Double E's Power 90 Blog

Think like a cat.

2009-09-22T21:41:00.000-07:00

Brutal. Totally brutal.

Week 6 - P90X in progress

2009-09-21T22:25:00.000-07:00

So I've taken quite a break from posting. We've had just a hellacious couple of weeks at the office caused by a former employee. I'll be the first to admit it took me off my game, big time.

I entered week 4 on track. My rest week quickly turned into little to no exercise at all. I missed both Yogas, Kenpo X, and I missed the second Core Syngeristics. Wow! I did manage to get in a run during the middle of the week. Lord knows I needed it.

Week 5 was much better. I returned to my normal program although I ended up doing a double header on Wednesday..which btw...totally sucks, don't do a double header. I was exhausted.

I started this week on schedule. I did the Chest/Shoulders/Triceps today per the schedule. I suprised myself and even did two pylo pushups!!! Yes, me! Before I worked out, I ran 3.7 miles at 6.4 MPH..so I basically did two exercises, a 40 minute cardio and my weight lifting.

I've got some serious Yoga X make up to do though...

Week 3 Complete - Phase 1 Circuit Training

2009-09-06T14:04:00.000-07:00

I ran 4.23 miles today in 42 minutes at 6.4 MPH (including 6 minute cooldown).

Weight: 216

I've now completed 3 weeks of P90X phase one. My diet took a serious turn for the worse this week as I grew disillusioned with the lack of success and results that I got during Week 1 and Week 2 with weight loss. Result? Virtually identical in weight to before. I know I'm doing something wrong on the diet...and I don't mean like this last week, where yes, I virtually wasn't even following the diet. I mean during Week 1 and Week 2. I should have lost more weight, and didn't. And I'm not sure why.

Brief recap of week 3.

Plyometrics.

Still a tough brutal workout. It's so hard.... That stretch in between minute mark 35 to the 20 minute mark is just brutal.

Shoulder & Arms.

I continued to improve. I'm not putting all the stats here unless requested, but here's a few highlights:

01 Alternating Shoulder Presses 14 w 30 / 11 w 35 (up from 17 reps 25 lbs / 12 using 30 lbs)
Notice I increased weight even more on second rep.

In & Out Biceps - No real change here.
Deep Swimmer's Press - Increased weight by 25%.
Chair Dips - I continue to own these. 25+ one legged. Am I doing it wrong? Gotta be, right?
Upright Rows - Increased weight by 20%

On many exercises I did exactly what I did before. This indicates I probably could really use that recovery week.

Yoga X.

It sucked as usual. I sweat like a pig from a about the 80 min mark until the end of the first half (right around the 50 min mark).

Then we have the Tony Horton downward dog magazine slash balance transition from the 50 min mark to the 40 minute mark. I pretty much suck at all the balancing exercises. I'm not eager to continue those, but I will be curious to see if I have made improvement by the end of this program.

Legs & Back.

Here we experienced significant gains in the back muscles. I managed to do 3.25 pullups without any assistance. First time I've done that since I started the program. I continued to use the "black band" primarily for my back muscle exercises. I am doing 25+ reps now on almost all o fthem so I know it's time to find something with more resistance. Tony says that I should just go back further and stretch the band more to get more resistance, but I'm not sure how much more that thing will stretch...it's stretched out alot as it is. In any event, I've made a note to get myself back even further in week 5. Hopefully by then I'll be doing more pull ups. I figure once I can get to where I can do 8 of them, I'll start experiencing significant gains quickly. I'm looking forward to that day.

Kenpo X.

Fun as usual.

Week 3 - Chest & Back

2009-08-31T20:57:00.000-07:00

This morning before work I ran 3.45 miles in 34 minutes at 6.5 MPH. I had a recovery drink immediately after and then went to work. After I got home I did Chest & Back followed by Ab Ripper X. Weight results were really weird. This morning I weighed 218. However, immediately befrore my P90X workout I weighed a mere 216...now that's more like it! I did make a few nature calls today..but doesn't this all beg the question?? If I'm at the point of considering when I'm going to bathroom and factoring that into my weigh in, aren't I just a little too bit obsessed about the weight? Err, my guess is that's a yes.

Here's my results from Chest & Back today. You may note that I went down on a couple of work outs compared to last weeks results. Maybe it's time for that recovery week eh?

Day 15/Monday - Weight 216 (@ 5:30 PM) - Chest & Back:

# --- Name --- First rep # * Second Rep#
01 Standard Push Ups - 31 * 18 + 4 more to failure + 5 more to failure
02 Wide Front Pull-Ups 2 + 1 (minibreak - "mb") * 8 (HA)/16 Black band - GB
03 Military Push-Ups 16 * 8 + 0 more (2 attempts for a couple more on phase 2)
04 Reverse Grip Chin-Ups 4 (A)/15 Black Band, GB * 17 Black Band, GB (Good Burn)
05 Wide Fly Push-Ups 26 * 18
06 Closed Grip Overhand Pull ups 3(a)/12 Black * 12 Black Band - GB
07 Decline Pushups 13 + 3 (mb) * 11
08 Heavy Pants 10 using 40 lbs (form was bad) * 12 using 30 lbs (form much better)
09 Diamond Pushups 11 +6" width * 10 +6" width
10 Lawnmowers 14 using 45 lbs * 10 using 40 lbs
11 Dive-Bomber Push-Ups 9 * 7
12 Back Flys 12 using 25 lbs (Bad form) * 15 using 22.5 lbs

I declined performance on these exercises:
Standard Push Ups, Second Rep (Down 4) ... Up 1 On First Rep
Military Push Ups, Second Rep (Down 2) ... But I was up 2 on First Rep
Decline Push Ups, First Rep (Down 1), but add'l 3 after mega-mini break
Heavy Pants, Second Rep (Down in weight by 5 lbs, resulted in better form)

I increased performance on these:
Standard Push Ups, First Rep
Wide Front Pull Ups, First Rep
Wide Front Pull Ups, Second Rep
Military Push Ups, First Rep
Reverse Grip Chin Ups, First Rep
Closed Grip Overhand Pull Ups, First Rep (went from 5 heavy assist + 12 black band, to 3 assist + 12 black band)
Decline Push Ups, Second Rep
Heavy Pants, First Rep (but bad form)
Diamond Push Ups, First Rep
Diamond Push Ups, Second Rep
Lawnmowers, First Rep
Lawnmowers, Second Rep
Dive Bomber Push Ups, First Rep
Dive Bomber Push Ups, Second Rep

Push on these exercises:
Reverse Grip Chin Ups, Second Rep
Closed Grip Overhand Pullups, Second Rep
Back Flys (Both Reps)

I'm doing this with my wife. We are seriously considering repeating phase 1 again because of our dieting issues. We haven't totally decided, but we'll decide at the end of next week before making the decision to repeat weeks 1-4. Maybe we should just move on to Phase 2?

Week 2 Complete

2009-08-30T13:47:00.000-07:00

As the title says, Week 2 is a wrap. Today I have been resting taking a well deserved day off from the rigors of P90X. Here's a day by day blow from last week:

Day 8/Monday - Weight 217 - Chest & Back:

# --- Name --- First rep # * Second Rep#
01 Standard Push Ups - 30 * 22 + 4 (22 to failure, then added 4 more to failure)
02 Wide Front Pull-Ups 3 (assist - "A"), 15 using black band * 7 (heavy assist - "HA"), 15 Good
03 Military Push-Ups 14 * 10
04 Reverse Grip Chin-Ups 2.75 (A) * 3 (HA)m 10 Black Band, GB (Good Burn)
05 Wide Fly Push-Ups 24 * 15
06 Closed Grip Overhand Pull ups 7.5 (a) * 5 (HA), 12 black
07 Decline Pushups 14 * 10 + 2 (10 to failure, then 2 more to failure)
08 Heavy Pants 8 using 40 lbs * 10 using 35 lbs
09 Diamond Pushups 8 +6" width* 7 +6" width
10 Lawnmowers 15 using 40 lbs*12 using 40 lbs
11 Dive-Bomber Push-Ups 8 * 6.5
12 Back Flys 15 using 22.5 lbs* 12 using 22.5 lbs

Day 9/Plyometrics
Tough workout, didn't seem to have same energy as last weeks. It burns, it burns!

Day 10/Shoulder & Arms - Weigh 215 - First rep #/Second Rep#
# - Exercise name - Rep/Weights * 2nd Rep/Weights
01 Alternating Shoulder Presses 17/25 (must go up) * 12/30
02 In and Out Bicep "12" + 4/30 lbs * "16"/22.5
03 Two-Arm Tricep Kickbacks 12/15 * 15/15
04 Deep Swimmer's Presses 12/20 * 12/22.5
05 Full Supination Concentration Curls 12/22.5 * 10/25
06 Chair Dips 20+ (one legged) * 21 one legged
07 Upright Rows 12/25 * 12/25 (should go up next round)
08 Static Arm Curls "16"/25 * "16"/20
09 Flip Grip Twist Tricep Kickbacks 10/10 * 12/10
10 Two Angle Shoulder Flys "16"/15 * "16"/15
11 Crouching Cohen Curls 8/22.5 * 8/22.5
12 Lying Down Tricep Extensions 6 blue, then 5 green band * 10 green band
13 In & Out Straight Arm Shoulder Fly - "16"/10 * "16"/8
14 Congdon Curls - 7.75/25 * 14 (mb used)/20 (mb=minibreak)
15 Side Tri Rises - L 34, R 18/ L 23, 10 R

I also ran 3.5 miles on this day.

Day 11 - Yoga - Weight 215
Argh.. I have a tiny bit of improvement. Cant' really do much of this stuff, especially from the 40 minute mark on when it becomes about 30 minutes of extreme balancing. I'll be interested to see if I make some good progress with this workout at the end of P90X.

Day 12 - Legs & Back of Pain - Weight 214.6!

Legs & Back consist of 4 back exercises that are repeated twice and sixteen leg exercises. The good news is that you do not repeat any of the leg exercises. You do each leg exercise only once. The bad news is that this is one of the most painful exercises there is, maybe even worse than plyometrics (but it's a close call there). Because I don't get detailed stats on the leg exercises, I'm providing some basic info on the leg exercises for the first phase of Legs & Back. By the time Phase 2 starts, my notes on the Legs exercises gets really suspect.

I've pretty much switched to using the bands for back exercises because I can't do the pull ups. I did 3 in the beginning before week 0 but I can not seem to get it done at all now. Although I do 3.25 chin ups on Friday. The issue that I'm having with the bands is simple: I get really good burn using the black bands from Beachbody, but the problem here is that I need so many reps (15-25) to get there that I'm wondering if I'm really building much muscle in that area or just toning (which does me no good)...Thus making it even harder to ever to get to the point where I can do more pullups because I have to do so many reps to get to the burn using the black bands.

Remember the key
A - assist (lite assist using a chair with only one leg at an angle)
HA - heavy assist - both legs on chair, chair is close
BF - bad form
GB - good burn
BB - Black Band (at this point, if you see a high number rep for a pull up or chin up, you are pretty much assured I'm using the black band)

Note - I'll attempt pull up/chin up, and if I don't get the burn I think I should get, I switch and do more with the bands. Example - Exercise #1 "Chin ups" - I did 3.25 chin ups, then switched to the Black band for another 18, on the second rep (phase 2) I did 15 using the black bands, using them slowly, and I felt a "good burn" from doing them.

# -- Exercise Name -- Number on First Rep * Number on Second Reps
01 Reverse Grip Chin Ups - 3.25 /18 BB * 15 BB Slow GB
02 Legs - Calf Squats
03 Some Lunge thing
04 Wide Front Pull Ups - 7 (a) * 17 SLOW BB GB
05 One Legged something
06 Wall Squat - 90 secs (pain)
07 Closed Grip Overhand Pull Ups - 5.5 (HA)/12 BB * 20 BB GB
08 One legged something - Pain
09 Side lunge
10 Switch Grip Pull Ups 24 BB GB * 20 BB GB
11 Single Legged Wall Squat - serious pain
12 Something else that burns
Last leg exercise "Debbie" - R 30 slow, 5 air/ L - 30 SLOW, 6 Air

Friday night was our bad eating night. We went to Azteca, and I apparently gained 3 lbs from eating there......although I estimate that my total caloric intake for the day was about 3600 calories, that's assuming that I had a 1800 calorie dinner at Azteca...which I may have had...

Day 13 - Kenpo X - Weight 217

[RANT]
Weight 218?!?! WTF! I couldn't have gained 3 lbs from Azteca last night, could I have? I got on the scale this morning (Sunday) I weighed even more... 219.6 lbs! 2 lbs from Yesterday?? Are you frakkin' serious??? I've gained 5 lbs in 2 fucking days??? WTF!
[/RANT]

In addition to Kenpo X, I ran 4 miles at 6.4 MPH in about 41 minutes. I ran before my Kenpo X. I followed Kenpo X immediately after. I then did Ab Ripper X after that because I forgot to do it on Friday. Total calories burned was probably in the 1,500 range. Had the recovery drink after (man that tastes great!) and then went to Snohomish for a birthday party for my grandma. She turned 85 and was in good spirits.

My weight, as noted above, contiunues to piss me off. With exception to Friday night and Saturday, I'm following the diet pretty darn good. I don't get how I gained 5 lbs in 48 hours. In fact, it just pisses me off. I realize I eat fairly unheathly at Azteca and the following day at Taco Bell...but I watched what I got from Taco Bell and only ate 800 calories worth of food from there. So what the heck happened? What about the fact that I burned 1500 calories working out that day? Doesn't that account for something? Anyway, that's the report for the week.

Week 3 is next week.

Week 1 Complete

2009-08-22T20:59:00.000-07:00

I finished Week 1 strong doing Kenpo X. This was my favourite workout so far. Very quick passage of time. I planned to run today so I kept my heart rate in the fat burning zone (130-140). The workout contained a good combination of kicks, blocks, and punches. Interestingly, it actually started pretty slow with the first 10 minutes being some kind of Yoga Karate Combo thing. Did I mention that I only have another 15 Yoga X sessions left before I'm finished with Yoga X? I wasn't too thrilled with the Yogo/Karate introduction, but once we got passed that Yoga stuff we got down to business and the workout flew by.

One thing I noticed that was interesting was Tony Horton's idea of "Rest" which consisted of running in place, doing jumping jacks, and leaping to the ceiling for two minutes. That was Rest? Welcome to P90X.

I kept my heart rate in the fat burning zone for the workout, but I could have easily went aerobic (heart rate 145-160) for the entire video. During the course of the workout, there were several times in which I hit 150 bpm before slowing down my intensity to reduce my heart rate. Tony said his heart rate got up to 164/65 bpm. If true, based on his age, he would have been training in the anerobic zone.

After Kenpo X, I ran for 37 minutes on the treadmill at 6.2 MPH. Heartrate ranged from 150-167 bpm.

My diet was very good today. I ate 3/4 lbs of Chicken for dinner, Zucchini, spinach, and 1 cup of wild rice. It felt like a good dinner. I'd give my diet a 4.5/5 today.

That's it for Week 1 of P90X! Tomorrow I get to rest.

Week 1 Mostly Complete

2009-08-22T11:25:00.000-07:00

Current Weight: 217.2

I've survived 5 days of P90X following the diet in very good form with the sole exception to last night's Olive Garden Pasta Nirvana. I know they are a chain, but I just love their Alfredo sauce. I can't get enough. Not to mention their salad dressing...

p90X is incredibly intense. Monday was intro to P90X and we hit it off with a bang. Chest and back. Pushups and pullups. Tuesday was just murder on my legs. Wednesday was "glamour day". It was one of the easier workouts. Thursday's Yoga X just sucked ass hard. I'm counting down how many more of those Yoga X's I have to do before I complete the program.

Pullups and Chinups

Yesterday was Back and Legs. I still can't do a complete 3 pullups without assistance, so I started using the bands during the workout because I've been growning concerned about my lack of burn on the back exercises (namely because I can't do very many without heavy assistance..and then I'm left wondering..am I working out my back or my legs again????). So I started using the resistance bands. I had to do a high number of reps but I did start getting some good burn in my back muscles. The problem here is I have to do 20+ reps to actually feel any burn in my back muscles....and I am using the 50 lb resistance bands from Beachbody. Tony says you should do 8-10 reps to grow bulk muscles, but I can't do 8-10 with the bands because my bands aren't high enough in resistance. On the other hand, I can't do 8-10 pullups without using my legs (and thus forcing myself to wonder if I'm really even getting a benefit out of the exercise). So what do I do? I'm wondering if I should supplement my workout with a trip to gym to build bulk in the back muscles. I'm going to check out Beachbody.com to see what I can learn there.

LEGS OF PAIN

Along with pullups and chinups yesterday, legs were the big workout of the day. I'm sum it up for you in one word: pain. My favourite moment was when Tony Horton went Austin Powers/Dr. Evil on us and went into mini-me mode. I won't tell you what it is, but if you've seen Austin Powers movies, you'll know it when you see it. And trust me your in for some serious pain there. My muscles are very sore today in the legs...

Still have the Karate exercise today.

Week 1 - Shoulder and Arms

2009-08-19T22:10:00.001-07:00

Work out was easier than yesterday. I worked out at 6 AM this morning.. Brutal getting up that early! Dieting not so good today.. I'd give myself 3/5 stars.

I ran 39 minutes in the evening or 3.84 miles including cooldown in 39 minutes.

Plyometrics

2009-08-18T11:36:00.001-07:00

Plyometrics is brutal. It is easily one of the most difficult (if not the most difficult) workouts I've ever done.

P90X - Week 1 - Chest and Back

2009-08-17T23:00:00.000-07:00

I'm still running. Please note that it is beyond highly recommend that you do not run in addition to doing P90X. I have my own reasons for why I have chosen to run anyway. And it has nothing to do with exercise. Put simply, jogging is my sole outlet to relieve stress and I can not give up the running or I risk collapse of being able to do any exercise from being stressed out. So there you have it. My reason for running. I ran 3.44 miles in 35 minutes (including cool down) before I did P90X.

With that said, today was Day 1 for Week 1. I'm very sore. I followed the diet fairly well. I'd give myself 3.75/5 stars on the diet side which is very good for me. I could not finish Ab Ripper X. I think I did something close to 250-275 of the total 349 exercises.

Here's my Chest & Back breakdown.

Key:
A - Assist (usually one leg)
HA - Heavy Assist (usually both legs)
GF - Good Form

Number on P90X Workout sheet --- Name - First rep #/Second Rep#
01 Standard Push Ups - 27/15 (with weights)
02 Wide Front Pull-Ups 3(a)/5(ha)
03 Military Push-Ups 12/9
04 Reverse Grip Chin-Ups 2 (assist)/2.5(HA)
05 Wide Fly Push-Ups 20/15
06 Closed Grip OVerhand Pull ups 5 (HA)/5 (HA)
07 Decline Pushups 13(GF)/11
08 Heavy Pants 12 using 35 / 15 using 30 (GF)
09 Diamond Pushups 10 +6" width/10 +6" width
10 Lawnmowers 15 using 35 lbs/ R13 * 40 lbs L6 * 40 lbs
11 Dive-Bomber Push-Ups 10/7
12 Back Flys 12 using 22.5 lbs/12 using 20 lbs (GF)

Of note here. I couldn't do 3 straight dead hang pull ups today. Most stats went down from last week. This might have something to do with the fact that I did the P90 fit test yesterday.

Shoulders and Arms (Yesterday) - Week 0

2009-08-13T10:59:00.001-07:00

Left shoulder still sore from week 13 of Power 90, so I worked with fairly low weights to prevent myself from reinjurying my left shoulder. I did 35 minutes of running before I did P90X. Here's my stats from yesterday:

# - Exercise name - Rep/Weights * 2nd Rep/Weights
01 Alternating Shoulder Presses 10/25 * 15/20
02 In and Out Bicep 10/30 * 12/25
03 Two-Arm Tricep Kickbacks 8/20 * 12/15
04 Deep Swimmer's Presses 10/20 * 8/20
05 Full Supination Concentration Curls 9/20 * 8/20
06 Chair Dips 25+ * 20+ (one legged)
07 Upright Rows 15/20 * 12/20
08 Static Arm Curls "16"/20 * "16"/20
09 Flip Grip Twist Tricep Kickbacks 8/10 * "4"/10
10 Two Angle Shoulder Flys "12"/15 * "16"/10
11 Crouching Cohen Curls 9/20 * 8/20
12 Lying Down Tricep Extensions 10/20 * 15/Red Band

Thoughts on yesterday.

Tricep exercises chair dip and lying down triceps were too easy..switched to red band and that helped.. Maybe I'm doing the chair dip wrong? I ended up doing the second round of chair dip with 1 leg and I could still have done more. My guess is my form was bad because Tony was talking about doing 25...

13 In and out Straight Arm Shoulder Flys "16/10 * "16"/10
14 Congdon Curls 10/20 * 10/20
15 Side Tri-Rises 21L/18R * 15L/15R
essentially ran out of time on 15. I could have done more..once again I wondered...am I doing this execise wrong?

Still my triceps were sore today, so I guess that's a good sign.

Tomorrow will be Yoga X or a sculpting workout.

We're easing into P90X, if that's even possible. Dieting starts hot and heavy next week.

P90X - Week 0 (Prep Week) Day 1 and Day 2

2009-08-11T21:31:00.001-07:00

So this is no joke. This shit is just fucking hard. I'm using the P90X rest and recovery formula. Following diet rules so-so..my biggest problem right now is that I don't eat enough right now. Wife is planning on helping with that and thank god for her. I'm still running...I know I know I shouldn't...but I ran 3 miles yesterday before I did chest & back. I'll run tomorrow in the evening. I had a 10 day hiatus from running and man does your body get out of shape quickly!

Initial weight: 221 (I only lost 10 lbs in Power 90)

Here's my Day 1 Chest & Back Stats:

Chest & Back:
Name --- Number on P90X workout sheet - First rep #/Second Rep#
Standard Push Ups 01 - 27/25
Wide Front Pull-Ups 02 3/4 (one leg assist)
Military Push-Ups 03 19/9
Reverse Grip Chin-Ups 04 3 (assist)/3(assist)
Wide Fly Push-Ups 05 22/17
Closed Grip OVerhand Pull ups 06 3 (heavy assist)/3 (assist)
Decline Pushups 07 10/12
Heavy Pants 08 15 using 30 lbs/ 10 using 35 lbs
Diamond Pushups 09 5 +6" width/9 +6" width
Lawnmowers 10 15 using 35 lbs/12 using 40 lbs (need to use more weight)
Dive-Bomber Push-Ups 11 0/5
Back Flys 12 8 using 20 lbs/12 using 22.5 lbs

I can't do the pull ups without assistance. I'm hoping those numbers will improve.

Did Pylo today and holy fucking shit does that workout suck ass.

Tomorrow is Shoulder & Arms?

I'm sore.

Injuries cont'd (final week 14)

2009-08-03T22:06:00.001-07:00

This is not exactly how I wanted to finish Power 90. Last week for week 13, I did a full week of Power 90 Sculpting/Cardio. This week was intended to be a make up week, but so far, there hasn't been much making up. Today I wanted to do Sculpting, but I couldn't do a push up with out significant pain in the left shoulder. This might have something to do with doing sculpting on Saturday instead of my usual Friday (didn't get 2 days rest). Left leg is still hurting so no running for now. Given the state of the injury in my leg and if it doesn't feel better, I'm going to do the elliptical trainer in leiu of running/cardio 3-4.

Getting old sucks!

Not quite how I wanted to finish the program, but it's important that I start P90X right. I don't want to be slowed down due to injuries. I'll have a final report on my progress through P90 by Sunday including weight measurements.

Injuries

2009-07-27T22:42:00.001-07:00

Last week on Thursday I injured my left leg during a running exercise. As a result, I didn't work out on Friday or Saturday. I can really tell when I miss a day or two!

Day 3, Week 12 - Sculpting 3-4

2009-07-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

I made some changes. Squat/lunge combo in second circuit still sucks ass.

Here's my results:

1st Circuit:
1 pushups: 20
2 back exercise #1: 30 lbs - 10 times
3 mil press: 35 lbs - 10 times (I did 30 lbs last time, and it was lame...but....)
4 bicep curl: 35 lbs - 7 times only ...went a little backwards here.. 7 times??? and my form was REAL BAD
5 back scratchers - 25 lbs @ 12 each.

2nd Circuit:
1 real wide pushups: 20
2 back exercise #2: 30 lbs - 10 times
3 swimmer's press: 8 @ 30 lbs - had a really HARD TIME with this one.and form was bad too..should go back to 25 lbs
4 wide biceps - 9 @ 30 lbs
5 tricep back pully thing - used green resistance band... band by itself is too long, but if I shorten it just a little it's too hard, use red band next time and shorten the red band.
6 squat/lunge hell - always hell

3rd Circuit:
1 Pushups 7-7-10 (with 5 sec breaks between sets)
2 lawn mower - 12 each @ 30 lbs - need to go 35 lbs this is too easy
3 shoulder thing - did 10 @ 25 lbs - this kills me, stay here, form is ok
4 biceps 7-7-7 @ 25 lbs... I made it
5 chest arm squat thingy - 19
6 12-12-12 squats - did it

4th Circuit
moved to 15 lbs on the wrist exercise, was wise move.
pushups: 25
squats: 32

After the workout I ate a lite healthy dinner, then drank the following:
p90x rest/recovery and a 20 gram chocolate shake with 10 grams creatine. Hopefully I'll bulk up a little.

All for now. I've got at least 1.5 weeks to go and no more than 2.5.

to my routine as follows:

Week 12 - Sculpting Report

2009-07-20T22:23:00.001-07:00

I definitely need to start writing down the weights that I'm using because I can't remember what I did 3 hours later. The 3 minutes Squat/Lunge combo at the end of the second circuit is still smoking my ass. My heart rate shoots up to 170. Today it almost hit 180. I rested for 5 mintues before resuming the workout. I don't know how anyone can go straight into the third circuit after that brutal butcher shop.

Here's my report, pushups:
1: 20
2: 20
3: 7-7-10
4: 25

Biceps:
1: 35/8
2: 30/8
3: 7-7-10 (using 20 lbs) ... I should have used 25 lbs. This was WAY too easy.

Press:
1: 30/15
2: 30/8
3 (Shoulder Flys): 20/10

I've got at least one more full week of Power 90, maybe two to complete the program.

End of Week 11

2009-07-19T12:00:00.000-07:00

I missed another sculpting on Monday due to traveling. I think that makes the third? I also ran on Tuesday/Thursday/and Saturday in lieu of Cardio 3-4.. And also did the Ab 200. This post is more about my yo-yo dieting than working out. I've been following the supplements pretty steady. As long as I follow my diet plan I lose weight. Can you believe it? I almost can't. I got down to 216 on Friday. But I've had a very bad weekend of going to parties and barbecues. Got on the scale this morning and it said 222. I couldn't have possibly gained that much weight, right? No more summer barbecues!!!

I've got 2 official and one bonus week left of Power 90. I'm officially pretty bored. My results have started to improve again.

Pushups: I'm now doing 23-25 pushes for the 4th and final circuit, up from 17-18.
Biceps: I can now do 12 30 lb curls on the first circuit, so I clearly need to move up to 35 lbs.

I remain weak in two areas. One is the military press. I'm still pressing 35 lbs each arm and it's tough to make it to 10. It's been that way for at least 4 weeks so I must be just doing something wrong. The second area is the squats. After the second circuit when we do those 50 squats my heart rate is toast. I'm in the 170's and I typically need 2-3 minutes of rest to recover before I start doing the 7-7-7 pushups. My wife doesn't have a problem with the squats and then doing the pushups right after the 30 sec break. I don't know why I have such a problem but those squats are tough for me.

On a supplement note: I received the Rest and Recovery for the P90X. Both my wife And I like it alot. It tastes very good and does a great job of really helping with recovery. I've seen the list of ingredients so I'm going to look for something from Seattle SuperSupplements and see if they've got something comparable. I also ordered and received the p90X monohydrate creatine. It's waaayyyyy overpriced ($50 including shipping). I ordered it because I'm interested in gaining some muscle mass. You can easily pick up monohydrate creatine from your local GNC/Seattle SuperSupplement/vitamin store for less. We're returning it to Beachbody. Just go look for monohydrate creatine. I saw it at Seattle Supplements for $ 10 for the same size bottle that we got from beachbody.

Yesterday I ran in leiu of cardio 3-4. I ran 7.45 miles in 75 minutes. I can now finally do 3 pullups. From a fit test perspective, I met all of the minimum requirements to do the P90X. Can't wait to get started.

End of Week 10

2009-07-11T22:32:00.001-07:00

I've settled into somewhat of a routine as I near the end of this program. I do sculpting on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I also have been running on Monday and Wednesday. Over the last few weeks, I've noticed that my sculpting results have "pleateaued". After speaking with others the culprit appears to be: overtraining. Specifically, doing running on sculpting days. I can't give up the running because I use that for stress management so I changed the days I do it to Tu-Thu-and Saturdays... In other words I do it on the cardio day. From what I hear (from others), doing two cardio workouts on the same day isn't so bad but doing a cardio workout on a weight lifting day is a terrible idea. Stay tuned to see if this change yeilds some more results as I enter the final 3 weeks of the program.

Meanwhile, it appears that I'm now starting to lose about 2 lbs a week. This is great news after stopping at 221 for two to three weeks.

Today I ran for 65 minutes in lieu of Cardio 3-4 and added the first part of Cardio 3-4 leg lifts, Power Yoga, Stretching, and of course the Ab Cruncher 200.

Week 10 Progress Report

2009-07-07T17:27:00.000-07:00

Last week I was on the road traveling for business. As a result, I didn't have much time or opportunities to update the blog on what had transpired during the week. Needless to say it was very tough to even get my workouts in. I ended up missing a sculpting day on Wednesday which is very rare. For Tuesday and Thursday I ran in lieu of the Cardio Workout while also still doing the Power Yoga and Abs. From reading the Power 90 book, I see that I shouldn't have done that and instead should have done the Cardio 3-4 in lieu of running. But I know that my heart rate gets no where near where it gets when I run so I have a strong preference for running if I have to choose between the two.

I'll be traveling for business next Monday and Tuesday as well.

Today was cardio 3-4. I can finally keep up with Tony and the gang. I guess I'm moving from Phase 3 to Phase 4. I also ran 5.4 miles on Sunday and another 3.7 miles yesterday before doing the Power 90 Sculpting yesterday.

Don't look now but I'm starting to notice some changes in my body! And I do like it. Weight is down to 221. I'm oscillating around 221 which means I've lost 10 lbs since I've started. Trust me that is all fat.

Here's my sculpting report:

Pushups
1: 20
2: 20
3: 7-7-7 with breaks, then did another "7" using my knees
4: 17

Biceps:
1: 11 @ 30 lbs
2: 12 @ 25 lbs
3: 7-7-10 @ 20 lbs

Presses:
1: 10 @ 35 lbs
2: 12 @ 30 lbs

Squats:
4: 31

I'd really like to be doing 40 lbs for biceps before I finish the series, but that looks increasingly unlikely. I plan to move to 35 lbs for bicep curls for the first set starting next week. Looking at the numbers maybe I should do it tomorrow?

I have Power 90X and a chin up bar. Excited to get started once this is all over although I am strongly considering adding a week to this Power 90 to makeup for missed days. Bad idea? Good idea?

Last of Sculpting for Week 8

2009-06-26T19:27:00.001-07:00

The progress for improvement in my lifting performance is much less than I hoped for at this point. I'm still somewhat stuck at the same number of push ups that I've been doing for the past couple of weeks. I am noticing some improvement. I'm also definitely noticing an improvement in my figure. I've lost about 10 lbs now and currently weigh 222 (up 1 lb).

Anyway, I was hoping for a little more. I'd be much happier if I was at 211 right now, but, I've got what I've got. Anyway, I'm in the best shape I've been in in years so I guess I can't complain too much. Defiunitely getting close for time for the 60 day photos. Day 60 will be a week from last Wednesday (on Day 54 right now by my count)

Weed 8, Day 4 - Cardio

2009-06-25T22:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did sculpting and I had good improvement from Monday's results. I can't remember what the results were because it was yesterday and I'm an old fuck now that can't remember shit, but I do remember being pleasantly surprised with the performance.

So today is Cardio day. What to do... Do I do the usual Cardio 3-4? Tuesday was pretty easy so I did that run afterwards.

This time I did the run first. I ran for 30 minutes at 6.4 MPH. That's the fastest I've ran since 2002? Maybe longer. It's been a while. Most of the run was either at or above the cardio limit. But what an accomplishment. I've very proud of what I did. No Cardio 3-4 afterwards, although I did do the Abs.

But note to self: Saturday's run should be at no faster than 5.9 MPH. I want to have an endurance run and to also have enough in the tank to do cardio 3-4.

Back to the hotel - Circuit Training 3-4

2009-06-22T22:57:00.000-07:00

After taking the last two sculpting days off, I am happy to be back in the swing of things. Strangely even though I didn't do sculpting for two days last week, I've lost a grand total of 4 lbs in the last week. I do not know why, but I'm happy with the results.

I'm even more pleased to report than I didn't go backwards on my performance today, which means I didn't lose muscle mass! Yippie, I actually lost some fat!!

Here's my results:

Pushups:
1st: 20
2nd: 20
3rd: 7-7-6.5 (yes almost did a 7-7-7!!!!)
4th: 15 (I'll take it with the above results)

Biceps:
1st: 30 lbs/9
2nd: 25 lbs/12?
3rd: 20 lbs/7-7-10

Press
1st: 35 lbs
2nd: 30 lbs

Squats
4th: 31

I loathe the squats. Glad to be back at it. I worked out waaay to late in the day, but at least I did it. I'm showing really good results for taking two sculpting days off last week. The results seem to support the contention that I might have needed to take a break.

Learning as we go

2009-06-18T17:38:00.000-07:00

An on-going issue during my Power 90 experience has been learning how to allow for recovery and to incorporate dieting with my ambitious work out goals (do Power 90 and run 3 times a week). This week, and last week as well, I suffered some set backs due to my poor diet. The poor diet has manifested itself in a couple of ways. First, it has made my recovery from working out longer. Significantly longer. Second, it has resulted in some minor injuries. Now I've never had minor injuries before so this is a new thing for me. On Monday, I could hardly do pushups. In fact, I did them through the pain. I'm not talking about the normal burn pain you get, I'm talking about something in my shoulder seriously hurting as I was doing the pushups. The problem is I'm an all or nothing kind of guy. I can't quit, cause if I did quit, I'd just quit Power 90. So that's not an option. So I didn't. I basically did 2 out of 4 pushup sessions and called it on Monday. Meanwhile, I've been experiencing some other pain as well like in my knee cap from doing squats.

Now you may recall that I actually did Sculpting on Saturday last week, so my body hasn't had a 2 day rest in over a week. A good reader will also note that I've "plateaued" in my results. Basically, I've been doing about 17-20 pushups for each circuit except the third where I can't do the 7-7-7's and I've been doing 30/25/20 lb weights on my bicep curls for weeks. In short, not making any progress here. Maybe I'm overtraining like we discussed before?

So I took Wednesday off and due to time constraints put in a long run in replacement of Cardio 3-4 today, although I also did the abs. I ran at the fastest speed I've ran at in 5 years: 6.3 MPH for 31 minutes. That is a huge accomplishment for me that I'm very thrilled to report on it.

I did the Abs at the Y after the run and I will probably come home and do the first part of Cardio 1-2 or 3-4 (the portion with the legs) so those legs don't get any time off today.

Its all or nothing....

2009-06-14T00:19:00.000-07:00

This has been just a terrible week for Power 90. I did Sculpting on Monday and Wednesday.

I did nothing on Tuesday and Thursday. Tuesday was intentional, but Thursday was largely due to my work schedule (I worked from wakeup to 1 AM friday). I then didn't do sculpting on Friday. I felt the program and the progres I've been making slipping away. That did not make me happy.

Today I ran 4 miles in 43 minutes. Then did what I'd call a "lite" version of Cardio 3-4 immediately following the run. It wasn't easy doing Cardio right after that run. I went to my parents for a birthday party, returned in the evening, and then did sculpting 3-4 this evening.

I'm not happy about missing Thursday, but I'll accept it. Tuesday I needed to take a break due to overtraining. Thursday I was just too busy, Friday was shear laziness... But I made up for that today, and feel back on track. It reminded me of a truth for me. It's all or nothing. I'm either fully committed, or I'm not at all.

So Maybe I am overtraining a little bit

2009-06-11T00:04:00.003-07:00

I did only Sculpting today. It's usually a running day. But tomorrow, I'm running! I can't give up my running! Maybe I should do a light cardio day instead??

Am I over training? ....Tony Horton is whopping my ass

2009-06-08T23:39:00.000-07:00

I ran 8 miles yesterday at 5.4 MPH, and then put in 3.3 miles today at 6.0 MPH BEFORE I did Power 90.

My power 90 results were seriously disappointing. I went back somewhat and it caused my wife to ponder this thought, "You are overtraining". Maybe I am. I certainly haven't been eating like I should. I sucked down 50 grams of protein after my workout tonight (which was very late...like at 9:30 PM).

I'm stymied and not progressing in my weight training. Here's my report:

1st Circuit:
Pushups: 20
Back curls: 12+ using 30 lb weights (need to go 35)
Military Press: 10 using 35 lb weights (I felt this one)
Biceps: 10 using 30 lb weights

2nd Circuit:
Pushups: 17 (no change from last week)
Swimmers press: 10 using 30 lb weights
Biceps: 9 using 25 lb weights (went backwards)

3rd Circuit:
7-7-7 Pushups: 7-2/5(knees)-7(knees) ... seriously went backwards here...this was very disappointing
7-7-7 biceps: Used 20 lb weights... 7-7-9 (improved by 1 rep on last part of 7-7-7)

4th circuit:
Pushups: 17 (no change)
Squats: 30 (did 32 last Friday)

Cardio 3-4

2009-06-06T12:23:00.000-07:00

Getting a little easier. I made it all the way through the knees up/knees out/knees cross keeping mostly up with Tony and the minions. I then survived the jumping jacks/lunges and the x-cross foot work with stopping. I did take a short break between Power Yoga and the 1st circuit of low impact knees due to my children getting in the way.

Second circuit - I really have a hard time keeping up with Tony on the kicks. I still go significantly slower than his speed in 3-4.

Sculpting Cont'd

2009-06-05T23:13:00.001-07:00

Ol' Tony Horton...

1st Circuit:
Decline Pushups: 20
Heavy pants - using green resistance band
Biceps: 30 lbs
one arm tricep work above the head: used 25 lbs on R arm, 20 lbs on L arm.
Military Press: 35 lbs

2nd Circuit:
Wide Pushups: 17
back flies: 25 lb weights
Swimmers press: 25 lbs
Biceps: 25 lbs
Kickback - using red resistance band

3rd Circuit:
7-7-7 Pushups Completed! But with 5 sec pauses between each 7, then did 2.5 pushups in the to max
7-7-7 Biceps - Used 20 lb weights (hasn't changed in several two week)

4th Circuit:
Pushups: 17
Squats: 32

Cardio Redux

2009-06-04T23:18:00.000-07:00

A big shot out to Will..who just completed his Power 90. Head over to his site and check out some inspiration:

http://quixand90.wordpress.com/2009/06/04/day-ninety-and-power90-mother-fucking-complete/#comment-36

I love his attitude!

I am starting to get the hang of 3-4. I can NOT go the same speed that they do. But I did manage to follow THEIR work out program in that I went straight from "power yoga" to Phase 1 to Phase 2 with no additional "pauses" on the remote control. I was probably going at a speed of 2/3 of what they were going at and my heart rate got up there. Usually stayed in the 150 range, but in the lances/jumping jacks phase I hit 165 bpm.

Going backwards

2009-06-03T23:34:00.000-07:00

Today's exercise took a grand total of 3 hours to complete. Yes, that's way too long. I started the exercise with a 35 minute run at 5.8 MPH. I ran a total of 3.83 miles in 42 minutes including a 7 minute cooldown.

I essentially finished running at 6 PM and then rested for an hour before I got serious about doing the Sculpting 3-4. And what a nightmare that turned out to be.

It seemed I went backwards quite a bit. Does that happen much?

Pushups:
1: 20
2: 17
3: 7-7-3/0(knees)- no pushups to max.
4: 19 to failure

Bicep Curls
1: 8/30 lbs.
2: 10/25 lbs
3: 7-7-7 using 20 lbs
4: no 4th circuit

Lunge/squats
1: Did all 5
2: 3.5 of lunges/squats
3: 12-12-0 (have always struggled with last set the squats in the third circuit)
4: 31

First time with Cardio 3-4

2009-06-02T20:56:00.001-07:00

If you were wondering whether Tony ratchets up the intensity for Cardio 3-4, I have an answer for you. It's yes. Everything is faster and there is more of it. He expects more from you here. You typically do 3 sets instead of 2 and you do the sets about 40-50% faster than you did Cardio 1-2. My heart rate didn't get lower than 150. For me, it was a grueling workout. I worked up a serious sweat. Can't believe I'm in Week 5.

Welcome to 3-4

2009-06-01T22:54:00.001-07:00

It totally kicked my ass. Totally. Kicked. My. Ass.

End of Week 4

2009-05-31T22:43:00.000-07:00

I'm done with Cardio 1-2 and sculpting 1-2. Moving on to 3-4. I did the cardio on Sunday instead of Saturday, mainly because I just ran out of time with all the other errans I wanted to get done on Saturday. I ran 6.1 miles today in the morning and then came back in the early evening and finished the day with Cardio 1-2 and AB Ripper 100. Totaly ready for 3-4. I need more now.

Just about done with Phase 1-2

2009-05-29T20:41:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day of Sculpting 1-2. I'm ready to move on, although I still couldn't do the 7-7-7 pushups... I made it to.... 7-7-3/4(knees) but that was with a 10-15 sec break between each 7 set.

When I finished working out I put the dumbbells away and then got them back out again about an hour later to work my muscles to exhaustion. I'm definitely ready to move on to 3-4.

Now the dieting is still trouble. I was just bad today. I'll admit it. I had one mug of coffee for breakfast/lunch. Then I had 1/2 of a turkey wrap from Costco (405 Calories). ...I learned that the wraps aren't as "healthy" as I thought... Then I had Red Robin for Dinner... 900 calories for cheeseburger (remember Tony's saying.."Don't grab a cheeseburger..that would be bad.." with 1 3/4 12 oz. Dr.Pepper Cans.. Yes I was bad! Total calories: 1915 for the day and they weren't good calories either. I'll be good tomorrow. I'm still getting the hang of this dieting thing. Do I get to be bad one day a week at least?

Thursday

2009-05-28T20:28:00.000-07:00

Cardio 1-2. I followed the program with no add'l rests or breaks which was a first for me. I'm definitely ready for 3-4 Cardio, but that will have to wait for next week. We received our Power 90X dvd's today. I accidentially ordered it last week because I wanted to see what freebees that they would give you...I thought I didn't complete it, but oh well, we got it a little earlier than we planned. I'm defintely going to get rid of Power 90 Master's though. The P90X came with Cardio Intervals and UML from the Master's series as a bonus... That's two of the 6 DVDs from the Master's series.

I continue to struggle with the dieting. I'll be honest and say that this is tough for me. I know this is a lifestyle change, but it's hard! I'm not used to not being able to eat whatever I want when I want. This is really a new thing for me and I struggle. It doesn't mean I'm not following through on the program of not eating, but it ain't easy!

Midweek Report

2009-05-27T20:35:00.000-07:00

I'm getting closer to being able to do the 7-7-7 pushups!!!

First Circuit: 15
Second: 10 (I had more in the tank, but wanted to save it for the third circuit)
Third: 7-6/1(knee)-7(knees) those bloody narrow pushups nailed me!

Biceps - 12 (25 lbs), 9 (25 lbs), 7-7-7 20lbs-20lbs-15 lbs

My arms are jello.

I ran 3.3 miles in 36 minutes at 5.8 MPH about an hour before I worked out doing Power 90.

Should I do 3-4 now???

Close to Transition

2009-05-26T19:48:00.001-07:00

Another Cardio 1-2. I did the entire first 1/2 of the circuit before I needed to rest. In other words, I'm getting ready to go to 3-4. If I could just do that third set (the 7-7-7s) of those sculpting pushups I'd feel like I am totally ready.

First day of the diet...errr.lifestyle change.. It ain't easy.

Week 4 - What do I do about dieting and food?

2009-05-25T21:13:00.001-07:00

Today was memorial day, so we had a bit of a slow day around here. I started off with a cup of coffee and then I went downstairs to see what the kids were doing. We went to the beach and had a great general day off.

I ran 3.8 miles today at 5.6 MPH before doing my sculpting 1-2. I typically run on Mondays, Wednesdays, and either Friday or Saturday. After the run I ran upstairs and cooked dinner and then came back downstairs to do the sculpting.

Sculpting was tough. It seemed I took a step or two back today. First circuit I did 15 pushups and 12 bicep curls (25 lbs), second circuit wasn't so good 10 pushups, 8 bicep curls (25 lbs). Third circuit 7-5(made it to 5!)/2(knees)-7(knees).

It's time to address the diet. I haven't dieted at all and I haven't lost any weight. I don't think I'm eating more than I did before I started doing this but I'm not losing weight. I know I'm gaining some muscle mass because I can do more than I could before.

The problem is I don't know how to address the diet situation. I'm tired of waiting and I am ready to make the lifestyle change to a new diet...but a new diet to what? I don't even know what to eat..how much to eat...when to eat....what do I do???

I checked out a federal website that's given me a some info on dieting. I just don't know where to go and what to do. Maybe I should check out the Power 90 pamphlet again and see if there is something that I've missed that will help me out. Still trying to figure this thing out....

Week 3 Complete

2009-05-23T21:26:00.000-07:00

Today is a cardio day. I kicked it off with a 60 minute 5.1 mile run at 5.4 MPH. It's much slower than I prefer but I have to run slower if I want to have any hope of staying in the cardio range during the run. I then spent the next 8 or so hours racking my brain on whether or not I was going to do Power 90 Cardio 1-2 today since I already ran 5.1 miles. A typical conversation went like this:

1: I must stick with the program no matter what.
2: But I ran 5.1 miles today, I don't need to do cardio, just do the Ab ripper.
1: But if I take any slack off the program, I'll take more slack off later on and end up quiting.
2: There's a difference between slacking off and running 5.1 miles.

I ended up doing the Cardio 1-2 and ab ripper. Although I honestly wonder if I pushed it too far. I made sure I didn't slip out of the carido range by checking on my heart, and when I did, I started jogging in place to reduce my heart rate. AB ripper was tough as usual. I've got at least 1 more week of 1-2 and then it's off to 3-4.

Yesterday's sculpting showed steady but slow performance increases.

Push-ups as follows:
1: 15 reps
2: 12 reps
3: 7-4/3(using knees)-7(using knees)

In other words, I increased my reps for the second circuit from 8 to 12 and added one pushup to the 7-7-7.

Biceps rocked:
1: 12 reps (25 lbs)
2: 10 reps (20 lbs)
3: 7-7-4(20 lbs) and then I did another 10 using 15 lb weights.

I really felt the burn after the third circuit of the biceps. Felt good in a sick sort of way.

That's it for week 3.

Power 90 Masters

2009-05-21T21:31:00.000-07:00

My Power 90 Masters DVDs came in the mail yesterday. I've had an opportunity to review some of them, especially the Sculpting 5-6. My biggest complaint about the Power 90 Master's is that it didn't come with anything except the actual DVDs. No manual. No instructions on which workouts to use and when. In fact, if it wasn't for Jon and his experience with Power 90 Masters, I wouldn't have any idea of what to do. There's a small pamphlet inside either the sweat or sculpting DVD that tells you to go online to the message boards.... What it doesn't tell you is that you have to pay a monthly fee for one of those message forums.

It's clear that the Master's series came out after the 90X since they have 90X posters in the back of the sculpting DVD. It also seems clear that the actual production of the Master's series was an after thought for them. If you've had a chance to check out the P90X, the P90X has a worksheet which you can download that is really incredible. It essentially gives you a good idea of exactly how much you're going to weigh once you complete the program. The P90X also comes with a diet plan. Meanwhile, the Master's series doesn't come with anything except the DVDs. No 90 day calendar. No diet recommendations. No suggestions on which DVDs you should do and when.

It really would have been nice if they would have gave some guidelines on which work outs to do and when. Further, it would have been helpful if they had provided some dieting advice.

With that said, one of my favourite things about the DVDs is that it is more Tony Horton. The guy just makes this stuff so much more fun because he's so silly. Here's this huge fit guy just having fun and cracking stupid silly jokes while he teaches us how to work out. In short, the best thing about the DVDs is that you get more Tony Horton.

The question is whether or not we'll keep them. I'm not so sure we will. I think we might just be better off going straight to P90X.

Cardio Burnout

2009-05-21T21:26:00.000-07:00

Some days this week I've thought I'm ready for 3-4. Today wasn't one of them. This day made me wonder when I'm ever going to leave 1-2. I still have a hard time with the initial 3 minute leg routine following the Power Yoga. I can't make it all the way at the same speed that Tony and his two minions can do it while also moving my arms. I couldn't do the lunges for a full 30 seconds and struggled with the hoppers. That whole first part of the cardio is just brutal. My heart is hitting the cardio limit for my age so maybe I just need to slow it down a little? At least that's what I started to think today....

Sculpting 1-2

2009-05-20T20:21:00.001-07:00

My Power 90 Master's DVDs came in the mail today. My wife is about a month or 6 weeks ahead of me and she told me she is already getting bored with 3-4 so I got them for her as well as me. The resistance bands also came in today. I was disappointed to see that I already had the 20 lb'er...for what ever reason I thought I had the 15 lb resistance band, but I was wrong It is very nice to have the 30 lb and 40 lb resistance bands though. I can't wait to order the "extreme" resistance bands when it comes time for 90X.

I started the day at the YMCA and ran 3.6 miles in 42 minutes. Yes, very slow. I've gained 3 lbs and now weigh 230. It's clear that I've got to get on the diet bandwagon now. As for running, I just couldn't get my legs underneath me. My heart rate was excessive. It was 150 bpm at 6 mins into the run and at 162 at 15 mins into it. Had to take slow down to lower my heart rate before running another 15 mins. The last 7 mins of my run was above the cardio limit 160 bpm - 177 bpm. Yes, it was a bad day of running.

I came home to do my Sculpting which turned out to be just as tough as the running was today. Sometimes it's just hard to get going I guess. My heart rate was above the cardio limit for just about the entire exercise. But I guess it doesn't matter for scuplting since its weight training and not cardio??

First Circuit
15 pushups
12 bicep curls (using 25 lbs)

Second Circuit
8 pushups
8 bicep curls (using 25 lbs)

Third Circuit
Pushup 7-7-7's: 7-3-0 again! I had to cheat for the second and third set of the 7-7-7 because my arms were toast.
Bicep 7-7-7's: My biceps were toast too. I couldn't do the 20 lbs so I did 15 lbers.

I am really looking forward to buying those Bowflex 1090 dumbbells. About every week I find myself needing new dumbbells....which I guess is a good thing? But $ 600 is $ 600...maybe for my birthday??

Week 3, Day 2

2009-05-19T20:18:00.000-07:00

Another cardio day. Today I had a heart monitor so I got to see how my heart does during the course of the workout. To my surprise here are some snap shots:

Immediately after power yoga: 137 (i expected higher)
Leg pulls - 150
Immed after Jumping Jacks (part 2) - 162
After end of 1st Part of Cardio - 166 (a little high)
Heart hovered in the 130-150 range throughout the 2nd part of cardio. I expected it to be less given that the second part of the cardio routine is not so high impact.

Week 3, Day 1

2009-05-18T20:28:00.000-07:00

Today was sculpting day. I'd like to stick with 1-2 at least through next week, but I am starting to chomp at the bit to get to the next level.

First circuit:
Pushups - 15 (I couldn't even do 5 when I started)
Bicep Curls - 14 (at 25 lbs)
Back scratchers - 15R, 14 L (using 15 lbs)

Second circuit:
Fly pushups - 8 (I think I could have done 1 more)
Swimmer's press - 15 (using resistance band that came with Power 90)
Wide open curls (Biceps) - 12 at 20 lbs

Third Circuit
Pushups (7-7-7): 7 Wide - 3 narrow ...and then I had to cheat (using my kneeds to reduce the weight). I haven't been able to do the 7-7-7 ever.
shoulder fly - 12 using 15 lb weights..
Biceps - used 15 lb weights, but should have used 20
Chair dips - 12

Before the circuit, I ran 3.5 miles at 5.8 MPH. This is the fastest I've ran in a long time. Checking my heart rate, I was at 166 (which is a tad too high for my age) at the 27 minute mark meaning I probably pushed it a little too hard for the day. I finished the run at 33 minutes before I entered the 5 minute cool down.

Diet isn't that great, but I haven't had any soda pop and for me that's really incredible.

Don't Grab a Cheeseburger.

2009-05-16T17:29:00.000-07:00

Week 2 - Cardio 1-2 Complete.

Running is a completely different cardio to me than the Cardio workout in Power 90. I seem to be able to go for miles while running and not really feel the pain but Power 90's Cardio 1-2 is totally different.

The Cardio 1-2 is roughly divided into three separate sections. The first stage is Power Yoga. This stage lasts about 4 minutes and 30 seconds. Is it 4 minutes and 37 seconds? Second stage is high impact cardio. It lasts about 9 minutes. The third stage is low impact cardio and it lasts for 12 minutes.

I've never been able to do the second stage high impact cardio without stopping until today. So if you've been doing this for 3 weeks or more and you still can't complete the second stage without pressing pause, you aren't alone. Although this is my "second" week I should divulge that before I even started week 1 I did a week of 2 cardio and 2 sculpting videos. In other words, my week zero was week 1. That's what got me excited (and watching my wife shed pounds) enough to commit to the program. I should also add that I run about 3 miles a day 3 times a week so if you are still on week 4/5 and it's a struggle, do not.....do not give up. IT WILL GET EASIER.

Today was the first day I made it all the way through the high impact cardio without stopping. It was brutal... and I made it. But I still needed a 2 min break between the high impact cardio (stage 2) and the low impact cardio (stage 3). If you haven't ordered Power 90 yet, you should know that the dvd calls for only a 30 second break. So I need quadruple of the recovery time despite the fact I had a "one week" head start and a have been running 10 miles a week. That should give you an idea of how tough this program is. Needless to say, week 3 I will still be on Cardio 1-2 and Sculpting 1-2. I can say that at least I did the Sculpting from Friday with 14 pushups and I used 25 lbs for the bicep curls for the first circuit...nevermind that I couldn't do the 7-7-7 for either the pushups or the bicep curls....

Week 2, Day 5

2009-05-15T22:53:00.001-07:00

I've gained 1 lb to 228. Diet has been less than thrilling. I used to eat once a day at night time. I'm now eating twice a day which is an improvement, but I need to start eating 5 times a day like suggested instead of having the 2 big meals with one at lunch and the other at dinner.

I am making steady improvements in my scuplting sessions. I did 14 pushups for the first set today and used 25 lb weights for the first time for biceps. I'm looking forward to getting the new resistance bands next week so I can start using them. I think I'm getting to the end of being able to use the pink resistance band that came with the Power 90 DVDs.

I also ran today at the YMCA for my lunch hour. I ran 3 miles in 34 minutes. This doesn't mean I won't be doing my cardio tomorrow. The cardio I get from running feels completely different from the cardio from Power 90. I ran a total of 10 miles for the week.

Week 2, Day 4

2009-05-14T12:56:00.000-07:00

I really have a hard time with the Cardio, but I don't think I've lost all my progress so I'm calling this week 2.

I'm no fan of the Power Yoga. I often wished the Cardio 1-2 went in the opposite direction, like start out with the punches and kicks and then go to the high impact cardio and then that yoga. I find myself needing to rest/water right after the Power Yoga. And I still can't do the first set of high impact cardio for the entire set. My thights or whatever muscle this exercise works just simply can't go the distance for the 3 minutes. I get muscle failure at about 2.25 mins into it.

You'll hear Tony tell you to go at your own pace. For me that's really hard to do because I find myself wantign to go the same speed that they are going in the DVDs.

Week 1, Day 3 (or Week 2, Day 3)?

2009-05-13T21:55:00.001-07:00

Still undecided if I'm repeating the program or just repeating week 2.

Sculpting again. I ran today as well. I did the run first. Those 7-7-7 pushups still kicking my butt.

Back to Week 1, Day 1 or just Repeat Week 2?

2009-05-11T21:31:00.000-07:00

Here's the situation. I came down with some kind of cold/flu right after Week 2 Day 1... It got so bad that I ended up at the Doctor's office last week getting a dosage of Vicadin and Pennicillin. It was a two week hiatus. I asked my doctor on Thursday, April 30, 2009, whether or not I should be working out and he advised against it. Last week, as mentioned, ended up in the same doctor's office now asking again, can I work out.. He advised against it. I'm now two weeks behind the program. I should be experiencing some big differences by now. Instead, I'm either still on week 2 and still weighing 227 or I'm on week 1 and have last all progress. Not really sure which, but I am glad to be working out. The deciding factor will be how much progress I can make with Power 90.

I'll say that the Power 90 just kicked my rear end today.

Week 2, Day 1

2009-04-28T01:03:00.000-07:00

I ate horribly day due in large part to server outage and work and the need to fix it. I got home at 8:45 PM tonight and have been working the server ever since....but I did my power 90 today. It's days like today that separate the committed and the wishful.

Power 90 v. Power 90 Masters v. Power 90X

2009-04-26T14:50:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm rolling into the Power 90 program, I naturally start looking ahead. The question on my mind is what do I do once I am finished with the program? Should I go to Power 90 Masters or directly to Power 90X?

Like probably many others, I got started doing this by watching an infomercial on Power 90X. The ad was not subtle and very directly: want to look like this muscle man? Then do our program. Well I want to look like that muscle man so I purchased Power 90......and I let it sit on the shelves for two years until my wife pulled it out and started working the program.

If you are reading this and contemplating starting your own Power 90 program let me tell you this: you got to want it. It won't be easy to commit. You will have to make sacrifices. My biggest are late night eating and time. I don't have much time so it's hard to sacrifice it.

Power 90 - Week 1 Complete

2009-04-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

One of the dark sides of my job as a litigation lawyer is stress. The stress is nothing like I've experienced before in other jobs...even when I spent time running the control panel of a nuclear reactor when I was in the Navy. For the first five years of my practice, I've relied upon..lets just say less healthy mechanisms to control the stress related to my job.

One thing I've always enjoyed to do to relieve the stress associated with practicing law is running. The problem with running up here in the Pacific Northwest is that the climate isn't necessarily suited for it....unless you don't mind running in the rain. Not exactly my cup of tea. But I do love to run... The first 20 minutes or so after a run are the most peaceful moments of my day... I feel more calm at that moment than at any other, including after having sex.

Once I decided to stop using my old ways to manage my stress, I've had to resort to new ways to deal it. Let's just say that my..err..weight has gotten a little out of a control. ..and I couldn't seem to run away from the problem (pun intended).

This means that for the first time in my life I'm going on a diet. I've never had to diet for anything. I was the type of person that could eat anything I wanted at anytime. But, age has finally caught up with me. Enter Power 90.

About a week ago, I decided to start doing Power 90. I'm starting out on the basic Power 90 program and not the Power 90 Master's or Power 90 X. I plan to move to the Power 90 X after I finish, but after reading Jon's blog, I'm now leaning towards doing Master's for at least 30 days before transitioning to Power 90X.

I'm still continuing my MAD campaign. I'm currently running 2.5-3.5 miles 3 times a week in addition to the Power 90. After reading Jon's blog, I'm adding dieting to the program starting Monday.

So far I'll just say that Tony Horton rocks and Power 90 is kicking my ass. I can't wait to see what happens after 90 days.