Day 16 - Plyometrics

Oh Yeah there is nothing like a little plyometrics in the early morning. I started them at 7:30am. Had to be careful on not waking up my wife, which at the same time is great because it obligates me to land as softly as possible, meaning I have to land on my toes and in turn my calves get one hell of a work out. But at the same time I can’t jump way to high because you can still feel it in the room, so I did my best, I sweated like a pig and my heart rate was in the zone all the time, so in order to loose weight I was doing the right thing, which makes me happy.

Today I hurt my knee for a little bit on the squat jack, I thought oh crap, there goes the rest of the exercise for the day, however we are bit pass half way already. But I modified a bit and still worked out and kept my heart rate going by the time I got to the bonus round some how the pain was gone so I worked out as normal. On the hot foot, I was able to do it for 15 seconds on each foot this time, and I kept switching until they finished, before I mostly just did the jump rope, so it felt good.

Breakfast, I wanted some chocolate milk but we ran out of milk, will be getting non fat milk as I will be doing my best to climb Michi’s Ladder. So I ate 2 peanut butter and banana sandwiches this morning, they were good, but should have only ate one LOL I feel to full.

I copied Michi’s Ladder in to a word document and reduced it in to 10 point font and it fits on 1.5 pages now, easier to have as a printed copy. Also I will be pasting the pages together and placing it on the refrigerator door. I will put a link to it if you guys want a printable version.

Tomorrow I have shoulders & Arms + Ab Ripper X

Thank you for your time

Mike

Day 15 – Chest & Back + Ab Ripper X

And so Week 3 begins! OH YEAH!!! LETS BRING IT!!

First off a bit of a blunder, for 2 weeks I have done these DVD twice. Classic says to do Ab Ripper X after certain DVDs, Chest & Back is one of them. Well me being all excited as soon as the first workout was over I pushed stop and popped in Ab Ripper X, pretty normal right, done it for 2 weeks. Well this time after it was done I had to step out to the washroom for a moment so I did not hit stop or anything. I come back and Ab Ripper X is playing and they are already half way through In & out, I am like, what the …, who changed the DVDs on me? I look and Ab Ripper X is sitting on the desk, I check the progress (I play it on the computer) and sure enough it has already run for over an hour and it does say it is playing Chest & Back LOL so little did I know that Ab Ripper X was conveniently already on the same DVD and I did not have to switch them LOL. I feel dumb now LOL.

OK lets talk about today’s workout. I was a bit tired today and I had to workout at the end of the day, also even though I am following Michi’s Ladder now, and today I ate very healthy, Tuna Sandwich, Apple, Strawberries, carrots, cucumbers, broccoli, lettuce, chicken, well the last meal I somewhat ate a bit more, I am no longer use to eating a lot and 2 hrs later I worked out, I pumped myself out quite nicely but to the point I almost brought back what I ate once. Sorry I said that. Any who, mental note, keep my portions down as I have been doing LOL.

However it was still pretty awesome I used my new dumbbells as well.

Lets see.

Chest & Back:

Result Chart:

01 Standard Push-Ups	N1	28	K1	-	25	+6
	N2	16	K2	-	25	+4
02 Wide Front Pull-Ups	NC1	-	C1	10	15	-3
	NC2	-	C2	9	15	-1
03 Military Push-Ups	N1	5	K1	5	10	+5
	N2	-	K2	9	10	-1
04 Reverse Grip Chin-Ups	NC1	-	C1	10	15	+4
	NC2	-	C2	8	15	+1
05 Wide Fly Push-Ups	N1	15	K1	-	20	+1
	N2	10	K2	-	15	+1
06 Closed Grip Overhand Pull-Ups	NC1	-	C1	10	12	+0
	NC2	-	C2	10	12	+4
07 Decline Push-Ups	N1	12	K1	-	15	+0
	N2	10	K2	-	15	+0
08 Heavy Pants	R1	18	W	20	20	-2
	R2	17	W	20	20	-3
09 Diamond Push-Ups	N1	-	K1	8	10	+0
	N2	-	K2	6	10	-1
10 Lawnmovers	R1	20	W	20	25	+0
	R2	17	W	20	25	-3
11 Dive-Bomber Push-Ups	N1	2	K1	5	10	+5
	N2	2	K2	5	10	+2
12 Back Flys	R1	13	W	20	20	+3
	R2	14	W	20	20	+0

Reading the chart:

• The second to last column is the goals I had set before doing the exercise.
• Green = More Reps than last time
• Red = Less Reps than last time
• N# = No knees
• K# = Using Knees
• NC = No Chair
• C = With Chair assist
• R = Reps
• W = Weight

Even though I was tired, I had a pretty a good workout. In order to crank those extra 6 on my first push ups I did take a small 2 second break at the top, it was worth it though, did it a couple of times throughout the workout, a very small break in-between, no more then 2 seconds. The dumbbells were fantastic, however I still managed to do higher reps, which means I still need heavier dumbbells, maybe 25lbs and possibly 30lbs. But 20lbs is what I have for now.

Still need to work on diamond and dive bomber push ups, and still need to work on getting rid of the chair for the pull ups. Other than that, it was an awesome workout and I felt nice and pumped + shaky again, yeah that felt good! BRING IT!

Ab Ripper X:

Results Chart:

	Day 12	Day 15	Difference
In & Out	48	50	+2
Seated Bicycle	F25 R23	F25 R23	F+0 R+0
Seated Crunchy Frog	20	22	+2
Crossed leg/Wide Leg Sit-Up	8	8	+0
Fifer Scissors	24	24	+0
Hip Rock 'N Raise	16	18	+2
Pulse-Up	25	25	+0
Roll-Up/V-Up Combo	3	2	-1
Oblique V-Up	RS20 LS20	RS22 LS22	RS+2 LS+2
Leg Climb	RS3 LS3	RS4 LS3	RS+1 LS+0
Mason Twist	26	30	+4
Total Crunches	264	278	+14

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

Well I brought it yet again. I started before they did in order to complete 50 reps of In & Out, Also I go fast. For abs I try to go fast on some of them because I want to burn fat first, I do want to build muscle too, but I really want to get rid of my Buddha belly.

So from last time all I managed to muster was an extra 14 more reps than last time. But that is 181 more then the first day! YEAH BRING IT!!

Still need to work on Roll Ups, at least Wide Leg will be slowly going to the double digits.

Well this post is getting to long, so I will leave it there, tomorrow I have Plyometrics.

Thank you for your time and don’t forget that Ab Ripper X is included right after the workout (At least on Chest & Back so far) LMAO

Mike

Day 14 – X Stretch – Week 2 Done WOOHOO!

Alright so Day 14 done, that means 2 weeks of P90X down YEAH BABY!! BRING IT!!

Again I had the choice to relax or do X Stretch and of course I chose to stretch. It was very good to stretch. This time I was able to do the low squat stretch where you swing side to side on the lowest possible squat, while using your elbows to keep your legs apart, I had problems doing it before, but not anymore. Still working on torso twists, little by little. I am starting to reach my toes on the stretches so that is awesome as well. This will be great for Kenpo X.

Well enough of that, lets talk about this weeks results. Lets take a look at my weight & measurements.

Weight results:

	Fit Test	Day 7	Day 14
Age	36.0	36.0	36.0
Height	69.0	69.0	69.0
Weight	207.4	207.8	204.2
Body Fat %	33.4%	29.5%	29.7%
Lean Body Mass	138.1	146.5	143.6
Fat Body Mass	69.3	61.3	60.6
Body Surface Area (BSA)	2.1	20.0	19.8
Body Mass Index (BMI)	30.6	30.7	30.2

The results are pretty good. I highlighted the most important ones. So this week I lost 3.6lbs that you can see on the scale right away, pretty cool. And looking at the body fat % It seems to have gone up by 0.2%, but remember I weigh less now and my BMI is less and these are percentages, so it will seem as it has increased but if you look at the fat body mass I lost 0.7lbs of actual fat. Now the chart also shows that I lost 2.9lbs of lean body mass. Now not all this makes sense at the moment because, I am working out and building muscle, how could I be loosing muscle. Well if you look at the measurements chart, I lost some inches in a couple of places, therefore the large organ that we have, which is our skin has shrunk and that is where the lean body mass loss has come from as skin is also lean. So lets check it out.

Measurements Results:

	Fit Test	Day 7	Day 14
Neck	18	17.5	17.5
Shoulder	17	16	17
Chest	45.5	45	45
Waist	44	44	43
Abdomen	44	44.5	43.5
Hips	41	41.5	40.5
Thigh	23.5	24	24
Knee	14.5	14.5	14.5
Calf	15	15	15
Ankle	9	9	9
Arm	13.5	15	14
Forearm	11	11.75	10.5
Wrist	7.5	7.5	7
Waist-Hip Ratio	1.073170732	1.060240964	1.061728395

I highlighted the changes, the most important change here is I lost 1 inch on my waist, abdomen and hips, also lost it on my arms and forearm and even lost half an inch on my wrists. I say this is awesome!! So as you can see the skin is shrinking and therefore I lost Lean Body Mass.

So for those wondering what the results in total are since day 1:

• Lost 8.7lbs of Fat.
• Lost 2.9lbs of Flabby Skin
• Gained 5.5lbs of Beautiful Lean Muscle

I would say that these results are fantastic, considering that now clothes are starting to feel larger on me, I am starting to feel more energetic and less tired on my day to day activities. That alone is worth while.

I will say I could have done a lot better, all these results have been accomplished with out following a diet, only watching what I eat a bit. However I did falter several times this week and ate things I should have not.

So what will I be working on for Week 3? First I will be looking more in to nutrition. I will be climbing Michi’s Ladder to begin with and watching the portions I eat. I know that I require Carbs and Protein for breakfast and lunch and Protein and Veggies for dinner. So this will be my start.

On another note Week 3 is the last week that I will be doing the same routine that I have been doing for the past 2 weeks, so I will be trying my best to bring it even more. I went out today and I purchased two 20lbs dumbbells. I will be working on quality instead of quantity, so expect some the numbers in reps to go down as I increase weight, and better my form in order to really bring it this week as much as possible, so make sure to come back.

Only advice I have right now is, if your trying to lose weight, keep track of everything, weight, body fat and measurements, if I would have not done so, I would have thought I lost muscle but the measurements make sense, that losing weight will cause the skin to shrink.

Thank you for your time and motivational support:

Mike

Day 13 – Kenpo X - Still loving it!

Today I finished Week 2 Day 6. WOW one more day to finish Week 2.

Man oh man, no break for me today. I did this routine like in the DVD, running in place and doing jacks during the break time, it was fantastic, even though my calves still reminded me that I had done legs yesterday.

Again I had lots of fun during the routine, that I almost kept forgetting there was someone sleeping, I kept wanting to yell every time they were yelling, I was so in to it yet again. I will admit that the last few kicks were a bit week, since I did not stop for break, but it was only like the last 10 kicks or so, which is fantastic.

What do I need to work on for this routine. Well mostly it’s just stretching so I can kick a little higher. I still did like last time, during the block sequence, on my horse stance I swung to the left while blocking on the left and swung to the right while blocking to the right, which makes your thighs burn a bit more. Oh and I need to maybe move some stuff around in my room, I need a bit more room I think.

Tomorrow is the last day of week 2, again I have the choice to either do nothing or do X Stretch, and since I need more flexibility I will be doing X Stretch. Plus I will be weighing myself and taking measurements tomorrow, so you will want to come back and see the results.

Thank you for your time and don’t forget to BRING IT!!

Mike

Day 12 – Legs & Back + Ab Ripper X

Alright so that is Week 2 Day 5 completed! WOOHOO!

OK so today I worked out at 7am, yikes, it’s a bit tough at first, your body is not as responsive and I did it with out breakfast, bad Mike, BAAAD MIKE! LOL. However I still did pretty good. Also had a bit of an accident today LOL Nothing mayor, but we’ll get to that when time comes. First off lets see how I did today.

Legs & Back:

Result Chart:

01 Balance Lunge	RL	19	LL	19	20	+4
02 Calf Raise Squat	R	30	W	0	30	+5
03 Reverse Grip Chin-Ups	NC1		C1	10	15	+2
	NC2		C2	9	10	+0
04 Super Skater	RL	25	LL	25	25	+5
05 Wall Squat (sec)	S	50			90	-10
06 Wide Front Pull-Ups	NC1		C1	10	15	+0
	NC2		C2	8	10	+0
07 Step Back Lunge	RL	25	W		25	+5
	LL	25	W		25	+5
08 Alternating Side Lunge	R	25	W		25	+1
09 Closed Grip Overhand Pull-Ups	NC1		C1	11	10	+4
	NC2		C2	8	10	+2
10 Single Leg Wall Squat (sec)	S	5			30	+0
11 Deadlift Squat	LL	12	RL	15	20	+2 - +3
12 Switch Grip Pull-Ups	NC1		C1	8	10	+0
	NC2		C2	6	10	+0
13 Three-Way Lunge	RL	5	LL	5	5	+0
14 Sneaky Lunge	R	16			20	+0
15 Chair Salutations (sec)	S1	20			30	+3
	S2	20			30	+3
16 Toe-Roll Iso Lunge	RL	15	LL	13	20	+5 - +3
17 Groucho Walk	R	25			25	+0
18 Calf Raises	R	75	W		75	+0
19 80/20 Cyber-Speed Squat	RL	25	LL	25	25	+5

Reading this Chart:

• Last column is the difference in reps since the last time I did this workout:
• Green = More Reps or Seconds
• Red = Less Reps or Seconds
• Second to last column is the goals I had set for myself.
• R = Reps
• S = Seconds
• NC = No Chair Assist
• C = Chair Assist
• RL = Right Leg
• LL = Left Leg
• W = Weight

I have to try soon to concentrate more on quality of the workout than the quantity, however I want to burn fat too so quantity is still important for me. Now first thing you will notice, that there is a –10 sec in red for the wall squats. I don’t have much wall available in my room and the part of wall I do have is next to the door, it is drywall and there is no stood behind there, well when the clock hit 50sec, somehow I slipped down, my butt hit the floor hard and my back drove in to the wall and I cracked it LOL and yeah I live in an apartment LOL. I am OK, but at that time I was not sure, you know how injuries are, they don’t hurt right away sometimes, therefore I took it a little easier on myself to make sure I did not discover I had hurt myself during the workout itself and made it worse. I tried doing the one leg wall squat for more then 5 sec but I was doing them on the door frame and that was a bit uncomfortable.

That aside, I still need to work on trying to get rid of the chair for the pull ups. I tried and I can only go half way, I also seem to have problems with my wrist doing cracking sounds when I get up in some of the pull up positions like close grip pull up. Other than that, I did very well and I still brought it! Crack on the wall and all LMAO!

So lets see how I did in the second part of the workout.

Ab Ripper X:

Results Chart:

	Day 10	Day 12	Difference
In & Out	45	48	+3
Seated Bicycle	F25 R22	F25 R23	F+0 R+1
Seated Crunchy Frog	20	20	+0
Crossed leg/Wide Leg Sit-Up	6	8	+2
Fifer Scissors	22	24	+2
Hip Rock 'N Raise	14	16	+2
Pulse-Up	20	25	+5
Roll-Up/V-Up Combo	3	3	+0
Oblique V-Up	RS17 LS17	RS20 LS20	RS+3 LS+3
Leg Climb	RS3 LS3	RS3 LS3	RS+0 LS+0
Mason Twist	25	26	+1
Total Crunches	242	264	+22

Reading this chart:

Last column is the difference in reps since the last time I did this workout:

• Green = More Reps or Seconds
• Red = Less Reps or Seconds
• F = Forward
• R = Reverse
• RS = Right Side
• LS = Left Side

Alright so I brought it yet again! YEAH! BRING IT!! LOL Now in order for me to have done 48 In & Outs, I started before they started on the DVD. At the same time, doing this many is possibly also killing the possibility of increasing even more crunches on the other routines, but I want to do as many as possible. Once I reach bicycle I can barely do them, they burn like crazy and mostly on my thighs, but hey no pain no gain. The wide leg sit ups, I am starting to get the form down better, and the same with roll up/v up, but I still did the same as last time, just 3. Still have major struggles with leg climb, working on it. Masson twist, I was able only to give out just one more before I gave. But hey in total I did 22 more crunches since last time, and again for those wondering, I did 167 more since Day 1, YEAH BRING IT!!

Two more days and Week 2 is over WOW, how time flies. OK so tomorrow I have Kenpo X.

Thank you for your time and motivational support and don’t forget to Bring it even if you crack your wall LMAO!

Mike

Day 11 – Yoga X (OOHHMMMMMMM)

Alright so I did my Yoga X today finishing Week 2 Day 4, Feels AWESOME!

So first off I was wrong on the timing, last time I did mention that it divided itself into three segments, but it is not 30min each. The main segment that will make you sweat and work out good, is 48min long. So if your going to make it short, at least try to complete the first 48min, I just keep going till the end baby LOL.

So how did I do today, I still need to work on my torso twist, I can’t twist to far to be able to straighten my self 90 degrees to either side, so I have some issues with some of the poses but I am slowly pushing my self. However, good thing about the first segment is I did all my chaturangas nice and slow, which really creates this work out, it’s basically a slow push up down and when down you move forward, then you push up but leaving your hips down which takes you into upward dog and then they go back to plank (Push up pose), a push up if you want to (I did it only twice,I knew I needed to last) and then they take you to downward dog. There are so many  different yoga poses that he takes you through and each and every time you need to accomplish this sequence for every pose and he does each pose at least twice, it is not fast either. It is at a nice steady pace. I was sweating so much, that at one point the sweat was coming down my forehead as a steady stream, I had a hard time keeping it out of my eyes, and I am not kidding, it was not a couple of drops here and there, it was literally a steam of sweat, I had to pause for a few seconds and use my shirt to catch it all, ewwww!! LOL  

I felt proud of myself, I only had a couple of issues every time I had to twist left or right and stay there but all was good with that segment, until I reached side arm balance, I was able only to hold it for half the time, 15sec, not bad, but I have to work on it. The next hardest thing was warrior three and standing splits, I did most of warrior three as long as I could keep my leg in that position and I had to somewhat stand out for standing splits, I had a hard time trying to keep my leg up at that time and don’t even mention half moon LOL, cause there goes that torso twist again LOL.

The other thing I tried was crane pose, I can get the knees where they should go but I still can’t balance LOL I almost fell forward LOL Just for kicks I will show you a screen shoot:

So that is crane pose, as you can see the clock is counting down 1min, you have to stay in that pose for 1min. We shall see if I can do it next time, at least I will shoot for a good 15sec to start with.

I don’t want to make this post any longer, so all I will say is, don’t skip your yoga, it may be hard and it will take time to do but it will help you out so much, holding out your limbs for long extended periods of time, gives you one heck of a work out and strengthens you out, not to mention the stretches, so don’t just bring it on the other workouts only, make sure to bring it on Yoga X as well.

Tomorrow I have Legs & Back + Ab Ripper X, I may workout in the morning, as shift work around the house now has gotten to later hours, so I may not have time to do it a night.

Thank you for your time and don’t forget to BRING IT!!

Mike

Day 10 – Shoulders & Arms + Ab Ripper X

Today was Week 2 Day 3, and it was another amazing workout! YES!! BRING IT!!

Again I tried to bring it as much as I could, to the point that again I felt nice and pumped at the end of the workout and again had the adrenalin shakes, and it was awesome! I was home alone today so I also yelled a bit on the last reps when I could not do anymore, so I could BRING IT! LOL. By the time I was done I went to take a drink of water and I could barely control the water bottle to my mouth properly, I was pouring water through the sides of my mouth LOL but I thought whatever, it’s just water, and I feel good!

So what did I do to bring it this time. Lets take a look at some results:

Shoulders & Arms: 

Results Chart:

01 Alternating Shoulder Presses	R1	20	W	M	20	+4
	R2	20	W	M	20	+4
02 In & Out Bicep Curls	R1	20	W	H	20	+4
	R2	20	W	H	20	+0
03 Two-Arm Tricep Kickbacks	R1	18	W	M	20	+3
	R2	16	W	M	20	+0
04 Deep Swimmer's Presses	R1	18	W	M	20	+4
	R2	14	W	H	20	-1
05 Full Supination Concentration Curls	R1	20	W	H	20	+0
	R2	16	W	H+	20	-4
06 Chair Dips	R1	10			12	+2
	R2	10			12	+1
07 Upright Rows	R1	18	W	H	20	-2
	R2	16	W	H+	20	+1
08 Static Arm Curls	R1	20	W	H	20	+0
	R2	16	W	H	20	+0
09 Flip-Grip Twist Tricep Kickbacks	R1	14	W	H	20	+4
	R2	18	W	H	20	+10
10 Seated Two-Angle Shoulder Flys	R1	16	W	H	20	+1
	R2	16	W	H	20	+4
11 Crouching Cohen Curls	R1	16	W	H	20	+4
	R2	16	W	H	20	+2
12 Lying-Down Tricep Extensions	R1	16	W	H	20	+0
	R2	20	W	H	20	+4
BONUS ROUND
13 In & Out Strait Arm Shoulder Flys	R1	12	W	H	20	-4
	R2	11	W	H	20	-1
14 Congdon Curls	R1	20	W	H+	20	+3
	R2	20	W	H+	20	+3
15 Side Tri-Rises	LA	9	RA	9	10	+6
	LA	9	RA	8	10	+6

Reading this chart:

• Last column is the difference in amount of reps I did since the last time I did this routine
• Green = More reps
• Red = Less reps
• Second to last column is the goals I set for myself.
• R = Reps
• W = Weight
• M = Medium Resistance Band
• H = Heavy Resistance Band
• H+ = Increase of tension or weight by adding a loop to the band.
• LA = Left Arm
• RA = Right Arm

First off you will notice that I started with the medium resistance band, and I thought I would use it only for shoulders and triceps, and for my biceps I would use the heavy ones, but I just decided to bring it all the way, so you will noticed I ended up just using the heavy in about 95% of the work out, plus I started adding tension to some routines by adding an extra loop. So even though I did more reps in most routines, I did it with more weight, and the ones where I either stayed the same or did less, also keep in mind that I did these with more weight so basically I totally ROCKED this workout! YEAH!

Having said that I think I will need to save some money to purchase some dumbbells or some heavier resistance bands, the heavy one I have I believe it to be 15lbs + not sure. But I can tell you that soon it will not be enough.

Alright so lets see how I did in the last segment of my work out.

Ab Ripper X:

Results Chart:

	Day 8	Day 10	Difference
In & Out	37	45	+8
Seated Bicycle	F23 R20	F25 R22	F+2 R+2
Seated Crunchy Frog	16	20	+4
Crossed leg/Wide Leg Sit-Up	4	6	+2
Fifer Scissors	16	22	+6
Hip Rock 'N Raise	14	14	+0
Pulse-Up	17	20	+3
Roll-Up/V-Up Combo	2	3	+1
Oblique V-Up	RS13 LS14	RS17 LS17	RS+4 LS+3
Leg Climb	RS2 LS2	RS3 LS3	RS+1 LS+1
Mason Twist	20	25	+5
Total Crunches	200	242	+42

Reading this chart:

• Last column is the difference in amount of reps I did since the last time I did this routine
• Green = More reps
• Red = Less reps
• F = Forward
• R = Reverse
• RS = Right Side
• LS = Left side

Alright again I did this work out right after I finished Shoulders & Arms, and again I totally rocked this one. This chart is easier for me to bring the last time I did it and the current date, so you can see and compare. I did a total of 42 more crunches today since last time, and again for those who are wondering, comparing Day 1 to Day 10, I have done a total of 145 MORE crunches, YEAH BABY, BRING IT!!!

Totally amazing, at least I think so LOL. Well getting back down to reality. First is all the routines are supposed to be 25 crunches. Now I keep trying to beat my best reps, so on the first one I am almost double the amount, I am using the computer in the bed room to play the DVD and I do not have a remote, I will need the pause button soon as I am running in to the other routines. Another good thing is that I worked on my form for Roll-Up, I was able to do them properly, now I have to work on doing more. I still need to work on Leg Climb, I still blame my Buddha belly for that one LOL

Tomorrow I have Yoga X, can’t wait, my calves are still killing me a bit and I am sure I will stretch them tomorrow.

Thank you for your time and motivational support and Just remember to BRING IT!!! LOL

Mike