Today's Shoulders and Arms was more difficult than the previous ones have been. Not sure why. And actually, it wasn't more difficult all around. On some of the exercises, notably the curls and upright rows, I banged out almost ten more reps on each than last week. That was exciting. But on any of the overhead presses, like Alternating Shoulder Presses and Deep Swimmer's Presses, the going was TOUGH. And on the latter I definitely got fewer reps than last week. It was hard.
Buuuuuut I still felt good about the workout. My arms are so pumped after this workout, it's like I was stung by a million bees only on my biceps and triceps. Also, I rocked the shoulder flys, which I usually suck at. I'm only using 5-pounders because my delts are WEAK, but I was at least able to pump out more than ten per set. I also like the modifications I do on the tricep kickbacks--namely, I flat out don't do them and instead sub in more sets of chair dips. This is because I don't own a heavy enough weight to make the kickbacks at all hard, and it feels like a wasted set when I do them. So I just do more chair dips, making it hard by putting my feet up and even raising one leg. I love chair dips. Triceps = whooo.
In other news... FUCK YOU WEATHER
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Phase 1 - Day 10 (again)
Typing this as I stretch. Oh, Plyo. At last I might--MIGHT--be beginning to actually enjoy you. Mostly because I'm not crying in pain, and I'm now able to get through all the sets with Tony and Crew at their pace. I do need to pause and lengthen the water breaks by about 30 seconds, though. The pausing I do is not at all about being tired (though I am) and completely about SIMPLY NOT BEING ABLE TO BREATHE. It's like I just came off the peak of Everest, or something, I'm just gasping for air after each set.
Got through the full minute of Hot Foot, yay! That alone makes me proud. Hot Foot is brutal.
I also discovered that running to the kitchen for my coconut water halfway through the workout is a genius idea. After the first three sets I could feel my legs trembling and getting that feeling like they're made of cement, and I was honestly worried I wouldn't make it through the workout, and it struck me that an infusion of electrolytes was possibly in order. Awesome plan. I took small sips after every exercise and by the next set I was feeling good again. Coconut water is the best recovery drink one could ever want.
Today's Tony Soundbite: "I want your joints straight. Limbs like a BOARD. Be a BOARD. Don't get bored!" Then his creepy pedophilic uncle laugh, giggling at his own pun. Sigh.
Got through the full minute of Hot Foot, yay! That alone makes me proud. Hot Foot is brutal.
I also discovered that running to the kitchen for my coconut water halfway through the workout is a genius idea. After the first three sets I could feel my legs trembling and getting that feeling like they're made of cement, and I was honestly worried I wouldn't make it through the workout, and it struck me that an infusion of electrolytes was possibly in order. Awesome plan. I took small sips after every exercise and by the next set I was feeling good again. Coconut water is the best recovery drink one could ever want.
Today's Tony Soundbite: "I want your joints straight. Limbs like a BOARD. Be a BOARD. Don't get bored!" Then his creepy pedophilic uncle laugh, giggling at his own pun. Sigh.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Phase 1 - Day 8
It's like we went back in time!
Chest and Back tonight was pretty good, although I'm reaching a funny sort of Mars-retrograde phenomenon where as I become more able to do the exercises with proper form, they become harder and I can therefore manage less reps before crashing to the floor. So I feel that I'm progressing, but my numbers are smaller. Still feels good to be doing all my pushups from my toes instead of my knees. Except the Diamond Pushups. I do not understand how anyone can do those from their toes. They are impossible. I pushed the chair I use for my assisted pullups out about a foot, too, and my reps went down but I was certainly working much harder to pull myself up.
Ran out of time for Ab Ripper, again. Sigh. Ab Ripper is just going to have to be one of those things I squeeze in a couple times a week in spare 15-minute windows, because I just do not have the time in the evenings to do all the things I need to do.
Today's food was good. Carby, but good. Leftover tuna for 1st lunch, quinoa dish for 2nd lunch, post-workout shake, then for dinner this "salad" I make of roasted sweet potatoes chunks, roasted mushrooms, and ground beef spiced with cumin and cinnamon. I like when I'm full halfway through a meal and put the rest away for lunch tomorrow. It feels good to leave food on the plate.
My calves are still SCREAMING from Plyo last Friday, so tonight I pulled out my Arnica massage oil and dug my thumbs in to the muscles deep for like ten solid minutes. Fuck, it hurt. Hopefully my soreness will be magically disappeared tomorrow for--oh joy--MORE PLYO.
Chest and Back tonight was pretty good, although I'm reaching a funny sort of Mars-retrograde phenomenon where as I become more able to do the exercises with proper form, they become harder and I can therefore manage less reps before crashing to the floor. So I feel that I'm progressing, but my numbers are smaller. Still feels good to be doing all my pushups from my toes instead of my knees. Except the Diamond Pushups. I do not understand how anyone can do those from their toes. They are impossible. I pushed the chair I use for my assisted pullups out about a foot, too, and my reps went down but I was certainly working much harder to pull myself up.
Ran out of time for Ab Ripper, again. Sigh. Ab Ripper is just going to have to be one of those things I squeeze in a couple times a week in spare 15-minute windows, because I just do not have the time in the evenings to do all the things I need to do.
Today's food was good. Carby, but good. Leftover tuna for 1st lunch, quinoa dish for 2nd lunch, post-workout shake, then for dinner this "salad" I make of roasted sweet potatoes chunks, roasted mushrooms, and ground beef spiced with cumin and cinnamon. I like when I'm full halfway through a meal and put the rest away for lunch tomorrow. It feels good to leave food on the plate.
My calves are still SCREAMING from Plyo last Friday, so tonight I pulled out my Arnica massage oil and dug my thumbs in to the muscles deep for like ten solid minutes. Fuck, it hurt. Hopefully my soreness will be magically disappeared tomorrow for--oh joy--MORE PLYO.
Phase 1 - Day 14
Um yeah. So I think I'm going to just repeat a week.
This week and weekend TOTALLY got away from me, due to crises at work. I ended up faced with either doing two workouts plus ab ripper all last night, or just calling it a half-week and starting anew this week. The latter option won out after I did Shoulders and Arms and also Ab Ripper last night and it was already 9:00 and I couldn't face also doing Legs and Back. Too much.
It wasn't totally a lost weekend, though, as I got two good runs and a long, hard hike in Great Falls in. I was trying to soak up as much of the good weather as possible. So, lots of activity, just not a lot of P90X-ing.
Because I'm uncomfortable calling myself done with a week if I skipped a workout, and I don't want to half-ass my way through this, I've decided I'm going to call the past two weeks one big intro week, and start today with Day 1 of Week 2, Chest and Back. I'm also planning to do all the workouts this week--including Yoga X (because honestly, I'm curious) and the apparently lame Kenpo X--because it's supposed to rain basically all week and I will probably not be doing much running. But I might sub in a Crossfit or Bodyrock routine for Kenpo X because I've heard it's just not hard and not very good.
However, this brings up another subject: Crossfit. My ADD self is currently entranced by Crossfit and it's taking all the willpower I've got not to just toss aside P90X and run down to Crossfit Reston. I really want to see P90X through, though, so I'm not going to start CF until probably after I return from the yoga training this summer. Plus, I think I need to be in better shape to get the most out of CF, and P90X is definitely a "get into shape" program.
So, I'm sticking with P90X, just technically set back a week. (See, this is a great example of why P90X was just not sustainable last year--one little thing in my life slips out of schedule and it's impossible to keep up with the workouts because they are SO. LONG. Squeezing in a Bodyrock workout is more possible because it's just 20 minutes. There is no "squeezing in" an hour and a half of P90X.)
Another thing that should help is that I'm pretty sure I'm going to start working from home soon, removing the travel time and getting-ready time in the mornings and allowing me WAY more time for working out and tending to River. Usually if it's a choice between not taking River to the dog park, or not having time to work out, I'll always choose River over P90X because it's just cruel to keep a border collie confined all day.
Hm, what to say about Shoulders and Arms, again? I love it. It's almost like a rest day, it seems easier (although my arms are PUMPED afterward), and my reps have increased already just from last week. Dreya seems to roll her eyes a lot more at Tony in this one.
Let me share the amazing dinner I made Saturday night, with a nod to Nom Nom Paleo: I made a curried tuna salad using avocado mayo instead of dairy mayo, put it on lettuce leaves for open-faced "sandwiches", and made bacon-wrapped asparagus on the side. The curried tuna was good but not as good as others I've had in the past. It's like I'm missing a flavor. Need to practice more on that one. But the bacon-wrapped asparagus came out so incredible, I couldn't believe it. It was so easy and SO DELICIOUS. I'll be making that one again and again.
I also stole Arwen's quinoa recipe and made balsamic quinoa with sausage, zucchini, and onion. I have that with some broccoli for lunch today. Yum.
Yesterday my friend Nate and I went to one of those South American grill-style restaurants where you fill your plate with salad and then guys come by with huge pieces of meat on skewers, and slice you off a piece as many times as you want. I'm obsessed with this place and will be back many times, I'm sure. I love place where the food is just simple grilled meat and vegetables, and you can eat as much as you want.
Okay, wrapping this up now. I'll update again tonight after Day 8: Chest and Back.
This week and weekend TOTALLY got away from me, due to crises at work. I ended up faced with either doing two workouts plus ab ripper all last night, or just calling it a half-week and starting anew this week. The latter option won out after I did Shoulders and Arms and also Ab Ripper last night and it was already 9:00 and I couldn't face also doing Legs and Back. Too much.
It wasn't totally a lost weekend, though, as I got two good runs and a long, hard hike in Great Falls in. I was trying to soak up as much of the good weather as possible. So, lots of activity, just not a lot of P90X-ing.
Because I'm uncomfortable calling myself done with a week if I skipped a workout, and I don't want to half-ass my way through this, I've decided I'm going to call the past two weeks one big intro week, and start today with Day 1 of Week 2, Chest and Back. I'm also planning to do all the workouts this week--including Yoga X (because honestly, I'm curious) and the apparently lame Kenpo X--because it's supposed to rain basically all week and I will probably not be doing much running. But I might sub in a Crossfit or Bodyrock routine for Kenpo X because I've heard it's just not hard and not very good.
However, this brings up another subject: Crossfit. My ADD self is currently entranced by Crossfit and it's taking all the willpower I've got not to just toss aside P90X and run down to Crossfit Reston. I really want to see P90X through, though, so I'm not going to start CF until probably after I return from the yoga training this summer. Plus, I think I need to be in better shape to get the most out of CF, and P90X is definitely a "get into shape" program.
So, I'm sticking with P90X, just technically set back a week. (See, this is a great example of why P90X was just not sustainable last year--one little thing in my life slips out of schedule and it's impossible to keep up with the workouts because they are SO. LONG. Squeezing in a Bodyrock workout is more possible because it's just 20 minutes. There is no "squeezing in" an hour and a half of P90X.)
Another thing that should help is that I'm pretty sure I'm going to start working from home soon, removing the travel time and getting-ready time in the mornings and allowing me WAY more time for working out and tending to River. Usually if it's a choice between not taking River to the dog park, or not having time to work out, I'll always choose River over P90X because it's just cruel to keep a border collie confined all day.
Hm, what to say about Shoulders and Arms, again? I love it. It's almost like a rest day, it seems easier (although my arms are PUMPED afterward), and my reps have increased already just from last week. Dreya seems to roll her eyes a lot more at Tony in this one.
Let me share the amazing dinner I made Saturday night, with a nod to Nom Nom Paleo: I made a curried tuna salad using avocado mayo instead of dairy mayo, put it on lettuce leaves for open-faced "sandwiches", and made bacon-wrapped asparagus on the side. The curried tuna was good but not as good as others I've had in the past. It's like I'm missing a flavor. Need to practice more on that one. But the bacon-wrapped asparagus came out so incredible, I couldn't believe it. It was so easy and SO DELICIOUS. I'll be making that one again and again.
I also stole Arwen's quinoa recipe and made balsamic quinoa with sausage, zucchini, and onion. I have that with some broccoli for lunch today. Yum.
Yesterday my friend Nate and I went to one of those South American grill-style restaurants where you fill your plate with salad and then guys come by with huge pieces of meat on skewers, and slice you off a piece as many times as you want. I'm obsessed with this place and will be back many times, I'm sure. I love place where the food is just simple grilled meat and vegetables, and you can eat as much as you want.
Okay, wrapping this up now. I'll update again tonight after Day 8: Chest and Back.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Phase 1 - Day 12
Hokay SO. Plyometrics. Somehow every time I do this workout (this is... maybe the sixth time I've done it?), I convince myself that it's not going to be so bad. Then, inevitably, during the second set of the first 4-exercise block is where I start to hit pause after each exercise so that I can just stand, hunched over, gulping air, tears squeezing out of my eyes over the pain in my legs. I can't figure out why this workout is so fucking brutal, but it is. Dear Lords of Kobol, it is.
For me, the hardest exercises are:
Swing Kicks: I have no clue why this is so hard for me, but the combination of quad/hip flexor brutality, plus the balance required, really kills me. I'm not so much breathing hard during this one as just trying to stay on my feet. If it were just kicking the legs over the chair out from the body one after another, that would be easier; but you kick each leg in the same direction. So it's right leg kicking out and over, then left leg following kicking in and over, and somehow the movement towards the body is so much more difficult to me, both strength- and balance-wise. On the other hand, I think this move is going to actually help my yoga balance and strength. So there's that silver lining.
Twist Combos: It's not the Ski Hops portion of this that gets me, it's the part where we spin 180. I get SO DIZZY. I probably do only about half as many as Tony & Crew because I'm trying not to fall over the whole time. They're not especially hard, either, just dizzying.
Rock Star Hops: Motherfucker, this one hurts. You think you've been a badass with your Jump Knee Tucks earlier in the game, but then these, where you jump up, heels touching butt while twisting 45 degrees to the side, are just brutal. Plus you have to swing your arm like you're playing a guitar. It's hard, then harder, and then Tony screams "DOUBLETIME!" and does it twice as fast, and you want to die. This is one of those exercises where I pause the video after and lay spread-eagled on the bed so my chest is as open as possible while I try to catch my breath. If I had/wore a heart rate monitor, as Tony recommends during this workout, I'm sure it would be screaming at me to chill out halfway through the Rock Star Hops.
Military Marches: This is another one where the form is more difficult for me than the actual movement. It requires a lot of balance and flexibility that I don't have. Also, it's tough on the quads, which by this point in the routine are usually shaking.
Hot Foot Jumps: Hop on one foot for 30 seconds, then the other foot for another 30 seconds. Sounds easy, right? Eat a dick. It's the most painful exercise in the whole workout. Today I pleased myself by actually finishing the whole thing with no breaks, so a full 30 seconds on each foot, but I was screaming "ow ow OW MOTHERFUCKER" by the end.
Now, to inject a little positivity, here are the exercises in Plyometrics that I enjoy, because some of them are actually really fun. I think it's because Plyo brings out the kid in me that just wants to play and hop around.
Airborne Heismans: You leap to the side and bring the opposite leg into your chest, making the Heisman Trophy pose. This one is fun and promotes balance and abs because Tony makes us hold the pose for a couple seconds instead of just hopping into the next one.
Circle Run: Put your towel on the floor (I use a brightly colored knit hat I always have laying around) and run around it as fast as you can go, first clockwise, then counterclockwise. This is fun because it's a challenge to see how fast your feet can go without tripping, and also because you feel like a boxer training footwork for a match.
Jump Knee Tucks: High jumps where you slap your knees as they near your chest. This is a Bodyrock favorite, so I'm used to the form and can do them really well, and also I feel pretty badass doing these.
Mary Katherine Lunges: Really hard, but really fun, because how many of us in middle/high school would spontaneously break into the Molly Shannon "SUPERSTAAH" lunge? Brings back memories. Really hard, though. My legs scream after this one.
Gap Jumps: Leap over a pretend ravine/river/earthquake crack in your floor. I like exercises that seem like they'll have practical use in the world.
Monster Truck Tire Jumps: Any exercise where I can visualize a real-world scenario instead of just focusing on how tired and in pain I am, gets the "fun" stamp. This one has you pretending there are four diagonally-spaced monster truck tires that you're jumping one-legged through, up to the top of the field and then backwards. I envision being in military boot camp during this one. Fun.
Pitch & Catch: This one is during the Bonus Round, which I always do because it's not hard and serves as a nice cooldown. What could be more fun than pretending to pitch and catch a baseball? Besides, you know, sitting on the couch and eating ice cream? Obviously that's more fun. But this exercise is probably the most fun you can have doing Plyo.
Btw, the exercises listed above are maybe... half? Two thirds? of the actual exercises. It's a solid hour of pain. Good gravy it's hard. But Tony is at least pretty toned-down in this one and actually keeps repeating what ends up being the most useful thing to keep in my head while I'm near tears from pain: "You can do anything for thirty seconds!" Fuck yeah, it's only thirty seconds, and I certainly can do anything for just 30 seconds.
Yesterday was when I was planning to do Plyo, but fuck, it was St. Paddy's Day and I had to go have a beer with my dad at a Herndon pub that was playing live Irish music. When I got home, I knew I'd have no time/stamina for Plyo, so instead I took River for a 2-mile hill run in my Vibrams. BIG hills. It was hard. I felt good about it. But this means that I have to do P90X for the next three days straight, including today, in order not to get behind. Whimper.
One nice thing about Plyo is that I can practically feel myself losing weight while doing it. It's that hard. And I sweat that much.
For me, the hardest exercises are:
Swing Kicks: I have no clue why this is so hard for me, but the combination of quad/hip flexor brutality, plus the balance required, really kills me. I'm not so much breathing hard during this one as just trying to stay on my feet. If it were just kicking the legs over the chair out from the body one after another, that would be easier; but you kick each leg in the same direction. So it's right leg kicking out and over, then left leg following kicking in and over, and somehow the movement towards the body is so much more difficult to me, both strength- and balance-wise. On the other hand, I think this move is going to actually help my yoga balance and strength. So there's that silver lining.
Twist Combos: It's not the Ski Hops portion of this that gets me, it's the part where we spin 180. I get SO DIZZY. I probably do only about half as many as Tony & Crew because I'm trying not to fall over the whole time. They're not especially hard, either, just dizzying.
Rock Star Hops: Motherfucker, this one hurts. You think you've been a badass with your Jump Knee Tucks earlier in the game, but then these, where you jump up, heels touching butt while twisting 45 degrees to the side, are just brutal. Plus you have to swing your arm like you're playing a guitar. It's hard, then harder, and then Tony screams "DOUBLETIME!" and does it twice as fast, and you want to die. This is one of those exercises where I pause the video after and lay spread-eagled on the bed so my chest is as open as possible while I try to catch my breath. If I had/wore a heart rate monitor, as Tony recommends during this workout, I'm sure it would be screaming at me to chill out halfway through the Rock Star Hops.
Military Marches: This is another one where the form is more difficult for me than the actual movement. It requires a lot of balance and flexibility that I don't have. Also, it's tough on the quads, which by this point in the routine are usually shaking.
Hot Foot Jumps: Hop on one foot for 30 seconds, then the other foot for another 30 seconds. Sounds easy, right? Eat a dick. It's the most painful exercise in the whole workout. Today I pleased myself by actually finishing the whole thing with no breaks, so a full 30 seconds on each foot, but I was screaming "ow ow OW MOTHERFUCKER" by the end.
Now, to inject a little positivity, here are the exercises in Plyometrics that I enjoy, because some of them are actually really fun. I think it's because Plyo brings out the kid in me that just wants to play and hop around.
Airborne Heismans: You leap to the side and bring the opposite leg into your chest, making the Heisman Trophy pose. This one is fun and promotes balance and abs because Tony makes us hold the pose for a couple seconds instead of just hopping into the next one.
Circle Run: Put your towel on the floor (I use a brightly colored knit hat I always have laying around) and run around it as fast as you can go, first clockwise, then counterclockwise. This is fun because it's a challenge to see how fast your feet can go without tripping, and also because you feel like a boxer training footwork for a match.
Jump Knee Tucks: High jumps where you slap your knees as they near your chest. This is a Bodyrock favorite, so I'm used to the form and can do them really well, and also I feel pretty badass doing these.
Mary Katherine Lunges: Really hard, but really fun, because how many of us in middle/high school would spontaneously break into the Molly Shannon "SUPERSTAAH" lunge? Brings back memories. Really hard, though. My legs scream after this one.
Gap Jumps: Leap over a pretend ravine/river/earthquake crack in your floor. I like exercises that seem like they'll have practical use in the world.
Monster Truck Tire Jumps: Any exercise where I can visualize a real-world scenario instead of just focusing on how tired and in pain I am, gets the "fun" stamp. This one has you pretending there are four diagonally-spaced monster truck tires that you're jumping one-legged through, up to the top of the field and then backwards. I envision being in military boot camp during this one. Fun.
Pitch & Catch: This one is during the Bonus Round, which I always do because it's not hard and serves as a nice cooldown. What could be more fun than pretending to pitch and catch a baseball? Besides, you know, sitting on the couch and eating ice cream? Obviously that's more fun. But this exercise is probably the most fun you can have doing Plyo.
Btw, the exercises listed above are maybe... half? Two thirds? of the actual exercises. It's a solid hour of pain. Good gravy it's hard. But Tony is at least pretty toned-down in this one and actually keeps repeating what ends up being the most useful thing to keep in my head while I'm near tears from pain: "You can do anything for thirty seconds!" Fuck yeah, it's only thirty seconds, and I certainly can do anything for just 30 seconds.
Yesterday was when I was planning to do Plyo, but fuck, it was St. Paddy's Day and I had to go have a beer with my dad at a Herndon pub that was playing live Irish music. When I got home, I knew I'd have no time/stamina for Plyo, so instead I took River for a 2-mile hill run in my Vibrams. BIG hills. It was hard. I felt good about it. But this means that I have to do P90X for the next three days straight, including today, in order not to get behind. Whimper.
One nice thing about Plyo is that I can practically feel myself losing weight while doing it. It's that hard. And I sweat that much.
JESUS EFFING EFF
Eat a bag of dicks, Plyo. I HATE YOU
This brought to you a mere five minutes after finishing. Full update to come later, after I've reattached my limbs and ironed out my lungs.
This brought to you a mere five minutes after finishing. Full update to come later, after I've reattached my limbs and ironed out my lungs.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Who's Gonna Hear You Cry
The austere gray-on-white was not really expressing my workout zen, I felt, so I threw up a background, as you can see. FUCK YEAH FIBER OPTIC THINGIES. Thank you Blogger for your large but sort of weird selection of backgrounds.
I would like to share what is currently my favorite theme song on television, which gets stuck in my head on Monday night and basically stays there till around Thursday. It's from The Chicago Code (a show EVERYONE SHOULD BE WATCHING because it's frickin GREAT), it's sung by Billy Corgan, and when it comes on after the show opener I always get up and dance. River usually jumps alongside me. It's a fun time.
Seriously, unless you just hate cop shows, watch this show. It's so, so, so good.
I would like to share what is currently my favorite theme song on television, which gets stuck in my head on Monday night and basically stays there till around Thursday. It's from The Chicago Code (a show EVERYONE SHOULD BE WATCHING because it's frickin GREAT), it's sung by Billy Corgan, and when it comes on after the show opener I always get up and dance. River usually jumps alongside me. It's a fun time.
Seriously, unless you just hate cop shows, watch this show. It's so, so, so good.
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