Day 66 & 67 - Back, Biceps, Abs & Yoga

This will just be a short post, because it's a nice day and I don't want to spend too much time on the computer!

Two days ago, I did back & biceps for the very first time, since I'm doing the Lean program. It was a good workout and I can feel my biceps getting stronger. I'm still not a fan of pull ups and I still need the chair for them, but I've moved to using one foot for support instead of both. The corn cob pull ups (or whatever they're called) are killers though. And I kept banging my elbow on the door frame while doing them...ow!

Yesterday I mowed the lawn and did a bunch of yard work, so I kind of ran out of time to do yoga. So I did it today and got it over with early. I can feel my legs getting stronger and I can go longer now without having to take a break and straighten my legs in the vinyasa series. I can actually do half moon pose now, but struggle with the reversed version. I still skip over crane though!

I weighed myself this morning and I was the lowest I've been since I started P90X! Mind you, it's not by much, but since I've been hovering at around 158-159 lbs for so long, it was nice to see 156.8 on the scales! I've stopped weighing myself every day and I'm trying to only do it every couple of weeks or so. And I know I really shouldn't focus on my weight and should focus in inches lost and body fat% instead. But it's still nice to see a drop, even if it's slight, in my weight. I've been taking Osolean for about a week now, so maybe that has something to do with it!

Day 60, 61, 62, 63 - Yoga, Core Syn, Kenpo, Rest

Wow, I'm getting really bad at posting aren't I? I used to be so good and post every day. Last Thursday I did yoga, Friday was Core Syn, Saturday was Kenpo and I opted to take a rest day on Sunday. I'm ashamed to say that I also took a rest day today, making it two in a row. I really didn't mean to take the day off today, but I painted all day yesterday and today (see previous post) and my shoulder is killing me and I just want to go to bed now! No excuse, but I still feel guilty. Tomorrow I start week 10!

Day 54, 55, 56 - Cardio, Yoga, Rest

Wow, I'm getting really behind on my posts! I don't really have a whole lot to say because I forget how the workouts went and I didn't do very well at all with the diet for the last few days. Today I was supposed to start day 1 of phase 3, but it got late and I decided to run/walk on the treadmill instead. Tomorrow I'll start phase 3 and I'll try and give you a review of P90X so far. If I'm feeling brave enough, I may just show some pictures. I'll at least try and post some measurements though.

Day 50 - Yoga

Just a quick post. Did yoga today and felt like I did way better than normal. I didn't need as many breaks and I was actually, sort of able to do half moon...both versions! My nutrition was crap today because we had birthday cake and chocolate chip cookies at work. I didn't get near my quota for proteins, but the rest of the day wasn't too bad.

We got our "new" treadmill today. As I said in my last post, we're babysitting a treadmill for a friend. She has no space for it and no one was using it at her parents' house. She kind of indicated that she probably won't end up wanting it back, so yay! new treadmill! I don't know how much I'll use it while I'm doing P90X, but I will for sure after. I might also make a new rule...I can only watch Grey's Anatomy (on DVD) from the treadmill, not the couch! (We'll see how that goes!)

Days 45 & 46- Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, Abs and Yoga

As of yesterday, I'm half-way done P90X! I'm still loving it and I'm still feeling great! Yesterday was Chest, Shoulders, Triceps and Abs. It's a tough workout, but I feel like I'm getting more used to it and doing better. I'm not going to write what I had to eat yesterday. I started off really well, but friends came over with treats, so it all went out the window. I tried my best though and had a veggie burger and veggie dog instead of the bad kind. I didn't do nearly as bad as I could have, but it wasn't great!

Today was yoga, but I didn't get to it until this evening. It was gorgeous out today (about 25C), so I spent a lot of time outside, not wanting to be couped up inside for 1 1/2 hr doing yoga! So I sat in the sun for a bit, cleaned my car, shoveled some snow and did some gardening....yep, you read right, I shoveled some snow! We still have a snow drift from where the plow guy piled it this winter. So, while wearing shorts, a tank top and flip flops, I shoveled snow onto the driveway so it would melt faster. The rest of the yard is clear of snow, except for this one pile. I hate looking at it and wanted it gone, but it's going to be there for a few more days at least.

Anyway, I did yoga later on this evening. I love that I'm half-way through the program, but I'm finding it's coming at a price. When I first started, I liked the yoga workout. I would happily go through the workout, doing my poses, and then BAM...yoga belly 7. I would keep forgetting that yoga belly 7 (which is worse than Ab Ripper X in my opinion), was at the end of the yoga workout. But NOW, I know what's coming at the end and I'm having a harder time enjoying the workout because I know there's torture at the end. Not my idea of a good way to finish up a yoga workout!

Here's what I ate today:

• Breakfast: Omelet made with 6 egg whites, 2 slices of turkey bacon, mushrooms, yellow peppers and cheese. Large milk
• Snack: Frozen fruit bar
• Lunch/Supper: Chicken breast wrap with honey mustard, lettuce, tomato, cheese
• Snacks: Protein shake with soy milk, workout drink, protein shake with water, fruit (mandarin oranges and peaches), can of V8 juice, a couple of handfuls of popcorn with melted butter.
  

Days 39, 40, 41 - Stretch, Yoga and Kenpo

I went home to Moncton this past weekend to visit my parents, so I had to change my routine a bit. I didn't want to have to lug weights home, so Friday night I did Stretch, Saturday I did Yoga and Sunday I did Kenpo. Tomorrow I will do Legs, Back and Abs, then go straight into week 7 without a rest day.

On Friday night, I had company doing Stretch. My father's girlfriend did the video with me while my father watched. I feel so good after doing the Stretch workout, that I wonder why I don't do it more often. Usually I opt for a rest day instead.

I had an audience for some of the Yoga video the next day, but since it's so long, I guess they got bored! They were quite surprised at how difficult the yoga is. Most people seem to think that yoga is all about stretching and meditating, but it's so much more. I was working so hard I had sweat dripping off my nose during Half Moon pose...man it's hard!

I did Kenpo this morning at my mother's house and she joined along for the first little bit. She put in a good effort!

It is really hard to eat well when everyone wants to prepare you a good meal, so I wasn't able to eat very healthy this weekend. Plus, I went to my best friend's baby shower today and there was all kinds of finger food. Tomorrow I'll get back at it!

Day 32 - Yoga X

There is really nothing special to report about the yoga workout today. I know a lot of people really don't like this workout, but I don't mind it. I'm getting a bit better at the balancing poses, although I can only really do the tree pose when I'm wearing shorts, but not with pants. I was able to do the moon poses ok today, but I still need some work. As for the crane pose, I just skip over it. As a friend of mine said, I doubt that having the ability to do the crane pose will make a huge difference in my overall fitness. One day I'll try it again, but for now, I'm just going to skip it!

Meals:

• Breakfast: Harvest Crunch cereal with skim milk
• Snack: Fat free yogart, cheese
• Lunch: Rice, Greek salad, and a little bit of chicken, pork and donair meat (equal to about 1 serving of meat)
• Snack: Protein bar
• Supper: 2 hot dogs with ww buns, frozen fruit bar

On another note, I downloaded a program called Xtreme Fit Tracker that Mike mentioned on his blog. Here's the link to the program. It's specifically for the P90X program and you can track your workouts, measurements and nutrition. So far I like it!

Day 27 - Yoga X

Isn't this picture beautiful? I wish I could do yoga there!

Yoga went well today. I was actually able to do the "upward dogs" the whole way through instead of "cobra" (on my knees). I realized I wasn't doing upward dog properly before, so maybe that's why I had trouble with it. But I like to think that I've progressed, so we'll go with that! The next step will be to do all the push-ups in between!

Each time I do this workout, I like it more and more. I know a lot of people hate the yoga workout, but having done yoga before, I really like it. I still think it's a bit long, but I don't find it as long as I used to.

I've been thinking lately that I might like to order P90X+, but I'm not sure if I should wait until I've finished P90X. I think maybe I better wait and not jump into it too quickly. I don't want to get bored with things too fast, and since my plan is to do the classic P90X program next, maybe I'll wait to get the "plus" DVD's after that. Any suggestions from anyone?

Tomorrow is the last day of Phase 1...yahoo! I've made it 1/3 of the way through! I'll be taking my 30 day pictures tomorrow (which I may or may not show), and doing my measurements too. Stay tuned!

What I ate today:

• Breakfast: 2 pieces of multi grain toast with almond butter, milk
• Snack: Nutrigrain bar, coffee
• Lunch: Shrimp and veggie stir-fry, applesauce with cinnamon, cheese
• Snack: Pre-workout enery bar (Myoplex lite)
• Supper: Spagetti with ground lamb and garlic bread

Day 22 - Yoga

By adding this picture, I'm kind of copying Crystal's idea, but I really love how she always adds interesting pictures to her blog. So I hope she doesn't mind my stealing her idea. At least I've linked to her blog so you can check it out!

This weekend I played in a soccer tournament, so Friday and Saturday I didn't do any P90X workouts. I played games Friday night, Saturday and this morning. One of those days was my rest day though, so after my game today, I started up week 4.

Today was the first day of my first recovery week. The yoga workout went well and faster than I expected. I usually find the first section is quite long (the vinyasa's), but today I wasn't really thinking about what I was doing, so that part went by pretty fast. I find I'm able to hold my positions longer and I'm able to get a little lower. I still have a hard time with some of the balance poses, particularly the section with the half moon pose. I just can't keep my leg in the air for that long. All in all a good workout though.

Day 18 - Yoga

I was originally planning on skipping yoga today because I had soccer practice at 8:30pm and I figured I wouldn't have time to fit both in. But since we're going out for supper with friends tomorrow, I thought it might be better to do yoga today instead of tomorrow. Yoga on a full stomach is not good! I did manage to fit it in right after work, then went to practice afterwards. I'm glad I did it today because I was nice and stretched for soccer and had a good cardio workout there. By the end of the day though, I was pretty pooped, but proud of myself!

Day 11 - Yoga

My second round of yoga went much better than last week. My back felt great and I could do the bends, pain-free! Some of the poses were still pretty challenging, but I was able to do most of them properly. Even though the workout is really long and there are endless vinyasas and runners poses, I feel great once I'm done. And I'm happy to say I'm pretty flexible too. I can touch my head to my knee doing the single leg stretch!

Day 4 - Yoga

I was really pleased with myself that I actually did this workout today because I was thinking of skipping it. I had a bunch of things to do right after work today and then we met some friends for supper at 6pm. I tried my best not to eat too much (which was hard!) so I could do yoga once I got home. I figured Chinese food and up-side-down poses wouldn't mix well!

We got home after 8pm and I'm proud to say that I still did my workout, even though it made me late getting to bed. The workout is 1 1/2 hrs and I like to get to bed early when I'm working at 7:30am. Even as I was doing the workout, I was tempted to cut it short, but I didn't and I finished it all. I did have to skip a few exercises that hurt my back a bit, but I was able to do most of them.

I have been a little worried about my back while doing this program. I found out recently that I have a slightly compressed disc between L4 & L5, which has been bothering me on and off for quite a long time now, but it's been worse lately. They warn you not to do P90X if you have any problems, including back issues, and I was worried that someone might tell me not to do the program. But so far, I think I've been ok. I know my limits and I think I can adjust the moves so that I don't make my back worse, or I can just skip any moves that put strain on my back. I know I have to strengthen my core muscles to help support my back, so I don't want to stop exercising. So I guess I'll just continue on and hope for the best!

As for the Yoga X DVD, it was a lot more intense that I had expected. I have done lots of yoga and pilates in the past, so I didn't find it too bad. It was definitely challenging though and I just don't have the strength yet to hold some of the poses. I wonder how others would find it though, particularly guys who have never done yoga before. It would be pretty tough I would imagine! But then again, some of the people on the video weren't able to do a lot of the moves when they started either and they seemed to do a great job now.

I liked this video a lot and I was pretty limber by the end of it. It is a little long, but definitely manageable.