Archive for May, 2008
Well…my Wings took a tough one on the chin the other night 3-2. OUCH…but what a great game! I have to say…the Pens showed up today to play. But…they really didn’t have any choice. Back in your own barn…in front of your own fans…you had better “BRING IT”. And, the did. Led by the phenom, Sidney Crosby. This kid is going to be great to watch over the next 15-20 years.
But the credit for the teams effort doesn’t stop there. Crosby has a great supporting cast around him and they had an amazing season this year. Make no mistake…they are still in for a battle for the treasured Stanley Cup. The Wings won’t let up and they will bounce back on Saturday night.
Just a quick note to all the Detroit Red Wings fans out there. Stanley Cup baby…here we come! While I’m a big fan of Sidney Crosby and would love to see him win that elusive Cup, I’m rooting for the Wings all the way!
My prediction? I think it’s going to be a great series regardless…HOWEVER…I say…Wings in 6 games. I will be sure to let my good friend and Pittsburgh native, Dave Denk, know the Pens are going DOWN. Sorry Dave…see you Saturday at your place!
Day 19 was Legs, Back, & AbRipper X. This is still a tough routine. My chin-ups are slowly getting better although on most I’m using the chair. A lot of the legs exercises were are getting down and are able to complete! We are definitely hitting a groove now! Next week is supposed to be a ‘rest’ week but that is just a non-weight week. Still gonna be Yoga, Kenpo, Stretching, and Cardio, I’m sure. I was definitely wiped out after this workout. Now I know why Yoga is put between Shoulder & Arms…and…Legs & Back. My arms in particular needed that rest time to recover (which they didn’t get)!
Day 20 – today was Kenpo X. Great routine and a good sweat today as well. I’m seeing continued improvements in my flexibility especially my legs. Kenpo keeps you moving and the sweat doesn’t stop. We can both feel our glutes today. I guess you can say…’Legs definitely kicked our butts’! Once we got going though we quickly forgot the minor aches. Another day completed! Whoo-hoo! Only 70 more days to go. Bring it on!
We’re looking forward to Stretch X tomorrow…a perfect way to end a good week of P90X!
Cardio was a good workout but we seemed to have burned more calories on the Core Synergistics workout. Things are getting a ‘bit’ easier BUT that’s just because we are getting the exercises down. Holly was still here and did the Cardio workout with us. We were all sweating our butts off.
Saturday(Day 17) was Shoulders & Arms, AbRipper X. Today is Kat’s bridal shower and it’s scheduled for later in the day. While I have the afternoon and early evening off I did some programming on an application that I have been working on at home. I decided to wait for Kat & Holly to make it home for Shoulders, Arms, & AbRipper. Unfortunately, the shower went a little longer than was planned and they got home a bit late (about 930pm). We decided at this point that it was too late to workout since we were probably on our way to bed in the next little while. Soooo…we skipped this workout and committed to catching up with Yoga X on day 18.
Day 18 was Yoga X. Kat and Holly were looking forward to doing yoga but I, on the other hand, wanted to make up for my lost weight workout from last night. So, I decided to substitute Shoulder, Arms, & AbRipper X for Yoga X. Not only did I do shoulders and arms but I also upped the weight I was using from last time I did this routine. I used 10 lb weights last routine and thus decided to up that by 5 lbs to 15 lbs total. Great workout…as I busted my butt on this routine! I even think that I can up the weight some more in the next arm workout. I can feel it a little today in my biceps and I think that’s a good thing! I even did the bonus workout today for the first time in one of any of the routines.
Last night was the 3rd week of Core Synergistics. I have to say…our flexibility is improving. I can definitely tell a difference in my stretching. Kat’s sister Holly is here and we invited her to do the workout with us if she wanted to. Holly elected to give it a shot and we were sure to inform her that some of the exercises were not easy, at least the first time. We were blasting through the workout and doing great. Holly did well too despite cutting the workout short. I can’t say that I didn’t find it tough the first time either. But she was pretty impressed with the program as a whole and wants to see how it turns out for both Kat and I.
Sweat was still rolling off us during Core today. If you’re not sweating, you’re NOT working!! I upped my “Stacked Push-ups” count by 10 today and hit 30 reps. Sweet! However, I still haven’t started any morning core exercises once I get out of bed. Maybe it’s because I know that I’m going to get a killer workout when I get home at night. Thus far, I would have to say that AbRipper X is the toughest workout! Bar none! Just like Tony Horton says…”I hate this workout BUT I love this workout!” Kat and I second that statement. AbRipper is just that…ALL ABS…11 moves, 25 reps each. Now even though that doesn’t sound like a lot, it will KICK YOUR BUTT. There is still a couple of moves I cannot do especially since Tony chains about 3 similar moves together and expects your to rep out 25 per move! BUT…we do the best we can and hope toward the end of the program that we’ll be able to keep up.
Lookout Cardio X…here I come!
Well week 2 has begun and things are getting easier…well kinda. Its amazing that we have already started to gain balance and coordination for a lot of the exercises. And…the Banana move was not as tough this week as it was the first night last week! (But it was still tough!) We were able to complete the entire exercise (1 min) without resting! Last week, I died twice whereas Kat kicked my butt. I burned another 1150 calories in the W2D1 workout.
We have been doing pretty good with respect to our diets. We have incorporated lots of veggies, salads for lunch, granola snacks, no (or low) fat everything. In particular, we have been keeping an eye on our portion sizes. As I know from my past, this part is huge! I have a few weaknesses when it comes to food & drink but I have been doing great so far. I have NOT eaten any deep-fried food since the start of the program. Also, a BIG one…is beer. I have had 1 beer in the last 6 weeks (since the start of my bet)…not bad!! At this point I have seen my weight drop to 211 lbs from the initial weigh-in. This is definitely encouraging. Whoo-hoo! (as Homer would say.)
I won’t say all the move are easy BUT the fact that we already have one week behind us has helped. The typical soreness is now a distant thing of the past. Most of this week I have just been waking up a little stiff since we are getting down the basics of all the moves. Our heart rates are still up in our target zones and thus we are keeping the caloric burn high! I bet on average I’m burning 900 calories. This week on Day 14 we decided to rest instead of do Stretch X. I had a late evening meeting with the Phoenix Java User Group and Kat’s sister, Holly, was coming in for a visit for a few days. We have worked pretty hard and I think we earned the time off.
For the last 2 weeks…we have “brought it”…bring on Week 3!
Day 4 – Yoga X
I have never in my life attempted yoga; not because I didn’t think it was manly (ok…yes I did) but I just couldn’t see how it would help me. Well…ummm…I didn’t exactly find it easy. There is a lot of moves that take some real balance and coordination! Not that I don’t have any BUT it requires a little more skill than I currently have! I look forward to more yoga and nailing these exercises with ease in the near future.
Kat liked Yoga X even though we were both unsure what to expect. Next task for yoga…get the poses down; balance and all. We anticipate the next yoga routine will be easier since the other routines require speed, balance, and coordination…all of which is improving for both of us.
Day 5 – Legs & Back with AbRipper X
I have to say so far…I think this was the toughest day of the program for me, at least. I think mainly because there is a lot chin-ups! You name it, it’s there…wide grip, narrow grip, reverse grip, crossover grip, this grip, that grip, etc. I’m sure it’s tough in the beginning since the chin-up isn’t a regular exercise for most people. For me…it’s not either and it was tough! This routine kicked my butt…in a good way though. I felt good after and we both sweat our butts in this workout! It was probably the most we sweat so far; definitely was for Kat.
The next day I really felt this workout in my upper back. Chin-ups…dang-it! But, all-in-all, these will get easier as I get farther into the program. Bring on Kenpo!!
Day 6 – Kenpo X
We liked this workout! Heart rate was kept in target zone in the upper ranges. It is a contiunous, non-stop routine that will keep your blood flowing. Ok…the sweat poured off of us here too! All moves start simple enough BUT then each one builds upon it. I seriously don’t think we stopped moving the entire time! And…we burned a tonne of calories…1250 myself and I think Kat was upwards of 700!
Day 7 – Stretch X
While this could have been a rest day, we opted to continue breaking our bodies in for the entire P90X Lean program! I, for one, have crappy upper body flexibility. My lower body is fairly good since I run and tend to stretch it well prior to runs. Kat has pretty decent flexibility all-around so I have some more catching up to do (like my core AM workouts)! This was a great routine to cap off a good week that broke my body in. I definitely needed the stretching.
Ok…so I have been slacking the past few days. Well, to be more precise I have been slacking in my blogging. My exercising routine is right on track!
I know in the recent past I said that running is the sure way to drop unwanted weight and I still stand by that statement – 100%. HOWEVER, I have also decided to try to up my game a bit by doing the P90X program. I have to admit I am a bit skeptical of the program BUT I have searched the Net for other people that have used the program to read about what they did and thought. The one thing I wasn’t looking for was the typical ‘model’ person that has all good things to say and nothing bad. I was sure I could find normal, everyday people just like me and read their stories, blogs, successes, pitfalls, etc.
If you would like to checkout this program some more here are a couple of links:
http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/best_sellers/p90x.do
http://www.p90x.com
So…for the record…my fiancee, Katherine (Kat for short), and I are following the P90X Lean program. Neither one of us wants to put on more muscle at the moment and would rather lean out first and then worry about building muscle. Honestly, I think we will build a bit of muscle in this routine but not as much as the P90X Classic program. Ok…so here is my catchup for the days I have missed blogging.
Alright…so one of the first things we had to do was take some pictures of our “before” look. Sure…no one wants to do this BUT it is a good reference point as to where one “came from”. Hopefully that will be the case for us! Up next is our Fit Test.
Fit Test
Kat and I did our fit test. Can’t say I passed with flying colors BUT I did complete it and we both met the minimum requirements. The chin-ups were TOUGH! I only managed 3…sad, I know. But you know what? In 90 days, I will bet I’ll be able to do at least 10! The other challenge we faced was the In & Outs. Kat rang out 34 reps while I did 41. The part that was tough was holding your legs up off the floor for that during…and man, talk about feeling it in the hip flexors when done! Oh yeah…and Kat KICKED my butt on the wall squat! My performance was sad.
Phase I – Week 1
Day 1 – Core Synergistics
Nothing like jumping feet first into ice cold water, right? Wow, this is no simple routine. This is a workout definitely to the “CORE”. We got about 2-3 exercises into this routine and ours hearts were pumping. There was a lot of push-ups in this routine and I didn’t have a problem with that. It’s really more of the core exercises that was getting me. Kat definitely has a leg up on me in this department. You see…when she gets up in the morning, she doesn’t go straight to the shower (like I do); she gets on the utility ball in our bedroom and does her core crunches. I think I need to start that habit too!
Most of my problem is the ‘extra’ weight I’m carrying on my front-side. In recent years, my tummy has begun to look more like a washtub than a washboard! A few of the hardest moves were the Banana Roll, Bow to Boat, and the Superman Banana. WOW…those killed my core. Meanwhile, Kat was kicking my butt with these!! Remember…she does her core crunches in the mornings…and it showed! All-in-all…this routine will keep moving and not let your core rest until its over. We have to admit, its a GREAT workout…and until next time Mr. Core Synergistics, I will be waiting for you (even though I still have not started my morning crunches)! We both brought it today but I think Kat brought more than I!
Day 2 – Cardio X
Well, Kat and I both survived day 1 albeit my core is a bit sore BUT if it wasn’t, I would be worried! Kat felt good for the most part but was a bit achy in the back. Must have been the push-ups. Cardio X take has its own exercises but also takes some from Kenpo, Core Synergistics, and Plyometrics. I think my most uncoordinated move here was the Dreya Roll. Every time we did it, I had to push my fat-ass up with my hands. I’m thinking…my washtub was in the way which prevented me from rolling back up to my feet unassisted! Ummm…yep, that’s it…the washtub.
This workout was a butt kicker but I didn’t feel as drained as I did yesterday for “Core”. We have also been wearing our heart-rate monitors and keeping track of calories burned, heart. I have been burning more that 1000 calories in all of the high-intensity workouts. Since we worked out late Friday (about 8pm) we decided to reward ourselves with a healthy dinner and a couple margaritas! Ummmm…tasty!
Day 3 – Shoulders, Arms, & Ab Ripper X
We were bad today. It wasn’t on purpose but it’s just the way things panned out. We had a late afternoon BBQ that with some friends that we hadn’t seen in quite a while. Our BBQ and visiting last A LOT longer than we thought. We definitely had plans to workout but by the time we arrived back home it was 11pm or later! Bad Bob & Kat! This will not be a habit. We promise.