Company today. Went ahead and did Kenpo, much to their amusement. Much to their chagrin, there was no junk food in the house. They were game enough to try the protein bar - and even finished it!
~Stick to it!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Day Forty One
Two of my brothers popped over today for lunch and to play some Wii. Little did they know! :) Being the good sports they are, they let me talk them into doing Ab Ripper with me first. I figure, fair is fair. They should provide me with a little entertainment before they enjoy our entertainment center. :) Besides, I hadn't had time to do it earlier because I had been cleaning the house for them. (Well, them and my non-related weekend company.)
And they were entertaining! Certain workouts are far more fun to do in a group. They had trouble balancing on their tush, too. They were cracking jokes and complaining good-naturedly - the laughing did make the actual exercising a bit harder however. Plus, by yourself, when muscles start cramping, it's easy to talk yourself into taking a break. But if HE isn't stopping, by gum, I ain't stopping!
That's true in other areas as well. Knowing that I'm not the only wife who occasionally gets all bent out of shape about something obscure (or not so obscure!) is reassuring. Watching another couple still talking nicely to each other after being married forever means that it can be done. Nothing wrong with a little healthy (and positive) comparison either. My Better Half may hog the computer games when he's home, but he cleans the bathroom at least fifty percent of the time. And he's picked up pretty quick that if I'm cranky, the best thing to do is cuddle me and make me take a nap. (Guess I never quite grew out of that stage!) Since we're gonna be married til we keel over, might as well make it a positive experience!
~Stick to it!
And they were entertaining! Certain workouts are far more fun to do in a group. They had trouble balancing on their tush, too. They were cracking jokes and complaining good-naturedly - the laughing did make the actual exercising a bit harder however. Plus, by yourself, when muscles start cramping, it's easy to talk yourself into taking a break. But if HE isn't stopping, by gum, I ain't stopping!
That's true in other areas as well. Knowing that I'm not the only wife who occasionally gets all bent out of shape about something obscure (or not so obscure!) is reassuring. Watching another couple still talking nicely to each other after being married forever means that it can be done. Nothing wrong with a little healthy (and positive) comparison either. My Better Half may hog the computer games when he's home, but he cleans the bathroom at least fifty percent of the time. And he's picked up pretty quick that if I'm cranky, the best thing to do is cuddle me and make me take a nap. (Guess I never quite grew out of that stage!) Since we're gonna be married til we keel over, might as well make it a positive experience!
~Stick to it!
Day Forty
Stand up. Take a large step forward with your right foot and bend the right knee, straightening the left leg out behind you. Bend at the waist and sink lower in the lunge until your chest touches your thigh. Twist your left arm behind your back, palm out, bending at the elbow until your left hand touches your right hip. Tuck your right hand under your right thigh and stretch until your two hands connect behind your right hip. Now hold that thought. (If you're me, you've already collapsed in a heap by the third sentance. Thanks for trying Yoga X though!)
As I'm lying in a pile on the carpet ( It needs vacuuming since company is coming. The only time it gets attention, poor thing.) I'm thinking, "Why am I doing this?" Or maybe more correctly, "Why am I STILL doing this?" Cause it's good for me! Maybe not the frequent rug burn part, but the moving and healthy part. And I don't want to be a quitter - I'm not even halfway yet!
~Stick to it!
As I'm lying in a pile on the carpet ( It needs vacuuming since company is coming. The only time it gets attention, poor thing.) I'm thinking, "Why am I doing this?" Or maybe more correctly, "Why am I STILL doing this?" Cause it's good for me! Maybe not the frequent rug burn part, but the moving and healthy part. And I don't want to be a quitter - I'm not even halfway yet!
~Stick to it!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Day Thirty Nine
Just to shake things up a bit, I'm writing this as I do Back/Biceps/Ab Ripper. Real time! Heck, I have to hit the pause button between every exercise anyway to write down lifting info and change out the weights.
Speaking of which, I think those of us at home who don't have a state-of-the-art complete dumbell set (or two) lying around our house should get extra credit. I lift most of the weights three times - once to load the plates, once when I'm lifting, and once as I switch the plates back off the hand bar thingy. We have the old-school set with two footlong bars and removable plates. Slide the proper plates on the bar, secure with washers and screws, do your lifting, reverse the process to change the weights for the next lift.
Not only is this time-consuming and works the muscles above and beyond the call of duty, it's dangerous. The little screws stick out on the sides - I almost gouged my chin when I curled too high! Not to mention the constant threat of a washer coming loose and dropping twenty pounds on an unsuspecting toe. Years ago, I dropped a plate on a toe and the toenail still grows in two pieces. Very inconvienient for applying nail polish! The danger factor is especially apparent during Coehen Curls, a lovely lift that allows you to do wall squats while doing curls. What joy. Also, your face is right down by your knees, the perfect target for the rising weights.
It's time for Ab Ripper and I'm so hungry I think about skipping. I haven't had supper yet because it's so blasted hard to properly space all the eating and exercising. How can you eat five times a day and exercise an hour or more each day if you have to wait an hour after eating to exercise? By the time your stomach is settled from breakfast, it's time for snack! But I get out the cushy mat. If I quit now, I'll have to add it back in somewhere anyway.
~Stick to it~
Speaking of which, I think those of us at home who don't have a state-of-the-art complete dumbell set (or two) lying around our house should get extra credit. I lift most of the weights three times - once to load the plates, once when I'm lifting, and once as I switch the plates back off the hand bar thingy. We have the old-school set with two footlong bars and removable plates. Slide the proper plates on the bar, secure with washers and screws, do your lifting, reverse the process to change the weights for the next lift.
Not only is this time-consuming and works the muscles above and beyond the call of duty, it's dangerous. The little screws stick out on the sides - I almost gouged my chin when I curled too high! Not to mention the constant threat of a washer coming loose and dropping twenty pounds on an unsuspecting toe. Years ago, I dropped a plate on a toe and the toenail still grows in two pieces. Very inconvienient for applying nail polish! The danger factor is especially apparent during Coehen Curls, a lovely lift that allows you to do wall squats while doing curls. What joy. Also, your face is right down by your knees, the perfect target for the rising weights.
It's time for Ab Ripper and I'm so hungry I think about skipping. I haven't had supper yet because it's so blasted hard to properly space all the eating and exercising. How can you eat five times a day and exercise an hour or more each day if you have to wait an hour after eating to exercise? By the time your stomach is settled from breakfast, it's time for snack! But I get out the cushy mat. If I quit now, I'll have to add it back in somewhere anyway.
~Stick to it~
Day Thirty Eight
Cardio today. My current favorite workout. Ever notice how we tend to favor things we're good at? I like food because when I make it, it tastes good. (Except I don't make pancakes. They burn every time and I'm not a fan of charcoal even though I'm sure somewhere there's a study done by some research group that says that a certain amount of daily charcoal is good for.) I don't like raqquetball because I'm bad at it. (It's hard to hit the blasted little zingy ball when your primary focus is on ducking so it doesn't take you out. Not to mention raqquetball courts often are enclosed in glass so that everyone in the whole gym can stop to point and laugh as you run around in a crouch with raqquet held up as a protective umbrella.)
Then, cause I was feeling good (and cause I was one behind from one of my sleep-in days) I did Ab Ripper after Cardio. I can actually complete the whole workout now. (If you allow for a few adjustments to make some of the moves easier. I figure I'll go for finishing first, then for finishing AND doing everything the way they do it!) It inflates my ego even more to know that when I tried to get my personal trainer brother to do some with me, HE was complaining about how hard it was! (Of course, I think mostly he just wanted to be difficult!)
~Stick to it!
Then, cause I was feeling good (and cause I was one behind from one of my sleep-in days) I did Ab Ripper after Cardio. I can actually complete the whole workout now. (If you allow for a few adjustments to make some of the moves easier. I figure I'll go for finishing first, then for finishing AND doing everything the way they do it!) It inflates my ego even more to know that when I tried to get my personal trainer brother to do some with me, HE was complaining about how hard it was! (Of course, I think mostly he just wanted to be difficult!)
~Stick to it!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Day Thirty Seven
In case you ever wondered EXACTLY what I'm doing with all my time:
CHEST/SHOULDER/TRICEPS/ABS
Slo-mo-3-in-1 pushups (three hand widths, all in a slow eight count so you can face plant more than normal)
In-Out Shoulder flys (In front, out to the side. Don't drop the weight and crush your toes.)
Chair dips (I do one of the hard versions: two chairs, leg length apart, lower yourself in-between. Slipping results in bruised calves, but you won't be able to feel it at first because of the concussion you get from hitting your head on the other chair.)
Plange pushups (No sweat. Just regular pushups. Oh, except your hands are by your ribcage instead of your shoulders. Guess you will sweat.)
Pike presses (Bend over upside down, lower your head to the floor. Ideally, you should then be able to straighten your arms back up. Ideally. Misspelled, this becomes Pie Pushups where you lower your face and take a bite of pie. Unfortunately, this version is not part of P90X.)
Side-Tri-Rises (Lay on your side, hand under shoulder and raise your body, balancing on your hip. The secondary challenge is not rolling over onto your face.)
Floor Flys (I don't actually remember what this is. I must have blocked it out. Oh well, I guess that's why I always use the DVD.)
Scarecrows (Supposedly you use weights for this. I have achieved the impressive number of 2.5 pounds. Elbows at shoulder height, hands dangle, then raise vertically, preferably without moving elbows.)
Overhead tricep extensions (One of the few things I had actually heard of before beginning P90X. Lower the weight behind your head and straight up. Don't drop the weight and crush your skull.)
Two-twitch speed pushup (Has nothing to do with uncontrollable muscle spasms as a result of working them too hard, though that may happen. Four fast, four slow. Repeat til you die.)
Y-Presses (Think doing the "YMCA" song with weights in your hands. And just do the "Y" part.)
Lying tricep extensions (Not lying like big fish stories. Not lying like taking a nap either, though it may be tempting. Don't drop the weight and crush your face.)
Now do twelve MORE exercise with long, descriptive names and large amounts of pain and danger involved. Then, just because it's so fun, spend sixteen minutes doing every possible variation of situps, leg raises, and other wonderful trunk exercises.
Feel inspired? I love company!
~Stick to it!
CHEST/SHOULDER/TRICEPS/ABS
Slo-mo-3-in-1 pushups (three hand widths, all in a slow eight count so you can face plant more than normal)
In-Out Shoulder flys (In front, out to the side. Don't drop the weight and crush your toes.)
Chair dips (I do one of the hard versions: two chairs, leg length apart, lower yourself in-between. Slipping results in bruised calves, but you won't be able to feel it at first because of the concussion you get from hitting your head on the other chair.)
Plange pushups (No sweat. Just regular pushups. Oh, except your hands are by your ribcage instead of your shoulders. Guess you will sweat.)
Pike presses (Bend over upside down, lower your head to the floor. Ideally, you should then be able to straighten your arms back up. Ideally. Misspelled, this becomes Pie Pushups where you lower your face and take a bite of pie. Unfortunately, this version is not part of P90X.)
Side-Tri-Rises (Lay on your side, hand under shoulder and raise your body, balancing on your hip. The secondary challenge is not rolling over onto your face.)
Floor Flys (I don't actually remember what this is. I must have blocked it out. Oh well, I guess that's why I always use the DVD.)
Scarecrows (Supposedly you use weights for this. I have achieved the impressive number of 2.5 pounds. Elbows at shoulder height, hands dangle, then raise vertically, preferably without moving elbows.)
Overhead tricep extensions (One of the few things I had actually heard of before beginning P90X. Lower the weight behind your head and straight up. Don't drop the weight and crush your skull.)
Two-twitch speed pushup (Has nothing to do with uncontrollable muscle spasms as a result of working them too hard, though that may happen. Four fast, four slow. Repeat til you die.)
Y-Presses (Think doing the "YMCA" song with weights in your hands. And just do the "Y" part.)
Lying tricep extensions (Not lying like big fish stories. Not lying like taking a nap either, though it may be tempting. Don't drop the weight and crush your face.)
Now do twelve MORE exercise with long, descriptive names and large amounts of pain and danger involved. Then, just because it's so fun, spend sixteen minutes doing every possible variation of situps, leg raises, and other wonderful trunk exercises.
Feel inspired? I love company!
~Stick to it!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Day Thirty Six
"Also keep in mind that the body only builds muscle while at rest. So try to get at least seven hours of sleep - which should be easy, because this schedule will wipe you out." -P90X Fitness Guide (FG), p.24
If workouts minus sleep equals muscle stagnancy and poor performance, then if no sleep, then what? Should I not workout because without sleep it won't do much good anyway? Apparently that's my current philosophy because this weekend was a good one for activities, not so much a good one for sleeping. Anybody who thinks that it's easy to get seven plus hours of sleep for ninety nights in a row must not mind the life of a hermit for three months. Skipping socializing is not our style, however, so sleep suffered. The domino effect carried through to exercising. Although there were a few places where I had a time slot open, I was too worn out to work out.
My uncle asked, "What happens after the ninety days are up?" Some of the diet concepts we hope to retain. Low fat, low sugar, high protein, high veggie. But just not so consumed with how many servings of whatever we're getting. I plan to continue working out regularly. I've enjoyed semi-regular exercise most of my adult life. I miss the challenge when it's absent. But seven days a week, an hour and a half a day is not reasonable with our lifestyle. I'd like to aim for six days a week, between thirty and sixty minutes a day. And if I miss a day, I miss a day.
"To maintain...you can do just the first round of the resistance programs, since you get eighty percent of the benefit...during the first set...This can cut the time...to under thirty minutes..." - FG, p. 34
~Stick to it!
If workouts minus sleep equals muscle stagnancy and poor performance, then if no sleep, then what? Should I not workout because without sleep it won't do much good anyway? Apparently that's my current philosophy because this weekend was a good one for activities, not so much a good one for sleeping. Anybody who thinks that it's easy to get seven plus hours of sleep for ninety nights in a row must not mind the life of a hermit for three months. Skipping socializing is not our style, however, so sleep suffered. The domino effect carried through to exercising. Although there were a few places where I had a time slot open, I was too worn out to work out.
My uncle asked, "What happens after the ninety days are up?" Some of the diet concepts we hope to retain. Low fat, low sugar, high protein, high veggie. But just not so consumed with how many servings of whatever we're getting. I plan to continue working out regularly. I've enjoyed semi-regular exercise most of my adult life. I miss the challenge when it's absent. But seven days a week, an hour and a half a day is not reasonable with our lifestyle. I'd like to aim for six days a week, between thirty and sixty minutes a day. And if I miss a day, I miss a day.
"To maintain...you can do just the first round of the resistance programs, since you get eighty percent of the benefit...during the first set...This can cut the time...to under thirty minutes..." - FG, p. 34
~Stick to it!
Day Thirty Five
(Silence, broken only by awkward throat-clearing and uncomfortable coughing; eyes staring at the ceiling, the floor, anywhere but at the truth.)
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