Day 19 - The Siren's Song

Tony, out of respect for you, do not come to Seattle under any circumstances. Winnie will rip you a new one. If you could see the pain that you cause her during the pull-up workouts you would know that you should keep your distance.

Yesterday was Legs & Back which I destroyed. I think my much improved diet is really helping me. And, perhaps, working out at 5-6pm instead of early morning is making a difference too. But I just feel like I have more energy this go around with each workout then I did before.

Winnie and I have been googling around and looking at other people's P90x blogs. I never did that in my first P90x round That was a very internal experience and I didn't seek help nor see what others were up to. It was just me again Tony and those damn tapes. Anyhow, in looking around, in a masochistic way I enjoy seeing other people struggle with these workouts. I remember how hard they were when I started and reading about other folks going through it as well makes me proud of how far I've come.

Again, I put up more reps or weight in most of the exercises. On the calf raises I'm up to 22.5lbs which is nearly the 25lbs that Tony does. I'm sure he can do double that but it will feel good in a couple weeks when I'm doing the same weight as Tony for the first time. The only other exercise I can match him is the side-tri-rises which I'm sure he could do more of if he didn't have to chat everyone up.

We're working on Winnie's pull-ups. She's really close to getting her first real one. This week she moved the chair that's been helping her to a position that supports less weight. I'm brainstorming a more technical solution to assisted pull-ups but so far she isn't too keen on my ideas. I'll post pictures if we get something going.

We also decided yesterday that Tony's super-weakness is that he can't swim. In the warmup we do these arm circles where first he's saying, "Backstroke!" as we swing our arms in backwards circles. No problem. But then he tells us to reverse and swing our arms in forward circles to do the breast stroke. Umm, Tony, that's not the breast stroke. There's no doubt in my mind that going forward we're going to threaten to throw him into a pool when we're dying in a particular workout.

Highlights of yesterday's Legs and Back workout:
22.5 lbs on the calf raises.
72 total pullups. (I only did 33 on day 1 of P90x round 1)

Today's workout. Kempo X + Ab Ripper X. Piece of cake.

Winnie Weighs In...

OK, first off, I have to say that as much as I'm going to complain in this blog that I hate Tony, I'd still do him in a heartbeat... so, Tony, if you're reading this, call me.

Now, Tony, if you are actually reading this, the next thing I want to tell you is "Suck It". This I say to you while motioning to my still slightly sore inner thighs. I hope you and your P90X crew know how much I hate you while holding my wall squats. I hope you choke on your recovery drink each time I collapse during my dive bombers. Your Roll-up V-ups make me want to throw up. Does it make you happy to hear that my Kempo kicks get higher as I imagine them trying to reach your face? Let me just say, for the record, that my contempt for you is only exceeded by my hatred for diamond pushups... but I really, really, really hate diamond pushups, so you still rank pretty high on my "Things Winnie Hates" list. (But, if you're ever in Seattle, seriously, look me up - I hear angry sex burns a ton of calories.)

Now, on the other hand, my friend Tom is tearing your workouts apart. In a few weeks, he's going to be able to put the hurt on you. Granted, he's as flexy as a frozen banana some days, but he can do push-ups like no body's business. I would think your videos were CG'ed for reps if it wasn't for the real-life push-up metronome running on my left tonight.

I still do my push-ups on my knees and my pull-ups with a chair... but Tom is no joke. He is not modifying a thing. It is frustrating for me to not be able to do the exercises for real at times... which is why I have to hold on to the small victories that I have - like anything that I can do better than Tom :) Take, for example, the sit-and-reach. I know, I know... it's not really fair to compare Men and Women in this regard (p.s. that's how I feel about pull-ups), but I CRUSH in the sit-and-reach. Tony, I wonder if I could beat YOU in sit-and-reach!!! I'm 7 inches past my toes, what do you reach? BRING IT!

Alright, Tony, I've spent enough time taunting you. My best friend once told me "we pick on those that we secretly like the most"... so by the looks of this post, I'm two insults away from having an affair. See you tomorrow, in HELL.

Power Scores

So I have this awesome, magical spreadsheet that I've based on someone else's awesome, magical spreadsheet that I found on the Internet. What I've done is pulled out the calendar (since I have a calendar on paper complete with daily stickers courtesy of Winnie) and added to it the calculation of 'Power Scores' for each workout. As I mentioned in my previous post, this is a quantifiable representation of how awesome or wussy my workout was. I probably overvalue some exercises and undervalue others, but in general it's a great single numerical value with which I can compare my progress on a particular workout over time. Above is the graph of every workout I've done to date (not counting Plyo X, Kempo X, and the hellspawn that is Yoga X). It shows a very clear upward trend and contains the progress I've made in both my 1st and 2nd P90x experiences. For some people seeing pictures of themselves get bigger is enough motivation. But I'm puny and not getting bigger as fast as I'd like. So it's really hard for me to see gains that way. Instead, watching these numbers climb is what drives me. It's what tells me I'm really getting stronger and is what I strive for with each workout. I make myself put up more weight, do more pull-ups, and push myself harder because I want to see that number go up. It's meaningless by itself but seeing it go up over time is an awesome reminder that I'm actually getting something out of this.

Day 15 - Holy Guacamole!

Just finished the chest and back workout and I f'in crushed it! Of course that's relative because Tony and his henchmen still made me look like a little girl. I essentially matched my max pull-ups on this routine but I I just cranked WAY out more push-ups than I ever did during this workout in both my current and original P90x experience. I don't know where it came from, I just simply demolished the push-ups. Here's what I did today:

Step	Exercise	4/21/08
	POWER SCORE	1826
		Reps	LBS	Score
1	Standard Push-ups	20		60
		25		75
2	Wide Front Pull-ups	7		63
		6		54
3	Military Push-ups	12		60
		8		40
4	Reverse Grip Chin-ups	8		72
		7		63
5	Wide Fly Push-ups	25		75
		25		75
6	Closed Grip Pull-ups	7		63
		6		54
7	Decline Push-ups	25		75
		20		60
8	Heavy Pants	12	30	102
		8	35	113
9	Bench Press	12	30	57
		8	35	60.5
10	Lawnmowers	10	35	115
		10	35	115
11	Dive-bombers	13		65
		10		50
12	Back Flys	12	22.5	79.5
		12	22.5	79.5
	Ab Ripper X	1		100

Things to note:

• I've removed the diamond push-ups from our routine and switched that to bench press. That's because I couldn't really do those with good form as it was and also because I have bench press goals set for me at the end of the 90 days. If I'm going to hit them I need to start putting up dumbbells. On my 2nd set I put up 70lbs 8 times. That's the first real bench press I've done in a year, with dumbbells as opposed to a bar, and on an exercise ball instead of a real bench. So hopefully that 70 pounds is actually more than that... My plan is to sneak into my roommate's gym during each of the slow weeks to test where I am.
• My spreadsheet generates a score for each exercise based on both weight and reps. Increasing either ups that score.
• I didn't actually do Ab Ripper X today even though I marked it off. That's just for comparison's sake because I wanted to get the graph posted on the blog. I will take it off and mark it off for real when I do it tomorrow. I'm sure I'll do it though so you'll have to trust me there :)
• As we were getting ready, Winnie commented negatively on an odor emanating from my gym shoes. After a couple of whiffs I have to concur, my shoes stink. And subsequently after a workout my feet stink. I'm not sure if my feet have caused the shoes to reek or whether the shoes are causing my feet to be most unpleasant after. It's a chicken and egg problem that I will get to the bottom of.
• Protein shakes galore! I have been taking protein shakes from the beginning (during the first P90x experience as well) but they've never been very good because I get clumps of undissolved powder that don't taste very well. I just came up with a new stirring technique that has made these chocolate shakes simply delicious now. Here's the trick: with one hand rapidly stir a glass of milk while with the other hand very slowly shake the powder from the scoop into the milk. Rather than the clumpy soup I abhorred I now end up with a frothy shake that isn't too far off a glass of Nesquick. So the last 3 days my protein intake has been up in the 200g range per day (I weigh 145). I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of effect that will have on me.

I just lost a buck.... to myself!

Bonus points if anyone knows the reference.

Just got an email from Winnie - she got in both her elliptical and ab workout. Nicely done.

No more writing today. I have to go upstairs and find my chest and back muscles for tomorrow's hellish workout.

Day 14 - Ab Ripper X

Today is technically my rest day but we're doing things just a bit out of order. So today was Ab Ripper X which I did from the confines of my living room by myself. I have done this video more than any other at this point and I know it backwards and forwards. There's this one part during the "hip rock and raise" exercise where the generic background workout music kicks into high gear and Tony goes "Get em up!" I know that it's coming right at rep 15 every time and, sure enough, it does. Since I know this video so well I like getting about 30 seconds ahead of the video. Then when I finish each exercise I get to watch Tony and his cronies working hard while I'm enjoying my break. Small pleasures.

On top of abs, I also played 2 hours of volleyball tonight. One of the teams we played really ticked me off in each of the first two points of our match which wasn't smart. I normally clown around a fair amount on the court but when I get pissed off I jump higher and hit the ball way harder. I need to figure out how to harness that rage and take it out on the pull-up bar tomorrow.

Winnie was going to do the same ab workout today along with her regular elliptical machine routine. Wonder if she did it... I bet a dollar she did.

Day 12 - I can't move my arms

Today was legs and back. Yesterday was arms and shoulders. Normally I don't do 2 heavy days in a row. But having a workout partner means we need to be a little more creative with the schedule to get everything in.

I'm thrilled though. Yesterday I put up more weight on the arms/shoulder day that I ever have! It's pretty clear now that I only gave back a small percentage of the gains I made last summer. I couldn't be happier about this. I was afraid that I'd be damn near starting over but that's not the case. 4-5 nights a week of hockey and volleyball have apparently kept me in pretty good shape. Doing pull-ups today I came very close to my 'high score.' I will get my spreadsheet up soon, it has a graph of the progress I've made since last May.

Winnie kicked ass today. She was dreading this workout but powered through it. We rewarded ourselves with a little stand for all our dumbbells today. I'm still using the Bowflex Selecttech dumbbells but Winnie has added some loose weights which is are just more convenient - even if they aren't pink like she wishes. Anyway, she really hates the pull-ups but she cranks them out like a champ. She isn't up to a real one yet so she and lets her feet dangle back onto a chair to take a bit of the weight off. My gut tells me that at the end of Phase 1 she'll be able to do a real pull-up.

When we're working out, I tend to yell things at Tony. For example, I answer his questions before he asks them.
Tom: "It's three you dumbass! You ask this every week!"
Tony: "Folks, how many reps are we up to?"
Winnie got into the action today. During the calf lifts Tony miscounted and had us do an extra at which Winnie promptly hollered at him and gave him another WWF suck-it.

I'm proud of her. I did some rereading of my old blog posts and I had no problems visualizing how hard it was for me at first. I frequently wanted to quit and would get super frustrated at times. Winnie is hitting this like a real trooper and I don't see the frustration in her that I had. Maybe she's tougher, more driven, or working out together makes it easier - but she is really hitting this whole program head on. One thing I am worried about... she upped her weight a LOT on the bicep curls this week. On some of the exercises she was doing what I did at the beginning last year. If she catches up to me I'm never going to hear the end of it. She can already do more of these side-tri-rise things than I can. And today she used weights on a leg exercise that I normally do without weights. I don't know if she realizes how much she's motivating me now :)

And finally, one of Tony's flunkies today, Eric, indicated that he lives on a boat. He said it in a weird way though which made both Winnie and I suspect that he has crazy orgies at his place with the whole P90x crew. Except he doesn't invite Tony - which doesn't matter because Tony always finds out and just shows up anyway. And that just annoys all the other orgy-goers because Tony keeps using the same lines as he does in workout class, "Come on People! I know this hurts but we're almost there - 5 more seconds!"

Day 10 - Plyometrics X

Damn. I am still not quite back to workout form yet. Today was Plyometrics day and this workout is still hard. Squats, lunges, jumping, hopping, and so on. It doesn't let up for a good 45 minutes straight. And it looked like it was hurting Winnie too. Though I could tell she was definitely doing better than last week. Through the entire workout she had more spring in her step and she as able to do this one footed hopping thing that she struggled with last week. In a masochistic way it's fun when the workout crushes both of us. We get some good bonding in over our mutual hatred of Tony's always-chipper attitude. Tony likes to get his crew doing this X thing with their arms (because P90x is X-treme I guess). Anyway, whenever they do that we like to make our arms into an X and give Tony the old WWF "suck it" move. Though Winnie will do that (or give the metaphorical bird) even when Tony and his crew aren't being as X-treme.

Even after just 10 days, both Winnie and I can tell we're getting in better shape. Both of our love handles are shrinking. I've started upping my protein intake because dropping fat isn't enough for me - I want to get bigger.

Tomorrow is shoulders and arms. I'm actually looking forward to that one because I don't have to do a single push-up or pull-up.

Day 8 - I'm back

My arms hurt, my ass is sore (no jokes please), and my back is on fire. But I feel great. I'm 8 days into my 2nd P90x experience and as fired up as ever. I did the fitness test and have definitely regressed (in particular on the pullups).

Pull-Ups	11
Vertical Leap	19
Push-Ups	40
Body Fat %	9.5
Weight	146

Some things haven't changed. It's still hard as hell and I get pissed off. I'm back on the protein shakes (again no jokes please) and creatine. My shoulder is again bothering me. And Tony's chipper attitude still pisses me off. But this time around I have a secret weapon - I'm not going it alone. My good friend, Winnie (not her real name to protect the innocent), is going through it with me. In some ways I'm better prepared for this than her. I know the workouts, I can already do a good amount of pushups and pullups, and I've been playing hockey and volleyball a combined 4 nights a week for the last year and a half. But Winnie is friggin driven and when she decides she wants to accomplish something she does it. She eats way better than I do and is helping me get my diet fixed up. I'm going to miss the regular cheeseburgers, pizza, and Cokes but it's the right thing to do. We should make a formidable team to battle Tony and his minions.

At the top of this blog are our goals to hit in 90 days which I'll be tracking.

Tom: 20 pull-ups and bench press 135 pounds once. My previously non-existent chest muscles aren't in bad shape but I've never been able to put the biggest plates on the bar at the gym. Dammit I'm going to be able to do that. If I hit that early, my next goal is to press my weight. 20 pull-ups should be a pretty sweet number. Considering that I peaked at 17 last summer I know I can hit that.

Winnie: 116 pounds and 3 pull-ups. Winnie only needs to drop 8 pounds which I really think is cake for her. I think she should add a body fat % goal on this as well to strive for after she gets the 8 pounds off. Her other goal is to be able to do 3 pull-ups. Right now she can't do a one.

Day 78 - P90x Experience 1 Over

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90

Day 78 - Where the hell have I been?

Here and there I guess.

The real answer: rolling around in a pool my own shame brought on by day 78. Day 78, that asshole. Day 78 is where I failed. Three trips - to LA, Austin, and New Hampshire did me in. Travel is the anti-P90x. P90x is very hard to keep up as it is. The only way to do it is to create a routine and stick to it no matter what. Travel kills that routine though the day you get on the plane. You don't have your gear. (Instead I brought the "power bands" as a substitute for my dumbbells and pull-up bar.) You don't work out at the same time. You might be sharing a hotel room with someone else. You're working all hours at a trade show. It's friggin impossible. After you miss the first day, missing the second one isn't that big a deal. Before you know it you realize you blew it and have to write an entry about how you didn't get past day 78. 12 fucking days to go and you came up short.

Not to write off my accomplishment though. On day 78 I was in the best shape of my life. I still don't think I was particularly strong - but I was definitely stronger. I wasn't big but I definitely had muscles showing where I didn't have them before. Playing volleyball I was jumping higher and playing hockey I could shoot the puck harder.

Fitness Test Results:

	Before	After
Max Pullups	9	16
Max Pushups	25	40
Vertical Leap	17in	19.5in
Body fat	11.50%	8.70%
Weight	154lbs	146lbs
Chest	37.5in	39.5in
Right Bicep	13in	13.5in

Little stronger and a little bigger. I'm most proud of the pullups I could do. I actually did 17 about a week later - that being the most I've ever done in a row in my life. For reference, before p90x my previous high was 13 in 8th grade.

So after all this time, why am I writing again? Because I'm back and on a mission.