Break

We took a week break last week, but are resuming the schedule this week. Hopefully it didn't hurt too much. The rest was probably good for my back and shoulder though, since they were getting pretty tender.

Week 8

Recovery week didn't go so well. We skipped a few days, like I said, losing steam. But we're starting our last phase so we are going to finish strong. 5 weeks left.

With phase 2 over, I'll do a little assessment.

Chest/Tri: My push ups feel a bit better, but not as much progression as I would like.
Back/Bi: My pull up numbers have improved greatly, from 5-8 per set to 12-20 per set.
Abs: Every session still hurts, I hate it. But, I can do every rep now.
Legs: I can physically see improvement in my legs and they feel stronger, but my vertical hasn't seemed to change, boo.
Lungs: I feel like I have more endurance, and I played hard basketball with no asthma, so I think I'm making good progress here
Flexibility: I feel more flexible, in my hips especially. It's still a fight every time though, my left leg is giving me a hard time.

Overall I feel much better, I don't notice any physical results really. My legs and abs have more definition maybe. I wasn't expecting a lot in that department. I am stronger and in better shape for sure though. I guess it's time to push it this last phase and see if we can really do some damage.

Week 7

Losing steam.

(but still going strong)

Also, I have almost quadrupled my pull up amounts from the first day.

Week 6

Almost halfway. This week was a bit of a strange week, since we went on vacation over the weekend to go skiing at Grand Targhee. We missed the last 17 minutes of Yoga X, but that's not a big deal. We missed legs and back, but we went skiing, which I don't think makes up for it. We did the Ab Ripper, though, and the Kenpo X. We chose to rest on Sunday, but I really need the stretching. My right shoulder still is not feeling 100 percent, which makes Mondays hard. Overall I am seeing some good results though, my pull up numbers are steadily climbing, and my push ups are so-so. The biggest factor of how well I perform is still diet, and sleep. If I eat bad, or sleep bad, I can see it in the work outs. Next week is the second recovery week, then it's on to phase 3, the time commitment is still hard, especially if there's something else going on that we want to do. I haven't put on any weight really. By a rough estimation I am eating 2500-3000 calories a day, with lots of protein. I've been eating a lot of fruit and veggies as well, but to put on pounds I am going to have to crank up my calories, but that's easier said than done. (Candy and snacks don't count.)

Week 5

This was the beginning of phase 2. The new workouts that were added were Chest/Tri/Shoulders and Back/Bi.

My shoulder has been having problems this week still. Just burning after a little while of doing push ups and shoulder exercises. Not good burning either, there's a difference. It's in my right shoulder. It's happened before when I was lifting weights last summer with my left shoulder. I kept lifting but light, and it went away on its own. This week was a bit odd because we had to skip Friday's work out and push everything back a day and skip stretching, but we got everything done still. I'm noticing slight differences in my appearance, in my legs and abs, and a little all around. My lower back is still sore constantly. I like the new workouts, they feel more natural than phase 1's work outs. It does make it harder though since every chest exercise works your tris and shoulders, and visa versa. We're almost to the half way point, it feels good, but it's hard to maintain.

Week 4

Week 4 is what they call "recovery" week. While there aren't any lifting or strength exercises really (no Ab Ripper X, thankfully), this was a tough week. We had a new work out added this week called Core Synergistics. Our week looked like this:

Yoga X
Core Synergistics
Kenpo X
X Stretch
Yoga X
Core Synergistics
X Stretch

The yoga, and some of the Core Synergistics has been really hard on my shoulders. I think I have a mild strain and doing some of the exercises hurt a bit. On Thursday my right shoulder really hurt and I was worried about doing the yoga on Friday. Somehow once I got warmed up and started the routine my shoulder stopped hurting and I actually did the best I ever have on the yoga routine. My shoulder is still not 100 percent, but the yoga really helped it I think. The Core work out was a lot of different push ups, supermans, bananas, stuff like that. My lower back has been really sore. We start phase 2 now, with the different exercises, so I'm excited to see what we have coming up.

Day 18/19/20/21

I'll start posting weekly from here on out. Posts every few days is too much.

Yoga X

The warrior sequences are still killer, but starting to see some flexibility progress. Not much, but some.

Legs/Back

I had somewhat of an epiphany with the pull ups today. Getting a good extra few reps with some slight form change. Actually actively trying to use my back instead of letting my arms do most of the work. The leg portion is hard as usual, sore butt for a few days and sore calves.

Kenpo X

This day still seems easy to me, but it is pretty fun, and helps with my leg flexibility. We ended up doing it late at night.

X Stretch

Not much to say here, except my right side is much more flexible than my left.


3 weeks down. We're starting the recovery week, so I don't know really what we're in store for. In the last 3 weeks I feel better, and seem to have more energy during the day. My goal is to gain a little bit of muscle mass, but that seems like it's going to be hard. I don't eat as much as I need to, with my metabolism and with how many calories I'm burning. I'm trying to eat a lot of protein though and think I'm doing alright on that.

Day 16/17

Plyometrics

Still going strong, my knees felt a bit sore though, so hopefully that goes away. Plyo really is a killer on the legs and the lungs, but it's a fun day. After the off day I had before I made sure to eat well today. That seems pretty important and viewing your food as fuel has been becoming a good habit. Instead of eating what you feel like, you can look at a food and figure out what you're getting out of it, and how you body is going to use it. Frozen burrito's didn't seem to do anything nice for me yesterday. I have been consistently eating brown rice, broccoli and salmon for lunch. Yogurt, oatmeal and Odwalla smoothies for breakfast (prefer green machine, but I buy the assorted pack). Dinner is usually some chicken or talapia with random sides like potatoes. I've almost ran out of my protein drink mix, so I am going to have to search around for another recovery drink.

Arms/Shoulders, Ab Ripper X

I went out and bought some bands today, because I didn't have the right weights, and dumbbells are very expensive. I don't know how i feel about using the bands, I felt like I didn't get a great work out, but maybe because I need to get used to which bands I need for each exercise. I'll give them some time before I make my mind up about them. I still got an alright work out, so I feel good about it. Today was my best Ab Ripper day yet. I still struggle on heels to the heavens, and the V up/Roll up combo is pretty killer too, but other than that, pretty solid. I am seeing some good progress here.

Day 12/13/14/15

Legs/Back, Ab Ripper X

Felt good today about this work out. My pull up numbers are a bit lower than I want, though. My skinny chicken legs can put up a good work out, for how skinny my legs are they seem strong. The Ab Ripper is only 15 minutes but it feels like so much longer every time.

Kenpo X

Like last week, the Kenpo didn't seem like a great cardio work out for me. It's the Saturday work out so maybe it's supposed to be easier. It is a good change of pace though, and it does help a lot with my flexibility. Doing a lot of kicks helps stretch my hamstrings and my hips, so I felt good after this work out.

X Stretch

This day is very necessary for me. I am seeing improvement in a lot of areas with my flexibility. Most of the improvement is in my hamstrings, and maybe some in my back. My hips are still really tight, and my shoulders/upper body in general still need lots of work.

Chest/Back, Ab Ripper X

I tried to push a bit harder today. I saw some good improvement with my push ups, and only a little with my pull ups. I ate pretty bad today, so I didn't feel well towards the end of the work out. I've been trying to eat better, and eat more. I don't eat a lot in general, and have a fast metabolism, so with all this exercise I really need to make sure I'm eating a lot, and eating well. The Ab Ripper was hard as usual, but the ending sequence of mason twists felt a bit easier than before, making it all 50 seconds. Usually I feel the pain and start struggling at 25-30 seconds, and today I made it almost to 40 seconds before it really started hurting. I still can't do the whole work out without resting, but I'm getting closer.

Day 10/Day 11

Arms/Shoulders, Ab Ripper X

Today was good, but somewhat of a wash because I still don't have the right weights for almost half of the exercises. I got a decent workout still, but not anything that would give great results. Ab Ripper is getting a little easier, I still can't do the whole thing straight through, but getting close. My body is feeling great when I wake up and when I walk to lunch. I feel the same just sitting at my desk. The way the workouts are laid out make it very tough, my legs and abs are usually sore when we have to do the next leg/ab work out, but this week was much easier than last week, in regards to being sore. We almost skipped this work out actually, because Lex got home so late from work. We decided it's too early to start skipping days, could lead to a bad trend, so we ended up doing it at 9:30. We had to watch the basketball game, which sucked, Lakers stomped us at home, and we didn't even put up a fight. I could have played and beaten them tonight. It was good to get the work out done though, it's going to be hard to stick with it every day, but it's been worth it so far.

Yoga X

The yoga day is one of the harder ones for me still. My balance is good but my flexibility stinks. I saw a big improvement from last week, though. The sun salutation sequences are rough, but I felt like I did better there. The balance sequences I didn't have much trouble with but I felt like I did better than last week. I saw the biggest improvement during the stretching sequence. My back, chest, and legs all seem much better than they did last week. I think out of all the work outs this one will help me most.

Day 8/Day 9

Chest/Back, Ab Ripper X

Start of the 2nd week and things should be getting easier. Not. Today was just as hard as last monday, if not harder. I guess it's all about how hard you push yourself. The work out was a struggle, and my numbers weren't much better than week 1. I'm going to start leaving out the soreness factor, because I think my body has adjusted to being physically active again. Most of my body is sore today still, but it is dull, and typical of what you think of when you are sore. I am still taking it easy on the leg raise type exercises from the Ab ripper, next time I will try a bit harder on those.

Plyometrics

Same story, different week. Jump training is what they call plyometrics, and they aren't joking. About 20 different versions of jump squats, knee raises, and a couple other random jumping exercises, your legs feel like jelly after the work out, and if you are like me and have been a couch potato for the last 6 months you'll be gasping for air the whole time. Still my favorite day so far, other than the stretch day.

Day 6/Day 7

Kenpo X

Kenpo X was a fun day, doing a lot of kicks and punches. I felt like it wasn't as great of a cardio work out as the plyometrics at all. But I still worked up a bit of a sweat, and it was something new.

Soreness Factor: 6/10 My calves are super sore from the day before, the leg workout did a lot of calf exercises. Other than that everything is slightly sore.

X Stretch

Day 7 was a stretch or rest day. 45 minutes of stretching and it felt great. Definitely needed. I struggled through the week with energy and being tired. I fell asleep on Sunday afternoon after a good nights rest. I have been eating good, and a lot more than usual, so hopefully my body can adjust and have more energy, rather than less.

Day 5

Back/Legs, Ab Ripper X

Today was not too bad. Lots of pull ups again and a lot of squats. I am getting very tired in the day time, maybe because I'm not getting enough sleep. My body is feeling it though. The workout was standard, hard on the legs and calves.

Soreness Factor: 2/10 My biceps are still a little sore and my legs are in a constant state of soreness, I don't expect that to change though considering nearly every day works out your legs and core somehow.

Day 4

Yoga X

This was the hardest day for me so far. The previous workouts were hard, but nothing special. The ab workout has been pretty brutal, but still, just regular ab work. Focus through the burn and you get through it. Yoga X was a different story. Going through 50 different warrior sequences for an hour is not easy. For one, I am the most inflexible person I can think of, so on top of the burn of sitting in the lunge position for most of the hour, I was struggling to even do the poses. The last half hour was a sequence of different balance poses. Some were easy, some were advanced. It was an enjoyable workout, but I had to sit out more on this day than any of the other days combined. This is where I need to work the most, so hopefully I'll see some good improvement here.

Soreness Factor: 3/10 Mildly sore in my biceps and throughout my legs. Muscles seem to be getting used to the work outs and I feel good.

Day 3

Arms/Shoulders , Ab Ripper X

This was just a standard workout. Lots of different curls, shoulder presses, and tricep work. Nothing too special. My hips were still very sore from the previous Ab Ripper, so I had to take it a lot easier on the leg raises and bicycle kicks. Still a hard ab workout even with resting for half of it.

Soreness Factor: 5/10 Everything feels a bit sore, my legs, arms, chest, back, abs. It's a good sore though, not like yesterday. We've got kenpo X tonight and I hope my legs can hold up.

P90x time.

Okay so me and Alexis have decided to start the p90x work out program. It is 90 days and supposedly super hard and gets you ripped and in great shape. I am posting this 3 days into the training, and I still need to take the before pictures for the before/after comparison. I'll give a little recap of day 1 and day 2.

Day 1: Chest and Back / Ab Ripper X

Okay day 1 was hard but manageable. Lots and lots of push ups, all different kinds. Decline, diamond, military, under the fence, you name it, we did it. Lots and lots of pull ups. Close grip reverse, wide grip reverse, regular, any kind you can think of. It's good because you can go at your own pace and do the amount of reps that you want. Didn't really break a sweat but my arms were a bit dead at the end from all of the pushing and pulling. Chest and back took 60 minutes. Ab Ripper X took only 15 minutes but it was brutal. 350-something crunch reps in 15 minutes. Leg lifts, sit ups, things I've never heard of, good stuff.


Soreness Factor: 3/10 - The day after, my chest, back and abs were slightly sore. My hip flexors were moderately sore from the Ab Ripper


Day 2: Plyometrics

Plyometrics is basically a lot of jump training, for leg strength, cardio, explosiveness. Today was really hard. I was breathing hard and sweating just 5 minutes in, and it was a full 60 minute workout. You do a lot of different exercises with a lot of motion range, and you are airborne for a lot of them. It feels really good, but hard to keep up. Lots of different types of lunges, jumping lunges, twisting lunges, all kinds of things. I enjoyed this work out a lot, but very tough.

Soreness Factor: 15/10... why didn't anybody warn me. The Ab Ripper really hit me tonight, after the plyometrics and relaxing the rest of the evening my hip flexors were starting to feel very tight and sore. I woke up at 1 in the morning because my front of my legs hurt so bad right up near my hips. I could not straighten my legs without them hurting, so I tried to sleep in a ball, but that didn't work very well. I did my best to get up in the morning and get to work, but again, I couldn't stand up straight without my legs really hurting. I had to walk around all day feeling like a freakin bow legged gorilla. Good thing I have a desk job. Side note, my butt and thighs were only slightly sore. If you have weak hip flexors, beware of the Ab Ripper!

I'll try to make updates each morning the day after each workout. So far so good, 2 days down, 88 to go. The time commitment is a bit daunting, but it will be great.

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What is your net worth???

It's beginning to look a lot like ....

labor day? It's December 2nd and still no snow to be found, and by the looks of it, it is not going to be here any time soon.



This is what I want to see:

America: Freedom to Fascism

Ok, so I haven't posted in a while, and I have a lot of posts to catch up on, so just sit tight. In the mean time, if you have 2 hours to kill, feel free to watch this documentary by Aaron Russo, called America: Freedom to Fascism. It has a few interesting things to say about the Internal Revenue Service, and in the second half about the Federal Reserve.