Day43: Chest, Shoulder, Triceps and Abs

Happy Halloween!!

I know it sounds wired, but Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. The imagination people demonstrated in their costumes, the anxious looks from all the little kids, this is the only holiday that will get so many people out, and the streets are full everywhere ... and oh, all those ghost stories, that I never know whether it is real or just a fiction ...

I know I am going to be handing out cavities, so we got our workout done in the morning, well partially, David run out of time, we left the Abs for tonight.

This remained to be the toughest workout for me. My dinky arms just won't hold my body weight. I thought of pushing myself by increase weight, and twice I had to move back down. Can anybody do the one armed push up yet? I got on my knees and barely bent my arms, I got a face plant at the first try. I think, however, I will move from counter to the edge of the couch next time for my other push ups.

If anybody are interested, check out this website: www.fit2fat2fit.com. I start to get anxious for Nov 5th to come. I am interested to see how Drew Manning will transform back to fit.

Jamie's day 2 of her jump manual, and I am her trainer!

Nutrition:
Breakfast: protein shakes
snack: oat meals
Lunch: chicken breast and potatoes
snack: protein bar
Dinner: beef stew

Day41: kenpoX

We had to skip yesterday. The excuse was that we had to get up at 6:30a on Sat, dash out of the house by 7a to Jamie's district tournament. Then get back to her piano school at 3p for a piano lesson, dinner after that and back to piano school at 7:30p for the Halloween recital. By the time we got home, it was close to 10p. We both had something in our mind, I finally took the blame, suggested that we should do our workout on Sunday to replace the stretch (optional off day, anyway). David was almost too eagle to agree ... So here we are, finished our Day 41 on our off day.

It felt great. We had plenty of energy and the day was just too beautiful to not to work out outside, so we did. I think it might be because the temperature was in 50s, I got warm, but didn't sweat much. we start our 7th week tomorrow, hard to believe.

Jamie's high school season is finally over. I can't say I was disappointed that they didn't make it out of district again this year. I became very anxious to start her jump training, but with high school season dragging on, it was impossible to add that to her plate. Now we are done, we started the training today. The girl was so driven, she did not complain at all throughout the whole training. Here is her starting measurement: standing verticle - 20 inches, approach verticle - 26 inches. I will measure her again in 7 days.

Day40: Legs, Backs and Ab Ripper X

Finished Day40. Hard to believe! I just kinda figured out how backward we are. Most people start to workout in January, they workout for 5 - 6 month, wola, summer came, they have nice body for the beach time. Here we are, started in July, and we will be done by 12/10, wola, Christmas comes! I have to come up with a whole new set of menu for Christmas dinner!

David wants to have breakfast with Jamie, so we broke our workout into two this morning. Ab Ripper X first, and Legs & Back after breakfast. I never wrote down the legs exercise before since it was not on the sheet, so I didn't know how I did or how many reps I did. Today, I took time to wrote down everything, hoping I will be able to reference it next week and see if I can push a little harder. One thing I realized: when you feel that you are at your limit, if you just stay one more second or do one more rep, your satisfaction level will go way high and you actually become tougher and tougher in other area of your life too. Mental toughness needs exercise too, and it will grow stronger  just like muscle.

Here is the inspiration for today:
Live Simply, Speak Kindly, Care Deeply, Love Generously

Nutrition:
Breakfast: Protein Shake
Snack: of course Hummus, the last day of these
Lunch: Chicken breast, tofu brown rice
Snack: brownie oh, no, protein bar
Dinner: fish with rice and veggie

District starting tonight. Cross my fingers. But either way, I am starting a jump training for Jamie next week. so if she increased her vertical by 4 inches in two weeks, I will let you know!

Day39: Yoga

I was surprised that David said he never sweats doing Yoga. How can you not to?! The first part which was categorized as the Yang part, requires so much strength, by the time I am down to the half moon, my legs are shaking, and burning. All kinds of crape came into my mind, and didn't have space to stay since I was hurting. I tried to breath like what Tony said, but my whole body was twisted in such a way, the breath couldn't go smoothly. At that point, my sweat pours down, to my eyes, to my face and to the floor ... and that's how intensified it is for Yoga X.

Of course, by the time we do our "ommmmmmm...", everything were cold, and you almost can fall asleep at that moment ... that's why I didn't write my blogs last night, I fell asleep :-D

Day 39, done!!

Nutrition:
Breakfast: Oat Meal - gosh I love them, I use to add salt and pepper to it and eat them with bacon (Thanks Christine Shen), not any more, just plain old oat meal, with raisin and protein
Snack: try to finish my hummus, I am not going to buy it any more
Lunch: tofu, and brown rice
Snack: protein bar
Dinner: steak and mashed potatoes with cauliflower (did I spell it right?), it sure stayed in my tummy all the way to this morning :-(

Day38: back, biceps and ab

Finished the 38th day of P90x. Today was back, biceps and abs. It was much easier for me than, say Monday since I have stronger biceps and backs in comparing to my arms and triceps. I stayed with the same weight, and really paid attention to my forms. I definitely felt it. My left arm is weaker than my right one, I was wonder if I should use different weight for different arms. I opt not to, hoping my left would catch up with my right one day.

I have not done abs for a few days, so today's Ab x was a little harder than normal. The whole time I was thinking - this is P90x, I need to bring it. I think the extra carbs I added to my diet since last week really do help. I seem to have more energy than before. The key is to eat lean and more completed carb, whole wheat, multi grain, etc.

My upper body hurts, in a good way, makes me feel accomplished.


Nutrition: drink lots of water, lots of them, you should be finishing your first glass of water before you are even up in the morning, confucius says.
Breakfast: oatmeal with beans, raisin and protein powder
Snack: hummus and carrots
Lunch: tuna sandwich
Snack: protein bar
Dinner: Spagetti and meat sauce

Day37: plyometrics

Just finished the 37th day. It was plyometrics - jumping, running, high intensity and I burned lots of calories - at least I'd like to believe so. My triceps and back hurt so bad from yesterday, to lift my arms, flex became chore.

I had hard time to catch my breath when I was jumping. My legs felt like noodles, I am surprised that I am not feeling stronger by now, or this again is by design the result for so called ,muscle confusion?! The storm is coming in to Denver, I really wanted to go out for a nice run in the cold rain afterward, but I felt weak legged, I opt not to. I am not looking forward to the 6 to 12 inches snow tomorrow. On another hand, people are rushing in to get snow tires, we had our busiest day ever, so they told me from the shop.

Nutrition
Breakfast: oatmeal with beans and raisin
Snack: banana, protein bar (finally, we made some last night, this batch was actually really good, since we switch over to low fat organic peanut butter)
Lunch: tofu, tomatoes, cucumber and wild rice
Snack: Greek yogurt and orange
Dinner: chicken breast baked in nonfat Italian dressing with potatoes and mushroom, it sounded ok, believe me, it's so nasty, if I have to eat chicken breast another day, I am going to kill myself; green bean

Day36: Chest, shoulder and triceps

Finished day 36. I can't lift my arms. They felt like jello. All 24 different moves, I pushed really hard, since I felt guilty that we took a day off yesterday even though it was an optional day. I Still have hard time to do all those push ups, some of the move I couldn't even do one, i.e. one armed push ups. However, I moved my push ups from the dividing wall to the counter, a little lower than last week, although I didn't add more weight, I did manage to do a little more reps on some of the moves. Those are the efforts that Made me felt accomplished after the workout.

I finally ate enough amount what I suppose to for the day. It seems like non stop eating, but because I have been feeling weak, I made a promise to myself that I would do better on eating every meals for the day.

Nutrition:
Breakfast: oatmeal with raisin and protein powder
Snack: hummus with carrot
Lunch: shrimp and whole wheat pasta
Snack: Greek yogurt, Banana and raspberry
Dinner: pork chop and cooked zucchini and bean sprouts

Jamie did her first session of career connection - visiting local hospital to find out what an ER nurse does, and decided that she can't sit there( personally, I don't think they "sit") and cut people open to do surgeries.

Day34: Kenpo

It was day 34, after I finished that, basically, I finished my 5 weeks of P90X.  We moved our workout back to garage for this. The coldness really felt good. Kenpo is still my favorite. You can channel any negative energy that you have into the punches, kicks, and jabs to get a really good cardio workout. This workout was a little more painful then usual because my legs (from my glutes all the way to my calves) were sore, and my back & biceps were somewhat sore. This week has felt like P90X week 1 from how sore I’ve been!

Didn't do xStretch today. It was such a beautiful day and we sneak out to Starbucks in the morning and walked around the outdoor mall in the afternoon. I spent lots of time last night and early morning today to research master cleanse. I was so totally want to do it but it is so controversial, I am not sure who to believe.

Nutrition:
I forgot what I had to eat yesterday and today, no bad stuff, but we were not on schedule at all. My tummy therefore is on fire right now. We watched Food Matters, great movie. Everybody should watch it.

Jammer's team made it to the district playoff.

Day33: legs and back

Did my day 33 yesterday. I often ask myself, I am 5 weeks into this now, why am I still struggling with all these moves, it seems that I didn't get stronger. But then, I realized the reason they kept changing the workouts everyday, is to create the muscle confusion, so your muscles never get used to any one move or pose, and therefore, each time you work on that pose or move, your muscle taks it as a new exercise and you felt that you never worked that muscle that way before. 

This is my BGO for the day:-)

Happy birthday DJ

so, I said about last weekend, we were up in the mountains, eating really bad so I gained some pounds. Weekend is always very hard for me. However, I realized that my body has become a fat burning machine after paying attention to what I eat and when I eat for the past 3 months. It took me 7 weeks to loose 4 lbs at the begining, took me 3 days of disciplined eating to get back on my targeted weight this week. Kenny, lost 12 lbs in past 3 weeks, and Samere lost 4lbs since he started to join us a week ago. We all went to dinner last night to celebrate David's birthday, all of us except Cole had steamed fish of some sort. Cole is the last person at the shop who has not joined in, he had fried fish with fried onions. 

Nutrition
Breakfast: protein shake
Snacks:
Lunch: fried rice(brown rice) with veggie, chicken breast and shrimp, scallops
Snacks: Greek yogurt
Dinner: pan friend Halibut with spaghetti squash

Day32: yoga

I started out late in the morning and was behind the whole day yesterday. I was very happy to finished my Yoga workout first thing in the morning. Like usual, still dripping a lot, which means it was a heck of a workout, still could not do crane. Oh, David actually for a brief moment, did it, before he flip over. I was just hopeless, very hopeless at this pose.

Another hard pose is the half moon yoga pose, by the time I got there, my legs were burning, it was hard to keep the balance. I think this is what's so great about yoga, you need strength, flexibility, you get better on balancing, and you clear your mind by focusing on breathing the entire time (except I have a little sinus congestion and listen to myself breathing was a little comical)

Nutrition:
Breakfast: protein shake
Snacks: carrots with hummus
Lunch: spring rolls and a small bowl of pho (not sure if it is p90x approved meal)
Snack: orange and an appl
Dinner: veggie fried rice (another questionable meal, although I did put in the portion of wild rice and 2 portions of veggie and 1/2 portion of chicken breast to make it)

A heart broken loss vs Pondorosa high school last night, not the best way to finish the high school league play, wonder if the girls can redeem themselves at district. I hope!

Day31: back, biceps and abs

I felt weak, again. Not because of me needing more carbs, it was because I was just really weak. Small arms, thin shoulder and weak back. It was a new workout, 24 different moves, alternating between back and biceps. I got to the point that I couldn't or didn't want to lift my arms. As hard as I felt, I pushed myself, I didn't sweat much today. I am not sure if I did everything right. The frustrating part also came from that they don't show you what to do before the timer starts, I guess I shouldn't make it a big deal when I was behind a few sminutes, but it made me feel that I short changed myselfe. I know I know, but I am an accountant, my personality is to tie everything to penny.

Nutrition
Breakfast: oat meal, beans and dried fruit
Snack: Greek yogurt
Lunch: steamed chicken breast in torlias
Snack: orange
Dinner: chicken breast and yellow squash

Day30: Plyometrics

Finished day 2 of my phase 2 workout. I felt tired during workout, but thought about what they said regarding to increasing carb at phase 2 should give you more energy. I told myself all those oat meal I had this morning should make me feel energetic!  I therefore can't forgive myself even think about pausing the tape during the workout.  I seriously think that my heart rate got up to zone 5 for a brief moment. (hint hint, David, Christmas gift idea - a heart monitor)

I felt good though after all the jumping and running, especially since I pushed myself. I felt accomplished.

Nutrition:
Breakfast: oatmeal (super food), 1 tbsp protein powder, 2 tbsp crasin
Snack: lentils (super food)
Lunch: shrimp pasta pomodoro (yummy)
Snack: zone bar and orange (super food), protein shake with raspberry (super food)
Dinner: turkey burger and salad

(seriously, you will be surprised how your mood is associated with what you eat!)j

Day29: Chest, Shoulder & Triceps, Ab Ripper X

woooooow! It was hard, for me, extremely hard. I am also extremely frustrated - because of my weak arms, I can't get deep enough to work on my chest and shoulders. It was a new P90X workout, Chest, Shoulders & Triceps. I also had to do Ab Ripper X. During the Chest, Shoulders & Triceps workout you’ll be doing 24 moves. It isn’t like the Chest & Back workout where you are doing 2 sets of each exercise; you are actually doing 24 different moves. This makes the workout exciting since you’re not repeating any of the moves. For the majority of these exercises, you’ll mainly be doing different types of push ups, dips, flys, and tricep kickbacks.  You’ll need your weights or resistance bands, push up bars, a plastic plate, a chair, and water.

I got tired really fast, mainly from various push ups and after each push ups, I had to go to the lighter dumbbell. I guess it was same for David. At weighted arm circle,  he had to use my 8lbs dumbbell and  then change to 5lbs, LMAO!!!! ... and did I mention the one armed push ups? I can't even do two arm push ups, what the &$%^

Nutrition:
Really, I have McDonald breakfast this morning, noodle soups for lunch and pizza for dinner. The only thing I had remotely healthy, was salads. I did control my portion. So hopefully the damage wasn't too bad. I will get back on track on meals tomorrow.

Day27: Yoga

I said it would be hard this weekend. We came up to the mountains, and if you are out of your routine, it is very hard to keep to workout, and eat right.

We tried to finish our Yoga. Using "try" because we didn't really have good space to do it, it was very hard to find the quietness since grandma was busy cooking. Grandpa, on the other hand, was very curious about our workout, although at age 85, he wants to learn Yoga :-D

We were short for about 10 min today.

Nutrition:
Breakfast: protein shake
Lunch: subway
Dinner: Hot Pot, meet, veggie and Tofu

Day26 - Core Synergistics

From Marjorie:
10 Years ago, we had John Cash, Bod Hope and Steve Jobs. Now we have no Cash, no Hope and no Jobs. Please don't let Kevin Bacon Die!!

LOL!!!!

Finished day 26. Core Synergistics kicked my butt. I had to pause a few times, and didn't do the bonus round. I didnt feel having enough energy to push through, now I know it's time to add more carbs in my diet, a strange thought, but necessary.

Exciting news: I reached my weight target yesterday, on my birthday! It was not planned, funny how it just happened! I was thrilled!

Weekend is going to be tough. We are going up to Steamboat on Satuarday, just to relax and take it easy. The last two days of week 4 are Yoga and X Stretch, grandma and grandpa are expecting us eat a lot, hot pot is always my weak spot, Thank GOD I don't have to worry too much of sweets.

Nutrition
Breakfast: protein shake
Snack: protein bar
Lunch: chicken breast with potatoes
Snack: hummus, carrot
Dinner: tofu & rice

Day25 - X Stretch

That's kinda uneventful :-)

Wait, a development for David. When we did our first X Stretch, for the Glute Stretch, David had such hard time to lock both of his hand around his leg, and then, after he finally did it, he couldn't get his head lay back to the floor ... guess what, he did it this morning. It looked really painful, but he did it!


 
(this is not David, he had no hair)

Me, on the another hand, had hard time on Camel and Back Hero. Of course mine is a lot higher on the difficulty scale.




























So the things to add on top of my list with Crane, are Camel and Back Hero Stretch. By the end of P90x, I'll be able to do them, have faith!

Nutrition:
No recovery drink, since we really didn't do much
Breakfast: protein shake
Snack: hummus
Lunch: chef salads (When I have my lunch, I always thought about Linda McCoy and wonder if she  ever gets tired of her house salad for lunch every workshop days, and here I am, on chef salad for everyday going on 4 weeks now)
Snack: protein bar
Dinner: spaghetti with meat sauce (OK, whole wheat spaghetti and lean ground beef with fresh tomatoes and herbs, so don't give me hard time)

Legend vs Rock Canyon, go Titans.

Have a safe trip Rick!