Real Life Fitness – Getting Fit With Brent

Short post tonight.  I’ve had a productive (but busy) night working with people on their goals for fitness, weight loss, building a business, etc, so I’m behind in my normal activities.

Today, I increased carbs.  Only to around 108g total.  Tomorrow, though, is a long day for me.  P90X Legs and Back and then PT in the afternoon.  I knew I would need more leading into tomorrow, and I know I’ll need more tomorrow to recover, so expecting another high carb day (I see a sweet potato in my future).

Today my eating was still spot on as far as what I wanted to accomplish.  I’m finding it easy to avoid the grains, but I’ll admit that when I saw an almond bark covered pretzel, I kinda missed the taste.  But, focused!  I skipped it.  Did Ab Ripper X in the morning (got through more reps), physical therapy in the afternoon.

Meals today:

Breakfast – Shakeology with coconut milk, almond butter, and a banana.  By the way, this kept me full for a full 3.5 hours.  Very impressive for only 480 calories.

Lunch:  Big salad.  3-4 cups romaine, a whole tomato (on the vine variety), half a cucumber, some scallions, around 8oz or so of pot roast left over from earlier this week, some of the veggies left over from last night, and my homemade salad dressing.

Snack:  Apple with almond butter.

Supper – Chili with some cheese and just a few pork rinds (not nearly as many).

So on track still.  Check in tomorrow and make sure I don’t pass out during the two workouts!

Brent P90X, Primal/Paleo Eating P90X, p90x ab ripper x, paleo, primal

So one of the difficulties I have being a Team Beachbody coach and going Primal is how to incorporate Shakeology.  It has some ingredients that are not necessarily “primal” friendly, but the overall content of the shake is just too good to let 2 or 3 small amounts of ingredients ruin the entire usefulness of the shake.

So in thinking how to make this shake more Primal friendly, I had to consider the following:

1.  I have to keep carbs low.  17g in the shake alone is a huge chunk to take at one time.

2.  I have to increase fat content.

3.  It has to still taste good.

Enter the coconut milk.  I love the taste of coconut and wondered how this would end up.  So I did the following:

1/3 cup coconut milk
2/3 cup water
1 scoop Shakeology
1 banana (more on this in a second)
1 tbsp almond butter

Now, this ended up with over 40g of carbs, which is high for one meal.  In fact, it is WAY to high for what I wanted to take in first thing in the morning.  I had planned on using only half a banana which would have taken the total carb content down to around 30g, and that would have been more in line with that I wanted.  However, the last two nights I have had severe leg cramps in the middle of the night, so I thought the extra potassium may help.

But, in the future, I think I’ll go sans banana.  The shake was very delicious, and the banana did nothing for the flavor.  So there is a 22g carb savings.

The only saving grace is that the rest of my day was very low carb.  I definitely kept in the 50-100g sweet spot today.

Meals:

Breakfast – The shake, 3 slices bacon, 2 eggs over-medium.

Lunch – Leftover chicken fajita mix on top of a bed of romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, sour cream, and salsa.

Supper – Primal friendly chili (no beans) with some….pork rinds!

I actually had to do some reading on the pork rinds.  Pork skin cooked in lard (pig fat).  Sounds primal enough for me!  It’s actually considered a sensible Primal/Paleo indulgence:  5g fat, 9g protein, and 0 carbs in each serving.  Granted deep frying probably is not the best thing, but it could be worse:  I could have consumed crackers!

For my exercise, I did Ab Ripper X this morning and then 50 minutes of work with my physical therapist this afternoon.  I could tell a bit of weakness from the diet during PT, but I expect this to get better.

I’ve also adjusted back to my normal routine:  Up early, exercise, breakfast, work, evening activities.  I woke up at 5:30 this morning and plan to push back to 5:15am from here on (reserving the 5:30am mornings if I need the extra 15 minutes of sleep).  That is one area of the Primal Blueprint I’m looking forward to eventually completely fulfilling:  Sleeping until I wake up naturally, and then considering afternoon naps!

Tomorrow is Yoga X with P90X.  Two things I’m going to be interested in seeing:  How the shoulders feel, and how much energy I have to get through it.

Got a question about P90X and going Primal?  Post comments below!

Brent P90X, Primal/Paleo Eating P90X, p90x ab ripper x, p90x paleo, p90x primal, paleo diet, paleo shakeology, primal blueprint, primal shakeology, Shakeology

So didn’t get a chance to blog yesterday, so writing a bit today about P90X.

Yesterday was day 15, Chest and Back, Ab Ripper X.  Put it this way:  I’m more sore today…the day AFTER, than I was the day after last week.  Pushed harder on my push-ups, worked harder on my pull-ups.  Hoping this extra work pays off in the end.

Today was Plyo X.  Woke up tired.  Really wanted an excuse to skip.  Didn’t skip.  Burned 640 calories.  Not great, not bad.  Was so glad I didn’t skip.

Nutrition today was pretty good minus being a bit under calories.  But hey, no one is perfect.

Brent P90X P90X, p90x ab ripper x, p90x chest and back, p90x plyo calories burned, p90x plyo x

P90X Legs and Back day….I used to dread this day.  And, in some aspects, I still do.  To me, this is the hardest workout in phase 1.  It’s intense, it burns a lot of calories, and usually leaves me shaky and gasping for air throughout the routine.  And today was no different.  My legs were a bit weary most of the day.

I’ve been using a pull-up assist that I got with the Insanity – The Asylum Deluxe kit.  Basically it gives you a bit of an assist getting up with 3 small resistance bands.  Today, I removed one of the bands to make the pull-ups harder.  I would do unassisted pull-ups, then do as many assisted as I could do on just two bands as possible.

Needless to say, my numbers were MUCH lower.  Well, not a lot, but 2-4 reps lower.  After the first round of pull-ups, I added back in the third band.  I was pretty toasted after the first round.  Great workout, though.  I think I’ll keep working to using less and less resistance with the assist to see if I can get my rep count up there.

Nutrition was pretty good today, minus that I do not think I ate enough, nor do I think I got enough veggies in today (which is not always good on a low carb diet).

Tomorrow is Kenpo day, should be fairly easy compared to the rest of this week!

Brent P90X P90X, p90x ab ripper x, p90x legs and back

Wow, day 8 already.  P90X week 1 went by fast!  Back to push-ups and pull-ups today.  Day 8 of P90X’s Chest and Back workout was INTENSE today.  I learned that I really need to eat half a banana or something before doing this routine.  I was pretty wasted by the end (we did do Ab Ripper first, which probably didn’t help).

Some of my numbers were up, some where down.  It was a mixed bag.  But I felt I pushed harder overall today, focusing a bit more on form, larger weights, wider grip on the pull-up bar, etc.  I’m hoping small changes like this will pay off.

Nutrition was pretty good today.  I did choose to have some desert at lunch, but kept my calorie goals in mind and did not overdo it.  I feel pleased with this weekend overall.  Usually weekends were a massive cheat meal for me (read this as a big burger and fries type of cheat, or pizza), but instead I kept thing in mind, at fairly clean, and feel good about it.

Tomorrow is Plyo day.  Ready to see if I can push myself a bit more tomorrow than what I did last week.

Brent P90X P90X, p90x ab ripper x, p90x cheat meals, p90x chest and back, p90x nutrition, P90X-Diet

Wow…P90X day 3 was rough. Last night was a rough night with two of our daughters, so 5am was a bit tough. But got up and did it, and was quite pleased with my weights. My shoulder started off tight again on the shoulder presses.

Diet was on today, but might have been a bit short. I forgot one of my snacks at home and had to use my protein shake as the snack instead of with my lunch. I can tell my body is kicking into “must consume” gear. I am getting to be constantly hungry.

The ketosis from the reduced carbs/higher protein is kicking in as well. Typically I get more tired early in the night. I also get grumpy. My wife’s comment to me was “You must start eating more carbs”. But I am going to stuck it out.

Very proud of my wife too. After a major headache and a rough night with the girls she got up and pressed play later in the morning. She is going to do great with it!

Tomorrow is Yoga day, my favorite day of each P90X week.

Brent P90X P90X, p90x ab ripper x, p90x fat shredder, p90x shoulders and arms

So, I disappeared for a while and took care of some personal things but continued to exercise up until vacation. And even on vacation I did several days of workouts.

I did eat bad on vacation and put a bit of weight back on, but nothing major.

Today, my wife and I started P90X together. I have been missing the straight forward workouts and lifting. And my wife was real trooper on her first day.

Chest and Back was a challenge with my shoulders today. It was mainly my left shoulder that caused issues. But the more I got into the routine the better it felt.

My goal is to follow the P90X nutrition plan this time around and see how things go. Today I was a bit short on calories, but did keep my carbs in line.

Breakfast: Shakeology
Lunch: Buffalo chicken wrap
Snack: Almonds
Supper: 12oz chicken, steamed veggies, V8

I think I ended up around 700 calories short, so tomorrow I am going to have to work on getting my calorie count up.

Brent P90X P90X, p90x ab ripper x, p90x chest and back

I’m the first to admit when a day of P90X isn’t my best.  Today….wasn’t my best.   By far.

I woke up tired.  A 20 month old kicking you all night is not a good way to stay rested.  So everything felt off:  Ab Ripper was marginal, Legs and Back was just brutal.  The only bright spot of anything was my pull-up counts.  They were decent.  The leg work simply sucked, though, to be honest.

I know everyone says that enjoy your kids while they are young, they grow up so fast, yadda yadda yadda…but to be 100% honest, I’m just ready for them to be at the age to where they sleep.  In their bed, not in mine.  And they sleep all night.  All the time.

Nutrition today was good.  I rearranged things today to see how it would go.

Pre-workout:  1/2 banana, 1/2 tbsp PB
Post workout:  BB Results and Recovery Drink
Breakfast:  1 cup oatmeal with honey and cinnamon, protein shake
Snack:  1oz cashews
Lunch:  Shakeology
Snack:  4oz 1% cottage chese
Supper:  Pork Tenderloin w/ BBQ sauce, steamed veggies, pasta salad made with whole wheat, protein added noodles.

Hoping for more sleep tonight and a better day tomorrow with Kenpo.

Brent P90X, The Abs Diet P90X, p90x ab ripper x, p90x legs and back, The Abs Diet

So, after a horrible end to last week, I pick back up on the muscle confusion with P90X Ab Ripper X, Chest Shoulders and Triceps today.  Ab Ripper went well.  I think I did all but 17 of the reps across all the routine.

CST was quite an adventure.  Some of my reps were down.  Some of them up.  I lowered my weight and still struggled on some of the moves.  Credit the switching between routines with that one.

Nutrition today?  Meh…ok overall.  I did have some frozen yogurt for one of my snacks with my kids and mom and dad.  Kept it to a small amount and made sure to include only fruits and some nuts.  Tonight we’re leaning towards fajitas.

Hard to believe this is week 10 and only 3 weeks and 6 days left.  Time flies when you’re having fun and working hard!

Brent P90X, The Abs Diet P90X, p90x ab ripper x, p90x chest shoulders and triceps, The Abs Diet

Today marked the start of P90X phase 3, where you are constantly working the muscles in the upper body differently and thoroughly confusing the you-know-what out of them.

So here’s the breakdown of how it went today:

Ab Ripper X – Push hard.  Push REALLY hard.
Chest And Back – Pushed REALLY hard.  In fact, almost nauseated by the end.  Had a never say quit attititude.

I’m writing this very post-workout (8 hours later) and I’m still a bit tired.  Part of that was really bad sleep for the last 5 nights (with last night being a night to deal with our girls at some point), and the other because the muscles are adapting back to the phase 1 workout, really causing them to fire differently and harder.

I did lower the weights to get more reps in for a leaner burn.  I’m trying to do more cutting over the next 5 weeks to see where I can get down to prior to Insanity.

Nutrition is still early on today, but should be good.  I’ve added back a recovery drink to help with soreness and an extra energy boost post workout.

Pre-workout:  1 slice whole wheat bread, 1/2 banana, 1/2 tbsp PB
Post Workout:  Old BB Results and Recovery drink
Breakfast:  Shakeology
Lunch:  McAlister’s wrap and salad
Snack – 1oz Almonds, 1.5oz Raisins
Supper – Going to have Baked Chicken, Steamed Veggies, and a carb of some type, not sure yet.  I’m thinking oven baked potatoes
Late Snack?  Probably a protein shake

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