Day 119 (start of week 18) - P.A.P. Lower

Today starts the second week of Phase 3.  The workout tonight seemed pretty good and I had less pain over the weekend, so it seems my body is adjusting to the new moves.  Today it was back to eating right:

• Breakfast - Protein bar
• Lunch - Caribbean Salad and half of bread from Cosi
• Dinner - Garden salad wrap with some left over beef in it
• Snacks  - Protein shake, pretzels, strawberry bar, wheat thins, carrots

Total calories = 1600

Day 118 - Rest Day

It's another Sunday and I'm not nearly as sore this time after doing the workout yesterday, so that's good.  I took my Dad to lunch after church and had eggs, scrapple, home fries (half of them) and a piece of toast.  Tonight Eli's family came over for dinner and we had roast beef, roasted potatoes and corn.  Eli's Mom brought a chocolate cake, so I had a piece (so yummy).  That put me at 2000 calories for the day, so I need to get back into my normal eating routine tomorrow.

Day 117 - P.A.P. Upper

Second day of doing this routine and I stepped it up a bit.  The Superman with weight is brutal and so is plyo on the medicine ball (having to hold the position for 60 seconds).  Clapping pushups are a breeze and the pullups weren't too bad.  I also played some basketball this morning, but only played for a little while so that I could get home and help in the garden.  Priorities.  By Tuesday I'll be at day 120, so hoping that I look a bit different compared to day 90, but not so sure there is a huge amount of change.  We'll see.

Day 116 - P.A.P. Lower

Well, I hit this a bit harder this time and I'm pretty sure I'm going to feel the results.  I was once again sweating my butt off (literally).  I sure am glad I only do this routine twice a week because I couldn't handle it much more.  For dinner Kristi and I went to Ruby Tuesday's and I had the grilled fish and zucchini and a salad.  It was okay, but seemed to have been grilled in butter or something, so I question the healthiness of it.

Day 115 - Rest Day???

Well, I'm once again having trouble understanding the concept of a rest day.  Since phase 3 doesn't include Ab Ripper I decided to do a round of Ab Ripper.  I also did some chin-ups and work with the dumbbells to keep the arms loose.  I feel really good and am looking forward to another round of the P.A.P. Lower and Upper to finish out the week.  My traps have really been sore from P.A.P. Upper the other night.  Doing the Superman move with the 5 lb bar is definitely the cause.  Can't wait to do it again :-)

Day 114 - X2 Yoga

The picture to the left is called the Crane.  I've gotten to the point where I can hold this almost as long as I want. 

I was grateful for the Yoga tonight.  It really helped to work out all of the stiffness resulting the the workouts from the last two nights.  I can tell that I'm getting better at some of the yoga moves.  I'm able to hold most of the positions for the required time without having to modify at all, so I'm really getting a lot out of the positions because I'm able to focus on each position to make sure I'm doing it right.

Day 113 - P.A.P. Upper

Wow, that was a workout today.  I sweated a lot from moves that didn't require an moving at all.  There was a move doing plank with my feet on top of a medicine ball and having to hold that for a minute.  Wow, that was good.  I definitely am seeing a bit of new definition in the abs, so I just need to keep up the work and hope that phase 3 provides as much benefit as I saw from phase 2.

Day 112 (start of week 17) - P.A.P. Lower

Well, this was my first routine set for phase 3 and honestly t wasn't that bad.  Lots of jumping around and muscle isolation in the lower body, but I've been down that route with other workouts, so I felt like I could get through it.  At times I scaled back the intensity because I wasn't sure how much I would need to leave in the tank to get to the end.  Next time I can ramp up the intensity a bit because I had some left at the end tonight.

Day 111 - Rest Day

Well, I've decided that starting tomorrow I'm going to move up to phase 3.  I'm ready to try a different set of workouts and I've progressed pretty well with phase 2.  My shoulder is still a bit sore, but not too bad and I was able to still do some chin-ups as a test today.  I'm looking forward to phase 3 because I hear it's pretty intense.

Day 110 - X2 Base and Back and X2 Ab Ripper

Well, the good news is that my elbow feels great.  Bad news is that my left shoulder started to hurt during the workout.  It stinks to get old.  Same issue as I had with my elbow.  It started doing some clicking and then hurting.  Oh well, I modified the workout during the second half to avoid chin-ups and pullups and did other things like curls instead.  I still got a good workout and I did some extra foam rolling on the shoulder to help it to relax the muscles, so hopefully the pain won't be a lasting issue.

Day 109 - X2 Yoga

I had to go to a church fund-raiser dinner tonight after work, so I didn't get to start my workout until after 8:00.  I usually prefer to start earlier, but it worked out fine.  As always, I enjoyed the yoga.  It seems I didn't sweat quite as much this time through the workout.  I put in the effort, so it wasn't like I was taking it easy.  I guess it's not quite as hard for me as it used to be, but it's still a really good workout.  My elbow held up okay throughout the workout. I weighed in this morning and am now down to 154.

Day 108 - Rest Day

It's my birthday, so I'm taking my rest day today.  My elbow hurts some from the workout last night, so it seems the clicking is the thing that is causing most of the issue.  Tonight we're going out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner, so I took it easy for lunch and had a salad at SaladWorks.  Nice thing is that it was free because they sent me point on my card for my B-Day.  Yea.  Even though we're going out tonight I am still hoping to stay within my calories by ordering a 10-ounce Ribeye, Rice and steamed vegetables.

Update: I did okay on my calories for the day.  I had the Ribeye, salad and vegetables and a roll with cinnamon butter.  Overall I stayed under 2000 calories for the day.  I also decided to do some chin-ups when I got home to keep the muscles loose.

Day 107 - X2 Shoulders and Arm & X2 Ab Ripper

After the week off from this workout last week I am now back to it and I'm doing it a day early because tomorrow is my birthday and I'll be going out to dinner with my family so I wanted to have my rest night tomorrow.  I brought it pretty hard tonight and my elbow held up okay even though it is still making the clicking noise.  I guess I need to have that looked at, but it's not hurting much after the workout, so that's good.  I'm icing it down just to be safe.  I really enjoyed the workout along with Ab Ripper.  I'm feeling good about progress and what I see in the mirror.  I just need to keep at it.  I am doing really well on what I'm eating.  Today a vendor brought in donuts for the group and I didn't have any.  They are my nemesis, so I feel pretty good about that.

Day 106 - Plyocide

The workout felt pretty good tonight.  I was able to get through it with only a few breaks to bring my heart rate down.  I also threw in some extra chin-ups and dumbbell chest presses at the end to work some of the upper body.  It's my birthday on Thursday and we're going out to dinner so I'll need to decide if I want to switch my rest day or just workout after dinner on Thursday.  Not sure yet.  We'll see.  My elbow seems to be doing okay, but I still hear a click when doing pushups, so I'm a bit concerned about that.  The tendon is likely still misplaced a bit from inflammation.  I'm trying to do other workouts to work the chest and avoid too many pushups until I can do them without the clicking.  If it doesn't stop soon then I'll have the joy of a doctor visit so that they can say I need to rest from the exercise.  Not happening.  Time for some ice on it.

Day 105 (start of week 16) - Chest and Back and Balance & X2 Ab Ripper

Well, here we go with another week.  It was nice to be able to attack the workout today without any pain in the elbow.  I still iced it down following the workout (just to be safe), but it's feeling pretty good.  The workout on Wednesday with the dumbbells will be the real test to see if the recovery has progressed enough.  Tonight the push-up workouts were harder than normal, so I need to spend some time doing a bit of catchup after having to modify last week.  I can feel the difference after just one week of having to take it easy on the arms.  Time to bring it hard again.

Day 104 - Rest day

I sure needed a rest day after the day I had yesterday.  I weighed in this morning and am still at 156, so no change there, but pants continue to fit looser every week.  I am also now getting lots more comments from people about the change in my weight.  I got a comment from someone today that hasn't seen me since before I started and I got the comment that I look really healthy.  I like that. 

Here is a picture of me in pants that I used to wear before starting this blog.

Day 103 - X2 Base and Back and X2 Ab Ripper

I woke up at 2:15 this morning to drive Nicole to the open house at University of Connecticut.  We spent the day there and then drove back and got home by 9 PM just in time for me to start my workout and finish up just after 10PM now.  Wow, what a long day.  But, I feel good about the fact that I did not use the long day as an excuse to not workout.  This workout requires a lot of pull-ups, so I'll be interested to see how my elbow feels tomorrow. My motivation was a bit lacking by the time I got to Ab Ripper, but I muddled through it.  I'll need to try to bring it a bit harder on Monday.

Day 102 - X2 Yoga

I was a bit tentative when starting yoga tonight because of my elbow, but it held up pretty well.  I was even able to include the push-ups after upward dog.  I really didn't break much of a sweat tonight, so it seems I'm having a bit of an easier time with the yoga workout.  I'm looking forward to trying some chin-ups tomorrow to see how that goes.

Day 101 - Plyocide & X2 Ab Ripper

Well, I did my modified workout tonight to reduce stress om my elbow and it seems to have helped.  I am icing my elbow right now and plan to do Yoga tomorrow night and then see how it feels.  If it's feeling better by Saturday then I may try my normal workout.  We'll see.  Doing Ab Ripper after Plyocide tonight was tough.  Lots of sweating, but definitely a good workout.  I WILL NOT LET UP.

Day 100 - Rest day

Well, I've been pretending that I don't have an issue with my elbow being sore, but I can't ignore it any more.  For the last week or so it's been hurting.  Most likely tendonitis.  So, rest night tonight is a welcome thing.  Over the next few days I plan to modify my workouts to avoid too much impact on arms.  Hopefully giving the elbow some rest will help with the recovery.  If that doesn't work then I will need to get it checked out.  Here's hoping that won't be necessary.

Day 99 - Plyocide

I had a good amount of energy for tonight's workout, so it didn't seem too bad.  I decided to do some chin-ups afterward and was able to do 11 chin-ups without too much kipping.  I can definitely see a change when I look int the mirror.  Less fat around the middle and some good definition showing up for the abs.  I continue to be amazed by the results I'm getting from doing this program.

Day 98 (start of week 15) - Chest and Back and Balance & X2 Ab Ripper

I was off from work today, so I decided to workout first thing in the morning.  This worked out well since I went rock-climbing with Nicole in the afternoon.  Now that it's' after dinner I feel a void during the time that I normally workout, so just doing some chin-ups (for the fun of it).  I found it a lot easier in the rock gym now that I'm working out regularly and have lost some weight.  I went out today and got some new pants (size 33 waist).  Still loving this P90X2.

Day 97 - Rest Day (Easter)

My goal today is to take it easy on the eating.  Kristi is making a wonderful meal of ham, based mac& cheese, deviled eggs etc.  So, the rule of the day is moderation.  I day oatmeal and a protein bar for breakfast and soup and salad for lunch.  That way I can enjoy dinner without feeling a lot of guilt.

Day 96 - X2 Base and Back and X2 Ab Ripper

I didn't get to play basketball today because I had to work, but got to play 9 holes of golf with Stephen before doing my workout after dinner.  It seems right now I am able to up my reps on at least one area of the workout each week.  I increased reps on a couple tonight.  I can now easily do 10 chin-ups at the start of the workout, so the progress continues.  I'm having trouble telling if I am continuing to lose any fat around the middle, but I suspect I am being a bit impatient.  This does take time after all.  I plan to take another picture at day 120 to see if there is any noticeable difference.

Day 95 - X2 Yoga

I started out the yoga tonight a bit concerned about pushing it too hard because my elbow was hurting a bit after last night's workout (probably tendonitis).  About halfway through I realized that the workout was actually helping to loosen up the muscles and ligaments in my arm, so by the time I was done it felt pretty good.

Day 94 - X2 Shoulders and Arm & X2 Ab Ripper

Tricep pulls

What's the rule?

"Don't smash your face!!!"

Those are 25 LBS weights, so dropping them by my ears requires a bit of control.  By the time I'm done with this workout My arms feel like rock.  Very enjoyable workout.

Day 93 - Rest Day (sort of)

Once again I decided to do a light workout instead of just sitting on my butt all night.  I did some chin-ups and some pushups just to stay a bit loose. 

Day 92 - Plyocide

Tony calls you "Death by jumping"
Because you get my heart a pumping

You make me sweat from every pore
And cause my muscles to be sore
But, for you my limits I explore

--Thank you Plyocide

Day 91 (start of week 14) - Chest and Back and Balance & X2 Ab Ripper

I'm very happy that my desire to continue to work at this has not decreased just because I've passed the 90-day goal.  I worked hard at this workout tonight and I can feel it.  I was able to continue to increase reps on a couple of things, so the progress continues every week.  I also did good at controlling my eating today.  I weighed in this morning and I'm now at 156.  I was talking to a co-worker today and was amazed to hear him say that he had not noticed that I had lost weight.  I told him I had lost over 30 pounds and he said "where did you hide it"?  Ha, I guess some people just not pay much attention :-)

Day 90 - Rest Day

I'm enjoying a rest day.  I went to church with my Dad in Pottstown and we went to Friendly's for lunch afterward.  I had a nice healthy shrimp and rice dish that was only 450 calories, but was delicious.  I weighed in this morning and am holding steady at 157, so down a full 20 pounds from when I start P90X2 90 days ago and down 31 from the start of this journey after Thanksgiving.