Glorious Pictures

Okay, so we got our Day 30 pictures done...here's some viewing pleasure for you...



Day 1

Day 30

Day 1

Day 30

Day 30!

Hooray for being 1/3 done!  If you want to be technical, I did my day 30 workout on day 31...I was super tired last night, plus Isaiah was having a bad night (see Joyful's blog)...I ended up sleeping off and on, and decided I'd just do my Plyo when I got up in the morning, and then we'd do our Day 31 workout in the evening like usual.

The workout today was pretty good...I worked up a CRAZY sweat, which is always good.  I was trying to push myself as hard as I could, and I felt like I did a good job.  There was only one time where I really had to catch myself and breath deep because I was starting to feel funny...usually it's 2 or 3 times during plyo.

Sometime today we'll take our Day 30 pictures and do measurements and what not...according to the scale, I've dropped just over 5 pounds, but my body fat has stayed basically the same...so there's definitely room for improvement :)

Days 28 and 29

Yesterday was our rest day, so hooray for that!  When I was at work yesterday, I was tempted to go for a run when I got home, but it was so freakishly windy and kinda chilly that it really didn't sound good anymore. 

Today, however, was a different story...it was GORGEOUS outside today, so when I got home from work, Joyful was out on a 2 mile run, and when she got home and changed clothes and took over watching Isaiah, I got out for a nice 2 mile run...it felt so good to get out and just run my bootie off.  I figured since I was just doing 2 miles, I'd push myself as hard as I could...I got done in about 17 minutes...I don't now exactly how long it took because my iPod wasn't charged, so I didn't have the use of my Nike +...it was nice to have the quiet, though.

The P90X workout tonight was a new one...Chest, Shoulders and Triceps with Ab Ripper X.  My arms were absolutely destroyed by the end of the workout.  It felt good to push myself on the push-ups and shoulder stuff especially.  I really really enjoyed doing this workout with Joyful.  When I did P90X by myself before, I had a hard time with this workout because it's really hard for me, so I'd get discouraged and quit...so it was nice to have her there with me.  So it was great to have her there with me doing the same workout...

Days 26 and 27

So as I mentioned before, yesterday I did Core Synergistics again for the second day in a row since we fiddled with the schedule...time definitely went by faster, so that was nice :)

Tonight was Yoga...you have to do Yoga twice in Recovery Week...I actually thought it was fine this time...I put in the cd for the Braveheart soundtraack and we listened to that...I used the Kleenex box cover as my "yoga block" and used it on 3 moves...it was actually quite helpful.  I really enjoyed listening to the music.  it kept my mind off stuff, and helped me relax and just try to do the pose.]

Well, that's it for me tonight...I'm so tired right now...I keep falling asleep as I type :)  So hopefully this all makes sense...

Day 25

Today was Core Synergistics...that one's fun.  It's a little of everything...some cardio, some abs, some push ups, some leg stuff.  Obviously it has a lot of core exercises (it's in the name and all), and then it works multiple muscle groups at the same time (thus the synergistics)...so I like it because it's not just doing a bunch of leg stuff or whatever...it's really good variety.

The funny thing is, since we rearranged our schedule over the weekend, I'm scheduled to do Core Synergistics again tomorrow :)  It's a good thing I like that one...Plus since I work a double every Monday now, I end up getting in my workout pretty late at night, so it'll be nice to have one that I enjoy doing and that makes time go by fast.

Days 23 and 24

Man, I'm not doing so good at keeping up the blog these days, am I?  At least so far I haven't had to do 3 or 4 days at a time, I suppose :) 

We're on our Recovery Week right now...we did a little rearranging of the schedule due to having a bunch of stuff we were doing Thursday and Friday...so yesterday (Day 23), we did X Stretch...we had intended to do Core Synergistics, but in my tired state of mind, I put in the wrong disc...and we were both tired, so just doing X Stretch sounded great...and sure enough, it was.  That disc rules...it's an hour of stretching.  There is one "stretch" that's an ab workout, but it's just the one..you do scissors, and he calls them "ballistic hamstring stretch"...whatever, they're scissors.  But you get all done with the routine and feel so good...Today (Day 24), we did Yoga X.  I attempted to do like I did last time and have some good audio thing playing that I could listen to and take my mind off doing the Yoga, but we had the dishwasher running, too...and all the competing sounds made it really hard to listen to anything.  But it wasn't too bad this time...Yoga is so dependent on your state of mind...if you're approaching it (as I tend to) with the mindset that you hate it and it sucks...then sure enough, you're going to hate it because all you do is have time to think about how much you hate it.  I tried to appreciate it as much as I could...some of it felt really good, some of it was frustrating, but all in all, it wasn't too bad.

Days 21 and 22

Yesterday was a rest day, so I also rested from blogging :)  The thing that I really noticed on my rest day was this:  when you first start doing P90X, the time commitment seems like kind of a big deal...I mean, 6 days a week and the workouts last about 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours...who has the time for that?  But you make time for it, and after a while, it becomes part of your routine and you don't think about it anymore...last night, Joyful and I were sitting on the couch, watching some TV and we commented to eachother how strange it was to not be working out...we debated if we wanted to do today's workout early so we could do our rest day today, but we didn't...kinda wish we had...

Today is the beginning of a Recovery Week.  P90X is broken up into 3 segments lasting 3 weeks each with a Recovery Week in between each segment.  Today's workout was to be Yoga X, but the time commitment became an issue, so we decided to swap workouts...we did Kenpo today and will do Yoga on the Kenpo day.  I like Kenpo better anyways, plus it's like 30 minutes shorter.  We went to Omaha to have a "hooray, Joyful got a promotion, we're gonna go out and be adults" night...Some friends watched Isaiah (Thanks Stan and Mel!!!) so we could go have an evening to ourselves...we got home fairly late and were tired after we got everything unpacked and Isaiah put to bed.  We both REALLY wanted to skip today...I was thinking up ways we could do it...just double up on Saturday or Sunday or something...I just wanted sleep...but Joyful is more dedicated than I am, and she turned on the TV and pushed play on the DVD.  Once I got going, I was sooooo glad we were doing it.  It felt great to be moving and sweating...my arms were strangely tired tonight, and my legs were tight, but the workout felt great.  They do an awesome stretch sequence at the beginning of Kenpo called a "saunders cycle".  It hurts and feels good all at the same time, and it felt fabulous on my legs.

As a side note, today was Isaiah's 7 month birthday!  I think you stop counting birthdays in months once they hit about a year old...but it just seems so crazy to me that it was 7 months ago that my little boy came into the world...everyone always says how time flies, and it really does.  I know this has nothing to do with P90X, but it has everything to do with WHY I'm doing P90X...I really want to be a good example to Isaiah as he grows up on how to live a healthy, active life...and the best way I can teach him that is to model it myself.  Here's a great picture of my sweet little boy :)

Days 19 and 20

So I never got around to blogging yesterday...it was a crazy day at work at Olive Garden, and I got home late, so I got to my workout late, and I just wanted to go to sleep when I got done...like last Monday, I did Ab Ripper with Joyful when I got home and then she took her shower and went to bed.  I think I really like doing Ab Ripper before the workout...my body isn't destroyed yet, and I can actually do more.  I nearly was able to the whole video this time!!!  The only thing I couldn't keep up with was the oblique v-ups...but other than that I totally kept up with the video...awesome.  The Legs and Back workout was dandy...both my legs and back were tired from work, so I wasn't able to push it terribly hard, but I did it.

Today was day 20...Kenpo X.  I felt like I was really pushing it hard...when we had the optional "break" times, I had my knees up really high and was trying to push everything as hard as I could.  I sweated more than I have in a while on Kenpo...it was good...

I've decided I really need to work on focusing on my eating more...and I actually mean I need to be eating more.  I need to be taking in my 2400 calories a day...I'm not exactly sure how many I take in right now (which is part of the problem) but I know it's not that many...problem is, I've plateaued at my current weight of 185...I need to get my metabolism going and burn off the fat.  I set a fairly modest weight loss goal of getting down to 175 for this round of p90x, and I need to work on my nutrition to help get me there...

Day 18

Today was the joys of Yoga X...though really, I didn't mind it too much today...weird, I know.  You want to know how to get over hating yoga?  Listen to something else while you do it...let your mind be thinking about something other than yoga!  It's almost the opposite of what Tony (and really every yoga instructor in the world) tells you...they always say (in very meditative tones) to clear your mind, stay in the moment, etc. etc...well what if you hate the moment?  What if all you can think about is how much you hate what you're doing right now?  Then I say, think about something else!  Every Sunday night, there's a Beachbody webinar at 9pm...so tonight, we put that going on the computer and turned up the volume, and then started doing Yoga X and turned the music off, so that all we could hear was Tony talking...it was a little tricky to catch when you were supposed to change position, but it was great...time flew by...I wasn't as angry...then when the webinar ended and we still had yoga to do, I put on a great recorded Craig Holiday conference call where he talked about living your life with passion...one quote that I really liked from Craig's thing was this, "courage is doing important things that you might not like very much".  I really liked that because it means that anyone can be courageous.  I have a hard time going up and talking to people...so for me to do that, is courageous.

So how about that Yoga, you ask...the actual workout was pretty good...I saw some improvement on a couple poses...I could actually do Right Angle pose the whole time on both sides, which I was super stoked about.  I still can't hold Crane, which didn't shock me in the slightest...I will be able to by the end of P90X, though...There's this whole weird sequence that I don't know if it's "real" yoga or Tony's made up yoga, but it's Warrior 3, and then Half Moon and Twisting Half Moon...I usually find it pretty much physically impossible...but today I could actually do it on one side, which pretty much shocked me.

All in all, it was a good night for the Yoga...some moves felt fabulous, some felt horrible, and by the end I was sleeping in relaxation pose :)

Day 17

So today was Shoulders and Arms, plus Ab Ripper X...once again I was super tired...we got to bed freakishly late last night...seriously, it was almost 3am by the time we got to bed...I'm not in my 20s anymore...my body doesn't agree with that sort of thing.  Thankfully, Isaiah let us sleep in...but work called at like 9:30 to see if I could run up to Omaha to get some stuff for them, which I did...so I was running on like 6 1/2 hours sleep all day.  I suppose it could be worse, but I like my sleep :)  Plus we watched that horrible football game today...I don't know what was wrong with our receivers' hands, but they couldn't catch a ball to save their lives.

Anywho, the workout was lovely once we got to doing it...I tend to enjoy this workout because it's kind of the "glamour muscles"...guys like their shoulders and arms to look good.  It did make me wish I had heavier weights...sometimes I just don't want to use the bands, but I only have weights up to 10#...but so it goes...I was pretty darn happy with myself on Ab Ripper today.  I tried to see how much I could do without having to take a break.  I made it through the first 4 exercies before I had to take breaks on scissors, and then I had to take breaks later on oblique v-ups, but otherwise, I actually kept up with the video, which I was super stoked about.

So I have tried to make it a point to not use my blog to push Beachbody stuff...I mention Shakeology or Recovery Drink sometimes because they're things I use that I like, but I don't want this blog to just be a big advertisement because who in their right mind would read this thing if that's what it was?  Today I'm going to make a one day exception to my rule.  They just announced a pretty awesome deal at Beachbody.  From now until the end of the year, Beachbody is waiving the start up fees to become a Beachbody Coach.  So what?  So Beachbody coaches get 25% off any Beachbody products...P90X, Insanity, Slim in 6, Turbo Fire, Shakeology, any of their awesome supplements or nutritional products...it's a pretty awesome opportunity if you're a person who is looking at getting a workout program to get them through the winter, or someone who uses various supplements or ESPECIALLY someone who's interested in the joy that is Shakeology (click on that link on the top of the page to check that stuff out!).  If anything I just said sounds interesting to you, click on the "contact me" button on the right side of the page and send me an e-mail and I'd be happy to help you out.

OK, sales pitch done.  Have a lovely evening :)

Day 16

Today was one of those days where doing pretty much anything but working out sounded great...we spent time with some friends tonight, and by the time we got home I just wanted sleep...but we did our Plyometrics and I'm so very glad we did!  It felt sooo good to jump around and work up a solid sweat....it's crazy, I feel so much more awake now at 12:44am after doing that workout than I did at likke 9:30pm when I was falling asleep on our friend's couch :)

I felt pretty strong during the workout, which was nice...there was a couple moves that I normally can't make it the whole time, and today I could.  There's this one towards the end...the name escapes me, but that doesn't matter.  You start in a running stance and go down into a squat and touch the ground, then you jump up and spin so you're looking behind you when you land, then touch the ground and jump and spin back to the front...I felt like I could have gone on with that one for a while...it was really nice feeling the progress in my abilities.

On a side note, just to be extra vain...I've been super happy lately to buy new pants...I got a new pair of blue jeans the other day that were a size 33!  And they fit!!!  Do you know how exciting that is for me?  Really the exclamation points should be a give-away...And then I got me some new work pants that are a size 32...those are a touch snug in the waist, but I bet by the end of my 90 days they'll fit super :)  It's really exciting to have the problem of all my clothes getting too big for me.

Day 14 and 15

Yesterday was my rest day...so I didn't really feel like blogging...I took a rest day from that, too :)  It was a good day to rest, as I had a pretty sweet head ache when I came home from work...and then Isaiah was having nothing to do with sleep and was super fussy...we ended up going for a 2 mile walk with the stroller to knock him out...worked like a charm.

Today is day 15...Chest and Back with Ab Ripper X.  In this workout, you go through the workout and then repeat the whole thing.  The first time through you're supposed to pace yourself and the 2nd time through you try and push yourself to see how far you can go...The first time through, I really wanted to do more reps than previous times...sure enough, the 2nd time through, I didn't have a whole lot left in me.  But I pushed myself as hard as I could...sometimes I had to relegate myself to doing push ups from my knees, but I did it as hard as I could.

I felt like I did pretty good overall with Ab Ripper...I've gotten to where I can do all of Hip Rock & Raise, and Heels to the Heavens...plus the last 2 times I've been able to go the entire time on Mason Twist, which has been very exciting for me :)

Eating is a struggle...when I'm at home I'm fine, but at work we're no longer allowed to bring outside food in the building, and it's not like I've ever had a lunch break (or really any break for that matter)...they told me that I could bring some food and leave it in my car and run out and eat real quick when I need to, but that's not really practical at all...I had been sneaking in  P90X Protein Bar and having that when I got hungry, but we're all out now.  So my options are either go hungry all day and let my metabolism shut down and go into starvation mode or munch on work food that's not good for me...really neither option is good...the ideal option would be the one that doesn't exist...me getting to bring my lunch in to work and leave it in the break room and eat when I'm hungry, but alas...that's not an option...the joys of restaurant work..

Days 12 and 13

So I got done with my workout kinda late last night and didn't get around to blogging about it.  It was Legs and Back plus Ab Ripper X...Ab Ripper was actually kinda nice...I had to work last night (now that Never Ending Pasta Bowls are done, I have to go back to working Monday nights), so by the time I got home, Joyful had already done her workout, just not Ab Ripper...so I did that first so we could do that together before she went to bed...it was pretty sweet doing that before the Legs and Back workout because a lot of Ab Ripper is "core" exercises, thereby you use your legs a lot...so doing that after a leg workout kinda sucks.  I was feeling pretty good about myself when I got done with that.  Legs and Back was fine and dandy...I didn't feel especially good or bad about it...it just is what it is...it was hard to get it done after working 12 hours on my feet...I wasn't able to do quite as well as I would've liked, but I did pretty good.

Today is Day 13...Kenpo X.  I really enjoy that one.  The workout is 58 minutes long, but it flies by.  It's the weirdest thing...when we were getting ready to start, I mentioned how I liked it because it was really short...and then it started and the countdown clock showed 58 minutes...so apparently it just feels like it's short :)  I felt like I did a pretty good job pushing myself, especially in the "break if you want to" times...really tried to get my knees up when running place, jump high on the x jump things.  I sweated a pretty good amoutn, so that's good.  It's kinda weird this time around though...last time I did p90x, it was summer so I sweated my butt off every single workout...now it's cooler out, so it takes loner for me to get sweating...

Tomorrow's our rest day!  Hooray for that...we're gonna reward ourselves with a glass of wine and cigar on the porch before bed :)

Day Eleven

So yesterday was Yoga X....for whatever reason, I was EXHAUSTED when it came time to workout.  We got to the workout late because Isaiah just wouldn't go to sleep...As I was doing the yoga, I really felt like it was completely useless for me to be doing it because I just couldn't do most of it because I had zero energy...but I figured something is better than nothing.  It seriously felt like the longest hour and a half of my entire life!  I did what I could, and I made it through...I fell asleep a couple times :)  The last pose is Savasana (corpse pose), and I remember my head hitting the ground and then I remember waking up when Joyful was doing her blog...I got up and went to bed and crashed.

So what did I learn from that lovely experience?  I need more sleep.  Sleep has been a little hard to come by for me lately.  I'm the kind of guy that needs 8 hours of sleep.  Normally I get it, as we're blessed with a baby that actually sleeps, which is awesome...but the last few days we've been getting our workouts in late, which means I get to bed late, and I guess it finally caught up with me.

Speaking of working out late...time to start today's workout at 10pm!

Day Ten

My arms are tired now...today was Shoulders and Arms plus Ab Ripper X.  We didn't actually do this workout last week since we did the live workout with Tony Horton, so it had been quite a while since I had opportunity to do this one.  It's a great workout...my arms/shoulders were screaming at me by the end of the workout.  Last time around when I did P90X, I used the bands for the entire workout, but this time around I used weights about half the time...a whole 10 pounds :)  I mostly used the weights on tricep moves and a couple shoulder moves...

I mentioned on yesterday's post how I like in P90X seeing myself do things that I couldn't do before...when we did Ab Ripper X today, I was able, for the first time ever, to do all 25 reps on V-ups Roll-ups!  If you don't know what that is, you lay on your back, legs flat...then you roll up and touch your toes, then as you're going down, your legs come up and when your top hits the ground, you pulse up...I don't know if I explained that well, but when I first started P90X, I couldn't do any part of that move, so being able to do all 25 reps made me really happy :)

Hooray progress!

Day Nine

Today was Plyometrics...for whatever reason I really enjoy it.  I think I like the challenge of it...it's the kind of challenge where I know I can actually do it, it's just hard.  Plus it's always nice to work up an awesome sweat :)  If you don't know what Plyo is, it's a bunch of jumping around for about an hour...one time I almost threw up...

For the 2nd day in a row, we got our workout in late...but I suppose better late than never...the nice thing about it today is that tomorrow's Saturday and we don't have any plans in the morning, so we actually get to sleep in!!!  Provided, of course, that Isaiah lets us do so...I know I've said it a million times before, but I've really enjoyed getting to do the workouts with Joyful.  It's just so nice to share this experience with her.

So here's something I discovered today that absolutely blew my mind...this blog is being read by people in 8 different countries!  How crazy is that?  My little 'ol blog has been read by people in:  the U.S., South Africa, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Portugal, Russia and Singapore...that's crazy talk to me.  I really appreciate people stopping by to see how it's going for me with the P90X :)  It really helps keep me accountable!

The eating thing was a challenge this week.  I started out great...bringing my lunch with me to work so I could actually have a snack and a small lunch (I work at Olive Garden, so there's no such thing as a lunch break or any sort of break, really)...then we were informed that we're no longer allowed to bring outside food into the restaurant, and if I wanted to bring food, I'd have to keep it in a cooler out in my car and run out and eat real quick if I needed to...that's a huge hassle, so I'm just not bringing food...I started bringing a P90X Peak Performance bar with me because I can hide it easily and eat it when I get hungry, just so I can have something...that's better than nothing, but it's not great...I'll have to figure something out...

Day Eight

Today was the start of Week 2 of P90X!  The nice thing about tonight's workout was seeing some level of progress from last week.  I know it's only been a week, but I could do more push-ups than last week, which was sweet.  I once again used the chair for pull-ups, but I tried to rely on my legs a little less so it'd be closer to doing actual pull-ups...I'm really striving for the goal of being able to do at least 10 real pull-ups when I get done with P90X.  Last time around I went from doing 0 to 3, so I think going from 3 to 10 should be doable.  One of the great things with P90X is that there are so many things you can set as goals other than your weight.  Like I'm trying to get to 10 pull-ups, or you can make it your goal to make it all the way through Ab Ripper X without needing a break, or any number of other performance based goals.  I like that.  I mean, sure...I'm still obsessed with standing on the scale everyday, but it's really nice to have different goals that I can work towards and accomplish.

When Tony Horton was in town he talked about how that was one thing he really wanted in his workouts...he talked about how there's plenty of workouts where you run around like mad and work up a crazy sweat, and really the only goal is to be able to successfully get through the workout, and that's fine for what it is, but he really wanted to have concrete things that you can say you can do now because of the workout.  I'm certainly not opposed to workouts where you jump around like mad...Joyful and I are planning on starting Insanity in January...but I do like the idea of saying, "when I started this program, I could only do 3 pull ups, and now I can do 10".

Joyful and I got some great P90X nutrition stuff from the UPS man yesterday...a tub of Recovery Formula (which I'm getting ready to drink) and some P90X Protein Bars...I took a bar with me to work today, which was awesome because they're being dumb about bringing in outside food, so I can sneak in a bar in my pocket and eat it when I'm hungry....plus one bar has 20 grams of protein!  And it's super yummy :)

OK, time for Recovery Drink, shower and bed...

Day Seven

And on the 7th day, he rested.  Joyful and I decided we'd set up our P90X schedule so that Wednesday is our off day since we have stuff we tend to do Wednesday nights, what with hanging out with our cigar buddies and helping out with the college age group for church...it gets to be a busy night.

So what are my thoughts of week 1?  I'm glad you asked!  First off, I am LOVING being in a habit/routine of working out daily again.  Someone at a Beachbody training thing said (rightly so) that it's so much easier to stick with your fitness and nutrition when you're actively doing one specific program.  That month and a half I was attempting to train for the Omaha 1/2 marathon, I had the hardest time keeping myself going.  I don't know why...I wrote up a spectacular training schedule for myself that was realistic yet challenging, I had a goal and a time-line...but for some reason I just couldn't stick with it.  I really think that part of what helps me stick with the P90X is doing this blog.  I don't want to have to write that I skipped a workout, or that I ate a bunch of garbage today (speaking of which...darn you, mom!  I can't stop eating those stupid cookies!). 

The other thing I've enjoyed is seeing a tiny bit of improvement in the mirror.  Really that just comes from me sweating off excess water, but it helps me see muscle.  I got home from work and was changing out of work clothes and saw myself in the mirror, and I actually kinda had noticable abs!  I was in shock.  My mid section is really the thing I'm hoping to get rid of in this round...obviously I want better overall fitness, but I really want to work on my abs/core so I can have some sweet muscles to show off :)  Being a guy, it'd be cool to have big 'ol guns on my arms, but whatever...some time down the road.  My goal by the end of this round of P90X is to lose body fat (my goal is to be at 13%) so you can see the muscle that's hiding underneath.

Also, I've really enjoyed going through this with Joyful...the accountability of doing this workout with my wife has been awesome.  There have already been a couple nights when I'm just tired and would love nothing more than to go to bed, but there she is, making me do my workout.  I need that.  If only she could be with me 24/7 to help me with my eating.  Thus far, I feel like I am doing better than in the past.  I haven't had 1 doughnut (mercifully nobody's brought them to work to test me yet...)  I've been watching my carbs like a hawk and trying to take in a bunch of protein and get in my veggies.  Of course, Shakeology helps out a lot...it's super yummy, so it helps with the sweet tooth, plus it's got all the protein (17g!  Plus more if I make it with milk and peanut butter) and all that other good for you stuff. 

Ok, I've rambled on long enough...all in all, week 1 was good.  I can't say that I had really any change in weight or body fat the first week, but I was already pretty active, plus I had just gotten done doing the Shakeology 3 Day Cleanse prior to starting P90X...but I feel like I'm doing well thus far :)

Day Six - End of Week One!!

Today was Kenpo X...that tends to be a fun one for me...I guess i wasn't trying hard enough because I worked up a sweat, but nothing crazy...it did feel nice to jump around and punch and kick, though :)  It was interesting to feel different muscles on some of the different things...I could feel my back muscles when we did some of the punching, which tells me the pull-ups ara doing some good.  I could feel my legs when I was in Horse Stance forever, which tells me I'm working my legs good.  Thankfully, my legs didn't hurt today!  I was pretty worried yesterday with my legs hurting so bad already and then having to do Legs and Back...but I really felt fine today...so hooray!
My nutrition did pretty good today until my mom showed up at my house with a big zip-lock bag filled up with cookies...how mean is that???  I'm trying to not be fat and watch what I eat and what not, and she shows up with a bag of cookies!  Nothing like highlighting the fact that I have absolutely no will power when it comes to eating yummy cookies.  Oh well...tomorrow is a brand new day when I can start over.

Day Five

So I can't even begin to think what my legs will feel like tomorrow...my legs were still sore from the Tony Horton event a couple days ago...Yoga helped a little bit, but my hamstring/glute area was pretty painful today...so of course, my workout was Legs and Back...why not?  I didn't really feel like my muscle pain hindered my working out abilities, which was nice...but I'm worried that my working out isn't going to help the muscle pain issue...okay, enough crying...

The workout was good...the tricky part was this:  I'm only doing pull-ups on my pull-up bar, but the only doorways we have that would accomodate a pull-up bar are all upstairs.  So I do my workout in the living room, and then when we get to a pull-up exercise, I run upstairs and do those, then run back down, write it down on my sheet and then start the  next thing...it feels a little rush rush, but it does make time go by :)  It's been fun doing the pull-ups on the pull-up bar, instead of using bands.  I'm using a chair to assist, but it feels like it's one step closer to to doing real pull-ups.  I really want to be good at pull-ups...I think that would go a long way in making me feel good about my progress...speaking of which...it's really weird looking at myself in older pictures and then looking at myself in current pictures...I'm definitely less chubby now, so that's nice :)

Thanks so much for keeping up with my blog!  I really appreciate everyone who's reading this...it provides some extra motivation to keep going, and keep writing stuff :)

Day Four

Ahhhhh, Yoga X...how I have not missed you.  Though I have to admit I did enjoy certain parts of it.  I was pretty sore from yesterday's workout with Tony Horton, so I quite enjoyed the stretching part towards the end of the workout.  The balance postures were frustrating as always, and some of the hard stuff that comes the first half of the video that I can't do was obviously frustrating.  I tried really hard to stay in a positive frame of mind today...I figured I have to do the stupid workout, I might as well not be pissed about it the whole time...where's the fun being mad for an hour and a half...so I tried really hard to just let go of my frustration and on some level enjoy what I was doing.  It's not like I was 100% successful in that, but it did make the whole thing more bearable.

So I finally got around to plugging my "before" measurements into my Beachbody tracking thing.  Turns out that since I started P90X in the first place, in May, I've lost 26 pounds and 7.5% body fat.  I had to put in new goals so I have something to shoot for...I put in that I want to get down to 175 pounds and 13% body fat...that would mean dropping 13 pounds and 4% body fat.  Really, I'd like to get my body fat lower than that, but I wanted to set a goal that seemed realistic.  As far as a performance goal, I would like to be able to hold the Crane pose in Yoga X, and I'd like to be able to make it all the way through Ab Ripper X without having to take a break.

I've been doing pretty good with the nutrition thing...I ate some not good for me stuff at a wedding reception last night...couldn't resist cake and free beer...but past that I've been doing good :)  I like having the card thing that Joyful made up for me to keep track of my eating...that thing is handy...

time for bed...need sleep...

Day Three

So for my workout today, instead of doing the DVD, we went to the Beachbody Event and worked out with Tony Horton live!  It was a super fun day...watching the kids' workout was fun and cute and all taht good stuff.  I really appreciated listening to Tony exhort the parents to be feeding their children healthy food (aka, no doughnuts for breakfast...he really got on a guy because he gave his kids doughnuts for breakfast today).  Plus watching all the kids run and jump around was fun.

For the adult workout with Tony, he did a series of Upper Middle Lower exercies...we'd start out with some sort of push-up type exercies, then do some sort of ab exercise and then some sort of leg exercise.  It was super cool because he pointed out that what we did today, anyone can do anywhere...you don't need to have a video or a trainer or equipment...anyone can do some push ups, anyone can do some squats or lunges and anyone can figure out some sort of ab/core exercise.  Of couse, doing it live with Tony is probably harder than what I would just come up with on my own :)  It was a great workout, and I felt tired and drenched with sweat afterwards...then I had to walk up a bunch of stairs to get to the sky walk to get back to my car!  No fun...but hey, check out the nice picture I got with Tony this year! 

Tomorrow is Yoga...sad.

Day Two

Wowzers...today was Plyometrics...it's been a little while since I did that one.  I felt pretty good, actually!  I tried to make myself do the more intense versions instead of just trying to get through...some of the jump squat things where you can touch the ground or not, in the past I would touch my calf or knee, but today I was going all the way down to the ground...definitely got the heart rate up there.

Today was a shining example of why I'm excited to be doing P90X with my lovely wife...we met with our small group from church tonight, and didn't get home until after 9pm...by the time we got around to starting the workout it was 10pm.  If it was just me all on my own doing this, I don't know that I would've done it...I was tired, and doing Plyo was not high on the list of things I wanted to do.  But now that I did it, I'm really glad I did.  It's one of those things where I know that I'm healthier now than I was an hour ago because I exercised instead of just going to bed.

I felt like I did pretty well with the food today...at very least I didn't have any major screw ups.  They brought in some Q'Doba at work today...I didn't eat any burrito or anything, but I had some chips with guacamole.  I'm having a really tough time getting as much protein as the nutrition guide wants me to get.  I'm supposed to get 7 servings of protein a day...that's a lot for a guy who doesn't eat much meat.  I also didn't get quite as much veggies today as I should have...I just wasn't home very much today and it's hard to eat right when I'm not home...but I figure aside from the chips and guacamole, I managed to avoid eating crap, so that's good :)