P90X Lean Day 5: Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X

Ohhh legs and back! I was so excited for this since my legs are usually where I have the biggest gains in toning and seeing results. I was pretty satisfied with this workout and my knees didn't hurt too badly. The one thing I loved about this is that it had a great alternation between upper body and lower body. The lower body was difficult, especially the wall sits, but I feel good right now.

I did have some problems with the upper body portion that I definitely did not anticipate. We have this pull-up bar in the basement that I was all set to go with, but what I wasn't all set to go with was an appropriate chair to use to assist me with the pullups. Here's the thing; the way the program is set up, you can use a chair as "assistance" for pullups. I'm definitely afraid of falling flat on my ass during this process, but I guess I'll get over it. The only chair that was in the basement at the time was part of an old dining room set and I didn't want to be putting my dirty shoes all over the top of the good chair. I looked quickly for the step stool but couldn't find it, but realized my resistance bands were pretty readily available. Problem solved... or so I thought. I got the bands out, continued with the workout, but really didn't get a good back workout. I am pretty disappointed so now it's off to find new resistance bands. I'm think that if I can get good bands that will give me a good workout, I'll be set to go. I've almost made a decision regarding the bands vs. pull-up bar; if I can find good bands, I'll do some reps with the bar and then finish with the bands since they're easier. I don't want to kill myself and I want a good workout, so what's the point of doing 2 reps with the bar when I could do 8-10 and get to exhaustion there?

Another day of Ab Ripper X and I'm not to the 25 reps, which I'm OK with. Hell, I may never get there. I am struggling a bit with the fact that it's a lot of abs and I can't seem to get my back flat on the ground. I end up with lower back discomfort (it's not quite pain) and get frustrated. Not exactly the way I like a workout to go, but what can I do? The one move I can't seem to grasp is the oblique crunches; I have NO idea how in the WORLD they get their legs all the way up to their elbows! You're laying on your side and are supposed to crunch your elbows to your knees; your legs are at a 30 degree angle to your body. Yeah, right. One, that hurts like hell... my hip bone digs into the ground. Two, apparently I'm weak! It went better today though, I'm getting there.

P90X Lean Day 4: Yoga X

Um, yeah. I don't like yoga.

I attempted 20 minutes of this and gave up. Running was much more appealing although I was still somewhat sore and didn't have a great run. Damn the downward dog and how it seemed to be a part of every.single.move. I'm not kidding. I have been told though that it finally gets past all of the downward/upward dogs, but I didn't get that far.

There's really nothing much to report about this video. It's by far my least favorite. Maybe as time goes on I'll learn to like it, but it's not looking good.

P90X Lean Day 3: Shoulders and Arms, Ab Ripper X

My triceps BURN. Shoulders and biceps feel good, but my triceps burn. I got out of bed too late today to go for a run, but it would've been a perfect day to run since this was all upper body and no cardio. Since tomorrow is yoga and I plan on running, I'm going to skip the run today and do the ab ripper tonight. I just simply ran out of time this morning.

My biggest problem today was that I didn't know what weights to use for a lot of the moves, so I was concentrating on form and not necessarily "Bringing It" and using weight for me to reach that failure point at 12-15 reps. I NEED to get a log to write down my weights and reps, this is definitely going to help in the weeks to come.

Again, I need to concentrate 110% on this and not just do "another workout". Andrea's wedding is coming up and I'd love to look great for that, especially since I'll be seeing people I haven't seen in forever. On top of that, I need my self confidence back. It's currently on vacation and I miss it.

UPDATE: I did the Ab Ripper. Ok, I attempted the ab ripper. Holy shit is that a hard workout. 16 minutes of hell, actually. I wanted to cry at the end and I couldn't make it through most of the 25 reps. I was SO happy when it was over, but right now I'm not feeling it at all. Who knows... I definitely tried... we'll see what happens next time!

P90X Lean Day 2: Cardio X

I wasn't overly thrilled with the first 10 minutes of this workout, but then again I despise yoga. Hate it. I ended up fast forwarding through about 3 minutes of it, I got frustrated and started cursing Tony (the main guy) and gave up. I did get a great workout though for the rest of it. A good sweat, sore legs, no sore core though. I struggled through the planks in the beginning, but after talking to a fitness person at my part time job, she suggested that I do them on my exercise ball to take the pressure off my poor toes which are still struggling since my bunion surgery.

Still in love with the program, I'm hoping for GOOD results, but I do need to focus on my core a bit more!

P90X Lean Day 1: Core Synergistics

My what a workout. I was sweating up a storm by the time I was done and I decided to attempt to run after this. HA, what a joke. I made it about .5 miles and gave up. My legs were sore already! I really need to concentrate on the ab work in this, I don't think I felt it as much as I should have. Not that there's a ton, but there's enough. I need to rearrange parts of the basement too for some of it, I'm slightly too tall to do the rolls and floor work in the small area that we have it set up in.

So far, I love it. Easy to say after only a day...

In the Beginning...

There was a girl. The girl tried "30 Day Shred" and failed. The girl had gained some weight and needed to drop it. Running wasn't doing the trick, but then again she hadn't been paying too close attention to what was going in her mouth. She was an emotional and bored eater. Then came along P90X. Her husband had tried it and liked it. She thought to herself, "Self, why not give it a whirl?". And so it began. 90 days of... hell? Good workouts? Who knows. She'll have to decide in a few weeks.

That girl is me. P90X has been staring me in the face for several weeks now after giving up on 30DS. The plan is to do the 90 days straight, but I know there will be some days off at the end of June. I'll make do. I'd love to get down around 143, but we'll see. The diet part is hard; I'm not strictly following it but I am trying to watch my Protein/Carb/Fat ratios. I lurve my carbs, so this is no easy task. By the way, I'm doing the lean version to start. If, no, when I make it through the 90 days, I might consider the regular version... but as of right now, I need the cardio.

Here are the (scary) starting stats:

Weight: 151.8
Waist: 31"
Hips: 42.25"
Left Leg: 25"
Right Leg: 25.25"
Chest: 38"
Right Arm: 12"
Left Arm: 12"

I did take "before" pictures, but I'll spare you. If you want to see them to note my progress, shoot me an email and I'll send them.

Things to Do

I need to reread The Last Lecture. There are too many important lessons in that book to learn the first round through. This time, I must take notes. College flashbacks, anyone?

Stay tuned for my thoughts...

Workout Update

I'm down to 149. I also got a new scale which weighs me in at 1.5lbs lighter than the other one, so maybe I'm only down 2lbs. instead of 4. Oh well. I like the lower number.

I have been running 3-4 times a week, averaging between a 10:30 and 10:45 mile. Not great, but at least I'm back up to 3 miles pretty consistently.

Progress, slowly but surely!

Highs, Lows and Inbetweens

For some people, unemployment is most difficult on their pocketbooks. For me, it's most difficult on my mental stability. I find myself short tempered, unmotivated, and just flat out exhausted a good bit of the time. I'm more busy and stressed out right now than I have been in a long time. I figured out the other day that on average, I spend one hour and fifteen minutes in the car a day. Funny thing is, I don't travel more than 30 or 40 miles in a day! Damn stoplights and traffic!

I never did get that second interview. I sent emails and made phone calls, and finally this past week I got through and got something scheduled. It's scheduled for 5/14 at 11:30am. I didn't realize until later that that date is the seventh anniversary of my grandfather dying. Hopefully some good will come of it, because I am so tired and so not liking where I'm at right now.

On good notes though, we're going to WI next weekend and also Chicago. Deep dish pizza, here we come! Our original plans were foiled when the tickets for Brewfest were sold out, so we had to quickly come up with Plan B. We're spending part of Friday and most of Saturday in Chicago (the first time C has been there without snow and freezing temps!) and then going to Sheboygan Saturday night and leaving Monday morning.

We went and saw Fleetwood Mac a couple weeks ago; what a good show! We were in the nosebleed seats at Time Warner Arena, but that's OK. Still a good show and the group wasn't the size of ants, so that's a plus. They are definitely getting old, but still have great stamina to get through a 2.5 hour show!

Our trip to Austin is coming up just around the corner and Becky (C's mom) is coming with us. She is now thinking of moving there as well, but first we all have to agree that we like it!

Cross those fingers, toes, legs, arms and eyes that I get a job this week.