R9D23 – Bootcamp 2.4.1 – Bodyweight With Pullups (Monsters…)

The workout was followed by some degree of disappointment by a couple of my kids. They claimed it was not hard enough regardless of the fact that last week they felt the same but it took them 4 days to get their legs to work properly following our leg workout. I guess we will see on Wednesday how they feel about it. Maybe they are monsters in the gym, maybe…

The workout looked like this, since it was bodyweight day.

Legs x20x2
air squat
back lunge front kick
Squat side reach
Hip flexor burners – knee, extend, pulse

Absx20x2
in and out
rowing frog
rollback hold
side to side scissor
hanging leg raise

torsox10x2
pushups
plank right foot left hand
wide leg prone fall to push back
pullups or rack pullup

legs 10x
warrior 3 to lunge
warrior 3 to squat
warrior 3 to knee touch
hanging leg raise

torso
plank 360 spin x 4
pushup side balance leg raise x 10
crown shoulder press x10
elbow, plank, shoulder touch, clap and back x10

As is the norm at this point, the pullups took an inordinate amount of time, keeping the class on track is tough, but necessary to develop true strength through the back and upper torso. I am a staunch believer in chin ups as the holy grail of upper back strength.

R9D21/2 – X2 Core And Plyocide

I have to admit to feeling lazy this past week. I feel like I have eaten too many nuts and it’s making me lethargic. If I was still addicted to the scale I am sure that I would find a couple of pounds extra. However, in the spirit of the New Year I am going to try and limit my exposure to the scale to once a month. There are always times that you will find yourself straying off track a little, the problems arise when you get off track in more than one area and don’t recognize the issues. Once you get one wheel off the road you are in a precarious position, a little correction and you are back on track, a slight distraction and you are in the ditch. For me personally it doesn’t take much, for example this week I worked out 5 of 7 days but one of those days was an easy day (Mobility) and so I feel like I didn’t get the work I needed. Maybe it’s getting used to the P90X2 workouts too, rather than the crazy kettlebell and Olympic Lifting I am used to. Whatever it is, I am tackling this feeling of lethargy by not taking tuesday off. Last week and the week before I took it off because it is the day between bootcamps and I thought I would burn myself out. However I am finding that I am underworked so in the spirit of listening to my body I will squeeze another workout in tomorrow. As it happens, the schedule calls for yoga which is kind of a good fit for me.

Speaking of the schedule, I am going to finish up this week and move on to phase 2 which looks like this:

Phase 2 Strength:

1. Chest + Back + Balance & X2 Ab Ripper
2. Plyocide
3. Rest or X2 Recovery + Mobility
4. X2 Shoulders + Arms & X2 Ab Ripper
5. X2 Yoga
6. Base + Back & X2 Ab Ripper
7. Rest or X2 Recovery + Mobility

It’s much the same but there are more specific strength components than there are in the Core of Total Body workouts. I am really looking forward to this because the workouts that I love the most from P90X are the bodypart specific workouts. I am also going to post reviews of PAP upper and PAP lower to complete the collection.

On the injury front I strained my rotator cuff last week spotting the girls at gym and it’s been insanely painful. It’s a little better now but it meant no pressing during the workouts this week. I am sure that compounded my feeling of lethargy and in return for laying and trying to rest my shoulder I made my back sore (maybe from overstretching..). Quite some time ago I had a very sore toe, and in fact it wasn’t just the toe, it was my whole front of my left foot was sore to flex or contract. I panicked and thought I may have gout so I treated it with strawberries. I am not sure exactly what it was but I am thinking that I may have bruised the ball of my foot doing something during the summer in my VFF’s. Whatever it was, I noticed a couple of weeks ago that it is gone which is a relief. Other than that I am pretty healthy at the moment other than the viral thing that we all got during Christmas. I have been feeling good after my workouts but I still know that I could use to get an extra hour or two of sleep each night. I just can’t seem to get myself to bed on time. I think that is my final frontier, if I can conquer my bad sleep habits, I think I may have this wellness thing licked.

 

R9D20 – Death By Bootcamp Cardio

The bootcamp cardio this week was a bear. I often forget that I am going to have to participate and half way through the class this week I was regretting it. Not only that, we went so quickly that I almost ran out of the workout on the sheet! I had modified a couple of moves from the plan and the real workout went like this:

Spin warmup – 10-20-30-40-50 x2

or 500m row x2

heels
knees
jacks
123’s

Jump rope side to side 30
Ski down 30
Llunge switch 30
Med ball mtn climbers x40

Med ball run around 5+5
Med ball circle 5+5
Med ball toe touch 360 x4
Med ball plank plyo touch x20

Med ball mary katherines x20
Med ball hop over line x2
Med ball hop touch line x2
Plank or elbow jacks x30

Hit the floor x20
Frog jumps x20
Suicide 3 x20
Jab cross x20
Hook uppercut x20
Jab cross hook uppercut x20

Belt kicks x20
Switch kicks with lunge switch 8’s x10
Step back lunge x20
Level 1 drill pushup burpee with running x10

In and outs 20
Weighted Russian twists 20
Boat roll back 10
Weighted Russian twists 20
Plank side reach under with leg raise 10 per side

I think the plank reaches at the end almost killed everyone. Not enough that they were out of gas by the plank jacks but once they made it through the switch kicks and the level 1 drills I think they were just glad to lay down. Not for long though, I don’t think anyone even managed to keep their hips off the ground for the duration of the reaches even without a leg raise added in.

I guess that’s why it’s bootcamp though, it’s meant to be hard, it’s meant to be brutal and not something you are supposed to “get used to”.

R9D18&19 – Bootcamp 2.3.1 and X2 Recovery And Mobility

Bootcamp went well considering it was the first day back after the break for most people. The spin bike warmup was more challenging than I thought it would be for some people and the introduction of pull ups was a rude awakening for most. I have to say I am not surprised, I mean the pullup motion is not something that you use in your normal life, most other things you can say have some practical application but the pullup is pretty unique in it’s lack of day to day application. It would be an understatement to say that they struggled however I am confident in a few weeks we will have them all doing at least 1 free pullup.

I opted for the mobility DVD last night, I was sore from bootcamp and knowing that I had the cardio bootcamp coming up on Wednesday  I wanted to give my body a rest while treating it to a bit of an active recovery. It’s a little weird workout, I guess because you end up chasing your own sore spots with the roller and at least in my case go ahead oblivious to what is happening on the screen. The roller made me sore, the actions are very painful in places but that just goes to show even when you are not that sore, the muscle itself can always use some work. I find that the end of my triceps near my elbows are sore, my quads right up high by my hip flexors are bad and the inside of my quad by my knee. I haven’t really found a good way to get the shoulders worked and I find that rolling my entire back at once doesn’t quite hit the areas right. I will have to figure that out, all I know is when I use the stability ball to elongate my back it makes me sore where the foam roller does essentially the same thing but leaves me feeling refreshed.

I have not done any of my measurements for the beginning of the year but I think I know where I am except for my actual inches. I should do that soon, but the photos on my bar (to the right, top and bottom) are quite recent so they will do for now.

By the way, if anyone wants to buy me a mini (or large) rumble roller, I would be forever indebted to you!

R9D17 – X2 Core And Bootcamp Plan

Every time I have done it, I come away thinking that X2 Core is more of a leg workout than anything else. maybe it’s because the leg portion is quite challenging, maybe I am not noticing the abs and core work because I am resting after the leg stuff I don’t know. Whatever it is, I enjoy it! I did find however that I was getting ahead of the workout as I was doing it, there are specific numbers to some of the movements and I find myself able to do them quickly since my balance is pretty good. At one point I found myself to be 3 exercises ahead having inadvertently skipped the water break. This is not something I am unfamiliar with, in fact I have commented in the past on the workout being too long partly due to the large amount of rest given between exercises. I could condense the X2 Core workout into about 40 minutes if I went at my own pace, and I know from experience with P90X that I will probably end up doing just that. As you get more proficient, you don’t necessarily want or need to do more volume of work, so a shorter time becomes more desirable.

It’s time for bootcamp to resume at the gym, I will be leading the group tonight with weights and lower body / back workout including pullups for the first time. It’s going to be a bloodbath, after almost 3 weeks off I can just imagine what they have been doing during their time off and I would bet it wasn’t chair dips and decline pushups!

Here’s the plan:

Legs and Back

Spin bike warmup – Up & down 10-10-20-10-30-10-40-10-50-10 x2

Air squats 20
walking lunge x 20
long jumps 2 length
jump chin ups (10 max)

MK Tucks (2 mary Katherines + tuck jump) x 10
Lunge to knee raise x 10 each side
Side jump to single leg squat x 10
beat chin ups (10 max)

squat jump half turn
warrior 3 to lunge x 10 per side
warrior 3 squat x10 per side
strict pull ups x 10

med ball Mary Katherines x 20
med ball squat jump quarter x 16
med ball long jumps
chin ups x10

wall ball x10
med ball 1 leg squat to calf raise x10 per side
med ball single leg hip raises x10 per side
med ball single leg laying hip raises

med ball burpees x15

 

 

R9D16 – X2 Balance & Power And Time Magazine Acts Stupid

Finally got back on my P90X2 track again last night. I will probably do another week of phase 1 just like the original P90X to give me 3 weeks on 1 week rest. Last night’s workout went OK, I need a better stability ball though since mine is a low quality and too squishy. I was a little short on some of the moves because my quads were screaming after my KB workout the day before. I guess I hadn’t done enough squatting while I was away and the KB workout just fried me. I have to say I do like this workout, even though it is a little heavy on the balance work (it probably should be since it’s CALLED balance) like a lot of this P90X2 system. It’s a decent full body approach and I only noticed this time around how much leg work there was because of my pain levels. I probably managed around 90% of the program, I fell short on the crabby dumbbell press due to the stupid ball and I can’t quite manage the Lolasana yet but I will get there!

Time Magazine has once again proven that years of misinformation fed to us from interest groups and commodity crop behemoths is something that will take years to overcome. The article is ridiculous but the retort I found on Bulletproofexec is pretty good. Here’s a clip to get you started:

On January 4th, Sora Song of Time Magazine published an article called, It’s the Calories, Stupid: Weight Gain Depends on How Much Not What You Eat.  This is one of those articles.

The article focused on a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association titled,

Effect of dietary protein content on weight gain, energy expenditure, and body composition during overeating: a randomized controlled trial.

The goal was to find how over consuming protein or fat affected total weight gain and lean body mass.  Basically, does eating more of protein or fat have a metabolic advantage over the other macronutrient.

Sora Song, an editor for Time Magazine, writes, it’s not what you eat but how much that matters when it comes to body weight.

Like many people, she assumes the only variable when it comes to food  is the number of calories, which ignores the role of macronutrients like protein, starch, and fat.  If it was true that the only variable that mattered was how much you ate, you could eat a low carb diet of damaged seed oils, fructose, and whole grains it would have the same effect as a high carb diet of sweet potatoes, seafood, and coconut (like the Kitavans).  As the Kitavan research shows, the difference is obvious.  While a high carb diet is not necessarily bulletproof, it’s a lot better than a high toxin diet -regardless of the macronutrient composition.

This is starting to sound suspect but if you read on you will find that the study (as is normal with “sponsored” studies) claims that you gain less weight on a low protein hig carb diet than the other way around. Unfortunately what they fail to show is that the type of weight gain on carbs is almost pure fat where the weight gain on protein is at least 50% muscle mass. But Kellogg’s don’t want you to know that, they want you to eat Pop Tarts and continue to believe eggs and bacon are the devil. It’s an interesting expose of an irrational and irresponsible article.

Good Calories Bad Calories is a great place to start if you are wondering how to make sense of it all. Move on to The Paleo Solution and you will have all the unbiased info you need to get to work. Either that or watch Fathead, it’s on Netflix now!

Also, if you want to get an idea of who is writing more sensible and helpful books, check out the review of The Smarter Science of Slim: What the Actual Experts Have Proven about Weight Loss, Health, and Fitness on the Fathead site.

R9D15 – Many Happy Russian Returns

I took the opportunity to work out during lunch today in our work “getaway” room. I had my 45lb KB with me and as I have said many times in the past, that’s all you need for a great workout. It went like this (since I didn’t have a pullup bar):

Pumps, halos and squats for warmup

1-2-3 Clean and Press
20 swings
1-2-3-4 Clean and Press
20 swings
1-2-3-4-5 Clean and Press
20 swings
1-2-3-4 Clean and Press
20 swings
1-2-3 Clean and Press
20 swings

5 snatches per side x 3

It was a quick 25 minutes or so.

It’s funny actually, the questions I get the most about my workouts are not about P90X or even now about P90X2 but rather about kettlebell workouts. People seem fascinated by the idea that you can get a full body kick-ass workout from a heavy metal ball with a handle. I guess I was pretty skeptical too at first but after you do your first few swings, you get the message! I know a lot of people use kettlebells for some of their work, maybe a few swings here and there witha sumo deadlift or two thrown in but I don’t know of many people who actually do full kettlebell workouts. If you haven’t tried it and you are looking for something to supplement your P90X/Insanity workouts then why not try the RKC (Russian Kettlebell Challenge) as outlined in the Art Of Strength workbook and work through the Enter The Kettlebell workout video. I can guarantee you will feel a massive difference in your strength, especially your core and back.

Give it a shot, it’s a new year after all!

 

 

R9D14 – Off Plan

I had a chance to use the equipment at the gymnastics club today which included a rowing machine so I devised a little torture for myself:

10-10-10

Burpees
Chin Ups
Thrusters
Hang Cleans
Wall Ball
Row 500m

I like how it says smarter, friendlier, quieter but says nothing about harder, more dangerous or may cause your heart to explode…

It was a lot tougher than I thought it would be, partly because  of the time off I have had and therefore the inactivity of some of my working muscles but also because I am still not working anywhere near 100%. I took around 20 minutes to do 3 roudns of 10, I had planned for 5 but there was just no way I was going to make it through. The rowing wasn’t an issue, I used to row when I was in public school and was pretty good, so I am happy to do that work. I am sure my back won’t agree tomorrow, but if it’s bad I am sure I will make a note of it here!

 

R9D9-13 – Tough Break

We have been away for a while, unfotunately that also means we have all been sick for a while. As a family we all have had varying degrees of sinus colds / infections and the flu, for myself I had a man cold which is VERY bad… We spent a miserable 10 days in Switzerland including a very painful flight with a very sick 1 month old. It has not been a good ending to 2011 that is for sure. But I shall not dwell on the sickness, it was wonderful to see my family again and I did manage to squeeze in a few P90X2 workouts using 2 bowling balls instead of medicine balls and all in all, with the exception of not being able to hear out of one or both of my ears and having lost almost all coordination and balance it was nice to be away. We returned just after Christmas and still today I am not even close to 100%. That puts it at around 2 weeks of fluid behind my ears and coughing like a miner.

Anyway, Happy  New Year to everyone, I thought I would start off the year with a crossfit workout since I will have the erg available and a whole gym at my disposal this afternoon while my wife works on the floor routines for the girls. Then starting tomorrow I will be back to what I think I will call week 3 of the P90X2 schedule with Balance and Power. The last few weeks have been a real dogs breakfast workout wise, but I am ready and eager to get back to work. The bootcamps will be back in motion next week and I will be ready to take on the rest of the P90X2 schedule.

I hope everyone had a better break than we did here, at least health wise and my Christmas wish for you all is that you will get your New Year’s Resolutions to come true!

And for those of you who are wondering here are 2 things to ponder.

It was 22 years ago on Jan 1 2012 that I quit drinking.

For the first time in my living memory, my New Year’s Resolutions did NOT include “lose weight”.