Changing it up!

Wow, so it has been a long time since I have posted. I am truly sorry for that. This year has been super crazy in both personal and my professional life. But lets get on with it!

So I am changing things up from how I normally do things. I finished P90X2, and sadly through the whole process I suffered from injuries. Most these injuries probably could have been avoided if I would have just listened to my body. Since then, I have been plagued with shoulder injuries, muscle issues and just about everything else it seems like. My diet has been suffering and it's now time to get everything back in check. So I am switching trainers! I am also doing more on just my own. I have decided to put the beachbody workouts on hold for a while and started Bob Harpers workouts. So far it has been a nice change in pace. I feel like I'm getting a great workout, and I am craving the right kinds of foods. On my own, I am doing more weight lifting with dumbbells and trying to build muscle and cut fat. Where as before I was focused on just dropping weight. I am still wanting to get down to 185 LBS, so my skin can get to a maximum shrinkage, but I will have to give that some time.

My main hope is to get my diet back where it needs to be. Sadly, with P90X2, my diet was totally screwed up. I was craving horrible foods and I caved. I wish I could say the weight I gained with P90X2 was all muscle, but it was mostly fat. I gained 12 LBS of fat doing P90X2. The program I know worked for some, but I don't feel that I was destined to workout with Tony Horton. I am a cardio guy, and I like weights mixed into my cardio. There was no Cardio in X2 and that is why it failed me. Resistance alone gives me bad cravings, while cardio makes me want to eat clean.

Week 2, Phase 2, P90X2!

The second week of Phase 2 of P90X2 has already come and gone and I have to say Phase 2 is really killing me. This phases main target is strength, which I have little of. I have never had much in terms of upper body strength at all. Sure I have body slammed 400 LBS men before in my wrestling career, but that is totally different. So far out of these new workouts X2 Shoulders and Arms is my favorite. I think it's because it focuses a lot on 2 of my weak points. One being my Upper Body strength, two being balance.

In phase 2, I still get my Plyocide and X2 Yoga, so that has been the only routine thing so far this round. Sadly, I have to admit, I've been skipping Yoga. Yes, I know, bad Corey. I am looking to pick it up, but on a friday where I am just mentally drained from work, Yoga is normally just pushed off. The worst part is I actually enjoy the Yoga part of this program. This week I will have to push past the mental fatigue and do it, Maybe the real secret is making Yoga happen on Wednesday when I should be resting or doing Recovery and Mobility, then use my friday for an actual rest day. Hmm, something to ponder.

I would have to say my biggest gripe about P90X2 is the lack of high intensity cardio. Yes my heart gets pumping, but I have gone though a year of a lot of high intensity cardio and I think my body needs it. The other downer for me is watching myself gain weight. I have never been a lifter of weights, and I again, mostly have done RevAbs and Insanity programs. So gaining weight from these strength exercises really puts my mind in a bad spot, especially since I know I still have a good 30 LBS to lose. Hopefully I will be able to get over this mental block of my weight, and really push ahead with this program. I am also thinking that after I finish P90X2 that it may finally be time to take some time off from working out every day, and focus on letting my body recover. We shall see.

Working harder, getting stronger

It's week 3 of P90X2 already and I am noticing a lot of changes. Of course week 1 was rough, it was a new workout, I had done very few of the moves before and it was also a bit intimidating. Week 2 I found myself going longer into the workouts, but still not getting quite the burn I was hoping for. Though I did notice many great improvements on each workout. But today I started week 3, and let me tell you, I am noticing that I am able to push much much harder. Today I got the burn I have been looking for. I actually pushed myself so hard in X2 Core today, that for the first time in a long time, I felt my abs cramp up on me. It's such a good feeling.

Also being in week 3, I know that I only have 2 weeks before my recovery week, then onto phase 2 of the program. Again, I am a bit intimidated. Phase 2 is Strength, and that is something I have always been lacking in. My hope is that by week 2 of phase 2 I will be able to get a good burn going. Luckily I will have 2 workouts carry over into my strength phase and that is Plyocide and X2 Yoga. So these I should be able to keep up with and show amazing improvement on throughout the next phase, especially X2 Yoga.

Well, it's back to the grind for me. I'll keep you posted on what's going on.

First week of X2 down!

I made it through the first week of P90X2! The first week of any program really is a barometer of things that need to happen. Going into X2, I knew a few things I would have to work on just from looking at the Calendar. Of course I have no balance, so I knew that X2 Yoga and X2 Balance were going to be big issues. Plyocide which I was worried about, actually turned out to be not so bad. The biggest thing that I had to figure out though, was modifications of moves. Because of my back and my tailbone, there are a lot of exercises that I have to figure out different ways to get the same results. Some things require me to be in a sitting position which depending on the angle, my tailbone and low back just can't support. Some of those moves I can use a towel, though next week I'm going to see if a donut works better.

I'm also having to switch things up because of my low ceiling. I obviously don't want to jump and smack my head on my lights or ceiling fan. Over all though, I felt pretty good about the first week. I do have things to work on, and over the next 3 weeks, I should improve greatly. After 90 days I will probably end up doing a second round of P90X2. But I also have my eyes on another program that may help out a lot with my balance and joints!

The Journey into X2!

While one door closes, another one opens. This of course to me is about working out though. It was the end of November 2011 when I jumped into Insanity the Asylum, that of course was right after Insanity. During the month of December I completed a full program. Granted Asylum is only 30 days long, but going non-stop for 30 days is a lot harder than most think. On top of that, I started having serious back pain around the last week and a half. But I survived it and with enough time to rest before taking on my next big program...

It's already January 3rd in 2012 and I am 2 days into P90X2. I made a promise to myself to start it at the beginning of the year and make it my program for 2012. Like all the programs I have done over this last year, it is difficult starting out. I can actually hang fairly well, but let me tell you, I am sore! I opted for P90X2 for a few reasons. I wanted to be among the first to do the program while others where doing the program, and I really wanted something to challenge me in a different way. I love Insanity and the Insanity programs, and I can't wait for more. But I fell my cardio is pretty decent at this time. What I really wanted to work on was one of my weakest areas, and that is strength. I knew if any program would help me in strength, it would be a P90X program. So here I am, 2 days in, and my body is screaming at me. Muscles sore and aching, I just want to smear icy hot all over my body at this point. But I feel great too. I am pushing myself in a whole different way. But we should see how I survive this week. Tomorrow will be my first recovery day, and on friday I will be doing yoga for the first time since I was in high school. Stay tuned for what the journey holds for me....

17 days in the Asylum!

Seventeen days ago, I decided to take my Insanity training to the next level with Insanity The Asylum. The last seventeen days have been more brutal than the whole 60-day Insanity program.  But it's a whole different kind of brutal. With Insanity, you want to quit because your muscles and body tell you that you have exhausted yourself, in Asylum, you want to quit because your mind tells you, you can't take any more. It really is a whole different ball game.

The Asylum has a total of 7 workouts - Speed and Agility, Strength, Back to Core, Vertical Plyo, Relief, Game Day and Overtime. Back to Core is by far my favorite of all the workouts, due mostly to it focusing on lower back strength. Because of my low back problems, it provides not just a new challenge, but really has helped me on stabilizing those muscles. Game Day is great too, a full 60 minutes of balls to the wall cardio working drills from running, to wrestling and everything in between.

Relief has been the biggest surprise for me though. I am not normally a fan of stretching workouts. Normally they are boring, or go to a place that I just can't get. Also most are really long. Relief in the Asylum though is only about 20 minutes and really gives a nice slow stretch. Maybe I like it so much because I actually feel that my body needs this stretch in this program.

Either way, I am super excited to only have 13 days left in the Asylum. It has been great, and I can't wait to try out some hybrids with it next year.

Do you know your real competition?

As a human race, we thrive on competition. This holds true to everything we do, be it in our personal lives or professional lives. However, sometimes when on our weight loss journey, we find the wrong competition to fuel ourselves with. What do I mean by this you ask?

Often times when working out or starting to workout, we decide our competition is the person on the treadmill or weight bench next to us. We see what they can do, or how long they go, and we decide we are going to beat them. Sure, some people find this motivating, but there is a serious flaw to this logic. You can always be better than someone. Let's say the person you chose to beat today is just there for a mild workout. Let's say this person is just wanting to do a 30 minute job on the treadmill, you hop on when they do, you glance and their speed and increase yours by just enough to be faster. They hop off after their 30 minutes and you go to 35 minutes. But where is the competition? It's not there, you beat someone who wasn't there to compete. Or maybe let's say you pick someone who looks like they can lift a lot of heavy weights. Well what if they can't, maybe they are just starting to lift and have no real experience, there is no competition there. You are only half way satisfying a need. Sure you think you are fully satisfying it, but you aren't.

So who is your competition? You are your own competition. Yes, I said it. Your main obstacle is you. You can never do better than yourself. This is something I knew from the beginning of my weight loss journey and my journey to a healthier lifestyle. I set daily and weekly goals, as I met those goals, I increased them as well. My first day on the elliptical was to just survive, I barely made it 15 minutes, each day I did the elliptical, I made a goal to go one minute longer. I didn't care what my speed was, I wanted to sustain on the machine. When I made it to 30 minutes, I started working on distance to complete in 30 minutes and so on.

Now in my daily workouts at home, I push to make it farther in my workouts without nearly dying. I will never be satisfied with what I do in my workouts, and no one really should be if they are competitive with themselves. Sure I have days that I tell myself that I am going to take it easy, but I still go strong to compete with me. You are your biggest competition, you can never be better than yourself. Remember that next time you are working out or decide to take on a fitness journey.