Did my yoga on Monday and yesterday was my favorite P90X workout, Core Synergistics. It's basically multiple muscle groups being worked at once, while focusing on a solid core. Love that one.. I also got a couple of books delivered yesterday. "The Triathlete's Training Bible" and "Marathon: You can do it!". Even though I've already done a sprint triathlon, I still have a lot of anxiety over the swim, and I'm hoping this will help me get over it. And I'd like to do a marathon just so I can say that I've done one
Got in my 4 mile run yesterday on the hilly path I take. I haven't done this one since before my triathlon, and it quickly reminded me how much I hate the hills. Today is a rest day, which is actually kind of hard for me. I always feel like I should be doing something, but I know that I always come back stronger after a day of rest and stretching.
Rest. Just do it. I tried lifting back to back days and it was probably one of the stupidest things I've ever done and I've done a lot of dumb stuff lol.
Yeah man I got my rest in. Did an hour of stretching and felt like a million bucks. Yesterday was Core Synergistics again and this morning I knocked out Yoga early so I could get on with my day. Oh yeah, it's Game Day! GO PHINS
I did P90X Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps to begin Phase 2 of this round. Holy hell I forgot how the pushup sequences just wear you out in this one. Slow-motion pushups, 2-speed pushups, 1-armed pushups...ridiculous!
Heh, tell me about it, my usual day is a 4 miles bike commute up and down the hills, and a 3.2 mile speed walk for about an hour up and down the hills. Going to start lifting again, started a new job and after such a long layoff between jobs I felt it was more important to get endurance back in my legs to cope with the work schedule then it was to do shrugs and curls etc. Been on the job over a week, can handle the work load, now it's time to hit the weights again.
The hills make us strong! Good deal on getting back into the lifting. I really think resistance work is the key when it comes to body composition. Plyo X done yesterday. That was as good as my legs have felt during a workout in a LONG time. That recovery week was magic.
Did P90X Back & Biceps w/Ab Ripper X yesterday afternoon. I'm already starting to feel the soreness from that one. Got up at 3 a.m. to take care of X2 Yoga this morning. I think I'll be doing my workouts at that time from here on out, because there might be something coming down the road that may take up some of my time in the afternoons (in a good way). Stay posted for that news
Hills suck Ray...Rain Main reference unavoidable. I've gotten the mass I wanted, the next step is switching my diet to more carbs and more cardio, which is the opposite of the current trend towards "protein ubber allis!". It is however how my body reacts the best to the work.
Ok, I'm officially a believer in the Jeff Galloway run-walk-run method. Yesterday, I averaged a minute per mile FASTER during my half marathon by taking a 1-minute walk break after every 7 minutes of running. I also didn't feel like I was going to die....BONUS!!!
Couple of things: -got down to 192...then went back up to 197, so this is something of a plateau. Real problem is I've radically altered my diet, now down to 1 small meal per day and snacks through the day -Face planted on my bike last Saturday and probably caught a concussion along with a jammed shoulder and road rash, so weight lifting is off the menu until the shoulder heals. Will say, the public does not hear about it, but I'd bet the NFLers who catch concussion act really weird.
Damn man..sorry to hear about your spill. I hope you heal up soon. Do you wear a helmet when you ride? I force myself to as an example to my daughter. Sounds like you're going to try to ol' grazing method. I know folks who have done that with varying degrees of success. It's probably good to help get through a plateau, but I'm not sure how sustainable it is (I've never tried it). I'm interested to hear how you feel when you're doing it. Keep us posted!
Nope, and it would not have done any good, hit the side of my head next to my eye, jammed my shoulder, and skinned my elbow and knee..shoulder is the problem area it is slow to come around. Nah, I know my body and until I convince it that it needs to drop weight I'll be stuck at that plateau area. Best way to put it I sort of have to shrink my stomach/appetite then build it back up with more of a taste for healthier, simpler food, Basically a light breakfast, then work all day without eating, light dinner.
And you feel ok eating that little? I remember you saying you have a pretty physical job now. Nobody knows your body better than yourself though, so make sure you're doing right by you. I hope your shoulder heals up soon bro. Wednesday was my half-way day, day 45, for this round of P90X. Back & Biceps was the workout of the day. During the first move, wide-grip pullups, I knocked out 25 when time ran out. No kipping. I guess it was a good day On another note, when I did my weight/measurements on Sunday, I'm the lightest I've been since I started working out 2+ years ago, but my arms & chest were bigger than at any other time. Also my waist measurement was down quite a bit. Go figure.
I completed my first official half marathon yesterday morning. Got home in time to shower up, order pizzas, and have buddies over to watch the phins win! Here's the link to my results - http://parunners.racetecresults.com/MyResults.aspx?CId=16360&RId=26&EId=1&AId=14439
I started lifting last week. This was the longest hiatus for me in years. The pain...nay, agony of the muscle soreness was preposterous. Especially in the legs. My strength has obviously suffered greatly, but even more so is my muscle endurance. 3 or 4 tough sets for any group, and I'm wiped. But the muscle memory is there. I expect to be back to normal by the holidays. Bad news is, NOT a fan of this new gym(I moved). Small, over-crowded, a lot of juicers...but it's the only one with the equipment I need. Back to the grind either way. Sent from my iPad
Sort of broke the back of the plateau I'd reached, down to 195 now. Mainly through a grueling amount of cardio on the mtn side each night, every night, on top of working and no booze. Will be interesting to see how far the drop goes, I'm thinking 191 or so.
Way to get back into it Seth. Legs are always the hardest man...lots of muscles, sore for days, but we can't have those chicken legs Regarding juicers, do you see it that often in gyms other than this one? I've always worked out at home so I really don't have any experience with it, but around here (southern PA and MD) it seems to be everywhere. I'm surprised so many do it, given what we know about some of the dangers. Good work Padre! I bet dropping the booze makes the biggest difference. I have a buddy who stops drinking beer for a month and it melts off of him...starts drinking again and he balloons right back up.
Actually, not so, for me when I drink I simply don't eat, it winds up I consume less calories when I drink and wind up losing weight. As for legs, heh, that mtn side walkabout has veins popping out on my calves, think around 5 miles per day..and work. I've heard that is the hardest area to develop...not for me...
Thanks! I'm happy to be back. People are on the sauce everywhere. And I don't mind really. But i'd say per capita, its high at the new place. What I do mind is the close proximity of said pimpled, sweaty, juicer because of the gyms size and over-use. And I HATE waiting for equipment. Pet peeve of mine, especially when I have specific rest periods between sets/ exercises. I was spoiled at my old gym. Huge, state of the art, no one was there when I went except For a good group of guys i became friends with. And calves are heavily genetics. I have good calves, nice roundness and I try to build on them with some training. But not freaky by any means. Some people have to do nothing, and just have enormous calves popping through their skin.
It bugs me that so many people are on the sauce. To me it's just "cheating"...I guess I don't know what they're cheating at, but for people that want to get fit they see the juicers and most likely get discouraged because their results don't match up. Maybe I'm just an old-fart or exercise hippy when it comes to that. It might works for some folks and make them look good and perform better for a couple years, but in the long run I think it can be pretty harmful. My step-son had his graduation party earlier this summer, and a couple of his cousins are all juiced up. They're in their early 20's and think their **** don't stink...so my skinny *** (5'11 165 lbs) challenged them all to a pullup contest, and whooped 'em. They were all show, no go..haha
I've been around it a bit with my peers/fellow gym goers, but never did it. And now, I wouldn't have to as I could just go to a Dr. and get it prescribed legally. Imagine that, my insurance paying for steroids...or Testosterone therapy as they like to call it. But even that, I don't see a point to as I don't compete, and have hardly mastered my diet. There are a lot of misconceptions about it tho. Quite frankly, eating garbage and fast-food semi regularly will put you at way more risk than occasional steroid use. I still give credit to those monster's who achieve huge muscle growth and keep low body fat. That's not just steroids, there's also a lot of smart training and dieting that go into it. The misconception too, is that steroids actually build muscle, whereas they really only aid in recovery like everything other supplement and food in the world...but steroids do it so well. And pull ups are great. But that too, I find the bigger and stronger I get, the less I can do, because body weight is a huge factor. That's why you don't see bodybuilders on Ninja Warrior! You can hang on to a tiny ledge at 140-160lbs. Lift yourself, fling yourself, etc... Jay Cutler(not the Broncos qb) and bench press hundreds and hundreds of pounds...but he ain't getting up that Salmon ladder!!! Funny, Shawn Merriman did this seasons American Ninja Warrior. Did. Not. Go. Well.
Oh I agree about the misconceptions. People that use still have to be extremely diligent with workout and their diet. Like you said, the main benefit is recovery, which allows the person to do more work, which then result in the gains (or whatever their goals are). But I figure if I'm being that healthy with myself though diet and exercise, why introduce something that could do significant damage later on? Again I guess it depends on what the drug of choice is, and my own level of paranoia I have no doubt runners, triathletes, and cyclists are just as guilty as body builders, just for the recovery aspect. I supplement with creatine and suma root, mostly because they've been under the microscope for decades and have so far been deemed very safe. And you're right about the pullups being harder as you get bigger. Range of motion becomes an issue, as does the weight. Occasionally I'll do my pullups with a 40lb vest on, but I burn out so damn fast doing that. I did catch Merriman on ANW First thing I thought was "he's way too big for this." Heck I think the heaviest guys doing that are 185 lbs.
Yesterday was supposed to be Kenpo X, but I wanted to crank it up a notch so I was going to go for a run. When I got home it was 94 degrees with high humidity, so I thought better of it and decided to do an Insanity workout instead. I left it up to a vote with my "exercise crew" to determine which routine, so of course they picked the hardest one (Max Interval Plyo). They must hate me. I actually didn't do bad at all considering I haven't done an Insanity workout in over 6 months. There were definitely some knee grabbing moments and moving a little slower than I would have liked, but overall I hung in there really well!
Phase 3 started today with P90X Chest & Back with Ab Ripper X. I was so wasted during the 2nd round of this today. I had the shakes throughout the whole 3rd set of round 2. I don't know how I finished it.
193 and still falling, it feels odd to be so lite now. Correction, make that 189 Lightest I've been in over a decade
Hey congrats Padre! That's awesome to hear. You should be proud of yourself man! How is the shoulder coming along?
Hmm, think I'm going to shake things up and try working out on an empty stomach. 8/12 hours after eating, the way I understand it basically one's glycemic stores will be burned up during normal activities (like working) so ones workout then will use more stored fat as there are no are or glycemic reserves internally. Why not, think I'm around 20% body fat atm, want to get down to 12% or so
I've tried that before...going 1st thing in the morning. I did ok with it, but I didn't feel the same "umph" in my workouts, if that makes any sense. That's something that really boils down to the individual. If you can knock it out with no food prior, go for it! I've had people I've helped either love it or hate it There is some truth to your glycogen being lower when working out basically in a "fasted" state, and thus burning more fat for fuel, but often times you'll lack intensity where you would've burned the fat anyway had you been topped off. Experiment with it, see how that shiznit works for you!
P90X3 coming out December 10! 30 minutes per workout ... I'm excited..of course I'll be adding this to my library. http://www.beachbodycoach.com/esuite/home/Coachnatep?bctid=2679202492001
Yep, felt the same thing, the hilly cardio was fine, the problem was recovery time. Legs just felt dead so much so had to take a day off from working out. Finally lifted today, shoulder barked at me a bit but handled it well enough. Real problem is I lost my "peak" strength, usually can bang out 60-70 sub level pushups then hit the weights, today it was maybe 35-40, the weights were fine however it was a mass workout. Shrugs and arm raises to work on the shoulder, suspect it will take a week of rehab to even approach my peak again after a month off.
Had an awesome time at the Spartan Race Saturday at Citizens Bank Park in Philly. Doing an obstacle race throughout the baseball stadium was certainly unique. I finished in the top 25% of my age and gender, and top 20% overall (out of 4,288 racers). Not bad for my first Spartan I guess. As a team we finished in the top 1/3.
