DVD Days P90X to Tapout XT – Page 5 – Something Beats Nothing Every Time

Body Beast – Finally, Victims.

I have done this workout twice, both times with the same person, the only one I can count on to work hard every day. It was about time to put someone else to the test so I waited until I knew most people would be here and I hit them with this:

7.3.1 Body Beast

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

10 Pushup with Military alternating
10 sphinx to plank with side hold
10 pushup with in and out
10 military with groiner step in

20 shoulder crunch
20 leg up crunch
10 full situp double twist
10 side crunch
10 hanging leg raise

10x 2 shoulder 1 full
10x 2 shoulder 1 vsnap
10x full with 2 side crunch

20 Air squats
20 step back lunge front kick
20 belt kicks
20 front lunge
10 pullups

20 air squat with pop squat
20 front lunge back lunge
20 belt kick tuck jump
10 chest pullups

20 shoulder touch
20 hip touch
10 spider each side
10 knee to elbow each
10 knee to opposite elbow each

20 shoulder touch with pushup
20 hip touch with military
10 spider each with cross knees to elbows

20 single leg knee raise
20 super skaters
30 second chair pose
20 side lunge
60s squat hold with 10 half reps

20 super skater knee to elbow
20 side lunge leg raise (outside leg plus squat)
20 side lunge leg raise – inside leg
30 second chair twist each
10 pullups alternate hands

Move Along, Nothing To See Here

Well so much for keeping up with the blog. I have been a little under the weather, I was off work for a few days with a very sick little toddler which of course meant I got the bug and suffered for a few days myself. I haven’t been doing bootcamp since I have been trying to use the hour for extra gymnastics training for the girls.

I need to get back in the groove.

Some of the things I have done since we last spoke:

Bought new 45lb bumper plates for the Olympic bar. I now have the capacity to go to 325lbs
Completed Tapout XT Cardio and Muay Thai and thoroughly enjoyed both of them. In fact, I am in the process of getting a heavy bag to further my enjoyment of hitting things.
Completed a couple of P90X2 workouts neither of which was Yoga.
I have been volunteered to manage the Men’s weight loss competition (Biggest Loser) for my wife’s Mom group. I think I may join in and try to move my last few percentage points by peer pressure.

Ugh, it’s so time to start documenting again, I hate not knowing exactly what I have done and how hard I have been working.

I’ll be back…

Ending On A High Note

Over the break I have so far managed to keep things on track, I did a deadlift workout at home and also did X2 Core which I have to admit I really enjoyed if only for the fact that it’s 18 non-repeating exercises. I haven’t really thought about what I will do for the New Year, if anything, since I think things are going OK. However, I think I may dial back on the HFULC approach since not having any carbs at all makes my snacks and meals very high calorie and I think that is going to push me in the wrong direction. I am going to start documenting my weight and stats more closely, maybe including photos since that seems to be the greatest motivation for me.

Which brings me to my ever present New Year’s Resolution. I said last year that it would be the first time in years that I hadn’t included “lose weight” as the number one on my NYR list. Well, this year is the same, I think my weight is manageable at 230 – 235 lbs but I think this year I will concentrate on something more difficult, and that is to lower my bodyfat. I have been skating around 18% for a while now, and I would really like to try and get down to 15% if possible in the next few months. I am not entirely sure what changes I am going to have to make to get this to happen but I will keep logging it here to let you know what I figure out.

Happy New Year everyone, I hope your 2013 will bring you everything you deserve!

P90X2 Reviews – All The Info You Need

I am often trying to locate my reviews for P90X2 and since they are really the only reviews I did I decided I would link them here in one place. They are not so much my personal feelings about the workouts but rather listing of the moves so that you can decide more easily which one will fit best with your schedule especially if you are cherry picking like I am at the moment.

So here are the links, and for reference the length of the DVD.

X2 Core 56 minutes
X2 Plyocide 56 minutes
X2 Recovery + Mobility 58 minutes
X2 Total Body 63 minutes
X2 Yoga 68 minutes
X2 Balance + Power 63 minutes
Chest + Back + Balance 60 minutes
X2 Shoulders + Arms 53 minutes
Base+ Back 56 minutes
P.A.P. Lower 62 minutes
P.A.P. Upper 53 minutes
X2 Ab Ripper 17 minutes

DVDs Are Back

Mixed in with the bootcamp classes I have been doing DVDs again, since it’s been below zero a lot here lately. So far I have done Insanity Plyo, P90X2 PAP Upper, P90X2 Plyocide and I have to admit I am getting bitten by the indoor bug again. I thought I would curse not being able to do Olympic lifting and RKC but I think that replacing them with fun, entertaining workouts is just the ticket.

Today I am hoping to do something cardio related since it’s my 4 day on stint and I have to mix in some Yoga or Balance too. I also have to try and use this as more of a record of my progress and affection for the workouts since I have a possibility of something like 58 DVD workouts to choose from. That includes Insanity Asylum which I think I will probably never do again because it just irritates me too much.

My go to DVD? Don’t really have one but I am going to try and fit as much P90X2 into my program as I can just to become more familiar with it since I think it’s got the best research behind it and even though I hate to admit it the best cast. If you don’t agree, just try Tapout XT or Body Beast and you will come grovelling back to Tony for forgiveness!

Following Through – Winter 2012 Part I

Since Wednesday when I did the last bootcamp it was the first test of my resolve to get my winter schedule up to speed. On Thursday I think I did the last of my Olympic lifting for the year, barring a warm spell because it’s getting very cold out in the garage. As a quick reminder here is what I was doing in general for my Oly days:

55lb KB warmup swings, snatches, clean and press halo etc.

Using 155lb bar:

5×5 Deadlift
5×5 Power Shrug
4×5 Squat
4×5 Clean
3×5 Clean and Press

That’s 125 movements which is about the max I ever did.

Friday I was supposed to do WOD at the gym but I had 1 kid and a very sore back so I took the day off. Saturday was supposed to be the first day of the Winter session being Dec 1 and all so I decided on Plyocide.

That’s because I was still sore and wanted to make sure I got some cardio in this week. Returning to P90X2 is going to be fun since I only did 1 real round of the workouts and so I am still unfamiliar with them for the most part. I am hoping to mesh them with the bootcamps and try to ensure a balanced workout schedule, and I think that taking some Insanity workouts also will help to increase my cardio output since I seem to be sadly lacking in that department. So day 1 for winter 2012 was cardio. Day 2 I decided on X2 Core since it is the first of the P90X2 workouts and I wanted something relatively easy because I have to teach bootcamp tomorrow.

That’s the problem.

For some reason now I have developed this “cushion” around my bootcamp workouts where I am overly cautious with them. I forget what it was like to do rounds of P90X with 6 days on at a time filled with tough back breaking quad burning lung busting effort. I think I need to suck it up a little.

That said, X2 Core was Â enjoyable, it’s not overly taxing but it’s a well thought out bodyweight workout that touches all the bases from head to toe. No pullups though!

To review a couple of things quickly because of my back problems my last 90 day participation rate was only 60%. I also have been trying to get back into my VLC diet which has caused a little “adjustment” in my weight but that is settling down now and my most recent scale numbers are:

236.6 @ 22.1%

Not great but I am moving in a good direction now.

Winter Schedule

I feel lazy, if only because I haven’t really pushed myself this month so far. I am happy to stick with the bootcamps and days off that I should be cranking out workouts. So it’s time for a shakeup. Each year around this time I clear out the garage in preparation to park the car overnight and in doing so, remove the Olympic lifting platform and weights. So it’s back to the basement for a few months of DVD workouts which will give me a chance to get some P90X2, Body Beast and Tapout XT workouts in and possible reviewed too! I guess I will be starting this week too since the weather forecast is telling me that temperatures won’t get above zero again any time soon. It’s not that I can’t take the cold, but rather that it’s dangerous for me to allow my back to get cold and stiff while I work out and my experience has taught me that rotating back to the basement is a welcome change, in addition to being a more stringent workout schedule. Since I will still be doing bootcamp by the looks of things it will have to look like this:

Monday – Bootcamp
Tuesday – Rest or Yoga/stretch
Wednesday – Bootcamp
Thursday – Critical Day Option
Friday – WOD at Gym or RKC at work
Saturday – Full DVD workout
Sunday – Full DVD workout

Also, to update my diet changes I feel a little better, a little stronger and a little bigger but I think my weight is up slightly as I adjust back from the heavier carb cycle. I was thinking it would take at least 2 weeks to see any significant change and of course I am frustrated even though it’s only been a week. I will keep on for another week, it’s hard getting used to the trick of only eating when you need to rather than allowing yourself to snack on fruits all day. I am just waiting for the ketosis to kick in so I won’t feel hungry at all, and in fact, I am already seeing a significant change in my appetite. In addition, I am not yet into the dvd workouts as listed above and so my activity is slightly lower than it will be in the coming weeks. At this rate I am hoping to break through the 232 sticking point and hit 220 by Christmas or New Year.

Bootcamp Final Week

5.12.1 Bodyweight and Balance

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!!

10 military pushup
10 diamond pushup
10 Hindu Pushup
30s crane

How Do I Start?

I received a familiar request the other day, to help someone who is a little overwhelmed about starting to lose weight after the birth of her baby. Although maybe a little heavy handed, this was my response and it’s pretty universal.

The first thing that you have to do is make a decision. Not a decision that you can go back on but a final decision to change.
Second you need to set your larger goal. Your larger goal is nothing to do with losing weight or any of the challenges you have, your larger goal is to be honest, true and faithful to yourself. If you can commit to being honest with yourself and not accepting the old excuses then you are on your way.
Third, stop listening to yourself, you are only confusing the issue.
There is a voice inside your head that wants to derial you. You can either try to change the voice then change your life or you can simply stop paying attention to it until it starts to help you not hurt you. You are smart enough to know the right thing to do but that voice always finds a way around it.
What is better? Food you make at home from simple ingredients or fast food? You already know the answer. What is better, spending an hour watching a tv show or 30 minutes working out and 30 mintues making your food for tomorrow? Same hour, different results. What would you think of someone feeding a can of coke to a baby? Why would you treat your body with any less importance? Six months from now you will be 6 months older, but will you be different? That’s the big question. If you really want your life to change then you have to make some changes in your life. Here they are:
1. Find 30 minutes every day to exercise. Walking is not exercise. If you want to count walking it had better be up and down a flight of stairs.
2. Drink only water and if you have to, coffee.
3. Eat food with one ingredient. If it has more than one ingredient, you don’t need to go near it.
4. That means lean protein, fruits and veg, nuts and seeds (in moderation) and if you want to, a little dairy (yogourt is allowed with no sugar).

Understand that when it comes to fat loss everyone wants a magic pill or fix. That’s why the diet pill industry is doing so well. Well, here it is. Your body creates a substance that forces your body to store calories as body fat. How would you like to turn that process off? It’s not magic, it’s insulin. Eat less sugar and grains and your weight will come off.

Lead by example for your child. What you do will mould who she becomes. Kids learn directly from their parents in EVERY aspect. Be a good role model for yourself, for her and for the people around you who will eventually come to you and ask how you did it.

But do it now. You didn’t start six months ago, if you had, you wouldn’t be reading this.

Due to Halloween, Wednesday’s bootcamp didn’t happen. Instead I opted to do a little Olympic lifting and for the first time since my back went out I did the whole thing with my usual 135lbs. It was the pretty standard 80 reps but with 20 KB swings added in after every round. That kind of threw my week off a little and this was probably one of the times I should have dragged out the P90X2 DVDs and done a pre-programmed workout. Thursday I decided that 100 pullups and 200 pushups would be good since I felt like it had been a while since I had done pullups and I can feel my competence fading. So I did 20 pushups with 10 pullups for 10 rounds after a short warmup with the 55lb KB. Friday I coached and since I had only one athlete who required some extensive stretching I joined in and ha d a good 40 minutes of lower body stretching which felt amazing. Saturday I was a little adventurous and did my Cleans, Clean and Press and Squats with 135lbs for sets of 10×3. Then I decided I would increase my deadlift to get me closer to my goal which is bodyweight. I know, it’s not exactly spectacular but with my history it’s as far as I am willing to go at the moment. That said I managed sets of 5 x 2 with 135, 155, 165, 185 and 205. I was pretty happy with the results and the following 2 days did not produce much in the way of soreness or compromised mobility. That said, I knew that there was only one thing I should do to end the week and promote my recovery and mobility ready for bootcamp Monday so I busted out the Fountain of Youth Yoga with Tony and worked out all my kinks and crunchy bits. It was a good week all in all, maybe not the toughest I have ever had but doing Yoga really made my week.

Ya, shocking.

Ten On – Stats

Following on from the success of 11 days working out in a row my body decided to revolt by being, well, revolting and I have spent three days with my head or other body parts in and around the toilet. I tell you, I am having a hard time getting back up to speed but Monday saw one of my girls and I basically freestyle our way through a 45 minute abs and weights workout. I can’t even remember what we did but there was plenty of crunch work and standing, sitting and stability ball weights work. It’s now Halloween and I am still working on getting my stats back to where they were before my 2 week hiatus for my injured back. Speaking of stats, here is what my scale has said about me lately. My goal is to get back under 19% body fat ASAP which is proving tricky. I have been able to get back from the brink of being 240lbs which was scary to say the least. As far as the other measurements go, I am not too concerned other than I used to rate as below 30 years of age and I am now significantly over that threshold.