Month 2 Has Begun!

Onward and upward, Month 2 has begun.

First off, I want to clean the kitchen, but I have a sleeping baby in my gym/office and I'm writing this blog post while I wait for her to wake up.

Now she's up. Figures. So this is going to be short.

I started Month 2 today with Eccentric Upper from P90X3. I've gotta say, if Shaun T is the best cardio trainer out there, then Tony is the best resistance trainer out there. And yes, that includes Sagi (it's close). This workout is truly truly amazing. It hits the entire upper body (minus abs, but that's ok), which is great since The Challenge (which I've been doing the past four weeks) only hits chest and back. I'll give a full recap in a later blog post, but right now I've gotta say I'm impressed with the workout and impressed with how well I did. Chest/Back have been getting hit, but my shoulders and biceps didn't get nearly as tired from the weights I picked as I thought they would. This means it's time to up the weights on those two next week!

Walk-wise, I didn't get my usual walk in yesterday, but the app on my phone said I still got 10K+ steps in yesterday, so maybe I did alright. There was a lot of walking at the event.

Nutrition yesterday was so so. I had a few more carbs than I'd like at a lunch thing after the event (8 tortilla chips, plus two fried wontons) and then we got sushi burritos again last night. On the plus side, I ate a ton of ahi tuna, which I think is healthy but I definitely know is delicious!

We're doing pizza tonight for dinner. Personal pans. My plan is to load up with veggies as much as possible on there, and only eat half (eat the second half tomorrow). Moderation, right? Wish me luck. Goal for Monday is 223.7. I can do it!

Bring it!

Quick update - Month 1 is Done!

Month 1 is complete.

I'm writing this a little later in the day. Went to a very cool work event this morning, but my schedule's all out of whack. Also, probably no walk today. Sad times.

Anyways, the good news: Month 1 is done, and for the final time in my current program I completed Friday Fight: Round 1. It wasn't my best workout, last night we didn't get much sleep (poor baby got shots the other day and isn't sleeping well, plus I got up earlier than normal because of the work event) but I still pushed and was very pleased with today's workout. B, B+ maybe. I'll take it!

Then there's the scale. Goal today was an aggressive 222.5, and I sadly came in at 224.2. So, missed goal. But, I was 226 yesterday, so I still came down quite a bit. Also when I saw the 223 on Wednesday, I wasn't wearing my glasses, and there's a chance it actually said 225. Maybe that's just me wanting to believe.

Anyways, missed goal or not, today's weigh in is locked in stone, which makes Monday's goal 223.7. Let's do it!

Onward, to Month 2! All new workouts! I've got a crazy weekend scheduled workout wise, starting with P90X3 Eccentric Upper on Saturday and moving onto Bas Rutten MMA on Sunday. That last one I'm worried about. It's just like the kickboxing one I was previously doing, except with burpees. A lot of burpees. In my previous attempts I've never made it passed Round 4. But hey, new year, new challenge, new me. I've got this!

Bring it!

An unofficial step back today

K, first off, sorry my blog posts this week have all been one paragraph. I somehow had it set to HTML. Not going back to change it, so, ya...

Anyways, today I somehow took a step back. Despite clocking in at 223 yesterday, and sticking to a decent diet yesterday, I clocked in at 226.0 this morning. I'm not too disappointed, more-so amused how fickle weight loss is. But I have goals for a reason, so I'm not 100% ok with this either.

Good news? Today's not an official weigh in day. Goal for tomorrow remains at 222.5, and that's what I'm shooting for. I think I'm eating too much fruit right now too, that's entirely what I snack on, so I'm going to limit myself today on that. No starving myself, there'll be none of that, but if I'm starving I'm going to try to find a protein snack (probably the protein powder I have) instead of another orange.

So, workout talk. Yesterday's walk was decent, but not my best. Just didn't feel as long or taxing as I usually do. Hoping to make that up today.

Today's workout was Tabata Strength. I stand by, I don't like the non-cardio workouts in this program. There's also a chance I'm just always tired after cardio days, which these all occur on, but I'm preferring to think it's just a preference thing. Anyways, today I pushed and did what I could. By far, this was not my best workout, but it wasn't terrible either. I definitely got a sweat on. This is also the last time I see this workout, potentially ever, so that's nice.

Also today was the first time I noticed there's no break in this workout. Like, none at all. Just recovery moves. Not sure how it took me four weeks to notice that. Hmm.

I'm excited for tomorrow. It's the last time I see Friday Fight Round 1 in my current program. I have it coming up again in consecutive programs, but that's its own story. I really dig that workout, and it's an awesome way to challenge myself to end the week. The bad news? Tomorrow I have an early work event to attend, which means I'm planning to wake up in the 4:45 time frame. Just gotta get to bed early tonight I guess.

Spanish slowly trucking along. No real updates in that arena.

Family's doing well. Baby turned 6 months this week. Poor thing had 6-month shots and she was up all night sounding like she was uncomfortable. She joined me in the gym this morning which I think made her happy. She gets super excited watching me and Shaun T jump around.

Wife's also doing her own fitness program. I'm super proud of her. She's mostly doing walks and changing diet (she's doing lots of salads with me), but it seems to be working for her. She's not doing Insanity, but I'll be the first to admit Insanity isn't for everyone. The family is getting healthy! Gotta set an example for the next generation, ya know?

Ok, that's my story. Bring it!

I passed my exit on the weight-loss-goal highway

Super excited this morning. Weight loss goal for the day: 225.5. Actual weigh in: 223.0!!! BOOM! Sure, this was probably a fluke, and you can clearly see that weight loss fluctuates, but man oh man am I stoked about blowing today's weight loss goal out of the water. Hey, fluke or not, I have a plan and I'm sticking to it. Goal for Friday: 222.5! So, this makes total weight loss more than 10 lbs. I was probably more than 10 lbs down before today though, since I didn't start weighing myself until week 2, but hey, let's go off the tracking. Alright, workout talk. I did a great walk yesterday at lunch. It was cold outside so I had to stay in the building. Fortunately, my office is extremely huge (like, extremely extremely huge) and I was able to get a few miles in in 45 minutes. I tried out MapMyWalk and it said I did 3.8 miles, but that seems WAY too far. So I'm trying a new app today that measures strides, not distance, and hopefully that gives me a more accurate reading. My wife's promised me a fit bit for my birthday next month, so that'll make these walks more accurate. Then there's this morning. Today was Sweat Fest, the last time I do this one in my current workout. I have mixed feelings on this workout. First off, I really like it. I need to open with that. It is a great Insanity-style cardio workout and that is awesome. But, the schedule says this can be a substitute for Sweat Intervals, so I wrote it into my schedule every other week, taking over half of the Sweat Intervals workouts. This is not a 1:1 substitute for that workout. I'm not going to say it's easy, it's not, but it's significantly easier than Sweat Intervals. It's a regular Insanity workout, just 30 minutes long, so that means there's a slightly longer warmup, then a full 5-minute stretch, and then the workout starts. The Max 30 workouts have got me accustomed to warm up, swig some water (unless it's Friday) and then get into it. I felt like I missed 5 minutes of my workout. However, this meant I had to push push push, and push push push I did. I still came out of this thing soaked, almost like I'd had a Sweat Fest (he used the title in the movie!, he used the title in the movie!) and definitely felt like I got a good workout. Mixed feelings aside, I am going to miss this workout. I only got to do it twice in my current rotation. Fortunately I've written out my next course of action and I have this scheduled a few more times, in addition to Sweat Intervals. Adios fat! (and adios legs, probably, but that's a whole other thing to worry about). Oh, also, the baby worked out with me this morning. Again, this means she sat in a chair and played with toys (and tried to kill me by throwing a ball on the floor while I'm moving once or twice) but she was in there and it makes it a little more motivating. I can't wait until she can get up and move with me. I promise I'm going to be an inspiration to her! Nutrition wise, I'm feeling great. Salads for lunch and dinners, and I've pretty much cut out all carbs except for fruit and veggies. Well, fruit and spinach. My veggie palate is still lacking a bit. There's also some sugar in my morning cappuccino, because those were the ones that were on sale at the store for my Keurig, but if that's the worst part of my diet/day, then I'm doing ok. Spanish is getting back into the swing of things too. I think it'll take me the rest of the year to get through the whole Duolino program, but I'm in no rush. Just gotta keep moving forward. Tomorrow is Strength, which I'm not looking forward to, but hey, it's gotta get done. Also have another walk planned at lunch today. Should be fun. I've started listening to Serial during my walks, and it's a pretty addictive podcast. Don't tell me how it ends! Bring it!

Just not digging the tabata workouts

Well, Week 4 continues. Today was the last time I see Tabata Power, and I'm pretty excited about it (even though I'm pretty sure there's another Tabata Power style workout coming out a week from today). It's just not my kind of workout, and today was a little rough. I really break a sweat during the cardio stuff, which happens after the pushup stuff, but other than that this isn't my kind of workout. Well, that's my story for the day. Going on a walk at lunch today. Gotta hit 225.5 tomorrow morning, and I was off-track for that goal this morning (weighed in at 226.2, a tiny bit heavier than yesterday). I'll let you know how it goes. Bring it.

Starting Week 4 with a Boom

Where my week starts is a matter of opinion. Insanity schedule says today, my personal schedule says Saturday (two days ago), and honestly, I work out 7 days a week so where a week starts and ends is subjective. But, according to Max 30, Week 4 started today. So, the morning started with Cardio Challenge. This was the official last time I do this program in my current schedule. And I think I did excellent! I was off to a slow start in the warm up, it was just a rough sleep night, but by the time we got into it I was really cooking along. I started to hit a wall around the 15 minute mark, and by minute 25 I was flailing a bit, but I pushed through and overall I'm pretty damn pleased with myself today. A- for the workout. This workout is truly excellent, and really exemplifies why I love Insanity (and the Max 30 workouts especially). It's no non-sense, and it does exactly what it says it's going to do. We're going to work our asses off for 30 minutes. Every move is completely doable, but also can be made harder or easier simply by adding effort. And unlike Insanity, you go go go. Insanity was more go go (note the lack of the third go). Insanity is fast, this is just, well, faster. Not in effort so much, both require you to push yourself as hard as possible. But Insanity you'd do the 3-minute warmup 3 times. By the third time, I always got board. This is a 2:30 warmup done twice. Then, no stretch (which I have mixed feelings on). You just sip some water for a blink of an eye and then go right into it. Stretching is important, but after pushing myself for 9 minutes in the old Insanity warmup my blood was pumping and then my energy got zapped by a 5 minute stretch and mounds of personal anticipation. If I finally got my body ready to work, I want to work! Not lose that energy! Max 30 does exactly what I'm looking for here. Final thought on this workout: there's no way this workout will ever not be hard. I have no doubt the Max Cardio workout I start next week is going to be more challenging (which, frankly, I'm dreading) but I originally thought that after I started the Max workouts I wouldn't be able to go back to these and still progress. Nope, no way will that ever be the case. Cardio Challenge and its sweaty brothers will make an excellent addition to my next program for the first half, and I'll definitely be getting a pump from it. No question at all. So, let's review the weekend. Diet was pretty good. Not excellent, but it was the weekend. After my last checkin I mostly ate fruit during the day because we had a date night planned. We ended up trying sushi burritos, and they were excellent. Basically a giant sushi roll rolled inside out (seaweed on the outside) and it was great. There was a lot of carbs in the rice, my fried shrimp wasn't too healthy, nor was my eel sauce and cream cheese. But hey, it was cheat day, and I didn't come away feeling stuffed either. Moderation. Sunday was pretty healthy. Ate leftover turkey bacon and eggs for breakfast, had some fruit, a spinach/turkey/ham/cheese wrap for lunch and a few leftover hot wings for dinner (six, I think). No sides with that last one. So, how did my workout go yesterday? Well, it was the Bas Rutten All Around Workout, and I felt pretty excellent. Bad news, I did all my pushups on my knees. The pushups stands from the day before wrecked my chest, but I wanted to push and knee pushups were the way to do that. Also my punches were a bit slow for the same reason. But I did do excellent, and came out soaked. Also, I finally did all of the jumps at the end. First time I've done that with no breaks. I could probably jump higher, and I will when I see this workout again in two weeks, but I did all 55 jumps and felt great (read that: terrible) at the end. So, awesome! The wife and I met up with my mom a few hours later, and the three of us plus baby then did a 3+ mile walk. It felt good to get some extra cardio in. Also since I've been walking more at lunch, I went out and bought new walking shoes (yup, they make walking shoes) and they are super super comfy for walking. It was great to break them in. They completely lived up to expectation. I'll be trying them out again today. Now, the weigh ins. My goal for today was 226.7. I weighed in yesterday before the walk but after the workout at 226.0, so I'd already overshot. Then I worked out this morning, and after that my weight was....226.0. So, I totally overshot my goal, but I also didn't budge from yesterday. Yes, I know there's a ton that goes into this, and yes, I know I hit my goal and then some, but I can't help but wonder if I could have shed a tiny bit more if I'd skipped out on those six hot wings last night.\ Oh well, what's done is done and what's down is down, and what's down is me! So, this makes Wednesday's goal 225.5. I'm sloooowly approaching 200 again. Hoping to get there sooner than later, but forward motion is forward motion and I'll take what I can get. Got another walk scheduled for today. I'll let you know how that goes. Also, totally forgot to practice Spanish all weekend. I'm not slacking, just got busy, but I'll get back on that today as well. Bring it.

Quick check in - struggled through The Challenge

It's Saturday, but I'm doing a quick check in. Literally just completed The Challenge from P90X3. I think I pushed harder yesterday than I thought, because my arms were absolutely dead today. I introduced the pushup stands on the pushups too, and seriously, but the second set, I was on my knees. Was not expecting that after an awesome workout last week, but I guess that's part of doing something great; your arms might be shot the next day. Well, not much of a blog post other than I wanted to make it. Despite having a rough Challenge, I still upped my numbers to 15 on all exercises, which was huge. So, some victories. And my chest definitely feels like it got blasted, so, mission accomplished. I was debating doing a little more today, but considering my arms are jello and I have a legit workout tomorrow (Bas Rutten All Around Workout) I'm going to take it easy today. Also, no more The Challenge. On to Eccentric Uppers next week! Bring it!