Day 31.5 (Ab Ripper) Making it harder...+ nutrition update

 I don't usually update the Ab Ripper portion of the workout on this blog...I do the normal workouts in the afternoon and then Ab Ripper 3X/week after the kids go to bed.  I tried doing it right after a workout once...then I learned it is best to save it after I've rested and can focus on it.

I've dramatically improved on Ab Ripper since I started.  I have no problem completing all the reps and workouts (I'm not sure if I've ever had to take a break during it) and I'm starting to incorporate variations that make the exercises more difficult...things like holding the hands above the head during the first few (in/outs, bicycles).  I'm also able to focus more on keeping my legs vertical at the top in scissors and heels to the sky.  Tonight I tried to do the leg climb with no climb (just going straight up) but found that too hard right now.

I've mentioned that I've been keeping track of nutrition using Myfitnesspal.com.  I'll probably make weekly posts on my progress there, separate from the workouts.  It would be too boring to be daily.  I've had some real up and downs with this.  I hate it...HATE it when I grossly underestimate calories for something.  Today I was doing great...actually running at 25% protein and less than 50% carbs (by total calories).  Then I had some Uno's pizza.  Little did I know it was almost 700 calories...PER SLICE.  Three slices alone were almost a whole day's food.  Not to mention all the freaking fat that is in it.  There isn't much that is more discouraging than killing yourself to meet a goal and then blowing it...almost DOUBLING it at 7:00 PM.  Kill me now.

Day 31 (Back/Biceps) Last new workout!

Per design of the P90X schedule for Classic, this is the last new workout I'll be doing.  After today, I don't need to learn any new routines.  That is quite a relief as it never seems like you do the workout well the first few times you are learning it.  You just can't put your all into it.

Today was tons of different types of curls and pull ups.  Over the past few days, I tried the new pull ups and didn't have a problem.  Of course, that wasn't after I killed myself with curls.  Needless to say that I couldn't even bring myself up to the bar after the first set.  So I'm making a change...I'm using the chair from now on.  It does me no good to kill myself to do 2-3 pull ups.  I'm just not making any gains.  At least I can get the reps up by putting my foot on a chair.  Then I can try reps without a chair.  It doesn't make sense to keep doing an exercise in a way where you can't make gains.  I'm over four weeks in and almost worse that when I started.  We'll see if this will help. 

I pushed myself harder today.  The P90X literature suggests putting more effort into phase II so that's what I'm doing.  I'm trying to max out at 8-10 reps every time.  The only major problem (other than pull ups) was the last exercise...a strip set that requires four dumbbells.  I only have three, so I had to change weights at least once after I got things set up.  But the real problem is that I can only really curl 20 pounds 8 times after working out for an hour.  After I drop 5 pounds for each of three more sets of eight reps, I'm down to a ridiculous 5 pounds which is like using no weight.  I am going to try to increase my beginning weight next time, but I'm toasty toast by that time of the workout.

One last thing...during these resistance workouts, I will pause the DVD if necessary to make sure I've got the right weight for the exercise.  I think this is critical and this is advice I would give to anyone doing this.  There is no huge rush.  Even with the pauses, my HR monitor still said I burned 617 calories.

One other note...still sick as shit.  Allergies.  Ugh.  It was hard to get started today.  But I tried to pick the time I felt the most energy.  Once I got started, I forgot how bad I felt.

Day 1 vs. Day 30 pictures. Difference?

So the pics are below that I took at day 1 and day 30.  I took them first thing out of bed so forgive me if I don't look my best.

I've stared at the pictures over and over and I can only see a slight difference...I look a little wider.  Do you see anything?

Scroll down.  The pics are below:






































Day 1



Day 30

Day 30 (Plyo) when you are sick as @#$%

Well, one third of the way done!  Took some 30 day pics...probably won't post any until I've done the full 90.  Measured my waist and I'm down just under an inch.  That is fine as long as I'm not losing weight in other areas...actually I'd like to gain weight elsewhere.  I picked up some high protein snacks to try to replace the Cokes...maybe actually increase calories, but with GOOD calories...ones that can build muscle and not just fat.  In the upcoming days I'll be snacking on yogurt, hard boiled eggs, cottage cheese, tuna, etc.  I am really focusing on nutrition through the rest of the 90 days (and on after that).

I'm proud of myself for today.  Allergies are killing me...it is like a BAD cold.  I wanted to do Plyo this morning but I felt like hell.  I came home early from work, caught a nap and had another slot to try it.  It was then or never.  And I made it.  At several points I wanted to die.  At one point I think I actually did die for a few seconds.  But I soldiered on.  Actually, I did better than I ever have at several moves.  I got deeper and jumped higher.  I was able to do the rock star hops for the first time.  I was able to touch the floor or my feet on several moves where I previously just got to my lower legs.  When it was all said and done, I burned 1059 calories.  I'm still pretty exhausted, but I'm glad I did it. 

Tomorrow is the first day of back and biceps.  After that, I will have performed every routine I will do in P90X at least once.

Day 29 (Chest,Shoulders,Triceps) Working through allergies

It sucks working out when you are sick.  I've had horrible allergies (for those who don't have them, it feels like a horrible cold) for the past week.  Practically everyone I know started suffering to some degree at the same exact time, so it seems pretty clear it is just seasonal allergies.  It just hits me worse than most this time of year.

I've been able to stay on track with the P90X though, mainly because I've switched these workouts to the afternoons where I have more energy.

Started Phase II today so two of the resistance workouts are different.  On day 1 of the week, I'm doing today's workout.  I was pretty intimidated when I looked at some of the exercises (plyo push ups, one-armed push ups), but I studied everything last night and tried a few reps to prepare.

The tricky thing about starting a new routine is knowing what weight to use.  Luckily some of the exercises overlap Shoulders and Arms, namely In/Out Shoulder Flys, Chair Dips, Side Tri-Rises and Lying Tricep Extensions.  So I already knew the weight to use for those.  For the rest, I had to guess and then pause the workout if I needed to adjust.  This happened several times, but I wanted to get the right weight instead of pushing ahead with something too light or too heavy.

I actually did better with this workout than I expected.  All of the weight exercises went very well.  I will admit I struggled with the push ups.  I didn't really fall apart until I got to the "two-twitch speed push-ups" which involve four very fast push ups followed by three very slow ones and then repeats.  I didn't make it to the repeat.  This was the 10th exercise and I was already starting to feel a little fried.  I was able to do 6 right and 6 left one-armed push ups although I didn't go super deep.  The secret to these is to do them on your knees and to twist your body away from your push up arm (they show this in the video).  It isn't too bad then.  I was able to at least make some hand-to-hand contact for the plyo push ups (I did 15 of these) although I had to go on my knees again.  By the time I got to the one-arm balance push ups (the 22nd exercise), my arms were "toasty toast" as Tony Horton would say.  I could only do 2...my arms could barely hold me up.

One thing that was surprising was the number of calories I supposedly burned...703.  And that was with numerous breaks to change weights.  Right now, it looks like I'll need a 5, 10, 15 and 20 lb setup.  I only have three dumbbell bars, so I can see I'll have to change weights at least once.

Didn't eat so hot today.  With the calories burned, I still net a few hundred over maintenance.  That isn't such a big deal by itself but a lot of those calories were Cokes...I MUST cut those out.  They don't do anything for muscle growth...I've got to find some protein rich foods to replace those calories with.

Tomorrow is Plyometrics.  Haven't done that in quite a while.  Looking forward to burning 1100 calories and hopfully replacing those with non-Coke calories.

Day 27 (Yoga) Yoga burned 734 calories?!

I decided to try the HR monitor during Yoga yesterday.  Starting out I thought it was kind of a joke.  I'd glance down at the watch and it would say something like 90bpm.  But the moving asanas started to do their work.  I glanced down again...in the 120's...and then around right angle pose I think I got into the 140's.  It is just amazing how hard you can get your heart to work when you aren't even moving.  After the workout I looked and I burned 734 calories.  Wow.  I still counted calories...I ended with a net around 2200 (after subtracting the workout) with around 20% protein and around 55% carbs.  Not too bad.  I imagine those percentages will shift toward protein once I get rid of more Cokes through the day.

I've mentioned before that I really like the Yoga.  Today, I held it together until Warrior 3.  Still can't stay in it.  By that time, my legs are worn out.  But when I fall out, I still try to get back in.  I can do the standing splits, but I fell apart again during moon and twisting moon.  I think I'm actually getting better during the first 30 minutes...putting more effort in and getting lower in the lunges, but that actually hurts me during the last 15 minutes of the asanas because I'm worn out.  That's OK though...I think that 30 minutes will get longer and longer.  Another thing I might try is just through the week go through the Warrior 3, standing splits, moon and twisting moon routine while I am fresh...just to get the feel of it down.

I've mentioned before that after the asanas are the balance postures.  I still suck at those.  Still working.  Once again, the legs are really shot by the time those roll around.

The last thing is Yoga belly.  It is a lot like the Ab Ripper X but slower.  I think I'm enjoying that because I am actually seeing the effect on my body.  There is definitely more ab definition.  Also, although I've still got a little bicycle tire around the waist, I can press it with my finger and feel rock hard muscles under there.  That is actually pretty cool to see that happen.

So I've completed four weeks and all of phase I.  I am pretty scared of phase II.  Tomorrow's workout includes one-armed push ups and plyo (clapping) push ups.  We'll see how that goes!

Day 26 (Core) and counting calories

Today was Core Synergistics...only my second time doing it.  I found it a little easier this time, probably because I knew what to expect and I've been going over the routine to understand it better.  I tried it with a HR monitor on and learned that it burned 820 calories.

I was able to make it through the entire first section which includes 8 exercises without stopping.  I started to lose strength and endurance during the second section...particularly the prison cell push-ups (which I did maybe 8-10 of), the plank to chaturanga run (which I just did the plank and had to stop twice) and the walking pushups (once again had to stop twice).  There are just too many push-up-like exercises squeezed in too closely...my arms just couldn't hold me up anymore.

I actually completed the last section fairly well with the exception of the plank to chaturanga isos...I did the plank/chaturanga/plank and half a chaturanga before I could do no more.  Once again...a push-up like exercise.

Despite the difficultly (or perhaps because of it), I am really liking this workout.  I like that it is unique and focuses on the core.  Because of this, I think I may swap out Kenpo every week for Core.  Kenpo really isn't that challenging...all that I'll lose by dumping it is some balance work with the kicks.  However, I will get plenty of balance with Yoga and I think the Core will really add to what I am doing.

I'd been playing around with tracking calories and with encouragement from Stephanie Osborne (the Beachbody coach I purchased the P90X program through), I started today.  I used MyFitnessPal.com (the mobile app) and I was very surprised at what I saw.

I would normally consider today a day where I ate way too much and really fell off the wagon with Coke.  If I didn't look, I would assume today would be a day that the scale would start moving up.  Here's the overview:

Breakfast
-Protein Bar, 90 calorie Coke
Snack
-Peanut mix, half of a 240 calorie Coke
Lunch
-Panera half Turkey Bravo, large bowl of potato soup, baguette, small Coke
Snack
-Peanut mix, Protein Bar
Dinner
-five large stuffed pasta shells, salad, 90 calorie Coke
Snack
-Popcorn, Juice

That comes up to 2931 calories.  Subtract 820 and I netted 2111.  I've played around with dieting before and found I need 2200-2300 just to maintain weight.  The breakdown was 53% carbs, 31% fat and 16% protein (MFP tells me the targets should be 55%,31%,15%).  Since today was a huge Coke day (4 drinks), it now isn't surprising that I've lost 5-6 pounds in the three weeks when I had one Coke and less snacks.

I'll keep using MFP to track things for a while.  What I'd like to do is stay at NET (after exercise) maintenance calories (~2200-2300/day), stop the Cokes and replace those calories with protein rich foods/snacks.  Any ideas other than protein bars and peanuts?