Getting back on track

Well, shoot! I was hoping to have done better than I have been, or the fact that I stopped altogether, but I recently just got some new motivation from my wife to get back to it. Basically, she admitted that she finds me less attractive lately because of the weight I've put on over the years (which is mainly in my belly). Of course, she waits to tell me this when I nearly broke my left pinky, so I have to figure out things to do without using my left hand much at all.

I got rid of my bike trainer (the pedestals that you put a real bike in to make them a stationary bike), so I'm kinda bumming now since that's at least something I could be doing to burn calories. I just don't trust my hand strength for real world biking, and I've already crashed and broken an arm before… would rather not deal with that again. ;-)

I will probably work my legs out a bit (squats), possibly go for a walk.

It's still tough to get motivated though.

-- Post From My iPhone via Blogpress

Tough to keep it going

Unfortunately, it is tough to keep up with the P90X program, I think mainly because I have been either doing the full workout (generally about an hour long) or I just don't do it. But something TRULY has to be better than nothing... Right?!?!

I don't know... I think I need to fit workout wherever I can, even if it is only 20 minutes here and there throughout the day/week.

Wish me luck.


-- Post From My iPhone

Day 1.2, Core Synergistics (P90X Lean)... starting over

I'm posting this late, but I did this workout on Monday June 1st. It was tougher than I expected since I had been working out for nearly two weeks... but I guess stopping for nearly 5 days in a row really took away the benefits (or most of them) from my previous efforts. I'm sure it didn't help at all that I was eating crap and lots of it over those days. ;-)

I noticed my posture had started to slip again too... so my belly was hanging out more (or drooping... either way, it was more prominent again).

I got up earlier and was able to complete the whole workout... I was beat by the time it was over.

Starting over, sort of...

My wife and I have been pretty busy with other things (life in general) and have both kind of fallen off working out over the past week or so... however, we decided for me that I should sort of start over from the beginning of the workout starting Monday (which is today) and do a 6 day plan, taking the 7th day off for rest. The way I started last time was in the middle of a week, not that it mattered, but it was harder to keep track of where I was in my rotation, etc.

So I started this morning (post to come) and also tried waking up earlier (though still not early enough). I think I need to focus more on getting up by 6:30am and actually starting my workout at this time. Which really means, I will probably need to get up at 6am to wipe the grogginess off my mind and body, drink my coffee, etc, so I can actually START at 6:30am, which should mean I am done my workout by 7:30-8am and can still help out my wife with getting the kids ready for school, etc. This will mean I really need to start getting to bed earlier each night so I can wake up that early and be able to workout.

Another thing I have been trying to do is drink more water... say 100 ounces per day. So far I have missed that mark, but one day I got about 70 ounces in me. I actually felt better the next day (better than normal anyway), but the following day I stumbled a bit with remembering to drink more often.

Today I am also not off to a great start with drinking enough water... but I'll try. It's amazing how much proper hydration helps with your bodily functions like sinuses, aches and pains, joints, recovery. I've know this for YEARS, and I used to drink a lot of water... but when I get focused on work, I often forget to lift the glass.

Here's hoping I make a better go of this second round. ;-) Wish me luck!!

Look at me not go! :-(

Unfortunately, I have taken the last 3 days off (although today is only just begun). I *did* do about 2.5 hours of landscaping work on the 27th after work. We were laying down mulch on the new and old areas we worked on over this past weekend. I kind of blew out my wrists from the shoveling... but I think that's also from previous incidents as well... my wrists have been tender lately.

I started to try and drink more water recently and I actually did well for one day... since then I keep forgetting to pick up the glass and drink. Dehydration certainly doesn't help anyone in many different ways. The day after I hydrated with about 70oz of water I felt really good... but I need to do that every day. I'd actually like to get up to 100+oz of water per day... we'll see if I can do it. Water is SO important for so many things.

Talking with a buddy of mine, I was complaining about not being able to wake up early enough to get a workout in, and he said to just do some of it at least... and he's right. I constantly keep thinking that I won't do any of it if I can't do a full session... but that's lame. I should at least be doing something everyday... it HAS to be better than nothing.

Day 10, Yoga X (P90X Lean)

Yet again, I took a break from my workout. :-( It was a holiday weekend and I took a couple days off too, so I went about 5 days without working out. HOWEVER, I did work on some landscaping and one of the days I took my kid on a school field trip to Valley Forge, PA and we did quite a bit of walking. So I wasn't completely inactive.

I'm writing this post the day after the fact of doing the yoga, but once again I did not do the Yoga X routine and instead did the beginner yoga. I'm still even finding this to be difficult (at least the part about being able to stretch far enough) but I also think it's good for me because it is helping me learn the poses and such.

This beginners yoga is also only about 30 minutes and not intense like the P90X session. I'm okay with this for now... I mean, I never had it in my mind that I would get all shredded up within the first 90 days of only just starting to workout after being inactive for about 5 years.

One thing I regret is that I didn't take my before pictures... I have already changed my appearance, so I don't think I can get that back. I could try pushing out my belly to the point that it used to look like, but it would have been nice to actually have the real before photos.

Today I am supposed to be doing Back & Legs and Ab Ripper X... I woke up too late to do it this morning, so I'm planning on doing this after I finish work today. I REALLY hope I actually follow through on that. I need a more physical work to do.

Day 9, Cadio X (P90X Lean)

Once again, I didn't leave myself enough time to complete the whole workout. I think I had to skip the last 10 minutes before the cool down. I was pretty wasted by this time anyway, so I don't know that it was a bad thing.

I used my Heart Rate Monitor again and saw at times that my heart rate was as high as 199bpm... that's WAY over what my suggested maximum heart rate should be, but I only felt about as winded as 178bpm from the last time I did Cardio X... and the cardio workout seemed a lot easier this time around... so I would say I'm definitely making some progress.

One thing I did this morning was check my weight on a scale. I had been down around 201 for a couple weeks, but today I was 204. A very small portion of that could be muscle gain, but I'm guessing it is more fat because I was not eating very healthy at all over the past several days. With a couple trips to restaurants and not choosing healthy food, I'm guessing I added some fat.

I didn't recheck my Body Fat Percentage today to see if it has gone down at all... but I can't see that it would have from only one week of working out. I may check that a little later today and also talk about the body fat tester I bought (cheap!).

GoFit Ultimate ProGym (review)

After my wife came home with the GoFit Ultimate ProGym resistance band/tube set, I opened it up to check it out (because I saw a bunch of bad reviews about it on Amazon where people only gave it one star). The thing that reviewers were complaining about was the thing that I saw in the picture at Amazon and thought could be a problem. If you look at the picture on the left, you can see the band clasps that connect to the handles or ankle straps... they look like small, thin, plastic carabiners that would probably break under tension. That's exactly what the reviewers that gave it one star were complaining about... that they actually DID break, or were even broken when they took them out of the box.

I want to make sure everyone knows that this is NOT what is on the bands that I have. In fact, my guess is that the picture is of an older model that had them, but since the company has fixed that problem. The bands on mine have solid, sturdy feeling, plastic loops, and then the handles have a larger metal carabiner that you can hook multiple bands to to increase the resistance. The new desing seems very sound and strong enough to me... I tested putting a lot of stress/tension on them and everything seemed very solid.

I am pasting a 5 star review that was on Amazon, because I believe this gentleman received the newer model like I did, but he also seems to have some great ideas about how to use them.

**********************************

5.0 out of 5 stars Great little on the go or at home work out, November 11, 2005

By	danmirage "danmirage" (Ukiah, California) - See all my reviews

A note about operation of the ankle straps: you have to open them up and turn them so the scratchy Velcro is on the outside away from your skin...place the ring where you want it, wrap the remaining strap around your leg and then thread the strap through the ring and pull snug before securing the Velcro.

This way it will stay on no matter what weight you use. I promise...I use A LOT of weight for leg training.

I have been involved in health and fitness for over 20 years as a Body Builder, Body Sculptor, Trainer, Therapist, Coach and many other positions in the field. I am currently the Director of Personal Success Now.

I bought this to check it out - to determine if it was a good option for some of my clients who do not want to go to the gym. I also travel and wanted some way to ensure I would have the ability to work out anywhere.

Finally, no more work outs with a towel for resistance!!

This little gym in a bag is great. It comes in a small bag and is very light. It comes with a poster or book demonstrating possible workouts and it comes with a DVD (or CD) that describes and demonstrates workout possibilities. You can play this CD as a "trainer" or view the exercises singly.

The DVD has in a very good core performance, functional workout and some excellent information on nutrition. (The CD features Trainer and Fitness Model Linda Leene, and describes and demonstrates workout possibilities. You can play this CD as a "trainer" or view the exercises singly)

You get the aforementioned ankle straps, handles, and a door anchor. You also get a 5, 10, and 15 pound cable. The weight range is 5 to 30 pounds in 5-pound increments by combining the cables. The handles are comfortable and the cables hook and unhook very easily.

The possible weight/cable combinations look like this:
5 / 10 / 15 / 20=15+5 / 25=15+10 / 30=15+10+5

Additional cables are only $4 from the company...note: if you need more weight, you only need to get another heavy cable...because you can create any combination up to 45 pounds in 5 pound increments with only the 1 additional cable.

Combinations from 35 to 45 pounds look like this:
35=15+15+5 / 40=15+15+10 / 45=15+15+10+5

Every time you need more weight, you only need another 15-pound cable.

The weights discussed above represent the resistance for each hand. So, doing curls with the heavy cable is like curling 15 pounds in each hand.

I highly recommend this as an at-home and on the go training tool!

For safety - Always check your cables for wear before working out. Always make sure the door anchor is secure in the door and the door is closed and LOCKED before training with the door anchor. Always warm up before your workout. Always warm down and do flexibility movements after your workout.

There are down-loadable sheets for "tone and shape" and for "muscle and strength" 12-week workouts.
gofit.net/prod/progym.html

Eat right for you. Take your vitamin. Get enough sleep. Drink your water. Avoid artificial- colors, flavors, and preservatives in your diet. Laugh often...and live well!

One final note to update this review - in 5 months of using the ProGym, I have lost 10 pounds of fat and gained over 20 pounds of muscle.

Wishing you Personal Success Now!
*****************************

Today I did the Cardio X workout, so I didn't get to use these in an actual workout yet. I will either create a new post or update this one after I use them a bit in some workouts.

Day 8, Core Synergistics (P90X Lean)

Technically, yesterday (Sunday) was day 8, but we had a very full day and I never got around to working out. So, today on Monday is what I am calling day 8. I'm not sure this is the right way to count the days, or if I should include all the days off I take during the 90 calendar days. My take on it though is that I am only really chronicling the workouts that I do and will try to note any days off that I take. I'm sure there is some detriment in missing days, but at this point in my workout life, it's minor (just doing anything is better than what I was doing before).

So, today was my repetition of Day 1's workout, Core Synergistics. I remember thinking this workout was insanely tough, and while the start of it seemed a little easier to me today, it still crushed me and I couldn't possibly keep up with the video. I also ran out of time once again and had to skip some of the later moves to get to the cool down. In all honesty though, I was so frickin' wiped at this point that I REALLY don't think I could have lasted on the later moves. I need to remember to simplify the moves for me so that I can get more of the workout and more reps in. Often times I am doing the full movement they are on the video, so I think this gets me tired out MUCH faster. For instance, with the pushups... I was doing the full pushups they were, which were not even regular old pushups, but more advanced staggered arms stacked feet pushups, then you even switch it up... like an idiot I was doing these instead of remembering that my body is not ready for this and instead trying staggered arm pushups from my knees just to build up those muscles to GET me ready for this stuff on my next 90 days stint. Trying to remember this is always difficult because I still don't realize how out of shape I am, and I'm just following along with the video. I think getting up earlier and giveing myself more time will help in this because I can then watch what they are doing, pause/rewind and modify it to something that will work better for me.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I tried adding a resistance band to the moves that I could (some of the moves you can really only use a dumbell, and I didn't have any within easy reach). The resistance band didn't seem to tire me out any more than without, so maybe I need to up the resistance. However, what I learned about the resistance bands my wife bought me (sorry, I couldn't find a photo of the exact kit I have, but it is named the same as the one in this photo and looks to have the same components) is that they are not the "normal" resistance bands that most people talk about or use. They are like bungee cords in the sense that they have a nylon fabric weave surrounding the elastic/rubber center, as opposed to fully rubber colored ones that you see so often. If you are looking to buy resistance bands, do yourself a favor and make sure you get the fully rubber ones... I'll explain: With the ones I have, the bands will get to a certain point and NOT go any further because the nylon fabric weave is at its limit. So some of the moves are impossible to get full extension, and I can't imagine that is good. The fully rubber ones should not have this same issue and continue to stretch to the point of breaking. I seriously doubt I will get to THAT point, at least for a while, so I should be able to get full range of motion out of the fully rubber ones. Also, the kit that my wife originally bought me did not have a door anchor attachment, and I will most certainly need that when travelling so I can simulate pull-ups with out a pull-up bar. Heck, I may even use resistance bands in place of pull-ups at home too, until I build up enough muscle to actually do a single set of 10 or something.

My wife is on her way back from the sporting goods store where she apparently bought the GoFit Ultimate ProGym. A couple nice things about it that made her choose this kit over others, it has a travel bag so it will be easy for me to take on business trips, it has not only the door anchor, but also ankle straps so I could work on leg resistance excercises.

I will give a MUCH more detailed review of this specific kit once I get to play with it. The one thing I worry about is the clasps to attach the handles. I worry that they may not be strong enough to go to the limit of the resistance band and could snap or break... I will report my thoughts after getting them in hand.

There are other kits available that may be a lot better in quality, but this will hopefully be a good starting set for me. I could see buying individual bands of a certain level as I get in better shape and need to ramp things up. SPRI bands seem to get a lot of publicity and good reviews.

Day 7, Rest or X Stretch (P90X Lean)

I was originally thinking I would do the X Stretch since my muscles are SO tight, but I decided to try and do it later in the day. Well, that didn't work out. It just reinforces the fact that, unless I do my exercise in the morning first thing, it's not getting done.

So... I guess I rested. ;-)

Day 6, Kenpo X (P90X Lean)

When I got up this morning and stood up, my legs were screaming from the workout yesterday! ;-) I decided to do some stretching of my own before doing the short warm-up they do in the beginning of the video. I'm *sure* that the warm-up they do is perfectly adequate for someone who is already in shape. I'm not, and I noticed I haven't been ready yet on some of the previous days, so I decided to add in a little of my own. I'm also thinking I should really be stretching out before I go to bed, which could only help.

So, Kenpo X was pretty cool. It's like an aerobic workout that uses kicking and punching. It certainly kept my heart rate up and produced a stinky sweat! ;-)

I wasn't able to actually devote the full amount of time to the workout because I got a late start and had to get to work. This has happened on other days too, so I'm realizing I need to get up and get started earlier in the day. Some of the workouts, especially the ones with Ab Ripper X at the end, are over 1.5 hours. I'm not positive I should actually be doing the full amount of time this soon anyway, just because I'm not really ready for it.

Day 5, Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X (P90X Lean)

All I can say is "ouch". My legs were pretty much at the point of failure after this workout, and I wasn't even close to doing what they were doing in the video.

The wall squats had to be the worse... but in the video, on their second set, they actually were doing alternating one legged wall squats by lifting their other leg straight out in the air... yikes. I didn't even bother trying because I was having great difficulty just doing the two legged wall squat.

For the back exercises, there were a bunch of pull-ups. I'm still not at a point where I can do much more than 1-3 pull-ups or chin-ups. So, in order to get more reps, I used my legs as an assist.

Once that workout was over, I could barely stand, plus it is about 1 hour long. They want you to do the Ab Ripper X after this, which is about 30 minutes all itself. I had to get to work by this time, so I figured I would do them later in the day. Well, I forgot I had to take my son to soccer practice RIGHT at the end of work, so that kind of ruined that. I suppose I could have committed to doing them after I got back... but I just wanted to eat dinner and chill.

Day 4, Yoga X (P90X Lean)

(Did this workout on May 12th, 2009)

So, I tried to perform the Yoga X on Staurday, May 9th, but I realized that Yoga X is WAAAAAYYY over my head and too advanced. I really know nothing of Yoga poses, so I wasn't doing anything right to start with, and my body is just not ready to do most, if not all, of the poses. Fortunately my wife had purchased a "Yoga for Beginners" DVD several weeks ago, so I went to watch that and it kept freezing before it even got started... and I mean FREEZING. To the point that we had to unplug the DVD player from power to get it to free up. Power button wouldn't even work.

So I had to make a backup of it, but that wasn't a quick process and we had a TON of yard work and landscaping to do, what with Mother's Day on Sunday the 10th. So I consider that to be a bit of a workout. Then, on Mother's Day, I played basketball with my wife's brother for about 2 hours... not straight one on one, but PIG and HORSE... we were doing a lot of running and jumping though... my body felt it. For me, it was a workout. ;-)

Finally, yesterday I did the beginners yoga and learned the poses, how to correct mistakes and get good form. MAN, my body is SOOOO not flexible... but that will come in time.

Day 3, Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper X (P90X Lean)

(Did this workout on May 8th, 2009)
So you start off with working your shoulders and arms, and then after that kicks your ass, you move into the Ab Ripper X... this last one is straight from hell. ;-) I couldn't even think about doing some of the things they were doing, so I had to modify it a lot.

The shoulders and arms workout was pretty intense, but because I was using no weights or resistance it wasn't bad and I was able to keep up with reps and speed. However, because I am engaging muscles and moves that I am not used to, I DID feel some burn from them, and could feel the soreness you get from building muscle. I will DEFINITELY be adding resistance bands into this workout next time, but it was very good for me to learn the moves and make sure I had the correct form.

Ab Ripper X... what else can I say? The stuff that they are doing in this is insane. Honestly, I can barely do situps at all... so after trying to hang with them in the beginning, my wife helped me modify the moves to more basic crunches and just to make sure I am engaging my core muscles correctly.

After this workout, I was frickin' wiped. I also am realizing JUST how out of shape I am. I mean, coming up through the years, I was ALWAYS very physically fit. I was never really muscle bound, but thin and in shape, and very strong... whether I looked strong or not. I always used to surprise people at my strength... I guess because I never looked imposing. Anyway, this is letting me know that I really let my body slip, and I look forward to getting back to a point where I feel strong again.

Day 2, Cardio X (P90X Lean)

(did this workout on May 7th, 2009)
I got up and did the Cardio X workout. This was intense and raised my rate up, at times almost to my Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) of 183 (more on MHR and how I knew in another post on the Heart Rate Monitor I bought... which is awesome for the money). The one nice thing about the Cardio X workout is that, while I was tired, I didn't feel like my muscles couldn't support me. I wasn't able to completely keep up with them, but I was certainly much better with the cardio than the muscle building workout where I couldn't necessarily get to the rep count they were.

This first week is more about learning the correct form than truly applying stress to my body by adding resistence bands or weights. As Tony says in the videos, as well as any trainer should, it's better to not use weight or resistence and get perfect form and number of reps, then to try and macho up using heavier weight/resistence that forces you to use improper form just to get the rep count. He is constantly saying to change the weight or resistence if it is too much or too little. So you really need to use your own judgement on your ability and be honest with yourself.

One GREAT thing, in my opinion, about this workout program is that you are by yourself in your own home and don't have to worry about embarrassing yourself or being as good as someone else. Nobody's calling you a pussy if you have to stop using weight or resistence to get through the set.

So, anyway, Day 2 was pretty easy for me, although it certainly made me sweat my ass off. :-D

Days 2, 3 & 4 will be coming...

I have just been really busy and haven't had time to create the posts... still no time today (what with Mother's Day tomorrow and all ;-)

I did it!! The Real Thing! (Day 1 of P90X Lean - Core Synergistics)

Okay, I actually did it this morning! It was tough getting up, but my wife was there to motivate me and I got up and actually did my first P90X workout!!

My wife and I decided that, for my first 90 day plan (I plan on continuing after 90 days), I should follow the P90X Lean program which focuses more on losing fat than really building muscle and getting ripped. Then, after that first 90 days, I could switch to the P90X Classic plan, then the P90X Doubles the following 90 (if I can handle it all). Again, I'm going at my own speed... something at all is better than nothing, and I *don't* want to hurt myself and go backwards. I know it will get easier and I'll be able to push harder down the road.

This first workout, Core Synergistics (pictured above), was really tough for me... I am just really out of shape and therefore I was breathing heavy and sweating just from the warm up! LOL... I said to my wife that was good enough for me, but I kept going and it got easier for a bit, then I started to get wiped out. I also could barely do some of the moves, mainly due to lack of mobility and muscle flexibility... this too will get better, I assume rather quickly. A couple months ago I decided I needed to start stretching because my muscles were so tight and in two days I was able to stretch MUCH further. I plan on stretching out tonight before going to bed, hopefully that will help too.

Another thing, my body seemed like it was in shock after the workout... especially my neck. Over the course of the day the pain in my neck has eased. I think my body was just like "WTF are you doing to me?!?" :-D

Started... phew!

Okay... I may not have gone whole hog yet, but I had a really rough and LONG night last night, so doing anything was at least a start. I didn't get to bed until about 1:30am last night, so waking up this morning was pretty much impossible. However, I road my bike indoors for about 3 miles keeping a cadence of 72-76RPM.... to me, this felt similar to a decent jogging pace. It definitely made me sweat, but that also shows I am out of shape.

I didn't focus at all on MPH because it all depends on the gear/resistance. I feel cadence (the speed at which I am turning the pedals, NOT the back wheel) is the most important, and maintaining a consistent speed for the motion of my legs is far more important. I'm honestly not sure how long it took me to go the 3 miles... but it was enough that I simply started at all.

I plan on writing up some posts on my equipment with some pictures too. Not tonight though... I'm tired and would like to get to sleep so I can wake up at 6am and start my P90X (minimized) workout. ;-)

Tough just getting started

My wife has been going to her gym that she's a member of for quite a while now (comparatively... I think she started in January). I only say for quite sometime because she an I normally give up on stuff like this, but she has been REALLY motivated and has stuck with it.

She also changed our family diet a bit so it is MUCH more healthy, trying to minimize fat where she can. Just from that alone a lost a couple pounds and at a minimum stopped gaining.

Her drive and motivation have inspired me though, so I picked out a workout program to start me off. She had heard really good things, from people she knew and trusted at the gym, about P90X. I wasn't aware that there are infomercials on this system (I haven't seen them), but I hear they are pretty cheeseball. Even still, people say it gets results.

What I didn't realize when I ordered it was that it's really designed to get people already in shape in even better shape. The only shape I'm in right now is round. ;-) But I did a little research and found that some people started with this as beginners and you just need to limit how much you do so you don't hurt yourself.

I was going to start this morning, but it's tough to just wake up in the morning, let alone workout too. We did a bunch of landscaping yardwork over the weekend, so I was a little beat from that... And I actually, quite literally, lost about 7-8 pounds from over the weekend! (This did NOT please my wife who has been busting her ass and not losing much weight... But she looks great)

Yesterday, I bought road tires for my mountain bike because it had serious off-road tires, and I NEVER go off-roading. I also bought a trainer (a stand that you put your bike in with resistance so you can use the bike in doors) so I can more easily incorporate some biking into my workout. I used to ride my bike about 6-7 miles a day to and from the train station... But then I had an accident going about 35-40mph where I went over the front of the bike and broke my arm when I tried to break my fall. So I didn't ride after that, but I've missed it a lot over the years.

I work out of my house, and have for the past 3 (almost 4) years. Over this time, along with travel for business and huge dinners at restaurants of fatty foods, I kind of blew up like a baloon. Went from 185 to 215, and I'm only 5'9". Actually, since our marriage in 98, I put on 50lbs at my max.

I've had a Bowflex for several years now that collects dust and is a place to stack stuff on. I used it for a little bit, but it became tough to "find the time", and I couldn't take it with me when I travel.

So I was looking for something that was easy enough to bring along when traveling. P90X seemed to fit that bill nicely.

I was going to journal my fitness in a physical paper journal with ink, but my life is so electronic, I think a blog will be better for me, and hopefully others can benefit from whatever I figure out and get out of it. I DO hope to post daily with what I do, as well as tracking my progress and measurements. I'm not sure if I will actually track my diet, but I may try in the beginning, or at least try to sum up the types of things I'm eating. In the beginning, it's mainly about getting in better shape and losing some unwanted fat (stomach mainly).