Day 10 (Arms & Shoulders) SORE!

Sore...as in from day 9.  I could tell as yesterday went on there was something wrong with my left knee.  I'm pretty sure it is MCL tendinitis.  The knee felt unstable and weak and there was occasional pain on the right (inside) side.  It must be from all the jumping and turning in the plyometrics.  I think I'm going to switch to normal tennis shoes for that workout and see if it improves.  If it doesn't, the program gives you the option to switch over to Cardio X instead of Plyometrics, but I would be bummed about that. 

I was pretty worried about it through this morning but as I warmed up for today's routine, the pain went away and the leg felt stronger.  I pushed myself more today...tried to get enough weight to max out at 8-10 reps.  And the secret I learned for today is: press the pause button.  If I don't have enough weight, have too much weight or I don't understand the exercise, I should press pause.  And I did that and it really paid off.  This isn't a cardio work out and there is no reason you can't stop for a moment and figure out exactly how to make the most of what you are doing.

Today I also made some small investments.  I purchased a pull up bar that attaches to the ceiling rafters and some push up bars to take the stress off my wrists.  The pull up bar will look a little odd in the upstairs loft where I work out, but God bless my wonderful and supportive wife who said that didn't matter to her.  The pull up bar I have fits in a narrow doorway.  Being 6'3", I have to bend my legs behind me just to get them off the floor as I go down.  I think this is making the pull ups way harder than they should be (perhaps explaining the low reps I am getting).  It will be interesting to see if that is the case or if I am just a weakling.

OK, off to do the 16 minute Ab routine and then Yoga tomorrow (which I previously thought was today).

Thanks for reading.

Day 9 (plyometrics) Is this harder or am I pushing harder?

The last day should have been day 8, not 7.  Day 7 is either stretching or resting...it is optional.  Guess which one I did?

Woke up this morning with a sore left knee...not the one I've been having problems with.  Was a little worried, but figured I would do as much as I could.  Once I started, I didn't notice it.

I'm not sure if this is harder or if I'm pushing harder and that is why it feels so intense.  I am getting used to all the exercises and I think that makes me focus on them more.  I supposedly burned over 1100 calories in an hour...a little hard to believe but it was still an intense workout.  I was able to do all the exercises this time although I didn't get as low or jump as high.  I will be doing this for 11 more weeks, so there is no need to push my knees to their limit now.

The secret I am learning is to try NOT to watch the TV.  I'm convinced that takes away from my ability to do the exercises.  The more I know what I'm doing and the less I watch the TV, the more I can focus on pushing harder and the better I do.

Another example of that working is the Ab workout last night.  Used the stick figures and did even better than last time.

Tomorrow is Yoga.  I'll try to use the cheat sheet I made.

Week 2! Day 7 (Chest and Back)...pushing more

First, thank you to all of you reading the blog.  I can see from the stats that a number of people are following and I hope this will help you.  I believe you can now leave comments in the blog without registering.  Please feel free...I can always use the extra encouragement and/or advice if you have it.

Started second week today which is identical to week one.

Today's workout (Chest and Back) is basically push ups and pull ups with some extra stuff mixed in.  I totally did NOT feel like doing this when I woke up.  But once you get through the warm up (9 minutes), you feel a lot better.  However, it is still hard to do those first few pull ups.  By the way, it didn't help that I put in the wrong DVD and went though 9 minutes of the wrong warm up.  Oops!

To review, the workout today is 12 exercises and then you repeat them with more intensity.  The idea is to pace yourself through the first repetition.  Last week, I paced myself too much (made it too easy) the first time around so I pushed my self a little harder this time.  Even so, I found I could actually do less pull ups today than I could last week.  It may be because those are incorporated into two workouts a week so I've done them twice in the past seven days.  Still, it is a little embarrassing to see a 3 or a 4 as the repetitions I write down.  But what can I do?  That's the best I had this morning.  I did a lot better with the push ups.

In the second half, I really tried to get past the psychological block to quit when things got hard.  If I had done 15 push ups and I was dying, I pushed myself to do 5 more.  That definitely had an effect...I couldn't lift my arms in the shower later on!

One thing I learned today...I need more weights.  I did not have enough weight to push myself on the deep pants or the lawnmowers.  I would like to shoot to max out at 8-10 reps and I could do way more than that.  Today, I used 15 and 20 lb dumbbells.  I need to get enough weight to increase those in 5lb increments.

Ab exercises tonight and then plyo tomorrow.  I'm actually looking forward to those.  I think the pull ups are my Achilles heel.

Day 6 (Kenpo)...one week done!

Today was Kenpo.  It is all punches, blocks and kicks.  One move builds on another and there are a bunch of combinations.  In between sets is some light running and jumping jacks.  It was actually a nice workout...about 45 minutes with warm up and cool down and some stretches.  My HR monitor says I burned 860 calories...not sure how accurate that is.  I didn't have to take any breaks, but cardio is probably my strength right now.

One thing to note about Kenpo...once again, sometimes it is hard to completely understand what they are doing...which hand are they starting with?  Which foot kicks in which direction?  I've learned the secret is to make a mental note of which hand/leg is first and which hand/leg is in front before they start.  It seemed to work.

One week is done.  I am definitely feeling it...sore all over...but it isn't too bad.  That tells me that I've actually done something.  I'm looking forward to next week which is identical.  I know what to expect, I've filled out the sheets and know what weights to use and I know what my current limits are.  I think I will get a LOT more out of next week.

One thing I am really happy about is that my knee held up.  None of the exercises were too taxing on it.  Part of it was because I didn't get too low and I didn't push it (the knee) when I started to feel discomfort.

Thanks for reading.  Tomorrow is a break.  Next week starts Thursday morning.

Thanks for reading.

Day 5.5 (Abs)...Stick figures work!

Tonight was a 15 minute Ab routine night.  I mentioned before that I was stuck watching TV too much for this, trying to figure out what they were doing.  Well, I made a stick figure cheat sheet and it was like day and night.  I'd highly encourage it.  I could just look down and know exactly what the exercise was and then focus completely on doing 25 reps instead of rushing to try to figure it out.  Got a LOT out of the routine.

It makes me think that all the workouts will get better as I get to know them more.

Tomorrow morning...Kenpo.  Previewed the disc.  It looks way easy.  However as I got further into the disc I could see the models were sweating profusely.  Maybe it will surprise me.

Yoga Moving Asanas Cheat Sheet

This is what I have from my notes of the ~40 minutes of moving asanas.  This isn't perfect...just a startign point to help me prepare for the moves.  I may edit this later.  Other descriptions are in the P90X book starting on page 53.  These aren't descriptions of the poses, but rather what you are made to go through to get to each one.

Remember, except for some of the twists, your forward arm is always the same as your forward leg.  For instance, if your right leg is out front and an arm is to be pointed outward, it will be your right arm.

Runners Pose

1. Plank
2. Vinyasa
3. Upward Dog
4. Downward Dog
5. Right heel up
6. Swing right knee forward (I will call this the forward leg)
7. Go back to #1 and repeat with left heel/leg

Crescent Pose

1. Go through Runners Pose for right leg
2. Rise to Crescent Pose right
3. Revert back to Runners Pose for right leg
4. Repeat but with left leg

Warrior One

1. Go through Runners Pose for right leg
2. Rise to Warrior One right
3. Revert back to Runners Pose for right leg
4. Repeat but with left leg

Warrior Two

1. The exact same as Warrior One except right after you pose Warrior One, you switch to the respective (left or right) Warrior Two and then go back to Warrior One and continue.

 Reverse Warrior

1. The exact same as Warrior Two except right after you pose Warrior Two, you switch to the respective (let or right) Reverse Warrior and then go back to Warrior Two and continue.

 Triangle Pose

1. Go through Runners Pose for right leg
2. Rise to Warrior One right
3. Go to Warrior Two right
4. Go to Reverse Warrior right
5. Straighten forward leg
6. Revert to Reverse Warrior right
7. Revert to Warrior Two right
8. Straighten forward leg
9. Reach forward hand out and down to ground and the rear hand up
10. Come back up to previous position (with straight forward leg)
11. Revert to Warrior Two right
12. Reverse Warrior right
13. Warrior 2 right
14. Warrior 1 right
15. Revert back to Runners Pose for right leg
16. Repeat but with left leg 

Twisting Triangle (less positions...wonder if they were deleted in error...end up in same triangle position but with hands reversed so your torso is facing a different direction)

1. Go through Runners Pose for right leg
2. Rise to Warrior One right
3. Go to Warrior Two right
4. Straighten forward leg
5. Rotate torso to facing forward
6. Reverse hands...now back hand (left) is front and goes down instead of the right in Triangle
7. Come back up to previous position (with straight forward leg)
8. Revert back to Runners Pose for right leg
9. Repeat but with left leg 

Chair to Twisting Chair (Prayer Twist)

1. Plank
2. Vinyasa
3. Upward Dog
4. Downward Dog
5. Jump up to hands
6. Chair pose (like you are sitting on a chair with hands up)
7. Up to tip toes with hands up
8. Back down and twist to right
9. Up to tip toes with hands up
10. Back down and twist to left
11. Up to tip toes with hands up

[ NOW 30 MINUTES INTO THE DVD...15 MINUTES MORE ASANAS TO GO]

Right-angle Pose to Extended Right-Angle Pose and Grab

1. Swan dive down
2. Up to flat back
3. Down to plank
4. Vinyasa
5. Upward Dog
6. Downward Dog
7. Right heel up
8. Swing right knee forward but keep foot off the ground
9. Runners Pose (right)
10. Warrior One (right)
11. Warrior Two (right)
12. Reverse Warrior (right)
13. Warrior Two (right)
14. Reach with forward hand (right)
15. Forward elbow on forward knee
16. Forward hand on floor, back hand up
17. Back hand forward
18. Back hand up
19. Back hand behind back
20. Forward hand between legs, grab back hand and clasp
21. Unclasp, back hand up, forward hand on ground
22. Warrior Two (right)
23. Reverse Warrior (right)
24. Warrior Two (right)
25. Warrior One (right)
26. Go gack to #3 (plank) and repeat with left 

Prayer Twist from Runners Pose to Side Arm Balance

1. Go through Runners Pose right
2. Left elbow on forward knee, hands in prayer
3. Back to Runners Pose right
4. ? Need more notes
5. Repeat but with left 

Warrior Three to Standing Splits & Half Moon to Twisting Half Moon (seem to be combined)

1. Go through Runner's Pose right
2. Crescent Pose right
3. Lean forward
4. Warrior 3
5. Fingers on the floor
6. Rotate away from forward leg
7. Half moon with rear hand up
8. Fingers on the floor
9. Rotate into forward leg
10. Twisting half moon with forward hand up
11. Fingers on the floor
12. Revert to Crescent right
13. Repeat with left

 [NOW 45 MINUTES INTO THE DVD]

Next...

10 minutes balance postures
18 minutes floor work
7 minutes Yoga belly
5 minutes stretches
5 minutes complete B.S.

Day 5 (Legs and Back)...something is better than nothing

This morning I woke up and the thought of doing a bunch of pull ups was not that excited.  I was just not feeling it.  In my mind, there was a child screaming, "No!  I'm not going to do it!  You can't make me!"  But I turned on the DVD player and started going through the motions.

The legs and back workout is mainly lunges, stuff up on your toes, squatting stuff and pull ups for the back.  I will admit, I didn't push myself on the pull ups as much as I should have.  But as I put in the title of this blog, I am assuming that something is better than nothing and I'm glad I got through the workout.

Another thing I am learning...this first week is really more about figuring out what your are supposed to do (and how to do it) rather than really making tons of progress.  Many of the lunge exercises I simply couldn't do well because I didn't have the balance I needed.

A second thing I learned today was to wear solid footwear.  In previous workouts (except for Yoga), I had been wearing loose fitting wrestling shoes.  For today's workout, I really needed tight fitting tennis shoes and a solid surface to stand on.  Without that, you are falling all over the place when you are trying to balance.  Another thing that affects balance is trying to watch the TV.  Hopefully as I progress, I will remember more of the moves and not have to watch.

One thing that went better than expected was my right knee.  I've learned that I avoid pain if I keep the right form.  I really need to make sure my knee movement is aligned with my toe.  If I do that, the pain rarely comes.  I only had to stop doing one of the last exercises...the 80/20 split lunges.  But I might not have had my form correct for that one.  I actually think these exercises will help my knee.

Anyhow, I got through it and I'm looking forward to trying it again.  I've saved the Ab ripper for tonight.  I'll look over my notes for it and be more mentally prepared for each exercise.