Week 2 - Day 2

Nice sweaty Cardio X to get the blood pumpin and work out the nasty consequences of yesterday's super dirty burger party. Once again I left the shoes off for the whole beginning - I just can't do yoga with shoes. My feet are wide and weird and it's just too painful to endure. Still hate jumping jacks, but I did get that new sports bra and it helps tremendously. Not much else to say on this one! It's a good, hard, short workout and I had enough energy to empty and reload the dishwasher and clean the kitchen afterwards. Now I just need to resist eating all the leftovers up in here today...

Shower time!

Week 2 - Day 1

First of all, despite having a pretty rough week food-wise (holiday weekend, bbq at work, my time of the month) I am down 2.4 pounds. WOOHOO! Told you I would be down. Aside from the debauchery of the burgers I will be consuming today, this week should be MUCH tighter, so I hope for even more results.

Today it was back to Core Synergistics, so I don't have too much to say. It was a bit easier this time at first but then I tweaked my left hip a little on the skater move because I tried to lift my leg this time. Bad idea!! I just thrust it up there with reckless abandon and felt a funky pinch. So, that hampered me a bit for the rest of the workout. I still am not a fan of all the pushups. Does anyone have any tips on how to get better at them?? I really don't think it's about my arm strength as much as these freaking boulders on my upper torso region. Whatevs - someday I will be doing them with confidence and ease! (Just gotta keep telling myself that! Ha!)

Day 6: Kenpo X DONE

DONE WITH WEEK ONE!!! Woohoo!! I am so excited that I did it. I think I can definitely handle this. The coming weeks will be a bit more difficult, what with things going on during the week that will make it harder to fit in the daily workouts, but I know I can do it.

The Kenpo was a bit rough because my legs were quite sore from last night. I liked starting with stretching but again hated doing the yoga moves with shoes on. It's unnatural! I do love doing the pigeon, tho, so you take the good with the bad.

Although my overall opinion of this workout is positive, I was extremely confused during all of the punching combos. I mentioned before how I don't like the non-mirroring, and whereas in other workouts it is just annoying, this time it was very frustrating. I kept hitting myself with my own arms, flapping around like an idiot, and just generally feeling lost. It was the complete opposite of how I felt last night - totally incompetent and useless. Every time I thought I had it I would lose it again and feel really stupid. I know that's my own problem but I think it will keep me from loving this workout.

I DID very much enjoy the kicks and blocks. The side kicks are the most fun and the three way combo again brought me much joy! I felt really strong and confident doing all the blocks... until we got to the star and I felt like an oaf again. I will succeed at them someday!!

On a side note, I ordered a newer, stronger sports bra and it arrived today. I tried it on and did jumping jacks and it was heavenly. Hopefully it will help out a lot come Saturday.

Week one DOOOOOOOOOOOOONE!! I totally brought it. :o)

Day 5: Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X DONE

My favorite so far!! I loved this one. I was so pumped the whole time and really felt like I could do every exercise well. The rapid fire pace really suits me, too. My legs are pretty jelly-tastic, which is a sign of a great workout for me. This one included pull-ups so I finally got to use the "bands + tape roll over the door" technique which I also loved. Seriously, there wasn't anything I didn't like about this one. When we started the dead drop or whatever it's called, I was like, "Yea RIGHT - balancing and dipping down low? Not for me..." but I did them SO well! Shocked the hell out of me. The three-way lunge/kick was sooooo much fun. I could do those for days. I just adore kicking for some reason. (Hopefully there's lots of kicking in Ken-Po tomorrow!) The sneaky lunge and calf raises were insane but I busted my ass and BROUGHT IT.

I look forward to next Wednesday so I can do this one again! Super sweaty, hair needs washing, and I feel so freaking energized right now. Damn I love this rush. This is how a workout should make me feel.

Oh, yea. And Ab Ripper X. I did better than I did last time but was still dying the whole time. I forced myself to do at least 15 of each and instead of giving up after that I would just pause for a couple seconds and squeeze out at least 3 more. So, so rough, but I know it will be worth it at the end of all this.

Day 4: Yoga X DONE

I was looking very forward to doing this one because I haven't taken a yoga class in a few months and I miss it a lot. This session was just intense enough for me but I can see how it would be difficult for someone who has never done yoga before. It wasn't super rough (no hair washing needed - yippee!!) but there were definitely challenging moments. The whole first portion with the repeated salutation over and over got kind of boring, but I pushed through. I was quite pleased to discover I can still do the wheel, even if I can't hold it very long. Overall I think yoga night will be one of my faves because it's a nice break from the really painful stuff! Hehe...

Also - Daniel's back. *sigh* He's nice to watch.

Day 3: Shoulders & Arms, Ab-Ripper X DONE

Is it really only day 3?? It seems like I have been doing this forever. I feel so close to Tony, now. Hehe...

Seriously, that guy cracks me up. Every time he says "gorrrrgeous" with that wonky British (??) accent I giggle furiously. He was particularly silly in the shoulders and arms workout. I really liked this one, but I think I need to get some heavier weights. I tried some of the moves with the bands like Daniel... oh, Daniel. So far he is my P90X boyfriend. So dreamy, and did I mention he is wearing a backwards hat the whole time? Yea, he was a good motivator. Anyway, I think I want to pick up some heavier weights for some of these exercises. I also have to figure out what to do for the chair dips because as Julie knows - my dining room chairs are a BIT high. I tried using the ottoman but that didn't work very well.

This time I took some notes so I could remember what I wanted to say. One thing I forgot to mention on the other days was that I get so confused sometimes because I am really used to workouts where the leader mirrors - meaning when she says use your right arm, she uses her left so it is like you are looking at a mirror. Tony doesn't do that. So sometimes I am visually following him and then get all confused when he says, "Ok, now use your left arm" and that was what I was already doing. I will get used to this method in time but right now it's throwing me off a bit. Another note: Dreya totally has pit stubble in this one. That makes me happy. If the ripped, awesome trapeze artist can forget to shave her pits, then she seems just a bit more human and relatable, ya know?

There's a bonus round on this one, and since I had gotten up a bit later than I wanted I decided to skip it, especially since I had the Ab Ripper coming up. Today's a holiday, so I did it in the morning, but I don't think I will skip it normally because I will be doing it on Monday evenings when I have more time.

So, after I finished the shoulders and arms I was happy because although I felt tired and worked, I wasn't super sweaty. YAY! No washing hair today.

Ha. Ha. Ha. The joke was on me.

Ab Ripper X is only 15 minutes long but it is a KILLER. I could only do about half of each set before petering out. I think I said "Are you effing KIDDING me??" about 50 times throughout. I know I will get better at it as the weeks go on, but right now I feel like a loser doing this. Oh, well - just more room for improvement!! ;o)

Day 2: Cardio X DONE

*pant* Oh, hi *gasp* there! I *pant* just finished *gasp* Cardio X so I am a bit exhausted! Hehe... Really, it wasn't that bad but I am sweating like a whore in church. Love it! This one again had a lot of variety which I enjoyed, and combined moves from all the other workouts so I got a taste of everything.

What I did not enjoy was wearing shoes. It hurt SO BAD to do the yoga moves wearing shoes, so I finally took them off and left them off. I know that I'm not supposed to do that but I was in so much pain that all I could focus on was my feet and that was totally distracting me from the moves themselves, so I made an executive decision. I think it was fine.

I am also still not down for all the jumping around, but I did like the wacky jacks. Those I can do just fine! If the ken-po moves were any indication of how that workout is gonna go, however, I know I am in for some trouble with that one because I get so lost during the combinations of kicks and punches! We shall see how it goes.

Now I am off to wash my hair. Ugh. ;o)

Day 1: Core Synergistics DONE

Whew! That was great. I am sweaty and tired but also energized, which is exactly what I look for in a workout. As goobery as the guy is I like him. He's really close to the edge of obnoxious but also seems genuinely pumped which I like. I love Pam, the "modification" girl, because she is adorable and smiley and makes me feel like I can do it. I like watching Dreya the trapeze artist's amazing control and strength, and I just like the guy in the back cuz... well, damn. A hot body is always motivating to watch! LOL!

The only parts I didn't enjoy were all those damn push-ups! I know I will get over that someday but I doubt it will be any time soon. I just don't have the push-up gene or something. It may have something to do with my giant chest - that's a LOT of weight up there to push! And speaking of the massive mams, I definitely need a new sports bra. The jumping around was painful in parts. Also, I am not pleased to realize I am going to have to wash my hair every day for the next 3 months. I may have to cut it shorter again because washing/styling long hair every day suuuuucks.

All in all I feel very optimstic but also know that it's going to get harder before it gets easier. I'm ready. BRING IT!!! ;o)

OH, and my starting weight was 163.8. I GUARANTEE that will be down by next Saturday, especially since I ate nachos last night. Hehehehe...

Before Pics, Measurements, and More Humilation

Tonight has been a great night! They let us go home a couple hours early for the holiday weekend so I was doing the fit test by 3:30. B was annoying as expected - trying to tell me how to do things differently than the guide I had printed out instructed me, watching People's Court instead of paying attention to my times, etc. Finally got through everything, though, with the following results.

• Resting heart rate: 66
• Pull-ups: I don't have a pull-up bar and will be using resistance bands for my workouts as demonstrated by this guy, so I didn't do this test but I did try out the bands and they worked great.
• Vertical leap: 7 [recommended minimum: 3]
• Push-ups: 15 [recommended minimum: 15 and I hate hate hate push-ups so I pretty much quit there]
• Toe touch: +3 [recommended minimum: -6]
• Wall squat: 1:17 [recommended minimum: 1 minute]
• Bicep Curls: 32 with 5 lb weights [recommended minimum: 10 with 8 lb weights]
• In and Outs: 34 [recommended minimum: 25]

So, I passed just fine and should be good to go with the workout. I really hope to see improvement in all areas by the end of the 90 days.

I also took my measurements:

• Waist - 32.5
• Hips - 38.5
• Right bicep - 12.5
• Left bicep - 12.5
• Right thigh - 21
• Left thigh - 21.5
• Bust - 40

I will weigh myself in the morning before I work out for my official starting point.

Ok, I have put it off long enough. I said I would post my before pictures, so I will. It's terribly embarrassing, so I think I will post an even more disgusting, embarrassing picture first so that my other pics look impressive by comparison! LOL!

Here's where I was about 4.5 years ago:

Horrifying, right?? Now check out these comparatively awesome pics, which will be my starting point for my P90X journey:







Now I better get to bed so I can get up bright and early for some Core Synergistics! Woohoo! Wish me luck.

Bringin It

Thanks to Julie I am going to start the P90X workout this Saturday and I decided to make a blog to track my progress. This is a 90 day commitment and although I have the worst follow through of anyone on earth, I really hope to stick to this. At first I will try to write every day to give my impressions of the workouts and then at least once a week to keep it updated. Mostly I want to be held accountable somewhere, so here it is.

In case some rando reads this and doesn't know my fitness background I will lay it out for you here. About three and a half years ago I weighed 230 lbs and was a lazy ass lump. My exercise consisted of yoga once a week and taking walks sometimes. One day some people in my office decided to organize a "health challenge" so I joined up and lost 40 pounds right off the bat. I started doing a whole bunch of different workout dvds, mostly pilates based ones by Ellen Barret. I lost about 45 more pounds over the course of the next couple of years. By last summer I was super into working out, was 10 pounds away from my ultimate goal, and felt great.

For some reason, in pretty much every aspect of my life, whenever I get that close to a goal I begin to slack off or backslide. Diet and exercise seem to follow that same pattern. Since then I have slowly gained back about 15 pounds, and although I have continued to work out pretty regularly it has not been to the extent I was doing it back then. So, I really want to whip myself into real shape and finally reach my goal. I think this might be a way to do that.

Tomorrow I will be doing the fit test. I am getting kind of excited about that for some reason. I think it's because I like seeing actual, quantifiable results in the form of numbers and achievements. Three months isn't that long. I can do this!

I will post my before pics and fit test results tomorrow. Public embarrassment should be a good motivator!