Day 545 - Rest Day

My back was pretty sore when I woke up this morning, but as the day progresses it's feeling considerably better.  It seems that taking it easy on the workouts is paying off.  I'm hoping that staying with Tai Cheng and Ab Ripper will allow me to get over this issue soon.

Day 544 - Tai Cheng Day 2 & X2 Ab Ripper & 4 mile walk

I started off the day with a nice 4 mile walk at a pretty fast pace.  This afternoon I did the 2nd day of Tai Cheng and then did Ab Ripper.  Once again I found the round of Tai Cheng to be a good relaxing routine that doesn't in any way get even close to working up a sweat, but it's a nice short workout that is relaxing.  I did work up a bit of a sweat doing Ab Ripper.

Day 543 - Rest Day

My back has been pretty sore all day, so I took today as a rest day.  I'm going to take it easy over the next couple of days to see if doing pretty much nothing helps my back feel better.

Day 542 - X2 Yoga

Ouch, that hurt the back muscle a bit.  I took it easy and added a lot of foam rolling in along the way, but this may be a bit more than I should be doing while recovering.  My neck and back muscles are feeling pretty tight right now.  I had my MRI scheduled for tomorrow, but I think I decided to wait a couple of weeks to see if things improve before spending all of that money on an MRI just to find out it may not be needed.  My follow-up with the doc isn't for another 3 weeks, so I'll get the MRI closer to my follow-up appt. if my back isn't feeling a lot better by then.  I'm trying very hard to keep my calories in check at 2200 calories right now.

Day 541 - Tai Cheng Day 1

Tai Cheng arrived today.  I did Day 1 and found it short and relaxing.  I think this would be a good mix with Ab Ripper on days when I don't do the Yoga workout.  By itself it doesn't seem like quite enough of a workout to do much.  That may change as I get into the future days.  We'll see.

Day 540 - X2 Ab Ripper

I'm doing well with my eating today.  I did Ab Ripper tonight and then did some stretching using the power bands.  It was a nice short workout, but until Tai Cheng arrives my options are pretty limited until my back recovers.

Day 539 - X2 Yoga

My back was pretty stiff when I started.  I heated it before doing the workout and am now icing it afterward.  It was pretty sore throughout the workout, so we'll see if that was a good idea.  I'm not taking as much pain medicine any more.  I took a pill last night and had two Tylenol in the early afternoon, but all of that wore off by the time I did this workout, so I was feeling pretty much everything tonight.

Day 538 - Rest Day

It's Sunday again and I got to go to breakfast with my Dad.  I'm spending the day relaxing and taking care of my sore muscles by using a heating pad and a neck wrap that my Mom made for me years ago.  You put it in the microwave for about a minute to heat it up and then lay it across your shoulders.  The flax seed inside the wrap hold in the heat to warm the neck muscles.  According the doctors, the feeling in my arm with the nerves is caused by neck muscle tightness, so hopefully this neck wrap will help.

Day 537 - Walk & X2 Recovery & Mobility

I got out for a 4 mile walk this morning and in the afternoon I did Recovery & Mobility to allow me to stretch out some.  I'm not taking Ibuprofen any longer based on doctor's orders.  I think I was in a mode over the last month or so where the continued use of the Ibuprofen was covering up the fact that the workouts were continuing to re-injure my back muscle.  So, I would stretch it out during the workout and it would feel a bit better and then when I take Ibuprofen it masked the ongoing pain.

I ordered the Beachbody Tai Cheng today.  It should arrive within a week or so and will be able to use that for working out until I'm able to go back to doing P90X2.

Day 536 - Rest Day

I saw the doctor today about the soreness in my back and the associated tingling in my arm from pressure on the nerve.  Good news is that he believes the issue to be muscular.  An MRI will tell for sure, but the bad news is that he told me that I need to avoid any type of impact exercise for the next four weeks.  This means not pushups, pull-ups, running or weights at all.  I am not at all surprised by this, but I'm going to have a hard time with this because it's going to mean a loss of muscle.  I can still do things like Yoga, walking and biking, so I'll need to make sure to focus on these things in coming days.  I tried to do Yoga tonight, but my back was way too sore from the workout yesterday, so I just did some simple stretching.  I plan to go for a walk tomorrow morning and then if my back is feeling up to it I'll try yoga tomorrow.

I will really need to watch my eating over the next four weeks since my activity level is going to be less, so I plan to cut back to 2200 calories or less per day for the next four weeks.  It also means I will need less protein right now.

Day 535 - Run & Arm work

I got in a 5k run during lunch.  Tonight I started to do X2 Shoulders & Arms, but had to stop part way through because I was feeling a lot of clicking in my back.  I switched to some chin-up and pushup work.  It all worked out fine since I had very little time tonight because of the need to do a lot of running around.  Tomorrow I get to see an orthopedist to have my back checked out.

Update: I had a tough night of sleep because of my back being sore.  I was right to stop the workout last night to avoid further issue from the clicking.

Day 534 - X2 Ab Ripper

I made up the missed Ab Ripper workout from Monday and also did some pushups.  It was a good way to keep my sore back stretched out.  I was pretty amazed at how much I was sweating by the time I was done with Ab Ripper.  I got a lot out of it tonight.  Very nice.

Day 533 - Plyocide

I got my Plyocide workout done tonight.  It felt okay and I'm following the routine that I did last night by icing and then heating my back after the workout.  Here's hoping it helps with a recovery.  Tomorrow I'm planning to make up the Ab Ripper workout that I didn't get done last night.  Depending on how much time I have I'm hoping to also throw in some push-ups.  I'm very pleased that my sleeping at night no longer requires me to take anything to help me sleep.  I have no idea what changed, but I sure am grateful that my issues with insomnia are no longer continuing.

Day 532 - Chest + Back + Balance

In spite of me taking it easy on my back the last couple of days it was still sore all day today, so I figure if it's going to be sore then I might as well give it a reason to be sore :-)

I can tell that my workouts have been a bit less productive lately.  Some of the reps were harder to achieve tonight.  I need to get my back healthy so that I can get back into the groove of not having to skip workouts.  Tomorrow I plan to do Plyocide and then hopefully Ab Ripper on Wednesday.

Update: The workout followed by heating and icing my back muscle seems to have helped it a lot.  I woke up in the morning feeling much better.  So, I plan to do the same the rest of this week.   Stretch, workout and then rotate heating and icing my back.

Day 531 - Rest Day

It's Father's Day and I was treated to a wonderful breakfast that the rest of the family made for me this morning.  Waffles, bacon, sausage, eggs and fresh strawberries and banana.  Delicious, but it goes without saying that lunch was considerably less than normal as a result of the indulgent breakfast.  Tonight we're having roast chicken with mashed potatoes and carrots.  My favorite.  My back feels a bit better today, so I think it was the right move to take it easy yesterday.

Day 530 - X2 Ab Ripper & 5k run

I was hoping to get out to play some golf today, but my back muscle was too sore for that.  I decided to go for a short run (5k) and then do Ab Ripper.  The run was more difficult than it probably should have been.  I'm not getting quite as many workouts in lately and I can feel the difference.  My back is limiting what I can do, so I continue to adjust and do what I can for now until it feels better. 

Day 529 - X2 Yoga

My back has been pretty sore again today.  I sure hope I get some good news on options when I see the doctor on Friday because this is getting pretty old.  It felt a bit better right before starting my workout, but stretching it during Yoga was more than a little bit uncomfortable.  I'm rotating ice and heat in hopes of being able to sleep better than I did last night.

Day 528 - Rest Day

I was at the U.S. Open golf tournament all day today.  I finally got home at 10:00 PM after a long day of walking all over the place.  The highlight for me was to watch Tiger Woods make this putt on 6th hole.

I'll be right back at it tomorrow with Yoga.

Day 527 - Plyocide

My back is feeling better tonight, so I was able to do Plyocide.  It felt okay throughout the workout too.  As usual, I worked up a really good sweat doing the workout.  Not sure if I will get a workout in tomorrow since I'll be at the US Open golf tournament (weather permitting).  It depends on how long we stay.

Day 526 - Chest + Back + Balance

I started out the night with plans to do Plyocide, but my back was so sore that the jumping around hurt a lot.  So, I heated my back for a while and then decided to just push through the pain and do Chest + Back + Balance. I figure if it's going to hurt I might as well get something out of the workout.  Doing the workout helped to loosen up the muscle some, but we'll see how it feels tomorrow after it's been doing nothing for a while.   A recent article on the Beachbody site has me thinking that I am probably overdoing the protein in my diet a bit, so I plan to cut back to about 130-150 grams per day. If my muscle don't recover as fast then I'll know I need to go back up a bit more.

Day 525 - X2 Ab Ripper

Well, I'm trying to be kind to my back, so I just did Ab Ripper tonight.   I plan to do Plyocide tomorrow and then Ab Ripper again on Wednesday and see how things feel on Thursday.  If it feels better I may try Chest & Back & Balance in place of Shoulders + Arms.

Day 524 - Rest Day

Well, my back is definitely sore after the workout yesterday, so it's good that I have the day off today.  Ibuprofen is my friend today.  I'll play it by ear this next week and determine my workouts based on how my back muscle is doing.

Day 523 - Run & Shoulders + Arms & Ab Ripper

I went for a short 5k run this morning to get the blood pumping.  My back was pretty sore yesterday, but after heating it and doing some stretching it felt pretty good, so I decided to do a workout that involves the back.  I finally got back to a round of Shoulders + Arms again now that my elbow is feeling better.  I also got in a round of Ab Ripper tonight.  I was planning on three rounds of Ab Ripper this week, but got in two because of taking Thursday off because of soreness.  The workout tonight really focuses on back muscles, so we'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Day 522 - X2 Yoga

Wow, my back really hurts today and I could really feel it a lot during Yoga.  The muscle in my back is just not relaxing with me continuing to workout.  I have a Dr. Appt. set up to get things looked at in a couple of weeks, but I already know he's going to tell me to stop with the workouts that are stressing that muscle.  The pushups last night definitely didn't help.  I'm considering changing things up next week to just do Ab Ripper all six days and throw in a few runs so that I can let the muscle in my back relax.  Right now I'm icing it, but I've been doing that plenty lately and it's not making a huge difference.  I am so tired of my body letting me down and interrupting my workout schedule.

Day 521 - Rest Day

I had a longer than normal day at work and I have some strains and soreness that made me decide to not do a lot of working out tonight.  I just did some pushups tonight and will get back at it tomorrow night with Yoga.

Day 520 - Run day

I'm a bit late posting this, but I got out for a run during lunch and did 5K.  I took it easy because of my ankle, but it held up okay.  I was also happy that my stamina didn't tank after being away from running for a couple of weeks.  I was a little light on protein today because I didn't workout in the evening and didn't have my normal protein shake.

Day 519 - Plyocide

Got in my round of Plyocide right after work tonight.  It felt good.  My protein is up a lot today.  So much so that I only did half of a serving of the protein powder after my workout tonight.  Lots of chicken today.  I got through the workout tonight without having to add in any breaks.  It's a lot easier to do now that I'm over that cold that I had.  I worked up a good sweat tonight.

Day 518 - Chest + Back + Balance & X2 Ab Ripper

I just finished Chest + Back + Balance then had a bit of dinner and my protein shake and am taking a breather before starting Ab ripper.  The move to the left is called "The Impossible/Possible".  I got in my normal 18 reps of this tonight.  Right now the TV has the DVD menu on that is playing the same annoying tune for the menu screen.  That should motivate me to get off the couch and get Ab Ripper done.  I modified a couple of moves tonight because of my elbow, but not a lot of them.

Day 517 - Rest Day

I'm feeling a bit beat up today.  My elbow is sore and my back is sore.  Guess that comes with the age :-)

I'm well below normal for protein today, but did okay staying within calories.  I'm looking forward to another week of phase 2 and I need to get back to running this week now that my ankle is feeling better.

Day 516 - Base + Back

It's been a month since I last did Base + Back and let me tell you, I can tell. The TV was in use in the basement today by one of the kids, so I decided to do the workout without the DVD.  It worked out fine.  I know the routine so well that all I really need is the workout sheet.  I definitely took more breaks today, but I didn't have to modify a lot of the moves and my elbow did pretty well.  I ran out of time, so no Ab Ripper tonight. I didn't have the energy for it anyway.