Monday, April 5, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
J's BLOG - Now in Easy to Swallow Weekly Installments!
Wow. A rough week (and a couple of days), and not necessarily P90X-Wise. I caught a bit of a cold bug, which lasted for about 2 1/2 days, but put me out of commission for one day this week. On the whole, I have been good, but I am one day behind. Here's a short summary of progress through week 2:
Chest and Back (week 2)
did 10 pullups in the first set right out of the box. surprised the sh*t out of myself! Anyway, didn't do nearly as many as the workout progressed, used the chair a lot, but found I had better form and stamina (generally) in the pushups. Diamond pushups and the dive bombers are still the bitch of the bunch....
Plyometrics:
Again, challenging, but it feels great to finish. I did every exercise and could keep pace with the psychopath Horton, so that was good. I am absolutely wiped after this series.
Shoulders & Arms:
My favorite workout, hands down. Love it and want to keep working at increasing reps on bis and shoulders. Happy with my level of intensity on the tris, but everything can always use improvement.
Yoga X
Confession time! I only did 1/2 of the Yoga X program this week due to time constraints beyond my control. This workout is TOUGH and I am not flexible, but I showed improvement from last week, which is a plus.
Legs and Back:
Again, more reps than last week and, I think, better form. This is an enjoyable routine, but man do I feel it in my legs when I'm done for a couple of days.
Kenpo X
Still like this one - not so challenging as Plyo and Yoga (for different reasons), but really gets ya sweating. I will say I doubt very much that any of my "kicks" could knock over an old woman, but we're improving with time!
Ab Ripper X
Ah, Ab Ripper X, my old friend...Did this all three times this week after the lifting routines and I have to say, this is the area where I thought I would see the least improvement, and it ends up I an seeing the most improvement here! I can do every exercise now (even the satanic mason twists at the end) and while I am still in the 10-15 rep range for nearly all 11 exercises, it's a HUGE improvement from Week one. More soon as I am 1/2 way through week 3 already!
Chest and Back (week 2)
did 10 pullups in the first set right out of the box. surprised the sh*t out of myself! Anyway, didn't do nearly as many as the workout progressed, used the chair a lot, but found I had better form and stamina (generally) in the pushups. Diamond pushups and the dive bombers are still the bitch of the bunch....
Plyometrics:
Again, challenging, but it feels great to finish. I did every exercise and could keep pace with the psychopath Horton, so that was good. I am absolutely wiped after this series.
Shoulders & Arms:
My favorite workout, hands down. Love it and want to keep working at increasing reps on bis and shoulders. Happy with my level of intensity on the tris, but everything can always use improvement.
Yoga X
Confession time! I only did 1/2 of the Yoga X program this week due to time constraints beyond my control. This workout is TOUGH and I am not flexible, but I showed improvement from last week, which is a plus.
Legs and Back:
Again, more reps than last week and, I think, better form. This is an enjoyable routine, but man do I feel it in my legs when I'm done for a couple of days.
Kenpo X
Still like this one - not so challenging as Plyo and Yoga (for different reasons), but really gets ya sweating. I will say I doubt very much that any of my "kicks" could knock over an old woman, but we're improving with time!
Ab Ripper X
Ah, Ab Ripper X, my old friend...Did this all three times this week after the lifting routines and I have to say, this is the area where I thought I would see the least improvement, and it ends up I an seeing the most improvement here! I can do every exercise now (even the satanic mason twists at the end) and while I am still in the 10-15 rep range for nearly all 11 exercises, it's a HUGE improvement from Week one. More soon as I am 1/2 way through week 3 already!
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Kenpo X and Days OFF!!!
So, as advertised, Kenpo X was not as intense as, say, Plyometrics and was pretty fun (considering). Lots of punches and kicks and sweating, but even though it felt less intense, still was a good workout, I think.
Also, following the sage advise of my wife, I had back to back off days (i know, i know, but hear a man out) - it was absolutely ridiculous to have my off day on thursday, when it could be on Friday! So, I pushed everything back one day and started week 2 on Sat morning.
More on week two later - getting hard to keep up with this blog, especially during the week, but I am still working and up to date on all workouts. Back soon with more bitching about week 2!
Also, following the sage advise of my wife, I had back to back off days (i know, i know, but hear a man out) - it was absolutely ridiculous to have my off day on thursday, when it could be on Friday! So, I pushed everything back one day and started week 2 on Sat morning.
More on week two later - getting hard to keep up with this blog, especially during the week, but I am still working and up to date on all workouts. Back soon with more bitching about week 2!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Yoga X, Legs and Back
I'll tell you, doing the workouts during the week is about 50 times harder than on the weekend. I am NOT a morning person, so doing these intense workouts during the morning before work is out of the question, so that only leaves after work. awesome.
I mean, the Yoga DVD was 1 1/2 hours long - that's a really long time to do Yoga, especially if you are about as flexible as a crowbar. Anyway, i sweated my ass off at Yoga - it was really intense - about 45 mins of crazy non-stop hard core yoga moves and the other 45 minutes were balance exercises - less intense, but still challenging. Of all the programs I have done so far, this was the one I had the most trouble with, simply because I have not done Yoga before. I think as the workouts continue and if I have increased flexibility, the Yoga X workout will be more manageable and I will be able to at least make a good faith effort to do all of the moves. I must say though the next day, I did feel very stretched out and limber.
Tonight was another hour workout for legs and back. the back exercises were all pull-ups, i mean there were about 10 sets of pull-ups. I am still at the point where I think 5 year old girls can do more pull-ups than me, but my goal was to do at least 3 "real" ones per set and then use the chair for support like they tell ya. I got the goal and hopefully as I progress, I'll be able to do more and more. As for the leg exercises, there were a lot of lunges and isometric stuff like wall squats, etc. I actually enjoyed the legs part of the workout - it was challenging, but attainable and I was able to do almost all of the exercises to the recommended reps.
Then they stuck another g-damn ab ripper x in there after the legs and back. I don't even want to talk about how much I suck at these. I just hope that the ab stuff gets easier and I am able to do more reps because right now, I'm crapping out at about 10-12 per exercise when you are supposed to do 25. Also my form is crap for most of these. This is definitely an area to improve.
Kempo tomorrow and then, I think a break day??
I mean, the Yoga DVD was 1 1/2 hours long - that's a really long time to do Yoga, especially if you are about as flexible as a crowbar. Anyway, i sweated my ass off at Yoga - it was really intense - about 45 mins of crazy non-stop hard core yoga moves and the other 45 minutes were balance exercises - less intense, but still challenging. Of all the programs I have done so far, this was the one I had the most trouble with, simply because I have not done Yoga before. I think as the workouts continue and if I have increased flexibility, the Yoga X workout will be more manageable and I will be able to at least make a good faith effort to do all of the moves. I must say though the next day, I did feel very stretched out and limber.
Tonight was another hour workout for legs and back. the back exercises were all pull-ups, i mean there were about 10 sets of pull-ups. I am still at the point where I think 5 year old girls can do more pull-ups than me, but my goal was to do at least 3 "real" ones per set and then use the chair for support like they tell ya. I got the goal and hopefully as I progress, I'll be able to do more and more. As for the leg exercises, there were a lot of lunges and isometric stuff like wall squats, etc. I actually enjoyed the legs part of the workout - it was challenging, but attainable and I was able to do almost all of the exercises to the recommended reps.
Then they stuck another g-damn ab ripper x in there after the legs and back. I don't even want to talk about how much I suck at these. I just hope that the ab stuff gets easier and I am able to do more reps because right now, I'm crapping out at about 10-12 per exercise when you are supposed to do 25. Also my form is crap for most of these. This is definitely an area to improve.
Kempo tomorrow and then, I think a break day??
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper X
Well, as I read, the shoulder and arm workout was not a killer, but that does not mean it wasn't challenging. 15 exercises, 5 sets of 3 (one shoulder, one bicep, one tri), twice each for 8-10 reps apiece.
I thought it was a good workout and I definitely felt in in the shoulders especially. With my back and chest still on fire from Friday's workout, I cannot wait to see what kind of pain I'm in tomorrow when I wake up. it is going to SUCK.
Also, the less said about Ab Ripper X, the better. Apparently I was supposed to do a set of this workout on Friday, but I didn't realize, so today was my first foray into the Ripper. I felt like a geriatric trying to do these exercises. I could only do about half of them and I felt like I was going to pass out. That said, if I am going to realize my dream of making the cast of Jersey Shore Season 3, I have to master this routine.....
I thought it was a good workout and I definitely felt in in the shoulders especially. With my back and chest still on fire from Friday's workout, I cannot wait to see what kind of pain I'm in tomorrow when I wake up. it is going to SUCK.
Also, the less said about Ab Ripper X, the better. Apparently I was supposed to do a set of this workout on Friday, but I didn't realize, so today was my first foray into the Ripper. I felt like a geriatric trying to do these exercises. I could only do about half of them and I felt like I was going to pass out. That said, if I am going to realize my dream of making the cast of Jersey Shore Season 3, I have to master this routine.....
"Before" Photos
Against my better judgment, I am posting the "Before" photos. This is purely for posterity's sake and, I would just like to note, the poses were not chosen by me, but were suggested by The Guidebook. Photos are by my lovely wife, Loryn.
Day 2 - Plyometrics
Wow. The sadomasochist that came up with this one should be shot. "Plyometrics" is essentially an aerobics routine that consists of a series of squat and lunge exercises with a lot of jumping. As an example, instead of just doing a squat or lunge, these lunatics want you to do the squat and then, from the squatting position, jump up. Ridiculous.
Among the tougher exercises in this workout were the squat jumping jacks - yes, you heard right - Imagine you are squatting in a horse stance with your hands behind your head and then, still squatting, you have to do jumping jack motions with your legs. One that I liked was the air Heismans where you jump from one leg to the other and strike the Heisman pose.
Although it was a very tough routine, I was able to make it through and complete the entire thing on the first try, which is encouraging. However, I am posting this the day after and it feels like I got beaten about the thigh area with a bat.
I am doing this program in my basement, which has a sliding glass door open to a backyard and road. So far, I have had no spectators, but I know someone will look in at the worst time, like if I have my legs akimbo in some vakakta yoga pose.
More later when it's on to shoulders & arms coupled with AB RIPPER X - no, I'm not kidding, that's the real name.
Among the tougher exercises in this workout were the squat jumping jacks - yes, you heard right - Imagine you are squatting in a horse stance with your hands behind your head and then, still squatting, you have to do jumping jack motions with your legs. One that I liked was the air Heismans where you jump from one leg to the other and strike the Heisman pose.
Although it was a very tough routine, I was able to make it through and complete the entire thing on the first try, which is encouraging. However, I am posting this the day after and it feels like I got beaten about the thigh area with a bat.
I am doing this program in my basement, which has a sliding glass door open to a backyard and road. So far, I have had no spectators, but I know someone will look in at the worst time, like if I have my legs akimbo in some vakakta yoga pose.
More later when it's on to shoulders & arms coupled with AB RIPPER X - no, I'm not kidding, that's the real name.
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