Activities!

 So I've still a couple few weeks until I finish up round 2 of P90X (Doubles).  What I'm finding now that the weather is turning nicer where I'm at, is that working in the workouts per the plan is getting tougher.  The call of the outdoors is getting harder to resist - I've subbed mountain biking, kayaking, and some hard (core) working yard work in as alternate "activities" for the scheduled inside dvd workouts.  I think this is going to be more of a mental shift than anything for me - I keep telling myself that so long as I stay active and keep my smarts when it comes to eating/drinking, everything is good.  Stop worrying about not getting the exercises in - they've brought me a loooonnnng way with 40 less pounds of me and some better muscles - get out there and use them!

On another front, I finally picked up some Bowflex Select Tech 552 dumbbells.  I've had my eye on these for a while, but finally pulled the trigger.  It's so nice to be able to change weights so easily.  My old weight set was a little lacking - just basic plate weights and random hex dumbbells that were limited in weight and variety.  I like being able to heavy up the weight and really feel the burn in 8 reps rather than having to knock out a dozen or more reps to get to the burn.  I figure I'll keep doing some kind of weight routine through the summer in addition to outside activities, and the heavier weights are really going to break me through to the next level I think.

Back to fitting everything in - it's no joke that doubles are tough.  Keeping on with such intense workouts twice a day up to four days a week is tough.  I'm finding that I'm good for about 3 doubles workouts a week - getting that fourth in has happened a few times, but I find that, by Friday, my body is screaming at me to back it off a bit and go for a rest instead of that second workout - part of that "knowing what your body is telling you" and avoiding overtraining.

Anyway, will finish up these last few weeks and probably do a fit test to see what kind of improvements I've managed.

Also - almost forgot - went kayaking last week for the first time since last fall.  Put on my PFD and it was comically loose on me as it was adjusted to fit the larger version of me from back then.  Had to pull a couple inches in on some of the straps to snug it up!  Also found that the kayak handled a little different and better - about 40 pounds better!

Still at it...

Hola, Amigos.  I know it's been  a while since I rapped at ya, but I'm still keeping busy doing the P90X in a second round.  I'm attempting to do the doubles routine and have been doing pretty well with keeping on track with it, but it's been difficult at times working everything in with other activities I'm doing like ice hockey and biking.  The 90 day photos from the first round served as my "day 0" pictures for this second round.  I didn't take 30 day photos, and I'm about a week late on these 60 day photos.  Not noticing much difference in the photos, but I'm definitely noticing the difference in strength, flexibility, and endurance.  I'll admit that I'm a little more lax with the diet this time around, though still eating with portion control and some thought into how it affects results.  Overall I'm good with where I seem to be flat lining with the weight, just above 200lbs.  I've always been a bigger person.

Anyway, photos, day 90 (left) and now day 150-ish (right).  I'm bad at photo lighting and camera settings.

Yoga in Round 2

So one of my goals for this second round of P90X is to be more dedicated in improving flexibility and sticking with the yoga.  Tonight was the first yoga workout of round two, and I have to say that it was not as bad as I recalled it.  I think being overall a little stronger and slimmer helped, and/or maybe something just clicked in my head.  It still got a bit long feeling by the end, but it felt like it went by much quicker.  I'm still not very graceful, but hey, room for improvement, right?

Presented for review:

Plyometrics!

My workout tonight.  I'm quick.

I Made It!

I made it through a first round of P90X.  Slightly more than 90 days, due to some scheduling/vacation, but I think I definitely kept to the "keep pushing play" and "bring it" mentalities and am happy with the results.  By all accounts I'd call this first round an unqualified success.

I posted before/after pictures the other day, so here I'll attempt to put down some data, thoughts, and grade myself on the areas of P90X in this first round.

Before & After

Before:

After:

Holiday and New Year Success

I managed to make it through the Holiday Season.  Even with taking about a week off from doing structured, scheduled workouts and relaxing on the diet a bit, I still managed to keep on the trend.  I was surprised to see lower weight when I returned from vacation.

I say that I didn't do "structured" workouts, in that I didn't do the videos or follow any specific sets of exercises.  I did do things like  walking, snowshoeing, hiking, sledding, outdoors type stuff, as well as a few sets of pushups and ab work for 10-15 minutes here and there.  I did eat Christmas cookies, I did drink some beer and wine, but I guess just not to excess and still managed to have a good time.

Since I've been back in 2013, I'm getting back into the routine to finish up the first round of the 90 day program, but looking at where I dropped off and where I picked up for vacation, I think I'm going to repeat the week, so I'll go ahead and extend round 1 to about 97-100 days or so instead of 90.  I think the rest did some good, I feel like I'm ready to break through some plateaus and get the next set of good results.

Total down is about 31 lbs now from October.  That's like a bag of dog food off my back.