The Fitness Ninja

3:10 PM EST

Done. Finally. At. Last.

Update: I’m writing this after having written the overall P90x review.  Yesterday was incredibly busy so I wasn’t able to write much.  Right after I finished the final Yoga X routine I had to shower and get ready for work.  Then when I got home, the parents came over with a great deal of home cooked food which we enjoyed.  I even had dessert.  I’m not going to go into too many details.  Suffice it to say, I finished 2009 off with a terrific food extravaganza!

This coming week, I’m just going to relax and finally recuperate from this stupid cold/congestion/cough.  I’ve been pusing through P90x and I think it has seriously dampened my ability to heal.  I have 4 days of rest I can enjoy.  Most of next week will not see any exercise either as I just want to let my muscles, tendons and ligaments just completely recover (I’ve had some nagging aches and pains here and there).

I will keep writing just so I can lay down my fitness plans and resolutions for 2010.  Take care and happy new year!

Another day, another destiny.

Well, here I am nearing the tail end of P90x and am glad for it.  I felt horrible last night lying in bed.  The congestion in my sinuses made me feel like my head was going to blow up and cave in at the same time.  It got so bad I had to take a cold compress and just lay it on top of my forehead and sinuses for some relief.  Took meds then just tried to sleep best as I could.  Morning rolled around and as it’s Wednesday, that meant an early shift at work.  Dragged my butt out into this freezing weather and just kept blowing my nose as often as possible throughout the day to relieve the pressure.  As for the wife, she went for another ultrasound.  The baby grew several more ounces to 4 pounds and so they are going to let things take their course.

When I got home, I took a nap to relieve the tiredness.  I was seriously contemplating not pushing play today because I felt so crappy for most of the morning and afternoon. But… I figured… just 1 more day.  Let’s do it… LET’S DO THIS!!!  Got myself pumped and just went at it.  I figure after tomorrow I’ll have a few days to totally recuperate without any exercise whatsoever.  What the phrase?  “I can rest when I’m dead.”

I’m glad I did it.  There is nothing like Core Syn to get you sweating.  I’ve said it before but it bears repeating — This is my favourite routine in all of P90x just because of the total body conditioning.    More importantly, I think the strain of the exercise loosened up my sinuses and it felt like I could breathe easier afterwards.  In any case, I followed the workout with a chicken pasta dinner then a long hot shower, as hot as I could bear it so that the bathroom was basically like a sauna.  That also helped the cold.

Food for today: Breakfast was oatmeal and cup of juice.  Bought a mix of shreddies, almonds and raisins to work and had like 6 cookies while there.  Lunch was macaroni and cheese light Michelinas (290).  Had a granola bar (150) then pasta with alfredo sauce and chicken for dinner.  For dessert had tapioca pudding and granola bar (220)

(Went to bed last night with the chills.  Woke up this morning with the chills, feeling totally drained and achy.  And here I was thinking I was starting to shake this off last week.  It doesn’t help that where I live is in the midst of a deep freeze (-14 celsius, -28 with the windchill supposedly).  In any case, I let myself sleep in.  My wife went to her stress test on her own.  I hate it when she goes to these things by herself as I should be there beside her (she got through it ok and said the baby was fine).  She has another ultrasound tomorrow which thankfully my mom will accompany her on.

12:30 rolls around and I decide to do X Stretch.  I thought it would make me feel better considering how stiff and achy I feel.  Didn’t really do much but at least I’m glad that’s one more routine down before completing this round.

Food for today: Breakfast was 2 pieces of whole wheat toast with PB and a cup of hot chocolate (130).  2 granola bars, tapioca cup and ice cream with granola for snack (550 for all of it I think).  Lunch was Michelina’s frozen fried rice (390).  Brought a mix of shreddies, raisins and almonds to work.  Dinner was 2 eggs scrambled with 2 pieces of toast.  At work I had like 4 chocolate turtles and about 6 cookies (UGH!)

I don’t know what the heck is up with my body.  I feel like I am getting sick again.  Wife and I went out today to do some running around in preparation for the baby and what not.  We went to Lone Star for lunch.  I had a Baja Grilled Shrimp and rice and some of their nachos and salsa.  Upon getting home this afternoon I felt like garbage.  Like I was drained and coming down with a fever again.  I took a nap and then FORCED myself to do Kenpo X.  Could not do 5 pounders.  Went down to 3s.  It was brutal.  I struggled and sweated through it but I felt like… I dunno.  Like I wasn’t all there.  What is generally the easiest routine just took it out of me today.  I wonder if I am just overworking my body from all this exercise, lack of sleep and bad eating over the past little while.  I kinda hate that P90x is ending on a down note but… ugh. What can ya do?  I might seriously take all of next week off and just focus on sleeping and clean eating.  Take stock of the past year, make plans for 2010 and then set it all up on paper (or this blog).

Food for today: Breakfast was two pieces of toast with PB and a cup of juice.  Snack was half a cookie and granola bar.  Lunch was at Lone Star.  Dinner was bowl of tomato soup and crackers.

I gotta swear off of the Lone Star from now on.  Something about the food there I think.  Gonna take some tylenol and cold FX, have a hot shower then go to bed and read till I fall asleep.

Spent another 3 hours at the hospital today.  Wife had a stress test and ultrasound.  Everything went well and the baby is still in her so… yeah.  I hope he can stay in there until at least January… but his safety is first.  So if he decides to come sooner, so be it.

My eating was pretty good today until I met my mom.  She came with us to the hospital.  Ugh… I love her to death but I honestly think part of the reason why I have such bad eating habits is due to her.  I know, I know.  It’s ultimately up to me as to what I put in my mouth but man… she always has snacks and treats with her.  (Growing up in our house… there were always a tonne of snacks everywhere… interestingly, my brother and sister can eat whatever they basically want and stay super slim… I blow up just looking at food the wrong way).   Like today, for instance.  Right there in the middle of the hospital waiting room she started whipping out Lindt chocolate balls.  I was like “WTH??” I, having no will power at this time of year, ate 3.  My wife and I went then went to my mom’s place afterwards for lunch. We had eaten nothing thus far (except a small bowl of oatmeal and cup of juice for breakfast) and so when we arrived there around 1:30 we were famished.  She had leftovers from Christmas (fish, rice and turkey soup) but worst of all… my mom had these specialty chocolate covered cookies available and I ate a tonne of them.  UGH.

We got home around 4.  I rested for a bit (still not sleeping well and I think my cold is acting up again… getting me congested and headachy) then tackled core synergistics.  I got a terrific sweat-on and loved to be moving about after a eating so much today.

Of all the non-weight training routines, this is probably my favourite.  It’s a real shame you only see it a grand total of 6 times during a standard run of P90x (twice during each recovery week).  Why do I like it so much? It’s because core syn is all encompassing.  It works out almost every single part of your body in some form or another.  Like cardio X, it takes portions from other routines and amalgamates them into one while adding a whole bunch of other moves you don’t see anywhere else.  As such, core syn incorporates some dumbbell work with bodyweight exercises and pairs cardio drills with isometric and anaerobic moves.  And some of the moves are just killer in ways you wouldn’t expect.  I’m still shocked at how hard plank to chataranga runs are despite how easy they look when someone else is doing them… after all, it’s just running in place while in a plank right?  Killer! It’s great! I am always drenched in sweat after this dvd.  Next time I do P90x, I will definitely find more reasons to put this routine amongst the regular weekly workouts.

For dinner I had a small bowl of mac n’ cheese with 1 hotdog.  No dessert.

As the title says, I’m starting to feel a bit better.  Just tired with a runny nose.  The fever is basically gone.  My wife on the other hand is still in the midst of this head cold.  I really feel bad for her and hope it lifts before she has to deliver this baby (which could be any time in the coming week).

Today was spent just puttering around the house, cleaning the remnants of Christmas wrap and stuff.  Did yoga X early this afternoon.  I felt well enough to throw in my regular number of pushups (3) for each downward-upward dog transition (I’ll be so glad when I don’t have to do the full 90 minute yoga session anymore). Other than that, just played video games and hung out with the wife. Gotta enjoy this quiet time because it will be gone forever I think once the baby is here.  Hehehehe.

Food for today: Breakfast was two pieces of toast with peanut butter and cup of juice.  Lunche was oatmeal with raisins and almonds and cup of juice.  Dinner was a bowl of frank and beans.  I had a scoop of ice cream with 1/3 cup of granola for dessert.  Peace out!

Merry Christmas folks! What a wonderful time of year… to eat and be merry! Yes, I realize my eating both last night and today has been awful.  I’m not going to list everything I’ve eaten because… well, just because.

On a good note, even though it was a rest day today I was still able to work out quite a bit as my nephews at my sister-in-law’s place got a tonne of new exercise equipment.  One got a great pull up bar so I’ve been doing a lot of reps on that along with push ups (as another nephew got a nice set of pull up stands).  We’ve also been doing a lot of curls and presses as they also own a barbell rack and bench.  In any case, I’ll be back at it tomorrow entering my final rest week.  YAAAHOOO!!!

Woke up around 3 in the morning due to this cold again.  AARGH.  It just doesn’t want to let go.  Kept tossing and turning in bed so decided to get up around 4:30 in order to let my wife have her rest (she’s also starting to get it I think).  Had a breakfast of oatmeal and hot chocolate (figure it’s Christmas so I’ll have this treat … 130 cal. per cup).  Went back to bed at 7 but my wife was snoring soooo loud I didn’t really fall asleep till like 8 I think.  In any case, got back up at 10, surfed the internet, had a snack of granola and pudding (230), a piece of chocolate (70) then tackled kenpo around noon.

I used the 5 pound weights today for about 75% of the workout.  There was one section near the end of the first punch sequence that I had to go back to 3 pounders but other than that I went right back to using 5s.  My shoulders felt like they wanted to fall off during the high punch sequence at the very end of the routine (where you do like 150 punches or something like that).  Afterwards, had me a kielbasa sandwhich with a slice of cheese and mustard along with another piece of chocolate (70).  Now, I’m debating whether to try and tackle cardio X as an extra routine cause I know I will probably eat some rich foods tonight.  I dunno… I’ll update again later.

Update: Cardio X never happened.  I went over to my parents’ place for dinner and had a great time eating and hanging out with family.  Oh well!

Oh man… woke up at 4 am as this cold is keeping me up.  So damn hard to breathe.  To make matters worse, my wife feels like she is getting sick! Not good for a lady on the verge of giving birth… I hope she escapes the brunt of it.  Spent most of the day lying in bed or on the couch just sleeping and resting.  After an afternoon nap, I decided to go for it and tackle my last session of legs & back this round.

Well, I’m glad that’s over.  I was kinda slow moving through the routine.  I cranked out about 80 unassisted pull ups and about 103 assisted all together during the entire session.  It’s kinda depressing that my pull up count has kinda levelled out over the past little while and I think it has actually taken a hit over the last 2 weeks.  Well, at least there’s always next round to go for more.  As for the leg work, I upped my weights to 20 lbs whenever it was called for (I was using 10s and 15s prior).  In any case, I felt sufficiently burnt down after the workout.

What to say about legs and back?  Hmmm… I think of all the muscle / weight training focused videos, this one is right in the middle.  The pull ups are the hardest part of the routine.  The most difficult leg move is probably the first one  (balance lunges [aka Bulgarian split squats]) especially if you use fairly heavy weights.  Some of the moves, like sneaky lunges, I still don’t really understand how it works you out as I don’t feel any burn at all from it (and I make sure to follow proper form all throughout it).

Because legs and back is done basically every single week of P90x (barring rest weeks), you get familliar with the dvd fairly quickly.  It would have been nice if they included an alternate leg work  dvd to switch things up a bit but it’s also kinda moot point as legs are also worked out in all the non-weight training videos (plyo and yoga especially burn your lower muscles). Interestingly, because of your constant viewing of this dvd, all of Tony’s weird quirks during the routine become etched in your mind (like his flirty fixation on Dreya and the awkward situation that kinda arises when the two exchange a sweaty hug at the end of the routine while the two other participants just stare at one another… haha classic).

Ahhh yes… this is also the last day that I need to do Ab Ripper X for this round.  AB RIPPER X… I HATE IT… BUT I LOVE IT.  That tag line begins this pretty brutal core regimen.  And it is total core.. not just abdominals.  For anyone starting P90x and has excess flab they want to get rid of around the middle, this routine is absolute murder.  It gets painful from all the reps (something like 324 by the end if I remember correctly) and there is a good chance you’ll have to pause between some sets.  I know I did during the first month… and even to this day I struggle with completing a full set of fifer scissors.  Almost without fail, my legs cave in around rep 14 or 16 and I have to do it in spurts. Also, for anyone with lower back issues, this is one routine that you will want to tread very carefully on as there are a lot of moves that will stress your muscles down there (i.e. pulse ups, v-up roll ups, the legs wide pulse up [forget the name]).  Just be careful and take your time!

Food for today:  breakfast was two pieces of toast with peanut butter and cup of juice, 1 granola bar (100), cup of pudding with 1/3 cup of granola (220), lunch was 10 McNuggets and cup of juice, small bag of chips (150), a cup of homemade bits and bytes (my wife makes these and they are fantastic… I make sure to just scoop a cup out and limit myself to that (basiclaly its a mix of shreddies, cheerios, pretzel sticks and hickory sticks with some crazy worcester / salt sauce mix).  Dinner was another two pieces of toast with peanut butter and cup of juice.

I spent the better part of today just lying in bed, sleeping, drinking juice, taking medication and sleeping some more.  I hope this all goes away by Christmas eve.  It would suck to have all this great food ready to be eaten not be able to taste much of it because of a heavy head cold.

Later on in the day, I got up the will to do Yoga X.  I did it very tenderly and without too many pushups.  I also modified certain poses when needed into their easier version.  I’m glad I got it done and it actually made me feel a little better afterwards (the long hot shower I took also helped I’m sure).

Food for today:  breakfast was two pieces of toast with peanut butter and cup of juice, snack was granola with low fat yogurt (150), lunch was leftover chicken noodle soup with crackers, had 5 pieces of chocolate (250), dinner was mashed potatoes with a pork chop and some gravy, 1 granola bar for dessert.

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I wrote the following at 5 in the morning as I couldn’t sleep due to this stupid cold.  AARGH.

Of all the workouts in the P90x program, this is probably the one that gets the most negative press.  Seems like there’s a consensus (just from reading comments on blogs and public forums) that Yoga is the least liked dvd.  I can understand this for several reasons.  First, for anyone like me who had no prior experience with yoga, coming into this routine was like landing on an alien planet.  Coming from a world of weight training, running and interval work, yoga’s slow as molasses, methodical and breath-focused regimen was a shock to the system.  I remember the first time doing it wondering to myself “How in the world is this supposed to ‘work me out?’”  But after a few times of pushing play on this dvd and following Tony’s instructions to the letter (meaning really getting low on all the warrior stance lunges, holding as still as possible during the poses, and throwing in pushups whenever possible [I do a total of 3 every time I transition from plank-upward-plank-downward dog]), this workout can be quite a killer.

And it’s a killer in a way most workout routines aren’t in that it’s anaerobic and isometric, the two styles that aren’t often stressed in most routines (quite the opposite actually).  In addition, this dvd also puts a TONNE of emphasis on being flexible, stretching and balance, traits which, even if you have been exercising traditionally for a long time, may not be honed.  So, in that sense, all your experience in running and weightlifting don’t really mean for much as you’ll start out at ground 0 again.

But Yoga’s quirks are also its strong points.  It’s great BECAUSE it’s so different.  I don’t know how to explain it other than this amazing mental damn that breaks once you finally get in the groove of breathing, stretching, contorting and balancing.  You begin to sweat a little without even really noticing it and before long you are drenched from all this exertion you may not have even realized you were undergoing.  It’s really “trance-like” once you get into it.  In this sense, my biggest advice to people starting P90x is to, as Tony says, “expand the mind a little bit” and stick it out with the yoga.

Oh, one other thing.  The other key gripe most people have about this routine (WHICH I TOTALLY AGREE WITH!!!) is the damn length.   Yoga X is the longest routine in the entire P90x series clocking in at 1.5 hours.  That is nuts when you consider all the other non-weight training routines are under an hour.  And considering how often you do yoga X (it happens once a week and twice during rest week), that’s A LOT of time spent doing downward / upward dogs.  Next round I will either sub in Tony’s One-on-One video called Yoga – Fountain of Youth which is a more reasonable 45 min. or use my own edited version of yoga X that runs 61 minutes.