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.

Day 4 (Yoga)...Intense! Could use better organization.

I was fearing today from what others had told me.  I wasn't even sure what Yoga was.

Going in, all I really knew was that I would be working on it for 90 minutes.  That scares the hell out of you when you are 20 minutes in and sweating your ass off.  What sucks is that there wasn't a clear description of how that 90 minutes was going to be broken up.  For anyone out there who will try this, let me explain.

• You start with a very short warm up with some basic stances and movement.
• You then have about 40 minutes of "Moving Asanas."  These remind me of katas.  They are precise movements that end up into poses.  Many are very repetitive.  They seem to help build strength, flexibility and balance.  You will be sweating.  Some are complicated and you won't get them if you are watching the DVD for the first time.  I was actually getting frustrated because I couldn't always figure out exactly what they were doing.  I had to go back and watch the DVD while taking notes tonight (kind of what I did with the ab ripper DVD yesterday.  You really can't be watching the DVD and trying to figure it out on the fly if you are going to get anything from it.  I tried that at first and got very frustrated and almost quit.  But I got through it and at least got the idea of what was going on (although I'm sure I missed a lot of repetitions and sides).  It was during this that I thought, "oh no...I'm going to have to do THIS for 90 minutes????  Thankfully that wasn't the case.
• About 45 minutes into the DVD (45 minutes left) you do balanced postures for 10 minutes.  These are the crazy Yoga poses that you might have seen before.  I don't think I could do any of them.  It was then that I had to admit to myself that I simply won't be able to do some of this stuff for quite a while.  At least I tried each one and when I'd fall, I'd get right back and try to get back into the pose until they were done.  These take major coordination, strength and balance.
• At about 55 minutes in (35 minutes left), you do floor work which is essentially stretching and some held poses.  Challenging stuff but some of it is a bit of a nice break.
• At about 73 minutes in (17 minutes left), you do "Yoga Belly" which reminds me of Ab Ripper but slowed WAY down.  This goes on for about 7 minutes.
• At about 80 minutes in (10 minutes left), you do stretches.
• At 85 minutes in (5 minutes left), you do some poses that don't seem to do anything.  I think they are just ritual.  I'll probably skip these next time.  I mean "corpse pose?"  "Fetal pose?"  Really?  I don't think my 90 day picture will be different if I don't do these.

Some things I learned:

1. Don't wear shoes or socks.  I started with both and realized everything works better in your bare feet (which is also what they use in the DVD).
2. There are no real breaks.  You have to pause the DVD if you need one.  I never did really other than to towel off some sweat.
3. Almost all the routines start with one foot/side and repeat with the other foot/side.  However, it is very hard the first time to understand where one routine starts and ends.  There is a timer at the bottom with titles which has actually been very useful with the other workouts.  However, it doesn't seem to be correct in this workout most of the time.  Most of the time, there will be a number of seconds up there that doesn't correspond with anything.  I would recommend actually watching the DVD once before you work out and taking notes to the movements.  It will soon seem clear how things are proceeding.  My notes are at the bottom of this blog.
4. Don't get discouraged.  Do as much as you can with the idea that you will get better as time goes on.  This stuff is hard.  If you can't do a pose, just keep trying even if you keep falling.  Just keep getting back up and try to get into it again.  Don't give up.
5. Yoga blocks are bullshit.  You don't need one.  They are supposed to be used in poses if you can't touch the ground...you just hold on to the block.  You can use almost anything instead of a real yoga block.  I used the box my free weights came in.
6. Yoga mats are bullshit (mostly).  I am doing everything on carpet.  I'll admit that sometimes my back foot slips a little.  But I think that is only because I'm on a pool of sweat.  It would be worse if I were on a mat.  I would NOT want to do this on a hard floor.
7. It will take a WHILE to get the breathing down.  Right now, I'm going to focus on getting through the routine correctly and having the right form.  I'll try to get the breathing correct here and there, but I'm lucky if I can get through the routine correctly.

Here are my notes on the Moving Asanas:

You will see a TON routines begin and/or end with this:

1. Runners Pose
2. Plank
3. Vinyasa
4. Upward Dog
5. Plank (perhaps followed by a push up)
6. Downward Dog
7. Swing heel up (routines always start with right first, then repeated with left)
8. Bring knee up into Runners Pose (with right knee used first, then repeated with left)

Nail that down because you will be doing it over and over.

OK, so I just realized that I have 7 pages of written notes for the Moving Asanas.  It is getting late so I'll type them up tomorrow (for you and for me).

Later!

Day 3.5...getting used to Ab Ripper

The Ab ripper routine is a 15 minute disc tacked on to 3 of the 6 workouts you initially do.  Tonight is my second night doing it.

The routine has 11 different moves with 25 repetitions each.  It moves very quickly...VERY quickly and has no breaks.

Since it moves so quick, I've found myself trying to figure out the proper move/form as they are starting and then never really being able to focus because I'm too busy watching the TV.  And many of these these seem really hard, at least for me.  Without the focus and being able to really push myself, I'm not able to keep form or complete even close to 25 reps without a break.  And if I take a break, they are running on to the next exercise before I get done.  Then I'm even more behind on the next move trying to figure out form...etc.

So that's two Ab workouts done and I don't think I've gotten much out of either.  Kind of discouraging.

In order to get around this, after I was done I skipped through the DVD and copied down little stick figures and notes for each move.  I can now look over this and get used to exactly what they are doing and not have to watch the TV.  Hopefully, I'll be able to focus more on what I'm doing and get more out of the workout.  We'll see if this works the next time this comes up which is Monday.

By the way, here are the moves (writing this to help me remember):

1. In and outs.  You sit on your rear, balance with your hands at your sides to the floor and bring your knees back and forth toward and away from your chest without letting your feet hit the ground.
2. Bicycles.  Same form as #1 but you hold your legs out and pedal your feet forward 25 times and then revers 25 times.
3. Crunchy frogs.  same form as #1 but instead of balancing with your hands, you hold them out to your sides and then hug your knees as they come in to your chest.
4. Cross leg/wide leg sit ups.  Lay on your back with your legs spread.  Sit up and then touch one of your toes 25 times for each toe.  That is the wide leg form.  If you cross your legs, it is harder.
5. Fifer scissors.  Lay on your back.  Both legs straight...one hovering just above the ground and one pointed straight up.  Hold and switch every few seconds without letting either touch the ground.  25 switches.
6. Hip rock and raise.  Lay on your back, arms to your sides with your knees apart but your feet together (making a diamond).  Lift your feet up essentially bringing your knees up toward your chest and then push your feet to the ceiling.  Then pull your knees back down and return to beginning position.
7. Pulse ups (heels to heaven).  Similar to #6, but start with both legs straight and pointed to the ceiling.  Then push your heels up up to the ceiling, lifting your lower back off the floor and return.
8. V-up/roll ups.  lay on your back, arms to your sides, legs extended.  Do a normal sit up but when the small of your back hits the ground on your return, lift your legs (still extended) and try to touch your toes again.  Then lower back into starting position.
9. Oblique V-ups.  Lay on your side, bottom arm to your side along the floor and top arm bent with elbow out and hand to your neck.  Keep your legs straight and feet slightly off the floor.  Then try to touch your elbow to the side of your leg by bending your body into a V toward the ceiling.
10. Leg climbs.  Lay on your back with one leg straight up to the ceiling and one leg bent with foot on the ground for support.  Use your hands to climb the extended leg and touch your toe and then return.
11. Mason twists (40 reps on this one).  Sit on your rear with your knees bent.  Clasp your hands together.  Lift your feet slightly off the ground and move your hands over your body, touching the ground to the left and right of where you are sitting.

Do you see how you might not master the moves immediately?

Day 3 (Shoulders and Arms)...too easy?

Day three was shoulders and arms (will do Ab stuff later tonight).

The workout is broken up into five sections.  Each section has three exercises, each repeated once.  The disc is about an hour.  Almost all the exercises involved weights.  There were a lot of curls, rows, flys, etc.

I previewed the workout yesterday and decided I needed an additional dumbbell bar so I didn't have to keep on changing weights.  I took my three best guesses at what weights I'd need and set up three sets.  Even so, I still had to change weights for several exercises.  I typically used 20 lbs for almost every exercise with a few that needed 15 lbs and one that needed only 10 lbs.  I'm laughing at myself because I had originally setup 20, 25 and 30.  Well, no way that was going to happen!  Anyhow, if you are trying this, I would recommend getting three dumbbell bars and enough weights to have a 5-10 lb set, a 10-15 lb set and a 15-20 lb set if you are just starting off.  You can compare your abilities with mine by looking at my basline blog post at: http://kellyp90x.blogspot.com/2012/03/baselineday-one-is-tomorrow.html

You are supposed to max yourself out at 8-10 reps if you are looking to build strength and 12+ reps if you are going for tone/endourance.  I picked 8-10 for my goals.

Just like the past two routines, I approached this workout as just getting to understand what to do.  I did push myself, but once I know exactly what the exercises are, I know I'll be able to push more.

After I got done, I didn't feel exhausted.  I actually felt pretty energized and ready to do something else.  I took a look at the doubles program and I realize it is just added cardio workouts for some days after week 4.  I may actually do that if I can find the time in the evening.  I feel like I need something more.  I must be in better shape than I thought.

One thing I am noticing is that watching the TV is actually distracting.  Instead of focusing on the exercises, I tend to watch the TV too much...even when I know what I am doing.  As I get more familiar with the workouts, I'm going to try not to do this.

By the way, I am feeling day 1 pretty well now.  Sides of chest are pretty sore...not too bad though.  I think I'm starting to feel day 2 also...legs ache a little.

I'm adding copies of the workout sheets now (see below).  Day 4 is 90 minutes of Yoga tomorrow.  I've heard that is hard but I'm looking forward to it.  Day 5 covers the legs...a little scared of the knee...but I'm really looking to get back into cardio on Day 6 which is Kenpo.

Thanks for reading and I hope this is helpful to someone.

Day 2 (Plyometrics)...knees survived

Finished day 2 this morning...Plyometrics which is essentially jumping, running and squatting.  By the way, I started to feel effects from the workout yesterday...soreness in the shoulders/back and under my arms.

As I mentioned before, I was worried about my right knee.  When I do a squat, I feel some pain as I approach 45 degrees either going up or down.  It is just pain in that small area/range of motion of the squat...not really below or above it.  The same pain is in the same range when I do leg presses or leg extensions.

Just like yesterday, I approached today's workout with caution.  I didn't know what the hell I was getting into, so I didn't want to blow out my knee in the first 5 minutes.  Throughout the workout, I went a little slower and didn't squat as low or jump as high.  That turned out to be a good decision as my knee survived.  But even if I didn't have knee problems, it is honestly too much to expect to think you can do this kind of workout right away unless you are some type of professional athlete.  It is just way too intense at first.

I wore a heart monitor today.  Yesterday I used a method to determine my max heart rate which ended up being 204.  I set up my HM to record the 70-80% range.  I should have picked 80-90% because I was always above the target range.  Every time I looked at the watch, I was around 174 bpm.  After the whole workout, the HM said I burned 990 calories.  Holy cow.  And that is with me modifying the workout to make it easier!

I saw right away in the warmup that my knee would have problems.  One of the warmups was some type of lunge and it was putting too much stress on my knee.  So I decided right then to take it a little easy.

Another thing that helped the knee was where I was working out.  I do my workout upstairs in a loft, just a few feet from sleeping children and sleeping wife.  During the workout Tony tells you to always land soft "like a cat."  Well, I'm forced to land soft as landing hard would shake the whole house and wake everyone up.  And those soft landings, although demanding, were easy on the knees.

The workout was pretty exhausting but I felt really good about it.  I know as I work on it more, I'll approach the actual moves they are doing.  I think this will actually strengthen the muscles around my knee and possibly make the pain decrease.  There was only one move I didn't do.  It was where you jumped up and quickly pulled your heels into the back of your thigh and then landed again.  After just a few of those, my knee say "NO!" and I listened to it.  I actually had to take a break for a moment to determine if I could continue.

Looking forward to tomorrow.

Day 1...easier than I thought...sort of

Completed day 1 of P90X this morning.

Just some basic background...P90X is a series of 12 DVDs which each contain a specific workout.  There are three different schedules that you can pick that tell you which discs to use and on what days (see http://www.p90xworkoutschedule.org/ ).  I picked "classic" because I don't have time for "doubles" and I don't need to lose weight as in "leans."  I also printed up worksheets from http://www.beachbody.com/images/beachbody/en_us/pdf/worksheets/P90X.pdf where you write down the reps and weight you used as you go along.  When you watch the DVDs, you are essentially working out with Tony Horton and three other workout models (male and female).

Day 1 for "classic" is an hour of "Chest and back" followed by 15 minutes of "ab ripper x."  C&B workout consists of alternating different kinds of pullups and pushups along with some flys.  This workout requires a pullup bar, a chair and some dumbbells.  There are tons of breaks.  And it seemed like I had at least a few seconds between every exercise.  You don't do a full hour of exercises either.  In addition to the breaks, you have a pretty lengthy warmup and cooldown.  The hour goes by very fast.

The first thing you learn is that you will go through the exercises two times.  The first time you are told to pace yourself.  Since I have never done this before and I have heard all sorts of horror stories, I took the first half very light...too light as I found out.  I was only doing 5 reps of some of the pullups and 10 reps of some of the pushups.  I wasn't really pushing myself that hard because I was afraid of what was coming up.  Once I got to the second half and realized it wasn't going to be that bad, I increased the reps to as much as I could do.  Still, I'm kind of bummed that I took the whole workout too lightly and didn't get as much out of it as I would have liked.  It has been a couple hours and I'm not feeling any soreness at all.

The other side of this coin is that I think I'm in much better shape that I previously thought.  All the cardio and weights I've been doing must have prepared me for this.  I think this would be a whole different post if I hadn't already been doing lat pulldowns and curls.

Anyhow, I've learned to push the first half of this routine much harder.  I think this will be the story for the first week of all the workouts.  I don't know how bad it is going to be, so I'll probably be taking it easy at first.

OK, now onto the ab ripper.  I popped that DVD in and it was completely different.  They got right into it and there were no breaks and hardly any time between exercises.  I also found myself struggling to understand exactly what they were doing and what the form was.  By the time I got it right, they were halfway through some of the exercises.  However, this one goes 3x/week so I'm sure I'll figure it out quickly.  But man, those were HARD.  I could not keep up with them at all.  I had to take many breaks in the middle of sets.  I'm sure I'll get better but this one kicked my butt.  The 15 minutes went by very quickly.

A few things I learned

1. I need more weights.  I wasn't sure what I was going to be doing with these dumbbells, so I got a simple set with 2.5 and 5 lb weights.  I have to unscrew the ends to change the weight.  I won't have time for that during the workouts so I'm going to have to get more.  Plus, I'm going to need much heavier weights for many of the exercises.  I wasn't aware of the weightlifting component of the workouts.
2. The Ab routine should probably be saved for the evening.  It is hard to shift gears and still focus on form and what needs to be done right after I get done with the first workout.  Besides, the Ab routine is only 15 minutes...it should be that hard to fit in the evening.
3. Before I started, I think I read somewhere that one of the models in the DVD would do a low impact version of the exercises.  Not exactly.  You see a lower impact version of SOME of them, but very few.  Most of the time, everyone is doing the same thing (with the exception of one person using bands).

Tomorrow is Plyometrics.  This is where my concern with my knees comes in.  We'll see how it goes.

Baseline...day one is tomorrow

First, I want to thank Stephanie Osborne for all of her information and help.  Her site is http://www.facebook.com/#!/osbornefitness .   Go "like" it now.  I ordered the P90X through her and she has made herself available for all sorts of questions about the program.

For future records, here is where I am now...

Weight: 166 lbs
Resting Heart Rate: 65 bpm
Waist: 33 3/4
Chest: 39 1/4
Hips: 38
Right thigh at midpoint: 19
Left thigh at midpoint: 19 1/2
Right bicep at peak: 13 1/2
Left bicep at peak: 13

I'll probably update this info on a weekly basis.

Previous Routine

• 4-5x/week 30 mins on Sole Elliptical at 10 of 20 resistance
• I break a sweat after 8-10 minutes.  Haven't checked HR in a while, but I remember it getting into the target zone (75-80% max) after 10 minutes. 

2x/week weights routine 1 (3 sets of each except crunches and situps)

• On machine - triceps pulldown, 12 reps, 72 lb (5 plates)
• On machine - bench press, 8 reps, 135 lb (10 plates)
• On machine - front raise, 12 reps, 46 lb (3 plates)
• On bench - leg extensions, 12 reps, 90 lbs
• Side crunches (both sides) 60 reps.  These consist of laying on my back with my knees together twisted to the left or right and against the floor, holding that position and crunching straight up.
• Front sit-ups, 60 reps.  These consist of laying on my back and bringing my knees all the way up to my forehead.

2x/week weights routine 2

• On machine - preacher curls, 12 reps, 80 lbs (6 plates)
• On machine - lat pulldowns, 8 reps, 154 lbs (12 plates)
• On bench - leg curls, 12 reps, 90 lbs
• On machine - leg press, 12 reps, 305 lbs (12 plates)
• Same crunches and situps as previous routine.

Overall shape/activity:
I'm actually in pretty good shape.  I don't take elevators where I work, so I'm going up and down stairs quite a bit...probably 10-15 flights (up and down) a day through the week.  I don't have a problem with that either with cardio or with my knees.  Other than that, I have no other physical activities.  Other than a little pain in my right knee (and really only during squat-like movements), I don't have any physical problems.

Eating:
I'm probably taking in almost 3000 calories a day.  I eat a 200 calorie protein bar for breakfast everyday.  From my memory of when I was tracking things, I probably eat around 1200 calories for lunch and 1200 calories for dinner.  My weakness is Coca Cola.  Part of those meals include one.  I probably have 1-2 a day on top of that.  I've been able on and off to break the habit, but I always fall back on it.  Unfortunately, it results in probably 25% of my caloric intake.  I have very poor discipline when it comes to staying away from any snacks...I have to keep them out of my house.  Even so, an Oreo Blizzard or chocolate shake always seems to be calling my name (add on 700 calories on those days). 

When it comes to eating, I've met three kinds of people.  There are well adjusted people who don't have any eating problems, there are stress-starvers and then stress-eaters.  I'm a stress-eater.  When I get stressed, I immediately get hungry.  As I diminish stress in my life and learn better ways to deal with it, I'm hoping that phenomenon will go away.

Life:
I've got an awesome and supportive wife (Melanie) who has in many ways enabled me to take this challenge.  We have two incredible kids...Reggie who is almost 4 and Morgan who is 1 1/2.  I really enjoy being with my family and I spend most of my time with them.  I've scheduled all this workout stuff so that it doesn't interfere with the time that I spend with them.

First workout is in the morning.  I'll post how it went!

Fears and concerns...

So as I approach starting this insanity Thursday morning, I thought I'd list some of my fears about it...

1. Bad knees.  I've had problems before with my knees.  Right now, the left is 100% but I've got a little pain in my right as I approach 45 degrees in a squat (coming up or going down).  This is a little worrisome as I approach some of the exercises that will make me do that.  Not sure how well that is going to go.  I think that will be on Friday.
2. Time.  The workouts look like they are about an hour with 15 min abdominal exercises added on.  The Yoga day is 90 minutes.  And you work out 6 days a week.  I'm starting so that Yoga is on a Saturday.  The only time I can really do this is in the morning.  If I run out of time, I may be able to push the ab stuff to the evening.  But I'm not going to fool myself.  Life will make me miss days here and there...there is no avoiding it.  You can't just skip a day, so it may push me off schedule here and there. 
3. Stopping my current workout.  I've went through lulls of not working out before.  And then it completely sucked getting back on the elliptical or doing weights.  Since I won't have time for both P90X and my current routine, I'll have to dump what I've been doing.  Although I know I'll improve in many other areas, I wonder what I'll lose by not being on the elliptical or doing weights.
4. What to do after P90X.  This seems foggy in everything I've read.  I'm not a huge workout guy.  Once I'm done with this, I know I'll want to keep whatever results I get, but I'm not going to want to work out 75 minutes a day for 6 days a week.  I wonder what the next step will be to maintain things.
5. Quitting.  This is why I'm not going to post any pictures for a while.  If I quit, it won't be because it was too hard.  It will be because I'm lazy.  I've seen that pattern before.  Hopefully I won't repeat it.  But if I do, I'm not going to have a bunch of flabby pictures of me on the internet.  I'll probably start putting up pics after 30 days or so.

Anyhow, that kind of sums up my fears and concerns.  I got the DVDs today.  The scary thing was when I went to the website and printed up the worksheets that show the exercises for each day.  Holy cow.  Day one is 24 exercises which consist mainly of different pushups and pullups.  Wow.  This should be interesting.

I'll post all of my baseline stuff tomorrow.  Thanks for reading.

Background...

Switched the blog over to blogger.com...seems to work better.

So tonight I'll post a brief background and then put in more about my baseline Wednesday.

I'm 40 now.  I was always super skinny through my early 20's.  I was 6'3" and I believe I had a 28 inch waist...all skin and bones...and I think I weighed in about 140 or something close.  At about 27 my metabolism changed.  In about 6 months or less, I gained about 35 pounds.  That would normally be a good thing, but every pound of it was all around my waist.  I looked like ET...super skinny but with a gut.  Kind of gross.

Once I got to my early 30's, I got into weights and was able to get into a better proportion.  I have never been bulky at all, but at least I looked like a muscular ET...still with the gut.  I leveled out at about 165 pounds and a 34 inch waist.

Last year, I did an experiment.  I decided to try to get back the early 20's waist and try to keep the muscle.  I still did weights, but I did a crash diet (~1700 calories a day) and a lot of cardio.  In 3 months, I went from 167 to 147 pounds (WAY too much) and went from 34 inches to 30.5.  I still didn't lose all the gut and love handles, and I looked completely emaciated.  I knew it was crazy to be that skinny and that this wasn't the way to go.

Within a few months, I was back to the pre-crash diet weight and shape.  To maintain general health, I do weights on a machine four times a week and 30 minutes on an elliptical (with resistance) around five times a week.  I'm probably in great shape for someone my age, but that gut still bums me out.

Enter P90X.  I've heard about it for quite a while.  I've known some people who have done it (some successfully and some not).  I'm not really into fads and I'm not obsessed with working out.  But I'd like to take another shot at getting my body where I'd like it.  P90X looks like a good regiment...very organized and well rounded for the entire body.  Plus there is a lot of knowledge and support out there. 

So there is a little background.  Perhaps someday, someone with the same history will see this and benefit from it.  I'll probably post some of my concerns about doing this tomorrow.  And Wednesday I'll post some baseline stuff.  Then it starts Thursday morning.

Starting out...

I'm not going to lie...it seems incredibly self indudgent and self important to blog. It is kind of like writing a personal diary and and publishing it thinking that everyone else is dying to know what you do every day.
I'm starting this blog for three reasons:

1. I'm starting the P90X workout program and I'd like to be able to look back and see what I went through and how far I've come.
2. It creates some accountability. Making a big change in your life is hard. It is easy to quit, especially if no one else knows you are trying. If I'm putting updates on a public forum, it creates at least a little bit of an embarrassing consequence if I just pack it in after 7 days.
3. It might help someone who is going through the same experience. Before I purchased the program, I was encouraged by seeing someone else's blog...someone who was at about the same fitness level as me before they started. It was nice to see how far they came and what they went through.

So there it is. I am currently planning on starting the program this Thursday. Before then, I'll blog a little bit about my current fitness level...kind of a baseline before I start.