Day 2 Ouch!

When I walked in the door today after a busy day at work, John was walking down the stairs. "Did you just finish your workout?" I asked him. He had on workout shorts, no shirt and was drenched in sweat with a towel over his shoulders. "No, I've been done for a half hour" he answered. "Really? You look beat!" I replied. "I don't know, maybe it's been fifteen minutes..."

John, I now understand. After he answered my question he continued to tell me how killer this workout was going to be. When he was done, he decided maybe he shouldn't have said anything. I don't know what look I had on my face, but I am sure it was close to sheer fear.

So when I started the video an hour later, I was prepared for anything. Day 2 is called Plyometric Cardio Circuit. It's plyometrics the entire way through the workout using circuits to keep you moving from one action to the next. Even the warm-up is a circuit. So you begin by doing a move at a reasonable pace, such as high kicks. Then you do the next move also at a reasonable pace. Once you have done all of the moves you begin again...but you go faster!

The music is great, Shaun T is very motivating...and the best part? These people are not actors (not that any of the Beachbody programs use actors), but these people are sweating, cursing under their breath and shouting out in pain! I know its tough...take a break if you need it...you can do it! Then the camera pans around the room towards the end of the workout showing close-ups of these people...and they are smiling! I kid you not, I smiled right back at them!

This is going to be hard and painful, but man is it going to be AWESOME!
~Monica

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

Weekend Update!

Hey everyone out there in cyberspace. The past few days have been absolutely crazy for me. Here's a quick run down.

Day 43: Saturday.
-Had a lot of chores to do around the house. I put off a lot of the stuff I needed to get done before the winter hit until too late. Monica and I were able to get a lot done in the yard etc on Saturday. Due to Halloween festivities I had a bit of a headache when I woke up. But I was able to get to Chest, Shoulders and Triceps in the late afternoon without much trouble. I really pushed it during this workout.

Day 44: Sunday.
-Today was the mother of all days for me. I started out with Plyometrics around 7:30. I didn't do anything crazy like 60 Jump Knee Tucks but worked my way through the entire workout pretty hard. Its funny, during the first exercises in the Plyo program (squat jumps) my legs always feel terrible. I get this sensation that I'm going to suck and have a tough day. Without fail this sensation starts to disappear and I can push hard through the workout. So, a lesson to be learned is if you're hurting, push through for another 2 minutes. You'll often get past that resistance and find you're 2nd (or in this case...my first) wind.

After Plyo I had a very busy day. First off we put some waterproof/stain on our deck. Then we took almost everything out of our garage and reorganized it so we could get Monica's car back in our one car garage for the winter. After that I fixed a doorbell, installed a programmable thermostat, winterized the lawnmower etc. It was a very long day, but very productive. Next weekend I have to finally organize my toolbox for the first time since we moved into our house 15 months ago.

Day 45: Monday.
-This was a very rough day. I had a meeting I needed to be at near Detroit, and I needed to get out here by 11 am ET. So I woke up at 4 am CT and was in my car and out the door by 4:40. I drove out to Novi, MI and got into the office at about 10:30 am. I took a 5 minute break and was back out the door to go to a sales presentation. It was a 45 minute drive to the client where we had our presentation last for a couple hours. My plan was to cut my day off after that, yet our office is small and 2 guys were out sick. So I had to return to our office and man the phones until 6PM. I so did not want to complete my workout. I had every excuse in the book on my side. Yet I didn't give in.

I got back to my place, and just focused. I told myself I'd start Back and Biceps and just get through it to the halfway point and stop for the day. Well, when the first break came I couldn't stop. So I told myself to finish it up and we'd skip Ab Ripper X for the day. Yet, when the disc started playing Ab Ripper I threw my mat down on the ground and just brought it. I was so proud of myself for not succumbing to the temptation to skip a workout.

Also...yesterday was day 45. That means I'm halfway through P90X. I was once a very avid runner. Often, I'd run out and backs, which meant I'd run out a few miles in one direction and come back home or to school etc. The best feeling in the world was when you got to your furthest point out, tagged that telephone pole or stop sign etc and did a quick pivot and started to run back home. You knew that with every step you were on your way home and you'd be finished any minute. This feeling helped you to push harder until you saw "home" again. Well, that's where I'm at on this P90X journey. I just tapped the telephone pole...I'm heading home.

Day 9...Go Ahead and Jump!

Well, I've successfuly completed 10% of P90X. Today was Plyometrics. Last Sunday, when I first tried Plyo, I barely completed half of the 55 minute DVD. So, 81 days to go, but I'm loving it.

Plyo last week kicked my butt. I felt like I had to puke 25 minutes into the workout last week. This morning I was able to push through the whole workout and could have gone a few more minutes. I loved it today. It was tough...it hurt...I was sweating. Yet the workout was fantastic.

My diet has been really good, I've been avoiding carbs successfully. Yet I probably need to review the nutrition guide to make sure I'm spot on. As Brad told me, "Great Abs are built in the kitchen." While my diet has been good, and I'm already suspecting some good results, I know I could be doing better with my diet.

More to follow tomorrow. I drive out to Michigan in the morning then I'll do Shoulders and Arms with my new Power Blocks in the afternoon.