Photo Dump - Keepin' the Faith

As I continue on with the p90x program, there's a good chance that my entries may become more sporadic. I apologize, but when one has achieved a fantastic harmonic balance, perfect inner peace tends to muzzle the cries of the Id. The longer I continue on and the more relaxed I can make my diet, the less likely I am to post. This isn't nearly as challenging as it was when I first started and my mental focus has shifted to maintaining my current form while making small, gradual improvements and trying my best to get 5-6 days of exercise in per week. No more worrying about extreme dieting techniques, insane quantities of protein, or anything else that makes these posts fun to read.

I've been hanging around 150-153lbs for the last week, which is about what I would expect a "muscular me" to weigh. Also, my body fat percentage has dropped to 15% (smack dab in the middle of the "normal" range) from the lower 20%'s . If I could get that number closer to 10 over the next two months I'll probably be close to my peak athletic form. I'm already in better overall shape than I ever was in high school, so everything from here on out is just an extra side of gravy.

I haven't had any trouble keeping up with my routines this week and the new DVD's for Phase 2 of the program are a welcome change. As part of this new phase, I'm allowed to increase carb consumption (though I haven't been tracking every calorie, I'm not eating shit carbs and am sticking to whole grains, etc) and I get new Chest/Shoulder/Triceps and Back/Biceps workouts.

The core synergistics disc that I did during the last transition week was a really great workout and it felt, more than any of this other stuff, like a smarter and more effective way of strengthening my abs and lower back. It involves exercises that use your entire core (abs/back/obliques) instead of focusing on a very specific muscle group. For some reason, this routine is restricted to transition weeks, and the next one of those won't be for three weeks. I may add the core synergistics in here and there as a replacement to the Kenpo kickboxing cardio routine or a break/stretch day.

OK, on to the photo dump. Here's what's been going on the last couple weeks.

Proof that I have, indeed, been sweating.













I bought a Dell Mini 10v Netbook to play with after I got my tax return this year. I was working on this during my no-activity post-Vegas week. Getting the Mac logo to show up was easy. Since Apple uses Intel processors now, dual booting a PC and Mac operating system is finally possible...as long as your hardware has the appropriate drivers in OSX (which the 10v does)














The real challenge was getting them both working together.














Upgrading the RAM from 1gb to 2gb required the complete disassembly of the netbook.














...beautiful.














Kid-A, completely incompatible with Apple products.














Delicious chicken on the Foreman Grill.














Foliage.














Chicken, greens, and Budweiser Select 55














Kid-A's scowl says it all, "It won't get you drunk, but you'll feel like you're drinking." At $6.99 per twelver, I'd drink Tequiza if it had 55 calories...and didn't totally suck.


















Hand-crafted, disturbing signed Gene Ween solo show poster by Jermaine Rogers from the concert I attended. I think I'll add some thick colored paper to the border...I should really start framing all of my Phish posters sometime too.



















If you haven't checked out your local grocer's Yogurt selections lately, go. Now. This shit will blow your mind.













My ability not just to eat this meal, but to enjoy it, is why I'll never go hungry. I love how the tuna slurry melts into the bread.



















The progress pictures. Picture furthest to the left is day 0, the furthest to the right is after 2 months.




















































4, 6, & 8 weeks in.

Back in the Saddle Again

Never fear, folks, I'm not done yet.

My trip to Las Vegas, my perpetual cold, my wacky sleeping pattern, and my general boredom with my exercise all conspired together into one week of inactivity. I was on the border line between quitting and continuing when my sister, La Primera, posted a response* in which she called me "an inspiration to us all". How could an inspiration like me just give up? I give people hope! I am the glorious sunrise following a moonless night. I am Obama pre-election. If not that, then--at the very least--I make people feel shitty about the fact that they're not doing anything to get their fat bodies in shape.












When it all comes down to it, that last point is what really keeps me going.

Not to mention the fact that I actually lost weight during my week off, I briefly tapped the 152 lbs line last week for a day or two, which put my overall weight loss at 10 lbs. Top that!

I finally mustered up enough motivation to work in two routines over the last few days. My plan is to proceed with my "transition week" as if I didn't skip any time at all...at least that's what I'm planning now. I'm mildly concerned that I'm going to lose all of my muscle strength since the transition week doesn't feature much weight training.

At this point, I'm trying to ignore worrying about progress or the minutia and I'm just trying to stay focused on continuing.

I've discovered that one of the things that keeps me consistent with sticking to these routines (or any diet/exercise I'm doing) is that I'm able to make a hobby out of it. When I came back from Vegas, it reawakened my interest in Poker and I've been playing a lot on line since I've been back.

It gets hard to work exercise into my schedule in the midst of 3-4 hour tournaments while dealing with the frustration of losing. My mindless tendency to enjoy a glass of scotch while I'm playing doesn't make things any easier. I have to make an effort to actually plan what I'm going to do each day. Last week I was perfectly satisfied to get off of work and start grinding the poker tables instead of thinking about what I was going to eat or cook or thinking about what workout routine I had scheduled that night (as I had been doing).

Latest Sharkscope Graph (note recent upswing)

















I think I have a tendency to focus intensely on only one activity/hobby at a time and to generally ignore or disregard just about anything else that I might consider an annoyance or distraction...dishes start going unwashed, general shit starts piling up around my apartment. I guess the solution to that would be to make "general self improvement" as my constant, unchanging hobby--but I'm not that good at using something like that to trick myself into vacuuming. I am pretty good at justifying my behavior, though, no matter I do.

I need to remind myself of some other benefits of working out at home and eating healthy. It requires me to do a few other things...like the ricochet of a magic bullet.

• If I need to make my own food, I need clean dishes/utensils available at all times. (dishes get done)
• If i need space to work out on the floor and I have dirty clothes and empty water bottles all over the place, I need to get that shit picked up. (General clean up)
• If I need clean underwear that doesn't smell like crotch sweat, I need to keep a good rotation of clean clothes. (I buy new underwear/do laundry regularly.)
  

Anyway, I'm trying to get back into it here. I've just got to get organizized.















*EDIT: Apparently, La Primera reserves such lofty praise for her younger brother only in private emails. I was confused...anyway, privacy be damned.

just to let you know, I posted some info on your new blog in response to your last entry, though it's actually in response to some things you wrote in your entries from a long time ago..

reading it makes me feel like a lazy butt.

: )

I feel compelled to write: "you are an inspiration to us all!"

sorry. couldn't help myself.

Another Weekend Down...

Due to a number of factors, I think I'll jam together my last Kenpo, Stretch, and Ap Ripper routines together after work tonight to finish up what I'm counting as my third week of p90x (technically my 5th week). I'll be starting on the final 7 day transition out of phase one and in to phase two tomorrow.

The transition will introduce a new "Core Synergistic" routine, which I assume works the abs and back, and a more thorough upper body workout...combined with regular stretching or yoga every other day.

They call it a "recovery week". They also mention that if you have shitty conditioning, it's not likely to feel like a recovery week at all. Between hockey and a couple extra phase one weeks, I'm expecting to be well prepared.

Since the yoga portion seems to be a big chunk of this transition, I'm going to try the Yoga-X disc again. Earlier I was turned off by the difficulty of the moves, the repetitiveness, and my terrible flexibility...so I guess we'll see if any of my training has gone in to making this any more tolerable.

I have yoga blocks now too, which should help.

The past week I started to get bored and annoyed with the program for the first time since I've started. I even missed my first day--stuffy sinuses weren't really much of an excuse--but I slept for 14 hours in the middle of the work-week all the same.

Hopefully, the transition, new routines, and change of pace will lift my spirits back up and get me motivated for the next two months...I just have to figure out how I'm going to make it through the upcoming vacation in Vegas...













Golden Nugget Pool w/Fish Tank Waterslide

Hang in There, Baby

Well, I finally got over a big hump last week and am finally feeling like I'm in half decent shape. I have extra energy after hockey and my workouts...which is one of the reasons I'm going to change my schedule up a bit.

I felt comfortable taking Saturday and Sunday off this past weekend to visit Master P and his Special Lady Friend downtown. We went out Saturday and P had people over at his place for Superbowl Sunday, so I wasn't being very cautious about what I ate and drank. I just tried to keep portions smaller and avoided stuffing myself. Beer, guacamole, those Mexican things in corn husks...it was all quite delicious.

As an added bonus, the relaxed weekend resulted in my first scale reading that was closer to 154 than 156. It may have even helped my weight loss.

Maybe throwing up in the middle of the night after drinking (again)helped.









Originally, I had planned to move on to Phase 2 of P90X after my 5th week (they suggest moving on after four weeks). The 5th week just ended with yesterday's Kenpo-X workout...but I'm having second thoughts. I'm finally making noticeable progress and I no longer feel like a wrecked vessel every time I finish a workout.

When I do pull ups now, I can launch myself up with a quick burst of strength and keep going for 7-10+ controlled reps. When I first started, I was barely able to muscle myself up for 2 or 3. My form was disgusting. At times I could barely muster one single pull-up during the final stretch of some workouts. It was a humbling experience.

My form is improving a lot as I get stronger and I'd like to give Phase One another week. Six total. I just want the satisfaction of having one week where I feel like I pwn every workout, every day. Also, this is the weight loss phase, so it'll be one more week on a carb-restrictive diet. I am down to about 155-156 now, but I'd rather shed another pound or two before moving on.

If this trend holds, it may take over four months to complete the 90 day program. Maybe I'll double up workouts a day or two this week to speed things along.

After Kenpo, I went out to my local grocer and bought about 8 pounds of meat (obviously other stuff too) to get me through another high-protein week...no bread and pasta yet.














I've added a few new dietary supplements as well. I've been taking fish oil, Acai Pills, and a new flavor of Syntha-6. What can it hurt?














Grilled Turkey Sausage and Broccoli. The Hillshire Farms turkey sausage has easily won out as the Best Tasting Turkey Product I've tried. This is probably due to it having a slightly higher fat%.














I think I fucked up the steak portions by cooking them with green peppers at the same time on the foreman grill. From what I can gather, the steam coming off of the cooking peppers ended up steaming the meat. It ended up looking like boiled brains on the outside. Maybe that's just how round steak rolls? It was still edible--and more rare than it appears in the picture--but it was a little annoying...I guess when you try doing all this shit on a foreman, these things are bound to happen.

Kid-A didn't seem to mind eating the fatty pieces.

What's a Day Like?

I've started using the website Fitday.com regularly. They have a bunch of free tools that help simplify counting calories and chart your diet's progress. I only use it as a food log and weight tracker, but I could measure and chart things like waste size, body fat %, and exercise expenditure if I wanted to.

Weight Goal vs Actual Graph (note the safety warning)









Another nice thing about Fitday.com is that you can build your own personalized foods. It will save the information so you can easily and accurately add items to your food log with a few quick clicks. They also have a large database with the nutritional information for thousands of standard foods. It may not be perfect, but it's about as close as you can get without getting weirdly obsessive about counting your calories.

I'd also like to point out that, despite not eating a lot of calories every day, after the hockey game last night I had extra energy and felt like I could have gone another period.

We were losing in the third by a few goals to a chippy bunch of assholes. One of our defensemen was kicked out for dropping his gloves after taking a stick to the neck from a forward trying to break into our zone. He didn't do any damage, but he made the point. The refs weren't controlling things very well and he wasn't happy about it.

A few minutes later, I placed my first adult league hockey check that I really bent at the knees and followed through with. Their best player was looking for a breakout pass coming out of their zone. I was on D, so I held the blue line and played the body--catching him off guard with a nice, clean, mid-ice hit. I didn't get a penalty, which infuriated the poor kid. He hung back behind the play so he could shout expletives at the ref and demand satisfaction like a child throwing a tantrum.

He got a 10 minute misconduct and sat for the rest of the game. We still lost, but I'll take my minor victories where I can.

Food Log for Feb 4

Week 4 - Day 28 Photo Progress

I been kickin' it wit some a dat rap shit lately. Most recently I've been checking out The Wu Tang Clan. I never heard any of their shit back in high school and I'm glad I get the chance to hear it with wizened ears. Check out the sweet ryhmes, minimalist production, and head bobbin' beats. Dope shit for what sounds like a 4 track mix. Ryhmed by The GZA, produced by The RZA, Liquid Swords....enjoy!

Now, on to the pictures. I weighed in at fucking 159 again this morning. (157 after hockey, we're going with that figure).

Front Flexing

















Side Flexing


















New Muscles


















No Flex Front




















No Flex Side

p90X...One Day - Ah ah ah! Two Days - Ah ah ah! 90 Days? - ha Ha HA!

Actually, for me it will probably take more than 100 days to complete the program due to lost hockey days and for discounting my pathetic first week. That means that each 7 day p90X week will take me about 8.5 days in real life.

Regardless, it has now been a month (four weeks, 28 days) since I first started moving my fat ass around more frequently and stopped eating delicious shit like Portillo's and tons of beer. In p90X time, I won't be completed with the third week of the program until this upcoming Sunday or Monday. Once that happens, my routine will undergo its first radical shift. Below is the first schedule that I've been following.


















p90X Classic - Phase One - Weeks 1-3
Day 1 - Chest & Back / Ab Ripper X
Day 2 - Plyometrics
Day 3 - Shoulder & Arms / Ab Ripper X
Day 4 - Yoga X Hot Chick Yoga DVD (Crunch Yoga/Pilates)
Day 5 -Legs & Back / Ab Ripper X
Day 6 -Kenpo X
Day 7 - Rest or X-Stretch

For the final week before transitioning to Phase Two, they have a recovery/core-strengthening week which doesn't appear to have any significant weight training routines. Maybe this will help me shed some of my extra fatty fatty fat weight and will help keep my muscles from growing at such alarming, hulk-like rates.

p90X Classic - Phase One - Week 4 - Recovery (Vacation)
Day 1 - Yoga X Hot Chick Yoga DVD (Crunch Yoga/Pilates)
Day 2 - Core Synergistics (hoping this will help with lower back weakness)
Day 3 - Kenpo-X (low impact cardio)
Day 4 - X Stretch (pussy recovery time)
Day 5 - Core Synergistics
Day 6 - Yoga X Hot Chick Yoga DVD (more pussy recovery time)
Day 7 - Rest or X Stretch (even more pussy recovery time)












This damn program is so long, they waste a week of vacation just letting your body recover and getting it ready for some new stuff. Once Week Four is over, I get two new upper-body strength training routines to mix in. Unfortunately, it looks like they still want me to struggle with Ab Ripper X three times a week. My lower back is still keeping me from putting as much effort into the ab workout as I'd like.

Phase Two is also the beginning of a new diet plan that includes more carbs. The new plan will have a 40-40-20 Protein-Carbs-Fat ratio, as opposed to the carb restrictive 50-30-20 plan I've been working towards in Phase One. Exciting stuff coming up here!

p90X Classic - Phase Two - Weeks 5-7
Day 1 - Chest, Shoulders, & Triceps / Ab Ripper X
Day 2 - Plyometrics
Day 3 - Back & Biceps / Ab Ripper X
Day 4 - Yoga X Hot Chick Yoga DVD
Day 5 - Legs & Back / Ab Ripper X
Day 6 - Kenpo-X
Day 7 - Rest or X Stretch

Some Good News and Some Bad News

Well, the good news is that I'm getting stronger. I managed about 7 declined push ups in the middle of yesterday's Chest & Back routine (I can remember struggling with 3 at the beginning). Even the pull ups and "diamond push ups" from yesterday are getting more tolerable. I haven't had to duck out early from any routines for quite a while now (with the exception of excluding parts of Ab Ripper-X), so I think I'm getting over the initial difficulty of getting my body used to working out...although my left elbow has been cracking and feels kind of iffy during the overhand pull ups.

The bad news is that I'm back at 159 lbs. I'm really not sure how this is possible unless I have an extremely slow metabolism that is refusing to kick it in to high gear. I don't think this weight stagnation can be directly attributed to muscle gain at this point. Here's a goal chart of hitting 145lbs by my upcoming Vegas trip 2/19...it's not looking very probable any more. (I went back and retroactively added past weight milestones based on entries)





Most advice is for males to operate on no less than 1,800 calories per day for a sedentary lifestyle. I've been doing 1200-1400 calories a day comfortably, though, and I don't go for periods of feeling hungry or starving--which is what they warn against. I followed the advice that by pacing my meals out roughly 3-4 hours apart throughout the day I'd increase my metabolism and burn calories with greater ease. That doesn't seem to be happening, though.

There is the potential that I'm not eating enough to force my metabolism to increase, but my fear of gaining even more weight is too great to attempt an experiment now. Additionally, my energy level has been fine throughout the workouts and my general energy level has been high, which should mean that my body has been receiving enough fuel/food.

I have been eating soon before I go to sleep, though, so I'm going to make a concerted effort to avoid eating within 3 hours of bed to see if that makes a difference. My favorite snacks of the day are always my last.

Sigh...

This was the first time I ate asparagus on this diet. It's hard to describe just how amazing this burger, cheese, mustard, asparagus, and soy sauce combo tasted.














Chicken breasts, light swiss, grilled peppers.














My new dumbbells (awesome upgrade), push up bars, and purple yoga blocks that help me perform difficult stretches that require touching the floor in strange positions.













Marvel at the beauty and simplicity of the modern pull up bar. No need for drilling, it's all about gravity and weight distribution.

Simple Maths

I've been avoiding buying a set up dumbbells because they're so damn expensive. All types of lifting weights are priced, roughly, at $1 per pound. That is fucking insane and stupid. I assume that it has a lot to do with transportation expense.

What I have been intending to buy are the following dumbbell weights:















10 lbs x 2
20 lbs x 2
30 lbs x 2

It's a pain in the ass to change the weight on adjustable dumbbells in the middle of a routine. Additionally, the cement weights that I have at home are so large that they inhibit my range of motion and prevent me working on improving my form on several exercises. Also, I'm short a couple 10 lbs plates from what I would need to increase weight on the shitty dumbbells I'm using now.

If I bought six solid, one piece, hex barbells in the weights above from Walmart, it would cost $110. That's a lot of money for a cheap bastard like me and I don't want to have to worry about selling those or moving to a new location with that weight.

So I did a little research...

• Walmart accepts returns within 90 days of a purchase for anything other than entertainment media and some tech products.
• The P90X program lasts 90 days

...not only that, but according to their website, you don't even need a receipt to return something for store credit! God I love Walmart...the only downside I see here is that I'll have to keep the UPC stuck on.