Days 51 & 52: After the Bad shall come the Good

Well, Day 51 was a bust. I was supposed to do Chest, Back, & Balance. I’ve found that due to shoulder pain this is the hardest workout to complete. This week I was determined to just focus on holding plank during push up sequences. Balancing plank on various balls should be a significant challenge in itself. Instead the kiddos didn’t sleep the night before. With broken up sleep that wasn’t very good I decided the extra 1 ½ before the 6am alarm was more beneficial than working out. Then, as the night continued to not go as I would hope, I decided I just needed to use a sick day to stay with the kiddos. Two teething kiddos and a hubby who got less sleep than me isn’t the ideal household. So, I stayed with them. Kiddos were cranky on and off. When it came to bedtime they both went to bed surprisingly well. I thought about working out then, but there was a raging storm outside and I wasn’t confident that they would both remain asleep. So, I crawled into bed expecting that they would wake me.

Minus one feeding, I wasn’t awoken until the alarm at 4:30. Thus begins Day 52. Plyocide: the shortest 54 minutes ever. Love this routine. Another day of pre-workout drink, post-workout drink, and Shakeology… leads to a pretty awake and productive day. And I’ve discovered that the Tropical Shakeology is pretty awesome with a whole banana and ½ cup blueberries. Yummy and filling.

Days 48-50: Rearranging Rest Days

It’s looking like my two rest days per week are going to evolve into my weekends. They’re not supposed to be back to back. But these last two weekends my workouts just haven’t happened. Weekends have been full and fun and an amazing family time. These are the reasons I’m working out to begin with; so I’ll feel good about myself and be able to enjoy time with my family. Perhaps it is fitting that I enjoy weekends and workout Mon-Fri. That being said, I could use some more foam rolling time somewhere.

Anyhow, last week I did my five P90X2 workouts Mon-Fri and it appears that I will be doing the same thing this week. Today I did Base & Back with Ab Ripper X2.

Base & Back is a great one to push limits on. And my numbers were several reps higher than last time. Love seeing the improvements in numbers.

Ab Ripper is slowly becoming more doable for me. I again used the kids’ play mat and liked that better this time. Over the weekend I noticed that my stomach is starting to get some definition when I flex it; that’s going to work as good motivation to improve my eating. I like where things are heading, but won’t see the full effect unless I’m getting the right nutrition to fuel my body.

Speaking of fuel for the body: This morning was one of those funny mornings where I woke up super tired and downed my Pre-workout E&E drink. Exhausted afterward, I chugged a post-workout R&R drink. Got ready for work and had my Tropical Shakeology with a banana for breakfast as I left the house. Probably plenty of supplements for the first two hours of my day but the awesome thing is that at no point today did I feel any need for coffee. I’d rather be feeding my body nutrients than caffeine any day.

Days 46-47: Shoulders & Arms, Yoga X

Two good days.

Once again I found myself with a lot to do in the morning so, despite the shortness of Shoulders & Arms, I didn’t have time for Ab Ripper. Then the night involved lots of crying/screaming from the children and it didn’t happen at night. But, the Shoulders & Arms workout felt great and saw many improvements. One thing I find odd with this workout is that it seems like the people in the video don’t really use very heavy weights for what I assume they could do. The lady in particular uses the same weight or less than me… and my arms sure don’t look like hers. But, I suppose if I were on camera I wouldn’t necessarily push myself as hard with weight and may focus more on form.

I finally did Yoga! This is one disk I need to improve at doing. Since I went to bed at the same time as the kiddos last night 4:30 didn’t feel terribly early and I got up for yoga. During the first forward bend I realized how much my body needs this! So stiff. By the end my body was all bendy and happy. Should be good motivation to push play again next Friday for Yoga.

I was also happy this morning that our Shakeology Tropical showed up. It was great to have a filling and healthy breakfast; not to mention how quick it is to made. Tasty flavor, though I didn’t get the consistency I wanted. I found it a little grainier than the Chocolate or Greenberry. Apparently it is less grainy than other vegan options; the paperwork says so. Chalk that up as a reason I’m not a vegan. I added frozen blueberries this morning but skipped ice and the shake was less thick that I would have liked. I think more ice and possibly banana would change the texture for me. I like the flavor a lot, so I’ll keep experimenting.

Chocolate will probably remain my favorite, with many options for additives. Love it with peanut butter or cold coffee or berries or bananas or… well, you get the idea. What doesn’t go with chocolate?

Day 45: Halfway!!

Huh, that halfway thing kind of snuck up on me! Good motivation to keep moving forward.

Due in part to the lazy weekend I decided to do V-Sculpt and Ab Ripper today instead of Recovery & Mobility. I liked it. V-Sculpt was not a favorite when I did the One on One series but today’s workout had some pretty interesting moves. I especially liked the various bicep curls while in plank on a medicine ball. It was nice to have some plank moves that didn’t involve push-ups and, therefore, didn’t hurt my shoulder.

Ab Ripper X2 is still kicking my butt every time I do it. Some moves are getting easier. And some are dependent on if I roll funny on my lower back. I once tried doing it on the kids’ gymnastic mat. At the time I thought that was too cushy but I’m starting to think that I need to try using that again. I’ve decided that one thing I really prefer about the original Ab Ripper is that it ends with a powerful push-out-50-reps move. This one ends with a slow move and, in general, focuses more on slow controlled moves. Maybe I don’t like that because it’s harder…

Days 40 – 44: Getting back on track after a disappointing weekend

I don’t know what my deal was this weekend but I could not find motivation. There were moments that I wanted nothing more to workout, but those seemed to be at times when I couldn’t feasibly do so. Times when I could’ve been working out it was the last thing I wanted to do. Ideally my husband and I would have encouraged each other to make wise choices and workout, eat well, etc. Instead it seemed that we did the opposite. The problem with peer support is that it can morph into peer pressure.

Regardless, I got back on track on Monday. I did the Base & Back/ARX2 routine, since I had missed that and it is one that I love. Had the E&E pre-workout drink and the R&R post-workout drink. I think both really helped. I was able to really push myself and didn’t feel the soreness I was expecting this morning. That being said, there’s a reason that Base & Back isn’t the day before Plyocide. I neglected the R&R drink today and I may regret that later. I did feel like I was able to do more today than I have in the past, so that was nice.

My core is definitely feeling the Ab Ripper. Hopefully between that and the various cardio/plyo routines I’ll get some killer results.

Tomorrow I think I’ll try the V-Sculpt bonus disc. I’ve done it before and found it to be quite the workout. Seems like it will be a good one for building some additional muscle in my shoulder without the pain I experience doing push-ups.

Day 39: Shoulders & Arms/ARX2

I love that this routine is short and doesn’t result in a ton of sweat. Not to imply that it’s easy. My arms will be feeling this for the rest of the day. And I continue to enjoy that this routine causes zero shoulder pain while presumably building the muscles that I need to strengthen in that region.

It was another lovely morning where I had time to do Ab Ripper after the main workout. My abs are still sore from Tuesday so tomorrow should be really interesting. It’s funny that I don’t feel like I’ve been able to push as hard as I would like this week, yet my body is feeling the workouts more in next-day I worked out soreness. This could be due to not having the Recovery Drink currently. Or perhaps my body is still getting over the cold. Or a combo of both.

One thing that hasn’t been doing great is eating right. At the start of my cold I didn’t think anything tasted good so I was eating less. That was good. Now my mouth constantly tastes like phlegm unless I’ve got some other flavor going into it… so I find myself snacking a lot to keep the ick mouth at bay. At work I drink a ton of hot tea, so that helps some too. I just need to not give into the desire to have popcorn, chips, etc. On a plus side, since I’ve been munching too much most of those bad for me snacks are gone or in short supply.

A cool thing for our eating habits is that we got those cookbooks from the library where you put purees in things to sneak in veggies. So, we’ve been eating more veggies in that manner and our son seems to like the foods that has resulted in. Plus, it’s always fun to try new recipes.

Day 38: Plyocide

Plyocide = Physical exertion

Physical exertion = Coughing

Plyocide = Coughing

And therein was the problem with today. There were times when I felt like I could’ve pushed it harder, but there were times when I had to back off due to a coughing fit. And by the end I chose to back off prior to the coughing attack. I was pretty afraid of waking up the kiddos with my coughing and it would not have helped me complete the workout if I was trying to get a little one back to sleep. But, the thing about working out is that you “do what you can and forget the rest.” At least I’m back in the habit of waking up at 4:30 and pushing play.

Day 37: Chest, Back, & Balance/ARX2

I was curious if I would see improvements today and the answer was mostly “no.” That’s what I get for taking a week off. It was nice to have my shoulder feel good, until the second push-up I did on a medicine ball… then the old pain came back a little… I’m really going to have to figure out an alternative. I need to see if it will let me do push-ups without medicine balls, so I can work on arm strength (or “chest” as the title implies). On the other hand, the use of balls (both medicine and stability) really challenges my core. Today I focused on getting into the positions (balancing on whatever combo of balls a move called for) and holding plank. This may be my preferred alternative for awhile. It challenges my core without the shoulder pain. Arms/back can still get a good workout with other moves (pull ups/chin ups, weights on other days). Other than weight loss, my focus is core and arm strength. I appreciate that the days with more cardio (like plyo) also work my legs… I’ll need that too when I transition to running at the end of P90X2.

Today I was able to do Ab Ripper immediately after the other workout. That was so nice. It pushed time a little bit, but my body was already sweaty and in the workout flow, so it was nice to just keep going. Some ab moves are getting easier, some still elude me. I call physically do all the motions (or at least the modifications), but not always for the recommended reps. Can’t wait to see progress on this workout! It’ll help that it’s on the schedule three days per week and I have to make time for it now.

My head was a lot stuffy this morning and I slept horribly last night. The easiest thing to do would have been to reset the alarm. But I did easy last week and I’m not doing P90X2 because I want easy.

Days 31-36: Recovery Week

My recovery week was NOT what the creators of P90X2 had in mind. Nor was it what I had in mind. A head cold had me down for the count and today is the first time being active and eating correctly has even crossed my mind. The rest of the week I was just focused on sleep, water, juices, foods that would scratch my sore throat (mmm salty) and more rest. I really had intentions to do yoga, but being upside down was clearly going to make things worse. I didn’t even get the Recovery & Mobility workout done in full. Did some nice stretching and foam rolling was a welcome relief.

Today was to begin a new week, but after waking up at 3:30 with a coughing fit I didn’t want to be up in another hour. I’ll do some more foam rolling tonight, then get to bed nice and early so I can do Chest, Back, & Balance at 4:30 tomorrow. I’ve got to get back into the routine, and it just might help that cause that I won’t be able to take off Wednesday since I slept in today.

I’m curious if I’ll see any improvements this week. I would guess that I won’t. but, I will be going in well rested and with a happy shoulder, elbow, and wrist. If nothing else, my left arm is thanking me!

Now to stop coughing…

Day 30 Pictures

Day 30 was not what I had hoped for. I spent the day home from work with a terrible headcold. Slept most of the day. Didn't even foam roll.
But, I did take 30 day pictures. And weighed myself. I'm down about 10lbs. The more exciting part is I feel like I can do things I couldn't 30 days ago.

Day 1

Day 30

Day 1

Day 30

Days 26-29: Yoga/whoops, Base & Back, Rest Day, Recovery & Mobility

As I type the title it seems like I haven’t done much these past four days. That makes me really sad with 30 day pictures happening tomorrow.

I had intended to do Yoga. Even planning on doing it prior to my husband coming home. But, for the third time this week, it was one of those nights that when the kiddos went to bed they continued to need me and I ended up cuddling with the girl for sleep. I vaguely remember when my husband came home, but that certainly didn’t equate to my getting up and doing yoga. In four weeks I’ve done yoga twice. That’s not a good record and I’m pretty unhappy about it. I may have to suck it up and get up early on Fridays.

Base & Back was a great workout. I was hoping it would be, as this was one of my favorites in the One on One series. The mixing of pull up/chin up moves and plyo is a great total body routine. I have a long way to go to be able to do as many plyo reps as I would like. It’s nice to have routines that are fun and have room for progress. Definitely the best day out of these four.

Sunday rest day I did a little foam rolling, but didn’t put in the DVD. Probably didn’t eat as good as I should’ve with the Super Bowl. But, before heading to the party I had a Shakeology and some chicken, so that helped me not eat a ton of bad snack foods.

Monday morning I woke up with a full on head cold that I’d been fighting for a while. By “morning,” I mean 3am. I reset the alarm for 6am but woke up at 5:30. So, no 4:30 Chest Back & Balance. I decided that it would be wise for me to use this week as a Recovery Week; then I can hit the routines full force next week. I’m sure my head, shoulder, elbow, and wrist will thank me. Mostly my head. No time for the full Recovery & Mobility routine today, but I did pop in the DVD and follow along with the foam rolling segment. Made my legs and shoulder pretty happy.

Recovery week consists of alternating Recovery & Mobility and Yoga. So, tomorrow I’ll tackle yoga. As long as my head isn’t too unhappy when I’m upside down it should be a good week. I’m pretty sad that the week of 30 day pictures is the week that I’m taking it easy. But I need to look at the big picture and my body is crying for a little break.

Day 25: X2 Shoulders & Arms/ ARX

I was so excited that Shoulders & Arms was just over 50 mins. It’ll totally be doable to tag Ab Ripper on to that in the morning. Unfortunately, not today due to a hectic morning… but in general. This week has been really weird at night; two of the three nights have seen the kiddos up late and consequently I’ve just gone to bed with them. Here’s hoping tonight can be back to our normal schedule with me getting stuff done (including Ab Ripper) after they go to bed.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with Shoulders & Arms. With the shoulder pain I’ve been having I wasn’t sure if I was even going to be able to do it. Turns out I didn’t have to worry. The foam rolling in the beginning was great for my shoulder and the moves never hurt it! The workout was a set of moves repeated three times. I like that set up because I know exactly what’s coming next and if Tony gets long winded I can just move to the next thing.

So far Phase 2 seems heavy on the arm work and I kind of missed that after the One on Ones. Today most exercises were done on one leg or the stability ball so the balance factor really helped to work the whole body.

The low point of today was when one of my weights ‘rained’ in my eye. Our 10lb weights are the old concrete in a plastic shell type and one has a crack in it. I had to pause the DVD and rinse my eye. But, that did motivate me to duct tape the crack. Guess the weight won’t be getting any lighter anymore. Maybe it’s time for more modern weights.

 

Ooh...and I got Ab Ripper done when the kiddos went to bed. Man, that's hard!

Day 24: Recovery & Mobility

Ah…. My body is feeling great after the stretching and foam rolling. I was tempted to sleep in, but my whole body was crying for the foam roller. My left shoulder is especially sore due to past injury; it still hurts but the foam roller really worked out some of the muscle aches. The best thing is that my hips feel all stretched out and gumby. I think I’m ready for whatever workout Tony throws at us next.