Real Life Fitness – Getting Fit With Brent

Being the last of the workouts before phase 2 recovery, it was time to step up the game just a bit more.  Today was P90X Ab Ripper X and Legs and Back.  Today had to be the day to leave it all in the home gym.  I made it well through Ab Ripper, and the first 40 minutes or so of Legs and Back were good.  Then the wall.  I had completely exhausted myself.  I pushed through that though, working on form more than reps.

Man, it felt good to push that hard!

Nutrition was good today.  We ate out tonight, but I know what to eat at the restaurant we chose.

Pre-workout:  1/2 banana, 1/2 tbsp peanut butter, 1 slice whole wheat bread
Breakfast:  Smoothie + Oatmeal
Snack:  Smoothie
Lunch:  Turkey sandwich + apple
Snack:  1oz almonds, 1.5oz raisins
Supper – McAlister’s Chipotle Chicken Wrap, Grilled Chicken Salad (fat free Chipotle Peach Dressing)
Snack – Protein Shake

Shakeology came in today.  Very excited!

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

Wow, today marked the halfway point of P90X for me.  And today I made it count!

Started out with Ab Ripper X.  Of the 345 moves, I think I hit around 320 of them.  My abs were burning.  I struggled a bit more with Scissors today.  But I was able to push harder other things.

For back and biceps, I was able to increase most reps or weights.  I think the pre-workout snack is really helping.

Nutrition was good.  Tonight was a bit light at supper due to a Fit Club meeting about 20 minutes away, but everything else was good.  Still really missing my Shakeology!

Pre-workout – 1/2 banana, 1/2 tbsp banana, 1 slice whole wheat bread
Breakfast – Smoothie + Oatmeal with honey
Snack #1 – Rest of smoothie
Lunch – Healthy pizza from last night + apple
Snack #1 – 1oz almonds, 1.5oz raisins
Supper – Turkey sandwich (with Romaine lettuce and 1 slice 2% cheese)
Snack #3 – Protein shake

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

So..after a GREAT cheat meal last night, it’s back to P90X, eating on The Abs Diet, and working on getting leaner, stronger.  Today I changed things up:  Instead of listening to the music tracks on the DVD’s, I cranked up Pandora.  It felt like the workout moved faster.  Ab Ripper was pretty intense.  For the first time ever, I can just about make it through the Fifer Scissors.  Well, made it to 18, took a small break, and then picked back up.

Improved most of my reps and/or weight, but was pretty toasted by the last set.

Nutrition was okay today.  Biggest problem was not getting all of my meals in due to a busy day (starting by sleeping in after a few of the kids were not feeling well).

Pre-workout snack – 1/2 banana, 1 slice whole wheat bread, 1/2 tbsp peanut butter.
Breakfast – Smoothie, 1 egg, 1 cup oatmeal with honey and cinnamon
Lunch – Turkey sandwhich, apple
Snack – Rest of smoothie
Dinner – Chicken fajitas
Snack – Undecided

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

P90X day 15 started with Ab Ripper and finished with Chest and Back. My strength is starting to come back, which is good. My brain slowing my body down in the first round isn’t happening, which is not good! I’m pushing hard in that first set of 12, and when I get to the second set of 12, I’m tired!

I mean, I’m POOPED!

But I keep at it. I really should have dropped to my knees to pump out more reps, but I’ve been gasping for air.

Today’s nutrition was a bit off. I got a late start on exercise, which caused a late breakfast, which means the mid-morning snack was skipped and went straight to lunch. I’m actually a bit short on calories today, but not going to try to get a lot in between now and the time I crash.

Breakfast: Smoothie + oatmeal with honey and cinnamon

Lunch: Breakfast sandwich (1 egg, 2 slices Canadian bacon, 1 slice low fat cheese, 2 slices whole wheat bread)

Afternoon snack: 1oz almonds

Supper – Sandwhich (3 slices deli turkey, 1 slice low fat deli ham, 2 slices whole wheat bread, 2 slices tomato, 1 romaine leaf, 2 pickles, spicy brown mustard, low fat mayo) with some (eek) ranch dip, 5 ruffles, and about 10 baby carrots. Not perfect, but had some calories to spare

Snack: Not sure yet

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

P90X Day 10 is Chest and Back and Ab Ripper. I actually continued my trend of doing Ab Ripper first. My core strength is slowly coming back, but I’m a long ways from where I was yet. I’ll get there though!

And while my weights are not quite as high as where I left off in October of 2010, I was lifting a bit more today. My reps were back in the range the needed to be. As I type this at 8:44pm Central time, I can still feel the work I did in my shoulders and my triceps are a bit sore. Good signs!

Nutrition for today as good. I actually made one of the recipes from The Abs Diet book and it was really good!

Here’s today’s breakdown:

Breakfast – Smoothie. Today I used a few blueberries in there too. Also some oatmeal with honey and cinnamon.

Snack #1 – 1 oz Almonds

Lunch – Yo Soup For You (from The Abs Diet Book)

Snack #2 – Rest of smoothie

Supper – Chilli with pinto beans and flaxseed

Snack #3 – Will be Turkey and Cheese again

I did have a few white corn tortilla chips and salsa today. My wife makes a very healthy homemade salsa. It maybe…MAYBE…added 150-200 calories to my day, but nothing to derail progress.

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

Catching up a bit from last week, as time got away from me and I did not get a chance to blog about my P90X workouts.

Friday’s was Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X.  My pull-up count was up.  I was able to do pull-ups throughout the routine and not just on the first round.  My legs were really tired after this time.  I pushed myself hard, went deep, and spent quite a bit of time sore afterwards.

Saturday I chose to do Insanity Pure Cardio.  I was doing great until about the 10 minute left mark, when the Plyo portion of this workout kicked in.  My glutes and thights were on FIRE!

Which brings us to today…P90X day 64.  Chest, Shoulders, And Triceps was a killer this morning.  In fact, I’m writing this now, and I have quite a bit of soreness in my upper body.  Some things I was successful on, such as upping my weight on a few tricep exercises.  I tried to up some on shoulder work and failed before 8 reps.  I pushed harder on my push-ups, worked on doing more, and increased some counts.

Still think I could do better.

I was actually having a bit of a stomach issue, so I did not finish Ab Ripper X this morning, which I was NOT happy with.  But there’s always Wednesday…and if I can swing the time, going to be gunning for doing the P90X One on One Ab Ripper X 2 either Wednesday or next Monday.

Brent P90X P90X, p90x ab ripper x

Today was day 8 of P90X, Chest and Back and Ab Ripper X.  I can tell either one of two things:

1.  Either the lower carbs are coming in to zap me a bit

or

2.  Having a 3 year old kick you all night is not good to push out a hard workout.

Either way, I started off slow.  But by the end, I was cranking out reps, pushing through the tiredness from the routine.  Most of my 2nd round reps improved quite a bit.

I’m going to be doing doubles a bit later in this round.  In fact, I may start later this week.  I’m going to win that bet with my wife, and I have the energy to do doubles.  I may increase my carbs just slightly to get through it, though, so I might just wait until phase 2.  I’m trying to hold on the fat shredder diet and keep the calories controlled and carbs low.

Hoping to tape some Plyo action tomorrow.  Charging the camera now.

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

Ahhh…my old nemisis:  P90X Legs and Back.  This was always my worst routine and my hardest.  But you know what, that was the past.  This is now, and I’ve made it a goal to make this routine better and better.

So today it started.  I think if I could get a better chair for balance lunges, I’d start out better.  The best chair I have for it is cushiony, so it makes holding a balance on that back foot difficult.

But the rest of the routine went well.  I held wall squats for quite a while.  I did most of the reps.  And I did not complain.

Still need to work on pull-ups, though….

Tomorrow, instead of Kenpo, I’m going to be doing something from Insanity.  My friends on Facebook got the chance to pick for me, but it ended up in a tie of those who responded.  My wife is planning on joining me for it, so we do not know which one we are going to do yet.  Stay tuned…

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

Boy I love P90X Shoulders and Arms!  I have come to love lifting days, working on lifting more and more weight, becoming stronger, building more muscle and losing fat!

I could not find my sheets from last time, so I was not really sure where I left off.  So, I jumped in head first, trying heavier weights first, and then backed down if needed.  Started out with 25 pounds on the alternating shoulder press and kept pushing to go heavy from there.

And I feel like I can accomplish it now.  We purchased the Select Techs with this in mind:  To have a lot of different weights to keep on working on strength.  And I really like having the increments in the lower range.  They give me the chance to get the reps in on a heavier weight than last time without making a full 5 pound per arm jump.

Ab Ripper X was a bit better today.  Scissors still get me.  I need more sleep, but I ate really well last night.

The fat shredder should start bothering me a bit by tomorrow.  3 full days of lower carbs should really kick in.  I’m eating at the 2,400 calories so I can focus on burning yet not have too large of a deficit this time around.  Being within 10 pounds, I’m comfortable with losing only 1 pound a week over the 13 weeks.  My goal right now is a bit of weight loss but work on really crushing the fat loss.

And I know its early, but I think I can already tell some loss occurring in my mid section.  I look like I am getting trimmer, my ab wall is showing more…and I love it!

Going to make a video soon, probably tomorrow, of Yoga X (if I can remember that early in the morning!).  I’m going to do all 90 minutes.

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

Yesterday began P90X again for me.  It was day 1, Chest and Back and Ab Ripper X.

I was really concerned about losing a lot of strength with doing Insanity for the last month, but was pleasantly surprised.  I could still do a good amount of push-ups, and could do even more diamond push-ups than before.

But my pull-up numbers lacked a bit to be desired, so going to have to work on getting strength back in my lats and upper back.

Ab Ripper X went very well too.  I did most of the first many moves, and then started finally wearing down a bit towards the end.  I’m close to being able to do the entire workout.

Last night we also held a fit club at our church, so I got to do a second workout.  I chose Cardio X.  Two mistakes:  Didn’t take a recovery drink after working out, and did not eat enough.  Got to be later than I like, too.  My goal is to correct all of that.

So begins the next leg in my journey to get the body I’ve always wanted!

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