Week 2

Today started week #2 on the P90X2.  Seems to me that posting updates once a week is good. I have a hard time keeping up with the blogging every day, but a once a week "how's everything going" type update sounds reasonable to me :)

Things I LOVE about P90X2: 

• I rarely feel sore.  No, really!  The stretching and (especially) foam rolling is absoltuely amazing.  You can really work whatever areas are knotted up and get the knots out before you get sore.  There was one day my hamstrings were tight, so I foam rolled them and they felt fine afterwards.
• Having 2 days off.  It might be kind of a "duh" statement, but having 2 days off is easier than having 1 day off.  You only have to work out 2 days, then have a day off, then 3 day then a day off.  It makes it so much easier to make yourself do the workouts knowing you're close to a day off.  With P90X, working out 6 days in a row, I found it far to easy to skip.
• How much better I feel about myself as a person. I feel so good knowing that I'm getting my workouts done, and I'm doing a pretty good job sticking with the nutrition piece.  I've even had 2 times where I got home from work at night and really did NOT want to do my workout, but I made myself do it anyways...makes me feel good to push through the temptation to skip.

I'm sure there's more things, but that's the main stuff I'm enjoying. I was SUPER stoked with tonight's workout, X2 Core.  I made massive improvement in almost every move.  Some of it is just figuring out technique, but a lot of it is me getting stronger and pushing harder when I want to give up.  The nice thing with a workout like P90X2 is you can measure your progress in performance.  How many could I do last week?  How many did I do today?  Over time the visible physical progress will happen, but for now I'm more than happy with how I'm doing.

Ball of Sweat

Look at that!  2 days in a row of posting on the 'ol blog!  Probably don't get used to it :)  Today was Plyocide...in P90X, I actually really enjoyed Plyometrics...and I had done Plyocide with my wife, just not all the way through since she was working out and I was watching the kids.  Man oh man...what a workout!  I actually like this one better than Plyo in P90X.  Tony does more of the "fun" stuff...like where he calls out at random what you're supposed to do.  Having to listen kinda keeps your mind off your legs screaming at you and your heart wanting to explode (maybe that's just me).  Plus I want to say it's a little shorter in length...50 min. or so, I think.

I'm really feeling good about myself as far as the P90X2 goes...I've done a pretty good job in keeping with the nutrition plan, and I've done my workouts.  Granted, it's only Day 2...but for me, it's really about getting it done one day at a time.  I have so many battles with myself everyday.  I'm really a mindless grazer when it comes to food...if it's there, I just eat it without any thought.  Like I mentioned yesterday, I made up a tracking sheet for my food and put it on the fridge.  I think seeing it frequently really helps keep me in check.  But I still have to constantly tell myself that munching on those crackers or eating whatever tasty thing I see isn't going to help me get to my goal.  It's a mental balancing act...win the battles moment by moment, day by day...all the while keeping my end goal in sight to help me win the battles.  I'm also happy with myself that I haven't even tried to talk myself out of doing a workout...I'm pretty good at that.  I think it's REALLY going to help me that you get 2 days off a week in P90X2...for me, it's Wed. and Sun.  So that day off can be my prize for working out 2 or 3 days in a row.  I had a really hard time working out 6 days in a row with P90X.

Moral of the story:  I'm feeling good about myself, and I wanted to share that with you :)

And here we go!

So I started doing P90X2 yesterday.  I'm pretty excited about doing it.  The last year or so I've been sooooooo incredibly bad for working out.  It's pretty pathetic.  I had the hernia 2 Octobers ago, and the surgery about a year ago.  Ever since thing I just haven't been working out.  I started Insanity when I got the OK to workout after my surgery, and I did a marathon...but I pooped out with the Insanity, and I didn't really do as well with the marathon as I wanted.  After that (beginning of last May), I basically haven't done anything...the occasional workout, but certainly nothing consistent.  Then in August we had our 2nd kid...so that was an amazing excuse to not do anything.  Now I'm more or less a stay at home dad; I work part time in the evenings at Olive Garden.  I really thought it'd be super easy to get my workouts done since I'm home all day, but no...my son naps really consistently, but the girl...not so much.  The only time that I have that is convenient to do my workouts is when I get home from work and both kids are sleeping...I just have to make myself do it since working out generally doesn't seem that awesome.

One thing I've learned about myself (okay, I already knew it, but it's been highlighted)...I NEED to work out.  If I don't, I get fat.  I'm not one of those people who is genetically blessed with not being fat.  In the last 15 months since I had to give up P90X due to my hernia, I have packed on 40 pounds.  You read that right...40...I'm basically back to where I was when I started P90X in the first place.  So like I said...I NEED to work out.  I think stepping on the scale last Saturday and taking before pictures and doing measurements (and seeing my 'after' pictures from 15 months ago when I looked way better than I do now) is definitely providing me with the motivation I need to work out when I get home from work at night.  I know I can get where I want to be...I just have to put in the work. 

It'll be great that I'm doing P90X2 with Joyful...granted she's doing it early in the morning, and I'm doing it at night...but at least we're doing the same program together so we can help eachother out.  And I think that being home pretty much all day will help me out with trying to eat properly...the nutrition thing is as much, if not more, of a challenge for me as getting the workouts done.  I made up a tracking sheet for myself and hung it on the fridge so I can make sure I'm doing what I need to nutrtion-wise everyday and staying on track.

Well I have rambled on a lot, huh?  I'll stop now.  Chances are very good I'm not going to update this blog every day...but I'll do my best to do it fairly regularly...my pretend audience can help keep me accountable with staying on track for the next 89 days :)