Feel Stuck

From John:

I'm probably overreacting, however I feel like I'm stuck. I'm doing well at the workouts this past week, but I've been stuck at 195lbs and about 12-13% body fat for a couple weeks now. I know I just got back from vacation and I'm only 12 days into my 2nd round of P90X.

However, I just have a weird feeling that I'm not doing everything possible that I can to improve my fitness level. For those of you that have been following, my goal is to get to 8% body fat this round of P90X. The fact that is even a reasonable goal speaks volumes about how far I've come. I would never imagine saying that back in September when I was almost 26% body fat and sitting at about 216 lbs.

Getting back to my point. I don't want my feeling of being "stuck" turn into a reality. So, I'm going to do the following.

• No more eating after 8PM at night.


• Get a doubles workout in at least one day per week. I'll try to do this on Saturdays. I'll add either CardioX or a little running to my daily routine.


• Count calories. I realize I need to revisit the nutrtion guide. I'm still eating with the same goal calories I had when I was 216 lbs when I started the program. I need to look into what I can be doing better.


• Re-read "Nutrient Timing."

Thanks everyone...I know this posts sounds like rambling. But I needed to get that out there in writing. Success in reaching a goal requires constant evaluation and course corrections.

Bring It!

John

Day 58, Ups and Downs (aka Plyo X)

Hey everyone, had a great weekend. My dog Buster is well on his way to becoming head of the class in his PetSmart training class. It was fun, Monica and I got to enjoy working with him at the new store in Yorkville, IL.

But, that's not why you're here. I guess I'll write about P90X.

So, on Saturday something happened that I haven't experienced in over 2 years. I woke up, went to the scale AFTER breakfast mind you and weighed in at 198.8 lbs. I haven't been under 200 lbs since I left the Air Force back in May of 2006. In fact, the last time I am sure I was under 200 lbs was late 2005 when I took my last Air Force fitness test. I was 193 lbs back in September of 05. My weight started going North when I knew I was separating from the military. Plus, we didn't own a scale until late 2007 and by that time I was around 205. My accu-measure body fat calipers are continuing to show progress as well.

I was very excited to get back into Chest and Back! I posted on facebook that I'd miss Chest and Back. Well, I loved going back to it. I actually pushed too hard at the beginning. I nearly doubled my reps from week 3 on the first few sets. By the end I wasn't quite keeping up that spread, but still drastically exceeded my reps on all my exercises. (I also got to do the workout on my new home-made pull up bar. I'll blog more on that and how to build one later this week.)

Today was Plyometrics. I always love this workout. I did very well, nailing 63 Jump Knee Tucks (but no video this week, sorry) on the second round. I actually focused on improving my form on a lot of the exercises, I focused on getting a bit more height and just upping the intensity level. I'd like to see where my heart rate has been. I have a Polar F6 Heart Rate monitor on order from Amazon. It should show up this week. I'll review it after a couple workouts.

Finally, I took my day 58 pictures since I'll be traveling this week on day 60. I am a bit disappointed in the results. I know I'm making progress, I know I'm stronger, I know my body fat is decreasing, but I'm just not "thrilled" with the results. When I post them, please let me know what you think. Maybe you'll see improvement that my jaded eyes are missing.

Well, keep it up everyone and remember:

HOPE IS NOT AN ACTION PLAN.

John