Tuesday, June 30, 2009

REcovery!

14 Prison Pushups. I am beat. I'm fighting a sinus infection and my will to work out is waning. I just want to sleep and eat shitty food.
But seriously, I need to feel better soon this is a good week to recover, yoga tomorrow.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Sadie's Birthday! Legs and Back


I haven't done this workout for two weeks and man I did not miss it one bit. This is by far the toughest day for me. The combination of the 2 biggest muscle groups, the end of a week, and typically a late night on Friday makes this workout exhausting. I struggled through ARX and got my high point for free form pull ups in at 45.

Today is Sadie's 2nd Birthday, so HHH can tell you we are booked for the day. I'm going to punish some cake today though!

Booyah!

Friday, June 26, 2009

Yoga Extreme!

I went to see the Hangover with my boy Fitzy last night, had some sushi and a little popcorn, nothing outrageous but a little off of the diet. Hillarious movie. I enjoyed it. Lots of fun.
Yoga this morning, I rocked it as usual. I'm almost to the point where I'm looking for a new Yoga routine but this was still gets me. I think once I master every move, I'll be on the some advanced shit but still need to get wheel for the full 30 seconds. Crane was ok today, kept going in and out of it but still feeling good.
Toe Lock!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Back and BIs Breakthrough!!!!


I woke up this morning and I grabbed myself a Beer! Just kidding, I'm an alcoholic, so I don't drink.... akward silence.....soo, I was working out this morning and I had the old Back and Bis, Glamour muscles to go today. I jumped up and banged out 10 free form pull ups to start and another 7 assisted. I had 20 in me, but wanted to pace myself for the upcoming pull ups. I felt strong on every set today but was too wasted to complete the last set of curls today. I got a full Ab Ripper in and got to 45 on Mason Twists, all time high.
The news that you're all reading this for is about to drop on you. Corncob Pull ups are hard! I've never done more than 6 in a setting and I've always used a chair to boost myself like this jerkoff. Also, these things are done well into your workout, so you're spent by the time you get to them. Today I did 3 free form/ natural corncobs and 4 more with the assist of a stool!
Booyah Breakthrough! Also, 1 full week of sub 210lbs is in the books. I weighed myself yesterday morning and came in at 207, last night 208, this morning 208.
Feeling good Billy Ray...

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The Bucket!!!!

Man o Manochevitz! I wasn't sure that I'd get this in today but I pushed play and once I got going, I got after it! I'm drenched in sweat and made all my 3s today. A little pet peeve of mine but Tony shoots with the wromg hand when stepping into the shot. I take the pass from the right and shoot with the right hand, take the pass from the left and shoot with the left.
Blam!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Week 7 experiment- Ab Ribber before workout

I am fighting a cold that has me seriously reconsidering why we decided to have children. I never get sick and I've rarely had a cold in my adult life but now I have two little germ sponges that I kiss, share food with, and wipe dirty noses all day long. This makes it tough for parents to stay healthy. Anyway, I'm sleeping in a little later 5:30 to try to fight the illness and give my body time to repair itself. I woke up and decided I wanted to mix it up a bit. I also feel that my ab workout was always suffering because I did it when I was fully fatigued so I decided to do ARX before my chest shoulders and tris workout. I figured that this along with my cold would diminish my results during the chest workout. While it was definately harder to do the normal workout today I was able to maintain my numbers from last week's workout. I was able to get 17 clappers in today. I may have been able to get 20 but I was bushed! I'm still doing 1 arm pushups on my knees but those are crazy.
The dog days of this program are about to be on me and I feel good about where I am in my stage of progress. In just the right light, you can actually see some abs.
In the back of my head, my wife's question keeps ringing as motivation, "Have you ever had abs?" Read that how you want, I know I take it as a direct slap in the face!
Drink your recovery drink people!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Happy Father's Day - ABC's

Yoga on Saturday was a blast. Rocked the crane for a full 60 seconds, and got wheel down for a full recittal of the ABCs and then some. Thanks to gay HHH for the advice
Improvised my Legs and Back for Father's day by hiking up Ring Mountain with sadie on my back in a back pack. Did some pull ups and didn't get a full workout in but I'll take it.
Week 7 starts tomorrow,
not sweating the small stuff, however, working in a tiny space and sweating like crazy...

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Back and Bis as a Single Parent


Let me just give a quick plug out to all the single parents. The last 2 days have been hellish from a logistics standpoint. Sadie was crazy last night up 3 different times, the last 2 times for an hour each screeming bloody murder. My workout was delayed until late this morning, I'm working from home and had to start late. I got interupted 3 different times and had 2 conference calls during the back and bis routine and still have yet to get Ab ripper x in but hope to do it soon.

The good news is that I did 8 more pull ups today than last week, from 72 to 80. I busted out 10 wide front pull ups in the first set free form then 5 with the chair boost.


Bull by the horns!
Kids are screaming again!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Sometimes the Bucket gets you

Got Plyo done this morning. It wasn't that it was hard, it was just that I had low energy this morning. I had to get up before 4:00 this morning to take my wife to her father's house. Lewis is having surgery today for cancer removal from his neck so she had to be at Stanford by 7:00. I got up took her over and didn't eat anything so I think my energy was down from that. I still averaged over 135 on the HR and had it over 158 during a few exercises but it was just a workout today.
Focusing on the diet for the next few days!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Well I hate to disappoint but...shocking developments


I finished Chest Shoulders and Tris this morning and made gains on each exercise except for clappers today. I got Ab ripper done and feel good about my progress thus far.

On to the news that may just shock you. In Round 1 of P90X, I actually gained weight through the first 30 days due to my body building muscle in place of fat. I went up 4 lbs during the first 3 weeks as I tried to regulate the diet and get the body moving in the right direction for fitness. During this round, I have not gained any weight and in fact struggled with the right mix of diet for the first couple of weeks to maintain energy and lose weight. I started at 213.5 for this round and had bobbed back and forth below 210 to 213.5 but generally stayed around 212/213 as a my average weight. Last week I started to see a number that really excited me. On Wednesday of last week I jumped on the scale after plyo and saw 208.5, now this was after plyo so most likely I lost 3+lbs in sweat that day. I weighed myself daily for the rest of the week in the mornings and saw 3 straight sub 210 numbers. Knowing that I had a wedding weekend ahead of me, I knew I was going to be back up a bit due to my diet. I stayed pretty god but not 100% clean, so Monday morning's weigh in was at 211.5. I weighed in again today at 211 and I feel good about it. Down 2 lbs in the first 30 days with some of the major fat burning/ weight loss days ahead, excites me about the possibilities. So the new goal is 205. This would be a major accomplishment that I haven't seen for more than half of my life. I haven't been in the 205 range since my Freshman year of college. It's on now HHH. It's about to be broughten!

Monday, June 15, 2009

Yoga, COO, run and day off

What a few days.
Did Yoga on Friday. My youngest sister got married this weekend in St Helena at my Father in Law's place so I had a full docket. I went for a 7 mile run on Saturday and got 50 pushups done during the run. That was probably a bit ambitious as I felt it for the next 2 days.
Looking forward to getting back in the studio on Tuesday. Stay tuned as there may be a very shocking development unveiled in tomorrow's post.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Glamour Day - Back and Bis

Doing P90X with House guests is a pain in the arse. Got it done today and thought I had more in me but se la vie. When in Rome. I was able to do a free form Corn Cob pull up which made me happy but it took a lot out of me. Had to skip Ab Ripper due to time constraints. I'll get it in tonight and Yoga tomorrow.
This weekend I will be a little out of pocket due to my youngest sister getting married but I'll get my workouts in, most likely running and push ups both days but we'll see what kind f creativity I have. Maybe I'll embody a modern version of Gymkata and perform various moves along the rows of grapes in the vineyards I pass with pull ups under a bridge over looking the Napa river.
We'll see.
Team Homo is excited to jump into the Original P90x Studio with HHH. I say put them through Legs and Back and see how they feel.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Day 31- Frog Bucket


My Bucket is green, like a frog, like frog boy back there...Dominic has got nothing on me. The one legged dude can go jump off a cliff for all I care, as I owned them all today. I did double time JUMP KNEE TUCKS, did extra reps whenever I could and got my heart rate up over 170 a couple of times. Sweat a ton and felt great afterwards. I'm in shape and can really feel the ability to push myself. My only regret is that I never really worked this hard on my own my entire life.

My wife asked me if I've ever had a 6 pack. I said, not really, just skinny. It's not like I did abs untill February, unless of course, you count the dark years of Cyber Trim, Mt Dew, Deer blood in a bowl, Little Debbie Oatmeal cream pies and 8 minute abs. I wouldn't say I've ever been this committed to getting in shape but it is my new obsession.

I love Tony...There I said it!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Day 30 of Phase 2 Day 120 overall


I started week 5 of the Second round of P90X today with Chest, Tris, and Shoulders with a reckless abandon that hasn't been seen since #40 was roaming the fields of the NCAC Football Conference. My goal was to better my last workout's efforts on reps for each exercise. The last time I did this workout was week 12 of the first round and I had turned in a pretty impressive effort for me in total pushups and total weight/ reps for the other exercises. We tend to use certain exercises as benchmarks to gauge our strength and i think this workout's best gauge is the clapping pushups. I did 13 clapping pushups today. I did a total of 151 pushups today, 10 of those were 1 armed pushups done on my knees. My high total for Round 1 was 128 an 18% increase. I started week 5 with a pedestrian 94 total pushups with almost half of them on my knees. I also remembered how tough the slow count pushups at the beginning were but today it wasn't that bad. Kept up with Ab Ripper and got in a full 45 Mason twists, a first for me. I'm pushing to get to the full 50! I love it but I hate it!
On another note, I had been talking a lot about doing P90X Doubles which would add in a cardio exercise for every weight day. That means today would have been a 2aday. However, logistically, that's crazy. I don't have time to workout twice a day and I don't want my workouts to suffer by trying to combine them. I may still work in some runs and biking as this goes on on the weight days but suffice it to say, I'm not enrolling in the doubles program.

Monday, June 8, 2009

A run on the 80% club

Well, I guess all things come in 3's. I skipped Yoga yesterday and went to the practice range for 3 hours of practice, 200 balls, an hour on the pitching green and sand trap and I'm feeling like I could challenge HHH for once. However, the one muscle that still needs more work than possible, my brain is weak.
My rationale for taking yesterday off was that I'm attmpting the doubles program this week. Week 5 is the first week of P90X doubles. It is basically phase 2 with Cardio X added tothe 3 lifting days in the morning. We'll see if I have what it takes to make it though this shiznit.
I need to continue to work on cleaning the diet and amp it up a bit if I want to burn this last layer of stubborn fat away!

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Core Synergisitics -T-Bird

I was looking forward to today's workout. Getting up at 5:00 am on a Saturday morning does something to you. It reminds you that your priorities have changed. 10 years ago I may have been getting in from the night now I'm starting my day with Tony and crew and a session of core synergistics.
Felt strong throughout, only got 11 prision pushups today but did a full minute of plank to chataranga run.
Side story, a buddy of mine walks into a health food store with his boss. They're talking to a gentleman who stands 6'7 goes 300 lbs who owns the place. The guy's name is Junior. P90X comes up and Junior says that of all the things he's done P90x is the best and gave him the best results of anything he's done. In fact, he's been doing it for the last 2 years. This guy's boss calls bullshit on him and he challenges him to prove it. It just so happens, Junior has a pull up bar out back, he proceeds to rip off 30 pull ups and followed that up by 75 pushups in street clothes. If you needed any other proof that this program is legit, there you go.
PacMan is hungover today and HHH is probably working with his new partner Guns as I type.
Hey Guns, the waffle store called...

Friday, June 5, 2009

Stretching is soooooo nice

It's fun to sleep in and know you have 50 minutes of stretching as your workout for the day!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

You Win Wesley!

Kenpo this morning and I got it done. I had every intention of kicking his ass this morning but a headache got in my way. I battled through it and got the workout in but I'd have to say that Wesley would have kicke my ass if we fought today. I'm sore and stiff from Core synergistics yesterday so that feels good, looking forward to stretching tomorrow!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Recovery Synergistics Day 24

I was looking forward to this workout this morning. Especially after talking to HHH last night and learning that he got caught up in a BoonDoggling Affair with some of his sales bretheren and was too hung over to complete a workout yesterday. This fired me up more than Kiscoe putting a ball in the water off the tee.
So, again, I woke up at 4:27, right before my alarm and got after my morning routine of taking various uppers and a couple of sit downs in preparation for the workout. I immediately got after it and fired off 40 staggered arm push ups. I was most excited about the prison puch ups as I thought I may give old Adam a run for his money. I remembered that HHH said you have to go fast to get in more than 15 so I started out fast. I got to 10 and I thought I could still get 15 but after 11 I was questioning my resolve and after 12 I was done. So, you need to go fast but not too fast that you kill yourself for the end. PLank to Chataranga Run is still hard, but I can do it.
I'm looking forward to kicking some Monkey ass tomorrow!
AFter this round, I may have to enroll in this new series. He's really taking the whole thing to another level!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Rockin the Crane Day 23

Recovery Hair! Well, Well well, week four is upon me. On a side note, the Mrs is really enjoying the new me. I enjoy the new me too but I've always thought I looked good. This second time around the P90X schedule is focused on mastering each day and pushing myself to new levels. Yoga, as I said on Saturday, is my favorite day of the week and this week I get to do it twice. I will definately keep the Yoga spirit alive moving forward. HHH blasted me yesterday with a boast of being in the studio at 5:00 am to which I replied I am regularly in the gym at that time. He confronted me and suggested that I wasn't normally getting started until 5:30ish so this morning I awoke before my alarm that was set for 4:31 and was standing on my mat before 5:00 am. How you like me now Hamma! Rocked the crane for 55 of the 60 seconds today and was looking forward to wheel. However, once I got up into wheel, my feet slipped out and down I came. I'm still seeing improvements which is crazy and I'm looking forward to attempting the Doubles program. We'll see if logistically I can hang but I'd like to do it if possible.
I'm a celebrity get me out of here...
Classic~!

Monday, June 1, 2009

Legs and Back, Ab Ripper and abbreviated Kenpo


Due to missing a workout on Thursday of this past week, walking a round of golf does not count, I decided to get 2 workouts in on Sunday. Instead of doing one in the morning and one in the afternoon like a sensible human would, I just lined it up back to back during nap time. Whoooeee! Not easy, especially after Legs and Back. Kenpo is f-ing hard as hell after Legs and Back. Did 45 natural pull ups during the course of the workout, up 6 from last week. I'm finally starting to sees one serious gains in strength in the pull up department. I've struggled with pull ups my whole life due to the laws of physiques and the laws of "I just didn't do them" Also, I've never really been able to see my abs due to diet and the laws of "I just didn't do them" but they're starting to peak through at the top of the ab region. Years of sweets and beer have created a formidable layer of insulation to hide them. Speaking of beer and diet, I had an interesting interaction with my boss after golfing on Thursday. We had just finished walking a challenging course, I parred the last hole and won closest to the pin, but that's not even the story. We sit down for lunch and I order their field greens salad with double chicken and an ice tea. It's not the biggest salad ever and as I finish every last bit of it, almost licking the plate clean, the table remarks at how hungry I must be. I say, I could eat 5 more of those. My boss looks at me and says, "You know, we all end up as the same dirt...at least I'm enjoy myself on the way." He's a bit of a large pear on tooth picks and was enjoying his beer as well. I wanted to quote Dean Wortimore and say "Fat, Drunk and Lazy is no way to go through life" but chose the high road and said, I am enjoying myself. I really am enjoying this program. I love the discipline needed for the diet and the challenge of working out every day and eating right every day. It is my new obsession. A lot healthier than some of my past obsessions and it may even help me live longer. Rest/ Stretch today.

Pre P90X SIde pose

Pre P90X SIde pose
Bloated

2-3-10

2-3-10
Final Side pose