Tuesday, Aug 19

Hey everybody!  It's been a while since I posted.
My diet has been going pretty well, except for Friday.  My boss took me out to lunch (burgers and fries), and then the company had a party.  I ate as well as I could, but not nearly as well as I have been :)

I worked out every day last week.  Monday - Sunday, I did the workouts I was supposed to.  Unfortunately, after all that on Sunday I felt kinda sick, so I decided to take a couple of days off.  Yesterday I swam some laps in the pool, so I didn't take the day completely off, but I definitely didn't do P90X.

I was proud of myself on Sunday with my diet.  Both at Sunday dinner, and again after at a friend's house, people ate ice cream, and I didn't eat any!  I had a mango at mom and dad's and a banana at the friend's.

On Monday, my weight was officially (since I do my official weigh-ins on Mondays) at 243.2.  Not as low as it got during the week (the low point was 241.4), but still a good 3.5 pound loss for the week.  Not bad!

Anyway, sorry for not keeping up with the blog.  I'll try to do better.

Oh, so I took a picture of one of the breakfasts I ate.  Check this out!  These meals are huge.

Day 4 - Yoga

Diet:  Mostly stuck with it.  We've been watching Mary, and Janae was exhausted.  She has been super great preparing all these crazy meals that P90X has in their diet guide, but last night we just didn't have time.  Instead, I got a steak salad from Costa Vida with no tortilla.  Not exactly following the diet guide, but pretty close.  Also, I got Janae some horchata, and I didn't even drink any!

Today was Yoga.  This workout is 90 minutes!  Sheesh, some of these take forever!  Anyway, the workout was actually really nice.  Don't get me wrong - it was hard!  I had shaking arms/legs, I fell over, and I stretched a LOT.  But still, at the end, I felt good.  So far (the other three workouts), afterward I've just felt like I wanted to die, but after this one, it was nice.  I was tired, but energized.

The end of the yoga routine they called "Belly Yoga" or something like that - basically it was ab workouts.  That's kinda lame, since I did Ab Ripper X yesterday and will do it again tomorrow.  Oh well, no pain, no gain, right?

Haha also, it turns out yoga uses your quads a lot.  What woulda thunk!  That means that every day so far I have used my quads until they collapse.  No wonder they hurt!  And I get to do it again tomorrow!

Day 3 - Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper X

Diet: Check!  Totally stuck with it.

Also, I weighed myself today, and I was down 3.4 pounds to 243.2!  That was fast (and probably coincidental)!

Today's workout was shoulders and arms, and it actually hurt a lot less than I thought it would, and less than the other ones.  I think that's because I've worked these muscles really hard before (in basic training).  Still, it was tough.  I think they all will be.

These were done in sets of three, with each set being repeated before moving on to the next set.  In the set, the exercises are for shoulders, biceps, then triceps.  Each set is the same way.

I'm not going to write the specific exercises anymore, but I will post the reps/weight so I can show progress.

10 blue / 11 blue
20 blue / 16 blue
15 red  / 15 red

9 red     / 8 blue
10 blue / 12 red
15 bent / 15 straight

15 red / 15 red
16 red / 16 blue
8 red   / 7 red

16 red / 16 red
15 red / 20 red
11 red / 7 red

red - too heavy / 16 green
15 red / 16 green
L 10 R 10 / L 15 R 8

Of course, after this workout I had to do the abs again!  It kinda sucks to think to yourself "two minutes left... one minute left... I'm done!" and then have to spend 15 minutes killing your abs and quads.  Oh well.

Oh, and do my quads HURT!  When I do ab exercises, it tends to be my quads, not my abs, that fail first.  I'm hoping that will change as I go through this.  Anyway, what with killing my quads Monday (ab ripper), then again yesterday (Plyometrics), then again today with the ab ripper, it really hurts to use my quads.  Going back and forth between standing and sitting is the worst.  Going down stairs isn't very nice either.

Day 2 - Plyometrics

First off, diet report:  I followed it yesterday!  In fact, it was so much food, I wasn't able to finish my dinner.  I may not be able to eat donuts and ice cream, but I definitely don't starve!

This workout is a beast.  Even the trainer on the tape says it's the "mother of all P90X workouts".  It's cardio/leg training through JUMPING.  Just think about that.  An hour of hopping around like a bunny rabbit.  It sucked.

All the exercises were timed, not based on reps/weight, so I don't have specifics to report.  I wasn't able to stick with it for the whole period of each exercise, but I did my best.

For this workout, the exercises were performed in groups of four.  Each group was repeated (so done a total of two times) before moving on to the next group.

Jump Squat

Run-stance squat

Airborne Heisman

Swing kick

Squat-reach jump

Run-stance squat switch

Double airborne Heisman

Circle run

Jump levee(?) tuck

Mary Katherine lunge

Leapfrog squat

Twist combo

Rockstar Hop

Gap jump

Squat jack

Military march

Run-stance 180 jump switch

Lateral leapfrog squat

Monster truck tire

Hot foot

This was definitely more exhausting than yesterday.  I didn't know that was possible, but it happened!

First Day!

Today is my first day of P90X!  It's been a bear already (one workout, slightly sore from the fit test).  Man, these workouts are tough!
The workout today is Chest & Back, about an hour long.

Each exercise was done twice.  I did the entire set once, then started it again.
After the first couple of exercises, I did pull-downs with resistance bands instead of pull-ups with a chair helping.

The resistance bands are different colors, which corresponds to different weights.
From lowest to highest weight (I don't remember the specifics they correspond to:
Yellow
Green
Red
Blue
Black

Standard pushups: 18, 15 on knees (k)
Wide front pullups: 10 w/ chair helping (c), 15 blue
Military pushups: 7k, 1k
Reverse-grip chin-ups: 9c, 20 blue
Wide fly pushups: 10k, 7k
Closed-grip overhand pull-ups: 20 red, 25 blue
Decline pushups: 5k - 0 decline, 4k 0 decline (these sucked!  I tried one, collapsed, hit my knee :( )
Heavy pants (pulling up to waist with flat back): 20 red, 15 blue
Diamond pushups: 5k, 0
Lawn mowers (like starting a mower): R 15 red - L15 red, R 15 blue, L 15 blue
Down-and-back pushups (downward dog, down 'under a fence', back up): 5, 2
Back flys: 15 red, 13 blue

Some of them were easier than I thought, so I went from a red band to a blue band to make it harder.

But that's not all!  Once the Chest & Back is done, we get to do Ab Ripper X!  One workout just isn't enough!  Ab Ripper X is about 15 mins long, and asks for (I couldn't do them all) 25 reps for each workout.

In-n-out
Seated bicycle
Seated crunchy frog
Wide-leg situps
Fifer scissors
Hip rock & roll
Pulse-up
Roll-up/V-up combo
Oblique V-up
Leg climb
Mason twist

If you want to know specifics, you can probably look them up on the internet.  The exercises are a little complicated, so it doesn't make sense to include descriptions of them here.

Anyway, that's all for today!  First workout, and it felt like it!

First Post! Starting information, fit test

Alright everybody, I'm starting P90X!  I want to join Utah County Search and Rescue, and they start doing interviews in October.  I have a lot of the skills they look for, but as you all know, I'm a little soft around the midsection :D  That gives me two months to get in shape before a possible interview.

P90X is supposed to deliver that to you.  90 days, they say, to get in the best shape of your life.  That's what I'm counting on!  I'm actually really excited, because SAR gives me a REASON to get in shape.  It's been a long time since I found something I wanted enough to really commit to losing weight and gaining strength.

This is a really difficult program.  It's 1 - 1.5 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 90 days.  It also includes a diet plan that is pretty strict.  I'm planning on following the exercise and diet plans as exactly as I can.

In fact, the program is so hard, they have a fitness test you have to pass before you can start it!  I took it, and will post my results.  I also took pictures they recommend as my "before" pics, and measurements of various body parts.  I'm going to try to post everything, so keep me honest!

Starting Measurements (inches):
Body Fat % (calculated from measurements): 34.31%
Weight: 246.6 lbs
Chest: 46.75
Waist: 47
Hips: 47.25
Right Thigh: 27
Left Thigh: 27.25
Right Arm: 15.25
Left Arm: 15.25
Resting Heart Rate: 58 bpm

Hopefully some of these measurements (weight, waist, hips, RHR) will go down, and some of them (arms, chest, thighs) will go up!!

Starting Pictures:

Check out that belly!  Ugh, hopefully it goes away soon!  I'm looking forward to looking more like my wedding photos!

All right, now that we're all thoroughly grossed out by my appearance, let's do the fit test!  There's several things to test.

Pullups: 3/4 (ugh, seriously?  Not even one??)
Vertical Leap: 15"
Pushups: 25
Toe Touch: -5.5" (that means I'm 5.5" away from being able to reach my toes :P)
Wall Squat (chair pose): 1:07.38
Bicep Curls: 15 @ 27 lbs/arm
In-n-outs (sitting, legs curled, then straighten, then curl again, etc): 35
Then I did jumping jacks as fast as I could for 2 minutes, then checking my heart rate at various times:
Immediately after: 150 bpm
1 minute: 120 bpm
2 minutes: 114 bpm
3 minutes: 108 bpm
4 mintues: 102 bpm

And that's my start!  I'm looking forward to sharing all this with you, and making a change!  I've been a strong fit, person before, and I know that I can do it again.

Make sure that you keep me honest!  It helps to be accountable to people, so you guys are my training group!  I'm planning on doing a post a day, talking about my progress.

See you all in 90 days!