Days 13-17

While I've done a fantastic job of sticking with my workout I've done a bad job of updating this blog over the past week. Go figure.

The program is still going strong. I haven't missed a day yet, the workouts are getting a bit easier, and I'm recovering faster from them. That pain in my stomach is just about completely gone and I've done the ab workout twice this week already so I'm in the clear there. That ab routine by the way is really hard. It's three times a week and while it's just under 15 minutes each session it's still a killer.

I'm going through most of the tapes for the third time this week and they're feeling quite familiar at this point. I'm not bored of them yet but I have a feeling that by the end of the 90 days that I'll be in the mood for a change. Even a different set of p90x videos would be fine. I'm getting ahead of myself though. 90 days is still a long ways away.

Maybe it's all in my head but I swear that my biceps are bigger than when I started. I don't want to measure them in the event that they're in fact still the same size or, God forbid, even smaller.

Tomorrow's workout (well today's since it's 1:45am) is yoga which I joyfully don't do. I had a hockey game tonight for which we were short handed and have another game on Thursday so that counts in my book.

Must sleep.

Day 12 - Thursday (Legs and back)

I didn't check in yesterday because I'm officially blowing off the yoga workout. I had a hockey game the night before though and have another one tonight so that justifies it in my mind.

I had an early dentist appointment this morning to get an impression taken for a custom hockey mouthguard. The dentist's assistant was very cute and personally called me up later to let me know the mouth guard was done. I'm looking forward to the return visit :) Anyway, point being that I didn't get my workout in today until the afternoon - which is the first time that I haven't done it early in the morning. So I don't know if I'm getting stronger or if the time of day made a difference but I averaged 1.5 more pullups per set than I did the last time I did legs and back. It's incredibly encouraging as I fill out my spreadsheet to see myself doing more reps or weight than I did the week before. I think I'm going to try and conjure up some kind of overall power graph that I can post and update as another way to visualize my progress.

Again I bailed on the ab workout though that pain is rapidly diminishing. I expect to be able to start working my abs out again next week. I have a buddy who has a hernia so that was looming in the back of my mind for the last week.

Tony was up to his same old tricks today. His Groucho Marx impersonation made the whole thing worth it. I'm still in love with his lackey Drea though I think she has a man. I wonder if he can hang with p90x...

So today is my 30th birthday and I've been doing some reflecting about the last 10 years. Things haven't turned out like I expected though that's not a bad thing. I'm still single and long gone from my Microsoft job but I think I'm happier for it. I still feel young and shouldn't have to settle for less than I deserve in my personal or professional life. One thing that made me smile today after finishing my workout is that (even though I'm a lover and not a fighter) I'm pretty sure my 30 year old self could kick my 20 year old self's ass if it came down to it :)

Day 10 - Tuesday (Arms and shoulders)

Not in much of a writing mood right now but the streak is still alive. I rocked the arms and shoulders workout this morning. I put up more weight on many of the exercises than I did last week which is encouraging. I skipped the ab workout again today which annoys me. I haven't had a six-pack stomach since freshman year of high school and I'm not going to get them back at this pace. But situps are still quite painful so there's not much I can do. I'll probably go to the doctor in a week if my abdomen is still bothering me.

I have another hockey game tonight - I hope I can lift my arms.

Day 9 - Monday (Plyometrics)

And on Sunday he rested. Well, not actually. First off, pushing my rest day back one was a brilliant strategic decision. You could say I wasn't necessarily in workout form yesterday following our Saturday night party. But I actually did get in some exercise. My friends, being the greatest friends in the known universe, pitched in a gave me a Nintendo Wii for my birthday. So I spent the bulk of yesterday afternoon jumping around the living room playing Nintendo games. Boxing is my favorite so far and can deliver quite a workout. Someone needs to come out with a game specifically designed as a workout - I'm sure it would be hella fun. (Yes, I really use the word hella).

The rest was much needed, the pain in my abdomen is still there but feeling much better. It didn't bother me during today's workout though, plyometrics. This workout is very hard work but in a good way and I feel awesome again after finishing it. One good thing about this one is that they do the crappiest exercises first and save the fun ones for the end.

Tony still cracks me up. Today he shouted the Lord's name in vain after one particularly hard exercise and then tried to cover it up. I heard it though - a loud ole "JESUS!" coming through clear enough. Maybe he had a revelation.

Day 7 - Saturday (Chest and back)

We're having a party at our house tonight so I thought it would be prudent to move tomorrow's workout up to today and take my rest day tomorrow.

I'm not so sure that was a great idea though. I started the chest and back workout this morning with a minor pain in my lower abdomen that is now quite sharp and painful. My abs have been sore off and on all week but this is different, much more acute and localized. I took a couple pretty good sticks to the gut last night playing hockey so I'm hoping that's the problem.

So with that the workout didn't go great. Pushups were especially painful and I wasn't able to match my pullup and pushup numbers from last week. The only bright spot of today is that I put up more weight on the dumbbell exercises than last week.

I'm supposed to do an ab workout this weekend as well. I was going to do it today but that's just not going to happen - a situp made me want to cry. This is not good.

Day 6 - Friday (Kempo X)

After effects of yesterday's workout aren't that bad. My back is sore and my legs are tired, but nothing like earlier in the week. I think my muscles are slowly getting used to being worked out again. In particular my abs aren't on fire as was the case earlier in the week after Ab Ripper X.

On to today - just did the Kempo X workout. This thing was awesome. While Yoga X was hellish, this one was a lot of fun. Instead of that wussy meditating crap it's an hour long karate workout. And I nailed it. I was making kung fu sound effects the whole time and really getting into it. Tony would have been proud if he wasn't so busy having his ass kicked by me through the TV set. His lackeys today were a bunch of pansies as well. I pretend fought them through the TV as well and they didn't fare any better than Tony.

I've been doing a lot of research into supplements to help me get less puny and came across this site on creatine. I read all their material and came away convinced that it would be a positive thing to add to my program. The very short version is that creatine in your muscles can give you extra burst energy. Your muscles get their energy from converting ATP (which is derived from glucose) into ADP. Creatine in your muscles can convert ADP back into ATP which then gives your muscles more fuel. Creatine naturally exists in your muscles as it is. Supplementing then raises your natural creatine levels so your muscles can burst for longer.

This morning before my workout was my first creatine supplement, administered guiltily. I normally hate putting anything unnatural in my body (which doesn't make any sense because creatine is more natural than many of the highly processed foods I eat). I almost never take cold medicine, aspirin, that kind of thing. So it felt somewhat illicit taking creatine even though it's legal, safe (in the proper doses as with many things), and arguably the most studied supplement ever.

Day 5 - Thursday

I'm late getting this post up but that doesn't mean I didn't do the workout.

Legs and back this morning. Legs I have. Back apparently exists in that same parallel universe which contains my missing chest muscles. Today's workout was this: squats, pull-ups, lunges. Repeat forever. I destroyed the leg exercises but the pull-ups got the best of me. It was maybe 8 sets of pull-ups with various hand positions. By the end I could only do 2 and had to bring a chair in to help do any more. I tacked on the Ab Ripper X at the end. That video is 15 minutes of hell. I guess that means it works.

Tony did a great Groucho Marx impersonation today. But I think he was advocating the smoking of cigars if I heard him properly. Sounds suspect to me but I'll take his word for it.

His lackeys were unremarkable today except for the lovely Drea. I've seen her in one of the other workouts before. With luck she'll take her clothes off in tomorrow's video :)

Day 4 - Wednesday

Just finished Yoga X. I've had a unfair prejudice against yoga for years ever since a girlfriend back in the day made me do a couple tapes with her. Well it turns out that my prejudice is completely fair because I still hate it and think it's as stupid as it was the first time. I'm not left feeling pumped nor particularly tranquil. I'm pissed off is what I am. I spent a great deal of the video swearing at Tony for making me do a bunch of exercises which are physically impossible for anyone not as flexible as a gymnast. My joints were cracking like crazy during the workout and really hurt. I didn't find their music soothing either - it just made me hungry for couscous and goat meat.

I think that I'm going to replace this workout with the stretching video going forward because I really think that I need to work on my flexibility before this yoga tape is even useful to me. Besides, two hockey games a week should make up for the calorie burning difference between the two videos.

Oh yeah, Tony - you have the balance of a drunk toddler on crutches. Suck it.

Day 3 - Tuesday

First off, what a hockey game last night. I was pooped and sore before the puck even dropped. And of course we had 7 players not show so we skated with a very short bench. It got worse though - our goalie got hurt with 14 minutes left in the 3rd period. So of course I end up as pseudo-goalie, in my regular pads, and tasked with preserving a one goal lead in a championship game. I let in one but we scored two so I got the save.

Anyway.... So this morning I was sore and short sleep but hammered out the arm and shoulder workout. It was long but I even did the bonus sets at the end. I'm still dialing in the proper weight for the various exercises so I ended up with perhaps a little less weight than I needed. Tony was up to his same old tricks today. He made a good pterodactyl reference at one point as well as a funny joke about his enormous head (it's like an orange on a toothpick). And, again, there was something fishy about his lackeys. One of the guys, Joe, was Tony's doppelganger. It was freaking me out because I really couldn't tell them apart when they were next to each other. It's as if the folks from p90x have a clone army of Tonys they just pop out for each show. No wonder he never gets tired... Tony revealed partway through the workout that Joe was actually one of three triplets in his family, thus their identical nature. But triplets, Tony? Nice try, I can see through that. You're one of 3000 test tube supermen in a joint program between p90x and the Army.

After arms and shoulders, I did the Ab Ripper X workout. That thing is brutal. I was still sore from the last time I did it and it kicked my ass. I didn't wuss out though and made it through the whole thing without any extraneous breaks. By the end I was literally cursing Tony out, "Tony, you motherf$@(*$r! Is that all you got?!?" It appears that I can draw strength out of channeling my hate at Tony's cursed Ab Ripper X.

Something that should help keep me motivated: I feel awesome when I finish. I'm pumped, doing pretend high fives with Tony and his lackeys, and am proud of myself for getting through another one. I need to remember that sensation in the event I start getting lazy.

Day 2 - Monday

Success! Today was the plyometric workout which was a ton of jumping around and not a lot of resting. Apparently I actually have the requisite muscles to do these exercises because I was able to keep up with Tony and crew for about the whole thing. So these videos are hosted by this totally ripped guy, Tony, and 3 lackeys. Tony is a constant across all the videos while the lackeys appear to be different in each one. Today's were Dominic (who was dogging it in my opinion), Pam, and a guy with one leg (for real). That one legged guy had a prosthetic and he could sure jump. Impressive. Anyway, I nailed this workout which must be an effect of years of hockey, soccer, and volleyball. I should still have some gas in my tank for my hockey game tonight.

Aftereffect of yesterday: my abs, shoulders, and biceps are all sore as hell. My chest is surprisingly ok. I think that's because I don't have any chest muscles to get sore.

Day 1 - Sunday

Holy shit.

That was really hard.

I just completed the first workout - chest, back, and abs. It was 70 minutes and I wanted to cry by the end. But I got through it. My suspicions were confirmed today. I am drastically lacking chest muscles that the rest of the population has. I don't know how the hell anyone can do a "diamond push up" as Tony (the jacked workout video guy) calls them. You essentially put your hands together making a diamond with your thumbs and forefingers and then do a push up like that. Impossible. We did push ups and pull ups - lots of them. Ab workout was a killer too. But I made it and feel great about myself now.

Day 0

Hi, I'm Tom and I'm puny. I'm an athletic guy, don't get me wrong. At one time or another, I've dabbled in just about every sport in existence. My current diversions are bike riding and ice hockey. But I've always been one skinny, weak dude and now it's time to do something about it. I've said that before and flirted with gym memberships and various workout programs of my own design. But nothing ever stuck and I generally just end up disappointed with myself.

So now for the first time I'm armed with a real program, a spreadsheet, and a blog. A couple weeks ago a friend pointed me to p90x. I read a couple reviews and decided that it was just what I needed. The gist of this program is that it's a regiment of 12 different hour long workouts and you rotate through them over the course of 90 days. They are intended to build strength and as a prequisite to starting, you already need to be in decent shape. There's a nutrition plan that goes along with the program but I'm still undecided how strictly I will follow it.

With that, I took the fitness test last week along with some pictures of me to document my starting point. For reference, here's a sample of the data I collected to compare against myself in the future:

Resting heart rate: 56
Weight: 153
Body fat: 11.5%
Chest: 37.5"
Right thigh: 21"
Right bicep: 13"
Pull-ups: 9
Vertical leap: 17"
Max push ups: 25
Max bicep curls: 10 @ 25lbs
Max slap shot: 68mph

As you can see from my pictures, I'm not a big guy and am, unfortunately, as strong as I look. At the end of this I don't expect to be huge, but I hope to no longer appear like a guy who's worked behind a computer the last 8 years.

This blog is for me. It's purpose is to motivate me and create an additional layer of shame and guilt if I start pussing out. So don't let me do that.