DVD Days P90X to Tapout XT – Page 29 – Something Beats Nothing Every Time

Day 39 – The 4 Days Ahead

Kenpo

So I have a lot of extra days in hand for vacation time at work. I decided to take tomorrow off to give me a 4 day weekend. This way I can get some yard work done, get some garage work done, take care of a lot of outstanding DIY stuff and get my P90X workouts done during the day when I actually have some energy.

Today I did Kenpo, still my favourite and still a workout that I am guaranteed will give me a real challenge. My coordination continues to improve every time I do this workout and I find that the harder I work, the more focused I become and the better I do. I think that is a bit weird but there you go.

Day 38 – 1 Week To The Top

Back, Biceps

I always imagine the half way point of any venture as the top of the mountain, once you are past half way, things always seem to go more quickly towards the finish line. One week from today I will be half way through the P90X program and although my “transformation” is not significant, that was not my goal. In fact, as I stated at the outset my goal for doing this was only for the challenge and the variety. The fact that I have lost a few pounds and made some significant fitness gains is a bonus.

It has been really weird not going to the gym every day and still getting the quality of workout that I have been. I have always been of the opinion that you need to be in the gym to get the quality of workout that you need to succeed in fitness. This stems from the arrogance of my initial certification as an ACE Personal Trainer. When I got certified, the culture was that the gym was the law not the guideline and the notion of working out without weights was almost non existent. Since then a lot has changed, the improvisation of the fitness industry and their desire for money has generated a whole industry around working out at home. From the very early days of at home aerobics to Billy Blanks and his Tae Bo all the way up to P90X and beyond, the fitness industry now accepts the notion that you can get a great workout anywhere you want to. Ask any Personal Trainer worth their salt and they will now be able to give you a dozen alternatives to replace your gym exercises no matter if you are at home, at a hotel or even at the beach. My experience with P90X has taught me that not only is it possible to get a top class workout at home, but also that the workout that I impose on my kids at gym every year is a reflection of my own insight into that area. Without even knowing it I had developed a workout regime that could very easily have served as an at home workout for anyone willing to put in the time and effort.

Speaking of gym, I am going to start (hopefully) to develop the conditioning for the year before we start, that way I will have lists defined, workout schedules made and a well balanced approach to their fitness ready to go. Much as I enjoy making stuff up as we go, it does make me stressed and can occasionally lead to unbalanced workouts. So this year I hope to incorporate some of the Plyo and other P90X stuff into the conditioning and to have a set of workouts of various lengths I can pick from.

Day 37 – The Wobblies

Plyometrics.

I decided today that I would workout as soon as I got back from work instead of eating, resting and working out at arounnd 6pm. My legs were weak and wobbly, and I am not sure if it was due to lack of food or just that I was tired after the weekend cardio. Either way, the workout was hard today, my quads were burning for a lot of the time but since I am very familiar with the Plyometrics program now it was easy to focus on the finish line and power through the pain. I have to be careful doing this due to my back issues, once my legs get weak, my back has to take an additional load which can lead to my nerves pinching again. However, I seem to be pretty good at pushing just far enough these days that I got an amazing workout and didn’t cripple myself.

It has been raining here the last few days, but the humidity that Toronto is known and despised for has returned. Today I was drenched in sweat since I work out in the gym in the basement with the patio doors open. There was a warm, sticky breeze and the air was difficult to get any refreshment from. Luckily I had my freezing cold water to help but the relief was agonizingly temporary. I felt at times like I was inside an oven staring through the glass door trying to get out… Not a comfortable feeling at all.

Day 36 – Week 6 Begins – The Grind.

I feel like I am in that no-man’s land between the start and the finish. It’s that part of the race where you are too far from the start to be beginning but too far from the end to be excited about finishing. This is the grind. I expect that phase 2 will be like this the whole way through although I will be excited once I finish week 7 and get to have an easy week until the final push into Phase 3. It’s a good job that I am enjoying the new workouts because that is what will keep me going into Phase 3. I am a little concerned that Phase 2 doesn’t do much tricep work in comparison and tends to concentrate on back but then again I was always a chest guy so I am probably over sensitive to the imbalance.

So today I learned that one more rep is not always a good thing. I was doing these butt raised shoulder press things where you have your feet on a bench, your butt up in the air so that there is a straight line between your hands on the floor and your butt all the way through the shoulders. As you press you are actually using your shoulders almost like a handstand pushup but with your legs resting on a bench. However, the higher you put your feet, the closer it is to an actual handstand pushup and as I struggled to do one last rep with my ass in the air my arms very slowly gave way landing the top of my head on the padded floor with a resounding “thump”. I was not amused, especially since my instinct was to stand up but because my arms weren’t working I couldnt stand up either. So I lay on the floor for a minute or two staring at the unpainted ceiling and wondering if I should try that again.

Day 34 – Tricking myself.

I find myself in the routine, able to predict how sore or tired I will be and looking forward to the Sunday rest day when I can do a little cardio on the treadmill or outside and take a day off from beating myself up. This is not a bad thing, it is not a rut, it’s a routine. I have been trying to imagine in my mind what the basement would look like if I knocked out a wall down there and created an entire room for the gym instead of having the small desk and the couch against the wall. Other than the aesthetic appeal, I don’t think it would give me much more functional room. Having spent lots of time thinking about moving stuff about in the house I spent the majority of the day, while Nicole was out at a Trainers course, cleaning up the garage and rearranging all the shelving etc. It was a monumental job to do and I was really proud once I finally got round to starting it. It still requires some finishing touches but for now the garage is almost done. Once it is finished I can get to work building and fixing all the stuff on my list including the TV shelf, the stereo in the Jeep and maybe even getting started on taking the wall down in the main living room.

The reason that I mention all this is because I was astonished at my energy levels and mobility. Usually I overcome the shortcomings in my flexibility or range of motion with brute strength. This time however I found myself bending and twisting into corners without a problem, preferring to inch myself into tight spaces to get the job done instead of my past solution of getting a bigger hammer. What is even more weird is the fact that as I was contorting myself around the shelving units I caught myself thinking of the name of the yoga pose I was in. Tres bizarre.

Even after a day of work in the garage I was still able to get the Kenpo workout done. As usual, I was not sure I would be able to do it however a long, long time ago I made a deal with myself regarding my workouts. The deal was that when I didn’t feel like going to the gym I would go anyway and if I still didn’t feel like it after the first 10 minutes then I was allowed to leave. I wasn’t allowed to quit up front without trying but I was allowed to throw in the towel if I had at least tried. Up to this day I have never caved after that first 10 minutes even though there have been countless days where I have made the deal with myself. Today was one of those days. I though I would do the warm-up and see how I felt. Doing that is kind of like giving a dog a bone, once I have it, I won’t give up. Around 10 minutes in I found myself pushing harder, trying to improve on my last session and I laughed a little at my ability to trick my own lazy subconscious. I felt good enough that after I was done I took some day 34 pictures to show my 1/3 distance progress. I still haven’t decided if I will publish those photos…

Day 33 – The Fear. The Choice.

Legs and Back.

Note the opposite twist to the natural hip position. Ouch!

I was thinking last night after I finished Yoga that one of the main reasons that people fail at sticking to thing such as diets, a workout plan, a 90 day torture session like P90X is fear. I have heard this a lot in the past and it never really made sense to me until now. I am not habitually fearful. I have a confidence in myself that replaces that fear. I get nervous, sure, and there are times when I think that my bravery may exceed my capabilities but I am usually fine with that. However, as time passes and I get older and wiser that fear has started to creep into my life. It is not unexpected given what I have been through with my back I suppose. If I were someone else I would think it is perfectly reasonable to be fearful given my circumstances. But last night during Yoga I realized that the reason I have stuck with this program so far and the reason that I have made such good progress with my flexibility and Yoga is that I refuse to acknowledge the fear in my head. Since my surgery I have lived in pain, it is not something that I like to talk about because I am sure to most people it just sounds like the complaining of a lazy fat guy. However, living in constant pain teaches you how to avoid any additional pain and the one thing I have mastered is staying on the right side of that extra pain line. However, I realized yesterday that the buffer between me and that line is a lot wider than I imagined. In fact, that line is WAAAAAAAY further than I thought it was. Sure, I have discomfort ( I call it pain, but in reality in comparison to ACTUAL pain it is just an inconvenience) but so far I have not caused myself an additional pain. As I went into Twisting Triangle pose last night I thought to myself that only a few weeks ago there is no way I would have tried something like that. Not only would I have thought it physically impossible but I would have assumed that I would twist my spine and like a bent paperclip it would never return to it’s original shape again. When it comes to my back my fear has ruled the roost and up until now it has served me well but I think it is about time that I realize that I may in fact be capable of more than I ever thought possible. Of course, if I manage to put my back out during this 90 days I will come back here and curse myself for my recklessness however one good thing about that fearlessness I spoke of earlier, it always means you will get back on that horse one more time.

Day 32 – Not this again!

Kenpo – Oops, I mean Yoga.

SERIOUSLY I’m tired.

Seriously, I am exhausted, like kitten on catnip withdrawal tired. Everything hurts again, I can’t even start to imagine how I am going to get through tonight never mind the rest of the next 2 weeks. Every time I move something screams with pain and it’s not that I am sitting on the cat, I checked.

So today I got home from work thinking that it was my favourite Kenpo workout only to find out, to my horror, that in fact today is Yoga X! Suddenly my workout time went from 65 minutes to 95 minutes. It’s not that I hate Yoga, it’s just that if you are psychologically prepared for one thing it is hard to get turned around to do something else. In actual fact, the workout went well, I am resigned to the fact that there are some things I just cannot do at this point, and given the size of my arms and shoulders, may never be able to do. But I am enjoying the process now much more than I was in the past. It is weird even when you are not consciously thinking of pushing yourself harder, each time you repeat a workout you find some small way to make things more challenging. Today I did pushups during each Vinyasa, an optional component! As for the tired thing, once I got home and had a small snack I felt better. In fact, it was more than likely the act of getting out of my chair at work and walking around that made me feel better, but that is the nature of my job.

I often refer to my “size” or muscularity as a barrier to my workouts which is rich in irony however no less frustrating. I will attempt to show you what I mean.

sept 27 08 back of neck

That, believe it or not, is the back of my neck. That is what stops me from being able to do such things as the overhead tricep stretch. Every time I try that stretch I strangle myself as my arm pushes all that muscle mass into my neck – where the air goes!

Day 31 – Building a better bar

Back and Biceps -Â Yes, they are real. Greg Valentino – The man whose arms exploded. Bear in mind he is 5’2″.

The other day I found a pretty strong hollow metal bar at Home Depot for under $20. Today before my workout I drilled holes in my basement door frame and slid the bar in. I now have a guaranteed bulletproof, 400+lb holding chinup bar from hell! I just need to get some kind of grips or foam or something to go with it and I will be in chinup heaven.

Speaking of chinups, even after just a week off my chinups are back down to miserable numbers again. I was doing sets of 10-12 at least during week 3 and today during Back and Biceps I was struggling with 5!! Maybe it was the week off, maybe it was just that I was tired, I am not sure but whatever it was it frustrated the hell out of me! The workout was good again, I am LOVING these non-repeater workouts at this point. I am in the frame of mind where I just want to attack everything and try as much as I can and these week 5 workouts are just the ticket. I am also at peace with Ab-Crippler X, I know I will get there eventually and I am just putting up with the pain for now until I conquer it! I am getting better every time I do it and I find if I cheat a little and start a couple of minutes early once they get to crunchy frog we are at the same point and I seem to do OK from there. It’s the bicycles and Crunchy Frog that are killing me now. My lower back is very painful when I do them and that does not help.

I am disturbed also at the degree of pain from my shoulder, of course I haven’t gone for my ultrasound yet which I got the Rx for months ago. However it is not just chinups that are painful, the more I do bicep curls the more painful it gets. I can work around the pain however it means that each set of different hand grip bicep curls kind of meld into one big hammer curl set. I will try and get to the doctor next week once Bob comes back to work and see what they say. Maybe a cortisone injection will be enough.

It has just occurred to me that I may be saying the same crap over and over again. I haven’t gone back and read any of my old posts, I hate to read my own stuff, so maybe I am boring you with my repetition…

I have been watching some of the Big Brother stuff on YouTube and I have to say what a great summer that would be! Get up early before the other idiots are around, have a coffee in the California morning sun, lay around in the pool for a while or the hot tub, work out outside, do some cardio, have all your groceries bought and paid for… What a blast. Of course you would have to put up with the kind of brainless degenerate narcissists that would choose to go on Big Brother but still I think it would be worth it.

So anyway, today was difficult but enjoyable. The arms were pumped afterwards and I even resisted the temptation to put on a little gun show inthe new mirrors. That will have to wait until the fat show has left town!

Day 30 – MILESTONE!!!

Plyometrics

I can’t believe I am 1/3 done already. Looking back at the changes in my fitness I am really excited for the next 60 days. It kind of blows my mind that I have done 30 days already…

Hmm, I was worried this may happen. Tonight during Plyometrics I found myself tiring very quickly, more quickly than usual and realized that over the past few days my vegetable intake and fruit intake has fallen a little. I was concerned that after a week off I would be sore, tired and in desperate need of sleep however I did not anticipate “bonking” during the workout. It probably didn’t help that we had Greek food about an hour before and the whole basement was filled with the smell of bad tzatziki breath. Anyway, I pushed through, that is what we P90X’ers do you know! It was nice to have a workout that I remembered, or at least was slightly familiar with. The time went quickly but I was bagged about half way through. I was literally dripping with sweat and my heart rate was way above 150, a sure sign that my body was underfueled. My legs felt heavy, my arms were sore from yesterday’s reintorduction to the weight workouts and I generally felt pretty terrible. However, there is something about seeing yourself in the mirror as you exercise that can be incredibly motivating. Needless to say I didn’t quit after watching my chunky butt doing jumping jacks…

Day 29 – Phase 2. Bring the Pain!

So here I go, all soft and fuzzy after my week of rest only to be thrown to the lions. I still have to install my chinup bar in the basement but since today is Chest, Shoulders and Triceps hopefully I won’t need it yet. However, I should put it up before I am too sore to lift my arms to brush my teeth tomorrow.

The only thing more difficult than the airborne clapping pushup… and I am not THAT crazy!

Nicole decided to join me today, I am guessing she is on the P9X program where you can work out once every 9 days and still look amazing. Not that I am bitter or anything… Anyway, the workout was a real treat. It was difficult enough to have me sweating bullets again, simple enough that you didn’t have to skip back on the DVD to understand the movements and best of all there were no repeat movements. Even though it is good to have repeats so you can really push yourself, the time flies by if you do a list of completely new exercises instead. The program consisted of 24 movements, some compound shoulder/arm/chest motion, some isolation exercises. I knew it would be hard given that I had taken an easy week but even so during the workout I was amazed that I was able to push myself harder and make it through most of the workout doing max reps. I also made full 25 reps on at least 1/2 of the Ab Crippler exercises which shocked me. My hip flexors must have thought that last week was just brilliant with no AR… So much for that.

I did find that my wrists started getting sore at one point, I suppose I should really be using push up bars to protect my wrists knowing that I have carpal tunnel in both wrists as it is. The history on that is I woke one morning last year with a sore rhomboid muscle and a weird tingling in my arm. After a few hours I found that I had lost the feeling in half of my right hand (and of course I am right handed!). I was not able to feel anything in my 4th and pinkie fingers or down that side of my hand. What was far more distressing than that was the fact that I had barely any grip strength in my hand. I had trouble holding on to a 45lb plate with my hand in the coming days which really scared me. I went to see a neurologist (nerve guy ) who told me a couple of things. First, the fact that I have no feeling in my right shin and zero reflex in my right knee since my back surgery is permanent. Second, the nerve test on my hand said that PROBABLY I would get the feeling and the strength back. Enter the ridiculous medical community and their inadequate testing equipment. “Grip this” he said, giving me a handheld grip strength monitor. I crushed it. My grip strength in my right pathetic hand was still off the chart regardless of the fact that it was about 50% of my left hand. It was actually so bad that I could no longer do chinups at the gym because I couldn’t hang on to the bar with my right hand. Anyway, long story short he said that it was radial nueropathy known as Saturday Night Palsy because it usually happens when people get drunk, pass out and trap their arm underneath them, pinching the nerve. Either that or (and he was disturbingly casual about this next part) I had degenerative disc disease in my neck and my vertebrae were crushing my spinal cord. Nice! This was disturbing because I was at one time diagnosed with DDD in my spine as part of my MRI’s for my back. Taking a look at my massive head (orange on a toothpick!) you would think that he would be more inclined towards the spinal-neck-vertebrae-crushing thing, but apparently not.

So, that is the history behind my wrist/arm/hand/neck problems and it is the reason why, after his diagnosis of carpal tunnel in BOTH wrists, that I have some wrist pain when doing pushups. Nicole said it was due to me doing not only clapping pushups but AIRBORNE pushups with Tony, but I don’t think so *wink*.