Thursday, October 31, 2013

Day 657 - X2 Yoga

Tonight I got home a bit later than normal and was lacking the motivation to workout, but I pushed through the laziness and got in my round of yoga.  The stretching seems to have helped my back to feel a bit better.  I'm off from work tomorrow for a vacation day, so I'm looking forward to being able to just relax some and get in either a run or PAP Upper (likely the latter because of the weather forecast).

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Day 656 - P.A.P. Lower

I was able to do the lower workout tonight since I had to stop on Monday because my back was hurting.  So, adjusting the schedule, I plan to do Yoga tomorrow, Upper on Friday and a run and Ab Ripper on Saturday.  Here's hoping all of that works to plan.  My back still gets sore at times, but heating it and carefully ramping up the stress on the muscles is working so far this week.  Right now after working out an dicing my back and then applying some heat, it feels pretty good.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Day 655 - P.A.P. Upper

I tried to P.A.P. Lower last night, but started the workout and quickly realized that all of the jumping was hurting my back because I had been stretching the back muscle quick a bit before the workout.  So, I stopped and decided to just do alternating heat and ice to help it recover. Tonight I did get to do PAP Upper and it went pretty well. 

Also, very happy that I got a fitbit at my company 25th anniversary.  I plan to set it up to track it as a second source of calorie burn, but also to track my sleep cycles.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Day 654 - 5K Run & X2 Shoulders + Arms

I started off the day with a 5K Trail run in the brisk (45 F) weather this morning.  This was the first time I ran with the thermal top on today.  As usual, I still run in shorts because my legs don't really get cold at all.  I did however wear a stocking cap and loves too. So, that helped.

This afternoon I decided to finally do a round of Shoulders + Arms.  It's been months since I've been able to do this one, but since the doctor said it was okay to step up the intensity, I thought I would give it a try.  As expected, my reps for this workout are way down from where they had been, but I still got a lot out of the workout.  Right now I'm taking a break and enjoying a protein shake (Nature's Best Isopure mixed with water and ice and blended) before starting on a round of Ab Ripper.  This marks another milestone of late.  This will be the first time in a while that I mixed in a second round of Ab Ripper in one week. 

I'm definitely burning some calories today.  That's a very good thing because I need to get some of my definition back and I can't do that by doing half of the weekly workouts.  Next week I'm hoping to do phase 3 with very few modifications or adjustments.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Day 653 - X2 Yoga

I had my follow up appt. with the orthopedist today (for my back).  I explained that I still have some tightness in the muscles, but that I don't have the tingling in the nerves of my arm much any more.  He said it would be a good idea to apply heat before working out and that I should be okay to get back into slightly more intense workouts to build the muscles again.  Um, okay.  I didn't mention that I had already been doing that.  Anyway, the idea of using heat before the workouts is a good idea.  I did that before Yoga tonight and it did seem to help some.

Here is my Flex Friday picture for today.  I was able to do 15 chin-ups before starting the Yoga workout tonight.


Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Day 652- Plyocide

I got to do Plyocide tonight and it was a good workout.  My back muscles are feeling soreness because of the workout last night.  I'm still trying hard to make sure that I eat right.  tonight was a grilled chicken breast on a single piece of toast.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Day 651 - Chest + Back + Balance & X2 Ab Ripper

I've decided that I'm only going to post on days that I work out from here on out.  Posting for a rest day is pretty useless.  Luckily today was not a rest day.  I did take last week off to help recover from my lower back strain and I can certainly tell that I've been away for a week.  I got half way through the workout and was really feeling it in the arms, so I switched to Ab Ripper and then wen back and did the second half of the workout after Ab Ripper.  That actually helped a lot to do that.  Something I can consider for the future instead of breaking up the workout over two nights.  Now it's time to apply some ice to my sore back muscles.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Day 650 - Rest Day

Well, the fun with my back muscles continue.  I started to feel some tightness in the lower back yesterday, but it wasn't a lot.  This morning I went out to breakfast with my Dad and I strained that same spot while helping him into the car from his wheelchair.  So, I am now AGAIN dealing with back muscle issues.  Not happy about it.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Day 649 - 5K Run & Chest + Back + Balance

I got our for a morning run.  I did about 3.5 miles and decided to do it without timing myself so that I could just enjoy the run.  I did enjoy it too.  This afternoon I finished up Chest + Back + Balance.  It was nice to break that workout up into two parts.  I felt like I was able to put more effort into the second half that I would normally if I was doing the whole thing all at once.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Day 648 - X2 Yoga

I got in a round of Yoga tonight.  As usual, I started of with some chin-ups before the yoga workout.  I'm back up to 14 chin-ups, so I'm getting there.  Yoga was a bit challenging for me tonight.  I'm not sure why, but I was pretty tired by the time I got done.  Tomorrow morning (weather permitting), I plan to go for a run.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Day 647 - Chest + Back + Balance

I got started on the workout tonight and I got more than half way through it before having to stop.  My back was starting to feel it, so I opted to not push it tonight.  I'll finish up the work either tomorrow or Saturday and do X2 Yoga on the remaining day.  Ideally I would also like to get in another run on Saturday morning, so I'm leaning toward doing Yoga tomorrow night.  We'll see how things go.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Day 646 - 5K Run & X2 Ab Ripper

My back is feeling better, so I got out for a 5K run during lunch.  It was really windy out, but in spite of that I set a good pace of less than 8:15/mile.  Tonight I did Ab Ripper and my lower back did okay throughout that, so I think I'm back into workout mode for the rest of the days this week.  Thankfully.  I weighed in this morning and I'm still at the exact same weight of 138 (according to my scale, which means more like 141).  So, no change at all in weight for the past couple of months.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Day 645 - Rest Day

My back is feel a bit better today, but still a bit tender after straining it yesterday, so I'm giving it one more day before getting back to working out.  I'm actually sitting here tonight wishing I could be working out right now.  Three days in a row of not working out is not my idea of "bringing it". 

Day 644 - Rest Day - Muscle strain

Of all the bad luck, I was getting out of my car after running between buildings for a work meeting and I strained my lower back.  At first it seemed pretty minor, but as the day wore on I felt it tensing up.  So, no workout today.  I kept ice on it and we'll see how it feels tomorrow.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Day 643 - Rest Day

What a nice rest day I've had today.  I even got in a little nap in the afternoon.  I'm continuing to each well and keep my protein up. I don't have any soreness after that monster of a workout yesterday with Base + Back, so I'm happy about that.  Clothes are back to fitting as well as they had when I was at my height of workout intensity.  Assuming I continue to have no soreness, I plan to do another week of Phase 2 next week before switching to phase 3 again. Ideally I would love to get back to doing more than one round of Ab Ripper per week, but we'll see how things go.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Day 642 - X2 Base + Back

It's been a few weeks since I've done this routine, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  It turns out it went well.  I was able to increase reps on a number of moves and I felt pretty good by the time I was done.  I guess that's the advantage of getting back into my regular workout routine.  I was low on my protein today, so I did a scoop before my workout and then one after and I think that helps me to get through the workout better.

Friday, October 4, 2013

Day 641 - X2 Yoga

Tonight when I started yoga I decided that my goal was to focus on relaxing.  As usual, I did some chin-ups before starting.  I was able to do 14, so I'm almost back to where I was before when I could do 16.  I found it interesting that as I focused on relaxing, this caused me to pay attention to my breathing more than I usually do.  I'm not sure if this is related of not, but I broke out into more of a sweat than normal tonight too.  That could also be the warm temperatures and the humidity :-) It was a very good workout.  I went out and bought a suit today.  I wear a 38 short for suit jacket, but need 30" pants, so that''s pretty uncommon for a "off the rack" suit.  I ended up having to buy a suit as separates.  When I first tried on the 31" pants that came with a 38 suit they were much too big.  Fortunately every make is slightly different and I found a maker than had 30" pants that fit well.  I paired that with a matching 38S jacket and I'm in business with my first new suit since loosing all of the weight.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Day 640 - 3.4 mile run

I got out for a run after work tonight.  It was warm and humid, so running was a bit more difficult.  I did my favor trail run and I found that my legs felt like Jello when I started (likely because of finishing up Plyocide last night), but I pushed through.  I averaged a page of 8:39, so not too bad considering.  My back continues to feel a bit better these last couple of days.  I think that's because I am trying very hard to avoid stretching the muscles.  I'm hoping that this approach along with continuing to apply ice after workouts will give me better results than what I was getting by stretching it regularly.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Day 639 - Make-up Day

I got home tonight and my back and elbow were both feeling better than they were earlier in the week.  I started out the night by finishing Plyocide.  Once I got through that I went back and finished the rest of Chest + Back + Balance that I didn't get done on Monday.  So, good news is that I'm now back on track for this week.  No doubt each of the routines tonight were not quite as effective as if I had finished the work as part of the original workouts because I had an extra day (or two) to recover in between.  But, I stand by my decision to stop when I did.  It was the right decision to avoid injury.  The saying is "Do your best and forget the rest".  Words to live by.

Day 638 - Plyocide (sort of)

I started out the workout and quickly found that my back was getting very sore from all of the jumping around.  I got about a third of the way through the workout and stopped to ice my back to see if that would help.  It did for a while and I was able to do more of the workout, but it still hurt, so I decided to play it careful and stop the workout at just over the halfway point.  I've learned before that I can seriously injure myself if I don't listen to my body and I don't want to repeat that mistake.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Day 637 - Ab Ripper

I started to do Chest + Back + Balance tonight and got about a third of the way through it before stopping.  I had injured my left elbow last week while doing PAP Upper because it was clicking a lot while doing the push-up moves.  It started up again while doing this workout, so I decided to play it safe and switch to a different routine.  So, I did Abs tonight.  Hopefully I can finish up Chest + Back + Balance on Wednesday on my off night.