Day 636 - Rest Day

We went to church in Connecticut with our daughter and then make the 6 hour drive back home.  I'll be back at the workouts tomorrow.  My neck is a bit sore from sleeping in odd positions in the car, so that doesn't help.

Day 635 - Rest Day

It's Saturday and I'm in Connecticut visiting my daughter at UCONN.  Great day with her on campus, so no time for a workout today or tomorrow.

Day 634 - X2 Yoga

Tonight I had a good round of Yoga.  It helped me to stretch out my back, so I'm grateful for it.  I can tell that the last few weeks of getting back into a routine of working out is benefiting me.  My pants are fitting better again and some of my muscle definition is returning.  I just need to keep at it.

Day 633 - 5K Run

I got out for a run during lunch today.  I was hoping to do yoga tonight, but I was feeling pretty tired, so I decided to not double up today.  I'll do the yoga workout tomorrow.

Day 632 - Ab Ripper

I decided to just do Ab Ripper tonight.  I am then hoping to do the run during lunch tomorrow and get my round of yoga in tomorrow night.  This way I get a bit of a break this week.  I'm feelign the need to keep it light tonight.

Day 631 - P.A.P. Upper

I got home from work and had to spend some time cutting the grass.  By the time I was done I was less than energetic about doing this workout, but I once again decides that step 1 to figuring out what I was going to do tonight was to get changed.  After that I was down to either doing Ab Ripper or PAP Upper.  I decided to not take the "cop out" move, so I committed to doing PAP Upper.  What swayed me is that it includes ab work, so I knew that I could use the excuse that I needed to focus on my Abs by doing Ab Ripper.  I'm glad I did it.  Now tomorrow I get to choose to either go for a run or do Yoga.  Either is a very good choice.

Day 630 - P.A.P. Lower

My legs were feeling pretty tight tonight, so doing a leg workout was just the ticket.  I substituted jumping jacks for monster slalom because that always hammers my ankles.  I did 2 of the 4 of the side bridge legs lifts because that move is hard on the back.  Other than that I did the full workout.

Day 629 - Rest Day

It's Sunday.  It's a rest day.  It's a good day to prepare for the coming week.  Breakfast today was Bob's Red Mill 7 grain hot cereal, 3 eggs and a protein bar.  Pretty typical for me.

Day 628 - X2 Yoga & Golf

I started out the day with X2 Yoga.  It was a great way to start the day.  Later in the afternoon I enjoyed a round of golf with my son at a golf outing.  After the round my back was feeling it some, but not too serious.  It's been a while (last year) since I played 18 holes of golf.  I can tell too.

Day 627 - Rest Day

I enjoyed a day off from working out tonight.  I spent the day helping my brother haul off junk and then at night enjoyed an evening at home relaxing with my wonderful wife.

Day 626 - 5K Run

I went out for a run after work.  I got in a 5K trail run at a pace of 8:12/mile.  I was pushing the pace tonight because the light was disappearing quickly.  That felt good to set a new quickest pace for a trail run.

Day 625 - X2 Ab Ripper

Well, it's Wednesday again, so I'm doing my Ab Ripper workout that I didn't do on Monday (because Chest + Back + Balance was enough on it's own).  Tomorrow is hopefully a run day for me.

Day 624 - Beachbody challenge & X2 Plyocide

Well, it was official today that I won the daily challenge on Teach Beachbody.  Woohoo.  They said 30, but really it's been more than 40 lbs. lost since starting X2, but no matter.

Today I am feeling it a bit in the muscles after doing Chest + Back + Balance last night.  I guess that's a good thing.  It was a really intense workout last night.  Tonight I did Plyocide and it went pretty well.  As usual there was lots of sweating involved.

Day 623 - Chest + Back + Balance

Wow, that was not an easy workout tonight.  So many pullups and pushups, but I got through it and I feel pretty good now that it's done.  Tomorrow my transformation story is supposed to be posted on the Beachbody site.  I am one of their daily winners for the entry I submitted about having completed X2 four times and having dropped from a 37" waist down to 29" and losing 37 punds in the process.  Technically I've lost 50 since starting this blog, but only 37 or so since starting X2.  I lost some before starting X2 because of diet and exercise (mainly walking & pushups).

The other thing I'm very excited about is that my twin brother is working on losing weight.  He's starting to eat right and has started to get out for daily walks.  He's already dropped one pants size and was able to take my old 37" pants (which I will never ever need again).  Go Rich.

Day 622 - Rest Day

It was a beautiful Sunday today. I got to go to breakfast with my brother and my dad and then wen to church this afternoon.  The rest of the day was spent at home relaxing and even taking a short nap before dinner.  Starting tomorrow I plan to do another week of phase 2.

Day 621 - Run & P.A.P. Upper

I started out the day with a great 5k run this morning on the trail.  I got a new best time of 8:22/mile over a distance of 3.25 miles.  Tonight I did P.A.P. Upper and got a good workout from it too.  I still decided to skip Superman with weight, but I'm thinking that next time I can try to do it, but not use any weight right away.  I went to a church picnic tonight where they had a pig roast.  It was okay, but I didn't eat much.  Too much junk food for my liking.  I had some of the pork and had some salad and some fruit.

Day 620 - X2 Ab Ripper

I was going to go for a run tonight, but I ran out of daylight, so I plan to run tomorrow morning.  I did X2 Ab Ripper tonight and decided to do a short video showing the different moves.

Day 619 - X2 Yoga

My work environment has been very stressful over the last few days, do being able to relax and do X2 Yoga was a welcome stress relief tonight.  At the beginning of the workout Tony asks the questions "what do you want to work on today?".  Some days I think "Push it hard", other days I think "focus on stretching".  Tonight it was just about trying to relax and enjoy the chance to decompress.  It was good.

I got a phone call tonight from Team BeachBody saying that I won their $500 prize for the transformation story that I submitted.  That was a nice surprise.  There are so many people that have amazing transformations that I really didn't think I had much of a chance of winning.  Very cool.

Day 618 - Rest Day

I'm taking tonight as a rest night.  I pushed it pretty good the last two nights and feel like a night off tonight.  Tomorrow I plan on Yoga, then a run on Friday and PAP Upper on Saturday.  At least that's the current plan.

Day 617- P.A.P. Upper

I got the PAP Upper workout in tonight.  I was able to get back up to the 20lb. dumbbells for the row moves and the press moves, so that's close to the best I used to do.  Also, I was able to do more towel pullups tonight with no issues.  My back is feeling better all the time.  I'm very happy about that.

Day 616 - X2 P.A.P. Lower

I got in a good round of PAP Lower tonight.  I was able to do most of the workouts with normals weights, so I think I may feel it tomorrow in the legs.  It's nice to get back into the groove of working out at least 5 days a week.  It certainly is helping me with my cardio endurance.

Day 615 - Rest Day

It's a beautiful Sunday and I'm enjoying the rest day to recharge my batteries for this coming week.  Now that I've done two weeks of phase 2, I think I'll switch back to phase 3 this coming week, so that means P.A.P. Lower on Monday.

Day 614 - X2 Yoga

I was able to get my yoga workout in today.  It felt really good to stretch out all of my muscles.  I also played some basketball this morning.  It wasn't much of a workout, but was fun.

Day 613 - Rest Day

We got to go out to dinner tonight and then had a bunch of errands to run, so tonight ended up being a rest night.  I'll get mu yoga in tomorrow.

Day 612 - 3 mile run

I got out for a run after work tonight.  Weather was nice and I was able to do the three miles without having to stop.  It's getting easier to get back into the rhythm of running again.  My legs feel stronger and my cardio endurance is m\improving. 

Day 611 - X2 Ab Ripper

Once again I got my Ab Ripper workout in on my rest night.  I really need to find a way to get this workout done more than once per week.  I used to do it three times per week and it wasn't hard when I was doing that.  At once a week it is far more challenging.

Day 610 - Plyocide

I had a vacation day today, so I was able to attack Plyocide early and get it done with plenty of time left in the day to relax.  I love vacation days when I have absolutely nothing planned.  I hit some golf balls this afternoon and I'm feeling it a bit in my back as a result.  I'm glad I just hit a small bucket.

Day 609 - AM Trail run & Chest + Back + Balance

It's Labor Day and I started out the day with a 5K trail run. I did 3.28 miles in a time of 28:30. Pace of 8:42/mile.

This afternoon I did Chest + Back + Balance.  The move pictured here is called elevated stability ball push-ups.  I did 20 of these as one of the moves in the workout.  It's a tough routine because it's a mix of pull-ups and pushups for an hour.  Last week I wasn't able to finish the routine, but this week (with some good breaks thrown in) I was able to get through all of the moves.  My reps are down from what I was able to do back in May, but that's to be expected since I had such a long recovery for my back injury.  So far my back is hanging in there as I increase the workouts. I'm applying ice to my back muscles as I type this. Just to be safe.

Day 608 - Rest Day

It's my day off from working out.  I'm enjoying a nice day with the family and trying to eat right.  I went out to lunch with my brother and Dad after church and we went to Chili's.  I had the sirloin and broccoli lunch with a side salad.  Pretty healthy.  For dinner Kristi made roast chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy.  Yum.