Day 34, Kempo X

The more I watch this DVD the more amazed I am at Wesely's seeming unwillingness to exert any effort whatsoever. I am sure this guy could kick my ass but come on man at least pretend to care about what you are doing. So today the thing that struck me was how many times Tony comments on Wesley's flexibility, of course he is flexible he looks like he is made out of play-dough. Aside from that I also noticed that several folks have commented on how quickly they adjusted to this workout and did not seem to be getting anything out of it. Fitbomb suggests adding some light dumbbells during this one. I have had a very different experience with this workout. For me it took a couple of times before I was not falling all over myself and now I am getting a really good core workout from this one as well as shoulders. I have been really concentrating on keeping my hands and elbows up high all the way through and getting my trunk into all the moves as much as possible. I am usually fried by the end of this one and can really feel the soreness in my core, especially my lower back, for a couple of days after it is over. I am wondering if this will change going forward since it seems that most of the people adding weights did not do so until very late in the 90 days. We will see I guess.

I also weighed in again today and tipped the scales at a whopping 154.4 down from my 155.2 on day 30. I am really not trying to lose weight anymore but am still sort of using the weigh in along with how I look and feel to help me gauge what kind of progress I am making. It should be fun to see what weight I end up at by the end of the 90 days though. I am still feeling a little hungry on the phase 2 nutrition plan and am considering adding an extra snack to my day at some point in the evening but have not yet decided for sure.

30 Day Pictures

Well here they are finally. I tried to keep everything as close as possible to the day 1 pictures, I am wearing a different color pair of shorts but other than that it is pretty much the same. I can't stand it when I find these things and the before picture is like mine and then the after is all tan with a shaved chest and whatever else they can think of to make it look beter. To be honest with you it is hard for me to see a lot of difference in the pictures until I zoom in some especially with all that hair on my chest and stomach. I absolutely can tell in person and after looking at the pictures a bit it looks like I was wrong about the 2" I lost around the chest being from my back I think now it was from my chest. The last picture is the one I mentioned Sarah took while I was doing the warrior 2 pose during Yoga. Still have long hair in these too.

No Cool Down Required Thank You

So one of things that surprised me about this program so far, and I think I have mentioned this before, is the seemingly short cool down period provided with the workouts. In certain cases the cool down and stretching following the workouts is basically non existent. I assumed that this was due to an attempt to keep the workouts under a certain length, an hour probably, but after reading this article from the NY Times maybe this was by design. That being said I plan to continue to do extra stretching following the workouts since it seems that it helps me to not get sore low back muscles which for me can be an issue, although it appears I am probably beyond that now.

Days 32 and 33

Well last night was Yoga X. I had mentioned to fitbomb, a great P90X blogger, if not the rest of you that I share his thoughts that this DVD is too long. I mentioned though that my wife and I started doing this one at night so as not to be interrupted by the kids and since then I have enjoyed it a lot more. Yoga is so much better if you don't have a 2 year old hanging on your leg while trying to do a half moon. Last night I was still sore from the bicep and back workout and I also did not feel like my balance was as good during the moves as it was the previous week. Maybe the soreness had something to do with it or maybe I was just tired I don't know but I do know I am liking Yoga more and more each time I do it and I think it is helping me in ways I never would have guessed. I am going to go ahead and credit Yoga with the balance and coordination improvements I have had with my ice hockey, maybe that is not it but I am going with that anyway. My wife took a picture of me from the back last night doing a bad ass warrior 2 pose during the workout. She said when she looked over she noticed how much more defined my back shoulders and arms are and just wanted me to see. I will post that picture later. Speaking of pictures I still need to get those 30 day pics up, I will try to do that tonight and add the Yoga one in there too.

So this morning was Legs and Back. My biceps and back are still sore from Wed and that made the back work a little tough. I actually lost a couple of reps on some of the pull ups the second time around but I did add some weight to most of the weighted leg exercises and I felt like I got a pretty good workout. There are 2 drawbacks to the fact that we are doing Yoga at night now. First we have a late workout Thursday and then have to get up at 5:30 to do legs and back. Second, we do Yoga belly 7 at night and then Ab Ripper X in the morning. I did notice that I am not as good at the Ab Ripper workout on Friday as I am the other days and I assume that is because of the ab workout the night before. I still think this is the way to go as far as Yoga is concerned because I was hating it the other way.

The nutrition is still going well but it is strange to be eating as much carbs as I am. I am still a little hungry but I think the early hunger I had with the phase 2 plan was more just getting used to it. I like the phase 2 workouts so far and I think I am going to see some good gains from it over the next couple of weeks. Sarah is looking in great shape now and also getting better and better at all the workouts. for those of you that get the email version of this yesterdays post had a video embedded and it looks like it did not get sent with the email, at least not to Sarah. I am not sure what will happen with the pictures but I assume the same.

Thank You Dreya!!

For those of you doing the program just in case her appearances in the DVD's don't give you reason enough to dislike Dreya check out what else you have to thank her for, or maybe it is just me that gets more and more annoyed with her the more she opens her mouth or even just appears on screen.

Day 31, Back and Biceps

WOW!!! You know it was a good bicep workout when after you finish you have to use one arm to lift the other to your face so you can shave. This was another new workout for phase 2 and it goes through 24 exercises one set each in groups of 4 that appeared to be 2 back followed by 2 bicep. This one moves very fast from exercise to exercise and we had to pause the DVD a few times to keep up because we did not know the exercises but I think we did pretty well. I thought the crazy ass one hand push ups were hard on Monday or Tony and his flying push ups on the same day (he does these plyo push ups where all parts of the body leave the ground on the up move) but the towel pull ups are nuts especially that late in a workout where you are just killing your biceps. this is a move where you hold the pull up bar with one hand and the other grasps a wet towel that is draped over the pull up bar and you do pull ups like this. Tony has you do 3 with each arm alternating back and forth for as many as you can do, I could only do 3 with each arm what a wuss I think the girl in the video did 10. If that is not bad enough try the corn cob pull ups, what the hell is that shit about??? So you do a wide grip pull up and stop in the up position then pull yourself to the left so your chin is at your hand and then to the right so your chin is at that hand and then back to the middle all while still in the up position finally you push yourself away from the bar while staying in the up position and then lower yourself down and that is one rep. I did 3 and holy crap are they hard. Tony and his buddy in the video make it look easy, after trying them it looks like what they are doing on the DVD would be impossible, damn those dudes are strong and again the girl in the video outdid me big time. It was interesting, at least for me being a former Marine, that this is the second workout where one of Tony's workout buddies is also a former Marine. This kid in this DVD looked pretty young but the other former Marine was also a Desert Storm vet as am I, pretty cool. I like this workout and think it will do wonders for my arms and back, I can't wait to do it again.

On another note my legs are sore from the Plyo workout so I guess the fact that it felt easier did not mean much. It is good to feel sore from it because I don't think I did feel to sore the last time I did it. My triceps and shoulders are also sore from Monday but my chest never got sore, guess I will need to make sure to push it harder next week. Looking forward to Yoga tomorrow, imagine that me looking forward to Yoga.

My thoughts after 30 days, and pictures

Well now that I am 1/3 the way there I thought I would take a little time to reflect on it and what I think about it. First motivation. For me there are several things that have gone into this and this blog is one of them. I am a very competitive person and get really upset with myself if I fail at anything especially if someone else is aware of it. This is part of the reason I started blogging about this experience, so I would be less likely to give up. While this blog has served that purpose well I am also finding that I just like doing it and I will probably continue it once I am done with the 90 days. One of my goals all along in my recent fitness quest that started earlier this year was to increase my core strength to diminish the chances of any recurrence of my back problems and so far that has been going good as well. The P90X program itself has been a great motivator for me because I am seeing results on an ongoing basis and the more results I see the more motivated I get to go harder and stick to it to see even more. I have also been reading some other blogs, you can see links to some of them on my blog, and other peoples stories and thoughts have been helpful for me as well. There is one blog I have to call out by name though and that is fitbomb. This guy has some very entertaining things to say, hands down the most entertaining blog about P90X I can imagine, and some really good information about the program to go along with it and I can't recommend this blog enough to anyone considering or doing P90X, I am not sure where he finds the time for all that blogging though shouldn't you be working man? It is interesting to see how many other of these P90X bloggers have found and linked to my blog and it is also amazing how many people out there are doing this with good results. Finally my main motivation is that my kids see me and my wife committed to eating healthy and exercising. It is apparent that they are picking up some healthy ideas from all of this and I want to continue that influence so hopefully they can maintain a healthy lifestyle throughout their lives and possibly avoid becoming part of the out of shape blob of a populace I see all around me.

As far as the program itself goes I am very happy so far. The workouts are interesting and change often enough to keep my interest, I am even starting to enjoy Yoga. The nutrition plan was a little difficult at first but as I said before the more I see the results the more I want to stick to it. I have not cheated at all yet and I don't plan to even though we will be doing this through the holidays. I initially did have cravings for things I shouldn't eat, like sweets, but that has mostly gone away now and I am pretty used to the nutrition plan and it is just common sense. I have no problems now with going out to eat with someone who is eating not so healthy or with being someplace where there is free pizza or something which early on was a little more of a struggle, I don't even want to eat that any more. I was recently at a full breakfast with a bunch of people from work and there were piles of bacon and sausage and eggs and the works. I just waited a few minutes and watched and eventually a huge fat guy went up and started piling eggs and bacon on his plate and that was all I needed to see to be turned off to it, I had oatmeal and a cup of black coffee, motivation for me in this case came in a huge disgusting gelatinous package. This wait for a fat ass to show up technique to staying on track is great because you can practice it any place in this country without having to wait long to be grossed out by some jaba the hut looking slob stuffing their face and usually washing it down with a diet coke, as if that is going to help anything. I really don't think I am going to have any problems maintaining the healthy eating habits once the program is over either, it is amazing how much better you can feel simply by eating the right things. I will not stick as strictly to the eating plan as I am during the 90 days but as I mentioned I don't even want to eat junk at all and when I see some greasy pile of crap that I used to eat it almost makes me sick to think about trying to gag it down. One thing I am noticing this week is that I seem to be more hungry now that I have started phase 2. This seems a little strange to me given that I have added some more carbs but it has also only been a couple of days. I am going to keep an eye on that for the rest of the week and see how it goes. Not sure what I will do if it continues but we will see, any other P90Xers out there have this happen to them and if so what did you do?

Another nice benefit for me has been the smoking thing. I mentioned in my first post on why I was doing this that I had "mostly quit smoking. Well I had quit on January 2nd of this year with the help of Chantix (I highly recommend it to anyone by the way), this was again largely motivated by a desire to get back in shape and more importantly not have my kids see me smoking. Up until starting P90X I had quit except for when hanging out drinking beers with my team after ice hockey games and since starting I have not done that either. My current thought is that if I can go the 90 days of this program without smoking at all I should be off that habit for good. I really don't want to do it at all now that I am eating right and exercising this hard every day, this is similar to the food I just don't want to put that crap in my body any more and I can't believe I ever did.

Finally it has been nice that Sarah and I have done this together. This has been something that we needed I think, to do something together other than sit on the sofa and watch TV. It is hard to do things together with young kids other than things with the kids and this has been helpful in that regard I think. I think it has also made us much less lazy in general if for no other reason than we need to get off our asses and get things done so we can be in bed in time to be up at 5:30 every morning. We now do grocery shopping together some which did not happen much before, as well as meal planning and preparation. This may not seem like much but I think it is good for us in general not to mention we both look and feel better than we used to.

I have recently found a few blogs that appear to be critical of the P90X program claims at success and try to discount some of the things it claims it is doing (i.e. muscle confusion) such as this blog. Well this guy may have all the science down and the facts on his side as far as the latest research goes but all I can say is this program is working for me and my wife and as far as I can tell it is working for a lot of other people as well. When I say it is working I mean we are getting in better shape and eating healthier, spending more quality time together, getting more done around the house, and setting a reasonably good example for our kids. So I don't really care about your science or your studies or if muscle confusion is bullshit, all I know is we are getting a lot out of the program and we are being motivated by it to make some positive changes and that is really all that matters. I have also started thinking about what comes next after this 90 days and I have some thoughts but nothing solid yet. I will post more on that as I come closer to the end.

I still need to put pics at the 30 day mark up and I will try to get that done tonight.

Day 30, Plyometrics

Well it is the 1/3 mark and things are going good. Man did I miss Plyo last week, I love this workout. For some reason it seemed much easier today than before the break. It will be interesting to see what it is like next week. I weighed in again this morning to get a good 30 day progress report and I am happy to say I started the program at 160 and today I was at 155.2 which was my pre back injury weight that I have not seen since 2003. I also took some measurements and the changes

Chest 38" down to 36" on my chest, presumably from the lost subcutaneous back fat.

Waist 35.5" down to 33.5"

I gained roughly an inch in each leg and less than a 1/4 inch in each arm. I took pictures as well and will post them tonight after I get home, I have not really looked at them yet. Sarah is seeing similar results although I have to say I think she looked significantly more muscular when I took her pictures today than she did when I took the day 1 pictures. I am a little scared she is going to kick my ass, better watch myself.

Day 29 - Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps

Sarah and I got back up at 5:30 this morning to start out the phase 2 workouts. This was a new workout for phase 2 so we were a little bit slow initially trying to figure out all the exercises. There are 24 different exercises and no repeats, i.e. only one set on each. Some of these were pretty difficult like the one handed push ups which I really was terrible at. After the workout was finished both Sarah and I commented that we did not feel like we got a great workout due to trying to figure out the new exercises but now that some time has gone by I might want to change my mind, I am going to be sore tomorrow.

We also had Ab ripper X this morning and both Sarah and I saw some big improvement here following the recovery week. This is still a crazy hard set of exercises but we both were able to do more reps on pretty much everything and Sarah was able to do a couple of exercises she could not do before the recovery week. My core is so much stronger now than when I started this program it is amazing. This is great for me because with my back issues I really want to concentrate on getting that core as strong as possible and it is working.

I am finally feeling better after the flu or whatever last week, figures I would feel better just in time to go back to work. I also got a suggestion from a friend that after this program is over I might want to try the LB4444 workout or some such shit so I checked it out but as far as I can tell it is a scam and does not work, best I can tell it turns you into a whinny little bitch and you start rooting for crappy NY sports teams and worse yet you start taping your hockey sticks with 15 rolls of tape for some unknown reason as if that is going to make you any better (for those of you that don't know Lenny this is not a real workout so don't go looking for it I am just giving someone a hard time).

Day 28

I played ice hockey Sunday and then did the X Stretch routine when I got home. I am really noticing a difference in my hockey, mostly balance and coordination but also I am getting bursts of speed on the backcheck that I have not had in years. The X Stretch felt real good after hockey and I am gaining a lot of flexibility with this program which I like. I am hoping that will help prevent injuries. I also started the phase 2 nutrition program today which removes one serving of protein, one dairy, and one veggie and adds in 2 carbs. It is a little strange to be eating a carb with every meal now but I did enjoy the baked potato I had with diner. It is going to take a few days to get used to the new food and I am sure Sarah needs a few days to get used to the new meal planning routine but it should give me a new boost of energy to really bring it for the phase 2 exercises and see some good gains.

Days 26 and 27

Still feeling a little sick on Friday but really was able to bring it for the core synergystics workout. This is a fast paced workout that goes by so fast it is done before you know it. It is intense too, reminds me of some of the 2 a day football workouts we used to have during the summer in high school. A lot of varied exercises with a little weight, but not much, here and there. My core was screaming by the end of this workout, especially my lower back muscles, and even more so Saturday morning.

We drove home today and did Yoga tonight, day 27. I am steadily getting better and better at the Yoga workout and getting a lot more out of it because of that. I am actually starting to enjoy it some, it is relaxing. Don't get me wrong though it is hard as hell and I sweat like a whore in church but it feels good. We stuck to the nutrition plan all the way through the vacation and it was really no big deal. We ate out a couple times and had no problems getting the right kinds of food. I start the phase 2 nutrition plan Sunday, one less serving of protein and veggies and 2 more servings of carbs a day. This should be a more normal diet for me and a little easier to maintain long term. Looking forward to some new workouts this week to start out phase 2 of the exercise program as well, should be fun.

Day 25

X Stretch was nice and relaxing last night and I am still sort of sick so I needed that break. I am getting a lot more flexible too. Still sticking to the nutrition plan without any problems even though we are on vacation, no excuses here. Looking forward to core synergystics again tonight now that we know what everything is. I think it will go a little smother. Interesting thing, my core is pretty sore today and yesterday from the kempo. We have a giant wall full of mirrors here in our hotel and I think it is a lot easier to do kempo, or any of the routines, correctly and thus with greater benefit if you can actually see what you are doing. Unfortunately I don't have a place at home where I could put up some big mirrors or I think I might.

Day 24

Just did kempo tonight and look out because I am ready to kick some ass, YUT!! I am still a little tired from being sick and I think that affected me a bit tonight. I am hoping to be feeling myself again tomorrow but we will see. We have been sticking to the nutrition plan while here on vacation as well. I did not follow the plan on Sunday when I was sickest but I did not eat anything bad for me I just did not eat much at all because I did not feel good, not much I could do about that. X Stretch tomorrow should be nice.

Days 21, 22, and 23

Well I am an idiot and had all kinds of problems getting my network connection working properly here in our hotel which is why I have not posted in a few days but I am back now.

We got in Saturday afternoon and just relaxed until bedtime. In the middle of the night I woke up with a 101-102 fever so Sunday we skipped X Stretch. I did forget to mention that I weighed myself again on Saturday and was down to 157 even so still seeing changes. I do think I am gaining muscle mass though so there really won't be a lot more weight loss I don't think. I look a lot different though and my waist is smaller for sure, more on that later.

Monday I was still felling pretty under the weather and was taking theraflu all day. We did do Yoga though Monday night and it felt really good to sweat like crazy. I felt like I was sweating a bunch of the trash out during that workout and felt a lot better after we finished.

Tuesday I was still feeling tired and a little sick. We went to a surf shop to get me a new swim suit because my old one didn't fit any more. I tried on a 32" waist and it was a little lose so I tried the 30" and they were a tiny bit tight but I went with them because I think they will fit perfect soon and they look good now. We did Core Synergystics Tuesday night and spent some time on each exercise trying to figure out what we were doing since this is a new workout. This is a tough core workout but it flies by because you are constantly doing something. It seemed like it was over right after it started. I think we will get a little better workout next time we do it this week because we will know what to expect.

I am still felling a little sick now and have lost my voice, great vacation, but looking forward to kempo tonight.

Day 20

We got up at 5:30 and did kempo this morning and it felt good. I am getting the hang of this thing now. I think I might be ready to join the special Olympics karate team I might not even get my ass totally kicked, sorry if I offend but I am not really known for my political correctness. Sofia, our 20 month old, was awake and screaming at us the whole time, kinda like the DI back in boot camp all over again.

Well we are off to VA beach for vacation, I have my laptop and will try to keep you posted here with how we are doing. Looking forward to the recovery week and then some new workouts.

Days 17, 18, and 19

We did arms and shoulders on Wed. night and we really pushed hard on this. I am not sure if it is the working out at night or what but it does seem I am really able to put a lot into the workouts this week. I still don't like working out at night much but there may be an up side. We did great with the ab ripper x as well, I think I am still doing like 2/3 of the reps but I am for sure getting a good workout on my abs. I usually can get to 15 or more reps on most of the exercises and they are doing 25.

Thursday night we did Yoga X and I have to say this is my one exception to the not liking the night time workout. The previous times we had done this the kids woke up before we finished and it made it very hard to relax an concentrate which apparently is real important with Yoga. This time I was able to concentrate fully and really get into it and I have to say I think I got a lot out of it and liked it more than before. I think we may do this one at night all the time from now on. The other good thing about doing this at night is that I was very relaxed when it was time to go to bed, of course Sofia woke up for a good long while screaming during the night but nothing is perfect and it was harder on Sarah for sure than me.

This morning we did the legs and back workout again and it felt pretty good. I think both Sarah and I are obviously getting stronger and seeing changes in what we can do in the routines. Abs was the same tough workout as always, as tony says "Ab Ripper X I hate it, but I love it." we switched back to the morning because we are leaving for vacation tomorrow morning so we want to get up and do kempo early. It was not too bad doing Yoga at night and legs and back in the morning, I would not recommend doing the day one workout at night followed by plyometrics in the morning.

We are sticking closely to the nutrition plan and it is working out pretty well. I think Sarah is happy to have me a little more involved in the meal planning and prep as well. I also think that our kids are getting a little bit better diet than they were before although it was not terrible before. We are making sure they get more carbs than the phase 1 diet allows.

On vacation next week for the recovery week and I am looking forward to the change in workout routine even though it has only been 3 weeks. We still do a workout of some sort every day but not as heavy. I think we do Yoga 2 times X Stretch 2 times Core Synergistics 2 times and Kempo once next week. We have not done Core Synergistics yet but we did take the time this week to watch it so we know what to expect next week. It looks like a lot of balance and core stabilization work with a little bit of weight added here and there but not a lot. Should be fun. I am going to try to keep up with the blogging next week on vacation but we will see how that goes.

Day 16

Just finished up Plyometrics and damn that shit is fun. I really did feel like I was going to puke by the end though, I never have that problem in the mornings but so far both times I have worked out at night that is how the workout ended. I do not like working out at night. We really did push hard tonight too though so maybe that has something to do with it too. Unfortunately next week is the first recovery week and there is no plyo that week, I can't wait to do it again.

I got a question about how often do we do X Stretch, is it hard, and is it good stretching for my back. If you have read my blog from the beginning you know I have a history of disk problems over the last 6 years or so. The X Stretch is optional during these firsts 3 weeks. The 7th day is either a rest day or you do X Stretch, we chose to do the stretching. It does have stretches for basically your entire body, it is about an hour DVD of nothing but stretching so you hit everything. We did it one week right before bed and that worked out real well, I was relaxed and ready for bed after it. As far as how difficult it is not really. You do need to have some level of flexibility and there are a few yoga moves in there but it is not really a workout just a stretching routine. Maybe next week when I have some more time I will try to explain the workout schedule over the 13 weeks of the program. Next week we get to do a new workout called Core Synergistics. We have not watched this yet and I would like to before we do it on Tuesday but I am not sure when we are going to have time, maybe this weekend. I have read on some other blogs that it is fun so I am looking forward to it.

I am absolutely noticing big changes in the amount of subcutaneous fat, that is fat just below the skin that you can pinch or measure with a caliper. This program is well designed and a lot of fun and will absolutely get you results as advertised. I am not one to go in for the infomercial crap but I have to say this thing is for real. That being said there is nothing about this program that I could not have designed for myself with enough research but my time is easily worth the $120 I paid for the program. There is no magic to this program just sensible diet and hard work during a set of well rounded workouts. Gotta get to bed now but looking forward to bringing it tomorrow for arms and shoulders.

Days 13, 14, and 15

You thought we gave up didn't you? No, just a busy weekend and a busy week at work. Saturday we did Kempo again and I have to say we are getting better at it. I actually was pretty good with the punches, kicks are still a little bad but I was no where near falling on my face this time. I think we got a better workout from it now that we are doing it right as well.

Sunday we did X Stretch again and that feels really good. It is pretty relaxing, although would be better if the kids were not there, and I felt great after it. I had an ice hockey game Sunday night as well and that went good. I was skating better and had a lot of energy out there. I also skipped the customary beers after the game in favor of some whey protein, imagine that.

Monday, and probably most of this week, we worked out at night. this is partly due to the late hockey game Sunday and partly due to the fact that I am in a class at work all week and need to be in a little earlier than I usually do. We really pushed it I think on this chest and back workout and my nephew was there trying to show off how many push ups he can do. He did pretty well. I don't really like working out at night and would much prefer to do it in the mornings. I think we should be able to get back to mornings starting on Friday and I will be glad for that. I don't know if it was the night time workout or what but I felt like I was going to throw up, and actually did a little in my mouth, at the end of ab ripper x, that thing is still a killer. Sarah was pleading with me to stop before I threw up because she is afraid she will never workout again if I spew all over the place.

We have been sticking to the nutrition plan well. Sarah transitioned to phase 2 adding some carbs and dropping some protein but I am still doing phase one until the end of next week. I weighed in again on Saturday and have lost no more weight but I did a waist measurement again, we had done some measurements at the start that I did not post, and I have lost 1.5 inches from my waist from a 35.5 to a 34. For those of you with the big bellies that say I still wear a 36, it is measured around the belly button at that fat point not where you wear those 36 pants that have the belly hanging over them. I am impressed with the results already after just 2 weeks and can't wait to see what happens over the next 11.

I am going to try to keep posting this week but may miss some with work. Next week we are on vacation for the recovery week so that should be fun. We are bringing all the gear we will need to continue the program with us when we go and I plan on holding to the nutrition plan as well.

Not Gone Just Busy

I had a question about not posting since Friday. We are still going strong and the nutrition is still on track. I have a very busy week at work and we are having to do the workouts at night. I hope to continue the posts soon, Friday at the latest but hopefully tonight.

Day 12, Legs and Back

Sarah and I were talking this morning after our workout and we sort of agreed that this workout does not feel as intense as the other weight workouts for whatever reason. I do feel now that I got a good leg workout and I was sweating like crazy but for whatever reason it just seems somewhat easier than the others. Sarah was questioning if you could really build your legs with these exercises, basically a lot of variations on lunges. I think you can and besides your legs are getting a really good workout from the Plyometrics workout as well. Maybe this one is intentionally left a little easier because Plyometrics is in the sequence. There are a lot of these exercises that require good balance as well as strength, this is one of those cases I think they are doing a good job of getting those small stabilizer muscles worked.

My back/hip (think it might be gluteus medius or hip flexor) was still a little sore this morning but loosened up well after warm ups and throughout the workout. It feels pretty good now and I did ice it down last night which may have helped. I think I may have strained it a little doing some of the leg raise exercises in the abs workout incorrectly. I have corrected the form and was able to do all but one of the ab exercises this morning and I expect I will be back to normal by Monday's workout. The abs workout is still a killer, I can't believe how many reps the people on the DVD are able to do although both Sarah and I are getting closer.

Post Workout:

• Creatine (5 grams in water)
• Whey protein

Breakfast:

• Oatmeal 1 cup
• 1 banana

Snack:

• 1 oz Spicy Almonds

Lunch:

• Tuna Salad (Tuna w/celery/carrots/mayo, Lettuce, Spinach, Red Peppers)

Snack:

• 2 pieces String Cheese

Dinner:

• ???

Day 11, Yoga X

We did Yoga again this morning and I did most of it. My back, maybe more hip, is still bothering me a little bit so I did have to be careful. I skipped one series of leg raise type activities since that is where I think I aggravated this muscle. I did do the rest though and I got down and did some stretching during that 5 minute sequence I skipped. I am not a giant fan of the Yoga, I guess it is interesting but an hour and a half of it seems to be a bit much to me. I can see how it will really help with coordination and balance but I still don't like it much, maybe I will change my mind after a while. It was a little easier this time though because I knew what a bunch of the moves are so I did not have to keep looking at the TV to figure out what to do. Legs and Back tomorrow should be fun but if my back is still sore I will need to take it easy with the abs.

Post Workout:

• Creatine (5 grams in water)
• Whey protein

Breakfast:

• Oatmeal 1 cup
• 1 banana

Snack:

• 1 oz Spicy Almonds

Lunch:

• Flank Steak Salad (Flank Steak, Lettuce, Spinach, Red Peppers, Cucumber, and Cheese w/Red Wine Vinaigrette)

Snack:

• 2 pieces String Cheese

Dinner:

• Shrimp Stir Fry

Day 10, Arms and Shoulders - More Food Talk

I think both Sarah and I really ramped it up a bit for this arm workout today and let me tell you I could barely lift my Listerine bottle when we finished. Absolutely have all the weights dialed in for this workout now which is good but we only do it one more time before the recovery week. It was still hard to keep up with the DVD while switching all the weights and writing everything down and we had to pause a few times to catch up but I think it was better. My lower back was a little sore on the right side since the workout on Monday and I suspected it was something in the Ab ripper X routine giving me problems. I took it a little easier on that this time and concentrated on good form and Sarah corrected me on at least one exercise, I am pretty sure that was the one giving me problems. This is nothing new for me, every time I have started a new workout since the beginning of the year there has been at least one exercise that bothers me a bit and I just have to find a way to work around it and make sure I don't get myself hurt. I still hit the Ab Ripper X hard just correctly.

So I talked to my dad last night and he seems to think I am eating the same thing every day, well maybe but that is not a requirement for the program so I thought I would explain the nutrition plan a bit more because I really think that this is the key to the program. You can work out all day long and unless you are eating right you will not see results. There are 3 levels (relates to how many calories you need on a daily basis) and 3 phases (relates to the percentage of Protein to Carbs to Fat) in the plan. First we will discuss the Level and then the Phases.

Your Level is determined by taking your body weight and multiplying it by ten and then adjusting that up by 20% and add in 600 for minimum required to keep you alive. So I started the program at 160 lbs so (160 * 10) * 1.2 + 600 = 2520 calories of intake daily which puts me as a level 2 as shown below.

• Level I - 1,800 to 2,399 calories per day
• Level II - 2,400 to 2,999 calories per day
• Level III - 3,000 + calories per day

Based on what I was eating prior to this program that is a lot of calories, I was probably around 1800 a day before and I thought that was a good bit. Keep in mind that this is just a starting point and you may need slightly more or less and will have to judge that based on your results. If you are not losing weight that you wanted to the first thing you should try is add more calories, maybe 200 to 250 a day, because too few is usually the reason people don't lose. The body goes into a conservation mode and tries to store energy it thinks it will need later. This calorie thing is tricky because there is really a very narrow range in which you will get the results you want and the hard part is finding that range and staying there.

Now you know where to start off with your daily caloric intake but what do you eat? Well that is where the 3 Phases come in. Each Phase gives a diet that has different percentages of the three things you are concerned with:

• Phase I – Protein 50%, Carbs 30%, Fat 20%
• Phase II – Protein 40%, Carbs 40%, Fat 20%
• Phase III – Protein 20%, Carbs 60%, Fat 20%

As you can see each Phase increases the carbohydrate intake to help you maintain performance. Keep in mind that real athletes are not on Atkins they eat lots of carbs because you need them to give you the energy needed to do intense workouts and you burn them quickly. Also keep in mind though that they should be complex carbs not just sugar. Phase I is basically a cut Phase to help build some lean muscle and drop some extra fat. They also talk about this being a good diet to get you to learn what carbs do for your body. Now there is no one size fits all solution to what Phases you will do and when to switch. The Phases can be run along with the 3 Phases of the workouts but that is not required. If you do Phase 1 for 2 weeks and feel you need more carbs to get what you need out of the workouts you can switch to Phase 2 then. Some people may never get to Phase 3 which is a lot of carbs to allow for really intense workouts so if you are not really pushing it with the workouts you may not need to go there.

Within each Phase the plan provides 3 options you can follow Meal Plan, Portion Plan, and Quick Plan. The Quick Plan tells you what kinds of things you can eat if you have to eat out or travel a lot or something. I am basically skipping this because I think it is more to be used if needed in an emergency and other than that you should use one of the other 2. The Meal Plan provides a one week meal schedule for each Level and Phase that tells you exactly what and how much to eat for each meal and snack with the idea that you just repeat the weekly menu every week. The recipes for the meals are in the book and so far everything I have had has been good. What I am doing is the Portion Plan which defines how many servings of each type of food you can eat as well as what a serving of each is. For example I am Level 2 Phase 1 and my daily intake is as follows:

• Proteins – 7
• Dairy – 3
• Fruit – 1
• Vegetables – 4
• Fats – 1
• Carbs – 1
• Condiments – 2
• Snacks – 1
• Double Snack or P90X Recovery Drink – 1
• Double Snack or P90X Protein Bar – 1

Examples of each type of food are:

• Proteins – 3 oz. chicken or turkey breast, 6 egg whites, 3 oz. lean red meat
• Dairy – 1.5 oz. low fat cheese, 3 oz. Parmesan cheese, 8 oz. skim milk
• Fruit – 1 medium apple, medium banana, 1 oz. dried fruit
• Vegetables – 1 cup of cooked veggies, 2 cups of leafy greens
• Fats – 1 tbsp or 1 serving avocado, canola oil, olive oil
• Carbs – 1 cup brown or wild rice, 3 3.6 oz. pancakes, 1 cup oatmeal, 2 slices bread (whole wheat, rye, pumpernickel)
• Condiments – 2 tbsp lowfat sauces and marinades, fat free dressings, mustard, honey, pure fruit jams
• Snacks – Single - 1 oz. lowfat cheese, 1/2 Protein Bar,1.5 oz. string cheese, 1 tbsp peanut butter w/celery sticks - Double - 1 oz. nuts, 1 Protein Bar, 3 oz. string cheese

Now these are just examples and if you are following the Portion Plan you can eat exactly the foods they suggest or the equivalent but you just limit your consumption to the number of servings given in the guide, I say limit but trust me this is a lot of food just try eating 12 oz of cottage cheese and see what you think. So basically I can go out to a restaurant and eat as long as I know what I am getting and eat what I am supposed to and in the right amounts. The other thing with the plan is you should be eating 5-6 times a day (Breakfast, Snack, Lunch, Snack, Dinner, maybe another Snack). This helps your body to feel like there is plenty of food available which helps increase your metabolism. For drinks you are doing water and that is it, I do have coffee every morning but black. I drink a ton of water all throughout the day, like they used to tell us in the Marine Corps "if you don't have to pee you are not drinking enough water." I cut out most other drinks long ago when I started working out and I can't really drink sodas any more. After going without them for so long they are just too sweet for me. I had been drinking a couple of beers from time to time but I have thus far cut that out completely and plan to continue with that although I may have one at the next football game I go to around day 30, not sure yet.

This may all seem like a lot of work but after the first few days it is pretty straight forward. I tend to eat the same things over and over but that is just me and I did that before as well, like I have Oatmeal and a banana for breakfast almost every day which right now means no more carbs or fruit for me for the rest of the day. I did have egg whites one morning so I could have pasta for dinner but that was just once. After I move on to Phase 2 I will drop 2 servings of protein and 1 veggie a day and add in 2 servings of carbs so that will be a little more reasonable diet along the lines of what I was doing before. Well that is the nutrition plan in a nutshell and if you ask me this is like 75% of what will get you results in this program. You have to work hard during the workouts but cheating on the nutrition part will just kill your results. By the end of 90 days of this you will likely never go back to eating junk, you might have a few chips here or a soda there but I doubt you will want to eat that stuff all the time and there really is no need to.

Post Workout:

• Creatine (5 grams in water)
• Whey protein

Breakfast:

• Oatmeal 1 cup
• 1 banana

Snack:

• 1 oz Dried Blueberries

Lunch:

• Chicken Salad (Chicken, Lettuce, Cabbage, Carrots, Broccoli, Cucumber, and Cheese w/Red Wine Vinaigrette)

Dinner:

• Flank Steak 6 oz
• Roasted Red Pepper Soup
• Cucumbers

Snack:

• 1 Protein Bar

Day 9, Fried by Plyometrics

Well I started out strong again today with the intention of going as hard as I could and I did but again by the end of the workout I was feeling pretty fried and felt I slowed down a little at the end. I made it through but I need to keep an eye on how I am feeling at the end of the workouts this week. If I am running out of steam it may be time to move the diet on to phase 2 which introduces more carbs back into the diet at the expense of a little protein and veggies, a little more of a long term diet that is probably closer to what I was eating before.

Plyometrics is definitely my favorite of the workouts, but I think it is also the toughest workout. I can't wait to do it again next week, bring it!!

Wake Up:

• Creatine (5 grams in water)
• Whey protein

Breakfast:

• Oatmeal 1 cup
• 1 banana

Snack:

• 1 oz Dried Blueberries

Lunch:

• Taco Salad (Beef/Turkey mix, Lettuce, Tomato, Spices, and Cheese)

Snack:

• 1 oz Spicy Almonds

Dinner:

• Baked Catfish Fillet 9 oz.
• Broccoli 1/2 cup
• Cauliflower 1/2 cup
• Butternut Squash 1 cup

Snack:

• 1/2 Prptein Bar (This was a mistake. This was a new kind Sarah bought and they are terrible which is why I only ate 1/2)

Day 8, Sarting Week 2

Felt good this morning, chest and back workout again. My plan today was to try to do just a little more of each exercise than I did last week. This worked well until I got to the last 2 or 3 of the workout at which point I could not get as many as last time. I guess I burned myself out more early on but I felt good. The Ab ripper X felt good too, still really hard but I was able to keep up through the first 3 exercises before I needed to start taking breaks which is better than before. Sarah did well this morning too and I think we both agree that working out in the mornings is the way to go. We feel much better all day.

Wake Up:

• Creatine (5 grams in water)
• Whey protein

Breakfast:

• Oatmeal 3/4 cup
• 1/2 Pear Muffin

Snack:

• 1 oz Dried Blueberries

Lunch:

• Chicken Salad (9 oz chicken breast, 2 cups greens, 1 cup veggies, balsamic dressing

Snack:

• 1 oz Spicy Almonds

Dinner:

• Taco Salad (Beef/Turkey mix, Lettuce, Tomato, Spices)

Day 7, Off Day

Well every week there is a day that you can either take off completely or do the X Stretch routine. Sarah and I did most of X Stretch before bed and it was very relaxing and felt good. I have improved my flexibility a lot just over this last week, it was obvious when doing this routine and even Sarah noticed it. I am not sure how that could happen so fast but it will be fun to see how much more flexible I get with this over the course of the program.

The real story today was we went to the Skins game and did our usual tailgating and we still stuck to the nutrition plan. It really was not too bad doing it either although a beer might have been nice. I think the next game I go to I am going to have one or two before going in. We made a pork tenderloin in the slow cooker the night before and had pulled pork at the game with raw veggies and it was good.

Also, as Sarah pointed out in a comment my Saturday post had a typo I actually weighed in Saturday morning at 158 not 168.

I almost forgot about the yummy pear muffins Sarah made. The recipe is from the nutrition guide and is actually a phase 2 recipe but we made it during phase one anyway since we are just doing the portion plan and not the meal plan. these things were delicious.

Wake Up:

• Creatine (5 grams in water)
• Whey protein

Breakfast:

• Spinach Scramble (8 egg whites, 1 cup spinach, 1/2 cup tomatoes, 1 oz feta, 1 tbsp fresh basil) This was yummy

Snack:

• Pear Muffin

Lunch:

• Pulled Pork 9 oz
• Raw Veggies 1.5 cups (broccoli, red peppers, carrots, cucumbers)

Snack:

• Protein Bar

Dinner:

• Pulled Pork 9 oz
• Raw Veggies 1.5 cups (broccoli, red peppers, carrots, cucumbers)

Snack:

• 1 oz Spicy Cashews

Day 6, Kempo - Week 1 Review, Playtime Is Over

Day 6, Kempo:

Well I am still pretty uncoordinated when it comes to kempo but I made it through. I can clearly tell which side is dominant when I do this workout too because you do everything on both sides. I guess this is a fun workout but I am not too sure yet. I do like getting to yell when I do the punches, YUT-YUT!! I am prettyy sore from yesterdays legs and back workout, feels good.

I also stepped on the scale today after my workout and I am down to 168, lost 2 pounds this week. Does this surprise me? I am not surprised by the amount in a week because before this when I would change my workouts I would see these kind of results the first couple of weeks and then it would taper off. I am surprised by the simple fact that I was able to get under 160 lbs. because even though I had been changing my workouts the last time at least and maybe the time before that as well I was not getting the results any more.

Week 1 Review, Playtime Is Over:

So what do I think about the first week? This is a fun program so far with a wide variety of workouts and they are tough. I had read before hand that you should be in really good shape before starting this program but I disagree. I think you could do this at your own pace if that is what you wanted to do. You could skip some things, pause the DVD, not do it every day, or any number of other things until you built up to being able to do it all. The main thing I like is that I am doing some things that I would never have done if I designed my own program like Yoga for example and I really like the Yoga.

I also have noticed that I am getting sore in very specific parts of muscles, like one day my lower calf will be sore and another my upper calf. I also notice some soreness in some muscle areas I have never really been sore in and I assume that is because I never really worked those muscles like I am in this program. Based on the research I did before this and what I have seen so far from the program first hand I think the exercises are designed to work not just the major muscles but also smaller stabilizer muscles that most people may not work as efficiently in there own program. These muscles being strengthened can greatly increase balance and coordination as well as the strength of the surrounding muscles and reduce the risk of injuries. I am no expert here but I have done a lot of reading and this is my take on it based on what I have seen. I like the trainer, Tony Horton, as well. He is not too in your face and is pretty good about telling people to not get down if they can't keep up just "do your best and forget the rest" is one of his favorite sayings and most people trying this program will need to hear that because you can't keep up with these guys. Even though I can't keep up on everything I am feeling motivated rather than dejected which tells me this guy is doing a pretty good job, of course that is sort of my personality too.

The nutrition plan is probably the toughest part for me. I am trying to stick to it pretty strictly with 2 exceptions, I drink coffee and I don't use their supplements. I drink coffee almost every day but I don't put anything in it and I am not willing to give it up. It is not clear based on what I have read if this is in line with the program or not. The way I look at it there are basically no calories in black coffee so it is just the caffeine. I do take supplements but not what they recommend, their own beachbody products. They want you to take a recovery drink after workouts but I take whey protein and creatine, half the recommended serving, with a pile of sugars and I think this works for me. They also are pushing their protein bars and I am not using them. Aside from that I am eating according to their portion plan. The portion plan basically prescribes what a serving of each allowable group (protein, dairy, carbs, etc.) is and how many of each you are allowed to eat each day. For example I am currently eating 7 servings of protein a day which is 3 oz of chicken breast or equivalent. Bottom line is I have not been hungry generally and have been eating a lot.

Bottom line is I am pretty happy with the program so far and am having fun. I will continue to post updates but probably not much detail until the end of next week other than menu for that day. So why is playtime over? Well as far as I am concerned I now have had time to see all the workouts and it is now time to get down to the real work.

Post Workout:

• Creatine (5 grams in water)

Breakfast:

• Protein Drink (1/2 cup strawberries, 1/2 banana, 8 oz skim milk, ice, whey protein powder)

Snack:

• Protein bar

Lunch:

• Pit Turkey Sandwich minus bread (9 oz turkey)

Snack:

• 1 oz. spicy Almonds

Dinner:

• 1 cup pasta (all this was mixed together with pesto)
• 9 oz chicken
• 1 cup broccoli
• 1 cup cauliflower

Day 5, Legs and Back

So today was the last weight workout for the week but it does not really use a lot of weights. This workout is really mostly a leg workout with some pull ups thrown in there for the back just to break things up and give your legs a break it seems. This makes sense given the amount of back work there is on Day 1. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I could actually do more pull ups today than I had done on Monday so that is good. The leg portion is a lot of lunges and similar things some of which required a good bit of balance and I was about to fall over several times. I had to add a few entries to the workout sheets because I did use some weights on some of the exercises that are not listed on there and I wanted to make sure to keep track, not sure why they did not put everything on this sheet. This weight workout is unique in that it is the only one that is actually done throughout the 90 days (except the recovery weeks), all the rest of the weight workouts change every few weeks to keep your muscles guessing. It was a good workout and I am sure my legs will be feeling it tomorrow, especially my calves after the strange calf raise variations we did. We also did the Ab Ripper X again today which is still hard as hell but a great workout and a lot of fun, I am generally making a lot of grunting and screaming noises during this one.

Sarah was a little hungry this morning before the workout so she had a little bit of banana before we started, we normally do this at 5:30 AM as soon as we wake up. Sean got up and ostensibly did some of the workout with us again this morning, he has his own Yoga mat that he likes to put out right in between Sarah and I. He also did some of my extra stretching with me after the workout which he seems to really enjoy. I definitely am noticing more range of motion and flexibility already, this is very apparent in some of the ab exercises that we do like the leg climb. When we first did this Monday I could not get anywhere near touching my foot and today I was grabbing my foot. I am not sure if Sarah is noticing any differences yet or not but maybe she will have some input this weekend to my week 1 wrap up post with some insight into what she thinks. I do know she does not tend to be as intense about these kinds of things as I am and she says she is glad to have me pushing her a very little bit although it doesn't always seem that way at 5:30 in the morning ;) Last night was a little tough for us too because we both woke up for some reason at 1:00 AM and then Sofia woke up crying for like an hour at about 3:00 AM. I say this was tough on both of us but it was really much tougher on Sarah as most kid related things are. I got to stay in bed being the lazy no good husband that I am but I was still awake with all the screaming. I do like the fact that I am working out at home and getting to do it with Sarah and spend a little time with the kids before work which I was not doing when I was going to the gym in the morning. Looking forward to the kempo workout tomorrow and then stretching on Sunday.

For those of you getting the email updates when I post, sorry about the fact that you get the same one twice. What happens is that when I do these in the morning I don't know what I am going to eat for dinner yet and then the next morning I update it with what I ate so that I will have a record of all this stuff.

Post Workout:

• Whey Protein (26 grams Protein GNC 100% Whey in skim milk)
• Creatine (5 grams in water)

Breakfast:

• Oatmeal (1 cup)
• strawberries (1/4 cup)
• blueberries (1/4 cup)
• 1/2 banana

Snack:

• 2 low fat string cheese mozzarella

Lunch:

• Tuna Salad (From the nutrition guide not sure what is in it but there looks like lettuce, spinach, carrots, tuna, mayo, etc)

Snack:

• 1 oz. spicy cashews

Dinner:

• ???

Day 4, Yoga X

Today was Yoga, or as Sean said "I need a Yogo block." Sofia thought it was Yogurt but whatever you want to call it this shit was hard. The workout is 1.5 hours with about the first 30 minutes being movement exercises that had me sweating my ass off and I was getting a good workout. The next 30 minutes were balance exercises and I almost fell over a few times. There was actually one point where Tony Horton, that is the trainer that does these, told you to put a pillow or something down where your head will hit if you fall so I did the alternate exercise on that one maybe I will try it next time. The last 30 minutes is stretching type exercises but still tough. If you are thinking of doing P90X and you figure the Yoga day will be a day off, think again. It is not the same kind of workout but it will make you sweat. Sarah has done Yoga before so she knew some of the moves but I really had to pay attention to see what I was supposed to be doing. I had to take a few breaks as well because I could not always keep up. I did not pause the DVD today when I took my breaks because I had a dentist appointment at 8:15 and could not take the extra time. I suspect this will be somewhat easier next time since I will know some of the moves and won't have to keep looking at the TV but man those people on the DVD are crazy flexible and ungodly strong. Tony tells you to concentrate on breathing in and out evenly, yeah right it was all I could do to half way get into some of the positions let alone concentrate that closely on breathing but I did my best. I am already noticing after just a few days that I am somewhat more flexible than I was before and I had been doing some stretching every day but apparently not as much or as focused as provided by this program. I think this workout will be the one where I see the most difference over the course of the program and I think that will be good. Like Tony says, there are things he can do at 45 (I think he is 50 now) that he could not do at 25 not because he can do 1000 push ups but because he does Yoga. I did like this workout a good bit too and I think it will also help with my back in the long run.

I also wanted to mention that although I have not stepped on a scale or anything since starting I already think I am noticing some of that hard to get fat that was still hanging around my mid section is dropping off. I have no concrete evidence of this other than how I look and how it feels but I am pretty sure I am right. If this is correct that is pretty amazing considering I am 4 days in and have been busting my ass at the gym to get rid of that for a while. The big difference for me now is I am being very strict with my diet and following the nutrition guide to the letter with the exception of their attempt to get me to buy all their supplements, bars, etc. (I use my own stuff which I will address later). I have often read in my research that diet is the key to getting that last bit off and maybe that is it. I am certainly not starving myself or anything either, I am actually eating more calories now than I was previous to starting this program and I am feeling good. I think this weekend I will put in a wrap up of this week and include some info on the diet and supplements I am using for anyone who is interested. Looking forward to tomorrows legs and back workout.

Post Workout:

• Whey Protein (26 grams Protein GNC 100% Whey in skim milk)
• Creatine (5 grams in water)

Breakfast:

• Oatmeal (1 cup)
• 1 banana

Snack:

• 2 low fat string cheese mozzarella

Lunch:

• Asian chicken salad (Sarah's recipe, maybe she will post it as a reply)

Snack:

• 1.5 oz. spicy cashews

Dinner:

• Pork chops 9 oz.
• Green beans (2 cups) this was a lot of green beans but I was too lazy to make something else.