So near so far...

Almost there...



Two weeks left? Three weeks? I hardly want to look....
It's a good thing I started P90x in the cold months, because there's no way I'm going to be able to continue to do P90x workouts in 30+ degree weather. My motto has always been "If your underwear's not soaked, you're not working hard enough" and lately it's proven true with the combination of Legs/Back plus the heat and humidity that's common with the climate of my hometown Winnipeg.

I was thinking that having done some cleaning and painting before my workout tonight might have been a good enough warm up but in the end, not surprisingly, I was still nearly dry-heaving after the last set of switch grip pullups. Even the P90x recovery drink was sitting a little uneasy in my stomach afterwards and that alone is a testament to how hard I worked, since it always goes down smooth and STAYS down smooth. Rah-rah, right guys? *burp*


Fail-Diet
Lately my diet's kind of sucked. I guess I lost a bit of focus last week for some reason, and maybe wasn't as strict on my diet as I could have been. A few family functions and mandatory cake-servings had me feeling a little bit guilty so as a conscience-soother I've been doing a little bit of running here and there. I'm not so sure how beneficial it is to my goals or what effect it REALLY has after a piece of Strawberry-Rhubarb pie with ice-cream, but it goes a long way to appeasing my eating disorder known as P90x.

Enough for now. Time to air out my shorts, shower and literally watch the paint dry on my walls.

Ok, that P90x recovery drink...?

Sluuuurrrrrrpppp


....as Dreya would say (Less annoyingly though) "SO good!!!"

Last week a package arrived on my desk at the office, and upon opening it I found that my awesome P90x sponsor at www.sheafitness.com was generous enough to send me a free sample of the P90x Recovery drink formula along with a very intimidating P90x "Bring It" T-shirt (You'd better believe work got DONE that day!). Regardless of the benefits and fancy packaging of the P90x Recovery Formula, I have to tell you that the taste alone is enough to make you want to hurry up and get your workout over with. Remember those orange creamsicles you'd get from the Dickie-Dee vendor as a kid or perhaps the days when your mom would plop a dollop of vanilla ice cream into a tall glass of Orange Crush for you? Heck, to a lesser extent perhaps one of those Orange Campino hard candies? That's what this stuff tastes like, it's that good. The only thing I don't like about it is the low protein to calorie ratio in it (10 grams of Pro to 220 calories) but I suppose that's why one buys Whey Isolate as a supplement. This stuff tastes too good to worry about that, right?


*hnnnnnngh*
Even though I put it off longer than I should have, my Chest/Shoulders/Triceps workout went great tonight and my early supper of grilled chicken and asparagus did plenty to keep me fuelled (I love summer veggies. Home-grown asparagus is Mother Nature's natural answer to Cocaine). I'm usually too spent at the end of my workout to do the Plyo Pushups where they're required and have to settle for the clap variety. This week was no exception and I had to bear down to get my clap pushouts finished. Mark my words though, in my last week of P90x (which isn't that far away) I'm going to attempt the Plyo's, smashed face or not. They're a snap to do when you're fresh but after numerous upper body exercises that leave you gasping for air, it's a chore to even get yourself standing again at the end of the workout, nevermind defying gravity with your face merely inches away from the unyielding basement floor.

I'm pretty tired, and up a little past my self-imposed curfew. Thanks again for reading. Plyometrics and Habs/Flyers tomorrow...not sure which will be more exhausting to endure.




P.S. Yes, I know Cocaine is derived from naturally-growing plants. I don't care, Asparagus is still better.

Holy embarassing...

Not quite, but almost



So I played my first (touch) football game today. Rather than receiving for over 600 yards like I expected, I tweaked something during warm-up and as a result played only about half the game. In the end I picked up a sack and a nice reception over the middle but for the most part my lateral movement was pretty much rendered nonexistant by whatever I did to my hips/legs. It's not quite a hamstring-pull and not quite a quad-pull, but if I plant my feet and twist from side to side I feel it in my glutes.


Ugh, what an unfortunate, embarassing blog post. I'm not even going to proof-read this one.








On a side note, P90x is still going good.

Florida is a fantastic place to stay on top of P90x

Because you can get wrecked by a Gator if you're not careful



Gators and Golfballs
When I first heard I was being sent down to Florida on business my initial thought was that my P90x journey was yet again about to be tested by inadequate gym facilities, restaurant-based nutrition and . Two days after landing in the sunshine state and sitting through meetings all day, I can still proudly say that I've bashed out both Chest/Back and Plyometrics with zero trouble. The Hotel's gym had no pull-up bar so I had to substitute heavy cable pull-downs in place of my pullups (Did the job pretty well, I will admit) but the dumbbells were top notch, so I had no problems with Heavy Pants. The 4 other people slugging it on the Elliptical machines watching me do multiple forms of pushups might have wondered what was up but I'm pretty sure they were impressed.

Oh, I took advantage of Dick's Sporting Goods low prices and bought myself and my brother 48 Nike MOJO golf balls for something like $12 bucks. Stars and Stripes forever, baby! I've got two more days here and then it's back to Winnipeg and +24 degree temperatures...it'll be like I never left Florida.


Oh, and go Jets go.....

Yes I'm still going, no I haven't given up.

This was me on Saturday, minus a few key differences...



Sorry for not posting in a while. I'm near the end of my recovery week and I just don't get as pumped up for blog posts as I do when I'm doing resistance workouts and cardio. Besides, how much can you write about Kenpo and Yoga that hasn't already been said?

On Saturday, I had my first practice with the touch football team I joined this summer. Not entirely sure what to expect, I was totally surprised by the skill and the professionalism of the guys that play on my team and the way our practice was carried out. Rather than bore you with accounts of our route-running and defensive-scheme exercises, I figured I'd just let you know how sore my legs are today from 2.5 hours of continous stop and go sprinting. While my cardio was fantastic, I think that I may work some running into my schedule to keep my legs accustomed to the movement they don't get a lot of in the P90x cardio programs.

Oh, and here are my weeks 1 through 8 progress pics...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrsMgav1YHQ

45-20

I'm drawing a blank...voting is just not that funny

I forgot to thank everyone who voted "Yes" in my Poll that's been festering over there on the right-hand side of my blog. I guess I appreciate those who took the time to vote "No" as well, but really...you shouldn't have bothered, I'm rolling! I never thought I'd say this but even with a third of the program to go I really feel like the end is in sight. Now that I've nearly completed Phases 1 and 2 I know for a FACT I'm going to finish and now it's just a matter of bearing down in the details to make sure I'm not wimping out anywhere, especially in my diet.

My weight's staying the same and while I still feel trim and lean (all my pants have gotten looser and I've switched pant sizes from 32-34 to size 30's) I don't feel quite as strong as I was during my conventional weightlifting days prior to P90x. I guess this is to be expected with the decrease in muscle mass and lack of heavy lifting, but while I should know better than to get discouraged at this point in the program...I'm still feeling a little bit wimpy. P90x claims you can build mass with proper nutrition and focusing on 8-10 reps per exercise but with the reduced calories and sheer amount of cardiovascular intensity involved, there isn't much extra nutrition to build your muscles unless you're a genetic freak who gets big no matter what he does. I'm realizing that P90x is PERFECT for the middle-aged dude or overweight guy who wants to shed some pounds, especially since they can dedicate themselves 100% to losing weight as their main goal without having to be worried so much about muscle mass.

While I appreciate the program and what it's doing for me, I find myself yearning for the day where I can settle under the flat bench and smash millimetres off my teeth as I grit out my last set of bench-presses. I'll be smarter with my cardio and with my diet, and if P90x has taught me anything so far it's to keep my intensity level up while at the gym. Having Tony holler at me has done WONDERS to keep me focused and zeroed in on the task at hand, and I'm hoping I can apply this same focus to life AFTER P90x.

Recovery/Healthy Eating Week

Time to get serious.

Only 11 days remain (including today) until it's time to take my 60 day pictures. Regardless of how good I've felt or how well I've been doing with P90x, the proof is in the pudding/pictures and I really hope I'm able to show improvements from today to day 60. I know that without the weights I tend to slack a little bit in the commitment department and with that comes slacking off in the eating department so as long as I can make sure my pantry's full of delicious, healthy things I'm pretty confident I'll be able to stay lean until Phase 3. I don't have too much time left and depending on where I'm at once this recovery week finishes, I'll alter my caloric intake accordingly.

My weight continues to sit at 160 and I see that along with reducing my bodyfat, the weight routine of P90x is JUST doing enough to maintain the muscle mass I have. A lean 160lbs is a great finishing point and I'll be thrilled if I'm able to walk around at that weight and 10% bodyfat.

I'll be closely monitoring my mood and my energy levels throughout this recovery week since I know at the end of this past week I was starting to feel a little bit drained (which is weird for me). I'm not sure whether it was a calorie deficit or perhaps not getting enough sleep that sucked me dry by 4:00, but I'm going to make an effort at a solid 7.5 hours of slumber every night this week...

...except for when the puck drops on Vancouver/Chicago at 9:00pm.