Category: DVD Days P90X to Tapout XT

Everything I think about the workouts. Including some weights, reps and sets etc. Detailed as much as I can remember or is relevant.

R11D3 – Inevitable Glitch

I forgot my DVDs at work.

That meant that rather than doing the Speed 1.0 with Shaun T I was forced into doing Agility X with Tony. I have to say, I don’t know what Speed 1.o is like but I can bet that Agility X is a full step above if not an entire league ahead. Agility X was everything I used to love about the Plyo workout from the original P90X. It’s fast, you are moving, jumping, squatting and lunging and it’s actually quite a fun workout if you are not trying to recover from pneumonia. About half way through I started coughing like an asthmatic Walrus so much so that my wife on her treadmill lodged a complaint… However, since I have not been too active lately when I woke up this morning my butt was screaming from all the lunges. Not only that, but I did coach 3 hours after doing Agility X which I am sure didn’t help matters much. Anyway, no loss, I did another workout, make that 3 in a row and I also managed to get the workouts in the order in which they appear in the schedule so I can now determine exactly what I will be doing.

Schedules in Order:

T25:

Alpha
Cardio
Speed 1.0
Total body circuit
Ab intervals
Lower body focus

Beta
Core cardio
Speed 2.0
Rip T circuit
Dynamic core
Upper focus

Gamma
Speed 3.0
Rip’T Up
Extreme circuit
The Pyramid
P90X3

Month 1

Total Synergistics
Agility X
X3 Yoga
The Challenge
Cardio Vascular Extreme (CVX)
The Warrior
Dynamix
Isometrix
Accelerator
Pilates X

Month 2

Eccentric Upper
Triometrics
Eccentric Lower
Incinerator
Mark Briggs Inspired MMA Workouts (MMX)

Month 3

Decelerator

R11D2 – Maybe I’m Crazy. P90X3 + T25. Plus Free Rant!

focus-t25-vs-p90x3So I managed finally to get my hands on P90X3 and instead of thinking that I would just do the thing alone I am thinking that maybe I can do a hybrid of T25 with P90X3 until I have gone through every workout in both just to see what they are like. On Monday I did T25 Cardio, the first workout in the schedule and last night I did P90X3 Total Synergistics which is also the first workout in the schedule. Just for information sake I will list the workouts below but before I do I want to get something off my chest.

It seems that Beachbody, like so many parents today has taken on themselves to cave in to the whining child that is their public and given them what they asked for… the public said they didn’t have time, when in fact what they were really saying is “I’m too lazy to do an hour every day and it’s too hard.” So with T25 and P90X3 what they have done is create a Insanity for Dummies and a P90X for Dummies. If you are basically too lazy and unmotivated to get through the workouts in P90X or P90X2 then P90X3 is for you. It’s really not about people who don’t have time because let’s be honest, I can go and do a P90X workout in 30 minutes no problem. I can’t do an insanity workout in 30 minutes but then again, they are not an hour either.

Colour me disappointed, not in Beachbody for creating supply for the demand but in the public who have whined and complained their way into forcing what was an extreme home fitness program to be proud of into a anaemic imitation of what used to be. I am sorry but there is no way I would wear a P90X3 tshirt and think I was making a statement. I still have my P90X shirt because it means something to me that I made it through. But, this is only the beginning, but based on what I felt like after Day 1 of P90X and Day 1 of Insanity, P90X3 and T25 are going to be nothing more than an excuse not to get too sweaty…

Anyway, to give it the chance it deserves, I am going to do the workouts and let you know how they are. I probably won’t go into a blow by blow of the moves involved but I will give you an idea of how hard (or not) they are.

T25 Cardio was pretty easy especially if you have ever done an insanity workout. Just the sight of Shaun T with hair makes it a little less threatening. There was one or two moments when my calves were burning but then again I have been sick and unable to workout for almost 3 weeks. Given how out of shape I am, this workout was easy and at no time were you off your feet so no pushups or burpees. It was a little entertaining, but then again, humour has never been Shaun T’s forte.

P90X3 Total Synergistics was kind of a hodge podge of a bit of everything, some squats and lunges, some pushups and plank work and even a couple of chinups. it did seem overly generalized but I suppose that’s to be expected at the start of the program. I am hoping that we will get a little more specialized as time goes on.

Here are the workouts that I will be doing over the next few weeks, there are 30 total and so I should be able to cover them off in 45 days or so with my Oly commitments. I will try to arrange them in some sort of order but basically I will be taking the schedule and doing whatever is next, skipping what I have done.

T25 workouts (3 sections, Alpha, Beta, Gamma)

Alpha
Cardio
Total body circuit
Lower body focus
Ab intervals
Speed

Beta
Upper focus
Core cardio
Spread
Dynamic core
Rip T circuit

Gamma
Extreme circuit
Speed 3.0
The Pyramid
Rip T

P90X3 – Separated into 4 sections, Resistance, Power, Cardio, Core / Flex and Balance)

Resistance

Total Synergistics
The Challenge
Incinerator
The Warrior
Eccentric Upper
Eccentric Lower

Power

Agility X
Triometrics
Decelerator

Cardio

Cardio Vascular Extreme (CVX)
Mark Briggs Inspired MMA Workouts (MMX)
Accelerator

Core, Flex & Balance

Pilates X
X3 Yoga
Isometric
Dynamix

 

Steep Hill To Climb – R11D1 – T25 Base Round

t25Our December trip to Cuba (Royal Hicacos) was fantastic, I was able to run on the beach, work out every day and have the best fresh food to eat whenever I needed. This was a really big deal for me since after my surgery I have not run at all for fear of hurting my back. As it turns out, running didn’t really cause me any pain at all.

Coming back was tough, as a family we went into December getting sick and our trip to England was marred by a chest infection and for me, pneumonia. At least my daughter seemed to be OK although she still has the cough we have all shared all month. I did manage to work out twice in 11 days in England, and the day we got back home I did some Olympic lifting to try and get back in the swing. That put me back in the walk in clinic and served me with a bout of antibiotics. So here we are, a week into the new year and I have been unable to work out since mid December. That means an inevitable weight gain (I estimate 10lbs) and of course the disappearance of any of my previous stamina.

I have been here many times before, but I have to admit the older I get the tougher it is to take. So I face a big uphill battle to get back into shape but I am aiming at Feb 1 as my goal to be back in my daily shape which means Oly lifting with 135lbs as a minimum and the ability to run a mile (1500m) without a break at a reasonable pace. I have also just received a copy of T25 with Shaun T that I will be trying to get through in the next 3 months in the long term goal of hitting 220lbs by the summer. I think it’s about time for me to get back into a 90 day program since that has worked so well for me in the past.

So with my usual impulsive decision making I am declaring this Day 1 of Round 11, T25 base. My hope is to use the 5 workouts for T25 mixed with Oly lifts, pullups and Kettlebells to give me a shot at keeping my workout percentage over 80 for the 90 days. That would mean 72 of 90 days which should be OK. I have no exposure to T25 so I am not sure what to expect or how it will fit in with my HIIT weight workouts but I am sure we can find a way. I don’t want a total cardio setup with no room for weights, it may turn out that 3 days of T25 and 3 days of weights will suffice.

I will update every day where possible starting tomorrow with my weight which I am unsure of but I have a feeling my be just shy of 250lbs.

Weekly Now?

20131113_173636Last week ended well as far as exercise goes.

Wednesday I did 5 rounds of Chelsea plus a 20 minute Ab workout at gym.
Thursday off
Friday I did an all around 95lb Oly lift with combinations of DL, Clean and Squats
Saturday I did most of my FIRST EVER BODY BEAST workout. It was chest and tris and actually, I hate to admit it but I actually enjoyed it.
Sunday I took an hour of walking stairs with bins ranging from 10lbs to 60 lbs as I moved all the crap out of the garage upstairs to a store room.
Monday off
Tuesday I did another Oly lift day with everything but very fast and with only 75 lbs to increase the cardio component.
Wednesday I did Millenium Bronze, a workout that I invented on the drive home from work as follows:

Millennium Bronze

100 each:
Jump rope
Jacks
Crunches
Pushups
Squats
Military
VSnaps
Box Jump
Power Crunch
Burpees

I think the Silver and Gold will have to be harder by degrees, I am thinking something like this (since it’s really aimed towards my kids at gym)

Millennium silver

100 each:
MK Switch
Squat jacks
Bicycle Elbows
Ultra Wide Pushups
Pop Squats
Diamond Pushups
Single Jack and Jills
Double box jumps
Layed out power crunches
Pushup Burpees

Millennum Gold

100 each:
Arms up MK switch
SDHP with KB
VSnaps
Chinups
Pushups double shoulder touch
Pop Squat 180
Bar Leg Lifts
Double Box Clears
Bicycle Bicycle Vsnap
Plyo Pushups

A Word About P90X3 and Summer WOD Pictures (of the workout!)

As you all know very well I am a very big P90X fan, so much so I am actually a Canadian Beachbody Coach. However, the rumours surrounding the release of P90X3 have me a little worried. For a start, the big THING is that it’s only 30 minutes. Now, I have done a LOT of P90X and P90X2 workouts and for the most part after round 1 they are usually only about 40 minutes. I tend to shorten the warmup a little but I don’t listen to Tony ramble on, I skip to the next movement or even better skip ahead and then catch up while he and his pals rest and hang out looking cool and making pseudo sexual jokes about chokes and oil. My hope is that this next iteration is exactly that, as I always say to my kids at gym, More Work Less Talk! There should be some changes, I am guessing that they saw the Tapout XT video series and decided that was exactly what P90X needed, a little butt kicking MMA conditioning. So I am cautiously optimistic and I will happily ignore the 30 minute spiel and hope that it doesn’t include the warmup or cool down so they will be basically the same amount of work with less “50 years old” chirping from good old Tony.

For myself I am WAY behind where I wanted to be a few weeks ago but I am feeling OK. I wanted to have been to the Crossfit box at least a handful of times by now which I haven’t. I had hoped to be doing the gym conditioning with the kids which I haven’t either mostly because of my very sore shoulder which I have half a mind to go to the clinic to get referred for xrays or an ultrasound because it’s still hurting like hell from 2 weeks ago when I did dips at the gym with the kids.

Speaking of the kids, here are a few pics of the workouts they are typically doing at the moment. So for those of you following along at home (ex-gymnasts) keep up if you can!

I’m Back! P90X Kenpo

andersonsilvastarIt’s been a while, I have been battling many things, a very sore leg which may have a slight infection, a hacking cough that won’t go away, a significant weight gain that is preventing me from getting to a pain free plateau and a return to coaching that will no doubt throw a wrench into my workout schedule. However, I am glad to report that I have been able to do 2 workouts now using the 135lb olympic bar. It’s not the volume I would like to say I am doing yet but I made it through and recovered in the standard 3 days. This is pretty significant for me because it signifies the threshold that I wanted to reach where I could say I was back into my normal range of functionality. I now realize that I am going to have to start back with my regular stretching and mobility work too since I have been staying away from it in order not to stress my back too much but I know I can’t expect to move any significant weight around without maintaining a good stretching regimen. I have also done a couple of kettlebell workouts with my 45 and 55lb KBs which also represents a milestone given the amount of stress that KB swings put n your spine. My chinups are pretty sad, I am only able to hit about 7 or 8 in a row but I did manage to do a 100 pullup workout a couple of weeks ago mixed in with 100 ring dips.

I hesitate to say I am back to normal only because I still live with a huge amount of pain every day. I realize that the better I feel, the more I do so therefore it will be a while before I am able to feel “normal” but the good sign is that my actual workout weights are getting back there. My endurance is a whole other ball game. I am really gassing out very quickly and I need to really work on my high intensity capacity now, giving me a longer window of time where I can keep my work rate high. I am certain that there is no way I would be able to match my bootcamp capacity from last year at this point but hopefully before Christmas gets here I will be able to do a 750 calorie workout in 45 minutes which was my peak performance that I can recall from last year.

I did do P90X Kenpo last night, I wanted a little cardio and to feel like I was mobile and Kenpo really did the trick. It was so weird going back to those videos but the forced warmup and stretching did wonders for me. If I have to, I will go back to Tony to get me back n track with the warmups and cool downs since it seems to be that is a critical component to my next few months.

Calm Down

So the back issue passed apparently without incident however I was unable to really push myself as hard as I wanted this week. After Family Day off coaching I did a tuesday workout that I can’t really remember but I think was a P90X2 whole body affair. Wednesday was bootcamp and we did a cardio abs session similar to the last one but with variations I will have to embellish on next time. Thursday I did another P90X2 workout of PAP Lower, a workout I had never done before and which I enjoyed but it made my already sore ITB even worse. Today I took off, partly because I was sore but also because there were really no kids to do gymnastics conditioning with. It’s been a tough week with the threat of back spasms or a lengthy downtime hanging over my head but I hope starting tomorrow I can turn up the wick and get back to the serious work of keeping myself in shape.

Overachieving

A+reportcardsmallAfter bootcamp last week I decided to try not to take Thursday off and keep that day in my pocket in case I needed it. On reflection it was a great idea, I think I made some good strides this week back to my 232lb partial goal and I am hoping to gain some momentum to pass right by 232 without noticing.

Thursday:
Olympic Lifting. I stuck to my plan of increasing my weights slowly but surely. This time I surpassed 205 and went up to 235 with my deadlift. I know, it’s not much but I think once I make it to 300 I will cap it anyway so I am not searching for glory here!

Friday:
P90X2 Balance and Power. I have been trying to stick with at least 1 full DVD workout each week, partly because it makes sure I get a longer workout than usual and adds to my total time for the week but also because it gives me some inspiration for bootcamp. Balance and Power is a good workout if you are looking for something that is not body part specific and had some good coordination/balance moves incorporated. There is also some abs work which makes it a good all around bootcamp style workout.

Saturday and Sunday:
Bench and Free dips plus Fountain of Youth Yoga. Saturday was the first time in a long time that I set up the bench and did some old school gym workout bench presses. I wanted to see if I was still as strong as I was (I’m not!) and see if my endurance for benching is still where it used to be (it is!). I only managed to get up to 235lbs partly due to the fact I didn’t have the new bumper plates in the basement but also because I chose to ramp up slowly taking sets of 10 reps at each increment. By the end I had completed over 100 reps going from 135lbs up to 235lbs. Mixed in with the bench I was also doing free dips on my home made dip stands which added to the fatigue and therefore lightness of weight. All in all, it was a satisfying workout, and once in a while it’s good to go back to bodypart basics and make some waves! Sunday I decided since I hadn’t had a day off since Tuesday I would spend some time treating my body well and did the FOY Yoga with Tony. It’s only 40 minutes max and I have to admit I skipped the abs so it was only about 35 minutes but it was just what I needed. I got to hit 6/7 days this week and didn’t feel like a total basket case at the end.

 

Keep Up

speed_dialSince the infamous Body Beast on Wednesday I managed to squeeze in an RKC workout at work on Friday, an Insanity cardio workout on Saturday and a Deadlift workout on Sunday. Add that to the Bootcamp from last night and I seem to be almost on a roll of sorts.

I picked Pure Cardio for my insanity workout mostly because I had soreness in my shoulder and didn’t want to do too much of the plank or burpee action. My deadlifting is still sadly lacking and I am barely squeaking over 205lbs all the while being careful not to shatter my spine. I am going to try and get up to at least 225lbs in the next month and from there, who knows.

My RKC workout that used to be just ladders of clean and press with pullups is now changing into a more challenging and varied kettlebell workout. I have started to incorporate much more squat, high pull, snatch and swings into the workout to keep it more interesting. I have also managed to get my hands on another Art Of Strength workout titled Providence which I am hoping will add more fuel to the fire. Here’s the latest bootcamp, feel free to tell me if you find it challenging…

7.4.1 – Weights and stability ball

Chest Press
Chest Fly
Chest pullover
Single arm hammer tricep
Kneeling press
Kneeling curl
10 Wallball with pushup

Plank row
Plank row with pushup
Military on db
Kneeling press
Kneeling tricep extension
Kneeling bicep curl against knee
10 wallball with in and out abs

Med ball crunch
mb foot hold in and out
Side crunch hold mb high
mb knee hold crunchy frog
foot to hand vsnap passes
mb chest hold full situp

Chest press alternating
face up overhead fly alternating
Overhead pullover alternating
alternating shoulder press
alternating bicep curl
Single tricep extension overhead
10 wallball with military

High Pull
Halo
Ribbon (extended halo)
Hammer double curls
Military clap
Regular Clap
Plyo Pushup with clap

cooldown
Twisting half moon both sides
warrior 1-3 both sides