Well yesterday was last day. Legs and back and had great workout.

I write longer post and a recap Sunday but quickly here are some numbers to consider. At one of my last workout on previous 90 days (date 9/10/2010) I did initial sets of back pull ups - chins 13, wide 9, narrow 8, wide 7, chin 10. Just to give reference.

Last night I did chins 27, wide 15 (started late had 1 or 2 more), wide 14, chins 16, chins 17, wide 11.

Losing weight helps a lot. I scaled in at 158 when I did my workout last night and after that it's simple physics - much stronger arms and back can lift a lighter body a lot more.

Here is this mornings after pic. The pic sucks but I'm rushed to get ready for holiday party. You get the point. I weighed in this morning at 156!!!!!!!! I have forgotten in past posts to mention I'm a hair over 5'9 in height. Freakin awesome.

And the camera DOES ad 10 lbs. jk

Pic taken un pumped after breakfast.

Thanks for reading

Billy

Whoops......

So I did plyo Monday night and it went well - maybe one of my best plyo performances to note.

Tuesday I was so involved with work I got home and just jumped on the treadmill for my 42 minute run. What I should've done was back and biceps + ab ripper x if I was thinking right. Oh well, I ran and last 5 minutes were 6 mph with a 5 degree incline.
Last night I did back and biceps and it went well. Out of the gate I did 22 wide pull ups, I might of had another but they had already started on next move. Katie absolutely annoys me to no end in this video. It's painful to watch and if you haven't see it, do so - you'll understand.
So tonight I run for 42 and tomorrow it's legs and back and that's it for this 90. It went by so quick. I'll post pics soon.

Thanks for reading
Billy

Home stretch here we go....

Sorry my posts have been far between. Life gets in the way. My workouts however, have not suffered.
Last week I had personal records on pull ups both days, (Chest back) and (back and bi's). I feel my biceps have still contributed more that than my back concerning pull ups, but my back has made huge strides and as of today my lats are getting a wicked "fan" to them. On my treadmill days last week I did 42 minutes on Wednesday and Friday - everything else was p90x approved- week 11.
Today started week 12. I have found that I am stronger at 159-160 than pushing (starving) to 157-155 range. My body just wants to be 160 right now, so I probably won't push for more this run of 90 days. I'm still down 12-13 lbs, and honestly, I raced a few times at 160, so I know I'm close. My diet has stayed consistent and probably Wednesday or Thursday I will add carbs in the form of oatmeal to my diet for the first time in 3 months. So far it's been protein shakes with natural peanut butter.
My plan is to add carbs gently back in over the holidays and then decide what the next course of action is this Winter. I can see another 90 days but might change some stuff around to spend a bit less time on this. My body is hugely different now, so maintenance, ie plate and fork control will pay bigger dividends than working out harder, although I enjoy that. I'd just rather do like 4 days a week instead of 6. We'll see.
Anyway, I'll post an after pic later this week and my recap comments on what worked and what didn't.
Thanks for reading
Billy

2 weeks left....

Well this week was a tough one.

I really had low energy from the diet and it made things energy wise - a struggle. Needless I completed 6 more days.
Back and bi's was a downer. All my numbers were way off. Had no endurance at all. Partly because this week I've been ever so slightly congested and it effects my reps especially on pull ups.

Wednesday I did my 42 minutes of treadmill.

Thursday was legs and back. Legs went well, back was so-so. I try not to get down on myself. This is about showing up, and as you'll see, the body shows up too, it just takes time.

Friday I skipped my 42 run but picked it up Saturday instead and ran a full hour.

Today I had Chest and back. Right out of the gate I easily did 30 push ups, holding back for later in the workout like Bobby does. Then I busted out 20 wide pull ups. Huge personal record. Every exercises on this workout I set a PR for myself, some by 5 or 6 reps. It was nice to see some big gains and especially on pull ups, put up some big numbers.

Tomorrow is Plyo. I hope my congestion is better by then as you need all the lungs you can bring on that little slice of heaven workout.

I'm gonna go get some recovery couch time.

Thanks for reading
Billy

The day after Plyo.....

Kinda hurts....a lot. Especially after skipping plyo last week for the treadmill, my legs and calves are paying the piper today. Damn you Tony Horton and your minions of pain. Off to suffer through back and bi's......

Plyometrics r Us

I dominated with Dom tonight. Move for move. Pain was had by all.

Thanks for reading
Billy

I started to post.....

And got distracted the other day. So I'm back, what's happened last week.
Last Monday I decided to do 42 minutes on the treadmill. Still looking out for back, I still burnt 500 calories and my back is not sore.

Tuesday was shoulders and arms. Probably my favorite workout. It just pounds you in so many areas. I even got 15 side tri rises which isn't the 20+ Dreya does, but I'll take it.

Wednesday was another 42 minutes on the treadmill at 5.1 mph. Just were the fat burns please.

Thursday was legs and back. Another modification from several weeks ago, I am doing mostly leg curls and reverse leg curls on the Bowflex. I can tell a difference in my legs just from several weeks of doing this. On chin ups I got 23 (probably) could have done more but they were moving on to next exercise. I got 101 pull ups in the series which is great, considering they aren't my strength. I got to halfway on abs and felt nausea and quit.
Friday was treadmill for 42 minutes at 5.1 mph and balance of ab routine I stopped on Friday.

Sunday which was yesterday I had the change to chest, shoulders, and tris. Great workout, felt tired and probably didn't eat enough. I'm not a huge fan of this chest routine on p90x. I know it confuses, it's just some of the push ups are strange so I head to the bowflex and do hybrid sets of 4 press/4 fly in the same set. I might also add, if your a slow gainer in the chest area, do some extra push ups. My chest is a strong point and I still do extra push ups. When? Always after the workout, while watching t.v., I get them in during commercial breaks. Last night during an hour show I busted out 50, 40, 40, 35, 35, 25. You basically do 6 sets per hour. That's 220 push ups to just fill in blank unused time. Not a bad way to accelerate development. I wouldn't do this if it were more than say 3 hours past the workout though. At that point recovery is more important.
Anyway tonight is plyo. I will bring it and copy Dom to a T. Oh and this morning I was 158.5. It's gonna be close.

Thanks for reading
Billy

Don't touch that.......

e've all done it. You're trying to watch what you eat, so far through lunch your doing great. "This isn't so bad" you think, and eat a sensible dinner. A family member makes brownies and sets them on the stove to cool off. Before bed you decide to do a load of laundry. You pass by the kitchen and see the half eaten tray of brownies. They look good. You get wash cycle going and on the way back through the kitchen you catch a second glimpse. Before you know it your hand automatically reaches for the spatula and in a blink you have a plateful of brownies about to be devored. Huge diet fail.
But how do we get from good breakfast/lunch/dinner to half platters of brownies.
It helps to have the family on board with the diet, but I don't expect my kids to scarf chicken and brocoli every night. The motivation is there during the day. So why do people fail to carry out diets any longer than a few days at a time.
We don't itemize our homes and we automatically grab at shitty food because it makes us feel good. I call it auto-grabbing. Think I'm kidding? Your best intentions are usually met with subverse thoughts way below the surface all day long. This builds up and at night, or day, the hand just reaches out.
I've experienced auto-grabs before and usually there isn't a ton of pre-meditated rationalizing like "brownies have milk in them, that's good for me. Oh and cocoa was in the news last week, they said it helps something blah blah". No, your intentions are good and the hand reaches out, boom, your off the diet - there's always tomorrow.
How do I get around this? For one I don't bury my head in the sand and pretend like there isn't shitty food in the house. I look and take stock. Graham cracker and pretzles in cupboard, brownies in covered plate on counter, etc. I know were everything is and am prepared for it. I've choosen this diet so why not prepare what your thoughts will be. There are no food surprizes when I go through the kitchen.
I also mentally prepare for my mind to ask everytime something like cake or pretzels is out on a counter or someones eating them in close proximity - no tasting. No fingerfulls, no pinch of this or that, no reaching out to touch - nothing. It WILL lead to platefuls and failed diets. I prepare for this stuff because our minds work against us. They want those quick carbs and will tell you reasons why tomorrow is ok, or next week or year.
I have my bail food ready in the fridge. If I start geeking late, I throw down a chicken breast and drink a flavored water(s). If I keep geeking usually it's time to get my ass to bed.
Stay on a diet for awhile and it gets a lot easier but the first few weeks are always hard to get off the ground.
So to recap-
Know were crappy food is in your house. Don't pretend it ain't there.
Plan you dinner and bail snacks for late night. This means cooking the PREVIOUS day some chicken usually. I plan to cook a bag of chicken every other day. Sometimes family members who aren't dieting will scarf my diet chicken. This problem is easily over come by seasoning every chicken breast with Old Bay Seasoning. I know, it's higher sodium, but it keeps my chicken from being used in some casserole or dinner for family members that don't worry about their eating habits. Plus, I grew up in Maryland, and Bay Seasoning is used on crabs - nothing tastes better.
Workout at night. It really helps hunger cravings for me, helps me sleep better, and gives my body 8 hours of instant recovery. Morning workouts are hard, you have to rush, plus you have to wake up stiff muscles. I'll pass.
Learn what your mind is gonna tell you about shitty food. Usually it's "let's just taste it" or "tomorrow you pick the diet back up" or my fave, "the p90x people won't know your blowing your diet because they're just DVD's". When your craving crappy food the mind will say anything.
Eat enough protein like chicken, eggs and fiber and you'll be full and won't get hungry. Brocoli is KING for this. I buy bags of it. A pinch of shredded cheese and it's pretty good.
Do this stuff and the PAYBACK is your waistline becomes a flat sumbitch. Imagine a waist were there is no bulge between shirt and pants. Were you can see your belt. Muscle actually have separation to them. People ask what is different about you.
Part of good dietingis also picking a good diet and TRUSTING that it works. Many quit after 2-3 days because they haven't dropped 5 pounds from jump.
Think of it like this. The body is like an elevator. If your on the 9th floor and want off on 10 by quickly pushing 10, guess what, you probably will go up to 11 first before stopping. The body is the same. It needs a second to turn around. Once it gets to losing weight, it comes pretty easily and the body obliges in that direction.
Don't get resentful at family members for eating shitty food in front of you. First we love them. Second - you choose to diet because at some point you choose to eat way too much shitty food. You did the crime and lost the priviledge not them. Resentments of this kind are worthless and should be met with this understanding.
I just wanted to share this stuff because successful dieting is pretty easy but you have to plan your ass off. Shooting from the cuff DOESN'T work. What is that you ask? It would be like heading into Friday night with no cooked chicken or brocoli in the fridge. Or even worse, none in the house, oh and your family members who we can't be resentful towards - they just ordered pizza. "Hey hon, you want any of this deep dish Chicago style with garlic bread, they didn't eat much, it's in the kitchen". Fuck, I can pick this diet up again in the morning, Chicago deep dish and a movie here I come. And there goes the beltline. Yes, they are mutually exclusive. See were I'm going with this. Plan and stick to it.
Yesterday was Chest and shoulders. Prior to that I had Thanksgiving with my mom. What to eat at T-giving. For me, 2 servings of turkey and ham followed with green beans. No stuffing, mashed potatos, or cheesecake.
I knew after a rest week this workout would suck. It did. My power was off and dropped to nothing by the end. Even so, 17 wide pull ups was a good sign of improvement. My vasularity is really coming in right now. At 161 Saturday, I'm close to my goal. I don't know if I'll get to 155 in these 4 weeks. I think it will be close, but those last 2-3 are gonna be slow. We'll see.
I was so spent yesterday, I could't finishing my ab routine within the 15 minutes ab ripper x is on. Tony left the lights on.
Tonight is scheduled plyo. Since I pulled that back muscle last week, I may decide to run on treadmill instead of plyo. I man up to anything, but take no chances with my back and while plyo doesn't hurt my back, there is impact involved. I'll decide later today what to do. On the treadmill I still burn 500 calories so it isn't like a vacation of any sorts.

Thanks for reading
Billy

Ugh...

So let's see, Friday I ran for 42 mins approx and Saturday did my ab ripper x routine.

Sunday I was taking pictures of my son and pulled a back muscle. By pull, I mean my right lower side, were I had surgery, felt like it pulled. I know it's a muscle and not my back, but kinda scary nevertheless. This is how my back surgery got started last year. A back ache that never went away follow by tightened nerves in the leg restricting range of movement by half. I didn't have that so all is good. It is a reminder though that I need to work on that area more.
So the plan this week is to do 2-3 days of lower back exercises and maybe some light exercising by wed/thurs if back muscle is better.
In next 4.5 weeks I gotta loss some serious weight to get to #155. I'm at 162.5 which ain't bad, but I'd rather be lower at this point. We'll see.

Thanks for reading
Billy

Rest week here we come....

As the week comes to an end I gladly welcome a bit of a rest. The last 4 weeks of p90x there is no rest so I'm going to take advantage of this.
Wednesday I did treadmill for 52 minutes and 500 ish calories gone.

Yesterday I had a dinner (that's a stretch) to attend with our new company VP. It was at Roosters, a wings, deep-fried, trans fats type of place. Beforehand I choked down half a protein bar so I wouldn't be hungry. I drank about 5 iced teas and had 2 pcs of celery lol. Finally got home around 7:45 and got legs and back going. I did huge amounts of leg curls and reverse leg curls in substitution for the mirade of step lunges. The lunges are great but I'm after a bit more than firming. The celery sticks weren't ideal energy food and I felt tired the entire workout. Finished and had dinner, chx breast and brocoli, and easily fell aspleep.
The longer I do this the more questions I get asked and some are from people that have absolutely NO clue what crap they are eating. I'm not a food snob, but my co-workers go out for fast food every day for lunch. It's amazing that this is the norm now for lunch, fast food.
And to that end, support from my wife on this p90x phaze has all but ended. Sadly in the Midwest, guys with 15 percent bodyfat are mistaken as Olympic athletes. Yeah, people eat like mad here in the heartland.
My wife and I don't share the same fitness goals (which is totally fine), but she alluded this am that my diet has gotten old and gets in the way of dinner plans. My point in bringing this up is if you decide to do something like this, you need to do it for you, and commit to that, - and not apologize for being fit-period. I bring my own dinner to the dinner table, usually chicken and veggies. The kids could care less. I don't critisize anyone for smoking, their diets, or their lifestyle. You get in what you put out. I enjoy having a resting heartrate of 50, it's strange, but to me that's cool. It means I can do a lot of stuff others can't. Why that's important to me, I don't know, but I don't apologize for it, even to my wife.
Tonight I have a short run on the treadmill (42 mins) - that's approximately 8 cigarettes timewise to a smoker by the way(my wife smokes). After that I'm gonna hit abs in a big way. Should take about an hour total time. To a smoker that's about 12 smokey treats.
Next week I'm planning on doing back twice and legs twice. Short workouts but specific and just enough to help for the coming final month.

Thanks for reading
Billy

I owned me some Plyo

Yeah, I said it. Yesterday I thought about it most of the day, and by last night it was on. The best part about plyometrics is no Abs! Your really done at the end. Anyho I follow Dom on everything and just had gas left in the tank at the end. It's nice when your not super trashed at the end. My extra leg workouts have something to do with that I imagine.
Tonight was Back and bi's. Guess who got 20 pull-ups. Yeah, I busted out 20 right outa the gate. Then 2 sets of curls, and following those like 15 seconds later Horton's like lets rock more pull-ups. I swear it drives me crazy. How can ya do a set of brutal arm curls and follow up SECONDS later with p/u's. Anyway, forced into that corner, I can only get 9 p/u's with a full arm pump. Needless to say I always get a good workout from p90x, I'm just critiquey (is that a word?). Also, Katie in the video bugs that crap out of me. At the beginning the guys are done and she's still on rep 59 using 2 lbs lol.
You can tell 2 sets in Tony's like "this chick is gonna fuck up my back and bi video if she don't hurry up". I guarantee there was a pause (however brief) and they had "a chat" about her finishing a set before the next century dawns on us.
I did an extra leg raise set of 50 tonight so 530 reps of abs - yeah I felt it.
Tomorrow I treadmill it and Thursday I will do a late late leg workout (dinner with my co. VP).

Thanks for reading
Billy

Midway...

Saturday was my off day. I felt like extra credit was in order so I busted out 30 sets of leg curls (15 reg / 15 reverse) and then did 480 reps of abs - 40 X 6 hanging leg raise, 40 X 6 Bowflex crunches. I'm glad I did really, the legs in coming weeks will see the benefits.

Last night was Chest/shoulders/triceps. As I have said in earlier posts, some of the push-ups in this 3 week series are different. I get the different part, I just introduce my own "different" doing Bowflex presses or flys instead. Doing Bowflex chest exercises is pretty close to using dumb ells. If there is a weak side, it will be exposed. I've been staying with the bands for most of the shoulder stuff, and if you write it down descriptively (what color/easy/hard/etc), it's pretty easy to go back a week later and see what you did quickly.

Followed all that up with my 480 rep version of ab ripper x which fills the entire 15 min and left me tummy spent.

Tonight is plyo. Bring it :)

Thanks for reading
Billy

man up (verb) : To suck it up; become more of a man

as defined by Webster's

From early this am my mind came up with a thousand reasons to not do 480 reps of abs and treadmill for 42 minutes. All day long excuses were presented for my consideration.

I turned my mind off when I got home and manned up.
That is all

Thanks for reading
Billy

The legs are back

Had meeting at work yesterday and basically couldn't eat from 1pm until I got home. I felt tired and was not loving putting in legs and back cd. Slugged down some energy drink and hit it.
Instead of following a lot of the lunge sequences in legs (there's a lot) I alternated leg curls and reverse leg curls on my Bowflex. It worked really well and will be considered in future.

For back I came outa the gate and did 20 chin ups. All my pull up sets were 1 or 2 reps higher which is totally awesome. It takes awhile with back stuff.

I did have little energy to finish ab ripper x so I gotta do that tonight after my 42 min run.

Treadmill day

Got on it yesterday for 42 minutes at 5.1 mph. Time went by quick and 475 calories burned.

Tonight is legs and back. Gonna be a hard workout, planning on extra sets for the legs - pain will had by all.

164.5 this morning :)


Thanks for reading
Billy

Going down from here on out..

Well Halloween went well. Stuck to the diet for the most part and ate beef jerky and chicken all weekend. Yuuum.
Sunday was Chest, shoulder, tri night. I like the chest workout on the first 3 weeks better. Some of the routines are gimmicky to me. If I don't care for it, I just jump on the Bowflex and do flys or presses, and it works well, believe me. We shot compound bows over the weekend and my left shoulder ac tendon is still pissy about being yanked on but held up ok through this.
Did plyo Monday night. I always try and bring it on plyo night. This was no exception. Did most of the moves Dom does and even did 5 sets of leg curls for the right leg to get it stronger at the end.
Tuesday I saw 165.5 on the scale. So basically 10# to go. That's gonna be tough navigating through Thanksgiving on this diet, which by the way I yanked the almonds from the line-up. Why? Well they are so good you can't just eat one, it even says so on the bag. You can't even eat a handful. So it's more chicken and eggs at lunch. I found eggs with 660 omega 3 at Krogers. Without the almonds the end of the day is a low carb drag. Basically after my Pure Protein bar at 10am, the carbs are turned off. I've survived on less.
Last night I did back and bi's. This workout is SOOOOOO rushed. You can't appreciate it till you see it. I had to hit pause numerous times and laughed when doing so.
I forgot to mention I changed the ab routine again. Sunday and last night I did 12 sets X 40 - or 480 reps of stomach. That's a lot. Basically 6 sets of 40 leg raises, and 6 sets of 40 Bowflex crunches. Hammer friggin time is what that does.
Back and bi's went well though - got 17 pull-ups to start. Would like to be at 25 when this ends, we'll see.
I'm planning 45 minute run tonight.

Thanks for reading
Billy

It's gotta get better from here....

Wednesday was a 42 minute run at 5.1 mph, roughly 485 calories burned. Ho Hum

Yesterday was legs and back. Ugh. Back started great with 18 chin ups, and went to hell in a hand basket from there. Legs were OK, I just don't feel like they are getting stronger. I mean the plyo is a great cardio workout, but it's not gonna build huge leg strength. The leg workout is very lunge specific which also is good for cardio. So, yesterday I added the leg attachment on my Bowflex and did leg curls in substitution for some of the moves. I think adding in 5-8 sets a week will help. I'd hate them to stay status quo for the next 2 months so I'm changing it up.

The diet is going well.

Thanks for reading

Billy

Supa Freaky Deeky

That's how my 2nd month on P90X has gone. My truck got a boo boo Friday and ended up in body shop so I was distracted for a bit.
Let's see. Well, This diet is an arse kicker. At 40 carbs roughly a day, the end of the day can be trance-like. I don't dig that too much. I do dig that I'm 166lbs now and am seeing significant muscle separation. It's all about the separation.
Sunday was Chest, shoulders, tri's. I felt kinda weak and that was confirmed when my push ups suffered. Coming off an off week that is expected. I usually can bust out big numbers, but just didn't have that spring in my action. It's the carbs I know, I just hate the knowing part. I got a great pump and got thru it. Ab ripper x I did almost all the reps, I should have, I had a week off.
Monday was Plyo. I was feeling very average on the energy scale, but hung with Dom on all his Dominatory moves, heart rate thru the roof and everything. Surprisingly I get up today and my calves are really sore. By the time I got home from work, it hurt walking up the driveway. That's a good thing.
Tonight I did back and biceps. I said earlier, Tony rushes a bit on this DVD. It's just too quick. You can't do 2 sets of curls back to back, and then 20-25 seconds later bust out some pull ups and work the right muscle. I hit pause and did the sets the right way. Anyway I did 17 pull ups which is a PR (in last 10 years). The tri colored bands I got from Walmart friggin rock. They are 15 bucks and with all three bands are serious resistance - a no brainer must have in my book. I skipped ab ripper X instead doing leg raises and Bowflex crunches 12 sets. Sometimes you gotta change it up. No biggie. Time to go eat my chicken and broccoli and drink da aqua.

Lemme call ya back I'm peeling eggs.....

Ya gotta do what the day gives ya. I had an appointment with a customer yesterday at 1:15. We order lunch, I get a salad with chicken on it. We eat and start going over numbers, and numbers, and numbers, his numbers, my numbers - the only numbers moving were the ones on the clock. At 3:30 I'm thinking to myself I need to get my eggs eaten soon, can't do it. More numbers until 4:30. I leave the restaurant and on the way home pull over in a parking lot and start peeling my 3 hard boiled eggs. Those little f@#kers are tough to peel and definitely the hardest I've ever worked for 19.5 grams of protein. This am I had my new, lets call it the Palumbo smoothie - ice, a tablespoon and a half of natural peanut butter, and 2 scoops of low carb Isopure protein powder. When the peanut butter hits the palette at 6 am it's all downhill from there. I've had much worse, but I'll just say I can't wait to not do this breakfast shake anymore. I miss normal cereal.

The cool thing is this diet is like putting you hunger cravings on tranquilizers. You don't get the highs and lows like you do with higher carbohydrate diet. The drawback - low energy, I gotta slam a coffee before my workout and hope it keeps me going. I have found in the past my body has a bout 50-60 minutes of stored energy, after that you hit a wall on this diet. I was 166 this morning, only 11 to go, so I'm heading in right direction. I'm trying not to lose too fast after all i've got 2 months.

I hit 42 minutes last night on treadmill and then did 7 fairly unenthusiastic sets of back on the Bowflex. I think I'm just gonna treadmill it tonight and Saturday, because Sunday it's back to getting punished for 3 weeks and I wanna be fresh.

Thanks for reading
Billy

Your choice is chicken, eggs, or eggs and ummm....chicken

I've done this before ya know. It was going ok, the diet that is, when I read an article on this new diet by some famous trainer/lifting coach Dave Palumbo. In it he balances what ketosis burns (fat) and keeps it off the muscle. So basically you get the best of both worlds. Confused?

With an Adkins based diet (20 carbs day) you burn fat and lose some muscle. I can attest to this as I did it wholeheartedly last Winter for a few months shagging 20 lbs. I was super low bodyfat - but - my muscles especially in the legs were crap. You pay bigtime to get were your going. With a regular diet your caloric defit causes your body to catabolize and you lose muscle as well but I feel not as bad as on Adkins, but also not as quick.

Palumbo's diet is very rich with omega 3's and some monosaturated fats that hinder muscle loss during ketosis. He also feels that stimulants, namely coffee, promote the release of Cortisol (oids?) in the body that facilitate muscle loss. Lose the stimulants and muscle loss is kept at a minimum. And as I write this, my prediction for the hot diet of 2010 will be keto diets. There all the rage with bodybuilders right now. It filters down after they try it. High fat diets, yum.

At roughly 40 carbs a day I hope this diet can stand up to P90x for 4-5 weeks. There will be some crappy tired days but I feel the payoff will be there. This guy is trusted by many. I really hate the low carb routine. It's not natural, looks weird, isn't the way to "eat for a lifetime" and all that give a guy a fishing pole crap. But....you drop pounds like Oprah on celery stalks - pre Steadman/Gail. My main beef with low carb? Your body has no pop. Muscles are flatter and you don't have vascularity. Carbohydrates promote vascularity and muscle fullness as well as energy. Anyway if it sucks I'll move on, but for now, bring on the Omega 3 eggs and natural peanut butter baby.

I did shoulders tonight. Roughly 17 sets. Nothing crazy to write about. Next week might be tough. P90x changes workouts and this diet will have me in ketosis bigtime, and I'm camping Halloween weekend. Candy, candy, candy...no thanks. Anyone want an egg/sausage smore? Actually that doesn't sound half bad :)

Thanks for reading

Billy

Rest day today..

Diet change tomorrow. Gonna be a long 2 months.

A day of rest....

By hitting the treadmill for 42 minutes, the last 5 of which were at 90%. I'm thinking the last month heading into December I'm gonna do harder efforts that aren't in the fat burning zone. I guess i'll flip a coin at that point.

After running on the treadmill with ipod on watching CNN showing the world falling apart (it's nice to pair up music with disaster video) I decided to hit chest.

Sometimes variety is a great tool in varying exercises to make a body part get over a plateau, or to just keep things interesting. P90X does that well. Yesterday was not one of those days. I simply got on the Bowflex and did 14 sets of chest flys and let me tell ya I was jacked up all night from it. For anyone that hasn't done a chest fly on a Bowflex, head to your nearest Dick's Sporting Goods and do a set. It's in the cables, they allow no vertical or lateral momentum, so your always micro adjusting and it bombs what your working.

I have recently had questions about p90x from co-workers and relatives especially concerning what you need. What I use are screw on collar 35# dumbells - probably 50 bucks. I leave these one weight during a p90x workout. Tri color bands sold at Walmart for 15 bucks. Great for filling in if dumbells are not enough or too much. Pull up bar, Walmart 10 bucks. Push up bars, Meijer 10 bucks. Bowflex, great for filling in chest, back, tri's, arm curls, and shoulders to a lesser extent, and great for abs as well. I paid $400 for the Bowflex, and another $100 for additional 100 lbs of rods. I saw one last week for 200 bucks on Craigslist.

Concerning adjustable dumbells. On a first run through p90x I might skip these, I dunno if they would help get better results. I have picked up both select tech 552's and powerblocks at Dick's. Between the 2 I'd go with powerblocks. The hand opening is kinda small but they are well made and weight is changed in seconds. The bowflex select techs are too big (wide). They don't review well on the sites as well. I'd save my money (you could buy a used bowflex for $200 and have $200 left over that you would've spent on select techs and have an entire gym system.

So from the above list, $85 bucks would get you going real well with p90x. If you have to hang a pull up bar between a doorway that may be a bit more. The most important thing you need that isn't on this list and can't be bought in stores is halacious motivation and discipline.

Thanks for reading

Billy

Rest week

Well I finished third week up and am heading into a rest week.

Legs and back went well on Thursday and to that point I hit my just my back again on Saturday doing 20 sets on the Bowflex and a few with the bands.

During rest week sticking to diet is paramount and filling in with workouts focusing on weaknesses. Those would be 2 back workouts this week probably Tuesday and Friday with 2 days of treadmill at 45 minutes on Monday and Thursday. No stomach for now.

One thing I notice is after 3rd week you want to rest and welcome it. Doing 6 days a week is a lot. I got some trainers instead of running shoes and also have push up bars instead of using dumbells for next month. Push up bars will take about 25% off you best numbers so if you can do 40 push ups on your hands, 30 is what to expect with p/u bars - your mileage may vary. I would like to do 100 of them by end of December but we'll see. I never do as many p/u's as possible of the first set favoring rather to pace a bit.

The next 3 weeks pair up back and bi's and then chest, shoulders and tri's with everything else the same. The back and bi's is tough and if memory serves Tony gets kinda quick on transitions between back and biceps routines so I'll make sure to complain about that. My shoulder is fine, minor pain but it doesn't effect the workouts and I'll need that as next 3 weeks are harder imho.

Thanks for reading

Billy

Go left, go right......or up?

Had a business sales luncheon and wouldn't ya know pizza was the main course. Great, now I get to be on guard for the next 3 hours while every soul in the building stuffs their pie holes with Dominoes pizza.

Not to worry, I just headed to my truck and whipped out my 16 grain wheat bread chicken sandwich with no lettuce (we were out) and apple (very small). The usual questions "are you dieting" and "your not having 10 slices of pizza with us" repeated themselves. Since my boss order way too many I even took an entire pizza home to kids and wife. Ate my 25 almonds for a snack and did my 45 minutes on the treadmill @ 500 calories.

Chicken breast and veggies tonight, ready for domination of legs and back tomorrow.

Thanks for reading

Billy

Maybe he wanted me to shut up......

Shoulders, Bi's, Tri's was on the menu of destruction last night. After my NO2 drink I was ready to get on with it and for first 3-4 sets of shoulders the pain in my left shoulder was still there. Then it left and life was good. I almost don't care what weight I lift during a workout as long as it's intense. Stay with the kids on this one and you will get a great pump.

Tony keeps things moving fast during this one and imperative is that you write down very clearly what you did last week so you be getting the weight ready and know how much you did. I'm good about writing it down. It's cool to see were you were 6 weeks ago and before a set starts you can mentally get ready by knowing the number to beat.

Onto ab ripper x. I whined and bitched last time about Tony's robots. Maybe God heard me and said to his assistant "get that Billy to shut his pie hole about the abs would ya - just do whatever it takes". Well ABX started and after 25 in and outs I nailed another 25 bicycles followed by another. Couldn't believe it. I wasn't getting the crippling tightness I usually get in my abs. Did Fifer scissors - 25, Heels to heavens - 25, Mason twists - 50. I did the entire ab workout (albeit not as pretty as Adam) to spec - 349 reps in all. Sweet.

And I woke up to see 167 on the scale today. That's a beautiful thing

Thanks for reading
Billy

You have the cardio x option if your not plyo ready.......

I wanted to exercise my option yesterday in a bad way. Sunday's chest and back got me real sore Monday morning and it got worse and worse as the day went on. I started dreading plyo knowing I was drained.

When I got home I drank (slammed) a half cup of coffee, ate a half piece of wheat bread, some almonds for energy and pushed play. I could tell during first set of jump squats my legs were flat, kinda woody feeling. Often in cycling this will happen and in a group of guys you always know who has crap legs because they'll announce it to everyone. I had nobody to tell this was going to hurt like Hells Bells.

Sometimes when the pain is that rough I go to the "pain cave". A place again, many bike racers will refer to the mental focus spot they go to in order to deal with the cruelty being dished out. The thing is working out 6 days a week things move quick, you have flat or bad days, days blend together, and as wore out as I was hitting play was what I needed to do - don't think about what's gonna happen - just do it. I went through all the moves, broke a good sweat and with a frown I pridefully hung with Dom on jump knee tucks and Mary Katherines. At the end of it I'm sure I used between 5-600 calories and felt better.

Tonight is shoulders/bi's/tri's. I'm looking forward to it as my shoulder is on the mend and I get to see were I'm at recovery wise.

Thanks for reading
Billy

Well that was fun.......

Life got busy for minute....I'm back.

Let's see, last Thursday night I busted out legs and back. I gotta say the first month of P90X is stacked heavy on arms (mostly biceps) and back. Really when you look at the moves we got 1st day chest and back, 3rd day shoulders/biceps/tri's, and 5th day legs and back. So you can see back is getting hit twice a week and bi's I count 3 times (pull ups in back exercises and then bi's with shoulders and tri's). My point is it's easy to have a bad day somewhere in there crushing the arms like that.
My right leg still isn't up to par. I'm really notice during lunges there just isn't the punch from my right leg as in my left. Gotta work on that over the Winter. You will hear of Pro cyclists having disparity between leg strength and it's easy to hide pedaling but lunges are in your face - either you can do it or push pause. Anyway I went full time on both wall squats. Legs is a quiet punishing little 55 minute deal. I find it works the hamstrings, lower back, and butt the most. Every Friday my hammies are sore and that's a good thing. When you think about it legs are half your body and a lot of guys including yours truly until about 10 years ago didn't give them due diligence. It's always a sad and sorry site, huge overly muscled upper body and then you see them.......the tiny little, no shape to them calves attached to legs that look like they were borrowed from a 7th grader. It's called a prison build. Wanna see one on a celebrity? I'm gonna front him out right now because he seems so cool......well........ he is actually, -it's LL Cool J. The dude is stacked on top (in his workout book at Borders) but he is prison build central all day long from legs down. There's just no shape to his legs, sad really. Should I tweet him and let him know? He's gotta know? Right? I got lucky from cycling 4 years and my legs and calves are proportioned correctly.

After legs and back I did ab ripper x and it sucked as usual.

Missed workout Friday - "say it ain't so Billy"!. It is so. Saturday was a busy day (attended a wedding) so Friday I had running around to do. But there's always a plan. The plan was don't blow the diet at the wedding. Kept it whole foods all day and manned up when the chocolates, cake, and crap came my way. So........

That brings me to the 2 hrs of Dante's Inferno today. A missed workout Friday was on the books for make-up today. Treadmill for 45 minutes at 500 calories, following by chest and back, followed by Ab ripper X. A 3 course workput meal of pain, torture, and nausea. Aren't treadmills hells revenge on people with any attention deficit disorder disorders? I think so. We have like 1000 channels and not even the best of the best movies take the edge of counting the minutes. And it's not even like it's painful - 5.1 mph? Pee-shaw. I've done cycling criteriums for 45 minutes at 170-175 bpm on the heart rate monitor. Why the counting then? My guess is 1. Your running 2. And not going anywhere 3. And that feels like it sucks 4. And scenery doesn't change 5. Just the name tread derives painful drugery and work in ones mind.

Chest and back went well. Pull up numbers stayed roughly the same while chest numbers increased again. Which brings me to this point and if your reading this, take heed. You have a body part that, in it's development, basically skipped class, partied a lot, came back to class, and now it is way behind. We all have them. That body part for me is my back (upper). It's not from a lack of work. Has been all my life. My lat's are "OK" but seriously...... they are the "minimum amount of flair", and we are not here for the minimum, are we?. So....I'm tossing in extra back stuff to help my body part that's currently riding the short school bus. You should not avoid this body part or pray to the muscle helper gods that it will be better, but rather learn to love that body part's crappiness by blasting it with more reps, better form, basically doing what it takes. My thing with bodies are they are about nice proportional development, not size.

Anyway after chest and back ARX was up. It sucked and was hard, painful and demoralising. Who the fuck are these people Horton has doing these ab routines? They are like these California Venice beach Terminator ab robots that just never stop, or fail.......they actually smile in pain. My abs will be bad ass at 155#. I know that. However, I'd like to due full reps on all 12 sets soon, goosh I'm kinda close (got 50 on Mason twists) so "take that Tony Horton and your minions of ab crunchy perfection people", but there we go again, do you really wanna do "just the minimum".

A word quickly about diets. This is in reference mostly to stuff I hear from co-workers that are "trying" new diets. Saltine crackers....... are not good for snacking on while losing weight because they are flour, and salt, and fat, and other stuff that fucks you up. Chicken nuggets...... are not a low carb option. I'm not a scientist or nutritionist but common sense tells me "the chicken" didn't have "a nugget" around it at time of death. The nugget is once again...... flour, and salt, and other stuff that fucks you up. Whole foods is were it's at. A whole food is food that wasn't altered by a machine spaying "nugget juice" on the whole food. Eat them and you will lose weight - guaranteed. Diets aren't fun, but only losing .009854 lbs a week with goal weight being realized in the year 2020 sucks more. You (I) did the crime (shoved Cool Ranch Doritoes and ice cream in my face) and now am doing the time (P90X). I'm off my soap box....

Thanks for reading
Billy

Treadmill day

It's boring, boring, boring. But...running on a treadmill does a body good. As said before, Yoga and my back for now ain't happening. Just over 500 cal's burned at 5.1 mph.
It's a good prep for legs and back tonight which is gonna suck (in a good way)

Thanks for reading
Billy

Shoulders and Arms

Shoulders, Tri's, Bi's. Just like Tony says, you know exactly what's coming.
This workout went a lot better for me this week. Left shoulder felt better so the distraction wasn't there. I also bumped weight because of my shoulder condition to 35# dumbbells. Since mine take awhile to change, the weight that's on there is there to stay for entire workout. The 35# took me to around 8 reps on most stuff (kinda low) but you gotta improve and move on. Upping your weight is part of the gig.
When that weight is too much specifically later in workout there is a lot of lateral shoulder raises I go to the bands I got at Walmart. Kinda nice really, 3 bands held together and you can use all 3 or remove whatever color you don't want. each color is different tension. For exercises were you need that tightness, these bands at 15 bucks get the job done.
My diet is the same as in past. My wife says I have the gift to eat the same thing day in, day out, and it's true. When I'm in training mode I see food as a tool, not a pleasure. I also feel that my body responds better if it gets consistently the same daily food. It's also easier for me to remember - protein shake, protein bar, chicken sandwich w/ fruit, almonds, chicken and lots of veggies. There is my day. Plenty of food because I eat every 2.3-3 hours. Once I get to my goal weight this diet will change but why mess with something that's working.
Now the dilemma, what to do tonight. In the past p90x 90 days I did it would be treadmill for 45 minutes. I'm curious to try something different. We'll see.

Thanks for reading
Billy

Sunday Chest back/Monday Plyo

Good workouts on both days. Mixed in some Bowflex chest stuff in later part of workout to augment some of the heavypants bending over back exercises. Also did some flys on the Bowflex but they aggravate my shoulder.
Later last week I started doing very light lateral raises (3lb) for my shoulder. It seems to help quite a bit. During work Thursday I did probably 20-30 sets of 25 reps. Not enough to get shoulder sore, just enough to get blood flowing and recover that area.
Ab Ripper X is a great 15 min of ab work. I get through about 75% of ea. set and crack. That will change soon enough.
Goal is to be at least mid to lowish 160# by end of month. Gotta watch diet better over weekend, especially Saturday.
Am noticing just like last 90 that at end of 5th or 6th day (of week) I get real tired. Gotta watch the attitude late in the week. Legs and back takes a lot out of you (5th day). Following that up the next day with a good attitude is tough.

Thanks for reading
Billy

Legs and back.....a reminder

Well I shoulda known. Core Synergistics on Wednesday seemed like a great idea. It was not. Why? It sapped my legs too much and so I paid the piper yesterday when wall squats commenced. Fist time I haven't been able to go the full time on the wall. And I tried....hard. Other than that a great workout. Legs and back is tough. I find the leg excersizes will send your heartrate up and then bam (just like Pam) you gotta do pull ups with high heartrate right afterward. Add in some ARX and I was done.
Tonight I'm gonna run 45 minutes. Oh that's right I forgot. Kenpo also irratates my back because of the twisting. So much so that it distracts and that is a bummer. The treadmill will burn between 5-600 calories and steadystate cardio for 45 min ain't bad.
Forgot to mention I was sub 170 lbs this am. First time in about a year 169.5. That is because I'm eating Breakfast banana protein powder smoothie. Proten bar midmorning, whole wheat toast chick breast and apple, 25 almonds afternoon, and chicken breast with a lot o' veggies for dinner. If you eat small meals at 5 specific times, your hunger is not there and that leads to weight loss. Simple.

Thanks for reading

Billy

Tuesday Shoulders/tri's/bi's - Today Core Synergistics

Just because you can crank it up one day doesn't mean jack shiot the next. After my great plyometric domination session Monday I arrived home Tuesday night uninspired for shoulders/bi's/tri's. My shoulder was irritated and it distracted me the entire workout. On the "bring it" meter - I would say flacid to mostly flacid comes to mind. I'm working on the shoulder problem and it shouldn't be an issue. I showed up blah blah blah. Onward.

So today I need to explain why I did Core Synergistics instead of the Yoga X that's on the schedule. Well to be frank, Yoga irritates my back. Any lateral twisting at the waist (and I'm pretty stiff in the lower back) just pisses my L4/L5 off. Plyometrics does not I don't know why but I'm grateful I can do it. I know I know - but Billy it will increase your flexibility over time - give Yoga a chance. Listen, have back surgery sometime and get back to me. Last 90 days thru I did 45 min on the treadmill at 5.1 mph burning between 5 and 600 calories. I put the time in. This time thru I tried Core Syn tonight in it's place.

Core Synergistics is the quiet workout that is not talked about that much because it's a rest week workout but it will leave you wanting mommy real bad midway thru. Let's face it, I'm here to strengthen my core because of my back issue. Working out the rest of my body is secondary.

My diet the last 2 days has been breakfast banana/2 scoops protein powder and ice, protein bar mid morning, chicken breast/toast and apple for lunch, 25 almonds afternoon snack and dinner chicken breast and broccoli. It sounds boring I know. A bag of Doritos and Ben and Jerry's on the couch is easier and tastier maybe, but the chicken broccoli routine is a sacrifice. Food to me in it's basic form is a tool. It's a tool my body uses to carry on. The cool thing about us human beings is we develop habits and just like bad ones, we can develop good ones. Guess what, after 4-5 days on a diet like this, your body gets used to it and it is enough food, at least to get me to a goal weight to maintain which in my opinion (injury free) is easy. Just think, I get to go thru Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas telling everyone offering candy, stuffing and candy canes dipped in caramel "no thanks, I'm good". That will be a beautiful thing.

Until next time - keep pushing play
Thanks for reading

Billy

Mondays and Plyo X

Had a pretty good day at work today and pounded the water all day. Doing so left me with good energy when I got home after work to hit play and take on the beast. For anyone not doing P90X, plyometrics is arguably the toughest of the 6 workout days. It is in my opinion, followed closely by legs and back.
Anyway I have learned that water intake during the day will leave you with energy at night (not OMG I can't sleep energy). You just don't have that man I don't wanna doing anything except couch it the rest of the night feeling.
I have found that I do better with the diet if I work out at night. Why? I tried morning workouts for 2 weeks on first 90 days and found that the food cravings were on the strong side after work with nothing to do until bed. Working out at night takes some edge off the appetite, however small, and my evening has some structure to it. Every little advantage is worth it when losing weight or transforming your body. Idle hands are the work of.....never mind.
During plyo I kept up with Dom doing doubles wherever he goes psycho nuts. If your looking to improve your plyo workout, make Dom your goal. Sure it sends your heartrate into the stratosphere (and that can be scary), but it's basic interval training that will pay pay off huge in 12 weeks. The more you suffer here, the better you will be at this. Learn to love suffering, if only for minutes at a time, during a workout. I figure if I'm in pain anyway for what 45 minutes, let's make it hurt deep. That's some old cycling stuff there.
What I ate today? Breakfast was a banana blended with ice and 2 scoops Isopure protein powder. Protein bar at 10 am. Lunch was 1 whole grain bread slice, chicken breast, lettuce and an apple. Afternoon snack approx 25-30 almonds. Dinner following plyo, a 6 0z. chicken breast and broccoli. No idea what the calories are and don't need to. I'm losing weight and have energy during the day. I'm not big on counting stuff. When the diets working, you'll lose weight. If the weight isn't coming off (outside of medical issues which I totally respect) your eating too much.......and it's probably at night - but I could be wrong.....and it might be Doritos...or ice cream.....or chocolate chip cookies. UMMMMMMMM cookies. I'll take more on this topic (auto grabs) later. For now...adios

Thanks for reading
Billy

The first one back

It's been a week since finishing my first round of P90X and here I am asking for more. I decided to write this blog mostly to document what I do, shouldn't do, and do again. Oh, and to give those that are thinking about working out or haven't in awhile a chance to see how it feels day in, day out. After all working out isn't hard, it's showing up after a bad day at work, when your tired and have a million tomorrows to add an excuse to.

I arrived at the P90X doorstep via a 3 year run at amateur bike racing which ended with a herniated right lateral L4/L5 disc last December. Following a lengthy rehab, I slowly got back on the bike last Spring and all was well.....until.......wait for it.....my left lateral disc felt like it was bulging in June. Great. Definitely caused by my biking. I decided to move on.

Still fighting pounds from the previous Winter I wanted to stay active but do so without re-injuring my back. I felt my core needed a thorough house cleaning and doing so may get my back in order. Being a cyclist I was used to expending thousands of calories per ride. To do so really is a caloric chore. Try getting stuck 25 miles from home with no food and bonk on a bike. It'll only happen once. I digress though.....were was I?

I also lifted weights in college. That was a few Presidents ago. I wouldn't say I was a gym rat. I definitely put my time in but I did draw the line from the guys wearing the multi-colored sinbad pants and circa 1991 fanny packs. I know, I know they're so practical and hold so much - true. They still suck.

So there's my history on what happened before I got to were I'm at now. I will fill in bits and pieces as I go.

Why P90X you say? Well I've had both the lifting 3-4 days a week and I had cardio's version of the Holy Grail thru cycling. Many regulars st the gym will scoff at P90X saying there's bands involved and push ups/pull ups won't build mass. Cyclist pride themselves on small, almost weak upper bodies. Get deep into the sport and it's a right of passage to be called emancipated. You think I'm kidding..... P90X for me goes after averages. It splits the middle between many sports. The cool thing is you dont have to play a sport to do it. To the muscled gym guy I say go run on treadmill for an hour just below lactate threshold and try talking. To the cyclist, go bench 300lbs. They can't do it. P90X it seemed to me tried to bridge those gaps and produce a very well rounded physique. I'm 41, I'll take the well rounded physique to go please

I did my 90 days of P90X and found that after 3 years of bike racing, my legs, heart, and respiratory system are WAY ahead of the curve. My upper body - not so much. Sad really when you think that I couldn't do more than 15 push ups on my first run at chest and back. Pull ups were a joke. I needed strength real bad. At 186-7 lbs when I started I ended at 176 nearly - well exactly 90 days later. I only focused on my diet for the last 3 weeks. Like every other story my strength went up in every area and on day 90 I did 50 push ups just to make sure.

Some changes were made to my routine which I'll talk of in later posts this week. Suffice to say my back issues created some creative jumbling around of excersises. It also helps I have a Bowflex. More on that later.

So I started today chest/shoulders/ab ripper x. I pressed play and at 172 lbs started on this second 90 days. My left shoulder has bothered me since the third week and I suppose it will continue thru this, and I'll moan about it from time to time but should be ok. The chest/back is a great basic workout. If you stay on time with each excersize you are hammered at the end. For abs last time since my back is a place to protect I did 6 sets of 25 hanging leg raises and 6 sets of crunches on the bowflex. Trust me, I wasn't slacking. I am going to employ more ab ripper x moves this time as I trust my back more, but I will say ARX (ab ripper...get it) puts some strain on lower back. If you've had issues, work around it. Also, the excersize that jacked my shoulder was "barnstorms" that hybrid pushup deal Tony does.....yeeeeaaah.....not a fan (of the barnstorms). Too much pressure on top of shoulder made my AC tendon inflamed.

Anyway folks, I am here to shed down to 155 by the end of the year. Oh wow, starting now does end this thing right before New Years. To get to 155 I'll go thru 3 holidays. You count only 2? I include Halloween as it's a nightmare (ha ha) with the 50 lbs of candy you have to wade thru. Included is my first day pic. Sorry couldn't do the posing flexing stuff. The point is the body you see will look dramatically different in 90.

Thanks for reading

Billy