Day 303 - Rest Day

It's a rest day and I'm using it because the last two days have made me a bit sore.  Also, I had to take my son out to get birthday presents for my wife.  Tomorrow it's back at it.  Also, tonight I went out and got 30 lb. dumbbells, so looking forward to putting them to use tomorrow night.  I was hoping to run during lunch today, but it was too cold out (low 40's).  Maybe tomorrow if time allows.

Day 302 - Plyocide

The pain of getting back into workout mode continues.  I had to take a couple of extra breaks during the workout today, but I put the effort into the workout and had the sweat dripping off of me to prove it.  Many muscle are sore from last night's workout, so that goes to show you that even a short break can make a big difference.  Hopefully I work be taking too many more week-long breaks.  It's too difficult to get back into the groove.  Depending on the weather and how my legs feel I may go for a run tomorrow during lunch.  We'll see.

Day 301 (Start of week 44) - X2 Chest + Back + Balance & X2 Ab Ripper

Wow, I can tell it's been two weeks since I did phase 2.  That along with having a week off from working out results in me really struggling through the workout tonight, but I got through it and the reps didn't fall off by too much and I feel pretty good.  I'm back to eating right as well, so hopefully I can get back in shape pretty quickly. 

Days 294-300 - Myrtle Beach trip

I just got back from my trip to Myrtle Beach where I spent 4 wonderful days golfing with my brother and some friends from Utah.  I ate way too much and the only workout I got was golfing 36 holes of golf per day.  I can tell I've put on a few pounds, so I need to get back to my routine of working out and eating better.  Time to get back to work.

Day 293 - Rest Day

It's good that it's a rest day today because this annoying cold kept me from sleeping last night.  It's not a serious cold so far, but it's enough to be annoying.  I'm pretty much just resting all day today to see if I can get back to strength for starting my drive to SC tomorrow.

Day 292 - P.A.P. Upper

Well, I got back into the swing of things today.  I got in my workout for the last one before heading to Myrtle Beach for the week.  I'm still not feeling 100%, but I feel better than I did yesterday, so I plan to rest for the remainder of the day and continue to eat healthy so that I can try to stay strong.

Day 291 - Sick Day

I took a break from working out today because I was feeling really tired and my throat was starting to get that scratchy feeling like you get when a cold is starting.  To be safe I decided to not do my planned PAP Lower workout.  I hope to be feeling well enough to do PAP Upper tomorrow.

Day 290 - Rest Day

Ahhh, enjoying a day of rest from the workouts.  I'm eating right today and letting my body recover so that I can hit PAP Lower hard tomorrow night.  I think I feel the start of a cold coming on (scratchy throat), so I am very much hoping that it doesn't amount to much since I am supposed to be heading to Myrtle Beach next week for golf.

Day 289 - X2 Yoga / Run

My legs were feeling good enough that I got a run in today.  I did 5K in just under 28 minutes, so pretty normal.  I started to use the runtastic app and decided to listen to some music on my iPhone while running and that was nice to help me keep my mind occupied a bit.  My lower back was feeling a bit sore tonight when I started yoga, so I'm hoping the workout and some Ibuprofen will help with that.  Eating today is going well.  I even had a chocolate shakeology with my 6" chicken sub from subway after my run.  Dinner tonight was hamburger gravy over white rice, so I took it easy on the portion for that.  I continue to make it a habit to do 15 chin-ups before doing yoga and it does seem to be getting easier to knock out 15.  It was pretty good tonight.

Day 288 - PAP Upper

For the last month I've been focusing on X2 Phase 2, so now that I'm back to Phase 3 all I can say is "Ouch ouch ouch".  Everything south of my waist hurts today after doing PAP Lower yesterday.  I just finished PAP Upper tonight, so I expect tomorrow could be more of the same above the waist.  At least I'll be balanced.

I was hoping to run tomorrow during lunch, but we'll see if my legs will be able to handle that.  I may wait until Thursday.

Day 287 (Start of week 42) - P.A.P. Lower

I was a bit torn between staying with phase 2 for another week and getting the benefit of that versus switching it up and doing Phase 3.  I decided to do phase 3 because it's been a while since I've done it.  I don't think it's quite as challenging as phase 2, so I need to try to mix in some extra things to keep up muscle tone.  I plan to do Ab Ripper on my rest day and also work a run in during the week (maybe on Wednesday because that's yoga day).  I'm doing really well on my calorie count today, so it will be good to make up a bit of ground after going over yesterday.

Day 286 - Rest Day

I am enjoying my rest day today.  I went to church in Pottstown with my brother and Dad and we then had some lunch together at a Chinese buffet that has a Mongolian Grill.  I had a nice Shrimp and Chicken dish with vegetables and some hot spices to jazz it up a bit.  YUM!!!

Problem is that we had lunch pretty early, so I've been hungry again this afternoon and as a result I've been eating more than normal today.  I need to be pretty conservative for the rest of the day or I'm going to go way past my normal calorie limit.

Day 285 - X2 Base + Back & X2 Ab Ripper

I was able to increase reps on a few things this time, so it seems that doing phase 2 for 4 weeks in a row is paying off some.  I plan to do phase 3 next week before my week off for my golf trip to Myrtle Beach.  I need to work in more phase 3 in coming weeks before trying to tackle Asylum 2.  Eating so far today is going pretty well.  I'm above 150 grams of protein. I had a good golf lesson today.  I think I must have hit about 200 golf balls in the hour that I was there, so my lower back is feeling it a bit.  Not too bad though.   Once again I am glad to have a rest day tomorrow. 

Day 284 - X2 Yoga

I got a late start tonight because of needing to stay at work a bit later than normal.  I still got it done and got a good workout from the routine tonight.  I focused on the moves to get the most out of them tonight.  It seemed to go very quickly.  My back is feeling really good today, so I'm happy about that.  We'll see how it's feeling after a golf lesson tomorrow.

For lunch today I tried a vegetarian cafe just for the experience.  The food was pretty good, but not very filling.  I had a chocolate ShakeO afterward to fill me up.  I guess I'm not really much of a vegetarian.

Day 283 - X2 Shoulders + Arms & X2 Ab Ripper

I was able to improve reps on a couple of things tonight, but once again I was was most impressed with how hard I brought it with Ab Ripper.  I was really able to isolate the abs in a number of the moves, so I felt it a lot.  If I can keep that up the abs are going to be looking good.  I'm looking into ordering Insanity the Asylum 2 to start to mix that in with X2 once I hit the one year mark  Sounds like a good challenging workout.

Day 282 - Rest Day

I was off from work today and I went golfing with my brother this afternoon.  It was a real nice day golfing together.  It wasn't what I would consider much of a workout since we took a cart, but it sure was fun.  Tomorrow it's right back to working out.  I would consider going for a run tomorrow, but I already know that I won't have time during the day, so I'm not sure yet where I'll be able to work in a run this week.  There is still time to get that done, so I'm not giving up hope.  Maybe Friday if weather is okay.

Day 281 - X2 Plyocide

Once again I was able to keep the pace in the workout tonight without adding in any extra break.  As Tony says "No breaks for me".  As usual, I was sweating up a storm by the time I was done.  I am really starting to gain a good appreciation for this workout.  It's only taken 9 months for that to happen :-)

I'm a little heavy on calories today because I packed my lunch and the selection was not ideal to keep calories down.  Thankfully today ended up being a shopping day, so the rest of the week will not be as difficult to make good choices.  We now have a better selection of fruits and vegetables available.  I did stick with plain oatmeal with honey again this morning instead of the packaged sweetened oatmeal packs and I like the change.  It's a bit healthier and still tastes really good.  In spite of the tough start I should still end up around my 2200 calorie goal today, so not overly concerned.  It just means a bit more self control with snacking tonight.  I'm staying steady at my weight of 138.  It's still a bit hard for me to believe that I had 50 extra pounds on me when I started this journey. 

Day 280 (Start of week 41) - Chest + Back + Balance & X2 Ab Ripper

I had a really good workout tonight.  Not only did I increase reps on some things, but I felt really good while working out.  By the time I got to Ab Ripper I was toast, but I kept it going and got benefit out of it.  No doubt the workout tonight is going to pay off for me.  My eating is right on track today as well, so I keep making progress on getting fit. 

Day 279 - Rest Day

Another week is behind me and it was a pretty good one as far as working out goes.  Yesterday I was out running some errands and I ended up stopping into the TJMaxx to see what deals they have.  I found two nice dress shirts.  I was looking for some 30" waist jeans and couldn't find any and then it dawned on me that I needed to be looking in the young men's section.  Too bad all of the styles were not what I was looking for.  Oh well.  I guess finding old man jeans in size 30 is not the easiest thing.  I think there is probably more I can be doing to be eating right to build muscle.  I am only doing "okay" at what I eat.  Today I made some edamame as part of my lunch since I had vegetable soup for lunch (which doesn't include any protein).  I keep trying to learn more about eating healthy.

Day 278 - X2 Base + Back & X2 Ab Ripper

Whoa, that was a workout.  I wasn't able to do this workout last week because of the trip to UConn, so getting back to it this week after having two weeks off was a bit of a wake-up call like "Hey, remember me?"  I increased reps on a couple of things, but most in the cardio moves and not in chin-ups.  I'm looking forward to a chance to do this again next Saturday to see if I can increase the reps on a couple more things.

Day 277 - X2 Yoga

I was really stressing over some things right before starting my workout tonight.  I now feel so much better.  The issues are not resolved, but my perspective on them just seems to be better.  I love this workout for so much more than the strength and flexibility it provides.  This should be mandatory training for anyone that has to drive during rush-hour traffic in PA.  I got to enjoy some dinner with Kristi and Stephen at Cracker Barrel tonight.  I had grilled chicken, rice pilaf, green beans and cucumber salad.  Delicious.

Day 276 - X2 Shoulders + Arms & X2 Ab Ripper

I found some of the reps to be a bit of a challenge tonight during Shoulders + Arms.  Lots of things can factor into why that is, so I'm not too concerned about it because it doesn't happen all the time.  I really got a lot of benefit out of Ab Ripper tonight.  I'm already looking forward to Yoga tomorrow night.  I guess that is a clear indication that I'm addicted to this program (as if that wasn't already obvious from this blog).

Day 275 - Rest Day/Run Day

Today is a rest day for X2, so I went for a run after work. My goal this time around was to keep my heart rate up for a longer duration, so I slowed my pace to just under a 10-minute mile and got in 4 miles. I then had a chocolate ShakeO for replenishment afterward. I'm looking forward to kicking back and enjoying the remainder of my rest day.  I had a Dr. visit to have him check my back and good news is that it does not seem to be an issue with discs or anything like that.  Likely just some muscle inflammation, but I'm getting an x-ray done to be sure. Better safe than sorry, right?

Day 274 - Plyocide

Good day today.  I made sure last night to sleep in a way that took some stress off of my back.  I didn't necessarily sleep very well, but it did help with the back pain when I woke this morning.  Plyocide was really good tonight.  I didn't add in any extra breaks, so by the time I was done I was a sweaty mess.  Eating is also on track for today, so overall it has been a good day for staying the course.  I don't think the weather is going to let me go for a run tomorrow, so I may need to wait until Thursday for that.  We'll see.

Day 273 (Start of week 40) - Chest + Back + Balance & X2 Ab Ripper

Well, my back is still bothering me, so I've scheduled an appt. with a doctor to have things looked at.  It isn't getting in the way of working out, but sleeping at night is tough. I got through the workout okay and my back actually feels a bit better following the workout.  Eating continues to go well and clothes continue to fit well.  I'm not losing a lot of weight any longer, so it seems that my calorie count of 2200 is about right for maintenance.