Another Weekend Down

Day 12 and I'm still going strong. Hockey has gotten in the way of the P90X scheduled routines...or maybe the routines are getting in the way of hockey. Regardless, P90X allows one day of rest/stretching each week, but it always comes at the same time at the end of each week. In order to maintain 6 days of exercise a week, I've started taking my "rest days" the day before my games to avoid next-day soreness. Then I count hockey as an exercise separate from the program and continue with the normal p90x schedule the following day.

I finished the first abbreviated week of the program (only going through 50-75% of each routine), so now I'm trying to complete the full hour of each routine this week. I made it all the way through the shoulder & back disc, which was a fucking trial, but I was unable to complete the plyometrics disc the next day. Aside from being an exhausting routine, I think I'm probably irritating my neighbors with all of the jumping and shit involved with that disc. Even though I'm on the ground floor, I have hardwood floors which, I'm sure, are making noise and mild quaking in the three apartments surrounding me.
















My landings are not quite as "cat-like" as Tony Horton has been asking for. Not yet, anyway. I'm thinking about buying a thick gym mat from the Sports Authority to help dissipate the sound/shock waves, but I'll worry about that next week. I also think that I need some 20 and 30 lb dumbbells for the shoulder and arm routines, but I'm hoping I can find something to fit he bill on craigslist or from Play It Again Sports.

















Since I have a hockey game tonight, I took a rest day yesterday. Instead of just resting, though, I decided to download some introductory Yoga DVD's that I might be able to use on my downtime or on off days. I'm hoping that it will help build my balance for the rather intense (impossible) Yoga-X that is offered as a part of the P90X routine. Also, my lower back has been stiffening up from all of this shit I've been subjecting myself to and I was hoping some Yoga stretches might help. I ended up finding a nice little 45 minute routine that was tough enough to break a sweat, but wasn't beyond my rudimentary yoga strength and flexibility. The downside is that it's clearly intended for young women and focuses a lot on shaping and toning the ass. The upside is that it has lots of attractive young women demonstrating. Below is a screenshot.











I was telling my older brother Mezzo about the delicious Syntha-6 shakes that I started taking. He was interested in starting to incorporate a shake into his daily routine after hearing about how tasty I thought they were, so he checked with a weight-lifting nutrition freak he knew from BJJ. I listened in on the chat. His friend's comments resembled the mad ravings of a paranoid schizophrenic, as one might expect from someone who has spent many hours debating carb-protein ratios with muscle-bound freaks whose rational minds have been clouded from ingesting large quantities of experimental nutritional supplements for their entire adult lives.

He basically advised him against drinking soymilk, or ingesting any type of soy product in any form. He recommended a protein shake that tastes like shit (by his own admission). He advised never ingesting dairy of any kind. He suggested that foods advertising that they have healthy benefits were often the worst possible things for you. He actually said, "Don't get me started on corn."

My argument in favor of Syntha-6 can easily be summed up by this advertisement that I came across in a pirated version of Maxim Magazine that I found.


















I fucking love technology. I didn't realize people put PDF's of magazines up for downoad online. My iPod didn't have that functionality built in, but I was able to find a cracked app that took care of it, so now I can carry periodicals along with me in my pocket!

Spicy Hobo Tilapia w/Swiss













Coffee and Clif Builder Bar


















Lean ground beef w/swiss, steamed broccoli.













Breaded garlic-parmesan Chicken breast, swiss, steamed broccoli and carrots.

I Drink Your Milkshake

If you haven't seen the movie "There Will be Blood" you should.

















I am beat two days after doing "Kenpo-X", a part of the p90x series. Basically, you spend an hour kicking and punching the air while trying to look like Bruce Lee. I almost completed the entire workout for the first time (it's more of a cardio program) but, sadly, just pawing at the air still makes my poor body ache.

I played the first hockey game of the season yesterday which tired the hell out of me even more than the Kenpo. I feel much better on the ice compared to last season, though, and my slap shot and passes are already a little more crisp. I didn't even get nauseous for the first time on the ice since I've started playing again. It's just hard to say whether it's from not smoking, not drinking, or recent exercise. Regardless, yay!

After the game, it felt like every muscle in my back was sore. My love handles jiggled with pain. I had just received my shipment of 3 lbs of a powdered protein shake called Syntha-6 and a couple boxes of Clif's Builder Bars (which I intend to use as a breakfast substitute).













I pre-made a shake out of soy milk and powder so I could have it ready to chug when I got home. It was fucking delicious. It tasted like a wonderful, rejuvenating desert. I bought the Chocolate and Peanut Butter flavor which mixed perfectly with the original flavor soy milk. I forgot how much I love soy milk. I would happily drink soy instead of water every day for the rest of my life...if doing that somehow made sense.

I also appreciate the fact that the maker of this powdered supplement, BSN, realizes that it's bad marketing to have a bunch of pictures of guys with freakish, bulging muscles staring back at you when you visit their website. They have chosen a much wiser method. Maybe they learned a thing or two from the ring girls after they started sponsering UFC athletes and fights.








I decided to try out protein supplements for a couple reasons.

First, I've never tried adding anything weird to my diet during exercise other than pure creatine (doing so gave me stretch marks on my shoulder due to rapid growth) and that was back in high school when I would only do bench presses and curls. I'm not really sure how much of a difference a more well-rounded kind of supplement will make, so I might as well give it a shot.

Second, it's an easy way to take in a lot of easily processed protein. It's kind of a pain in the ass to eat 12 oz of meat every day and this should cut some of that out of my diet. Plus, it's supposed to be good for recovery and to help build lean muscle. It's fairly high in calories, though, so I'm taking half of the recommended dosage. I do not want to be fat and muscular, which is what I assume would happen if you drank the hell out of this shit.

It's so damn tasty, it's hard not to want to drink the hell out of it.

1/14 Breakfast

















1/14 Lunch - Shitload of Roast Beef, Two Slices of Swiss Cheese, Three Slices of Tomatoes, Mustard, and a lettuce "bun".

Back To Where I Started

I weighed myself yesterday evening and found that, despite my new diet regimen and workout routine, my weight was the same as when I started. 162 lbs. I was somewhat depressed, especially considering that I had weighed in at 160 a few times already.

The good news is that I can feel myself getting stronger. I've been sore every day since I began, so I know my body is working to build some new muscle. I can hold my back up a little straighter when I walk around and I don't feel like such a miserable, slouching, uncoordinated louse.
















Ever since I injured my shoulder in the last high school hockey game that I played in (in 1999), I hadn't been able to really perform a strenuous upper body workout without worrying about my shoulder becoming dislocated. At least, not until recently. I received shoulder surgery about 2 years ago which fixed the torn muscles and tendons in my shoulder that had been getting damaged worse and worse for about 8 years. However, it wasn't until playing men's league hockey late last year that it finally felt like I had achieved full range of motion again. The lingering internal shoulder pain from the surgery had finally gone away completely as well. There were no longer sharp, shooting pains any time I tried manipulating something heavy.

I assume what's happening is that my body is building dormant, undeveloped muscle beneath my warm layer of fat and, hopefully, is converting some of that fat to muscle. The problem is that muscle weighs more than fat, so it's possible to both build muscle and lose fat while not losing weight.

At least I hope that's what's happening. Otherwise, I'm just stuck maintaining my equilibrium--which would be terrifying--but which would be nearly impossible considering the torture I am subjecting myself to.

I'm also making it through more and more of each hour long routine, so I hope that within the next few days I'll be completing the full workout.













Equilibrium--great for maintaining peace and harmony in oneself and in the universe, shitty for caloric expenditure vs. intake.

Anyway, I'm not overly concerned yet. If this was still happening at week three, I'd be fucking furious. This morning I hopped on the scale and it was back down 160 again. I'll feel real progress once that needle can't make it past the 160 lbs line and people start treating me with respect again. I'll just stop talking and thinking about weight until that happens and will focus more on the shrinking and tightening of my pectorals. Like a muslim rising from prayer, my nipples are slowly rising back up to face the world.