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Tony Horton’s "Bring It!" Day 36

Workout

I started week 6 (wow!) with Aerobic workout level 2, plus 20 minutes on the treadmill. My total workout time was about an hour. A modification I made today was that I started using light weights for the pivot punches and Briggs Ram. That’s a trick I picked up from the Jillian Michaels videos. Tony also suggests this for a few of the P90X exercises. It makes them a little more challenging.

Nutrition

I mixed it up a little bit, with chicken and veggie soup for breakfast, leftover Chinese food for lunch, and chicken stir-fry for dinner. Snacks were reasonable, and my calories were -172 for the day. Much better than yesterday!

Health and well-being

I am still a little sore across my chest from Saturday’s resistance workout. I know I would have seen better results all along with P90X if I had been using a pull-up bar, but it’s not practical in my house. Maybe some once-a-week sessions with the bar would be a good compromise.

March 8th, 2011 | Category: Bring It, Bring It book, Jillian Michaels, P90X, success | Comments are closed

Tony Horton’s "Bring It!" Day 35

Workout

Today was Sunday, my workout rest/fun day. I chose to do no workout at all today. That might not have been the best decision…

Nutrition

Uh oh! My breakfast and mid-morning snack were high in combined calories because of the usual Sunday morning nosh. Lunch was a very reasonable salmon fillet with rice and broccoli. Unfortunately, after a protein bar snack in the afternoon, I miscalculated my remaining calories for dinner (in my head) and ate too much. My total for the day was almost +900 calories! Even on a normal recovery day, I think the recommended surplus is +500 calories. Well, I guess every once in a while, I surprise myself.

Health and well-being

As I said above, I took it easy today, both with exercise and calorie restriction (apparently). I don’t want to let go of good habits, but it’s fun once in a while.

March 7th, 2011 | Category: Bring It book, overeating, workout | Comments are closed

Tony Horton’s "Bring It!" Day 34

Workout

Today I tried something a little different while doing the resistance level 2 workout. I used a real pull-up bar, rather than the resistance bands I normally use for pull-downs. There is only one place in my house where the pull-up bar will hang, and that is not convenient when I am “working out early in the morn” as Tony likes to say. Since today is a Saturday, and I was working out a little later, it occurred to me to give it a try.

During the workout I am supposed to do two sets of pull-ups and two sets of chin-ups. Pretty basic when compared to P90X, but that’s fine for me right now. With the resistance bars, I usually do 17 or 18, pulling as hard as I can. In comparison, I can currently do 10 pull-ups or chinups without assistance, and then another three or four if I come down to the floor and go back up. I should try to do that more often, because it is cooler to be able to do real pull-ups, right? I can certainly feel and see the results from my resistance bands, at least.

Nutrition

I ended the day with a small calorie deficit, which is pretty good for a weekend. What seems to work best is having my pre-workout snack, doing some stuff around the house, then working out. My breakfast merges into my mid-morning snack (without the additional calories), and next thing I know, it’s lunchtime. I had a late-afternoon snack, which I sometimes skip on the weekends. Dinner and dessert were a little larger than usual, but they still fit pretty well into the day’s calories.

Health and well-being

I definitely need some rest this weekend. I skipped the caffeine today, and I know it’s not supposed to be a substitute for proper sleep anyway. Apparently that’s hard for me to achieve.

March 6th, 2011 | Category: book review, Bring It, Bring It book, P90X, sleep, workout | Comments are closed

Tony Horton’s "Bring It!" Day 33

Workout

I skipped yoga today. This is not big news, even after last week’s P90X yoga session. I woke up late, after getting to bed late, and I had about 30 minutes for exercise, so I got on the treadmill for a brisk walk/slow jog while watching The Biggest Loser. It was definitely better than no workout at all.

Nutrition

I had a healthy breakfast and morning snack. We ordered Chinese food for lunch (it’s Friday!), and this time I had the unhealthy choice: General Tso’s Chicken. At least I ordered the brown rice (not white or fried). I ate the big bowl of hot and sour soup, and about a third of the chicken and rice. There will be leftovers, but it’s not too bad calorie-wise. Unfortunately, it’s mostly carbs and fat, and not a lot of protein.

I had a protein bar as a late afternoon snack, then went home for “taco night” (which is not a regular thing at our house, but it sounds fun to say it). The soft taco shell, ground turkey, veggies, and a little sour cream fit perfectly into my calorie limit. Then I felt like having a piece of cake… so I did. I ended the day at +250 calories. Enough said.

Health and well-being

I started out the day tired, and it definitely had an effect on my food choices, as well as my caffeine consumption. I had two cups of coffee (morning and afternoon) and a diet cola with my Chinese food. One bad thing leads to another?

I should have waited a half hour before eating that cake. Maybe I would have reconsidered. Sometimes, I guess we rush into something questionable because we know that it’s the wrong thing, but we really want to do it. Of course, this is not a big moral dilemma… Unless it happens every night after dinner.

March 5th, 2011 | Category: Bring It book, overeating, sleep, yoga | Comments are closed

Tony Horton’s "Bring It!" Day 32

Workout

I completed the resistance level 2 workout in an hour. Once again, it was through sheer willpower, because I didn’t think I would make it through all four circuits. I started out tired, but the exercise woke me up a little, so I made it through. I think I am making improvements with the crunches at the end of each circuit. One of my weak points when doing P90X was that I would pretty consistently run out of time (or energy) and skip Ab Ripper X. I have read on blogs and message boards that some people do the Ab Ripper workout separately, as an evening workout for example, but for me that never happened.

Nutrition

I did very well today. As a matter of fact, Calorie Count gave me an A (on the pie chart analyzing my protein/carbs/fat). Sometimes I disagree with them about my grade, but today it’s great! My protein intake was 29%, carbs 51%, fat only 19%. Maybe I should have had fewer carbs and more healthy fat, but I am still happy with the result. I had a Zone Perfect bar as an evening snack, and I wondered at the time if it would raise my calories too much. As it turned out, I was at -49 calories (basically breakeven), which is fine for a resistance workout day.

Health and well-being

I was OK for most of the day. Actually, it was a busy day, so the activity distracted me from my usual eating pattern. I had lunch a little later, and even though it was a pretty light meal, it filled me up, and all I had for an afternoon snack was an apple. By the end of the evening, after I had been at a rehearsal for a couple of hours, I was tired and in a bad mood. That’s one of the reasons I was craving that protein bar, I guess, but it’s better than a bowl of ice cream. Sometimes it’s best to make a reasonable healthy choice, rather than fight with myself about it.

March 4th, 2011 | Category: book review, Bring It, Bring It book, P90X, success, Tony Horton, workout | Comments are closed
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