Sunday, April 26, 2015

Day 34 (AM) - 5K Trail run

On Saturday morning I got out for a trail run.  It's been a while since I've run on anything but a treadmill and (as expected) it was harder than running on a treadmill.  I got in the run without having to stop and my legs fell pretty good the day after, so that's a good sign.  It's less than 2 weeks until the Spartan Sprint and I wonder if I've given myself the necessary prep time to do this.  We shall see.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Day 33 (AM) - 5K treadmill run

This morning I got in a quick run on the treadmill.  It took about 30 minutes for the 5K, so okay pace, but it was also not overly demanding to do this pace.  On the eating front I'm doing pretty lousy because I'm not tracking my calories.  I should be, but the app on my phone is being a pain and I'm not motivated to install a different one.  I'm still doing okay at avoiding sweets.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Day 32 (AM) - Weights and ArcTrainer

This morning I spent most of my time in the gym doing strength training with weights and pullups.  I then did a quick 15 minute workout on the ArcTrainer using the strength workout called burst.  if I take out the 2 minute cool-down, I burned over 200 calories in 13 minutes with that workout.  That gets the job done.

Monday, April 20, 2015

Day 31 (AM) - ArcTrainer - 45 Min

Over the weekend I didn't do a lot of exercise.  I was hoping to get out for a run on Saturday morning, but my legs were still sore from the run on Friday and I had a full day with other things, so I decided to take the weekend off from exercise and just enjoy my birthday weekend. 

On Saturday I did yard work in the morning and then got our for a nice round of golf with my son, my brother and my niece's fiancĂ©. I was delighted to shoot 90 for my first round of the year (considering I haven't touched a club since October).  I found it Ironic that my twin brother and I had the same score for the round.  He usually beats me, so that definitely made my day.
We both turned 50 on Sunday and we celebrated with a nice dinner together after church.  

Today I got my day started at 4:45 and got into the gym for a good round on the ArcTrainer.   I kept the level steady at 7 throughout, but kept the pace pretty high, so I was still able to burn more than 600 calories for the workout. 

Friday, April 17, 2015

Day 30 - 5K treadmill run

Today I decide to do a quick 5K on the treadmill and hopefully follow it up with a 5K trail run tomorrow morning so that I can get into the habit of doing more than one run per week.  Tomorrow the plan is to do a 5K run on the trail, but also stop to do some burpees along the way.

Day 29 - ArcTrainer

I'm a bit late logging this entry, but yesterday I did a quick 30 minutes on the ArcTrainer.  I varied between level 7 and level 10 and burned 450 calories, so the quick workout was a good one.  My back is still a bit sore, so I've been holding off on anything that may irritate it since I want it in good shape for my first round of golf on Saturday.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Day 28 (AM) - Weights & ArcTrainer

I held off on a workout after work last night because my lower back was still feeling some pain.  This morning I did the workout with the weights in the gym and then did 15 minutes on the ArcTrainer doing the strength workout of burst.  That was pretty intense.  I burned over 200 calories in 15 minutes with that workout.  My biggest issue is still my eating.  I continue to struggle with eating right.

Monday, April 13, 2015

Day 27 (AM) - ArcTrainer (45 min)

I'm finally betting back into workout after taking last week off. I too last week off for a couple of reasons.  First, I hurt my back helping a friend move and I didn't want to make the injury worse.  Second, I was getting burned out and needed some time to recover.  So, I took a whole week off.  I didn't exercise, I didn't count calories or anything.  That didn't help me to get ready for the Spartan Sprint, but it helped me to relax and recover.  Now I'm back at it and I started the week off with 45 minutes on the ArcTrainer.  All good and I burned over 600 calories.  That's a good thing considering how much I've been eating lately.

Friday, April 3, 2015

Day 26 - Weights and 30 burpees

Tonight I'll be going to dinner with my wife, so I decided to make sure to get my burpees in this morning as part of my workout.  Why am I doing 30 burpees per day as part of the daily Spartan Sprint challenge this month?  Because in the Spartan race the penalty for not being able to complete an obstacle is that you have to do 30 burpees.  That is quite the penalty too because I currently can't do 30 in a row.  Today I broke it up into 2 sets of 15.  I also did three circuits on the weight machines today.  My leg muscles (quads) are a bit sore from the run yesterday, so I decided to take it easy on the cardio today.  Probably a good choice.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Day 25 (PM) Ab Ripper & 30 Burpees

I considered not working out tonight because the 5 mile run this morning was pretty taxing, but I needed to get in my daily burpees, so I decided to do a round of Ab Ripper and then do the 30 burpees.  I did the burpees in sets of 10 because my legs were pretty tired from running this morning.

Day 25 (AM) - 5 Mile treadmill run

I got into the gym earlier than normal today so that I could have the time to do a 5 mile run on the treadmill.  I did the first 3 miles at a 9:30/mile pace and then slowly went to 8:25/mile before dropping back to 9:30/mile to finish up.  I averaged 9:08 pace.  Not too shabby.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Day 24 - Total Body workout at the gym

I decided today to attend a class that is held in the gym at work.  It was a 30-minute workout that focused on the core.  It was a good workout, so I'm happy I decided to do the class.  There is also a challenge starting today for Spartan Sprint to do 30 burpees for 30 days.  Today is day 1, so I need to get that done tonight. Should be doable.  Eating is continuing to go well.  No sweets and staying under 2200 calories.

Day 23 (PM) - Chest + Back + Balance (2/2)

I did the second half of Chest + Back + Balance today after work.  I got through it without much issue, but I still have a nagging issues with the tendons in my left elbow in spite of my use of compression bands, so it's something I need to keep an eye on to make sure it doesn't get worse.  Eating went well today.  I got over 160 grams of protein and stayed at 2200 calories.  If I can keep this up all month I should see some of the fat fall off in the next few weeks.

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Day 23 (AM) - Weights & Arc Trainer (15 min)

I did my normal 2 rounds on the machines today with the exception of skipping the squat machine because I woke up this morning with a tinge of pain in my right knee.  Kind of odd because I went to bed last night with no issues.  So I did my upper-body machine workouts and then did a quick 15-minute hill climb on the Arc Trainer.  Not a huge calorie burn today, but any day I show up and workout is a win.

Day 22 (PM) - X2 Ab Ripper & Chest + Back + Balance (1/2)

I got home and put in the time doing P90X2.  I was feeling a bit drained because I've been cutting back on calories in hopes of shedding some of the fat before the Spartan Sprint in early May.  My body has been used to lots of fuel, so it's been a bit of an adjustment.  I did well on calories today.  I kept it to 2000 and hit 160 grams of protein.  The workout went well.  Alternating between chin-up moves and pushup moves is a really good upper-body workout.  Tomorrow after work I'll do the second half.  Ab Ripper has to be one of the most condensed 15-minute workouts ever created.  By the end my muscles are good and fatigued and I've worked up a dripping sweat. 

Monday, March 30, 2015

Day 22 (AM) - Arc Trainer (45 Min)

I played some basketball on Saturday, but it really wasn't much of a workout, so I'm not counting that as a workout day.  It's Monday and I'm back to doing some workouts.  I've also decided that From now until the end of April I'm going to be in "Cutting" mode to drop some weight before the Spartan Sprint in early May.  So, I'm limiting my calories to 2000-2200 and making sure to take in 150 grams of protein per day.  I tried to hit 2000 yesterday, but ended up coming in closer to 2200 by the time we were done with our Sunday dinner.  This morning on the ArcTrainer I burned 625 calories by doing my normal 45 minute workout that was alternative levels 7-7-10-7-7-10...  I didn't have too hard of a time with it today.  It went by pretty quickly.  Last week I only got in 2 days of P90X2 after work.  From here on in I need to get 4-5 days of a workout after work if I'm going to be prepared for the race.  It's crunch time.

Friday, March 27, 2015

Day 21 (AM) - Weights and ArcTrainer

I spent some time with the weights in the gym this morning and then did a quick 15 minute workout on the ArcTrainer doing the strength workout called "Burst".  My legs are a bit sore from the run yesterday, so I was okay with keeping the workout mostly focused on upper body today.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Day 20 (PM) - X2 Ab Ripper & Chest + Back + Balance (1/2)

Tonight I did Ab Ripper and then did the second half of Chest + Back + Balance. It's good that I got this done tonight because I've been having trouble getting the second round of Ab Ripper in over the last couple of weeks.

Day 20 (AM) - 5K treadmill run

Yesterday was a rest day for me, so I didn't do any working out.  I needed the break.  Today I got into the gym and decided to do a 5K run because I didn't have the time to put into a 5 mile run.  I was trying to beat my pace from last time and i thought I was doing okay, but realized too late that I had ramped up the speed too slowly.  I did the last .3 mile at pretty much a sprint, but still came in at just over 29 minutes.  Next time I'll have to be a bit more thoughtful about my speed.  Still, it was a good workout and nothing to complain about.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Day 19 (AM) - Weights & ArcTrainer

This morning I did two rounds on the normal weight machines and then did 30 minutes on the ArcTrainer, but instead of doing my normal level 7, I bumped it up to level 8 for the entire 30 minutes.  That was a good workout.

Day 18 (PM) - X2 Ab Ripper & Chest + Back + Balance (1/2)

I got home and did Ab Ripper and then did the first half of Chest + Back + Balance.  previously I had just been doing about 15 minutes at this, but tonight I got in the entire first half of the workout which took more like 45 minutes.

Monday, March 23, 2015

Day 18 (AM) - ArcTrainer (45 Min)

I didn't do a lot of working out over the weekend.  This week I'm committed to getting my workouts in every day.  I started off the day with 45 minutes on the ArcTrainer where I did two rotations at level 7 and then 1 at level 10 and alternated that way for the 45 minutes.  It resulted in a calorie burn of just over 600 calories.  That felt good to get the week kicked off with that workout.

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Day 17 (AM) - 90 minutes of basketball

I enjoy the chance to play basketball on Saturday mornings with friends from church.  For a bunch of old guys we actually have some pretty good games too and it's good exercise. 

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Day 16 - 5K treadmill run

I ended up doing my workout during lunch break today, so I didn't have as much time as usual.  I ended up doing my treadmill run, but focused on speed instead of distance.  I ended up doing the 5K in a time of 27:50. Not bad.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Day 15 (AM) - Weights and ArcTrainer (15 minutes)

Today I did mostly weight training in the gym.  At the end I did 15 minutes of the Hill Climb routine on the ArcTrainer.  I was able to increase the weight on a number of the machines today, so doing the extra training at night with P90X2 is helping.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Day 14 (PM) - X2 Ab Ripper & Chest + Back + Balance

I got home from work tonight and got myself changed and got my workout done.  Ab Ripper is definitely getting easier to handle now that I'm doing it twice/week.  I also did better on the pullups and pushups tonight, but that may be because I took my time and did it while catching up on a recorded TV show.  No rushing involved.  Tomorrow it's back to the gym in the AM.

Day 14 (AM) - 45 minutes on ArcTrainer

Work has been nuts and has been consuming all of my time and energy lately.  I finally had the energy to get out of bed this morning (and that was after some internal debate happened).  I hit the ArcTrainer and did 45 minutes of hill climb alternating between level 7 and level 10.  Total burn was 650 calories.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Day 13 (AM) - Weights and ArcTrainer

This morning I decided to spend more time on the weights than on the cardio, so I did three sets of the normal weights routine instead of 2 and then did the last 15 minutes on the ArcTrainer.  To change things up a bit I decided to do a strength training program on the ArcTrainer called Burst, where it's 30 seconds at a lower include with mid-level resistance and then 15 seconds with steep incline and high resistance.  I was amazed at how quickly that got me into a full-on dripping sweat.  I'll need to include that in my routine more often.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Day 12 (PM) - X2 Chest + Back + Balance

I got home from work tonight and did my 30 minutes of the second half of this X2 workout.  I've been feeling some tendonitis in my left elbow, so I decided to wear some extra compression bands on my left arm.  That seemed to help some, but was pretty limiting on my mobility for pull-ups.  I'm doing well with my eating today.  The cafeteria served a "power" lunch for grilled chicken breast Quinoa, Greens and beets.  I'm not a huge fan of beets, but it beats a burger :-)

Day 12 (AM) - Weights and ArcTrainer (30 minutes)

I was feeling a bit of pain in my left elbow tendon, so I opted to skip the P90X2 workout last night.  I did some weights this morning and then did 30 minutes on the ArcTrainer.  I do the Hill Climb routine on it and it's pretty effective at working up a sweat in 30 minutes.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Day 11 (AM) - 5 mile treadmill run

I got in a good run on the treadmill this morning.  It's been quite a while since I've been able to run 5 miles, so I'm pretty excited about that.  Now I need to work on the time.  My goal is to get this down to 45 minutes or better.  I suspect my legs may be a bit sore tomorrow.

Monday, March 9, 2015

Day 10 (PM) - X2 Ab Ripper & Chest + Back + Balance

I was thinking about skipping tonight because I had to run my wife's car in for an appt. tonight and by the time I got home I wasn't feeling it.  But, I rested for 5 minutes then got after it.  I figure the muscle aren't going to return without some effort.  I did Ab Ripper and was okay on that (no big change there), but I did better with the chin-ups and pushups tonight.  I just need to keep going and get in these evening workouts.  They're definitely helping.  Eating was not great again today.  My weakness were those blasted Girl-scout cookies at work.

Day 10 (AM) - Gym weights and ArcTrainer (30 minutes)

This weekend was daylight savings time, so I lost an hour and it made it all that much harder to wake up at 5AM this morning, but I dragged my butt out of bed and got into the gym.  It was a typical workout for a Monday with weights and Arc Trainer.  Nothing special, but the key is to make sure to get it done.  I was well over my calories yesterday, so I need to re-focus on eating right.

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Day 9 (PM) - X2 Ab Ripper & Chest + Back + Balance

I did Ab Ripper and it didn't require as much modification to the workout this time.  Doing it twice a week is starting to help.  I did the second half of Chest+Back+Balance and also had an easier time of it than I did last week.  All encouraging signs.

Day 9 (AM) - Basketball

I got up this morning and played some basketball with a group at church.  We play at 7 AM and usually play for about 90 minutes.  It was fun, but not an overly strenuous workout.  Still, it works some muscles that some of the other exercises don't hit as much, so it's still valuable.  I started up again playing on Saturdays about 6 weeks ago and I definitely felt the pain more than I do now, so it's helping some. 

Friday, March 6, 2015

Day 8 (AM) - ArcTrainer (30 minutes)

Short workout this morning.  Lately work has been keeping me late, so I'm also having trouble getting in my second workout of the day.  I keep trying to do what I can.  I have to make sure to get in a second round of Ab ripper this weekend.

Day 7 (AM) - Leg workout and ArcTrainer

I'm a bit late posting this, but I got a good workout in on Wednesday morning working mostly on legs with the different machines.  I then did my normal ArcTrainer workout for 30 minutes.

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Day 6 (AM) - 4.5 miles on treadmill

I'm now up to 4.5 miles on the treadmill.  I alternated my speed throughout the distance to allow me some time to recover throughout the run.

1 mi - 10-minute pace
1.5 mi - 9-minute pace
.5 mi - 10-minute pace
1 mi - 9-minute pace
.5 mi - 10-minute pace

At the end I still had plenty in the tank, so next time I run I will probably try for 5 miles.  After that my goal will be to improve my times before moving up to a longer distance.

Monday, March 2, 2015

Day 5 (PM) - P90X2 Ab Ripper & 15 minutes of Chest+Back+Balance

I got home tonight and started with Ab Ripper.  Good news is that it seemed a bit easier this week.  Chin-ups and pull-ups are still hard (especially moves like core-crunch chin-up).  I used to be able to do 8-10 of these and now I struggle to do 6.  Oh well, I'll get back to form soon if I can keep this up.  I did okay at eating today except for eating a few too many dark chocolate peanut M&M's.  It was a stressful weekend at work because of long nights to finish a project, so eating over the weekend was not good.  I need to do better with my eating habits.

Day 5 (AM) - Gym weights and ArcTrainer (30 minutes)

This was my normal Monday routine in the gym.  I started with 10 chin-ups and then did two rounds of bench press, fly machine, overhead press, Lat pull and squat machine.  All of this only took about 15-20 minutes to complete.  I then shifted to the ArcTrainer and did 30 minutes of the hill climb workout on level 7 which increases the levels from a starting point of 4 up to level 12 in 1-minutes increments.  I keep my heart rate above 150 for most of the workout.

Friday, February 27, 2015

Day 4 (AM) - 45 minutes on ArcTrainer

Another good morning on the ArcTrainer.  Most of the 45 minutes was at level 7, but I bumped it up to level 10 for 2 cycles.  Ouch.  I ended up burning 640 calories, so I was moving at a pretty good clip throughout the workout.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Day 3 (PM) - X2 Ab Ripper, Crab Crawls and Burpees

I was doing some reading up on the things that I'll need to do in the Spartan Sprint in May. In addition to lots of hills climbs there are things like dragging of weights and bag carries and things that I'm not used to doing, so I need to start to adjust my training some to be prepared.  I should be okay with the hill climbs if I keep up the morning workouts on the ArcTrainer and I'm not too concerned about climbing over walls because I'm doing plenty of pullups now that I'm back to X2 workouts in the evenings.  Tonight I decided to do Ab Ripper again, because my core is really in need of some help and then I alternated between Burpees and sprinting crab crawl.  That got my heart rate up pretty quickly.  I then did 5 minutes of stretching at the end.


It was a really good call for me to decide to do these short workouts in the evening after work because the morning workouts are not enough to prepare me to Spartan Sprint.

Day 3 (AM) - Weights and ArcTrainer

Today I did about 15 minutes of strength training on the machines and then did 30 minutes on the ArcTrainer.  I find that 30 minutes is a good workout and really works up a good sweat.  At the end when I was pushing it hard my heart rate got up to 175. 

Day 2 (PM) - X2 Chest + Back + Balance

After work I did the second half of Chest + Back + Balance.  Once again I was amazed and how much harder it was than when I was doing X2 regularly.  I really struggled through some of the exercises, but I put in the half hour.  Note: my Abs are really sore from the Ab Ripper last night.  I need to get that back into my weekly routine a couple of times a week.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Day 2 (AM) - Arc Trainer

I woke up at 5 AM (my normal time) and was in the gym before 6.  I started off with my normal 10 pullups and then did 45 minutes on the ArcTrainer at level 7.  My legs are still a bit fatigued from yesterday's treadmill run, so I didn't push it hard today.  Still it burned over 600 calories with this morning workout, so that was good.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Restart - Day 1 - 4 Mile Treadmill Run & X2 Ab Ripper

The break from P90X2 is now over.  I just registered for the Spartan sprint in NY on May 9th.  I've been working out at the gym in the morning before work with focus on cardio.  I'm now up to 4 miles and plan to get my distance up to 6 miles.

In prep for the Spartan sprint I also plan to get back into some X2 workouts after work.  Probably 30-45 minutes per day in addition to the morning work in the gym.  Later this year I also plan to do the Tough Mudder event since it will be in the local area (Coatesville).

This morning I did 4 miles on the treadmill in about 38 minutes.  I can't wait until it warms up enough that I can get back outside for a run.

Update:
Tonight I did X2 Ab Ripper and some of Chest+ Back + Balance.  Wow, I have lost a lot of the progress I had gained from X2.  It's not quite as bad as starting over, but it was much harder than I had expected.  Long way to go to get back into the shape I was in before.