P90X Adventures: Week 12 Day 1 Final Chest, Shoulders & Triceps

Well, it's drawing to a close...  I'm running out of main routines.  Soon I'll be on my last recovery week and then, I'll have completely my first round of P90X.     I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do after this first run.  I've been giving it a little bit of thought but not much.  The main focus is... well... keeping focussed. It's been getting harder and harder to keep up with and to muster the drive to complete because there's that growing feeling in the back of my mind that I'm almost finished.

Almost finished?!  If anything I'm only just beginning.  That's the struggle.  Being done only implies that I can just stop and if I stop then I'll go back.  I can't go back.  I've come so far and I sure do have a ways to go.


I've been lately finding myself with a weird feeling.  This late in the routines, I was thinking that maybe they would be getting easier.  They're not.  Instead, what I've been finding is that I'm getting better and stronger, which in turn, makes the routines harder and more intense.  It's like some crazy mad science.  It's kinda been changing me emotionally too during the workouts.  It's been opening a more primal side I'd say.  I'm kinda starting to sound like a juice head bodybuilder sometimes.   I'll be going on a move like today's chair dips for instance, and then I find my self starting to count loudly...  Like barking it out as my triceps feel like they're about to rip and snap back into my armpits or something.

"22, 23! 24! 25! FUCK YEAH!!!"

...did I just yell that out loud...?

Yeah, it happened.  More and more often.  I also feel like I'm getting a little routine "stir-crazy".  I'm finding myself quoting all of Tony's jokes and the quirky ways he might say stuff differently during each routine.  I'm like talking to my tv.  Maybe that's a combination of spending ALL my time at home and then doing P90X on top of it.

Looking at my worksheet for Chest, Shoulders & Triceps is like whoah...  I started this routine 5 weeks into the program so I had already come a long way.  Here's the stats comparing week 5 to now:

                                                       Week 5              Week 12

Slow Motion 3-in-1 Push-ups	9	22
In & Out Shoulder Flys	17reps 15lbs	16reps Red bands
ChairDips	11	25
Plange Pushups	8	10
Pike Presses	5	8
Side Tri-Rise	15 left 12 right	8 left, 13 right
Floor Flys (pushup)	8	17
Scarecrows	15reps 15lbs	10reps Red bands
Overhead Tricep Extensions	15reps 15lbs	11reps Red bands
Two-twitch Speed Push-ups	7	21
Y-Presses	9 reps 20lbs	9 reps Blue bands
Lying Tricep Extensions	12 reps 20lbs	12reps Red bands
Side-to-side Pushups	-	11
Pour Flys	-	10 Red bands
Side-leaning Tricep Extensions	-	8reps Red bands
One-arm Push-ups	-	9
Weighted Circles	-	35reps 10lbs
Throw the Bomb (tri ext)	-	12reps Red bands
Clap Push-ups	-	7 full  10knees
Slo-mo Throws	-	8reps Green bands
Front-to-back Tricep Extensions	-	10reps Red bands
One-arm Balance Push-ups	-	4
Fly-row Presses	-	8reps 20lbs
Dumbell Cross-body Blows	-	35reps Green bands

HTML Tables


This morning, I didn't really have much to make a smoothie or juice with.  I almost forgot that I'd tried making some chia seed pudding the day before so it was perfect for breakfast.  Pretty simple.  You basically soak chia seeds for at least 4 hours and they'll expand and can make a sort of pudding-like texture. I took 2 tablespoons of chia seeds, added water until it just covered them, added a tablespoon of raw cacao powder and about 1 tablespoon of raw coconut nectar.   I had some strawberries so I just cut some up and added them.  It was great! Chia seeds are pretty awesome and full of Omega-3's.  When paired with water and soaked, they're great for hydration and also as an appetite suppressant.  They're pretty good for lowering cholestrol and also regulating blood sugar by slowing down how fast the body converts carbs into sugar.  So go forth and get some chia!  add it to a smoothie, juice or make a pudding!

Until next time peeps!

P90X Adventures: Week 11 Day 5 Legs & Back

So yesterday, I did my Yoga.  It was tough... really tough.  The energy just wasn't there.  I don't know what it was.  I did some things with improvements, but on the whole, I was just not hitting it with the moves at all.  I was sort of barely going through the motions and I'm not quite sure how effective I was even being at that point.  I pushed through though and tried really hard to reach the end.  I can't feel too bad about that.

Today though... Today I went to work.  Now, since at least 2008, I've been carrying over 299lbs on these two legs.  They're strong legs.  The one advantage to losing the weight the way I did, powering through juice and biking nearly every day is that I didn't really lose any strength or muscle growth in my legs.  Despite all that, it's P90X Legs & Back that friggin takes me to the damn brink every time.  Holy shit man it is no joke.  I can maybe recognize that I didn't have a very strong core or lower back, but when I do some of these leg moves, it's like my body just turns into a friggin' faucet.  I'm constantly pausing and trying to catch my breath.  Trying to get my heart rate back to normal.  Trying not to trigger a damn migraine with the forced blood rush through my body.  Trying not to friggin' puke!!  >_<  I've only more recently been able to push through the routines all the way.  I think Week 6 was the first week I actually did it all the way through.  The following weeks had seen some sort of weird distraction where I either couldn't finish or skipped it.  There might have even been one week where I just didn't write anything down but did it.  This was the first time I did every last damn move though and I feel like a goddamn boss!

As I was wrapping up, Connor called wanting to come over.  I needed to get some VO work done and asked if he'd volunteer and try being the voice I needed on a project.  I'd intended on giving Ab Ripper X the good college try this time around since I'd chickened out twice already this week, but it was easy to give up after doing the heavy resistance routine like Legs & Back, plus I just didn't really have the time.  We did the recording session and we'd already had plans to set out and go see Iron Sky later.  Oh man, that movie was way better than I was initially expecting.  It was hilarious.

After the movie, I got back home and decided what the hell, and I threw on Ab Ripper X.  I gave it another try.  Now, I think last week I might have done it again.  Usually when I give it a shot I only last a couple moves in.  the last time, I think I made it until there was about 6 min left in the routine.  Well, tonight I only realized it was 17 minutes from start to finish.  I'd always been thinking it was a 30 min routine or something. I gave it a serious try this time and holy shit, I was able to blast through a lot of the moves.  It sure burned like hell, but even the little bit I'd been attempting showed as those moves were the ones I was able to actually pull off a full 25 reps on.  So the triumph of the day was when I made it 100% through the routine doing every single move.  What the hell was I so afraid of this whole time?  Well, I'm glad I've managed to finally clear this hurdle.  Hopefully now there won't be anything more standing in the way of me finally being rid of the rest of this belly!

...You hear that belly?  You're goin' down!  Mikey's burnin' down the house son!!

So for pretty much all week this week, I'd been rocking variations of a smoothie I created the other morning which I called Berry, berry, berry Kakow!!  I made a video the day I came up with it, but my computer was not playing nice and I was having major troubles rendering it out.  Well, I finally got it to render and got it uploaded and here it is for you guys to try and enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edit?ns=1&feature=vm&video_id=M2QCuM2Z-w4

Blogger's being a pain and not allowing me to embed it so just hit the link above.

Alrighty... Until next time...

P90X Adventures: Week 11 Day 3 Shoulders & Arms final

Yesterday, Plyometrics was pretty much the same as always.  I went through it without any real problems, but this time I had a lot more energy.  That said, I think I ended up going harder on each move than I've done in a while so I actually had to take a lot of frequent breaks between just to calm my heart down some.

Shoulders & Arms was the first routine that I powered all the way through the first time.  Even made it through the bonus round that first time, though I skipped the side tri rises the first time through because I didn't realize how easy they were for me.  This last time was interesting as I did the routine for only the 2nd time almost exclusively using resistance bands.  The weeks prior, I'd been using 15lb and 20lb dumbells.  The last time I did S&A before week 9, I had to do almost 20+ reps of everything in order to really feel the burn.

The bands have been a bit weird to get used to.  I've managed to find the burn a lot easier this time around but it was tricky on week 9.  I guess I just sort of figured the guys on screen using bands were all hardcore and I should at the very most, match their bands and not try going with heavier bands than them.  That was my mistake week 9.  A lot of the time, I was just not really feeling it.  Some of the tricks they employ though, really do help create more tension from a lighter band without having to jump up to the next tension, so that's been helpful.  Basically, creating a "loop" with the bands and standing on that will give you a lot more tension without having to step it up.

It makes the routine go a by nearly twice to three times slower because they hardly focus on the person with the bands until the move is already halfway over.  I look and see the form and then have to rewind the routine to make sure I'm getting it done with them.

My triumphs for this last time through Shoulders & Arms were definitely chair dips and side tri rises.  I managed to blast out 20 chair dips the second time through with straight legs.  I think the next time they show up, I might try raising a leg every 5 to step it up now.  On side tri rises, Tony expresses his disbelief at how Dreya's able to blast through like 22 side tri rises and says something like "25! Don't do any more than me! If you do 26, I'm coming to your house!!"

...well...
I totally did 26 and felt like a complete badass!   Of course, that was only with my left arm and not my right. I was only able to do about 17 with my right arm.  I guess I'm totally gonna have a tiny arm /big arm haha.

The soreness has kinda been building... tomorrow's yoga x is gonna hopefully be a welcome relief.  I'm certainly looking forward to it.

~mike

P90X Adventures: Week 11 Day 1 Chest & Back final...

Holy crap folks... I've been a bit too occupied this weekend to really blog about any of the routines.  I'll try to start quickly with Friday's Yoga X...   I think this was the first time I made it pretty much all the way through without stopping.  It was pretty awesome.

Getting my warrior 3 pose on in a drive through redwood ... doesn't get more badass than that!!

 I got to go see my good buddy and former co-worker off as he's moving on to work at a pretty kickass game studio down in San Fran.  I'm really glad that he's finally moving on.  Adam is actually the guy who gave me the initial inspirational spark and glimpse into this window that eventually lead to my transformative journey in the first place.  He's the one that told me about Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, and indirectly, he's been a bit of a motivating force for me.  I'm a bit bummed that he never got a chance to go out on a bike with me and in turn, I never joined him on a morning run, but it sounds like he's going to return next year for the tough mudder.  I guess I'm planning on attending this time.  With all this P90X stuff going on, I think I'm ready to make running the final frontier.

Saturday, I had a bit of a cheat-routine with my Legs and Back.  I didn't actually get to the routine until about 7:30pm and I was heading out to another Arena Club Reunion party.  I realized about a quarter of the way through the routine that I was likely going to be spending the rest of the night dancing so I cut it short a little before halfway.  I kinda felt bad about it because I really wanted to finish the routine, but in the end, it was probably a good call.  I of course danced all night and now I'm so friggn sore!!!  It still trips me out that I've gained that much confidence and my back is that strong now.  Before, I'd have to be sitting and just "observing".

I skipped Kenpo X... Largely due to the fact that it was our 6 year wedding Anniversary!!!

...also, I was totally sore from dancing the night before :-P

So, I'm getting to the end of this P90X adventure.  Today, in fact, was the last Chest & Back routine for the rest of the thing.  I figure I'd take a look at the stats between my Day 1 and today...

Move                          Week 1  Day 1                                           Week 11 Day 1
Standard Pushups                     9                                                               21
Wide Front Pull-ups                 5 w/chair                                                   12 w/ far chair
Military Pushups                       1                                                                8  (still really freakin' hard)
Reverse Grip Chin-ups              3 w/chair                                                  12  w/ far chair
Wide Fly Pushups                     4                                                              15  bar slipped... too wide
Closed Grip Pull-ups                9 w/ chair                                                  10 w/o chair
Decline Pushups                       0                                                                10
Heavy Pants                             20 x 15lb dumbells                                     20 x Red resistance band
Diamond Pushups                     1                                                                10
Lawnmoweres                         stopped                                                      13 x Blue resistance band
Dive-bomber Pushups              stopped                                                      10
Back Flys                                 stopped                                                      10 x Red Resistance Band

                                                 
                                                 ROUND 2

Standard Pushups                            0                                                         19
Wide Front Pull-ups                         0                                                        11 w/ far chair
Military Pushups                               0                                                         8
Reverse Grip Chin-ups                    0                                                          10  w/ far chair
Wide Fly Pushups                            0                                                          19
Closed Grip Pull-ups                        0                                                          11 w/o chair
Decline Pushups                               0                                                          9
Heavy Pants                                     0                                                          12 x Blue resistance band
Diamond Pushups                             0                                                          10 on knees
Lawnmoweres                                  0                                                          11 x Blue resistance band
Dive-bomber Pushups                       0                                                          5
Back Flys                                         0                                                          12 x Red Resistance Band

So woah... I've definitely come a long way.  It's awesome seeing the progress.  I was starting to  get bummed on some of the pullups because I was finding myself getting tired and worn out way faster on them. Then it hit me that I wasn't really using the chair at that point.  Blew my mind.  Of course, once I came to that realization, I'd basically get sapped and would need the chair at that point to try and eek out at least 2 more. nuts... 

This morning, I powered up with another smoothie.  My phone was being stupid so I was barely able to get the resulting smoothie pic. 

                                                 Green Peach Berry:

3-4 Leaves of Kale
1 handful of Spinach
1 Peach
1/2 Cucumber
1 cup of Blackberries
1/4 cup of flax seed












This guy was pretty green so it wasn't very sweet, but still pretty tasty.  You could probably sub in some apple juice to sweeten it up.  I didn't have any bananas, otherwise that probably could've helped a bunch too.

That's it for today!

~Mike

P90X Adventures: Back & Biceps... *Now with more Ab Ripper X!!*

There was a lot of awesome happening today in P90X-land.  Back & Biceps is one of my favorite routines.  I've definitely hit the upper limits of my use of my 40lb weight set, and Zu's old 15lb weight set from The Firm.  I've been starting to employ resistance bands so I don't necessarily have to go out and shell out a bunch more money on new dumbells that are just gonna add even more clutter to my already cluttered as hell space.  It was interesting and fun re-learning the moves with bands  this time. I think it also helped me feel the burn a bit more on some of the moves. I kinda dig how I can eek out more resistance by playing around with where I'm stepping on the bands vs just swapping for a band with higher resistance.

I'd been skipping most of the Ab Ripper X routines which fall on the resistance days.  Mainly the reason was because I was so worn out from the resistance routine, but more often than not, it was just because I simply didn't have enough time left to do both.  Well, today I gave it another serious shot.  I got a lot farther this time around.  Oh man it is NO JOKE.  I made it like 3/4th the way through.  I know when I finally gave up, there was about 6 minutes left in the routine.  I just had to stop when they were doing some seriously crazy boat reach, sit up combo move.  I wasn't on point with 25 reps of each, but I'll work my way up.  I'm just trying to do what I can with Ab Ripper to try and finish as strong as i can this last month.

The last triumph for the day, didn't come from P90X, but it was dinner.   We went out to have Indian and I managed to avoid eating any Naan!  I also didn't really touch my rice, I probably had about 3-4 fork-fulls of the rice.  I had a pretty kick ass assortment of  veggie curries and none with cream or yogurt.  I just felt really good about that naan bit.  Then, when leaving, I looked up and got wowed by what looked like a big meteor  and was kinda freaked out when I saw it change directions in the sky.

I just read that the Orionid meteor shower is ramping up right now and will be at it's peak this weekend so now I'm a little backed down off the UFO tip.


I didn't have the time nor the produce to make a juice or smoothie to power up with this morning, however I did get to the store to grab a comparable alternative...   Good alternatives are starting to show up more and more in stores.  The one I grabbed today was a Genesis Organic Green Smoothie.  The ones I've notices that are pretty awesome are Genesis Organic and Evolution Fresh.  The big thing is that these don't use a heat pasteurization technique.  When going for these kind of juices, it's best to look for their method.  Typically if it says "Flash pasteurized" or "Pasteurized" then it's been introduced to heat.  Enough to likely kill off most or all of the nutrients.  Genesis and Evolution Fresh juices are cold-pressed and they employ a more recently developed high pressure pasteurization that doesn't generate heat but actually uses intense pressure that can kill all the microbes, but leave most the nutrients intact.  In fact, Joe Cross of Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead fame just developed a line of Reboot Your Life Juices that employ this new technique.  We're hoping to see those start showing up on our shores here within the next year.

Anyway, that's it for today...
Yoga X tomorrow!

P90X Adventures: Week 10 Day 2 Jazzercise... wait a minute...?

Yesterday was supposed to be my Plyometrics and today, my Back & Biceps but as I was just getting ready to start the routine around 4:45 yesterday Zu calls up asking about how I wanted to meet her at this mexican restaurant...

...great...

Not only was I not going to be able to do my routine today, but I was going to a place that basically doesn't do anything veggie without plastering it in some sort of cream or serving it with a stack of tortillas a mile high. We were going because of happy hour margaritas.  Another reason making me a sad panda.

If it's one thing I've discovered is that, as a recovering food addict, I'm already fairly weak against good (bad) food.  I've managed to build up a fairly strong resistance and nearly got my body to the point of "forgetting" about bad foods.  The one thing that I've been coming to find that breaks down that willpower...

Alcohol.

I've found that I might be able to maintain having one beer maybe, but even so, I don't drink often enough anymore so 2 beers or one of the beers I actually like and I'm pretty much done.  Anything stronger and well, I'm done but then again so is ALL OF THE GODDAMN FOOD within eyesight.  In either case, later in the evening, I'm always out craving food and can't stop myself.  It's really a losing battle.

Lastly, there's everyone's weakness at a mexican restaurant...

                                                            Fucking.  Tortilla.  Chips.

So, I wasn't very happy.  I don't necessarily think I hid that well either, but I wanted to spend time with Zu and not be lame so I tried to make the best out of the situation.   Since we had to sit at the bar so that they could get their cheap margaritas on, we had to wait forever to actually order, and then another forever for our actual food.  The hunger was too great and the goddamn tortilla chips were there.  I moved very slowly, getting just one chip at a time, but I'm sure I had a bunch.  perhaps even enough to fill 3/4 to a full basket on my own... They were slow as shit with everything else, but damned if they let the friggin chips get low!

I ordered the veggie fajitas and ate all the veggies leaving the rice and tortillas.  At least I had one moral victory for the night.  As the food settled, I started feeling a little better.  "At least I didn't get the margarita, or else they'd have to get security to pull me away from that old mexican tortilla lady..." I kept telling myself...  I contemplated maybe attempting Plyo later on that night but who was I kidding.  That's THE most intense workout in the series and like hell I had the energy to wait an hour or two then go jump around in the middle of the night.  I finally calmed down when I realized I could just make that day my rest day and then I'd hit it all the rest of the week.

Today, I was set for some Plyo.  Zu was getting geared up to go to Jazzercise today after work so I knew that was gonna be my window to get it done.  I've been really busy as of late and I actually end up working standard business hours trying to get all my stuff done which basically puts me on the same normalized schedule I'd have if I wasn't working from home.  She has a friend and co-worker who's basically, less than supportive.  She's signed up for Jazzercise and I guess has only gone to 2 actual classes.  Since, she's just been coming up with the lamest excuses I've ever heard of.  One time she tells Zu, "I think my husband drove to Portland and left the stove on at home so I gotta run home and take care of that"  which meant she couldn't then head back out to do Jazzercise.  Today's Excuse? "I don't have any workout pants and if I go home the kids are just gonna freak out so I'll just sit in the car and read 50 shades of grey..."

Needless to say, Zu was not feeling very encouraged to go.  She's been telling me for weeks that she's going to Jazzercise.  Every day, I see her walk out with her stuff for jazzercise only to see her come straight home after work.  She seemed pretty bummed out too and nobody wants to see her succeed more than me, so I figured... what the hell.  It's like girly Plyo.  And don't get that confused.  There's nothing weak or timid about a damn Jazzercise routine, it's just all the dances seem pretty effeminate, but hell if they don't wear you the hell out.  I was sort of impressed with myself because I hung in for the whole routine and didn't pause for anything...  Something I couldn't do when I did my first couple classes with her back in may/ june.

Besides, I like working out with someone else.  It's basically one of the most important motivating factors.  This stuff is hard work and having someone to go through the toughness with you is so critical in what keeps you motivated to keep going hard yourself.  A lot of times, people get hung up on the ones that want to help because they already look like they're at the point the person starting wants to be.  It feels discouraging.  I get it.  Hell I even started feeling that way when I first put in P90X, but I got over it.  I think a place like Jazzercise is especially good and motivating since everyone there is generally around the same look.  the coach looks like a normal person, not a friggin' supermodel.  There are people in the crowd that look like they can out maneuver that coach but the coach works that shit and holds her own.  Zu just needed someone familiar to help her through and I saw that.  Hell, that's what I'm trying to do anyway with all of this.

I know I've tried time and again to get other people on board with my workout journeys and more often than not end up all by myself.  Thankfully, I've been so motivated by the results, that I've just been forcing myself regardless of all the things I keep telling myself I could be doing otherwise.  I'm really hoping to get Zu to that point.  I know she has it in her, but again, I know how that opposing force of our mind works.  It's tough.  So I feel great that we got to do a workout together.  It's kinda like old times when we'd team up to do this type of stuff.


Yesterday, I made another video powering up with a smoothie.  So here it is below:
                                                                   Green Berry Bliss

So, I'm pretty serious about wanting to help people get healthy and get their life on track by getting fit.  If there's anything you like doing already or have any kind of activities you try to do but need that extra kick in the pants to stay on pace with your goals, you should go to my page http://poweredbyjuice.com and click "join"  It's totally free to have me become your coach in the virtual gym.  I'll work with you and keep you on track, but it's up to you to get started.  If you're looking to find a workout routine that you don't need to hit a gym for, click on "shop" and there's plenty of awesome Beachbody routines to look at.  Just hit me up with a message if you've got any questions and I'd be happy to answer for you.

Catch you soon...
~Mike

P90X Adventures: Week 10 Day 1 Chest, Shoulders & Triceps

I've made it to week 10!!  Holy shit!  I have just 1 month left of P90X after today.  I've been doing only all the main routines.  I haven't really done Ab Ripper X.  I'm usually too worn out or simply out of time to get to it. Though, I think I'm going to just jump right back into this again after I finish.  Perhaps that's when I'll pick it up seriously.  I also just picked up Rev Abs so I may just wait and do that for a new 90 day adventure.

Today's Chest, Shoulder's & Triceps was a hell of a workout.  I think I'm finally getting the form right on a lot of these moves now that I've got the strength and it's making them all the more difficult to do.  Today was also the first time I decided to try using bands the whole way through.  I'm starting to really dig the bands and I really starting to understand how I can get some serious resistance going on.  I'm feeling the burn in 8-10 reps now and that's a beautiful thing.  I think my personal highlights for the day were blasting out 20 straight leg chair dips, and 6 pike presses with really excellent form.  They felt awesome to pull off.  I might even be ready to raise a leg with my chair dips.

This morning, I powered up with a smoothie.  I think I'll call it Berry bliss...

 Berry Bliss:
3-4 leaves of Kale
1 handful of Spinach
Small handful of blackberries
4-5 Strawberries (frozen)
1 cup of Blueberries (frozen)
1 Banana
1/4-1/2 cup flax seed
handful of goji berries.
1/2-1 cup of water.

See ya next time!

~Mike

P90X Adventures: Week 9 Day 4 Yoga X....? wait, what?

So, I was supposed to do my Yoga X today, but I had a childhood friend drop down from Alaska on his annual visit with me today so we ended up doing this instead...

We decided to trek up Spencer's Butte.  We took the really steep "quick" route, which I think suffices as a "replacement" though, I do miss not doing Yoga X.

I think the crowning achievement for today though, goes to my wife Zu!!

She made it up the tough side with us and she did it relatively quick too.  I think we only spent about 25-30 minutes hiking up this bad boy.  Great time with so many doing it this way for the first time I think.  I certainly felt great to be up there at the top of the town...

I may not have got my chatarungas on, but I definitely got my peace on for the day.

Tomorrow... We bike Dorena Lake!!

~Mike

P90X Adventures: Week 9 Day 3 Shoulders & Arms

Well... it's certainly been longer than I'd anticipated being able to write again...  Super super busy, but I never let it stop me from doing my P90X routines...

...too much anyway.  I did miss out on one exercise I was supposed to do Sunday (Yoga X)...

I'd been helping a friend out with his condo since he moved back to Hong Kong for about six months and he's not planning on moving back here anyway.  Now, I've already been busy with all sorts of crazy stuff popping out of the woodwork, but this was seriously the straw that was breaking the camel's back.  I had put off cleaning out his place because I figured it was mostly done.  He said he just left a few boxes and such for goodwill and so I figured, I'll just go clean out the stuff really quick, grab the rest of my things and it'll be all good...

...and then I walked into this.

Uh... W.T.F.

Needless to say, I was not pleased, and definitely overwhelmed.  This was thursday and apparently the realtor wanted to start showing the place on friday... Like hell that was gonna happen.  So I worked at it, and worked at it.  Zu started helping out over the weekend and finally... Last night (TUESDAY)  we got it finsished....

Around doing all of this, I was struggling to get my routines in while also doing all the other work that has been going on.

This recovery week (week8) was the first one that actually felt like I was resting up and not just going crazy on some new stuff.  It was pretty amazing, but what I was really looking forward to was the return of the original workout schedule that I started 2 months ago.

I was expecting Chest & Back to just glide on like an old glove and I'd just kick ass on this routine because I've been getting beefed up along the way in these 2 months.   

Nope.

It kicked my ass like it was Day 1.

I guess that's the whole point of the "Muscle Confusion" they talk about.

What I did find impressive, however, was that I was just banging out pushups like a friggin madman.  I mean holy shit like 20 standard (compared to 9 Day 1), 8 military (barely pulled off 1 Day 1), 20 wide flys (only 4 Day 1), 10 decline ( 0 Day 1), 8 diamonds (barely 1 Day 1).   I even did 10 full dive-bomber pushups NOT EVEN MODIFIED!! Hell yeah.  I felt like a goddamn beast.  But I also felt like I was gonna throw up.  So, I've learned that this program is designed to keep you on that very cusp of "man, I can't do this" but when you keep going anyway and stop, you later realize not only did you just do it, but now you're looking kinda badass too.

I don't think Plyometrics ever gets any easier though.  It's one of those sneaky bastards that only lets you think it got easier, then the burn comes.  This thing never ceases to wear me the hell out.  Then again, it's the most intense workout of all P90X routines.  I guess there's the reason right?  I do like that now my only hangup is the bonus round baseball pitch routine.  I'm not into sports and I know jack shit about pitching baseballs, so for some damn reason, this compound move is actually difficult for me to perform.  I definitely feel like I'm not working anything while trying to do it so I guess there's something I need to improve on for sure.

Then today, I just finished Shoulders & Arms.  It was interesting this time because I decided to try a lot of the routine with resistance bands and sort of alternated between them and weights.  It felt great, but took a pretty long time to get through.  I was feeling the burn a lot more this time around which was awesome.  There are still a couple routines where I'm unsure if I'm really being effective.  Everything else is good though.

I think what I like most about these routines is the escape from the day.  I know I sound like a broken record where that's concerned but it really gets me centered and pulled out of the stress.  Whenever Tony says "Get your mind right" which is usually right before a routine that's gonna kick you right in the ass... You need to not be worrying about all that stuff you really have no control over.  It's a waste of energy.  Hell, you need all that energy to do this damn move that's making you wanna pass out.  I feel like this is why people who go crazy working out all the time do it.  

For today's Juice power, we'll go to a video I made with a Remix of the famous "Mean Green"... the staple of juices!

P90X Adventures: Week 8 Day 4 X Stretch

Yes... it's 3:31AM and yes... I just finished a P90X routine.   Today was a busy day for me and time got way out of my hands.  I didn't let it take my exercise from me though.  Especially not my X Stretch!  I can hardly even classify this as a workout routine.  It's more of a guilty pleasure than a serious workout.  I'm still nowhere near as flexible as anyone in the vid but I'm amazed at just how much more flexible I've become.  I'm really digging how much I can feel each stretch now and exactly where I can feel it.  I love how I've gone from a person who could barely stand to hold downward dog, to someone with the strength to just hang out in that position.  I still get pretty shaky mind you, but holding it now pales in comparison to the first few times I was trying to do Yoga X.

What I'm really loving most about Week 8 is now it's actually starting to feel like a recovery week.  Back when I was on the week 4 recovery week, everything still felt hardcore.  I was dying on everything.  I couldn't believe that was supposed to be a recovery week.  Fast forward to now, and everything seems fairly laid back.  Even Core Synergistics!! I mean, I made it all the way through this time!  Minus the "bonus round' mind you, but I'm pretty determined to make it all the way through tomorrow... well, I mean later today...

...yeah... I think it's time for sleep.

Later
~Mike

P90X Adventures: Week: 8 Day 2 Core Synergistics...uh... what happened to those other days?

Well...  It's been a few days.

You're probably wondering by now if I've "fallen off the workout wagon".

Well...

...no.

Decibel Festival was definitely quite the monkey wrench.  I tried, however, to plan ahead as much as I could with regard to my health and P90X goals, and while I didn't quite stick to my guns 100%, I can't say I did too bad.  First off, I tried to force myself to do Yoga X the day after I got up to WA, but I quickly canceled once I realized I couldn't do it without a Yoga mat.  I did manage to get Legs & Back done the following day.  It also just so happened that I danced my ass off later that night again, so there was no way I was gonna be able to pull off Kenpo X the following morning.

I was basically dancing all night to some Detroit House... it was awesome!

Add to it, I went out to eat with friends, and while I was trying to keep it vegetarian or vegan, I still managed to break that with the occasional food transgression.  I tried to keep it to a minimum, but I recognize now that my "gateway drug" is alcohol.  There's a local Nerd bar up in Everett, WA called the AFK tavern.  It's pretty awesome and follows a fairly unique niche (western washington in general is pretty good at themed bars).  That particular night, they were doing a special "Meat on a sick night Part 2".

I had a couple pieces of meat on a stick and did my dents into some deep fried appetizers.  I called myself trying to make a "healthy" choice by getting the deep fried green beans, but seriously, who was I kidding?  I did at least try to have as much greens as I could get a hold of with a salad and a vegetarian sandwich and what not, but between that and a few other less than healthy meals, I started to feel a bit down on myself.  Then I came to a realization...

The shirts I've been wearing.  They're larges I bought, but they've been fitting me kinda like socks.  They fit, but snug.  I noticed after I got back here that they were loose...  ALL of them were loose.  I looked at the scale and, yeah I'd gone up a pound or two (241), but my shirts were all looser than before I went up there...  Sometimes you just have to get out of your head.  I'm doing good and I'm not like jumping off the deep end trying to wreck myself.

So, I basically didn't do anything until I got back in town on Monday.  Thankfully, it was the start of my "rest" week so I had Yoga X to do.  Great, I got a chance to do it after all.  An amazing thing happened monday...  After I got home around 3:30pm, I pretty much went straight to it and I went all the way through about 1:30 of the routine non-stop!  Holy shit!  I even made all but one of the balance routines!  It was pretty awesome.  Now there's only 15 min left of the routine to make it through, but I'm getting better and better so there's just more to improve on!  I'm noticing how I'm actually getting more flexible and just wow...

I've been feeling the heat as of late with being busy and one of the big things I've been dealing with is engineering a radio show for a friend's boss.  The show airs in San Fran on Saturdays but has to be in the can  on Wednesdays.  I hadn't had a chance to do any work on this week's since I was up in Seattle, so come tues, I was on a full blitz to try to get this thing together.  I had an invite to go on a hike on Spencer's Butte by a friend and former colleague, and I figured I still needed to get some activity in yesterday.  I was also at my wits end dealing with the show (it's just really, really boring) so I decided it was a good time to take a break.  I figured, it wouldn't be too bad and afterward, I could still get to my Core Synergistics.

just a little bit further... up this wall

Well, I wasn't ready for that...  The group didn't get fully together there until like around 5:30 or later and they'd all decided to go up the "quick" path, while my friend usually goes up the normal "long" path.  That quick path is no joke.  It's basically a straight vertical climb up the side of a mini-mountain.  The awesome, I got up there with no problems.  I actually took mini breaks and just nearly sprinted up in short spurts.  I only broke a mild sweat and was mostly winded due to the dust kick up.  It's amazing to think what P90X has done for me overall.  A year ago, I probably would've died well under halfway up this side.  We got to the top and the view was just amazing.  The only other hike I've done was Mount Baldy in the spring and that paled in comparison to how awesome Spencer looked.  It took a while and we all went out for dinner afterward so I figured I wasn't going to get to Core Synergistics until today.  I went ahead and made yesterday my "rest" day so the rest of this week, I'll just make up all the rest of the routines.

It's simply breath taking...  Here's the full-res image to hopefully do it justice.

Today, I focussed and polished off the radio show, getting it done and delivered around 2pm.  I skipped lunch to finish it and kinda toiled for a bit, debating whether I should grab something to eat or just do core synergistics.  I figured it would be like Plyometrics where I shouldn't eat at least an hour before doing the routine, but by this time, my head was starting to hurt with the lack of lunch and I decided to just run and grab a quick salad. Turns out that was a good decision because I didn't have a problem doing Core synergistics after that.  Again, I was amazed at how well I'd improved and just how far I'd got in the routine. I actually made it all the way to the "bonus round".  I decided to go ahead and skip the bonus this time around, though, I think I'll attempt it later this week.  Everything felt so much easier to pull off this time.  It also felt like I was definitely more focussed and actually working my core this time around. Felt great.  I even did 4 non-modified Prison cell pushups!

So, I've got 2 juices since I never got to blogging yesterday.  Both were basically born from me trying to figure out what I could make with the dwindling supply of items I had left.  Yesterday, I broke out the masticating juicer to do some wheatgrass for the juice.  Masticating juicers have some definite pros and cons.  They usually tend to yield more juice and can juice greens better, especially wheatgrass.  The downside is that it takes forever to juice things, and more often, you're left with a lot of pulp you have to strain through.  thankfully, the omega comes with a strainer so you just have to clean out the strainer periodically while you juice things.  The end result though, is a juice that's way less oxidated, so there's more nutrients, and less foam.  It tasted pretty awesome.

Bunch of wheat grass, 1 peach, 2 apples, 1 grapefruit. 3 carrots, 1 lime.

2 Beets, 2 Pears, 3 Oranges, 4-5 Carrots, 1 lemon, 1 lime

This morning, I was almost literally out of everything.  I had to just comb the fridge and the kitchen to find anything.  I managed to scrounge together some things and I found 2 beets.  Then I made this juice, I decided to call "These Beets are Fresh".  Tasty, tasty stuff.

So anyway, I've been really busy, but no matter what, I've been making time for P90X and my health.  I'm glad too, this stuff is such a great escape and it balances out my day of just sitting here being nearly sedentary.    I'll catch you tomorrow after Kenpo X!

~Mike