Day 81: Step 1… Get Out of Bed

There are not words for how hard this morning was. I did NOT want to get out of bed. Against all reason I went to bed around 10; the boy woke me up at 11; then the girl had me up from 12-1. A 4:30 alarm clock was not appreciated. After hitting snooze and then actually resetting the alarm I made myself get up.

Pros and cons were running through my head: My body needs sleep. My mind is now awake. It’s too early. It’s this time every day. Bed is comfy. I only have 9 days left (as if my routine will change when I start running in the morning instead of the P90X2). I want the best results possible. I can do it later today. I never successfully work out later in the day. I’ll feel groggy and grumpy all day if I don’t get up. The pre-workout energy drink will get me going. I can have coffee later. And so on.

As you can guess, the pros of getting up won out. By the time I pressed play on the DVD I was reasonably awake and ready to go. It was a good thing that P.A.P. Upper is only 50 minutes; any longer and I would have run out of time before heading out the door. Such a hard 50 minutes! Workouts like this are why I shake my head (internally, of course) when people act like a casual walk or doing a handful of push-ups or sit-ups qualifies as exercise. Don’t get me wrong, I think starting to move is the first step. But you can’t keep doing the same thing every day and expect results. You have to push yourself. If you’re not either sweating or getting your heart rate up you’re not pushing yourself.

P.A.P. definitely pushes me. The first section of Upper has my shoulder shaking each time through. Today’s accomplishment was that I was able to hold plank for the full minute, 1 of 4 times. Little steps: get out of bed, push play, hold plank.

Day 80: Only 10 days left!!

Wow, only 10 days left! Crazy.

Today was yoga. Could tell that I didn’t do it last week. And that my legs were tired from yesterday. In the spirit of recent blogs, I’m going to go with the “random thoughts” format… so here I go:

• The Melissa girl in the DVD was recently named one of the Top Ten Hot Chefs by some magazine or website. Maybe Tony will get her name right now; you know because the DVD changes as time passes.
• Someone suggested that the other girl (whose name totally escapes me currently) might be Tony’s girlfriend. Apparently she has the same name (whatever that is) as the girlfriend he dedicated his book to. If that’s the case I bed this is Tony’s favorite workout cast: girlfriend, chef, and yoga guru. Certainly people he spends a lot of time with, one would think. Now, if he could just remember their names (I say, as I can’t remember the one girl’s name).
• I had no balance today. Not sure if I should blame the week off or the leg workout from yesterday. Either way, I was stumbling and shaking. I actually fell over in triangle pose; that hasn’t happened in ages. No crane today. One near balance in crane and then I was toast.
• I am totally capable of falling asleep in child’s pose.
• I am not capable of falling asleep in frog. I want to be.
• I can almost fall asleep in plough.
• I skipped savasana at the end to avoid actually falling asleep.

Two more P.A.P. days this week: lower and then upper. I’d like to foam roll this weekend and get out for a run. Then just one more Mon-Fri and it’s picture time! I’m a little scared of the “after” pictures. I keep thinking that I should’ve made more of an effort with the food. These past few days have been pretty good and so far I’ve only given in to Easter candy once this season. But last week, with lots of birthday events for my son, was a greasy, sugary mess.

So, while pictures scare me, I’m more excited about the “after” fit test. I bet I can do a lot more reps. I bet I can kill those “before” numbers. Somewhere between my fear of the pictures and my hope for the fit test is my unsureness (is that a word?) about the measurements. Clothes are fitting better but I’m just not sure what the numbers will say…not sure what I expect or hope for.

Conveniently, my biometric screening for health insurance at work is on day 89. It’ll be nice to see how those numbers look now and how they compare to numbers from one and two years ago.

Day 79: On my way to a full week of Phase 3

Two days down, three to go. Thus far it’s been a wonderfully productive week with sufficient sleep. I’m loving it!

When I woke up this morning one of the first things I thought was, “yeah, P.A.P. Upper is what kills my ab section.” But while doing P.A.P. Lower there were definitely some moves that didn’t help that feeling. I think Yoga will be a nice break tomorrow. I’m not motivated enough for organizing my thoughts or drawing conclusions, so…

And now for my random thoughts:

I could hold side plank better today. Almost made it for the full time once. I may want to try using the foam roller for my hand… it would make balance harder, but be a softer surface for my palm.

I really look forward to trying Scorpion. It appeals to me, but after a couple of attempts I won’t be trying again until I’m done nursing.

Fire Hydrant makes me laugh… well, the name anyway. The move is tough. Makes me think of the moves I hate in most thigh/butt type workouts.

In a similar vein, all the lunges make me think of Slim in 6. I wonder how I would do with that program now. I’ve gone through the 6 weeks before, as a “getting back to working out after kid #1” workout. It was hard. And redundant. But it might be good to try once I’m just supplementing running. Or it might be too much leg work. It was great for slimming the thighs for sure!

I really enjoy that P.A.P. has a different warm up than the other workouts. Nice to mix it up. Nice to skip around the living room. I wonder if I can teach my 2 year old to skip. That would be cute.

I enjoyed that no cats or kids were poking at me during today’s workout.

I can’t figure out why we need two medicine balls for P.A.P. Lower. One has been plenty. I think the second one may be used as a reference point once, but the spare dumbell works well too. Or imagination.

It’s weird to not use the stability ball at all during a routine.

Days 75-78: Should have taken a recovery week

One thing I’ve found is hard with P90X2 is that you decide when to do recovery weeks. I like that in P90X that was decided for you. I’m not sure that I’m a good judge. I had thought about doing a recovery week last week before starting Phase 3 but then reasoned that I would only have 2 weeks on the last phase. I ended up beginning the phase and then life, and lack of sleep, got in the way. Only did three workouts last week and they killed me.

This week I plan on sticking to the Phase 3 schedule. Will do P.A.P. upper twice, P.A.P. lower twice, and Yoga once. We’ll see if my body screams as loud as it did last week when all I managed was P.A.P. upper twice and P.A.P. lower twice. (I’ll clarify that the same workout is never done two days in a row; that would be nearly impossible.)

Today was P.A.P. lower and it wasn’t any easier than the first time I did it. I can certainly see why phases 1 & 2 were necessary prior to doing P.A.P. Tony says these workouts are for “extreme athletes” … I’ve certainly never considered myself an extreme athlete. And I’m still not; I’m doing modifications: pull ups with bands and plyo push-ups with hands barely off the floor (though this is an improvement from on my knees plyo push-ups). My body is clearly much stronger than it used to be and I find myself constantly adjusting my perception on what is possible now, and in the future.

Only 12 days left!! I should really consider working on my food choices these last (less than) two weeks.

Days 73-74: P.A.P. Pain!

Wowzers! This P.A.P. stuff is hard!! I figured phase 3 would be a challenge and it really really is. These are my random thoughts so far:

I wish we foam rolled the body part that we worked the day before instead of the one we’re about to work. Of course, I could just change what I’m foam rolling since it’s an individualized thing.

The lower workout has my bum burning. Lots of squats, but in such a way that you don’t feel that’s all you’re doing. I try not to sit too much the rest of the day.

I didn’t realize the upper would have an ab pike move.

The first circuit on upper is crazy on the plank push up type moves. I expected this and it still killed me. The second circuit seems easier, if just for the variety.

I did not expect my shoulder blade area to feel the upper workout and that’s the primary sore area for me. Maybe related to how I hold my stress in that area?

I kind of like seeing Cedric struggle through the lower workout. I liked seeing him sweat the foam rolling in the Recovery workout too. I’m not 100% sure if I just like knowing that it’s hard for other people too or if there’s something about him.

In the lower workout I like that the girl does side plank on her hand rather than elbow. I always choose to do side plank this way; it’s harder but doesn’t hurt my elbows. It was nice seeing the harder version on the TV… at least for the first circuit. I thought the girl kind of wimped out by only doing it the first time through. I did think she was crazy for doing side plank on her hand on a foam roller. The instability of a foam roller would add way more than I could handle. 30 seconds is already more than I can take.

I was surprised by how much my hips feel lower.

Initially with P.A.P. I thought it was odd that we weren’t going to be doing Ab Ripper. I thought about adding it in. Now, just three days in, I’m so understanding. The first time I did plank today I thought I was going to die. Apparently I literally have ripped most of my core muscles… at least it feels that way. Guess all the plank moves will do that.

It’s hard to do superman while a two year old is poking at your mid-section.

It’s hard to do side plank while a cat is rubbing on your supporting arm.

The distractions of working out at home still pale compared to having to add time in to drive to a gym. Home distractions are awfully cute and usually pretty funny.

 

So, if you wanted to know what P.A.P. stands for... look at the previous posting. Today's P.A.P. is Post Activation Pain. Or Post Activation Plank. Or Pain After Pain. Or Pain Ahhhh Pain.

Day 72: P.A.P. Lower

Post Activation Potentiation. Fancy words for a concept that seems to work. Another way to “confuse muscles,” P.A.P. alternates between weight, plyo, and stretching. There are two different circuits with four exercises in each. I believe each is done four times. It was quite the quick hour and I wasn’t pretending to count along with anything. What I remember is weight/balance, plyo, plyo, stretch. Repeat.

I remember sweat. I remember “can I do this?” I know I probably didn’t put my all into the workout; it was rather hard to get out of bed this morning. I was still sweating and breathing heavy, so I figure I got out what I put in… and that was certainly better than hitting snooze.

Tomorrow will be P.A.P. Upper. I’ll be interested to see what type of cardio type moves he does for that. In the One on One it was a plyo push-up… guess it could very well be that. My lower body will be expecting a reprieve tomorrow.

Days 68-71: Flexibility of time; not body

After a great Friday of waking before the family to do Base & Back the weekend happened. In case it wasn’t enough of a struggle for me to get workouts in on weekends it was a full weekend of plans to celebrate my son’s second birthday. I don’t know if the awkward lack of routines has played a part, but my daughter has decided that she hates going to sleep… for naps or bed. And she continues to awake during the night; losing the middle-of-the-night ability to smile herself back to sleep. So, after a full weekend we had a Sunday night of broken up sleep and screaming. Monday arrived far too early and the morning included a well-baby doctor appointment for our son. Hello, Routine – are you out there??

I was seriously considering taking a recovery week this week before moving on to Phase 3. But I hung out in Phase 2 for quite a while and now have only three weeks left of P90X2! If I take a recovery week I’ll only have two weeks for the last phase. That’s not long to learn new routines and see progress. Sure, I could do more than 90 days… and I will continue to use these DVDs once the 90 days are over… but I want to end this round on Day 90 so that I can focus on running. I’ll have one month to train for the ½ marathon and I want my legs to be used to the running thing.

What to do this week? We’ll see what the kiddos do at bedtime tonight. Either I’ll do a workout when they go to bed or I’ll have to commit to not being lazy next weekend. Throw in my son’s actual birthday on Wednesday and things could get real chaotic.

This week starts P.A.P. I’m familiar with the concept from the One on One DVDs I did. It’s both fun and scary. In that series P.A.P. was one workout. Now it’s one day for upper and a separate day for lower. I plan on soreness ensuing.

Day 67: Yoga X2

Random thoughts today during Yoga:

I can hold crane longer. It’s a weird pose because when you’re actually doing it you almost feel locked in place, but to get there you feel like you’re going to fall on your face. I don’t want to fall on my face.

Tony mentions that the one girl plans his meals, yet he can never get her name right. Weird. Also, apparently she does 90% yoga and has been doing it for 14 years… but she can’t do crane? Maybe she’s just the example modifier for crane.

The other girl has the same name as someone in P90X but I’m pretty sure she’s a different person, or she’s had a lot of work done. Regardless, her boobs are totally fake; their shape when she lies down bugs me. My husband believes she is Beachbody’s ploy to get men to do the Yoga DVD. He may be right.

I really want to be able to do the splits again. I like the modifier move of using a yoga block to get lower; hopefully this will eventually lead to be doing the splits. Otherwise, I generally like that yoga makes me feel flexible. I’m not where I used to be, but I can generally follow the most flexible person on the DVD.

Strength moves are my weakness. The guru guy doesn’t seem to believe in gravity. And for good reason; he must be made of helium. Today I was able to copy the basic crow pose though I couldn’t lift my supporting foot/leg; this was only possible with my right leg forward.

I really like that the P90X2 has you stand on your tip toes in downward dog before jumping your feet forward. I feel like I have a lot more control this way. I’m not in slow motion but I’m not rushed.

My new yoga mat has a great pattern for helping with hand placement. Helps me stay symmetrical and encourages me to spread out my hands for balance moves. Today I also used a pattern to help me focus and hold my head steady during crane.

Yesterday I was pondering if my increased balance would make trickier yoga moves better. Today I’m not sure.

Yoga seems to have three factors: strength, balance, and flexibility. Strength is improving but I need to keep at it. Balance is better, but primarily for lower body balance; upper body balance seems to get back to the strength factor. Flexibility is the easiest of the three for me but there’s always room for growth.

I’m glad Yoga is included in Phase 3. It’ll be nice to have one workout per week that I’m already familiar with. Since I was so bad at keeping up with Yoga when I first started P90X2 I feel like I’m still playing catch up with where I could have been.

Days 65-66: Balance and Planning Ahead.

Yesterday was Plyocide and today was Shoulders & Arms/ARX. It’s weird that after this week I’ll be done with these workouts. Especially Plyocide. I’ll definitely be incorporating that one into my running schedule; perhaps on the days that it’s too cold or wet to run outside. Really, I guess it’s the upper body workouts I’ll need to use when running, to keep balanced.

Speaking of balance, I’m amazed at how much my balance has improved during P90X2! Moves that used to have me falling all over the place now have me doing a rare toe tap. Kind of makes me want to try some crazy balance yoga stuff.

Days 62-64: Last week of Phase 2

I had decided that this is going to be my last week of Phase 2… then on to Phase 3, which is basically a lot of P.A.P. More about that next week.

Recently, I blogged about the challenge of morning workouts vs. evening workouts. I was considering switching to evenings, which used to be my preference, due to my son’s sudden desire to wake up with me. After some thought, I realized this would be a horrible idea. I have under 30 days left of P90X2 and then I’ll be focused on running for the month leading up to the Lincoln ½ Marathon. My runs will have to be in the morning since I can’t very well leave two sleeping kiddos alone in the house. In the mornings I can leave them in the care of my also sleeping husband, which is no different from leaving the three of them asleep when I leave for work every day. I imagine by body would hate me if I switched to evening workouts for under a month only to have to readjust to the 4:30am alarm. As it is I’m usually up before the dreaded alarm. (Side notes: we got a new alarm clock over the weekend and I haven’t heard it yet. Hoping it’s not too annoying. Hoping it’s set right.)

Another vote against evening workouts is my daughter’s sudden aversion to sleeping. The past two nights she’s been up approximately every hour. Something about teething, most likely. All I know is that a screaming child doesn’t make for good sleep, or the ability to do other things. There will always be challenges. Amazingly, my supplements and Shakeology have kept me remarkably awake.

Chest, Back, & Balance was fun this week. Numbers were about the same as last week but the challenge of balancing on various ball combinations was a lot of fun for me. Yay for being able to do things I used to think were crazy!

Day 61: New Challenges

Alright, I’m in the last 30 days now. And I’ve hit upon at least one new challenge: time of day for working out. As much as I hated the 4:30 alarm clock at the beginning I’ve grown used to it. Most days my body is awake before the alarm. And it’s nice to feel like I’ve accomplished something before I go to work. Plus, vegging in the evening once the kiddos are in bed is kind of nice… you know, after whatever housework needs to be done. But, these last three mornings my son has gotten up during my workout. And he’s pretty unhappy about going back to bed. Can’t have him up that early or he gets crabby before his nap time. If this continues I think I’ll need to flip workouts to after the kids’ bedtime. Ironically, this is when I wanted to work out in the first place. But now I don’t like the idea. And it’s more likely (though maybe not anymore) that I’ll have to pause and take breaks when the kids need me. I think I’ll see how next week goes and make a decision from there.

Weekend is coming up, traditionally when I’ve taken the sloth route. Going to try to (at very least) do the Recovery & Mobility DVD one day. I believe my hubby needs additional motivation to workout these days, so his workouts will take priority if only one of us has time… but if I can swing it… I plan on doing something. Maybe just eliminating couch time… if there is such a time.

And after all that blathering, there was a workout today. Yoga!! So glad I’m back to doing it! My arms are super sore from yesterday and that complicated vinyasas. But, by the end my muscles all felt stretchy and happy. No progress with Crane, but didn’t really lose the abilities from last week. Perhaps Crane pose is something I need to play with over the weekend.

Day 60: Mixed thoughts

Two thirds of the way there! It's been quite the trip. I feel like I've accomplished a lot but still have a way to go. For one, I need to work on food choices still. I know I'm getting the nutrition I need, but am also getting too many calories.

The thing I feel best about is how I'm improving with the workouts. The numbers aren't bad, but after seeing the 60 day pictures I'm a little less excited than I was earlier.

Anyhow, in the past 60 days I've lost over 12 lbs and 4% body fat. I'd love to step it up and finish with a total loss of 20 lbs. I guess that's up to me...

Day 1

Day 60

Day 1

Day 60

Day 59: Energy galore!

I had reservations about today. Plyocide the day after a three mile run? Especially when I haven’t run in ages? After a night when I was awoken twice by crying? …and yet, it worked!

I don’t know if it’s the double workout yesterday, the nutrition, the supplements, or Plyocide… but I feel amazing today!! Tons of energy. Yes, my legs are sore (mainly on stairs) and I couldn’t push myself as hard during Plyocide as I’ve been doing recently. But I honestly feel like little-kid-gitty. I had to stop and put gas in my car this morning; usually this is the one time I buy coffee (black with just a squirt of gas station cappuccino for flavor). Today the warmth of coffee sounded good but caffeine was the last thing I felt I needed. So, I got decaf. And my day has been filled with the buzz of healthy energy!

Day 58: What a day!

It was one of those nights where I finished my daughter’s nighttime feeding with 15 minutes to go before the alarm clock. After one snooze hit it was either get up or reset for 6am. Two days until pictures motivated me to get up. So glad that I did!

Today’s workout was Chest, Back, & Balance/ARX. The last two weeks I haven’t done this routine; one week I substituted and the other I took an extra day off. I justified this in part due to shoulder pain. Today I killed it! Shoulder felt more or less fine throughout… the only time I was really aware of it was during foam rolling when it felt good-sore.

Ab Ripper went well; I meant to notice the time on the clock when Tony says “half way” but never heard him say that. Guess I was too busy working out. My favorite move has become the tornado. Feel that so many places but I can keep up with the reps.

The pull-up numbers were the same or slightly less than last time. I believe this is in due to the fact that with my slightly rearranged schedule today was the second day in a row of back moves.

What felt great were the chest/balance parts. Most of my numbers were twice what they were the last time I did this workout. I was able to balance on all the various ball combinations. The hardest was the Impossible/Possible; took me forever to get balanced on that one, so I only got 1 push-up done… that was one more than last week. Push-up side plank went from 7 dropping to knees to 10 proper position. Looking forward to seeing how I can do next week!

Speaking of next week, I plan on staying in Phase 2 for one more week… then on to Phase 3.

 

And if all that wasn't enough to read (for you) or do (for me) it was a beautiful day and I got out for a 3 mile run. Two months until the 1/2 marathon...

Days 56-57: Motivation on a Monday

Taking weekends (or any two days in a row) off certainly has its disadvantages. Even with foam rolling on Saturday (which I did while watching a movie, so not sure the mentality was the same, though the feeling was fabulous) it felt like two days off. And that leads to “I could get used to this” and “it sure is easy to not workout.”

I actually got to bed at a decent time Sunday night, but was awoken for a 2am feeding that lasted longer than I anticipated. Luckily, my amazing husband took over when happy girl didn’t want to go back to sleep after eating. I guess she just wanted to sleep on the couch with Daddy, where I found them when the 4:30 alarm went off.

4:30am on a Monday: I turned off the alarm and reset for 6am, thinking “maybe my throat hurts a little” and “I didn’t sleep solidly.” But, after crawling back under the covers I thought “it’s kind of warm in here” and “my dreams haven’t been very good.” So, I got up and stood on the scale; this is a great trick: if the number is good “I’m making progress, better keep going” and if the number is bad “yikes, better step it up!” The number was good (I’ll talk about that on Day 60) so I decided to keep going. The prospect of Day 60 pictures doesn’t hurt motivation either. Next obstacle: an adorable daughter and husband asleep on the couch. Do I wake them? Or is it the nicer thing to let them sleep and crawl back into bed myself? But, I sat out everything for the workout the night before so if I didn’t use it I’d still have to put it away. Happily, the girl was in a deep sleep so moving her to the crib didn’t wake her. And the husband didn’t complain about relocating to sleep in bed.

Another bonus on a Monday morning: I love the Base & Back routine. Part of what I love is that it kills me. For the second week in a row I used the pre-workout E&E drink and my numbers were great. In all but one move I was at or better than last week. Course, I didn’t stop sweating until Ab Ripper was done and often it was all I could do to catch my breath between moves. I kind of like that feeling: Going all out!

A funny thing I’ve noticed about Ab Ripper: When Tony says “halfway done” I think “that’s it? This has been going on forever!” But when he says “last one” I think “Wow, that went quick.” I wonder if his counting is off or if I just really prefer the moves in the second half.

Days 53-55: Five days until the next pictures!

Day 53 was Shoulders & Arms/ARX. Still loving that one. The repetitions and improvements make it a weekly favorite. Awesome to continue to see numbers increase. Though I'm weekly reminded that it might be nice to have a set of 8lb weights. An maybe a 12lb set. Sometimes 5lb is just too light, but 10 too heavy. Other times 10 isn't enough! Ab Ripper is still a challenge, but now that I'm fitting it in on a regular basis I am seeing progress.

Day 54 was Yoga... and I did Crane pose. Multiple times! I mean, I never held it for more than 3 seconds, but I would tap down and go back up for another 1-3 seconds. It was pretty awesome to feel the correct balance and know that with continued practice I should be able to hold crane for significant time. Makes me wish I hadn't skipped yoga so many times at the beginning of this journey. Ah well, can't go back in time.

Day 55 I rested... and foam rolled. Shoulders are still sore from day 53 and yoga vinyasas compounded the aches on day 54. Foam rolling was glorious.