Real Life Fitness – Getting Fit With Brent

Wow…I cannot believe I just completed my last Legs and Back workout for at least 3 months.  So, knowing this was about it, I pushed.  And I pushed.  And 12.5 hours later, I can still feel it in my hammies and my glutes.

That’s strength, that’s balance, that’s coordination, that’s P90X!

Nutrition was good today.  I did some slight re-arranging of my protein shake and took it in the afternoon instead of just before bed.  I had a bad feeling that taking a protein shake that late was not helping (never could give it enough time before I went to sleep, so afraid the calories were not getting used right).

Pre-workout:  banana
Post-workout:  R&R drink
Breakfast:  Shakeology
Snack:  10 Sun Chips, 4oz cottage cheese
Lunch:  Chicken stir fry (brown rice)
Snack:  1oz cashews
Snack:  Protein Shake
Supper:  Spaghetti using Barilla Plus noodles (4g fiber, 10g protein)

Brent P90X, The Abs Diet ab ripper x, legs and back, P90X, The Abs Diet

Today was day 80.  Wow, only 10 days of P90X left.  Hard to believe that I am this far into 2011, much less 80 days into P90X.

Ab Ripper X was a trip.  Did all but 5 reps of Fifer Scissors, and did 43/50 Mason Twist.  Not bad.

I had a major breakthrough with Back and Biceps.  My biggest issue is that I had problems getting a pull-up done after the first set of bicep work.  Today, that wasn’t the case.  I managed 2, although they were ugly.  But hey, 2 is better than none, right?

The elbow was a huge concern coming into the day, but did fine.  My chiropractor said I had some minor alignment issues in the joint and did some adjusting.

Nutrition was good today.  Very good.  I’m enjoying eating more and hopefully will start seeing the results of it by next week.

Pre-workout:  Banana
Post-workout: R&R drink
Breakfast:  Shakeology
Snack:  4 oz 1% cottage cheese, 1.5 oz raisins
Lunch:  6 oz chicken breast tenderloins cooked in olive oil and Italian Dressing and onions, 1 cup brown rice, 8oz V8
Snack:  1 oz cashews
Supper:  Slow cooked BBQ chicken shredded, served open face over whole wheat bun, with sauted squash, onion, and bell pepeprs
Snack:  Protein shake

This should put me at 2410 calories, inside my 2400-2500 goal.

Brent P90X, The Abs Diet ab ripper x, P90X, The Abs Diet

Today may end up being a very eventful day with my P90X round.  It is day 78, and I think I tweaked my left elbow.

Actually, I don’t think it was the exercise today that did it, but rather another activity.  CST and ABX were fine this morning.  I pushed hard and felt like I had a good workout.  But while attempting a random pull-up, I felt a sharp pain go through my left elbow.

Now I have some issues rotating the arm inward and outward without that sharp pain.

For now, the procedure is ice and rest.  Luckily I have 2 days until I do anything with it.  I’ve experienced this before and it went away in nearly no time at all, so I am expecting the same.

Nutrition today was good, but maybe not enough.

Pre-workout:  Banana
Post-workout:  R&R drink
Breakfast:  Shakeology
Lunch:  Turkey sandwich and a few Sun Chips
Snack:  1.5oz Raisins
Supper – Grilled sirloin steak, potato salad, salad with romain, cucumber, tomato, a light amount of 2% cheese, and dressing

Will be interested to see how the arm holds up on Tuesday, which is the next arm workout.

Brent P90X, The Abs Diet ab ripper x, P90X, P90X-Diet, The Abs Diet

I was out all yesterday on a family emergency, so I did not even bother updating my status.  So, here are the last 2 days of P90X workouts:

Yesterday:  Ab Ripper X, Shoulders and Arms – Good workout overall.  Nutrition…not as good.  Being near a hospital all day I had one snack missing and we ended up grabbing pizza at a nearby place.  I kept it decent, but not as healthy as I wanted to eat.

Today:  Fountain of Youth Yoga.  After yesterday, really wanted to clear the mind a bit.  Didn’t work to well.  To much in life going on.  Ate well though.

Short update tonight, due to being just exhausted and needing some rest.

Brent P90X, The Abs Diet ab ripper x, P90X, The Abs Diet, yoga

Playing a bit of catch-up here, since this weekend got away from me.

P90X Day 62 was Kenpo X.  After a pathetic Legs and Back the day before, this workout went a lot better.  I felt like I was able to push harder.  Pushed over a 600 calorie burn.

Today was P90X Day day 71.  Ab Ripper X was more of a focus on form, so some of the reps were less, but more intense.

Chest and Back was a great workout.  Most of my reps were up.  Very few were down.  I increased intensity on some of the push-ups by doing leg raises during some of them.  Never had attempted it before, and it is quite a workout.

Nutrition today was interesting.  I fell behind in my meals by sleeping in, losing an hour, then letting my wife sleep a bit more, and not getting to start training until late.  So breakfast did not exist except for my pre-workout meal.  Post workout was normal, and then a Shakeology a bit later.

Brent P90X, The Abs Diet ab ripper x, chest and back, P90X, The Abs Diet

P90X today was….interesting.  It was a bit of a roller coaster, honestly.  Ab Ripper started out….odd.  Some parts of it I felt really, really good.  Then, other parts, I felt like crap.  Mason Twist were way off today.  Other parts I felt strong.  Just odd…

Back and Biceps was a bit better.  It was an adjustment trying to figure how heavy to lift to get in 12 reps as opposed to going for 8.  I think the adjustment went fine.  I still had issues with pull-ups after doing bicep work.  I think that is something that is going to take time.

For nutrition…lets just say Mexican kick!

Pre-workout:  1/2 banana, 1/2 tbsp PB
Post-workout:  BB Results and Recovery Drink
Breakfast:  Shakelogy (almond milk, banana, 1 tbsp PB)
Snack:  1oz Cashews
Lunch:  Taco Salad on brown rice instead of chips
Snack:  4oz 1% cottage cheese
Supper:  Verde chicken on brown rice

Brent P90X, The Abs Diet ab ripper x, P90X, The Abs Diet

P90X Legs and Back day…always brutal.  Always.  I never really can pinpoint why the legs workout is so tough for me, but it is.  I did well today.  I even increased my reps on full pull-ups.  But the legs portion?  Kicked my tail.  12 hours later and I can still feel the exhaustion in my legs.

I’m learning that sleep is a valuable commodity in my house and one I do not have a lot of.  Having 3 kids means you alternate who is sick during the winter/early spring allergy season.  So far, we’ve been fortunate to avoid any major illnesses.  But, the last week just seems like someone is always waking up with something.  Usually the wife lets me sleep but I have been the brave one getting up with our youngest.  Combine that with one other having a sinus infection, storms, and everything else, and I have not had a single uninterrupted night of sleep in nearly 2 weeks.

Ahh, the joys of parenting.  Of that tangent now….

Nutrition was good today.  I’m debating whether I’m taking the right amount of calories or if I should decrease slightly (talking 100-200 calories max).  I am going to measure/weight in 2 weeks to see if progress is being made.  If not, I’ll adjust for the last 3 weeks of P90X.

Brent P90X, The Abs Diet ab ripper x, legs and back, P90X, The Abs Diet

Tuesdays are my heavier exercise days.  P90X Ab Ripper X and Shoulders and Arms in the morning, and the Get Fit LR club did Intervals Plus (from the P90X Plus collection) tonight.

A couple of notes:

1.  Figuring out what to reduce my weights to in order to hit 12 reps is harder than it looks

and

2.  Intervals Plus is no joke, especially after eating (1.5 hours before, thought I’d be okay….I guess not!).

So Shoulders and Arms was a struggle.  As was Ab Ripper today for some reason.  I credit another night of interrupted sleep, although my energy levels seem to increase throughout the day.  Again, I credit the Shakeology for kick starting my day and proper nutrition for keeping it going all day long.

Nutrition the same as previous days with the exception of supper.  Wife made crock pot BBQ chicken.  Had a sandwich on whole wheat with a small side salad.  Had a protein shake tonight after the workout.  Thought about a recovery drink, but decided against it.

Yoga day tomorrow!

Brent P90X, The Abs Diet ab ripper x, P90X, p90x plus, The Abs Diet

P90X Legs and Back…still my arch rival in this program.  I will say I felt a bit more tired this morning and cannot figure out why (may be too few good calories yesterday).  It caused me to struggle through both Ab Ripper and Legs and Back, but made it a “mind over matter” day for me.  I pushed hard through both routines.  Did have a slight decline in reps on some of the leg moves, but kept form in mind.

Today I did take a pre-workout snack.  I’m going to have to give this particular snack a few more days to see if it will do better than today.  At times I felt a bit weighted down and almost felt like I would get a bit nauseated a couple of times just from the snack.  I may dial it back (do away with the wheat bread and just do banana and PB).

But I did feel like I had more energy, which was good.

Nutrition was spot on:

Pre-workout (6am) – 1 slice whole wheat bread, 1/2 banana, 1/2 tbsp natural PB
Breakfast – Smoothie (out of Shakeology!) and oatmeal with honey and banana
Snack #1 – 1oz almonds
Lunch – Yo Soup For You with a grilled cheese (whole wheat bread and reduced fat cheese)
Snack #2 – Rest of smoothie
Supper – Pork Tenderloin, steamed veggies, and less than 1/2 cup of potato salad
Snack #3 – Protein shake with only 1/2 scoop protein

Last night my protein shake did not settle well on my stomach.  Tonight I’m dialing down the whey and see how that works.  Still is 180 calories and just enough for a good snack before bed.

Brent P90X, The Abs Diet ab ripper x, P90X, pre workout snack, The Abs Diet

I’m a day behind on blogging thanks to the Super Bowl, so let me play a bit of catch-up in this post:

Day 36 – Ab Ripper X, Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps

I can write this now, being over 24 hours since I did the workout, but I’m a bit sore.  I worked hard on increasing reps, improving form, lifting heavier, etc.  I can feel it in my shoulders and triceps a lot today.

I took my cheat meal for the week for the big game.  We had build-your-own nachos.  I did have some other dips, but do not feel I too much overdid it (considering the rest of my day was fairly low calorie).  I did share a Shakeology with a friend.

Day 37 (today) – Plyo X baby!

Today was about two things:  Squatting deeper, jumping higher.  Doing these things I knew I would get the burn I needed, although I was tired from being up late the night before with the same.  It paid off.  I skipped the bonus round after dragging tail this morning and still managed a 670 calorie burn.

Today the nutrition was good:

Breakfast – Shakeology
Snack #1 – 1.5 oz Raisins
Lunch – Yo Soup For You with 1/2 cup brown rice, 1 apple
Snack #2 – 1oz Raisins
Supper – Taco Soup with 1 cup brown rice, some low fat cheese (very little) and very little lite sour cream

Brent P90X, The Abs Diet ab ripper x, P90X, plyo x, The Abs Diet