Rest Week – Page 3 – Something Beats Nothing Every Time

Day 50 – REST WEEK 2 BEGINS!!!

Yoga – Rest Week 2

I made it to rest week 2. I learned from rest week 1 not to expect much of a break but rather to understand that the rest is only to give you a break from pullups and free weights. I thoroughly enjoyed it last time and felt a great deal of recuperative effect from it. This time around I am in a position where my body is sore, I am feeling tired and a little battered but since I know how good the week off will feel I am filled with confidence for the last 30 days of the program.

I am also deep into my nutrition course and learning about the kinds of lipids, proteins etc. and coming to realize just how delicate of a balance good nutrition really is. The human body is an incredibly resilient thing, forgiving even the most ridiculous dietary mistakes however I now understand why when people finally get their diet right they say that they have more energy than they know what to do with. It is largely because it is virtually impossible to accidentally get your diet right. I don’t want to sound negative towards the honest attempt to eat right but in reality even the “more fruits and vegetables” approach leaves gaping holes in the dietary requirements. I would estimate that without specific nutritional knowledge and counselling that a person “eating well” would be able to get around a 75% on the “right diet” scale. The balance of vitamins and minerals, the combinations of nutrients and hydration is so specific that in order to get towards that 100% right diet you really have to examine every single piece of food that your diet contains and combine it specifically with the dietary components in the right amount at the right time. It is something that is extremely complex and worse of all, it is something that like exercise is constantly changing as new discoveries are made. Now, let me just explain that in order to be a healthy person that 75% diet is more than enough. To push past that 75% takes a little more work and a little more time but the benefits are definitely noticeable. To get to the point where you are bursting with energy and feel like a million bucks you are going to have to push past that 75% and up into the 80’s. It is not simple, it is however easy once you know how to build the right diet for yourself. There are several tools included in the course that help you to figure out exactly what you need to hit those high numbers and I will share those as time goes along. I have a new found respect for nutritionists and dietitians though, I can tell you that.

It’s funny, I consider myself someone who knows a lot about working out and nutrition. Reading the Personal Trainer manual for the CanFitPro program I realized that I really do know my stuff in the gym. Reading the nutrition book I realize that I really have a lot to learn about food.

So I kicked off rest week with a yoga workout in an air conditioned basement. It was over 40 degrees today with the humidity so we had the air on in the house. It didn’t stop me from sweating bullets but it did make me uncomfortably cool. Hopefully the humidity will break tomorrow so I can get the basement door open and enjoy the warmth of the afternoon as I do Core Synergistics (I think, I had better check on that!).

I have to admit that when I do Yoga I can see myself in the mirrors on the wall and I am amazed that during this process I have dropped a few pounds and a few inches but I have really maintained my size. I thought when I started that I would shrink as I usually do when I increase my cardio workouts but this time I am happy to say that I appear to be the same size. In fact, I may not be, I may appear so because of my lower bodyfat levels but the most important thing is that I don’t feel smaller. I know, it is an ego thing but when you have spent your life being proud of your muscular size it becomes a defining characteristic of who you are. I am glad that I have not lost that feeling.

Day 28 – Twitch

Yoga X

That Crazy Quack electrocutes another victim…

Today has been weird. I do feel much better after yesterday’s day off but I am having all kinds of weird muscle spasms. I think I am a little dehydrated and that is making my body do bizarre things. I feel like my phone is vibrating in my pocket where it is actually my quad muscle rippling with spasms. Same goes for my right tricep which has been pulsing like it is hooked up to Dr. Ho with a beat as regular as that new fangled rap music everyone is talking about. This morning my back felt much better. It is still a little stiff but the pain of the pull is almost gone. Nicole spent her day painting the main floor bathroom and I spent mine cleaning the garage, putting up the maps in the basement (which almost caused a fight between Nicole, me and the cat) and furthering my career in NHL09. Once it came time to go to see Tony the Devil I was ready to go. I had also gone to Home Depot after our weekly Costco trip and found a metal bar which is thicker than the chinup bar and that I can have confidence will not break. I am going to install it before Monday’s return to chinups and that should give me a much needed boost in my pull up proficiency. The Yoga X was good, it certainly passed more quickly and I found myself able to do a couple of positions that I had been unable to get up until now. I think it is the Half Moon maybe, anyway, one of the stupid twisty ones that I couldn’t do because I couldn’t reach the floor. I know that sounds really bizarre that someone wouldn’t be able to reach the floor but you have to understand that reaching over a massive leg with a behemoth sized bicep and triceps is not easy. I know many many men who would love to be in the position of having 19″ arms but believe me, it is not all it is cracked up to be when it comes to Yoga. Anyway, I am confident that I am getting more and more flexible as time goes along. I know I have decent balance so I don’t have difficulty with the balance portion of the workout however I feel like even that is improving. I think it is my focus that is getting better. Lifting weights like I have for years takes very short bursts of effort and as such very short attention. Yoga lengthens the amount of time that your mind spends concentrating on each muscle group and as such gives you much better control over them. I have found that as time goes along I have become much better at working the body part that is flexed and being able to relax the rest of my body, my face included. Usually as I struggle below 300+ lbs of bench press my face and indeed my entire body is contorted with effort. I am gradually finding that it is possible to channel that effort solely into the area being worked. Ya, weird I know but it seems to be true.

Day 27 – Saturday 18th July 2009. Stupid Monitor.

So I was cleaning out the garage today and decided to put the 20″ monitor out by the kerb for someone to take away, it is working fine and it’s free, I thought it would be gone in no time. However, as I reached to put it down on the electrical transformer in the front yard I felt a slight twinge in my back. A muscular pull type of feeling. Â I spent the rest of the day hobbling around and trying to keep my back warm, mostly by finishing Need For Speed:Undercover on the PS3 and renting NHL’09. Anyway, it came time to go to the basement and I really couldn’t face it. I knew that by tomorrow my back would feel much better and didn’t want to risk hurting it more, especially since it was Yoga X. I just couldn’t face 90 minutes of that kind of pain. So I switched tomorrow’s day off with today and will do Yoga tomorrow, hopefully in much more agreeable condition.

Wow! A real day off!

Day 26 – Time is really flying

I can’t belive it is already day 26. Tuesday will mark 1/3 of the program completed! I am feeling good because it is rest week and I no longer feel like I have been beaten with a baseball bat, I am sure next week this optimism and sense of wellbeing will be replaced with hostility and pain but until then I can say I could do this forever!!! Today is core synergistics again and I am looking forward to it becasue it is quite a fast paced workout and now I know what the exercises look like and feel like I can put a bit more effort in to it.

I love once you get the hang of things. This core workout is not bad once you are able to keep up. It is a lot of abdominal stuff but not as challenging as Ab Ripper thankfully. I guess because it is rest week they kind of want to go easy on you which is nice however my heart rate monitor is showing me still way ahead of where I would usually be with my gym workouts. One bizarre upshot of this workout is that I finally got around to documenting some of my own conditioning that I use for the Gymnastics girls which will come in handy next year. It has only taken me 5 years to get around to doing it!! Like I mentioned in a previous post, it is amazing how similar some of the moves and structure is to what I put together for them, I guess that means I am on the right track with my methodology.

I am supposed to be studying for my Nutritionist Certification at the same time as I am doing P90X, however I am far far behind in my studying compared to my 26 days of workouts. Hmmm… about 22 days behind actually.

Day 25 – It’s about time!

Stretch X

About time, it is now Thursday of rest week and we are finally getting a break. Even I, with my Tin Man flexibility, find a degree of relaxation and soothing wellbeing in Stretch X.

So I am working out in the basement, towards the end of the day when the sun is shining in through the walkout glass doors. This means that on days like today I can actually stretch in a large strip of sunshine as it floods in through the patio door. I feel like a big lazy cat stretching out on the one strip of warmth, it’s a very surreal feeling but it really REALLY is relaxing. I am pretty confident that the neighbours behind can’t see in, since they are almost 1/4 of a mile away but then again even if they could why would they bother watching some guy stretching. That would be weird.. for them I mean.

What can I say about stretching, my flexibility is better although my middle splits is just laughable even after the last 3 weeks of working on it. For some reason my inner thighs and hamstrings are incredibly tight and getting any sort of progress is, I fear, going to be incredibly slow. However, even with the slow progress I feel a lot less tension in my lower back from my hamstrings which is a huge bonus. I always felt that a large part of my problem with my back stemmed from my legs whether it was tight hanstrings or ITB shortening creating a pulling on the lower spine crushing the vertebrae together. All I know is that once I started doing ITB stretches I found a great deal of relief during those days when my back would have a dull ache all day. In fact I was so happy I shared those stretches with people here: http://iamcanadian.org/workout/stretching.htm so that anyone with the same post-surgery pain as I had could find some relief.

I also found some of the entries from when I did the original P90 program way before P90X came around. Apparently I was just as hostile and my behaviour just as erratic as today. This was posted November 15, 2005! Check it out:

Day 4 – I Hate Tony!.

Last night we did the cardio workout after dinner. Not smart. I really have to remember either to eat a lot less before the workout OR to do the thing right after work so I donâ€™t feel like a bag of pudding in the back of a pickup truck! Now I realize that it is only day 4 today which means that we have only done 3 workouts so far but I already harbour a festering hatred of Tony the guy in the video. Lucky for Nicole she gets to go do Yoga Booty Ballet if she wants to, but since I canâ€™t see myself doing Yoga or Ballet and I have no booty then I guess itâ€™s me and perky boy with the poor sense of humour.
Speaking of which, my clothes are just as tight and all I have lost so far is my sense of humour.

Day 24 – Chinup bars and P90x quitters

July 17 2009 – Kenpo – again!

Seems like just a couple of days ago I was doing Kenpo. Skipping that day obviously has thrown off my perception a little. In fact, I did Kenpo on the 12th which is only 3 days ago and checking the schedule I am only one day off so even with the rest day it would only be 4 days between Karate workouts rather than the usual 7.

I realized something really bizarre today, I tend to close my eyes during Kenpo. I don’t do it during any other workout except Kenpo and it is really confusing me. I mean I really enjoy the workout, it goes by quick and I really feel like I get a good workout so why am I closing my eyes when kicking and punching? Anyway, the more I do the Kenpo the more I like it. As with all the P90X workouts, it is only as difficult as you make it and the harder you push yourself the more of a workout you will get. Today I was sweating like a beast after I finished because I tried to get my kicks higher and my body twisting more into my punches. Evena little change will amount to a lot if you are doing over 100 reps total. In the back of my mind was the fact that tomorrow is stretch X which is basically a rest day so I wanted to get as much out of the workout as I could while I could.

I am also trying to find a way to produce a better chinup bar than the door mounted one I have. I know it is rated over 300lbs but I just don’t have the confidence in it. I was thinking of putting a metal or wooden bar between the support pillars of the deck so I can use it outside but in reality putting one between door posts would be best. I just want to be able to do everything that I would do at the gym as far as chinups go. I find myself holding back with the setup that I have at the moment due to fear of falling (again!) and hurting my back (again!). I will see what I can find at Home Depot as far as bars go, in fact I may go to Fitness Source and see if they have any straight curl bars I can use. I also wonder if shelling out for something more substantial may put me in the ballpark for a better chinup bar instead, I mean I can’t be the only 250lb guy who wants to do chinups with confidence can I?

Now I don’t want to sound superior, or to jinx my progress but I am trying to find a P90X blog where the person has actually managed to do the 90 days and it is almost impossible. The vast majority of blogs contain a handful of entries, a litany of excuses and a pathetic fading away to nothing. Come on people, it’s not that hard! Well, it is that hard but seriously, commit to something and stick with it for once in your life! There are a few blogs out there by the P90X coaches, of course they are completely biased when it comes to discussing the program, maybe it is something they put in the recovery drink to brainwash people. Maybe it is the same stuff they put in the Mac Get-An-iLife Kool Aid. Anyway I am searching for blogs away from the official P90x Boards just to get an unbiased opinion. I guess they are harder to come by than I imagined hey would be.

Speaking of the Forums at Beachbody, they are a great resource but again there are core members who have done P90x multiple times and if you pay attention you will see the same high attrition rate of people starting and either giving up or caving in just a few days in. It is good to read some of the stories but it is also full of people with crazy expectations and unreasonably high hopes blowing smoke up each others behinds. I guess that is human nature though. So for the time being I will stay detached and hopefully put together a 90 day experience that people can actually relate to and compare to their own journey.

Day 23 – Uncharted Territory

Core Synergistics.

If you ever decide that you think this may be a fun time, maybe even that you are up for the challenge I suggest you bear one thing in mind.

Tony Horton is a lying 0% bodyfat weasel.

Week off my butt! This is not rest, this is just a Little bit of everything from pushups to core, from plyometrics to curls all rolled into one vicious little workout. I envisioned a week of pampering, gentle stretches, cool breezes wafting over my body as I massage my aching soul with simple, preferably laying down, comforting exercises. Not likely. If you call this a rest week then you need your head examined. Just because we don’t do chinups for a week doesn’t make it a week off! The workout had weights and most of the exercises that didn’t have weights were core of some kind. In fact, at one point it felt like I was in one of my own Gymnastics classes because the moves were so similar to what I get the kids to do every fall. Anyway, once I got over the shock of not being wrapped in cotton balls and tickled with a feather I found the workout was OK. It wasn’t gut wrenchingly difficult, I didn’t make any of the scary noises I tend to do during the regular workouts so I suppose in a way it was a “break” from the usual. It was, however, a lot of abdominal work which I assumed it would be. Some of the moves I found difficult, some indeed were impossible for me at this point. I am not looking forward to being able to dothem because frankly they look painful but I suppose at some point I will be able to.

Weasel.

Day 22 – Rest week is here, yay!

Yoga

Sounds bizarre that rest week would start with the longest and most challenging workout of all but rest simply means no weights. Today is Yoga X and I am hoping for an improvement in my performance after such a hard week last week. The downside to skipping the rest / stretch day is that I am now working on 10 days straight and I won’t be able to take a day off until Sunday. I think at that point I may stretch a little but try to take the day completely off to recuperate before phase 2 starts.

I have to admit I am pretty proud of myself. The end of phase 1 is in sight and I am still fully committed to the process. Having said that, I still have 68 days to go which at this point seems like forever. In fact, when I complete the 90 days it will be (if my math is correct) September 19th which is after coaching starts. I hadn’t figured it out until now so let’s assume that I have to take Tuesday and Thursday off during coaching season. That means that from Sept 8th most likely I will lose 2 days a week. Luckily I will be on day 78 on Labour Day so this will only affect me for a couple of weeks. Potentially then, my finish date will move from Saturday September 19th to Friday September 25th. That all depends on nothing else getting in the way, including not being away at all or, if away, being able to do the workout anyway. That will be a challenge since we have a weekend in Penetang and at least one wedding to go to between now and then.

One step at a time though, it’s my first exposure to rest week including something they call Core Synergistics which makes my abs hurt just thinking about it. I want to get the workout done as soon as I get home tonight because I didn’t watch Big Brother last night and I don’t want to fall behind!

So yoga went OK, I found it was dragging for a while around the 30 minute mark and I actually ended up skipping a couple of the twist positions because I had a tightness in my back. The session was OK and it didn’t aggravate it but once I finished I could tell that I had slightly overstretched it. Hopefully with this being rest week it will give me a chance to rest it and heal a little. My back is cracking all the way along now after the workout, I should probably have gone on my inversion table after I finished. So I am a little stiff but it’s probably nothing to be concerned about. Just for future reference it is my left side, lower back from the bottom of my ribcage all the way down to the top of my hip bone. It was probably strained as I went into Warrior 1 from runners pose. It stiffens up and makes it impossible for me to stand up quickly, however once I walk for a few seconds it loosens up just fine.