Day 30 - Plyometrics

Alright so I have not seen this workout routine for two weeks. This is a killer routine, if done properly. The first time I did it, I did everything that was asked like it was asked for and it nearly killed me. If you remember the second time and third times around I had to modify because my left calf was having issues, but I still rocked it. Now if you remember a week ago, my right calf started with issues. Yesterday I did the jumping jacks and I had no problems, I thought to myself, cool I am ready for tomorrow. Well everything was fine till mid workout, during the mother of all jumps called jump knee tuck, you have to jump really high tuck your knees up in the air and then land on your toes. Well towards the end my right calf let me know it was there. I thought CRAP! NOT NOW! AND NOT AGAIN! well needless to say I did not stop and I modified yet again, what I did for jumps was either A) Place most of the weight on the left leg, I felt bad for it LOL or B)Use the muscle of my upper legs, squat a bit more, use the inertia of my torso as well and propel myself up and land very close to flat foot, and use my hamstring to cushion the landing and trying to make the cushioning long so it wont put a strain.

Now my main purpose with all this is to continue to workout and burn those calories, I have my mind set that I need to loose the darn Buddha belly and I am not letting anything get in my way LOL. But at the same time I am watching myself to try and not get hurt badly.

Well all in all, it was still a fantastic workout, heart rate was up there and I was sweating buckets, I mean my shirt was completely drenched, so I know I was still working hard.

Tomorrow I have Back and Biceps + Ab Ripper X, And I will BRING IT!!

Thank you for your time:

Mike

Day 29 – Chest, Shoulders & Triceps +ARX

And so today started Phase II and what a kick start. I don’t think I have done so many push ups before as I did today LOL, but I loved it. I wanted to take a moment to say, that I feel so much better, I find myself more energetic, and I am starting to do things teenagers do like walking and all the sudden jumping to touch something up high like a sign or a beam holding a roof LOL.

So lets see how I did today.

Chest, Shoulders & Triceps:

Results Chart:

01 Slow-Motion 3-in-1 Push-Ups	Reg	10	Bon	6	20
02 In & Out Shoulder Flys	R	16	W	H	20
03 Chairs Dips	R	14			20
04 Plange Push-Ups	N1	6	K1	6	20
05 Pike Presses	R	10			20
06 Side Tri-Rises	RA	10	LA	10	20
07 Floor Flys	R	16			20
08 Scarecrows	R	14	W	H	20
09 Overhead Tricep Extensions	R	15	W	H	20
10 Two-Twitch Speed Push-Ups	N1	7	K1	10	20
11 Y-Presses	R	10	W	20-H	15
12 Lying Tricep Extensions	R	20	W	H	20
13 Side-To-Side Push-Ups	N1	8	K1		15
14 Pour Flys	R	12	W	H	15
15 Side-Leaning Tricep Extensions	RA	12	W	H	15
	LA	12	W	H	15
16 One-Arm Push-Ups	N1	1	K1	4	5
17 Weighted Circles	R	36	W	M	40
18 Throw the Bomb	RA	13	W	H	15
	LA	13	W	H	15
19 Clap or Plyo Push-Ups	N1	1	K1	15	10
20 Slo-Mo Throws	R	10	W	H	15
21 Front-To Back Tricep Extensions	RA	20	W	H	20
	LA	20	W	H	20
22 One-Arm Balance Push-Ups	R	6			10
23 Fly-Row Presses	R	7	W	H	10
24 Dumbbell Cross-Body Blows	R	15	W	20	15

Reading this chart:

• Reg = Regular Rep
• Bon = Bonus push ups
• R = Reps
• N = No Knees
• K = Knees
• RA = Right Arm
• LA = Left Arm
• W = Weight
• M = Medium Resistance Band
• H = Heavy Resistance Band

Alright I will have to say that this workout was fun but crazy, I will try to keep this short. Today I tried my best to do Quality over Quantity and I will try to do the same every day now, so some numbers may drop, and like Tony says, it’s not about the numbers, but the quality, fighting for form.

The first set of push ups were very slow, I honestly did not think I was going to do more than 5 even tho I plunged to the floor and very ambitious I said “I will do 20! YEAH BRING IT!!!” LOL I did them as low as I could go I was about 2” of the floor and went as slow as it was asked and oh man, when I got up, I already felt my chest pumped up, something in the back of my mind said OK that was tough, and my mouth said “Yeah give me more!” LOL.

The chair dips I will mention that before I had my legs in a sitting  position to be able to them, today I extended them like it should be done and I was pleased that I did 14 reps.

I want to say something about all of it LOL but this will be to long. Explaining the Y-Presses, you will notice that it says 20-H, I started with the 20lbs dumbbells and ended up using the bands to continue. I am starting to do that quite a bit now with push ups too, do whatever I can without knees and then use my knees to squeeze a couple of more reps, not all, but on must.

I will jump to the one arm push ups, man I tried doing them normal, I could not go down all the way, even my back somewhat hurt a bit, switched to knees and still could not go down all the way, went about half way and could only muster 2 on each arm, man these puppies are tough. Clap push ups, I did one regular and that was it LOL I could not get enough lift off for the second one, so I used my knees and that was a bit to easy, did 15.

Oh and I have to say, what a killer the weighted circles were, I used the bands and even tho I was so close to 40, I just could not keep it going, my arms dropped LOL.

Needless to say, I felt it was a fantastic workout, I was already pumped from the first 3 or 4 exercises, I could really feel it in my triceps and chest, so imagine how good it felt by the time I reached the end, I sweated buckets and at one point I had a bit of adrenalin shakes, not to the extreme but I had them.

And after being exhausted from this new workout I had to do Ab Ripper X, I really did miss this one.

Ab Ripper X:

Results Chart:

	Day 19	Day 29	Difference
In & Out	50	50	+0
Seated Bicycle	F25 R25	F25 R25	F+0 R+0
Seated Crunchy Frog	25	25	+0
Crossed leg/Wide Leg Sit-Up	12	14	+2
Fifer Scissors	25	20	-5
Hip Rock 'N Raise	24	25	+0
Pulse-Up	25	25	+0
Roll-Up/V-Up Combo	4	8	+4
Oblique V-Up	RS25 LS25	RS25 LS25	RS+0 LS+0
Leg Climb	RS4 LS4	RS6 LS6	RS+2 LS+2
Mason Twist	40	37	-3
Total Crunches	313	317	+4

Reading this chart:

• Last column is the difference in reps since the last time I did this workout:
  • Green = More Reps than last time
  • Red = Less Reps than last time
• F = Forward
• R = Reverse
• RS = Right Side
• LS = Left Side

Alright, I will say this was not bad, considering I was pretty tuckered out. Only managed to do 4 more than last time in total, I dropped –5 on fifer scissors, I tried not to let it happen but I just could not do it. So than I tried my best to bring it for the rest. The Roll-up/V-up keep in mind that they count 1 for every time you touch your toes and I count 1 for every 2, I made that mistake at first and I am caring it over in order to keep with the data, so I did not really do +4 more, but +8 more. Leg climbing, still struggling, I get about half my back up, but I am doing my best and forgetting about the rest. And finally Mason Twist, I like this one, somehow I fell over at 37, well next time I will try to get some within the bonus round.

Alright also want to take a moment to mention the new calendar I made, I took desktop wallpapers from beachbody.com in order to make this calendar, I hope they’re not mad at me for that. I placed it on the right side, click on it to see the large version and you can see what I have done so far and what I have left.

Tomorrow I have Plyometrics and I shall BRING IT!!! :o)

Thank you for your time:

Mike

Day 28 – X Stretch – Phase 1 Complete!

WOOHOO Phase I complete!, Wow what a ride this has been so far. Well lets get right in to it, I am excited.

Again I chose to stretch, it was great to do so. I am slowly starting to get a bit more flexible, still having some issues with torso twists due to still having some fat LOL. Also still can’t do camel nor heroes back, but working on it.

Well lets get to what is important for today which is weight, measurements and pictures!

Weight:

	Day 1	Day 21	Day 28
Age	36.0	36.0	36.0
Height	69.0	69.0	69.0
Weight	207.4	199.2	198.4
Body Fat %	33.4%	28.9%	27.0%
Lean Body Mass	138.1	141.6	144.8
Fat Body Mass	69.3	57.6	53.6
Body Surface Area (BSA)	2.1	19.5	19.5
Body Mass Index (BMI)	30.6	29.4	29.3

Alright so again I placed Day 1, last week’s and today’s weight. So comparing last week to this week. I lost 0.8 visible lbs or what you can see at the scale. Looking at my body fat %, I lost 1.9% more of body fat, so I lost 4lbs of fat and as you can see I gained 3.2lbs of beautiful lean body mass LOL. That is awesome.

And for those who are wondering: I lost 9lbs that you can see on the scale. I lost 6.4% body fat, making me loose 15.7lbs of fat and gaining 6.7lbs of lean body mass. YEAH!!! AWESOME!!

Measurements:

Date	Day 1	Day 21	Day 28
Neck	18	17.5	17.25
Shoulder	17	16.5	15
Chest	45.5	45	45
Waist	44	42.25	42
Abdomen	44	43.25	43
Hips	41	40.5	40
Thigh	23.5	24	23.75
Knee	14.5	14.5	14.5
Calf	15	15	14.5
Ankle	9	9	9
Arm	13.5	13.75	13
Forearm	11	11	10
Wrist	7.5	7	7
Waist-Hip Ratio	1.073170732	1.043209877	1.05

Again placed Day1, last week and today for comparison.

Again slowly loosing inches and half inches here and there. I seem to have lost in my arms and legs a bit besides my abdominal area. I think to make it shore I will say that most important here is since day 1 I have lost 2” of waist, 1” of abdomen and 1” on my hips.

Alright lets take a look at a couple of pictures, just click on them to enlarge and see the ugly me in larger version if you dare LOL and yes damn it I know I am hairy LMAO!

First thing you can tell here is well I am still fat LOL, but it has gone down, YAY!!, Even my face is a bit thinner. I did not smile on purpose, I wanted to compare my face as well, if I smiled the face gets wider LOL. But you can tell the waist is down a bit.

Again here we can see my face thinner and the belly not as Buddha LOL. YAY! And my arms seem a but thinner too.

  Here you can see a bit of muscle in the arms, a wee bit of definition on the back (mid section), and the waist that has gone down, even the shorts seem to be following off me LOL. Hmm and my butt seems to have gotten smaller too LMAO!

And here you can see the entire set:

 

Alright, I am very excited about this, it is not the same thing to loose weight and not gain muscle, which is what you get with a diet only. Also consider this, I am not following the diet, I am just watching what I eat, I research when I have time about nutrition and try to apply it as I go, nothing scheduled or measured, even tho I have cut down my portion intake. Also I have not been using Whey Protein as I have not been able to afford it as of yet, just been drinking non-fat chocolate milk, which as far as I research, lots of people seem to use it. So these results have been a bit watching what I eat and the rest pure exercise.

My plan so far for Phase II. I plan to bring it even more, whenever I manage to get some extra cash I will start Whey Protein Isolate. And I need some more dumbbells. Also I placed a new goal in my head that will make me bring it even more, I want a six pack, and I plan to work as hard as I need to, I just have to watch that I don’t over do it and hurt myself, also plan to not use escalators and elevators, well the only elevator I will use will be the one from home, don’t think I can do 10 floors with books and stuff, at least not yet LOL.

Alright so Phase II tomorrow starts with a new workout, Chest, Shoulders & Triceps + Ab Ripper X, Yes I have missed Ab Ripper X.

Thank you for your time and motivational support:

Mike

PS: Please feel free to comment and tell me what you think.

Day 27 – Yoga X

OMG Again I feel I really brought it again. First off, every upward dog was done without knees on the floor, I use to have a combination before, not today, and best of all, I did a push up before every downward dog, yeah that’s right before every single one, I am very proud of myself. Towards the last few upward dogs I was starting to feel that I was not going to do them anymore but I knew I was close to finishing that segment so I pushed myself and I am glad I did. I will say I sweat even more and I was a lot more tired, when it came to side balance I could not hold it for the full time, but still I was very happy with myself, and that alone I think is worth it.

Another cool thing today is that I was able to grab my foot during the stretches, and at the same token during the balancing I was able to do toe lock, but I could not hold it for more then 5sec at a time because I kept falling out of balance, but I toe locked YEAH!.

Also Crain, this time I tried using the yoga block to support my head at first but it was no good, then I managed to get in to it and held it for 4 to 5sec, and put a toe down from the left foot and did again, and kept doing it and lasting 4 to 5sec each time for the full 1min, so that is awesome, which means soon I will be able to do it., YEAH!

Needless to say I was really happy that I was able to bring it, this is the last Yoga X for the Phase I. That’s right, after X Stretch tomorrow, Phase I will be over, oh man that is so awesome. That means that tomorrow I take measurements, weight and pictures, so please make sure to come back so you can see the difference between Day 1 and Day 28.

Thank you for your time:

Mike

Day 26 – Core Synergistic

Today was a lot better, my calf was letting me know it was there but no major pain, so I did take it a bit easy at times with it but I managed to workout and it was an awesome workout, I brought it and I know cause I sweated buckets and I could feel my heart pounding at one point, and some adrenalin shakes, and it felt GOOD!. So let see how I did.

Results Chart:

01 Stack Foot/Stagger Hands Push-Ups	N1	30	K1		+5
02 Banana Rolls	R	all			+0
03 Leaning Crescent Lunges	R	24	W	0	+0
04 Squat Run	S	60	W	0	+0
05 Sphinx Push-Ups	N1	6	K1	14	+4
06 Bow To Boat	R	8			+2
07 Low Lateral Skaters	R	20	W	0	+0
08 Lunge & Reach	R	20	W	M	+0
09 Prison Cell Push-Ups	N1	6	K1		+0
10 Side Hip Raise	RL	12	LL	12	+2
11 Squat X-Press	R	30	W	M	+0
12 Plank To Chaturanga Run(sec)	P	40	C		+10
13 Walking Push-Ups	N1	34	K1		+0
14 Superman Banana	R	All			+0
15 Lunge-Kickback-Curl-Press	R	20	W	0	+0
16 Towel Hopping	S	60			+0
17 Reach High & Under Push-Ups	N1	10	K1		+3
18 Steam Engine	R	50			+20
19 Dreya Roll	R	7			+1
BONUS ROUND
20 Plank To Chaturanga Iso	S	50			+0
21 The Halfback	R	All			+0
22 Table Dip Leg Raise	R	24			+4

Reading this chart:

• Last column is how many more reps or seconds I did since the last time.
• Green = More
• Red = Less
• R = Reps
• S = Seconds
• N = No Knee
• K = Knee
• P = Plank
• C = Chaturanga
• W = Weight
• M = Medium Resistance Band

OK so some of them I did not do more because it was what was asked for, and on others I could not do more.

Major highlights, Bow to Boat, I had issues again trying to get in to Bow so in order not to fight it and get some workout done I replaced Bow  for superman. The sphinx push ups again I did what I could without knees then I added the knees and kept going, it felt good. The side hip raise, I will say that I can’t do it with out touching the floor, I did all the reps trying not to touch the floor but I could not, so I will keep trying for next time. Plank to Chaturanga, I can’t do the running motion in Chaturanga as of yet, I tried so I kept doing it in Plank. Lunge-Kickback-Curl-Press, again no weights for this, I only have 20s and by the time I made it to this workout I knew I was not going to be able to use the 20s for this, so again I tensed my muscles, like if I had weights and again halfway through it I felt it. Steam Engine, I seem to have caught a second wind and decided I was going to bring it all the way and did all 50 reps, YEAH! The Dreya Roll, LOL again still keep getting stuck and I need to help myself with my hands in order to get up LOL. The last thing I will mention will be the Plank to Chaturanga Iso, here I make it to chaturanga and I do my best not to touch the floor, the few times I do I place my arms closer to my sides and lift back to chaturanga and try to keep it, did my best and again was only able to muster 50sec.

All in all it was a great workout! Tomorrow I have Yoga X, I will have to bring out a large towel for all the sweat this workout produces LOL.

Also I am so Excited, I am reaching the end of Phase I, OH Man that is awesome! This also means, weight, measurements and this time pictures will be coming soon to compare with Day 1, so please come back and check it out!

Thank you for your time:

Mike

Day 25 – X Stretch

First off, I just realized I have been misspelling the word calf, when I first wanted to make sure I had the correct spelling, I typed in calf in Google and clicked images, 99% of all images that came up were pictures of calves, well it seems that it is a huge spelling mistake online too LOL.

OK so using the correct word LOL, my calf feels way better today, but doing some research it seems it can take one to two weeks for recovery, if it is more severe it takes longer and I don’t want that, so I will make sure to take care of it some more, if I feel any discomfort I will not work that one to hard.

The best part about today is that I managed to feel more flexible, I was able to grab my toes on all hamstring stretches so that was great. In bow I fought a bit to grab both my legs again but I managed, however I still can’t pull myself up. I finally got a yoga block, so it was easier to do some of the torso twist, not all the way but I did twist a bit more. All in all it felt good to stretch out.

Tomorrow I have Core Synergistic again tomorrow, there is not a lot of calf hard calf work, for except the jumping jacks and the 1min towel jump but I am sure I can modify for a bit and bring it for the rest.

Thank you for your time and motivational support:

Mike

Day 24 – Kenpo X

So that is Week 4 Day 3 down, YEAH BABY!! Just about there to start Phase 2! Very Excited.

Well my calve is still a little sore, so I took an ibuprofen and did not do jumping jacks very hard, tried to somewhat do bounce movements with out actually jumping in order to work it a bit while moving my arms in jumping jacks motion. It was not the same but it is keeping me from really harming my calve further. However I tried to workout my upper body harder, also no issues throwing kicks so that was fine, it was just the jumping jacks break that I had issues with today. But I still had fun and still did my best to bring it and did not take a day off WOOHOO!! and did not hurt my calve more, so all is good.

I was thinking of ways to bringing it even more for the next Kenpo X, and I found something at Wal-Mart for basically $10, 1lb Weighted Gloves.

  Now at the Everlast website they are worth $20, but for some reason at Wal-Mart the same ones, same brand and weight and everything, $10. They are not wrist weights which can sometimes bother, they are an actual glove, I tested them out I and like how they feel. So next pay day, at the end of this week if I can, I am getting these babies. You may think 1lb is nothing, but with the inertia of your arms moving fast during punches, hooks and upper cuts, it is going to really weigh about twice as much, so it is going to burn, so we shall see how that goes once I get them.

Well tomorrow I have X Stretch, so I can relax the clave so more and hopefully the stretches help me out a bit more.

Thank you for your time:

Mike