCL 100%
Saturday, 01/11/2014 6 ice clearing 45 min 100%
Sunday, 01/12/2014 7 T25 Total Body Conditioning 100%
Monday, 01/13/2014 Off 0%
Tuesday, 01/14/2014 8 Driveway Ice 45 min 89%
Wednesday, 01/15/2014 9 T25 Core Cardio 90%
Thursday, 01/16/2014 10 p90x3  warrrior 91%
Friday, 01/17/2014 11 P90X3 Dynamix 92%
Saturday, 01/18/2014 12 Oly lift and increase weights 92%
Sunday, 01/19/2014 off 0%
Monday, 01/20/2014 13 T25 Lower Body Focus 87%
Tuesday, 01/21/2014 14 Bench and curls improv 88%
Wednesday, 01/22/2014 88%
Thursday, 01/23/2014 15 P90X3 MMX 83%
Friday, 01/24/2014 16 T25 Ab Intervals 84%

Treating Myself (well deserved)

AFTD225I have been out of the gym for several years now. I do home workouts, I improvise my own equipment and make do with anything I can to help me stay fit. Now with the Black Friday sales, it’s time to treat myself and get a couple of essential things for the house. One is a proper dumbbell rack, I have been using some OSB boards on my dip station to hold my dbs and it’s really not that safe. I also spent some money during the summer on a heavy bag which I used quite a lot in conjunction with Tapout XT and P90X Kenpo X. So I am finally getting a bag stand for it that will enable me to move my MMA workouts indoors for the winter. Also, my wife has been complaining about our treadmill being too loud. We looked at a decent one during the summer but it was just too expensive, and lo and behold on the Fitness Depot site today I find it’s HALF PRICE!!! our current treadmill is about 5 years old and it is very unhappy whenever I step on it. If I try to go slower than 3.5 miles an hour it judders and struggles no matter how well lubricated it or I am. So hopefully the new one which is rated up to 350lbs will be better. I figure if you have a treadmill for 5+ years and use it every week (which we probably have for at least 3 of those  years) then getting a new one every once in a while is justified, especially at half price!

Add to that some on sale knobby rollers and smaller items and you have Christmas early at our house. Besides, what is a better Christmas gift than investing in your health?

Merry Black Friday everyone…

Last Wednesday I did my short bootcamp workout as outlined last post, Thursday is my daughter’s swimming class and has become a day of rest around here. Friday  I did Olympic lifts again and on Saturday I spent a long time setting up the heavy bag holder and the dumbbell stand and then did a 30 minute heavy bag workout which is basically the same as the Mui Thai workout from Tapout XT. Lots of different striking, knees elbows etc. Sunday I did a Millennium workout which is 100 of 10 moves for 1000 rep total. Sounds easy but it’s a pain.
Front Kicks
Pushups
Squats
Crunches
Military pushups
V Snaps
Front lungesV Shoulder pushups
side crunch
Pop squats

It was a nightmare, seriously.

Still booting

With March Break and so on we had a disruption in service, however all is back to normal now and I am going to commit to keep more up to date. The problem with not keeping up is not only do I lose the record of what I have done and what I need to do but I get a bit aimless in my workouts away from bootcamp and start to slack off.

Last week we did a bodyweight class with bosu that looked like the list below. After that I alternated with Olympic lifts (deadlift and clean) and a bench day, also a MMA day where I hung the bag in the garage away from everything breakable and did about 40 minutes of kicking and punching along with a little kettlebell swinging. However it all feels a little haphazard and unfocused. So I am going to try and put together a couple of weeks plan here and stick to it. I have to say I have been keeping up with the 5-6 days a week which I am happy with but I have also not been keeping good enough tabs on my dairy intake which I think is keeping me a little bloated.

Anyway, here is last week, I will post tonight tomorrow if that makes sense!

Balance Of Death

x2 in a row 1 off bosu 1 on bosu
10 regular pushups
10 military pushups
10 sphinx to plank step or drop
10 pushup side raise
10 pullups

Sit on bosu

20 in and out
20 crucnhy frog
20 knees to elbow alternate
20 in and out abs hands on upside down bosu
20 side crunch per side

x2 1 on BOSU 1 on SB
10 SB pushup boing
10 SB Burpee lift ball
10 SB Plank to sphinx
10 per SB elbow plank side raise

Feet on SB

10 regular pushups
10 military pushups
10 sphinx to plank step or drop
10 pushup side raise
10 pullups

20 Crunchy Frog
20 vsnap
20 laying triple bicycles
20 full situps

Arms on SB 20 360’s
Arms on SB plank to sphinx
10x feet on SB walk out and back
20x feet on ball face down roll ball in to chest
20x laying hamstring pull

20 laying leg lifts
10 per rainbow leg lifts
10 per scissor hold on count
25 per side to side scissor rapid

BONUS ROUND!!

Burpee ladder – 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
on the minute every minute (10 min burpees)
rest in plank position.

On The Rebound?

It’s no coincidence that my ongoing struggle with this mysterious 8lbs I have gained is going hand in hand with my inability to keep up to date here. My focus is on work and family rather than on my fitness at this point and I need to redress the balance.

Last week was a strange one, I was on training all week and so after bootcamp monday I did a workout on tuesday but I can’t remember what it was. I think it was probably Tapout XT and tehn another bootcamp on Wednesday. Thursday was olympic lifting, Friday I was off and Saturday I think was a P90X2 workout. Sunday my wife and I went to the new gym up the street for a laugh and I did some push press work and some chinups. It’s now Monday and we are back to bootcamp which should look something like this:

Decending ascending

15 Curls
10 Curl and press
5 Burpee curl and press

15 high pull
10 high pull front raise
5 high pull front raise side raise

15 crunch
10 crunch vsnap
5 crunch vsnap bicycle

15 flat leg lift
10 leg lift vsnap
5 leg lift vsnap full situp

15 squat
10 squat mk
5 squat mk front lunge

15 curls
15 high pull
15 crunch
15 vsnap
15 squat

5 burpee curl
5 burpee curl and press
10 military
10 military row
15 pushup
15 pushup in and out

isolation
10 knee curls
10 laying tri cross extension
10 laying pullovers
10 laying fly