Archive for May 10th, 2008

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.