Instead of rest / stretch I am moving on to doing day 1 of the rest week. This will make Mondays day 1.
Day 20 – My butt hurts
Kenpo.
This is by far and away my favourite workout. I know last time I said the same thing, the past week has only served to reinforce my attitude. Today my legs were killing me. Between trying to improve my frog stretch and the insane pounding I gave them yesterday I felt like I was on stilts today, a little wobbly and not altogether under control. We went to look at some open houses just for a laugh and every time I got out of the car it felt like I was ripping my butt muscle from the tendons. I am sure I looked like an overstuffed Forrest Gump walking towards the open houses as if I was in leg braces. It didn’t help that we stayed over at a friend’s house last night and I got to sleep on a rock hard matress. Now I am not complaining about the matress per se since I am very fond of hard beds however when I only get to spend one night, my body reacts in an unfavourable way. However, I woke with less lower back pain than normal but more leg and butt pain. I also woke with more children pains but that is a whole different issue.
I knew that no matter how I felt starting out, that the workout would go by fast and I would actually enjoy it so I dragged my butt off the couch after watching the Indy and went downstairs. My kicks were better today, my coordination is also improving and the whole workout is getting better the more I enjoy it. That is typical given that today is my last day of the first active session of P90X. The next week is what is referred to as a rest week however I believe it only means I don’t have to do 100 chinups and 400 pushups every other day. Once this week is done it is time for phase 2 of 3. I will preview the differences later.
I am in a conundrum now however. I am 0ne day short of being on the right day so I think that given that I am going into a rest week that I can skip my rest day and go to day 1 of the rest week. Technically it would mean that I am doing P89X but I am sure that is not the end of the world. The benefit is that my rest day would be Sunday, the day after I pull my normal double which makes much more sense. It also means that Monday is my start day much like it is for my gym workouts. It means that today would be YogaX instead of rest day/stretchX. Given what I have accomplished so far and the benefits, I think I will go ahead and skip day 21 and go on to day 22.
Day 19 – The 21 day habit
Legs and Back -Â 80 chinups, not bad for a fat old guy.
Bring it he said. Do your best and forget the rest he said. What he neglected to say is that if you do bring it you may actually lose the ability to walk for short periods of time. He didn’t say “Do your best but be careful that you are still able to stand up after you are done”. By the way, he also didn’t mention how painful that stupid Crunchy Frog is on your lower back. I know it is not supposed to be, but as tight as your back gets after the workout it is almost impossible for it not to feel incredible pressure from doing CF’s or V-Snaps as they are similar to.
I did my Saturday double today which consists of an hour on the treadmill in the morning and then P90X in the evening. My legs were tired enough after the treadmill that I wanted to skip the legs and back workout. However, I am now under the 21 day habit influence given that I have taken 2 days off getting to 19 days. It is widely acknowledged by psychiatrists and so on that it takes 21 days to create a habit and now is that point where that influence is coming to bear. I actually felt like I was compelled to go to the basement and do the workout even though I wasn’t 100% convinced I wanted to. That is the beauty of habits, they automatically point you in the right direction even when you can’t convince yourself to go down that road.
Once I started I felt fine as I usually do. I was going lower in my squats and lunges, forcing my back leg straight which stretches my quad like a beast. The chinups are going OK, I am regularly doing 10 per set, mostly unassisted which on legs and back day comes out to 80 repetitions. My legs were aching after I finished and of course, the Ab Ripper tore my hip flexors apart. It was not a good abs session at all due to the heaviness in my quads but I struggled through at about 15-20 reps of the 25.
Day 18 – Stay Puft Vs. The Hulk
Yoga.
I don’t think yoga will ever be easy for me. The sheer size of my shoulders and arms make it almost impossible for me to get into some of the positions required. Today for the first time I made contact between my elbow and knee doing the twisting chair pose. This may not seem very hard for most people and I am sure it isn’t but strap a couple of hams on your arms and try it. The main thing is that I am getting better though, and today with the seated two leg hamstring stretch I was able to reach the balls of my feet. Quite a feat pardon the pun. Each workout presents it’s own challenges with weights and reps but the weird thing about yoga is that the effort required to improve is not really tangible. The concentration it takes to extend the back leg properly in most of the warrior poses makes the difference between a casual stretch and balance workout and a devastatingly diffcult yoga X workout. I was concentrating on my leg today and it is ridiculous how hard you have to work to keep that thing straight.
Other than that, the workout was mostly uneventful. It passed fairly quickly given that it is 90 minutes but that was probably due to the fact that this time I knew exactly how many runners poses I had to do and when the breaks came. Just as I am getting used to the timing we are going into a new week. However, the workouts for the most part stay the same, just in a different order. I am determined to see improvements in 2 areas of my yoga, one is my flexibility through my legs, the other is reducing the girth of my core to be able to twist properly because at the moment I still feel a little Michelin. Given that I came from Stay Puft land almost a year ago the transformation is well underway and once I reach Jolly Green Giant territory it’s time to go for the Hulk!
Day 17 – Modification time
Shoulders and Arms.
(My home gym, pictured here, messy but plenty of room)
Since I have issues with some of the movements in the workout, namely the triceps kickbacks which are relatively ineffective in building any kind of triceps strength, I have decided to replace them with variations of laying triceps extensions. I have the bench at home and laying extensions with close grip bench press are great replacements for the kickbacks. I tried it tonight and other than having to adjust the weight a little, it  is going to work out really well. In other news I am up to almost 20 of each of the ab exercises not including the stupid leg climbers which I just hate and can’t seem to do at all. I finished my sets of the regular workout a couple of minutes early and got a head start on the Ab Crippler  and as such was able to accomplish much more over a slightly extended period. I didn’t rest more, I just completed more because I had more time. The other benefit was that I took a couple of minutes rest before I started which made a world of difference. However, my hip flexors are still pitiful when it comes to bicycles. It’s not that they are weak, I can do hanging leg raises no problem even with straight legs, but constant motion like the in-and-outs followed by bicycles just kill me.
At the end of this week, since it will be the end of the 3 week cycle, I will post my actual numbers for the movements to document my improvements. Next week is supposed to be a “rest” week but I see there is Yoga in there so it can’t be much of a rest! It’s interesting to see how my numbers are fluctuating, but also they are not entirely an accurate reflection of my improvement potential since I am restricted to the weights I have available. I don’t want to go out and buy more dumbbells so I think I am going to start using the barbell for some of the heavier curls and shoulder presses. As long as I don’t spend any time changing weights, it should work out OK.
Day 16 – Mr. Angry in the house!
July 8 2009 – Plyometrics 3.
We had to cancel the private class we were supposed to have tonight so I was able to get home early and get to Plyo before it got too late. I learned from last week that when it comes to Plyo or other cardio type workouts that I cannot eat before no matter what. So tonight I had a light snack of fat free jello pudding and set about the workout with a vengeance. One thing I have learned is that I take this quite seriously and once I get in my zone I am quite a focused individual. Some may call it angry, I call it attentive. I have always had a very difficult time working out with people unless I knew I was the best. This is a bit weird considering during the 80’s I spent a lot of my workout time teaching and leading aerobics classes of one kind or another. Anyway, for whatever reason once I get into the gym I leave my sense of humour in my pants and develop a frightening degree of focus. Maybe it is a fear of appearing silly, maybe it is a fear or not being able to perform, whatever it is I think it’s probably a deep seated fear of something and I combat it with a surprising lack of patience.
The workout was hard, harder I think than previous weeks. I think it’s mostly because I am pushing myself harder, squatting deeper, jumping higher etc. but whatever it is my heartrate this evening was up over 150 for a significant portion of the workout. There is a section called run squat jump turns or something where you are supposed to start with your leading hand on your leading shoe and jump 180 degrees. I wasn’t even able to reach my foot last time but I did today! The other significant difference was in the full squat jumps where you have to touch the floor with both hands beside your feet then jump up into a full stretch. For the first time tonight I was able to touch the floor before extending and jumping. These may not seem like earth shattering things but each improvement I make and every improvement I feel is like a major achievement to me especially considering that I thought myself to be in pretty good shape when I started this thing. I am just cooling down after finishing, Nicole is out for a walk since Mr. Angry didn’t want her making fun of me on the treadmill as I sweated my ass off  wearing only my underwear and a heart monitor. I must have looked like an epilleptic pot roast. So I am off to mix a recovery shake, some fruit, some protein powder and some juice and settle in for a couple of hours of telly.
Hint for the day:
Relax, you will live longer. You will also not look like an angry swollen stuffed tenderloin in Haynes.
Day 15 – Honeymoon pants
Today is the start of week 3. This is identical to 1 and 2 but this is the last of that specific rotation. This means this is my last week to try to perfect this sequence of moves. This in itself is a big motivator for me. I know the workout, I know the kind of intensity and the length and I can really push myself to try and perfect the total exhaustion point to be at the very end of the workout. I have not moved Ab Pooper X yet, however I think that I may do that for the next phase. I just think my abs are too tired at the end of the regular workout to get a really solid flex that will provide a good failure point.
This morning, although my weight does not seem to be moving much, I put on my pants that I bought 2 years ago during our honeymoon. We went to the L.L.Bean outlet in Portland Maine as part of one of our excursions from the cruise. They had the greatest outdoorsy type stuff for men. I would say it is like Roots a little, just more rugged and a little less poserish. I was also very happy to find that you can actually buy online and they will ship to Canada, something they only started last year! The point of buying them was as a reward for losing the 45lbs I lost for the wedding. They fit pretty well and they were the smallest pants I had bought in years. Since then they haven’t seen much action. I gained about 20lbs in the couple of months after the wedding while basically not caring what I ate. As time progressed I was out of the gym basically being a lazy ass and not eating well and of course, as you would have predicted, gained most of the weight back. Not to be too hard on myself at my highest weight which was very, and I mean VERY close to 295lbs I was not working out at all so I was just pudding. After I gained some of the weight back I was 15lbs less and I was working out 5 days a week so the body composition was significantly different. I am currently sitting around 255-260 at about 22% fat according to the scale at home.
Chest and Back.
The only flaw I can find with the back routines here is that there is no work up to the pullups. Since I don’t use a support, a chair or whatever, I find that going straight in to full bodyweight pullups is difficult and is causing me some elbow pain. I think the resolution is to have some kind of support for the first sets and then work up to the full weight. It’s a little frustrating but as my bodyweight reduces I suppose I will get better. I can’t imagine trying to do chin ups with a 45lb plate around my waist, or even a 25 for that matter. So being 20 lbs lighter will no doubt help.
The pushups are cake, all except the diamond pushups which I find hard on my wrists. It is a good tricep workout but I think since I have a bench with weights in the basement that maybe I will substitute some heavy close grip bench presses for the diamond pushups. I am still really struggling with doing Abs after the main workout and I don’t seem to be improving in that area as much as others. What to do…
Day 14 – 2 Weeks and I am still here!
July 7 2009 – Stretch X
I can’t think of a better way to end my first 2 weeks in P90Xland than to do stretch X. My body does feel a little beaten up I have to admit and I am sore in a bevy of places. However, I know that an easy day today will put me in a great frame of mind for tomorrow and my last week before rest week. I have been thinking about taking my P90X routine to the gym. I have the movements, I have the equipment and at least at the gym I would also have a proper place to do pullups. I wouldn’t risk doing the switch grip pullups on a door frame pullup bar and I have not had time yet to drill a new bar through the door frame to give me a really steady bar I could do anything on. I did however finish putting up all the mirrors yesterday and the gym is looking great! Hopefully I can get a picture of it and post it here just to show what you can do with a small space and a touch of  creativity!
So the stretch went well. I am fond of the workout rather than a rest day becasue I know I need to work on my flexibility. Regardless of what some of the idiots in the HIT community believe it really is possible to lengthen your muscle body and increase your flexibility with a little work. Point in case, my flexibility is improving already. I have about 2-3 inches increase in my two leg hamstring stretch and while my hamstrings are epically tight, this gain is still significant. Most of my movements are moving now as I breathe. Last week I was able to do some of the streches but my start and finish points were basically the same. This week as I breathe into the stretch each movement does stretch further with each exhale. The only problem really is the candle to plow or shoulder stand to plow. I can get the shoulder stand OK, but my back is so sore that when I attempt to go over into plow not much happens. I am not expecting my knees to hit the floor or anything but reaching my face would be nice. In time, I suppose.
Stretching, it’s not just for new shoes.
Day 13 – Moolatte or move on.
Kenpo X
It’s taken me 17 days to do 13 days workouts with the sickness and the coaching time off. Tomorrow will be Monday and that will mark 14 days, or 1/6th of the P90X program. It feels like so much longer than that in some ways and in others, like in the physical appearance department it feels like not much has happened. Although I feel like my belt is looser and I know I have dropped a few pounds I am at the 2 week frustration point. This point is the watershed of the workout world. After 2 weeks either your body will win or your determination will win. It is the breaking point where suddenly your body realizes that the changes are most likely long term and so it starts to adjust. It lets go of some bodyfat, boosts its metabolism to catch up and generally starts to adjust to the new regime. Of course, it is also the day that your brain will tell you that nothing is happening and you should probably get a Moolatte and forget the whole thing. It really comes down to that, Moolatte or move on. If you Moolatte, you can expect at least another week of the same battle. If you decide to move on and keep up with the work you will start to see the changes you have been looking for.
Kenpo is my favourite workout. Not because I like martial arts or the thought of beating people up but rather because it seems to last about half as long as most P90X workouts. The kicking is difficult to master especially if you haven’t done any martial arts before. The combinations of kicking and punching or the multiple blocking sequences are challenging also. Today my legs were sluggish, my back was aching but I knew that once I had made it through that I would be fine. I also knew in the back of my mind that one more week of this and I get a week of stretching / rest. The workout went quickly, my heartrate was up in the 140s for most of the hour and I felt great afterwards. Tomorrow is rest day but for me it will be a stretch day.
P90X – So far so good!
Day 12 – Injury prone?
Legs and Back.
Injuries are a fact of life in any athletic endeavour. I very rarely go to the gym without feeling some kind of pain somewhere. There is always something I am having to work around or be careful with and maybe only a few weeks in each year where I can really go full out in the gym without pain. As I get older, the injuries last longer, they refuse to heal at all without rest and of course once I stop to rest them, something else inevitably gets tweaked. Such has been the case with my elbow / shoulder. Since around August last year when I started lifting heavy at the gym again my shoulder has been problematic. For a while I was unable to bench at all due to the pain and since I was once again getting close to my personal best this was incredibly frustrating. Admitting that my personal best has already happened is a huge pill for me to swallow however setting new personal bests for flexibility and low body fat are where my focus should be. So my shoulder was a pain. Since starting P90X I have had less and less problems with it to the point now where there are days when I don’t feel it at all. However, I have a new issue. My elbows are sore on the inside. I know it is from close grip inwards facing pullups since I have never done them that way; I considered the inward facing grip to be somewhat of a cheat. The easy thing would be to skip that exercise and replace it with something else but my instinct tells me that I should be able to do this, maybe not now, but at some time my arms should be capable of doing the movement. Considering I have gone from maybe 2 or 3 chinup ability a few months ago to being able to do sets of ten I am very happy however the nagging issue of my elbow remains. I will admit that as my weight continues to fall, the chinups become increasingly easier, however I would like to be able to know that I am able to go into any workout, be it P90X or my regular weight training regime without the fear of pain. Maybe given the types of workout that I do, that is an unattainable dream. The intensity I bring to my workouts certainly doesn’t lend itself to a stress free and injury free life but I long for those days of my youth where the soreness went away after a day or two and things didn’t hurt just because you used them.
Maybe it was because I was sick last week and have been feeling under the weather for a few days or maybe it was the fact that I had already done 45 minutes on the treadmill this morning that I was dreading the legs and back workout for the day. So much so that I agreed to go out for an early dinner to The Keg at 4 in the afternoon in the hope that the meal would settle me into the right mindset. I am not sure if it was the lobster or the steak but once I got home I was determined to squeeze the day’s work in.
Legs and back is a tough day for me. I have had some bad experiences in the past with lunges causing my back to go out the following day so I am understandably wary of them. For the most part, today is all lunges of various types. Couple that with the pullups that are still challenging for me and you have a workout that I just don’t like. Sprinkle Ab Rippling X on top and you have an hour and a half of hell. My squats seem to be improving and my lunges, with the exception of my back leg aren’t bad at all. Getting that back leg to stay straight is a real problem though. There are only 4 types of pullups in the workout, 2 rounds of each. That means however that there are 8 rounds of 2 kinds of lunges / squats. I may be wrong but it doesn’t seem like they repeat the leg stuff. I wouldn’t know since I don’t have anywhere on the sheet to record the numbers or types even though Tony keeps telling us to write it all down ON THE SHEET! So imagine then 16 sets of legs, lets say half of them are repeated so you are looking at 12 different leg exercises of which I would bet half are lunges. I do remember that there is a wall sit which is then repeated as a single leg wall sit which I failed spectacularly at today. Do my legs feel stronger? Absolutely! Does my back feel like it is in danger of going out the following day? So far, not really. I will try to turn up the intensity slowly, gradually getting lower with my movements and hope that with time my back will get used to the work. Today my heart rate topped out at almost 150 which means I am still getting the workout I need. Also, where I was burning about 2000 calories a week at the gym (not including 10 hours of coaching) I am now up at around or slightly over 3000 for the week. That is an unexpected surprise!