Day 211 - X2 Plyocide

When I got home from work tonight I was really tired, so I took a quick power nap before starting Plyocide.  Some parts were a real workout tonight, but I toughed it out and felt pretty good by the time I was done.  My pecs are sore tonight from the workout last night.  No surprise there since it's been a little while since I worked out the chest.  I need to continue to find ways to get more chest workouts included in my workouts.

Day 210 (Start of week 31) - X2 Chest + Back + Balance & X2 Ab Ripper

Well, I'm feeling better and I'm back at working out.  I could certainly tell that it's been a few days since I worked out.  My arms were struggling to keep up with the pullup count tonight.  That's okay.  Do your best and forget the rest.  I did my best tonight and it was pretty good.  I'm glad to be back to phase 2 because Ab Ripper is something I miss if I don't get to do it for  a week.  So much benefit from that workout.

Day 209 - Rest Day

I'm feeling better today,so I am hoping to be back in action again starting tomorrow.  Having 4 days off from working out is bugging me a bit, but there is not much I can do about it if I'm sick.  I'm still trying to eat healthy.

Day 208 - No workout again today

I'm taking some time off to rest and get over this cold.

Day 207 - No workout

This cold has come back with a vengeance.  I came home early from work and went right to bed.  I hope to start back up at working out on Monday.  I need to allow my body the time to rest before getting back to it.

Day 206 - Rest Day

It's a rest day today and I'm taking it as one.  I'm really tired from this cold and from my job keeping me very busy all day.  I plan to just relax and see how I feel tomorrow. 

Day 205 - X2 Yoga

Wow, my legs were really sore today because of the increase in weight on Monday with PAP Lower. Doing yoga tonight helped with the soreness some, but I suspect it will be a couple of days before all of the soreness is gone.  I'm starting to get rid of my sinus infection, so that's becoming less of an issue with working out.

Day 204 - P.A.P. Upper

I really felt this workout tonight.  I was sweating buckets during the first half.  Second half isn't quite as intense, but still not a breeze by any stretch.  I increased my weight from 15 to 20 lb. dumbbells for the press move at the end of the second complex.  No doubt I'll feel that tomorrow.  I was fortunate the get the workout in tonight because I had my son's Eagle Scout board of review at 7, so things were a bit rushed, but it all worked out.

Day 203 (Start of week 30) - P.A.P. Lower

This week I'm back to the phase 3 workouts and feeling the pain of being away from it for a couple of weeks.   There is no doubt that there is benefit in switching between phases to keep that muscle confusion going.  My sinuses are feeling a lot better tonight, so the workout wasn't impacted too much tonight.

My weight has pretty much stabilized at 144 now for about the last 3-4 weeks, so my balance of calories (about 2000/day) and working out seems to be about right now.  Good thing too because it's getting expensive having to replace clothes multiple times.  My waist is now down to 30", so I don't think I want to go too much smaller at this point.  I'm still loving this program.

Day 202 - Rest Day

Today is a rest day like normal since it's Sunday.  It's a good thing it is a rest day because I'm still having trouble with my sinuses, so I took a decongestant and allergy medicine.  I got to visit with my Dad for his Birthday today, so lots of running around and fortunately I was still able to eat pretty healthy.  I'm down a lot on protein today, but still within calories for the day.

Day 201 - X2 Base & Back + X2 Ab Ripper

I've been really tired all day because of this stupid sinus infection or allergies or whatever it is.  Anyway, I was really lacking the motivation to work out today, but I did it anyway and I feel better now.  My back got a really good workout from my golf lesson today because I was focusing on making a full turn.  No doubt the increased flexibility from these workouts is helping me with my golf swing. 

Day 200 - X2 Yoga`

Wow, 200 days of staying with this program.  It sure is paying off.  I feel great and and I'm in the best shape of my life.  My brother is now finally really trying to lose weight so that he can also start some sort of workout program, so it seems the desire to workout is catching.  At some point I think I would like to try a different Beachbody workout program, but I'll likely stick with X2 for the rest of this year.  It's such a good program and I haven't plateaued in terms of results yet.

Day 199 - X2 Shoulders & Arms + X2 Ab Ripper

Wow, that's a lot of dumbbell work.  The arms are feeling tight after that workout.  I still need to get the 30 lb. dumbbells, but the 25 lb. ones worked out fine.  Instead I picked up a pair of 20 lb. ones so that I can up the weight for the ones that I've been doing with just 15 lbs.  I was able to improve on a couple of reps tonight, so I continue to try to improve.  Feeling good.

Day 198 - Rest Night (again, sort of)

Tonight I did some indoor rock climbing with Nicole, so my arms got a pretty good workout from that.  The climbs were a lot easier now that I've lost so much weight (makes a huge difference for rock climbing).  I've been doing good on eating today.
Breakfast: Oatmeal and protein bar
Lunch: Subway 6 inch turkey on wheat (mustard and no cheese), Baked Lays chips
Afternoon Snack: A few cashews and a fiber bar
Dinner: Mexican Beef skillet & corn (no control over this since I don't do the cooking for dinner)
Evening snack: Protein bar, some pretzel sticks & frozen strawberry bar (my favorite snack)

Day 197 - Plyocide

I was concerned that my cold would keep me from being able to exert myself for this tonight, but it worked out fine.  I was able to do well at the workout.  Actually, I got through it with little concern for being able to finish it.  I even did some chin-ups before starting to give my arms a bit of a workout.  My back is feeling much better these days, so I'm not too concerned about pushing it on the back any more.  Bring it.

Day 196 (Start of week 29) - X2 Chest & Back & Balance + X2 Ab Ripper

At the outset I decide I was going to do more reps on some of the workouts today. That positive attitude really helped me to do better on the reps tonight than I had on previous weeks.  It also helps that this is my second week in a row doing the phase 2 workouts.  It was a pretty time-consuming workout again tonight because I didn't rush things.  I'm not sure how I could spend all of this time on working out if I had more demands on my time.  Thankfully right now I don't.  I did okay on eating today.  I also weighed in today and I'm pretty much holding steady on weight.  Today was 144 again.

Day 195 - Rest Day

I'm enjoying my rest day quite a bit.  I spent some time relaxing after church and then decided to see if I could take in the waist on a pair of pants of mine.  It went okay considering I'm not very good with a sewing machine.  I'm trying to keep the protein up a bit more than I did yesterday in prep for hitting Phase 2 pretty hard this week.  Time to bring it with gusto.  I need to go out and get 20 & 30 lb. dumbbells.  I hope to do that tomorrow.

Day 194 - X2 Base & Back + X2 Ab Ripper

I was at a racing event most of the day, so by the time I got home I was pretty tired.  In spite of that I did my workout and I really felt it while doing it tonight.  I was sucking wind a lot during Base & Back.  And by the time I got to Ab Ripper I was pretty much spent, but I still pushed through it.  It won't go down in history as my most beneficial Ab Ripper workout, but I still got it done. 

Day 193 - X2 Yoga

Milestone alert: Before doing X2 Yoga tonight I decided to do some chin-ups to see where I'm currently maxing out. I can now do 15 reps. I've been trying to get to 15 since starting and now I can finally do it. To put this into perspective, when I started I was only able to do 3. 6 months later and things have totally changed for me because of P90X2. Very psyched. BTW, Yoga was awesome tonight. Serious sweating going on. I love that workout. Calories were again a bit high tonight because we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner.  I need to be careful not to let this overeating become too much of a habit.

Day 192 - Rest Day

I'm fighting a bit of a stomach bug that kept me up all night, so I'm off from work today.  I'm glad tonight is a rest day for me.  I need it.

I went off the good eating wagon a bit today.  Lunch was a Chick-fil-A sandwich and waffle fries and then for dinner Kristi made fried chicken strips and french fries.  Ha, go figure.  I even broke down and had a doughnut at Dunkin Donuts today. Oh, well.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit more controlled. In spite of these bad choices my daily intake was still under 2300 calories, so not the end of the world.

Day 191 - X2 Shoulders & Arms + X2 Ab Ripper

I'm a bit late posting this one, but no matter.  Tonight was supposed to be my rest day, but I need to go to an appt. tomorrow night, so I switched it.  My back muscle is still bothering me some, but I got through the routine without having to change anything.  I'm starting to increase my calories a bit more since it seems that 2000 is a bit low and I'm getting hungry by the end of the day.  I suspect I should be okay given the calories burned by X2.  Time will tell.

Day 190 - X2 Plyocide

I just finished my workout and took a quick shower and am feeling really good right now.  The workout seemed to help with my sore back again, so it seems the key here is to keep stretching and rolling the affected muscle.  Plyocide went pretty well tonight.  I was (as usual) sweating a lot by the time I was done.  What a good workout.  My brother mentioned the other day that I look too thin in the face.  I don't know about that.  I guess he's not used to seeing me as thin.

Day 189 (Start of week 28) - X2 Chest & Back & Balance + X2 Ab Ripper

Last night I had trouble sleeping because of my soar back muscle, so it seems that just resting it is doing nothing.  Also, I decided I was tired of having to modify my workout because of a sore muscle, so tonight I did the full workout and did some extra foam rolling of my back muscle to see if I can work out the soreness that way.  We'll see how things go.  Soon I want to start to hit some golf balls again to see if it will hold up to all of the twisting and straining.  I did okay at the workout tonight and I'm still convinced that phase 2 is more of a workout than phase 3, so it's good that I'm spending more time in phase 2.

Day 188 - Rest Day

Nice day of rest today on Sunday.  I went to lunch with my Dad and relaxed some today.  I kept my calories in check and am ready to get back to it hard tomorrow. 

Day 187 - P.A.P. Upper

The workout went fine tonight.  As planned, I substituted other workouts in place of Superman because of my sore muscle.  I did a combination of things in place of it like push-ups, leg lifts and phelan twist. Next week it's back to phase 2 for a couple of weeks again. I had the most amazing cantaloupe for breakfast with my normal protein bar.  The fresh fruits in season right now are truly a blessing.

Day 186 - P.A.P. Lower

I had to modify the workout a bit tonight because I am still having some muscle pain in my back.  I replaced the side bridge leg lift with push-ups instead and I think it was actually more strenuous than the normal routine, so I'm hoping to not have to make that substitution again in the future.  I do think there is value in trying to fit in more push-ups throughout X2 though because my chest doesn't get enough of a workout from the normal routines.  The rest of the workouts didn't bother my back much.  I plan to lay off of the golf lessons tomorrow and just do P.A.P. Upper and probably substitute push-ups in place of Superman, but hopefully everything else will be doable.  I'm enjoying lots of really good fruits and vegetables from the market and from our garden right now, so eating healthy is not too hard. I just ate the most incredible peach.  Yum.

Day 185 - Rest Day

My back is feeling a bit better, but not great yet.  I did some chin-ups tonight, but I'm not planning to do anything else until tomorrow night when I do P.A.P. Lower again.  I went out with Stephen and walked with him while he played 5 holes of golf.  It was torture to be there and not playing. 

Day 184 - X2 Yoga

I decided to get up and get my workout in early before everything happens today for Independence Day.  My back did not feel good when I started, but felt a lot better by the time I was done.  Here's hoping that between this workout and the rest day tomorrow I can get it back to feeling good.  Since I worked out early I had my protein drink right after the workout, so that was Breakfast.  I mixed in some frozen strawberries and had it as a nice thick smoothie.  Yum.  We're doing normal picnic food today, so I need to watch what I eat early on today to save some calories for the burgers.

I went out today to get some shorts because the ones I have are getting to be too large.   I bought two pair of 30" waist.  They are a touch snug, but I suspect they will fit perfectly in a few short weeks.

Day 183 - P.A.P. Upper

My back is still sore, but I was able to get through the workout and it actually seems to have helped a bit with my back.  I still play to take it a bit easy and avoid any more golf until I am fully recovered.  Tomorrow is yoga which I am very much looking forward to.  It should help a lot with my back.  I'm a bit high on the calories so far today and I'm not sure how it crept up so much on me, but I need to take it a bit easy for the rest of the day.

Day 182 - P.A.P Lower

Good workout, but it was made a bit more challenging because I have a very sore muscle in my back that is most likely from hitting so many golf balls lately.  I did some extra foam rolling in hopes of helping it out, but it's still pretty sore.  Here's hoping that some ibuprofen and a good night's rest does the trick. 

Day 181 - Rest Day

It's Sunday, so I'm enjoying a day off from working out.  I'm relaxing and trying to eat healthy today in prep for the start of another week of doing phase 3 workouts.  As I was putting on my suit for church today I realized how much I am in need of some new clothes.  The suit pants I had taken in a couple months ago now are way too lose on me and they are literally the smallest pants I own.  I'm guessing my waist size is around 31" right now.