Starting Fresh

Now that I have my new dumbbells, I am starting fresh today. I was only 2 weeks from completion of the program, but I'm not really worried about that. This isn't something I am going to do and then just quit, so restarting really doesn't matter. After midweek I'll give a review of the new dumbbells, but so far, I'm loving them....

On another note, yesterday I watched like 13 hours of RescueMe with Mel. Which is completely against the P90X lifestyle, but it is an awesome show.

Resistance Bands with P90X Review

So, as I stated in my last post I purchased the Bowflex Selecttech dumbbells yesterday after using bands for P90X for about 14 weeks. The red one snapped, but that was just a little more motivation along a track I was on anyway, that is to get actual dumbbells.

The bottom line is simple: dumbbells are superior, but bands can certainly serve a purpose. They are far more portable, much, much cheaper and perhaps slightly safer if you don't know what you are doing. Honestly, if you haven't exercised for a while and don't know if you will stick with it, I would recommend definitely dropping 50 bucks on bands before shelling out $400 on a set of dumbbells.

There are certain workouts which are unwieldy with the bands, especially on the second set of workouts and then there are some that are basically impossible (Damn you back-flys). Also, regardless of whether you use bands or weights, you certainly need a dedicated pull up bar.

With the large difference in weight between the beginning and the end of the lift with bands, it can be difficult to get a full workout, because it seems easy at first but becomes very hard to finish reps. The highest end of the lift has all the added resistance and it's just harder to gauge then weights. Also, it's very hard to document exactly how much you lifted from week to week since a slight variation in foot placement can change the resistance significantly. Perhaps you could document more, but I don't want to write a dissertation about my foot placement between every exercise.

To reiterate, the bands are a great starter tool to get you back into exercise and are certainly recommended for those who want to make sure the program is right for them before financially committing themselves heavily. I will continue to use the bands occasionally for certain exercises, but I am excited to get my dumbbells and the prospect of a more complete workout.

The Price of Perfection

In my life there are some costs associated with fitness, but presently there is one cost in particular that is worse than the others: $400.

That is the cost of Bowflex Selecttech 552 dumbbells. Mel, with her Samson-like strength obliterated our red band over the weekend. For a while now I have been considering it, but it just seemed like too much of an investment. Now that I know I'm sticking with it (and my wife has participated as well) it doesn't seem as unreasonable. It will be a better workout and make some impossible exercises much easier to do from a form standpoint.

As far as the workouts, I've been pretty solid. The San Diego trip delayed me a bit, but I'm rockin' out week nine currently and feeling pretty solid about it. I'm much stronger than I was at the beginning of the summer and feel pretty good in general. My running will be increasing, so I will no longer be doing Plyo until the marathon in January. That leaves me with the three strength training workouts a week. Still solid, I might take it down to 2 closer to the marathon and run 4 days a week, cutting out legs & back. Not too much though, legs and back has really helped by muscular endurance while running, something I hope will help me decrease my marathon time significantly this time around.

I'll be updating again from time to time, no promises on regularity, but stay tuned for some new diet and exercise tips from my wife. Oh and a quick shout-out to my sister, who ran her first half-marathon this weekend in Chicago and is still standing....congratz.

Keep On Keepin' On

The brilliance of Joe Dirt really isn't in question here, but perhaps my dedication to P90X has fallen under scrutiny. The fact is however, I'm still going strong. After my original restart after 5 weeks, I am now halfway through week 7 and feeling pretty decent about it.

With the San Diego trip coming up right in my rest week (I won't rest the first half of next week and I'll do week 9 stuff to get workouts in) it's decent timing. I'll run while in SD, but the lifting will have a short hiatus while some moderate, well heavy.....maybe borderline illegal fun ensues.

I think Mauzy is pretty well going along although maybe more hit and miss these days, everyone else seems to have fallen to the side of the road like the pansies in an Ironman race. Alex, you're exempt from this scathing remark with your effort induced dislocation of a semi-important knee related bone. The rest of you, now is a good time to get back on the horse, especially those of you in SD. If you ignore my nearly translucent epidermis, you'll be embarrassed by how good I look and how flabby and pathetic you have become when we're on the beach in 10 days or so....

Improvement

Last night I ran about 3.5 miles with the lady and was actually reasonably impressed with how I felt. I've ran maybe twice in the last 40 days, but have continued doing P90X (strength training at least). During the run I didn't feel like I was in marathon shape or anything, but I felt fine and only got stronger as time went on...maybe there is something to this P90X strength training thing.

I'm going to need it: This weekend I'm dong a mini-triathlon (200M swim, 6mi bike, and 5k run), considering I haven't swam in god knows how long and I use a mountain bike, it should be interesting.

Shout out to my good friend Mick out in Cali, heard about your unfortunate Softball accident, as long as your mended up in time for the labor day bonanza there will be no problems...get well soon buddy.

Appearances

If you follow my blog (and no one does) then you would think that I simply quit working out and eating healthy...this is not true. I am still doing P90X 90% and following the diet 90% and I have certainly improved in strength and general health. I guess it comes down to priorities and again, blogging loses.

I restarted the program of course and am now in week 5. There is a very probable speed bump when I take a trip over labor day weekend to sunny San Diego, but I'll still exercise and that can;t be avoided. Friends in Cali seem to have either quit or been injured in P90X or sports related activities, so I guess I should feel lucky I am relatively unscathed.

I still have the Phoenix marathon in January looming on the horizon, so my training for that needs to start ramping up now. I did Back & Biceps yesterday and today I'll be running with Mel. From now until the marathon, I will run at least 3 days a week while maintaining strength exercises. Once I get done with the initial 90 days, I will move to a more lean based P90X with 2 strength days a week and 4 running.

I could make promises about posting, but we all know how that would work out. I'll try to be more active, but we'll see. Either way, keep pressing play unless your maimed or injured, I'll be doing the same.

Blogging Laziness

I actually find it easier to work out then i do to update this blog, but I thought I would take another crack at it today. I'm still rocking the P90x and still feeling pretty good about it. About to go into a rest week next week for the second time and then back to the second phase again, the change of pace will be nice. I always felt like after a couple weeks everything would be come easy and then last night I did a chest & back and almost threw up....so I guess it really is what you put into it.

As far as I know Mauzy is still doing his thing as well, but i haven;t received much update from California. Also, my wife claims she will be starting it again soon, so I guess we'll see how that goes. I give her a much better chance than Jondle, so that's something.

Should I actually put effort into making this blog entertaining, or even writing it? Does anyone actually read or pay attention to it? Let me know, if it's useful, I'll do more than just blankly type out text as an excuse to update the space.

Day 4 - Runnin Fool

My wife can dominate me at running. I realize she has run 28 marathons to my 1 and that she has continued running marathons since we ran ours in San Diego, but I still feel slightly emasculated when we run. We ran for 35 minutes last night and then walked for 30 more just talking, but she crushed a hill to finish the run and I was hurting. Granted I've barely been running recently (changing now), but oh well, I need a couple more years of training and her weak female knees to break down a bit more and then I will be able to beat a woman. Time is on my side.

Legs and back tonight, followed by drinking....my favorite kind of workout.

Day 3 - Shoulders & Guns

I think I definitely need to get more sleep. I have had little energy for the workouts this week, although I have been doing reasonably well during the workout, it has been a struggle. Shoulders & Arms certainly seems easier than Chest, Shoulders and Tris, but it's certainly still a challenge if you put forth the effort.

Today I will do about a 5 mile run instead of the P90X action, to keep my base for the marathon training that will start again this fall. It will only be about 7 months since my last marathon when I run Phoenix, which isn't too bad...I think two marathons a year is more than respectable. That being said, Mel and her dad just finished a stretch of 12 straight months of one marathon a month, in all different states of course. Thinking about that is certainly humbling, so next time you think your awesome because you rode your bike 2 miles to the In n' Out burger and back and are feeling good about yourself, just remember that statistic.

That's right, compared to my wife and her father, we are all pathetic.

Day 2 - Jumping Around

Plyo isn't really the cardio workout it was when I first started....at this point I just get tired from the exertion. I breathe hard, but I recover quickly, it is more muscle fatigue in the legs than anything else. I think I am going to pick up a heart rate monitor to push myself though, because I think I'm suffering from a slight lack of motivation on Plyo.

Day 1 - Deja Vu

I like the structure of the program and the regimen in general....so getting out of rythm bothered me. After the neck injury my recovery week didn't go well and I started the 5 th week a couple days late and my clock was all off, so i've decided to restart.

I didn't get much sleep all weekend and I was dead tired last night, but I still did Chest & Back with ARX. Despite my fatigue I still met or exceeded all my totals from week 3 previously, so I'm starting the program from a better place. I don't really see it all as a failure, just bad luck with the neck and hopefully this time around goes smoothly. I could've easily just kept going and been fine, but oh well, another 4-5 extra weeks on the first run won't hurt me.

If you are staying strong and still pressing play, then congratulations, you're a machine. If not, you should be ashamed and at a loss for self-confidence with your flabby body. Yes, I'm looking at you Jondle.

Plyo Bonanza

I didn't have a huge amount of energy last night, but still took care of business on Plyo X. Plyo doesn't make me out of breath really anymore, but the exertion still can make me sick when I go hard at it, good to know it's a decent workout, one way or the other.

Today is the real question mark...for the first time since injuring myself, it will be time for pullups with the back and bi's workout. I'm sure it'll be fine...what's the worst that could happen? I guess I could dislocate my knee, but someone already did that....

Chest Shoulders and Tris

I did this workout once during my warmup period, but I didn't really try with the marathon approaching. This time around, I got the real story. This workout is all business. It has one water break and alot of ridiculous exercises. The famous clapping or plyo pushups, one armed pushups, etc., it's pretty brutal. I felt like I got a real good workout in though, so that's all you can ask for I guess.

On a positive note, my neck and shoulder were fine and feel ok today. I'm sore in the shoulders and chest, but with the couple extra days off from strength training and the hard workout, that was to be expected.

I'm going to start sliding in more carbs and transition into phase 2 of the diet. I have dropped a few more pounds and don't really want to lose more, so I think it's about time for more carbs. Also, quick shout out to my buddy Shawn in Texas, sounds like he and his wife are cruisin along steadily - just about ready to start the real deal. Make it happen man, it's worth it.

Dropping Like Flies

So I have been trying to hold myself together with my neck injury, which turned out to be much worse than anticipated. I did do most of the workouts last week and ran a couple times, including a 5k on Saturday which was a good time even though it had been raining and it was a trail run. I lost a full minute trying to fish my shoe out of a muddy ditch.

Yesterday my necks till wasn;t right, so I just ran, but tonight I am going to try Chest, Shoulders and Tris. We'll see, if I hurt myself again, I'll just run and do abs until my neck heals and then restart the whole program, but hopefully everything will be allright. Alex doesn't have a knee and Mauzy has had a jacked foot for a couple weeks, so I should be able to tough it out.

Diet is still doing pretty well, if I complete the workout today then I'll switch into Phase two of the diet, if not, I'll just stay in Phase 1 for the forseeable future.

Sorry I left this page cold for a week there, crazy at work and was half embarassed about the slacking due to injury...how is everyone doing?

Fallen Soldier

Just wanted to take a second and hand out a Purple Heart to Alex out in Cali. During Legs & Back at the end of last week apparently he managed to dislocate his knee/kneecap. I guess he just isn't cut out for this, but nevertheless the doctors are discussing whether or not he will be able to do the program again, or if we should go ahead and have him put down. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, good luck Alex, hope you heal fast and get back at it....my P90X Army can't afford casualties.

Day 19-21 - Near Catastrophe

I went out of town this weekend, I was best man in a buddies wedding down in Springfield....definitely drank more booze than is recommended in the P90X diet book, but kept the diet pretty clean.

I couldn't work out Friday with everything going on, so I woke up saturday and did Legs& Back. About halfway through the workout I was rocking out some pullups and felt a massive tug through my neck and shoulder. It hurt like hell and then I tried to do some more, bad mistake. I finished the workout (skipping pullups) but I still struggle looking left. Luckily, it's recovery week this week, so I'll do alot of running and just core synergistics, so it should be healed up for week 5 when it rolls around....hopefully.

I feel almost lazy now, I don;t know what to do with myself on recovery week. I realize I'll still be running and working out, but it seems like I'm slacking off....I guess getting injured was my bodies way of saying I needed some lower impact stuff for a week anyway though.

One of my ambitious coworkers is starting the program soon now as well...slowly but surely I'm creating a ripped P90X Army, I should get paid for this....

Day 18 - Running and Treats

So, yesterday I ran instead of doing Kenpo, dudn't get heat rash related hives, but still probably lost 15 pounds worth of sweat. Not much else to say, so I thought I would drop a real easy recipe/meal for you guys that you can fix in less than 10 minutes for dinner. This is set up for phase 1, so High protein and low carbs.

Ingredients:

6-8oz Thawed Chicken tenderloin

1 Sliced Whole Wheat (no processed flour) English Muffin

1 Cup mixed vegetables

4oz juice

Crushed red pepper

Minced Garlic

Salsa of Choice

1 slice fat-free swiss (or fat-free Cheese of choice)

Ok, it's very simple:

1) Preheat the foreman grill

2) Place chicken on grill and add crushed red pepper at your discretion

3) Add 1/3rd cup water, cup of veggies, crushed red pepper and some minced garlic in some tupperwear, seal it and microwave for 4 minutes.

3) Monitor chicken and turn over when crushed red pepper side is well cooked, doesnt take more than 5 minutes

4) Add more crushed red pepper to other side of chicken at your discretion

5) Toast english muffin

6) Add slice of cheese to allow it to melt over the muffin

7) Remove chicken and cut up to fit easily on the muffin, add desired amount of salsa, build sandwich

8) Veggies are done and you're eating in less than 10 minutes. ( I like to slice my sandwich in half)

9) I usually drink 4oz of juice to add some simple carbs.

It's extremely simple, fast and very cheap. If you guys come up with any meals that fit P90x criteria, but aren't in the book, post them or send them to me and I'll put recipes up peridically.

Day 17 Shoulders & Arms

I didn't feel as much of an improvement yesterday, but I did push it a bit harder. S & A is pain in the ass with bands, it's as simple as that....but I still don't want to spend the cash on dumbbells.

For anyone who has actually watched the videos, I really like the stretch "Karen's Pot Stirrers", but I've found myself reaching for the remote to mute the volume every time I do them. My wife feels the same way, I need to release an edited version of the videos where I don't have to listen to whatever dumb, pre-scripted soups Tony and his followers come up with, it drives me crazy, especially his comments about dairy products.

Regardless, doing an hour run today in lieu of Kenpo, even though it's hot as hell. Keep pressin' play guys, how does everyone feel after S&A?

Day 16 - Plyo Madness

I'm kind've suprised at this point how much I've improved in three weeks. Plyo is still certainly not easy, but I recover much faster from the exercises an no longer skip any portion of them (previously sometimes I would start at 23-25 seconds instead of 30). So it is nice to see continued improvement.

The boys (and lady) of summer out in Cali completed their first workout Monday (one unnamed person decided Abs wasn't in his best interest, I won't say his name but it starts with an A and ends with lex). I'm sure their first plyo was fun and even though they might be a little sore, if they tried hard they have about 24 more hours until they can no longer walk normally for a few days.

You're pain motivates me, keep punishing yourselves for my benefit.

Days 12-15

Followed up a weekend with no posting followed by a Monday with crazy amounts of work, sorry for the lack of updates.

Still going strong, rocked out legs & back on friday and then ran on Saturday. Drank quite a bit this weekend, but the diet is still pretty solid. Played my one round of golf per year on Sunday and overall a pretty nice weekend. Last night I did abs before Chest & Back and crushed it.. followed by a good C & B. I keep improving, which is nice....every workout I do more reps than the time before or go a little bit harder.

In other news a couple good friends of mine out in San Diego supposedly started the program yesterday and I'm dying to hear how that went. So whenever you wake up from your exercise induced coma, make sure to post on here how it went.

Day 10-11 - Shoulders & Arms + Running

So I had some health complications yesterday, worked from home and chose not to post.

Wednesday night I worked out late and dominated S & A. Stepped up my weight and felt really good about it. I'm definitely noticing an improvement in strength and appearance, but I'm sure alot of that is the diet as well.

Then yesterday morning I went to the dentist because of a broken tooth. Apparently I'm now old enough that my early childhood fillings are cracking and breaking my teeth, it's kind've depressing. They jacked around near my nerve quite a bit, it hurt like a bitch, then told me I had to wait a month to get the pieces of my tooth replaced and put in some temporary BS on the tooth and told me not to eat on that side. I left the office, mouth still aching wanting to punch someone else in the face, so I worked from home(something I really need to figure out how to do every day). Answering a serious question from the head of another department while wearing your underwear is my kind of professionalism.

It was 95 with a heat index over 100 yesterday and Mel and I waited to run till after 8:00 when it was still like 90. Actually we waited because I had a burger that was over a half-pound at 6 and was still feeling the after effects. I decided to run instead of doing Kenpo, which kind've seemed more likely to hyperextend my joints then actually give me a workout. So, we're running along, it ridiculously hot and hard to breathe, the burger is like a rock in my stomach and I'm about to vomit. We run maybe 3.5 miles and I'm extremely hot, but not overly sick. I knew I was dehydrated because I hadn't drank much water that day, but once we go inside I start itching everywhere.....and then it gets worse. I jump in a cold shower while my skin starts to change into something resembling tree bark. I had heat rash related hives apparently, which if you've never experienced them, is sort of like the physical manifestation of the feelings you get when watching Nancy Pelosi on TV.

It finally passed after an hour or two and some benadryl, but yesterday was quite eventful regardless....in a sad, I live in the middle of Missouri kind of way.

Legs & Back today....plus it's friday, so I've got that going for me, which is nice.

Day 9 - Plyo

I was a machine yesterday rocking out Plyo. Maybe like a '82 LeBaron, but a machine nontheless.

It felt pretty good, I was certainly tired and worked my ass off, but I felt alot better than the previous week. Maybe the extra cantelope I ate yesterday afternoon made all the difference. For any of you that actually watch the videos, Pam "The Blam" is pathetic. If you guys are following her version of the routine you may as well skip the routine and sign up for a senior citizens pool therapy session, because the effort just isn't there. But don't worry, on the other side is the one-legged guy to remind you that no matter how well you do, you're still pathetic.

Tonight is shoulders & arms with some ab ripper X thrown into the mix. I'm ready for it, gotta get the guns ready for beach season...at the local redneck lake. I hate all of you from California.

Day 8 - Chest & Back

Chest & Back. Solid workout, still with the embarassing faceplant Divebombers at the end. This week going in my energy was gone, I think it's due to a lack of carbs. I had my carbs at dinner and later on did Ab-Ripper X and tore it up, so I might add an additional carb serving with some fruit during the day.

On another note, if you havent seen The Hangover, you need to. Now. Soon. It's very funny stuff and deserves all of the accolades it gets. Also, if you aren't doing P90X, but you have access to the discs, then get off your ass and do it already. You should see me, I've been doing it for a week and I'm already irresistably sexy ( according to my wife, but I'm convinced all the ladies feel this way). Seriously, it's the real deal, do it already.

You know you have time, you just aren't making time.

Days 5-7 - L&B, Kenpo and Rest

I was lazy over the weekend and I apologize to my maybe 5 readers that I didn't update the blog.

Legs & Back was good fun, I haven't done wall sits in years and it was definitely alot of pullups. But overall a real solid workout and legs is something many people overlook. It burns alot, but overall a good setup.

Kenpo X was disappointing. Part of it has to do with I ran a marathon recently and my aerobic fitness is pretty solid, but I found myself turning up intensity during breaks to try and get my heart rate up. I also tried too hard on punches and such and strained my shoulders a bit. In the future I think I'll keep doing Kenpo, but also run a few miles on those days as well.

Rest was nice, Mel came home after running a marathon in Idaho on Saturday and we stocked up on food and got ready for this week. She doesn't have another race for a month, so we'll step up the P90X together.

Overall, solid first week, more acclimated now and not too terribly sore as long as my shoulder does OK on Chest & back today.

Day 4 - Yoga X

Well, I failed. Yoga is unbelievably difficult for someone with no flexibility like me, but I did what i could. The problem is the majority of the time I was trying to figure out what to do, instead of actually doing it....I'd recommend watching the dvd a time or two before doing this DVD.

Quick entry today, working hard and trying to find a new car to buy....I'll update you on legs and back tomorrow.

Day 3 -Shoulders & Arms

Let me preface S&A by saying that I was completely correct....my legs are most certainly more sore 2 days after Plyometrics than the day after. I am not pleased that I was correct.

Shoulders & Arms is definitely one of those "what you put into it" kind've workouts. Of course they all are, but especially with bands you have to make sure you don't slack. I felt like the first half I should've worked harder, but it was still solid. This workout will certainly serve as an impetus to getting the selecttech dumbbells. Some of the exercises are just kind've silly with the bands and hard to do. I also feel like it would be alot easier to push myself using the weights.

That being said, bands work fine, especially if you aren't certain about you're committment or you are broke, because they certainly aren't cheap. The 5-52.5 pound selecttechs go for like 350-400.

Overall, I like S&A, but next time I'll bring it a bit harder. Now for Ab Ripper X I felt good. In an excrutiatingly painful way. I was able to do more exercises and complete the mason twists section, so thats coming along slowly. If things go according to plan and I stop drinking water and take 50 pounds of Hydroxycut maybe my abs will look like the guy on the right in the video after 6 months of this....time will tell.

So far Dan is the only person who really cares to comment and he's on another continent, let's pick it up people.

Day 2 - Plyometrics

Plyo is like Polar Bears, it looks innocent enough....sitting there smiling, drinking coke, looking cute and cuddly, until you get near it and try to play with it and it mauls your face and eats your extremities before you realize what happened. Watching the video it looks simple, but when done in sequence, Plyometrics will mess you up. My legs are sore today, but I can tell it will be even worse tomorrow.

I also found out I need a bigger living room, I'm going to have rearrange all my furniture before doing Plyo next time. Once I'm done with this program I will also probably hate Jump Squats forever, but I liked the workout for being different and it definitely leaves a lot of room for growth.

Diet went well yesterday, but we hit a little speed bump with lack of ingredients for lunches today. I'll have to hit the store tonight and for lunch I might just have a foot long chicken breast with only half the bread from Subway. With Shoulders & Arms tonight, I could probably use a couple extra carbs.

How was everyone else's Plyo experience?

Day 1 - Chest & Bizzle

So, I have a confession to make, which I'm sure you all noticed: I didn't post Day 1 photos. In fact, I didn't even take them, but I will remedy that soon.

Yesterday was Day 1 and we stuck with the diet just fine, only one day, but off to a strong start there and it has continued this morning. The fact that I had done chest & back a couple times prior to yesterday helped me immensely. I'm sore today, but not too bad....the workout itself is still brutal. It feels great, but seriously F*ck Dive Bombers. Especially the last set at the end, I nearly broke my nose falling on my face.

I am also going to start doing Ab Ripper X at lunch instead of right after the strength training. I felt like I was being held back by general fatigue instead of pure abdominal fatigue, so I think the workout would be better if it were spread out. I'm also going to invest in a mat, some of the ab exercises are too hard on the hip and tailbones.

I've heard there is a pile of crap where Mauzy used to be, so his workout seemed to go well, my wife is taking it easy pre-marathon this week, but still did C&B last night as well. Another good friend, Mick, said he was starting tonight, interested to hear how that went. Plyometrics tonight, I'm looking forward to jumping around like an idiot....

Lay your comments on me people.

Into the Rabbit Hole

So the day of judgement is upon us...I tried eating my first P90X meal today and it's official: I can't stomach 12 oz of cottage cheese. The huge omelet and banana fine, but 12 oz of cottage cheese isn't happening, I'm definitely going to find a substitute.

I'm pretty excited to get this thing rolling this evening, Mel will be home late so we won't get started till later, but I'm very interested to see how she reacts to the training. She's run 26 marathons, so she's certainly not a pansy, but she hates strength training and she has a marathon this weekend again, so she might take it easy this week.

The much anticipated Day 1 photos will be taken and added after I get home tonight, Mel is going to take some as well, but sorry guys, Mel's won't be posted online. Also, despite numerous requests from random sources, I will not take requests for specific poses.

Stay tuned for a description of the carnage later tonight.

So....I ran a Marathon.

Marathons are long and they are certainly not easy.  However, I have now run one and I feel pretty good about it.  We finished in a little over 4.5 hours, which isn't great, but not terrible for a first timer.  Few points to make about Marathons:

1) They are very long.

2) Running 26.2 miles and eating nothing but basically sugar will bother your stomach.

3) Having friends and strangers to support you helps significantly.

4) What was I thinking?

I will run a few more marathons before I die I suspect, the next one being Phoenix in January.  But first I have to climb the mountain that is P90X.  Mel and I are already toning down the project slightly.  We wrote down everything we would need to buy for week1 on the meal plan and decided we didn't want to spend 400 dollars a week on food.  So we are going to edit the meals a bit, keep the same general calories and constitution, but use cheaper proteins and ingredients.  Shouldn't affect us a whole lot, but will also cut down on preparation time.

Have another crazy weekend coming up, full of floating on a river without paddling and drinking beer.  If we survive that, the day everyone has been waiting for is on Monday....we start P90X, but more importantly: Day 1 Photos.  Stay tuned.

Game Time

In less than 48 hours I will be frolicking along the streets of San Diego, California running in the San Diego Rock n' Roll Marathon.  Considering 6 months ago I weighed 30 more pounds than I do now and I could barely run 5 minutes without collapsing, I feel pretty decent about it.

I'm not exactly a Kenyan and certainly won't be breaking any records not based on futility, but I'm pretty excited about it.  To some it seems ridiculous ( I was one of those people 6 months ago and still cling to that), but the idea of accomplishing it reminds me of when I used to Mountain Climb or jump out of planes, I miss that rush.  

So feel free to check up on hourly splits or the final results online.  I might post Monday or something once I wake up from the hangover if I can crawl over to the computer and prop myself up in a chair.  Have a good weekend feeling pathetic and worthless while I do something extraordinary....and by that I mean have fun getting drunk and having a great time while I torture myself.

I Am Weak.

I did the Chest, Shoulders and Triceps workout last night.  Well, sort of anyway.  It was ridiculous..plyometric pushups, clapping pushups, one armed pushups and this is ignoring the shoulders and tricep isolation exercises the side to side pushups.  I'm worthless and weak and I didn't even go all out with the marathon coming up.  I basically skipped Ab Ripper X.  Another week and a half and it's game time, I might hide in a closet.

Clarification

First of all I want to make it clear early to anyone who might stumble onto this blog....I am in no way affiliated with Beachbody.com, P90X, Tony Horton or anything related the P90X program.  I am not a trainer or in the medical field, but my wife is a Registered Dietician.  We work out and exercise and I used to be into the research quite a bit, but I wont be here offering any medical opinions and I'm not trying to sell a product.  There, as if all of this weren't obvious, now you know I'm simply doing this to waste time and offer my opinion.

Crushin' It

Mel and I are tapering our training off here as we approach the San Diego Marathon on Sunday, but last night we ran about 3.5 miles after an 8 mile run Monday and I crushed it.  It felt solid and although it is a far cry from an entire marathon, I'm feeling better about the run.

The bottom line is simple; The San Diego marathon is going to break my will to live, but I will finish it and I will beat most (or at least some) of the 65+ female crowd in the process. If you go to the website on Sunday you can track our progress periodically, that is if you need a good laugh on Sunday morning.

Tonight I won't be running, but I will be doing one last P90X DVD before the race so I can look beastly in my sleeveless shirt.  I'm leaving the review portion for when the program actually starts, but I'll let you know tomorrow whether or not it was a good idea.  Feel free to leave comments here guys, and make sure to subscribe to the RSS feed at the bottom right of the page to get notified of all the magical updates on the page.

Another Team Joins the Race

My good friend Shawn and his wife Tiffany have purchased P90X and plan to start the program once again on the epic and quickly approaching day of June 8.  They too plan to follow both the diet regimen and the workout program faithfully, but only time will tell.

I give Shawn a better chance than Mauzy, he did have the dedication to consistently eat garbage to become his currently portly self....so if he can translate that dedication into something useful he has a good shot.  Either way good luck, hang around and comment and let's get those abs back.

Lifestyle Changes

This weekend was Memorial Day weekend of course and my wife and I went to a Cardinals game, hung out with family, my friend Mauzy came over and then my wife's family came over for a BBQ yesterday afternoon.  All in all a good weekend....there was one common denominator to all of these situations which will prove interesting during our P90X run: drinking.  We drank heavily all weekend and this isn't an isolated incident.

It is certainly going to be interesting to see how difficult it is to remove drinking ( not entirely) from the diet along with all the other sacrifices.  Regardless, I'm still looking forward to the program and also laughing at Mauzy when he fails miserably and quits within two weeks.

Promises

I just wanted to get this out and make sure it was a part of public record.  My good friend Mauzy has pledged to not only do the P90X with me, but also follow the diet plan for the most part (besides consistent binge drinking).

So let it be known, if Mauzy does not  follow through with the program, his shit is wizzeak.

Speaking of promises, I have also promised my wife that if she follows the program with me that I will prepare 50% of the food for us both.  Which will be a 99% increase in the food I prepare that is not previously frozen. Dear god help us.

Here We Go...

So the official start of the program for my wife and I doesn't start until June 8th, but I thought I would get this rolling a bit early.  We have the San Diego marathon coming up on the 31st (which will ruin me) and I've already started dabbling in the P90X workouts in between runs (which have ruined me). 

I know you are all just waiting for the Day1 P90X pictures, but don't worry....2.5 weeks and they will be all yours.