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.