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.