n|d|g

Check her out! It's 'Baby Downward Dog'.

This morning, the stretch was just what the doctor ordered. I was uber sore from Legs & Back still — which I didn’t mind a bit, but wanted to get a good stretch in, hoping that by tomorrow’s Chest, Shoulders & Triceps I’d be refreshed and ready for action.

I’m still sore, but it’s only 8am. I could tell immediately after the stretch session that it was helping immensely. I felt more flexible, less sore, and my left hamstring felt pretty good. Much stronger than in previous days. It seems to be healing quite nicely.

Not much else to report. Tomorrow’s workout, and the beginning of Week 7 is gonna be good!

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DAILY DIET

The only things worth noting about my diet yesterday were that in the morning, after Kenpo, I threw a scoop of whey in my thermal coffee mug and sipped on it during my morning commute. It was soooooooo tasty! Btw, if you are a Starbuck’s lover, for free, at almost any Starbucks, ask them and they’ll throw in a free scoop of whey into your drink!

Also, for dinner, my wife picked up some frozen pizzas. My wife’s little brother was over for a few hours and we weren’t able to eat how we normally would. The pizza was decent enough, nutritionally. The bulk of my daily carbs came from this meal. The downside? It absolutely destroyed my digestive tract. My stomach was in knots well into my sleep. It was awful. I’m never eating frozen pizza again……..until I have kids.

Week 7 Starts Tomorrow: BRING IT!

Elbow Series: "Up, down, in, out."

This morning I got my wife off to work with a tasty Power Smoothie and some Omega Coffee (Hazelnut, if you must know.) and then I donned my sweatpants and hoodie, cranked the heat in the apt to 75 and Pushed Play on Kenpo X.

Now, it should be noted that right smack in the middle of my living room is the vent…so, standing up doing warmups and punches and kicks had my basically doing that right in front of the heat-blowing vent….which, is exactly what I was wanting. For me, Kenpo is fun and a blast, but it just doesn’t push me as hard as every other workout. so the heat and the sweats amp it up a little bit.

This time, I also decided that I wasn’t going to strictly follow Tony & Co’s pace. It wasn’t double time or anything, but I was pushing hard and going a little faster than normal. This, by itself, kept my heart rate up around 175 (90%) – a good number to sustain.

My kicks are getting higher and higher. I’m really pleased with how I can see other workouts’ success playing into my progress here. Yoga and X Stretch in particular.

Nothing extreme to report here. Just a good solid, clothes-soaking workout.

I call that a win.

I will say this though….it’s now around lunch time, and my whole body is just sore as balls from last night’s Legs & Back and ABX. Every which way I turn, I’m feelin it.

Yes.

TOTAL CALORIE BURN: 862 (the number keeps getting higher as I find ways to Reinvent my A-Game).

It’s funny how the more bizarre my post titles the more traffic that post gets. Now, granted according to Google Analytics, the bounce rate is fairly high for those posts, but no worries. I’m not writing novels here. If people want to read. they stay. If not, then no worries still.

But I digress…

I got nothing this time. Sorry, kids.

LEGS & BACK
Holy sore squats and side lunges, Batman! This time I bumped the weight I had in each hand for all the weighted squats from 15lbs to 20lbs and MAN did that make things tough. I noticed that the guy in the back never uses more than 12lbs. The 20lbs really helped with my grip. I feel like where I truly am the weakest in my body is my forearms. Sometimes they give out before my back does doing pullups. Having to hold 20lbs in each hand during the calf raises was a true test of grunting through and trying so hard to not drop the weights. During the Toe 180 lunges too! Good grief those are tough w/ that kinda weight. My legs were sore this morning already!

TOTAL LEGS & BACK CALORIE BURN: 996!!!!!!! (My HR was thru the roof! Great workout!)

"C'mon! Get 'em up! I know it burns!"

AB RIPPER X
Something different happened last night with ABX. Not sure what. Although I focused again on keeping my hands up in the early maneuvers. I did pretty well on the In & Outs and the forward bicycles. Arms up for the reverse bicycles is just painful. Not literally, they’re just really tough. Crunchy frog was easier this time. Having had my arms in the air for the first few, these seemed easier to balance on, and I was able to rock out15 or so before I had to take a brief rest.

TOTAL AB RIPPER X CALORIE BURN: 230! (One of my best yet. Wild how 15 minutes can net such a burn, eh?)

TOTAL CALORIES FOR WORKOUT: 1226 BAM!

Let's twist again...like we did last Summer.

If you read today’s title as “YogaYogaYoga,” you’re clearly not a fan of National Lampoon’s Animal House. That was totally written as “Yo-Ga! Yo-Ga! Yo-Ga!” which bears a striking similarity to “To-Ga! To-Ga! To-Ga!” Anyhow, yesterday I did Yoga X, and it. was. murder.

No clue why it was so hard, but man did it take a lot of effort for my body to get in the game. My hamstrings were tight. My shoulders were tight. My core was super tight. Felt like I had been wadded up in a ball all night.

That being said, once I got into it and started sweating and holding poses, my body started doing what it was told. The past few Yoga days I’ve focused on really getting low in the poses. I mean reeeaaaalllly getting low. All the while keeping my my knee tracking out over my ankle. The result: Some fantastic stretches and some tough holds that really have been pushing my flexibility. For the good! I’ve also been trying to not focus so much on letting my hands hold as much weight as they have been when I’m in Runner’s Pose, et al.

Again, with good success I was able to easily get into right angle pose w/ grab and work towards opening up my chest. This move, now that I can do it, feels great. My legs are on fire because of how low I am in the lunge, but man, when I get to really focusing on my breathing, I just start to mentally drift somewhere else. It’s really quite amazing.

My hips are getting stronger, I can tell. Half Moon continues to get easier, little by little. As well, my static poses are pretty solid still. Crane was tough today, but that’s because I was all sweaty and couldn’t keep my knees on my arms the entire minute. Fell out briefly twice.

Yoga Belly 7 (always a fav) was good. With the success I’m having with getting my legs to stay straight while in the air is allowing me the freedom to work on getting me chest up and my back straight for all the Boat holds. I realized this time that I’ve not been paying much attention to the angle of my legs in relation to my chest when I lean my legs to the sides for the torso twists, and yesterday I tried very hard to keep the 90 degrees. It was tough.

All in all, a good workout. Definitely loosened me up and set my day off on the right foot!

YOGA X CALORIE BURN: 800 (approx.)

So, on Friday I had absolutely zero time to workout. From the moment I woke up until I went to bed I was gone. Sooooooooooooo, Saturday, amidst work and my wife being out all day at Theatre in the Park callback auditions, I got to pull Doubles! In the morning, against my sleepy judgment, I did Plyometrics and in the late afternoon, I did Back & Bicep. All in all it was a fantastic fitness day and I really brought it both times. Even when I don’t feel like working out, by the time I get moving I end up thinking, “Well, if I don’t give this my all, then what’s the point?” Which isn’y an entirely fair question, but it gives me just enough internal guilt/drive to make sure I’m dripping w/ sweat by the time I’m done.

Mary Kathrine Lunges: Tough as balls when your HR is already at 185.

PLYOMETRICS

This weeks’ Plyo workout was really very intense! Moreso than usual. I’m getting better, little by little, at all of the squat/jump/switch types of moves. Usually around 2/3 the way through my legs just start screaming and rather than do the easy version, I’ll stand up for 2 reps and then jump right back in a try to finish strong and with big air.

I’m also, still loving that I’m fit enough to rock out all the double times. I must admit that it’s not entirely true when I say all double times. I forgot about the 2nd set of Mary Kathrine lunges. Haven’t tried double time on those yet. I’m usually too wiped from the guitar hops the set before.

Anyhow, I always look forward to this workout because it’s a guaranteed wake up, calorie burning, muscle ripping, powerhouse of a workout.

TOTAL PLYOMETRICS CALORIES BURN: 1007

Grrrrrrr! Get sexy with it!

BACK & BICEP
My last foray into Back & Bicep was great, but lacking. My good buddy Russell and I did the workout together. His first P90X workout ever, and my first B&B workout. It was confusing to try and have two people use my bands, bar and weights. This time around, though, I went through it much stronger.

The pullup portion of this workout is always tougher than any other back workout, since I’m giving my all on the bicep sets. My performance is alright. I end up using the chair much more than I care to, and my forearms in this back workout only tend to be the first to go, not my back or even my biceps, although on chinups, my biceps are most definitely the first to go.

The curls this time around, I used bands almost exclusively and it. was. glorious. I love, love, love the tension. My back AND my chest got a workout on these, as I had to stabilize much more than I anticipated. I love all the different curl types, and when I got done I could really tell that I’ve got some great potential for growth and progress with curls sets like these. I’ve never really been one to work my biceps specifically, but how can you not with a workout like this?

TOTAL BACK & BICEP CALORIE BURN: 750

Adam's a beast. You know. I know it.

AB RIPPER X
ABX was tough. Don’t really know why. Just had to fight for everything it seemed. I was pleased with the the usual. This time I tried to do bicycles forward with my hands in the air. Tough balancing act, but I know that I’m now on the road to awesome.

TOTAL AB RIPPER X CALORIE BURN: 197

TOTAL DAILY CALORIE BURN: 1954

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DAILY DIET

My daily diet today was pretty much routine. Just look at my other days where I post my diet. Same sort of eating all day, except for the following:

Dinner: Feasted on chips and salsa, and a whole wheat steak burrito with rice and black beans. This was my big replenishing meal after such a rockin day of working.

Morning Snack: On top of the apple and natural peanut butter, 30 minutes after my workout I doubled up on my whey & milk. 2 scoops and a cup of milk made for a creamy, rich, chocolaty good time! 50g protein kept me good and satiated for…like….an hour.

His name is Big Dave. Or is is Shawn? Tony doesn't seem to know!

My apologies for such a scary sounding post title. No real pain involved, per se, but definitely a tough workout! Doing such a muscle intense workout @ 4:45am is a chore no matter how you look at it. I chose to eat the bulk of my calories later in the day, as I was hoping some of it was last me through the night and into this morning, where I knew I’d need more than the average amount of fuel to get the job done. Thankfully, I think my logic was sound. I was strong through the entire workout.

Before I get to the workout details, can we talk about Big Dave in the back? If I could look like a guy, I think that’d be it. He seems to be in fantastic shape all around. Like Adam on the other videos. Phil can do just phenomenal stuff, but I don’t want to be able to do some of what he can if it means being as big as he is. He’s in shape, no doubt, but he’s got a lot of muscle mass that I don’t care for. PLUS, everyone thinks I’m Asian anyway, so Big Dave and I could end up being twins or something. Who knows?

CHEST, SHOULDERS & TRICEPS

This time around, I didn’t see an increase in weight on the resistance bands like I”m used to, but sticking with the red band (the heavy one) remained a challenge and even on the workouts where somewhere between using the red and a combination of red and blue, I found that just shortening the slack as much as I could on just the red band proved to be just what I needed — which is just what I did on a bulk of the single arm tricep extensions. I suppose it’s worth noting that even though my weight differences weren’t too significant, my in every workout my reps increased. On some, only by one, but that’s gain no matter what, right? On nearly all of the pushups I was able to rock out at least 5 more than last time. I think some of that came with a strong rebuilding of my muscle, but like I always say, some of it came from me just having confidence in doing the workout now that I knew what the moves were.

I sweat myself silly and felt like I did a fair job of achieving Fitness Gold or Reinventing My A-Game. My aim is to get strong enough in my chest to hit those 1-arm pushups with regularity. Right now they are all on my knees, but I’m going deep like Big Dave in the back on the video.

AB RIPPER X

Ab Ripper X was a solid workout. Coming off a day where my abs weren’t worked, this workout always feels tough. Crunch Frog was off balance. I did well on Fifer Scissors this go around. Worked hard on keeping my legs straight for them. Not much else to say. Still working to conquer the early moves and getting to a place where they aren’t a challenge so I can start getting my arms in the air and making it tough as balls.

CHEST, SHOULDERS & TRICEPS CALORIE BURN: 753 (up 40+calories from last week)
AB RIPPER X CALORIE BURN: 215 (I just love that I can burn out 215 calories in 15 minutes! )
TOTAL CALORIE BURN: 968
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DAILY DIET

Breakfast: Smoothie – 1/2 c. yogurt, 1 scoop whey protein, 1/2 c. blueberries, 1/2 tbsp almond butter, 1 tbsp organic flaxseed

Morning Snack: medium Gala apple (is there anything better), 2 tbsp natural peanut butter

Lunch: Panera low fat vegetarian Black Bean Soup, 2 whole grain baguettes

Afternoon Snack: 2 tbsp trail mix, string cheese stick, 12oz low sodium V8.

Dinner: 2 Oscar Mayer All Beef Hot Dogs, bowl of beef stew

Evening Snack: Clif Builder Bar – Peanut Butter

Plow: A tought move when you're not good and stretched out.

This morning I got up, against my sleepy judgment, and did X-Stretch. I am FEEEEEELIN’ it from Legs & Back yesterday, so I’m glad I did the stretching. It was tough going at first. My body was tight as a drum. But by the end, my downward dog pose had my heels at the floor and my toes fighting for height.

It was a really good time of loosening up. My hamstrings, like my neck, are the toughest to really stretch, but I’m committed to keeping them both in the best health possible. After all, I’m getting better and better at straightening my legs for all the times a workout calls for it.

Week 5 is complete. Week 6 is a new week with signs of promise. I’m looking forward to Reinventing My A-Game for Chest, Shoulders and Triceps!

She's marching to the beat of a different drummer.

So, I just realized, as my numbers were off that I totally forgot to blog about my plyometric workout this last Friday. This was one of those workouts where I felt like running to the roof and just screaming “Hell ya! I kicked this workout’s A$$!” But that would be untoward and I’m a bit more subtle about discussing the demolition of my A-Game.

I nailed ALL of the double times that Tony & Co. did and just really pushed myself. I had to pause once and make a 30 sec. rest a 45 sec. rest, but I had energy through the entire workout. I felt like a machine. I still struggle with the squats where you get down, touch the floor, jump up and switch position. They’re great and they rock, but about 15 seconds into it my legs start calling the shots and don’t wanna move any more.

Even with that, i was able to push on through as best I could moreso than before on those tough ones. By the time I got to the Football tires, my legs were pretty tired and high needs on the 6 steps backwards was more like level knees.

PLYOMETRIC CALORIE BURN: 996

I never noticed, but my wife did, Tony shaves his legs.

I will say that this morning’s Legs & Back workout was uber tough. I sweat myself silly in just a t-shirt and shorts. When I did Back & Bicep I wrestled with doing pullups of any kind after curls because my arms were already tired. Legs & Back is great because I get to focus more heavily on each body part since I’m not exhausting it with the previous exercise.

This time I added 15lbs to each side, up from 10lbs for all the leg work that I was suggested to add weight. Did very well on most of them. I struggled on the lunges where you’re on your toes just pushing back and forth. The weight really makes em tough as balls. I did much better on the wall sits this go around. I held the regular ones for the whole time, even through the shakes. The 1-legged ones are still tough , but once I got my leg straight I was able to really fight through. I’m not sitting fully at 90 degrees on those yet, but my focus it to continue to work with the straightening of my legs and getting a little lower each time  to ensure Quality of Quantity.

Pullup-wise, I feel like I’m progressing very smoothly. I’ve been doing what I like to call the Hard Chair version of the pull ups that are straight leg, but the chair back is high, so gravity is still really working against me. I think the next Back workout I do I’m gonna just go all out w/o a chair and see what results can be had!

I know my legs are gonna be sore tomorrow, and my back has been far over due for a soreness that’s deep. (See my blog about Day 31: Back & Bicep)

Ab Ripper X was good. I find that when my abs are rested this workout is tougher. Last time I did ABX, I was able to just demolish everything in the fashion I had been (read:  no arms up in the air), but this time the reverse bicycles were tough as always. I’m really diggin being able to do no-touch leg grabs. I tore up the Mason Twists and got my HR right up there in the 70th percentile for this. Really good times. I’m going to start working on getting my hands in the air soon. We’ll see how that goes.

LEGS & BACK CALORIES BURNED: 894
AB RIPPER X CALORIES BURNED: 235
TOTAL CALORIES BURNED: 1129

Right Agle Pose w/ Grab: I can finally do this!

There are only two things that need to be said here:

1. I am now able to hold Right Angle Pose w/ Grab both sides for the full time.

2. I am now able to hold Half Moon both sides for the entire time.

SUPER pleased with that. Yoga today was good. I was strong. Wavered in only a few poses towards the end.

Calories Burned: 906