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Believe it or not, I really like the feedback and motivation provided by my heart rate monitor, which is still waiting for a battery replacement or something, since I’m not sure why it suddenly died. I did my best to push hard through all the exercises with minimal rest, except for the scheduled breaks.
Exercise notes:
- I did a little better than last week on the Fast Feet Chair Jump. The trick here for me is to watch the pace of the feet on the DVD, and keep the up and down movement as small as possible.
- 20 medium-height Jack in the Box Jumps. This is the same pace as most of “the kids” on the DVD.
- 12 plyo push ups after the Super Skater Kicks, and I deserved most of them. I stumbled a lot on my left leg, but did a lot better on the right, which was my second set. The key here, which I may have mentioned before, is to look at a spot a few feet in front of me on the floor, rather than watching the TV.
- 10 Frog Burpee Hops in 30 seconds. I think that’s a personal best! I have no idea how they are doing them much faster than I am. Maybe I need to study their technique.
- 11 plyo push ups after the 1-Leg Squat. I did better on the left leg this time. Go figure. I tried to focus on moving my butt back as I went down, rather than straight down. Part of the balancing act.
- 23 Wide Leg Jump Press with an 8-lb weight (still no medicine balls)
I completed the neuro-integrated stretch today too, for 1 hour 5 minutes total workout time. Even without the monitor, I could tell that I was sweaty and tired. BTW, I also miss the “elapsed time” feature of my heart rate monitor. I’ll have to take care of that soon!
Tip of the Day: A heart rate monitor can be a useful tool for any workout, not just the ones that are primarily cardiovascular. Of course, P90X2 blurs that line anyway, so be prepared.
50 days! Let’s call that another milestone! I started out the week on a high note, following my birthday weekend with a vacation day, which gave me plenty of time to do my workout. I had a pretty good night’s sleep, too. I got into the Chest + Back + Balance DVD with the motivation to get back on track with exercise and reasonable eating habits after a weekend of fun.
I have just a few notes today:
- I am experimenting more with the stability ball for the plyo push ups, but the majority of my effort is done with the alternative (plyo push up on the floor, or side-to-side push ups).
- By the time I get to the Chattarocker, which is that infamous Sphinx push up combined with a Chaturanga push up while moving forwards and backwards, I am pretty pooped. I am still substituting regular push ups, and feeling it.
- How long have I been doing P90X and P90X2? More than wo years? I finally get what the Towel Pull Up is all about. Using resistance bands instead of a pull up bar for P90X, I didn’t like switching the towel from one hand to the other. In P90X2, he demonstrates it using a towel in both hands. Today, it suddenly occurred to me: It’s like holding a rope! Now I am motivated to perfect my form when these come up in the workouts.
- I was happy with my number of repetitions and my form today. I still have difficulty with exercises focusing on the forearms. It’s not like Tony Horton’s so-called “tiny calves” (which apparently he still claims to have in P90X2). I actually need to work on my forearm strength, a lot.
- My heart rate monitor is broken or has a dead battery. I use it for all my workouts, not just the cardio ones, and enter the results in Calorie Count. Until I get a chance to take it apart, I will have to estimate. It won’t affect my food choices much, but I like to see the graph of calories in and out.
How do you get back into your healthy eating and exercise habits after a vacation or special occasion?
P90X2 Tip of the Day: Maybe yesterday was your special day, when you let the healthy diet and exercise slide a little, or maybe it’s been a week, or a month. What you do today matters the most. Make the right choices starting now!
Today is my birthday. I don’t think I am going to use a foam roller today, and I’m probably not doing much of anything else, really. Last night my family took me out a little early for a special dinner, and today’s calorie count is likely to be very high, too. Exercise and healthy eating are important for our bodies, of course, but it’s also important to have times like these from a recovery perspective, as well as providing balance to our lives. I will be back tomorrow for P90X2 Chest Back and Balance, Ab Ripper, and more reasonable meals.
I would like to thank the following individuals and websites for the information and support they have provided, directly and indirectly, They are the reason I am healthier today than I was ten years ago, and perhaps stronger than I have ever been, even as a teenager.
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Cliff Ravenscraft, gspn.tv, a podcaster who has shared his own health and fitness journey, and encouraged me to begin calorie counting for weight loss
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Calorie Count, my preferred weight loss website
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Jillian Michaels, who is much more than “America’s Toughest Trainer” as seen on The Biggest Loser
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Tony Horton, whom I discovered on some infomercial (haha) and then I knew what I wanted for my 44th birthday
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Ben Greenfield, who showed me I had a lot to learn from a 20-something (now 30-something!) personal trainer, nutritionist and triathlete
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Fat2Fit Radio, because I still love to learn about health and fitness even after I’ve lost the weight, and I love to hear encouraging progress reports from other listeners
That’s the short list. I would love to read your comments about these or other podcasts that have encouraged and educated you about health and fitness.
Now it’s time to relax!
P90X2 Tip of the Day: Make the choices and do the things you need to do so you can look back in one year, five years, and ten years from today, and be proud of what you’ve accomplished.
Wow, I just noticed that fake group conversation as Tony is giving us an introduction to the workout. How did I miss that before?
Today’s goals were to pull hard on my pull downs, with the same bands as last week, and to keep up the pace as much as possible with all the back-and-forth (from bands to in front of the TV, and switching bands when necessary). I also decided to try pull downs in a lunge position, which I see they have added to the P90X2 workouts. In P90X, they demonstrate pull downs with the resistance bands while seated on the floor, or kneeling on one knee (which is my preference). Unfortunately, as I pull heavier bands, I find that I am slipping on the floor and getting pulled towards the door holding the bands. I want to see if I can exert more effort in a lunge position.
I have almost no exercise-related notes today. I did well on the Plyo Lunge Press, which is that tricky move similar to a Mary Katherine Lunge except the hands move up and down, with or without weights. I did mine with 5-lb weights, and with good form, thank you very much! I also did the Ab Ripper immediately following this workout. It’s good thing, because I would not have gotten back to it today, for sure.
I completed the entire session in 90 minutes, which is not terrible, but I still didn’t see the calorie burn I would have liked on my heart rate monitor. Maybe it’s the monitor, or maybe it’s the pauses and skipping back on the DVD because of all the setup I do, but I will continue to work on my efficiency. With all the back-and-forth that I do with the DVD, sometimes it seems like it will never end.
After I had put everything away and showered, I set up my pull up bar, in the one spot of the house where it can be used, and guess what? Those pull ups might be getting easier after all…
This is another one of those “better late than never” days. More specifically, I completed 40 minutes of the 66-minute workout. I got through the beginning section, including all the moving Asanas. My shoulders are still bothering me at times. The good news is that when I actually listened to what Tony Horton was saying about moving forward to change my arm position during the Leg Raises (in Downward Dog position), I made contact between my elbow and knee, or pretty close.
If I had to choose a section to skip, and you’ve read my yoga adventures before, you will be able to guess that I skipped the Warrior 3 sequence today. I also dropped the Crane, abdominal exercises, and Plough to Shoulder Stand. Since I did Ab Ripper just a few hours ago (right before bedtime), I call it a reasonable compromise when it comes to the abs, at least.
I did the stretching section at the end. To me, doing all the hard work without the stretches is almost a waste of time. I can do push ups and other moves similar to the yoga positions, but the “flow” as Tony calls it and the relaxation through stretching are what makes yoga unique.
How do you modify a P90X or P90X2 yoga session when you’re running late? Or is it just me who has these problems?
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