Day 2 – Plyo – Death – trics

Hello again everyone. Fortunately I awoke today with still some feeling left in my extremities after yesterdays workout. OK, actually there was a ton of feeling, PAIN! But, interestingly enough, I felt more alive, this sounds weird but there’s something about being able to “feel” all of your muscles in your body that makes you feel damn sexy. At least that’s what it does for me, but then I love myself so there ya go.

Today’s workout is one I have not done before and admittedly was petrified and not at all looking forward to it. I’ve done a few of the routines before but never any of the cardio routines and I heard this one was the mother of all X workouts. Matter of fact, when you pop in the Plyometrics DVD Tony goes on and on about how he is getting ready to actually kill you. There’s even a nice little warning right up front about consulting your physician and perhaps a coroner ahead of time.

Of course, I love pain and of course living on the edge is my middle name so volunteer torture seemed a fitting enough activity for the day. So, I embarked on the Plyometrics journey. Now, I must say, to further taunt you at every step of the way, Tony makes sure to put some sort of crippled person in each video who can rock the routine just to make you feel like a complete failure and really get inside your head. You see, Plyometrics is all about lunging and cardio, and in this workout there is a guy with a prosthetic leg doing the entire routine and killing it.

I honestly was able to do about 60% of the intensity and length of the workout on the first time out and honestly it was the best one I have done yet. Mostly because I hate cardio, well the typical treadmill, elliptical machine type of cardio. I find it incredibly boring and unless being chased by a gorilla or something I see no purpose in running for an hour without actually going anywhere. It lacks a certain amount of stimulation for me, no immediate gratification to work through the pain.

So, the interesting part of this program really comes after completion. You see, other than some burning in the legs and getting a little winded and sweating profusely the workout itself isn’t that bad. But after… Now that’s quite another story. My legs hurt so damn bad I can barely get up the stairs without wincing at each step.

I made it through another day though, and now can look forward to Plyo on the next go around. Without the same fear that I had this time.

By the way, I called 911 a few moments ago so they will come pick me up and hopefully get me patched up in time to attempt suicide through exercise again tomorrow.

another day of insanity…aka…death!

Well yesterday I told my brother Andrew that I would join in his weight lose challenge, so here goes my very first post in my very first blog.

Today was actually my, i don’t know, 9th day of the “insanity” workout by Shaun T. It is a great workout, however, this is my 9th day and it’s not seeming to get any easier! Today we did plyometrics cardio workout. I have learned to hate the word “plyometrics”…that usually means i’m going to be in severe pain. Once again, my legs are extremely sore and I was completely out of breath before I even finished the warm up! Today’s workout consisted of:

power squats
suicide drills
ski jumps
heismans
jumping jacks
level 1 drills (4 pushups, mountain climbers, then a vertical jump, and back down to plank position)
side jumps (while in the plank position, basically bringing your knees to alternating shoulders)
jabs
uppercuts
and there is more…i just can’t remember.

Anyways, it was a great workout and I do feel like I can hang in with the workout longer than when I started…but it still sucks! But I have already lost 12 lbs doing this and using some supplements. Well, that’s all for now. Tomorrow is a whole other day!!!

At the risk of tempting some of you with a food analogy… I feel like jello!

Okay, so, day 1 seems to have survived me. Yes, I said that right, it survived me. I was kicking and screaming the entire time, and did a fair amount of bitching at Tony on the TV. Seriously though, now that it’s over, I feel pretty good. And by pretty good I mean I can’t really lift my own arms and I am using a dictation program to write this post.

So, I did something today that I don’t normally do. Instead of getting up and rushing to the computer to check stats, missed emails, tweets, new fans and the like (ok, I did a brief check) I decided to get straight to business.

So, first things first, I called my buddy Jose Canseco to get a little workout supliment. Unfortunately he can’t get any these days, apparently he burned some bridges with his previous connections so he suggested I call Barry Bonds, and told me to not mention his name if I wanted to succeed. So I called Barry, and though he denied knowing anything about exercise supplements, he did hook me up.

So, now I’m juiced up and ready to go… hey, I told you I was serious about this stuff, I inserted the first DVD… Chest and Shoulders. Now, I really knew what was coming because I have done this routine before. I have done Chest and Shoulders, Abs, Legs, Biceps, and YogaX, then told Tony to drop dead.

So, on a serious note, it’s not really that bad, you just have to know to pace yourself. I have done it with friends before and they went all out in the beginning and couldn’t even do 1 pushup in the second half, and I know better. The biggest challenge is in your mind… Seriously. You have to convince yourself that you aren’t really dying, even though the defibrulators are charging and some dude is giving you mouth to mouth. You just have to muscle through, now today I think I could have done more, but there is always tomorrow.

PS. I could have done more if I wasn’t a complete out of shape computer geek, but, well… there you have it. I’ll work on that!

PSS. When I was in high school I won a record for doing the most push ups and pull ups… Does that mean all the people I beat back then are in worse shape than I am now? Because apparently my body doesn’t remember how to do a pull up. Aparently it’s a bit easier when you weight all of 125lbs. Perhaps when I knock off a few pounds I will be able to do more pull ups than a girl… until then, I’ll hang my head in shame.

Until tomorrow!

And the movement is growing!

Very exciting news today. Though I am actually feeling quite energetic after the small killer fitness test earlier today, I am really not looking forward to tomorrow… ok actually I kinda am. I was skyping with my sister today who lives in Vegas and she is joining the ranks here!

She will be doing Insanity while I am doing P90X and will join us here on the blog.

Now it will be way more fun!

Welcome aboard Carrie!

Stress Test – Feeling like the dumb kid in class and the teacher is passing me on…

Okay, so after thouroughly going through the material in the program, aparently my first day is not upon us… At least not the real first day. I foresee hell in my near future!

So I did the stress test, P90x version of a physical fitness test. What I learned was that I am surprised the doctors haven’t noticed yet that I’m barely breathing. Seriously, when did I get this incredibly out of shape. I mean, even when I first put on a few extra pounds I could still play sports at the park, hike, run… Not now, I feel like I am completely allergic to this shit.

But, I did learn this. I completed the “Master Cleanse” which was basically a 10 day starvation diet, which honestly I don’t think that helped to prep me for the rigors of this program. I know the cleanse left me feeling sluggish and fatigued only to rapidly within a week put back on all 15lbs that I lost. So, though it was fun losing them, it’s obviously a bullshit diet plan for you unless you are going to opt in to a vegan lifestyle from there on out… which I am not.

I love garlic, onions, sauces, cheese, and butter! So, that means I need to work that shit off as I eat it. I think mindset may have a lot to do with this stuff. So I have decided that even though I do have a weight loss goal, I really only give a shit about looking fit, but more importantly feeling fit and healthy. I don’t want to feel winded after walking up the stairs, or tying my damn shoes.

So, I did the physical fitness test and I could hear Tony Horton laughing at me in the background, calling men names and chuckling with all of the other uber fit p90x’ers and I can’t blame them. My alternate personality was over there with them, taunting me. Well, I sure showed them. Bastards! That’s right, I passed bitches! Ok, by passing, I think their bar is set a little low. I have done some of the p90x routines before and this fitness test is like the stretch before the workout in the regular routine. I think they passed me on purpose to watch me die an agonizing and painful death with shortness of breath, drowning in my own sweat.
We’ll see… Wish me luck… the Shit hits the fan tomorrow.

PS. Tomorrow may be a video blog if I am not able to move my fingers.

Health Challenge – Day 1

I recently decided to move my personal updates to this space as to not interfere with the other great things we are doing on the other blogs I write for.

This is my personal space, a place for me to openly take on the challenges of daily life, and continue to live my dreams.

Health and fitness is one of those things that I never seem to be able to make time for any more in my daily life. It’s all work, and that just ain’t cutting it any more. Recently I shaved my head as the start of a get in shape challenge that my business partner and I started. It’s really a worthy cause, get in shape. I remember when being in shape was something that you didn’t need to really try for, it was a part of life.

Those days are long gone, you have kids, a career, and manage to find every excuse in the book to cover the fact that you are just too damn tired and lazy to get on that boring ass treadmill. There doesn’t seem to be time or opportunity for a pick up game of football at the park any more, and it would probably kill you if there were. The fact is that being 30 something shouldn’t be like this. So, I have decided that I need to start and commit to living like I’m in my 20’s.

So here we go, I have already done a bunch of things but they don’t seem to stick for long. I did the master cleanse and lost 15lbs in 10 days, then took 7 back within a day after getting off the cleanse. And what did I learn? I learned that I love food (I already knew that), I love good food, it is one of the things in life one shouldn’t have to live without. So exercise must be the way to go, it actually makes you feel better as well and boosts your energy levels.

The challenge: P90X – 90 Days

The Goal: 45lbs

I will report my daily challenges, results, and agony (which there will be a lot of) here each day. Why? Because, I need support, I need to be accountable and what better way than to blog about it.

So, today is day 1. I will commence with the pain shortly, and will report back here after. Wish me luck!