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