P90X3: Commitment! One week away!

One week away.  That's what I think as I look in the mirror.  It's not procrastination, it's preparation.  I am putting myself in the mindset of commitment.  You have to commit, one hundred percent.

What's my commitment?  Ninety days.  Ninety days of eating right...of sleeping right...of watching my progress...of not letting people and situations stop me...of doing every workout, every day.

This workout is thirty minutes long each day.  Seriously, if you can't find 30 minutes in each day, you don't want this...you WISH this.  If you can't put aside 30 minutes, you aren't trying.  My daughter SHOWERS for almost 30 minutes...I have the hot water oil bills to prove it.  A TV sitcom is 30 minutes long!  COMMIT.  That comes first.

How have I committed this week?  I have watched almost all of the videos I will be using in the first 30 days of the 90 day period.  They are the same DVD's for three weeks.  I have gotten my pullup bar back out and checked it out for support and band issues (I use pullup bands off of the bar due to shoulder issues).

What else?  I have modified my eating,  more fruit and slowly eliminating sugary type items.  I have started drinking more water and less caffeine.  Hydration is key.  I am breaking out my mat this weekend and mark it according to the DVD workouts.  There is an agility set that calls for floor tape...I just use a Sharpie on my rubber mat.

As I look in the mirror, I can see the person I did not want to become again.  Months of sedate living has put me right back where I worked very hard NOT to be.  I'm not obese, but there is a much larger person in that mirror staring back at me than I am used to.  I don't want to be him.  I also know that the person in the mirror has only a short amount of time left.  Because I have done this successfully before.  How did I do it?  I committed 100% to the program.  The person in the mirror is slowly dying...he is on life support.  The person in my mind, the one I always see when I think about me, is ready to return.

I begin next Saturday, January 4th.  The rest of the group is starting on January 6th, but I always start on Saturday so that Friday is my break day.

Put this word in the top five of words you think of for the next 90 days.  COMMIT!!

P90X3: P90X, but Accelerated. Preparation Day 1

Hey!!!  Guess who's back?  It's Dick...and I need a workout.  Big time.  Why?  Because I've been a bad boy.  After spending 2012 and the first part of 2013 seriously kicking Beachbody butt with P90X (great results), Insanity (great results), LesMills Pump (so so results) and LesMills Combat (so so results)...I got complacent.  I took time off...too much time.  I went back to some old bad habits of snacking before bed, a few too many sweets, and watching a lot of television.  I STOPPED exercising for long periods of time.  Did I have a reason?  Lots of them.  Many too personal to go through here but let's just say that it culminated in me losing my job to layoffs and my mom passing away in October of 2013.

The good news?  I feel like I have a lot of personal stuff behind me...isn't it weird it was 2013?  13??  I am so looking forward to 2014.  And, to top it all off, my good bud, Tony Horton over at Beachbody has come out with a brand new routine, P90X3.  It's an accelerated version of P90X to be done in 30-40 minutes per day.  It's just what I need to take myself from where I am now to where I was in April of 2012.  I'm pretty fired up and plan on blogging the whole thing.  New routine, new material.

I am starting this blog differently than others.  I have a preparation method this time.  For the last four routines, I pretty much popped in the DVD's and just did it.  This time, I am reading...YES, READING...the manuals.  Then, I am going to lay out the DVD's I will be doing in the first month and view each one.  The ones with weights, I am actually going to try prior to DAY ONE of the workout.  I want to make sure I have all the right dumbbells and equipment and that I have measured my limits.

The next thing I am doing is prepping my body.  I have been eating well.  I eat pretty much the same thing every day.  So, why am I somewhat out of shape?  Because, you can eat less all day long and not keep a great look.  How?  Your metabolism just slows down to adjust for the low food intake.  I will cover all of this during the workout but let's just say that in the next two weeks I will be doing at least 45 minutes per night on the treadmill.  I need to up the metabolic rate.  Bottom line is, to lose weight and maintain fitness, you have to exercise.  YOU HAVE TO EXERCISE.  We weren't meant to be sedate. 

My diet?  I think, except for sometimes seconds at dinner and a snack before bed, I can do what I do normally.  Alcohol?  Gone.  My liver needs to be clean to process fats in the most efficient manner.  Anything with Aspartame and Sucralose?  Gone.  My liver needs to not have to process chemicals...just fat.  So, ice water it is...with lemon.  Coffee?  Two cups per day, low fat milk.  Water...all day long.  Focus on eating less sugar items...it's easy for them to creep in.  More fruit.

Other things?  Sleep...I am a huge offender of not getting enough.  My goal is 7 hours of sleep per night.  I get up at 7:30AM these days, so getting to bed by 12:30AM should be easy.

I am going to print the workout sheets and do the body measurements.  I am also going to post my starting point, for all to see.

Lastly, I am back to blogging.  Why?  I like to write and I also am of the mindset that when I do this, it keeps my brain on the diet track.  Okay, enough for tonight. When does this begin?

January 6th, 2014....two weeks from tomorrow.

If you want in, email me.  RTSTJACQUES@comcast.net.  We can all do it together!

“Ab Ripper X: Back in the Saddle Again!” LesMills Combat: Day 11 of 90

Today was my break day.  So very quickly, I did ARX as usual.  It is coming along.  I don’t jump right into the next exercise, I am taking small 20 second breaks between the exercises.  This is allowing me to recover enough to complete the entire circuit without breaking down on an exercise.  Now that I am doing complete exercise sets, I will begin to close the break gap and, voila, BACK IN THE SADDLE!

“Getting Stronger” LesMills Combat: Day 10 of 90

I did Combat 45 and Pump Challenge last night.  Before I did that though, I built a step bench so that, when I do the weights, I can get my elbows lower and get better chest extension.  I could feel the work even more…always a great thing.

Combat 45 is really good and I am getting to a point where, now that I know the routine, I can focus on form and intensity.  I know things are going well when I am sweating and my breathing is at a steady but quick interval.  I can feel it more as I put my entire body into the punch and kick moves.

It’s not enough to just throw the arm out there.  That’s not the way this works.  You have to put the torque of your body as well as the driving of the legs into your kicks and punches.  You will begin to feel the strength increase as you do this.  You will also notice that you more closely conform to what you are seeing the Instructors do on the video.

One criticism.  Seriously, would it be a DicksDiet review without some criticism?  Stretching.  Or the lack thereof.  I think they need to do more stretching prior to the workout.  It’s an area where P90X excels, Insanity is okay, but LesMills Combat is lacking.  I have begun doing my own stretching (thanks Tony Horton) before the workouts to get warm and not pull any muscles.  It really helps before the routines where you have to use your legs.  And there are a lot of them.

One thing I do NOT have a criticism for…yet.  The instructors on the DVD.  All really good, all really giving it their all so far.  No one slouching.  It’s what I like to see.  Nothing worse than working your butt off while someone on the DVD just plays along.

That’s it for today…it’s break day!  So that means Ab Ripper X tonight!

“The Next Day” LesMills Combat: Day 9 of 90

I am starting to get back into the rhythm.  I can feel it.  Friday (Day 7) was my rest day which, as you followers of my blog will note, I am doing Ab Ripper X.  It was not any easier than when I did it last Tuesday.  Maybe tomorrow night (Tuesday again) it will be easier.

Saturday was “Combat 30” and “Pump and Burn.”  All is well as manic Dan and Rach are pushing me.  Sunday was HIIT: Power.  I am happy with my progress but there are times when I have problems finishing routines.  I have to remind myself of a few things.

The first thing is, I’m fifty years old.  It’s not an excuse but the right diet, workout rhythm, and supplements (creatine and protein) are essential to getting stronger again.

The second thing is, these programs are SUPPOSED to be hard.  And they are.  I constantly compare any new programs to P90X.  It’s because it was my first program and the one I had the most physical change in.   

When I finished it, many things were coming much more easily to me.  The thing I keep forgetting is how hard it really was in that first two months.  I mean, it was brutal.  My body literally broke twice and I was seeing a chiropractor to get through those first 8 weeks.  I keep forgetting that.

At one point in P90X, I dropped out of a pullup and tore something in my shoulder.  I had to switch to bands for the workouts and be careful to work that shoulder back up to where it should be.  More than once, I tweaked my back.  The one time I won’t ever forget is when I was in a lunge and stretched and there was a grinding noise in my hip joint like when you twist a turkey leg off the turkey at Thanksgiving.  I wiil tell you, your body is not supposed to make that sound.

My point is, none of this is easy.  The goal is to see the improvement and the starting point is all that counts.  Tonight, I am making a “step bench” so I can do the bench presses and not have my elbows hit the floor.  I need about 6 inches between my back and the floor.  Tonight is Combat 45 and Pump Challenge (I think).

Have a great day!!

“One week down..” LesMills Combat: Day 6 of 90

Finished up the week with Combat 30 and Pump Challenge last night.  I haven’t felt good the last couple of days.  Lots of flu and cold are going around and my body has been aching.  I have been hitting the Vitamin C and taking on excess calories to fight the symptoms.  As I write this on the train, coughing is going on all around me.  It’s like I’m riding in a human petri dish.  Also, the first week of a new program, my body always responds strangely as it accommodates itself to the new stuff.  There is also the diet adjustment.  I was actually going to skip last night and, at the last minute, thought that if I push through and do it, I will accomplish two things.

First, every workout program requires discipline.  As you start out each new program, whatever your program might be, you cannot come off the blocks with excuses.  It’s important to be rigorous when you start in the expectations you have for yourself.  It sets a bar.  Excuses are real easy.  Ask anybody.  They’ll think one up for you because 95% of the population has them to spare.  The first thing I knew I was doing, by pushing through, was setting my personal bar.  It’s important.

The second thing I wanted to do was keep my body in a rhythm.  When you are “setting the bar”, the rhythm is critical.  If you don’t put the pattern in place, life will set one for you.  At that point, you are no longer in control.  Then you can go right back to looking for excuses…because they will grow.  Next thing you know, you are a “resolutionary.”  What is that?  That’s the person that every gym, workout program and diet system is looking for.  The person who has a great intention, seals it with a financial commitment (which is what the big three are really looking for) and then fails to follow through. 

The gyms are the biggest culprits.  There are commercials every two minutes in January.  What were you expecting?  Someone had to buy up all that excess ad time now that the elections are over!!  They KNOW that 90% of the well-intentioned will be crowding annoyances in the gym for about three weeks.  Then, they will disappear, leaving monthly commitments of $10 to $35 in their wake and lots of unused time on the new equipment that was bought.  Perfect.  Collect the money and the equipment doesn’t get used!  It’s just like when YOU bought the exercise machine and then had it become a giant dusty clothes rack.  Except, with the gym membership, you now have more room in your house!

So, I wanted my body to know that I am serious.  I am not a resolutionary.  It isn’t easy.  It’s not supposed to be.

The first week of Combat was pretty good.  I am enjoying it.  What am I feeling?  First, I am sore in some new places.  My thighs and hip flexors are especially tender.  The workout is heavier on the legs than most.  They do not really stretch before the programs, which is something I may have to integrate.  It’s hard to get the most out of the kicking routines without a good warmup…especially if you are stiff from the last one.

The oblique muscles around my ribcage are also sore.  There is a lot of punching that, if you are doing the forms right, involve a good deal of body rotation as you are doing your uppercuts and hooks.  Those two types of punches, compared to the jabs, use a ton of your oblique muscles, and I am feeling it.

The HIIT routines are tough.  Good workouts with plenty of pushup and weight add-ins.  The Power and Plyo were tough but doable.  I did not finish every set of each one, but I was very close.  I will be there this week.

I am also doing the Pump Weight Workouts as well.  I am not doing the side routines…just the Pump Challenge, Burn, Shred, etc.  I am using them to augment Combat.

Then, of course, there is Ab Ripper X, which needs a lot of improvement.  I will say this, though.  Doing them on sore obliques is a challenge.  I will get there.

 
So, week one is in the books.  Feels great to be back.  I like Dan and Rach (short for Rachel) better than I liked Shaun T.  I also like all the supporting castmates.  Different body types and no shleppers.  Week two is coming up starting tomorrow and today is my off-day.  That means a 17 minute ARX and then I am done.  17 minutes?  God.  You can do anything in 17 minutes…right?  Over and out!

"Somedays, life gets in the way" LesMills Combat: Day 5 of 90

Sometimes life gets in the way.  The other night when I was doing my workout, I moved a ceiling tile so that I could do the weight work.  When I did, a speck of the tile...a speck...dropped into my eye.  I thought it would find its way out of my eye.  Nope.  A day and half later, this evening, there I was in the ER having the eye flushed and looked at.  The doc said he couldn't see anything but that I had an abrasion on the cornea.  I know there was an abrasion...it was from the thing he couldn't find that was scratching the crap out of my eye.  Well, when I got home, I managed to swab the eye and get the speck out.  While all this was going on, it felt like my guts were falling out.  It felt like the flu was coming on.

So I got home tonight and had some chicken soup and had a cup full of trail mix.  You know what?  I felt better.  So I decided to push through.  HIIT: Plyo.  Went up and changed.

I got through the entire thing.  Needed a few breaks but not unusual for week one of a new workout.  I sweat like crazy and finished it.  It felt good.  It felt really good to get through the workout despite the nausea that had started and the eye thing.

HIIT: Plyo is a rough routine on the legs.  Luckily, my legs and plyo have always been my strength.  So it was a good night to push through.  The one thing I don't like to allow is for a program to be derailed.  In P90X and Insanity, I would just push the routine through a rest day, so I could finish on time.

That's the lesson of the day.  Don't stop.  Unless you absolutely have to, you stay with it.  Sometimes life gets in the way.  If you let it, it will stop your progress.  So don't let it.